Alcatraz versus the Scrivener's Bones Read Online Free PDF Page B

want to go to Alexandria? It’s not a very friendly place.”
    “Grandpa Smedry is there,” I said. “That means we need to go too.”
    “He didn’t say he was going to Egypt,” Australia said, glancing again at the crumpled note that he’d sent.
    “The Library of Alexandria is one of the most dangerous places in the Hushlands, Lord Smedry,” Draulin continued. “Most regular Librarians will only kill or imprison you. The Curators of Alexandria, however, will steal your soul. I cannot, in good conscience, allow you to be placed in such danger.”
    The tall, armored woman still stood with her arms behind her back. She kept he r silver hair long but in a utilitarian ponytail, and she did not meet my eyes, but instead stared directly forward.
    Now, I’d like to point out that what I did next was completely logical. Really. There’s a law of the universe – unfamiliar to most people in the Hushlands but quite commonly known to Free Kingdoms scientists. It is the called the Law of Inevitable Occurrence.
    In simple layman’s terms, this law states that some things just have to happen. If there’s a red button on a console with the words DON’T PUSH taped above it, someone will push it. If there’s a gun hanging conspicuously above Chekhov’s fireplace, someone is going to end up shooting it (probably at Nietzsche).
    And if there’s a stern woman telling you what to do – yet at the same time calling you “my lord” – you’re going to just have to figure out how far you can push her.
    “Jump up and down on one foot,” I said, pointing at Draulin.
    “Excuse me?” she asked, flushing.
    “Do it. That’s an order.”
    And she did, looking rather annoyed.
    “You can stop,” I said.
    She did so. “Would you mind telling me what that was about, Lord Smedry?”
    “Well, I wanted to figure out if you’d do what I commanded.”
    “Of course I will,” Draulin said. “As the oldest child of Attica Smedry, you are the heir to the pure Smedry line. You outrank both your cousin and your uncle, which means you are in command of this vessel.”
    “Wonderful,” I said. “So that means I can decide where we go, right?”
    Bastille’s mother fell silent. “Well,” she finally said, “that is technically true, my lord. However, I have been charged with bringing you back to Nalhalla. Asking me to take you to suc h a dangerous location would be foolhardy, and – “
    “Yeah, that’s just spiffy,” I said. “Australia, let’s get going. “I want to be in Egypt as soon as possible.’
    Bastille’s mother closed her mouth, growing even more red in the face. Australia just shrugged and reached over to put her hand on another glass square. “Um, take us to the Library of Alexandria,” she said.
    The giant glass dragon shifted slightly, beginning to undulate in a different direction, six wings flapping in succession.
    “That’s it?” I asked.
    Australia nodded. “It’ll still take us a few hours to get there, though. We’ll fly up over the pole and down into the Middle east, rather than out toward Nalhalla.”
    “Well, good, then,” I said, feeling a little anxious as I realized what I’d done. Only a short time back, I’d been eager to get to safety. Now I was determined to head to a place that everyone else was telling me was insanely, ridiculously dangerous?
    What was I doing? What business did I have taking command and giving orders? Feeling self-conscious, I left the cockpit again. Bastille trailed along behind me. I’m not sure why I did that,” I confessed as we walked.
    “Your grandfather might be in danger.”
    “Yeah, but what are we going to do about it?”
    “We helped him in the last Library infiltration,” she said. “Saved him from Blackburn.”
    I fell silent, walking down the glass corridor. Yes, we had saved Grandpa Smedry… but… well, something told me that Grandpa Smedry would have gotten away from Blackburn eventually. The old Smedry had lived for more than a