A second before he swallowed it, he caught the pill in his hand. “Hold on.”

“Huh? Come on. Did it succeed or not?” Linnea asked, mercifully straightening up and crossing her arms. “Go, go, go!”

Oz narrowed his eyes at her. He shook his head. “I’m trying to survive here.”

Using his nail, he scratched a tiny bit off the surface of the pill and put it on his tongue. Instantly, a bitter flavor spread over his tongue. Resisting the urge to grimace, he swallowed.

“So?” Mici demanded immediately.

“Give me a minute,” Oz said, shaking his head. If it is poison, hopefully that was a small enough amount to survive it, but enough to notice its effects.

A cool sensation emanated from his stomach. He checked his arm, where the black veins of Creeping Darkness waited. Is it just me, or did some of them lighten a little…?

He nodded. I don’t feel sick, and it might be clearer now. Let’s go for it. He tossed back the pill.

The bitterness exploded in his mouth. Instinctively, he gagged, bending over. I can’t! Don’t spit it up! Swallow!

“A glass of water. Now,” Linnea demanded.

Sim and Sine looked around. Sim ran to the sink, while Sine opened all the nearby cabinets, searching for something, anything. She pulled out a small clay bowl and rushed it over to Sim, who filled it up and passed it to Linnea. Linnea handed it to Oz, who gulped it down, using the water to force down the bitter pill.

The cooling sensation ran down his throat and filled his stomach. He coughed, rubbing his mouth. “Ugh! Disgusting.”

“Have water ready for next time,” Linnea advised him.

“Thanks,” Oz muttered. They didn’t warn me about that in the books. I should fix that, write a book about it. “Practical Pill-Taking for Beginners.” Instant best-seller.

Coolness rushed down his chest and into the arm marked with black veins. He checked his arm. The black veins retreated, barely reaching his wrist from the cut on the back of his hand, and what remained, paled at the edges.

Oz grinned. He lifted his arm, showing Linnea. “I did it!”

The kids whooped and clapped, excited.

Linnea smiled, then paused. She went in for the hug.

Oz quickly closed the distance to hug her, then quickly moved away, laughing a little as he did. It’s kind of funny how bad Linnea is at this calculated-seduction thing.

“It’s not a permanent solution, but at least I know a detoxicant now, and I can always make it again,” Oz said, putting his hand on his chin. He glanced at Linnea. “Could I count on you…” to buy the herbs, he almost finished, but he cut himself off. His eyes traced her spider half, the black chitin armoring her lower hips, the eight spindly legs, the bulbous body. Everyone saw Linnea in her demon form. There’s no way she can leave the library any more. More than me, now, she is locked inside.

A bitter smile flickered across her lips, then vanished. Linnea tilted her head and grinned. “You can always count on me.”

“Ah… yes.”

Oz shivered. His face paled slightly. He looked down, bowing his head.

Mici ran up beside him and yanked on his sleeve. “What else are we gonna learn about?”

“Oh, right. Er, how long do we have left?” Oz asked, casting around.

Riona snorted haughtily. She reached into her jacket and drew out a small pocket watch wrought in silver. A distinctive star-shaped flower was etched into its back, inlaid with mother-of-pearl. “About an hour.”

Oz clapped his hands together and nodded decisively. “Let’s go explore the stacks, then.”

The kids stared at him. Even Maggie turned to stare, forgetting her time-out in the corner.

Oz blinked. “What?”

“We can touch the books?”

“You’re really letting us?”

“Any of them? We can read anything we want?”

Oz nodded. “Yep.”

“Wow…” Sine breathed.

Sim rushed for the door, and the other kids raced after him, all of them rushing into the library at once.

“Slowly!” Oz shouted after them.

Riona slowed to a walk, only to speed right back up to a half-jog as all the other kids ignored him.

“I’ll keep an eye on them,” Linnea offered, scurrying off.

Oz waved after her. “I’ll clean up here.”

The door shut. Oz stood alone in the room, resting his hands on either side of the pot. He reached up and casually shut off the fuel. Took a deep breath.

