Chapter 7 · Loopbound - Chapter 7: Nolan Calls Roll

I'm halfway across the quad when I realize I don't know where Vera actually is.

The voice in the wall said don't let Nolan know I'm awake. Fine. Great advice. Except Nolan's the Associate Dean and I'm sprinting past the library at three in the morning with Evan's blood still wet on my jacket sleeve. If anyone's watching the ward sensors, I'm lit up like a flare.

I cut left toward the old archives. If Vera's anywhere, she's there.

The path's empty. No students, no patrols, no constructs. That's wrong. Campus security runs animated sentries every hour after midnight. I've died to them twice—once because I thought I could outrun a stone hound, once because I didn't know they explode when you try.

Nothing tonight.

I slow at the archive's side door. It's propped open with a chunk of brick. Vera's mark. She's the only person on staff who still props doors like she's sneaking into her own building.

Inside smells like old paper and something sharper. Ozone. I know that smell now. Chrono-burn. When someone pulls too much time magic in a closed space, it scorches the air.

"Vera."

No answer.

I move through the stacks.