"Are you sure, Quinn?" Malakai spoke softly, a hint of steel in his voice. Like he'd figure out another way if he had to.

  She shrugged. "It makes sense. I'll be careful." And before she could second guess herself, Quinn took a couple of steps forward, leaving a few feet between her and the ice prison. Close enough that she could feel the cold emanating from it. Just a breeze of it, but it was there. The constant chill.

  Quinn allowed her mind to softly brush against the outskirts of Kajaro's. No response. Which was pretty much what she expected. She backed out, and went over her own shielding again. She filled in cracked, strengthened and expanded walls, and did everything she could think of to keep her own thoughts out of the equation.

  All she had to do was meet him in his own thought space and keep the upper hand.

  "And you're sure the wards and shielding around this space won't let him trigger anything external, correct?" Quinn was proud of speaking without an obvious waver to her voice.

  Hal turned to her. "I promise. We've been over it with multiple experts, multiple reinforcements. And I'm here, and have applied my wards. This is the safest way to do this short of transporting him to the Library and then there's potential danger to all the patrons. This will be fine. I'm right here."

  Quinn nodded, and took a couple of deep breaths. "He's not conveniently hanging out on the surface level of his thoughts, just so you all know. This'll take some digging to get to him." She pushed down the nerves, locking them away. There wasn't time for her to second guess herself, and there wasn't room for fear past caution. She locked everything away that might interfere, closed her eyes, and let herself sink into a semi-trance.

  The surface of Kajaro's mind was desolate. Windswept granite, with nothingness echoing through. His walls were sturdy. She could have walked along them for eons and never made her way in. No, she needed to intrigue him enough that he'd be willing to talk to her. Lying mind to mind should be difficult.

  While his consciousness was deeper than surface level, she could feel a sort of presence. Very faint like a netting overlay for mosquitos. There but not obtrusive. She willed herself to seek a door. But nothing happened.

  Not being her own mind, of course, that didn't really surprise her. But she pushed further, deeper, recalling the strange castle like structure she'd found herself in so many months ago when Milaro had had to come and help her get the mind bomb out. That whole area was filled with stone walls and floors, sconces and dark corners. There were nooks and crannies, and so many places to hide.

  She visualized it, and moved slowly, asking for the wall to let her into that mind scape, that dream world where Kajaro had tried to trap her, where she'd managed to eavesdrop on him. His internal one. Quinn didn't let herself think about whether or not it would be a wise thing to do, or if she should take another approach.

  Her gut told her to go with what she knew, so that's what she did.

  A click resounded through her head, echoing like a dropped pebble in a church.

  The wall rippled, and an opening showed itself. Right there, a ways down, a crack appeared.

  Quinn didn't hurry, she didn't run. She maintained her sedate pace and made her way over, pushing against it, getting a sense for it. Her magic couldn't detect anything malicious, thought she knew that could be deceiving, she stepped toward it, pushing it open.

  The hinges creaked, like they hadn't been oiled in a while, and she guessed he'd been stuck here for a couple of months by now, so maintenance on his own thought space probably wasn't up to par.

  Taking a figurative deep breath, Quinn crossed the threshold.

  She'd expected that door to slam shut, for the floor to collapse out from under her and plummet her into darkness. Any manner of hostile actions crossed her mind.

  But nothing happened. The door remained partially open, the floor nice and solid, and beyond where she entered she could see thick stone walls all around her.

  Quinn moved in, slowly taking stock of things. The decorations were sparse. A bench here. A banner there. She moved through the space, making her way toward where she'd first encountered Kajaro and his friend. She also knew the door was closed now, but at least it hadn't done so ominously.

  Rounding the corner, she hadn't expected him to just be sitting there. But there he was. Right smack bang in the middle of the seating area she'd eavesdropped on last time.

  His scales, once such a vibrant green, had a grey hue washing them out. Or perhaps that was the dream altered state they were in. His snake eyes looked straight ahead, and he didn't seem aware of her presence quite yet.

  Quinn glanced around, relieved to see that Hal had spoken the truth. There was no one else here, and Quinn couldn't see how that would even happen. She moved a few feet closer, able to feel the cold emanating off the figure in the middle. Just ever so slightly as it stretched out toward her, reaching with cold tendrils.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  She paused, just out of reach. "Kajaro, we should talk." she said it softly, and in here her mouth moved. She wondered if it did outside as well, in her trance.

  A flicker of recognition passed through him, a shudder of sorts. But he didn't respond.

  Quinn repeated herself. "Kajaro - we need to speak." Her words sounded forceful that time.

  Kajaro's tongue flickered out, like he was tasting the air directly in front of him. A hiss escaped his throat, in a long sibilant note.

  She waited several seconds, or it could have been minutes, she wasn't quite sure. "Kajaro..."

  This time, his head turned ever so slightly in her direction. But she could see it cost him effort. Whether it was fighting the cold, or he had a stiff neck.