His arm trembled. He curled his hand into a fist. As the cold faded, acid pain rushed down his arm, coursing through his veins. Oz bit his lip, curling around his arm. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. Ow!

Minutes passed. The pain faded slowly. From where he’d crumpled with his back against the aisle, Oz looked up. Somewhat gingerly, he pushed himself to his feet.

“I’m adding that to Practical Pill-Taking for Beginners. ‘Watch out, your antidote might include side effects like long-lasting crippling pain!’” Oz groused. He pushed his hair back with his good left hand, a little leery of using the bad one.

Looking from one hand to the other, he sighed. “At least they didn’t cut up my tattooed arm, but now I’ve got black on both arms. Yay symmetry, I guess.”

He clenched his hands. I can’t stop here. Every book in this library on pills… I have to read it. I refuse to live the rest of my life suppressing some poison. I need to make an antidote for this poison. So what if it doesn’t exist? My Master and former Librarian already gave me the task of synthesizing an entirely new theory of magic from scratch. Why not develop a whole new theory of pill-making while I’m at it? One that allows me to cure even incurable poisons.

Why not, right? Easy. Super easy.

Oz sighed. He ran his hands down his face. Ugh. I just keep cutting out more work for myself.

Giving his aching arm a last rub to get the circulation back to normal, Oz left the pill room behind and walked out into the library. The kids ran around happily, picking books off the shelves and piling them up. Oz wrinkled his nose. Thank goodness I didn’t organize them all yet. Raising his hands to his mouth, he yelled, “You can’t take any home, so only grab what you can read now!”

“Awww!” the kids chorused back, except for Riona, who rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue, already sitting down in a nook to quietly read her book.

Linnea glanced over. She raised her brows at him.

Oz smiled back. I’m fine now. Thanks for the save.

He leaned against the wall, yawning. The kids. What do I do about them? Obviously, the Professor doesn’t care about their wellbeing, sending them in here with an assassin. At best, he didn’t care if the assassin hurt them; at worst, he was fine with me killing them if the assassin failed.

On one hand, I can’t send them back with him. If he’s willing to put them in this much danger, he obviously isn’t going to watch after their lives. On the other hand, I can’t keep them here. It would be far too easy for Professor Keane to claim I kidnapped them and paint me as an utter villain.

He put his head in his hands. Yeah, and publicly saving a demon has done so much to give me a positive image. I couldn’t not help Linnea, but…

Maybe I just kidnap them? Say ‘hell with it’ and become the villain they all think I am?

But there’s no way Professor Keane could openly murder them. He might not care, but they are nobles. If nothing else, his school should care a little about its child-murder reputation. I mean, the nobility aren’t sending their kids here to die, they’re sending them to get reformed. Even if their Headmaster doesn’t care, there’s still got to be some level of giving-a-shit in the school, right? Otherwise, it simply couldn’t function.

Yeah, but he’s clearly willing to lock the kids in a box with an assassin and the target of that assassin. They’re nothing but collateral damage to him, and as far as I can tell, collateral damage he’s looking to take.

Can I take care of this many kids? And there’s the matter of Linnea, too…

Two hearty knocks sounded at the door. Oz jolted. Already? I haven’t even decided what to say! Walking to the door, he paused there. He pushed his hair back and took a deep breath, settling himself. Alright. Let’s go. Let’s do this!

“Professor’s back early?” Maggie asked.

“I wanted to read more,” Sim complained, and Sine nodded beside him.

Oz opened the door. Firmly, he stated, “Professor Keane, you—”

Aisling blinked at him, a basket of food in her arms.

“Ai…Aisling! Right, er, come in,” Oz said, gesturing her in.

“I heard something about a demon. Did anyone get injured?” Aisling asked, looking over her shoulder at Oz as he held the door open for her.

“Oh, it’s actually—”

A bulbous black body scurried quickly down the nearest aisle, vanishing out of sight. Even in that moment, Aisling’s body tensed.

Oz grabbed for her. “Aisling, calm down!”

Before he could catch her, Aisling burst off, leaving nothing but the faint scent of burning and a streak of smoke behind her.

Oz clicked his tongue. Well, fuck.