Running down the ridgeline of the rooftops, the cool breeze blew across Mylo’s skin and through the large openings in his oversized uniform. It helped alleviate the pain from the burn he had just procured. 

Willow ran ahead of him. Her footsteps were soft and quick as she sprinted across the shingles on her toes. She had to hold a hand to her head to prevent her guard’s cap from blowing off her head.

It was seldom that people looked up. A phenomenon Mylo hadn’t realized until he was running full speed across the top of buildings. No one expected anything particularly interesting to be happening above them. There were birds and clouds, but nothing that concerned the human world. Mylo could make out the tops of people’s heads, including the white caps of several patrolling guards. Their search would go unsuccessful down there.

Willow slid down the end of the rooftop, pulling to a halt at the lip of the roof. Small pieces of red slate were kicked off the ledge where her feet had stopped. She caught Mylo with an extended arm as he tumbled down the same path. 

The sprinting was causing his muscles to cramp as the blood from his heart couldn’t pump to them fast enough. Still, he tried to keep alert and awake, no matter how much his body wanted to dissolve into numbness. 

“Right there,” Willow said, pointing to a roof just across the gap. 

It was maybe a meter lower than where they stood. Just low enough to not block the backdrop of the Caskor palace with its soft pink conical roofs. Hopefully no royals decided to get fresh air out on their balconies. They may just witness two teens falling to the streets in an attempt to break into their library.

Mylo remembered what Saf had told him about finding a medic after his encounter. Maybe she would be getting her wish.

“You got some spring in you?” Willow questioned.

“Guess we’ll find out,” Mylo answered.

Willow launched herself from the lip of the roof, pushing off with just the right amount of force to land hands first on the slanted, red-shingled roof of the library.

It was Mylo’s turn now. He bent his knees, preparing himself to make the leap. With his cramped muscles and sore chest, what should’ve been an easy jump was now a 50/50. He saved the thoughts of demise for later, and with a step of momentum, he sprung towards Willow. 

His back foot caught the lip of the opposing roof.  He stabilized himself with his hands. Willow stood ready to assist him but he didn’t need it.

“Come on,” she said, not giving him a moment to breathe.

He followed her up the roof where she started examining a two paned arching window implanted in the roof.

Mylo peered through the glass. Inside was a small balcony that circled around the floor below. The sunlight illuminated a central pathway with several aisles of bookshelves extending from it. There were no people visible from this view. 

Willow removed a small knife from its sheath on the waistband of her uniform. She slid it between the wood rims of the two separate panes. There was a soft click. Willow resheathed her knife and stood. Raising her foot, she proceeded to kick in the window. The panes swung inward and stopped at 90 degrees by the limitations of their hinges. Willow slunk through the entrance into the library. 

Her whole sequence was so smooth. She must’ve done this kind of thing before. If she was Karn, they may have been waiting 15 minutes before he managed to open the window. 

Mylo followed her inside, landing on the creaky wood balcony. The damp coolness in the building was a nice change of atmosphere for Mylo.

The balcony circled around the entirety of the inside wall of the roof. On the sides adjacent to them were some seats, tables, and misplaced books. They were covered in a layer of dust, with cobwebs hanging from a few pieces of the furniture. People mustn’t have come up here that often. It was only accessible by the two ladders that hung on opposite sides of the balcony.

Willow was moving to the nearer one to the right of them. She had to tiptoe. The floorboards were squeaky, and they didn’t want to attract any attention.

Mylo followed Willow’s lead, keeping the same amount of caution as she was. He glanced at the books on the tables, trying to read their titles through the thick layer of dust. He didn’t have much luck. He turned his attention to the floor below them. It was dark, silent. There wasn’t a soul in sight. 

Willow began her descent on the ladder. Her hands gathered a new layer of dust with each rung she grabbed. She kept her attention on the end of the central pathway, ensuring no one would come running through the door.

Mylo moved down with her, gripping onto the dust-free handmarks Willow had made on each metal rung. He counted 15 rungs to the ground. He jumped from the end of the ladder to the extended aisle between two bookcases. 