  Kajaro looked at her. "It's you."

  "Glad we've established that." she said, still waiting for him to agree to speak.

  "Well," he said, his voice raspy and unused. "Speak then."

  Quinn wasn't sure what she'd expected. Perhaps an arguement over why they should speak or even a discussion of what they should speak about. But not a command to do so. It left her floundering a bit. So, perhaps unwisely, she started with what she was burning to know. "Why?"

  If possible, he did manage to raise an eyeridge. "Why what?"

  She had to tamp down on the brief surge of anger that tried to get out of its box. "Why all of this? Why chaos?"

  "Ah," he said, and went back to looking at the wall in front of him. His breath was barely discernable, and his tail swished ever so slightly against the ground. "That is a long story."

  "I have time." She lied.

  He actually chuckled. "I did not expect if to be you. You to reduce me to this."

  Quinn wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that. So she didn't. She just waited, uncertain how time passed in here versus out there.

  "Stories is where it started, I suppose. Dragons are a part of our reptilian family. Did you know that? Their eternal lives offer us a faint look into possible futures. Of what power could bring us."

  "Us as in the Serpensiril?" Quinn asked softly.

  Again, another pause before Kajaro answered. "Not really. Us as in the strong. Us as in those who want to be powerful because we're recognized. And us becasue ... Have you ever wanted to belong, young Librarian?" He finished the last of that off with an oddly intense stare.

  The thing was? That last one, it hit home for Quinn. She'd been without for almost a decade. Jumping from home to home, keeping her head down, never truly belonging anywhere, until she came to the Library. Perhaps the former was what Kajaro counted on to reach her. Maybe it had been a gamble he wanted to take.

  Quinn smiled at him, a surge of pity rising up. After all, six months ago she might have been more intrigued. Now? No, now the Library had given her a home, and a found family, and even a way to keep in touch with her family and friends from her original world. Kajaro didn't understand at all. "I used to. But now I do belong. I wish everyone had such a place."

  A flash of something passed through Kajaro's eyes. She thought it might have been confusion. His information probably outdated since he'd been in stasis.

  He yawned, the movement taking him by surprise. "It's cold and lethargic here. I can't hear the voices I'm always in contact with. I'm not used to spending so much time with just my own thoughts."

  Maybe he should have thought about that before he ambushed them all, killed Escadril, two imps, and almsot killed Malakai. That's what she wanted to say to him. But she didn't. He wasn't being cooperative. She wasn't getting any information they didn't already have.

  "Tell me." He asked. "Since I seem to be stuck here, have you figured it out yet?"

  "Obviously not." Quinn said, rolling her eyes. She'd give him that.

  "What have you learned?"

  "That the Library was always supposed to fall, but the trapdoor Drav built in failed. So he's had to resort to other means."

  This time Kajaro looked impressed. "That's a lot more accurate than I'd have given you credit for."

  "Thanks, I think." She said, wondering why he didn't seem to have that sibilant echo to his words when speaking mind to mind.

  "And have you discovered the others yet? Because that's when the fun will truly begin."

  "Others... other dragons?"

  "Ah." He rolled his shoulders and then they sagged, like all his energy had been sucked out of him. "No... the others. I'm not sure if destroying the Library itself was a goal, but... S?lem truly are not the only people you have to watch out for. Some of them... some might even be closer than you think." He cackled and closed his eyes, his tongue flicking out involuntarily.

  Quinn parsed the information, desperately trying to make sense of it. Perhaps making too much sense of it in fact. She didn't want him to be telling the truth, but every part of her said he'd not been lying.

  He seemed to have gone still and she wasn't entirely sure what to do except leave. She turned as if to do so when he spoke back up.

  "Going so soon?" His tone held defeat, and a rawness that was surprising.

  "I'm not a fan of staying in hostile minds." Was all she answered.

  He chuckled. "I am aren't I? Hostile. It's odd. I wasn't as a child, you know. And here, where it's so cold, where you stopped me from resurrection? It's like I'm perpetually between the two planes. How very odd."

  Quinn filed that away, marvling at how she felt sorry for him, even though he'd killed people right in front of her. Half of her wanted to warn him that once Hal was done, resurrection would be an unlikely possibility for him, but she didn't want to offer him a chance to plan. Desperation gave people fuel.

  "Thank you for chatting." She said, turning to head back the way she came.

  "No problem." he laughed, and he did sound ever so slightly maniacal. "Come back any time. Not like I'm going anywhere."

  She half turned to look back at him, only able to see half of his face now from her angle. "If I have time." Which she wouldn't. But didn't everyone need hope?

  Just about to disengage, Kajaro spoke up once more. His voice more of a whisper as it crept over the stone halls toward her.

  "Be careful, Librarian. Some things in the mirror might be closer than they appear."

  She released the connection, having no idea what to make of that.

  Patreon and stuff