I couldn’t help my smirk.
“Do you have a minute?” he asked. “Can we talk or not?”
I glanced around. Although I was the only staff here today, Mondays were easy. There was only one person in the library, and I’d already checked out her books. She was just reading now.
“Come on. Let’s go to the office.”
* * *
“I was planning on asking permission to cast a memory spell on your parking lot anyway,” I said. “So yeah. I can see if there was anyone there you missed.”
“That’d be great. I’d appreciate it. But…” He kneaded his temple for a moment. “Look, I know it sounds crazy, but no one was there.”
It took a lot for me to think something was crazy. “I wasn’t saying you were. There are tons of invisibility spells, and Demons that have that as an ability, and—”
“No, I know, but I still would’ve smelled them, or heard their heartbeat, orsomething. But no one was there. I was looking right at the spot the bullet came from.”
That did sound a little crazy. “We’ll do some digging. I’ll come by Spades tonight, and we’ll see what we can find.”
He nodded slightly, eyes on the floor.
“Is that all?”
He stayed quiet for a moment.
“Declan,” I said. He looked up. “Is that all?”
Slowly, he shook his head.
“What is it then?”
Another moment of silence, but his eyes stayed on mine. There was something in that gaze that I couldn’t quite put into words. It was serious, yet somehow gentle, and simultaneously assertive. A complex gaze, I know, but that was the only way to explain it.
I waved a hand before his face. “Anybody in there?”
He pawed my hand to my side. Not aggressively, but perhaps with a bit of annoyance. “You’re sure you didn’t cast a binding spell on us.”
“I already told you—”
“No, I know. Sorry.” He whooshed dark hair from his face. “I’m not accusing you. I just wanted to make sure because I…”
I waited. But he just went back to staring at me.
“Okay, you need to stop doing that.”
“Stop what?”
“Ogling at me.”
“Ogling?”
“Yes, ogling.” I crossed my arms, awkwardly tucking my shoulders in. “It’s weird.”
A half smirk. “You’re pretty. Sorry.”
My cheeks warmed, but I went back to glaring. “Is there something else on your mind that you’d like to share? Or are we just going to stand here and stare at each other?”
“Yeah, there is. I’m just not sure how to say it.” He paused again, eyes bleeding into mine. “Have you ever heard of the par animarum?”