The room seemed even larger now that he was down there. The bookcases stacked for several shelves. While not every one was completely full, there were still plenty of books on each. The task of finding his dad’s journal had become a whole lot more daunting. How much time did they have before someone came up here? The dust on the books indicated that it may be a while. 

Mylo could hear muffled voices from the floor below them. There was one voice that stood out above the rest. It was very direct. There must’ve been some kind of meeting occurring. He looked down. Warm light peeked through the cracks of the wooden floorboard, and he could see dark figures shift below.

Willow turned to him with a face of fright. “That’s my dad,” she mouthed.

Mylo looked at her wide eyed. He wondered if he had gotten word about them just yet. What if that was what they were discussing down there? Mylo tried to listen in, but the voices were too distorted. 

“Gold and red, right?” Willow questioned in a whisper, referring to his dad’s journal.

Mylo nodded. It should stand out a little bit.

“In and out,” Willow instructed. 

She took another item out of her waistband: a box of matches. She snuck to the end of the aisle and took two candles, one from the endcap of each of the enclosing bookcases. It didn’t seem like they hadn’t been lit in quite some time. She struck one of the matches and held the flame up to the wick, sharing it between the two. 

“Here.” She handed him a candle. 

Mylo held the wax cylinder and used it to illuminate the bookshelves. The heat was uncomfortable but not unbearable. As long as this didn’t take too long, he could tolerate it.

Mylo scoured each bookshelf. He ran his finger down the spines of several books, removing the layer of dust and reading the title that was on some of them. Caskor: A Historical Look, Palace Protocol: The Days Right Before Collapse, and Survey of the Fish Populace on the West Shore were just a few. He wondered why some of them had been locked away in this library. It didn’t matter right now, he supposed; there was only one book he should be looking for. 

He passed through yet another aisle with not even a single red-covered book. He was beginning to get hopeless. Maybe it wasn’t here. Maybe they really had just left it where his dad died. There were a couple more aisles to check first though. Before he could start, there was a light tap on his shoulder. Mylo just about jumped, snapping around to look at the offender.

“Sorry,” Willow whispered, trying to hold him still.

Mylo let out an exhale of relief. The needle in his heart punctured it once more from the panic. 

“Any luck?” she asked.

Mylo shook his head. “Not yet.”

“Let’s hope it's here," Willow said. “I've got some backups just in case.” Tucked under her right arm were a few books. She turned and continued her search. 

Mylo moved towards his last two unchecked aisles. They were closer to the door that led down to the main floor of the library. If someone came through now, he wouldn’t have much time to react. Maybe he wouldn’t have to, though. To his left, he saw the gold spine of a book tucked into the middle shelf of the closer bookcase. He bounded towards it and pulled it from the shelf. Could it be? He ran his hand over the red cover, scattering away the dust. It had to be. 

He wanted to jump for joy. Finally something had gone right today. He wanted to go tell Willow, but a nauseating feeling took over his body, sucking him of any delight. He looked at the door. No one was there, and he couldn’t hear footsteps, so what was giving him this bad feeling?

He glanced down at his candle. The flame was searing hot just to look at. A drop of liquid hot wax dripped down onto his hand. The pain was so severe it caused his hand to strain. He dropped the candle. It clattered on the ground, the flame going out with it. The muffled voices he heard earlier stopped. He turned his head behind him. 

Willow had exited out of the aisle she was in. She motioned at him to hurry back. 

He made a sprint for it. His feet pounded on the floorboards below him. If they hadn’t heard him earlier, they surely heard him now. He heard keys jangling in the lock of the door. 

Willow had already started climbing the ladder, clambering up rung by rung. The books she had collected were stuffed into her uniform.

Mylo was right behind her, despite what his body was screaming at him.

The door slammed open. It rebounded off the wall, vibrating violently from the impact.

“Willow!” A voice boomed across the room. “You get down here right now!”