She woke up sweating looking frantically around her room.
It was just a dream.
She rubbed her neck expecting to feel a mark, or some type of evidence that the night wasn't a dream.
Nothing
She sighed and layed back down. Checking the time realising she had to be up in two hours.
Goddes have mercy.
She rolled over slowly drifting back to sleep.
She woke up by banging on her door, frustrated she pulled a pillow over her head trying to drown out the noise but whoever it was, was relentless.
Huffing she got up to open the door when the door flew open. Mira stood smiling with a paper bag and some coffee from the buildings cafeteria. Tired she turned around and waved for her come in.
She threw her self on her blanket rolled up and got up to sit at the table, just big enough for two people.
"Wow you look great"
Amber heard the sarcasm
"Coffee" she reached her hand out and Mira laughed.
"You're lucky you're a natural beauty. Slap some decent clothes on and you're good to go" she snickered "rough night?"
She thought on it, she couldn't tell her about her dreams.
"Just restless, I sent out a email yesterday and I'm just a bit nervous on how they will respond" she didn't fully lie.
"Oh?" She raised her eyebrows
"It's dumb, it felt good at the time but now I'm not so sure" she logged into her work email to show what she had sent. "I just thought after being so smug about me falling and stuff I could get back at him like saying hey I see your shit to"
Mira was laughing now "that has to be the pettiest thing I've seen in a long time"
Amber hid her face in her hands. "Everyone will read it, all the professors and some of the students. Everyone with a late book" she grabbed Mira's arm looking at her seeking any type of reassurance "and there was alot of late book".
Mira laughed even harder now.
"They won't even know what it's about. They think they're getting a late notice and if the Dean says anything you were just doing your job. They assigned you to the library and you're looking after it" she shrugged.
"You'll be alright".
Nodding Amber hoped she was right. It sounded good, she could play it off like she didn't mean anything by it.
"Now get dressed we need to get to work"
She thanked the goddess she had paired with Somone like Mira. Breakfast, coffee and advice all in one morning. She made a mental note to make sure her friend would know how much she would appreciate her.
When she came to the library there was a huge stack of books. Knowing it would take hours to log and put back where it belongs she cursed herself for being petty. She unlocked the door and went in to find something to stack the books on so she could get them in without getting a full workout done.
Some Professors had came down explaining they had given some books to students but assured her they would be back soon or at the very least be logged as lost.
Amber had told them it was nothing to worry about she just needed to know so she could request to order some more books. On the subject they asked if they could make requests and wrote lists for her with what they might need.
Thanking her for taking the initiative, most librarians there had just stamped cards and gone home.
She felt a little bit of guilt. She hadn't done it to be nice, she had done it cause she was frustrated with Ezra. He had gotten into her head and she wanted to do something, anything to say you're not perfect.
She sighed. Atleast some good came out of it. And there was no word from The Dean. Not that he would care really, she didn't know why she thought he would be bothered. He's the fricking Dean, he could do whatever he wanted with the books.
She found an old trolley and stacked the books on it going through them one by one in alphabetical order through the different genres. There was some fiction, Fantasy and crime novels aswell but most of them was history and fact checking for human and wolves alike.
There was a few books she didn't recognise. Thick and worn out with golden edges, she looked through them carefully afraid she might break it. It was written in an old dialect and difficult to understand, there was pictures of symbols and wolfes, bonfires and orgies.
She blushed. Wonder who had these? It reminded her lot like the pure breed fanatics she heard about in the past. They were essentially a cult who believes that non gifted bloodline's shouldn't mate and potential non-gifted gets culled. They had a weird thing about only mating for the purpose of bearing child in their wolf state during full moon to be closer to the moon goddess. They thought it pleased her and she would reward them.
Did they have fanatics on campus?
They couldn't. It was strictly forbidden to practice or teach those type of views on official schools.
there was drawings of the moon goddess, she was beautiful looking down and her wolves with love shining her moonlight for all the wolves to feel. Her long hair covering her naked skin.
"Those are forbidden for students. Just being in contact with one would mean suspension or getting kicked out" the voice startled her and she closed closed the book quickly.
She turned around and saw The Dean standing behind her looking thoughtfully at the book.
"It wasn't me, it was here this morning. I'm just trying to figure out what shelf it's supposed to be on" she lied trying to hide the fact that she was doing something wrong.
"It belongs in the locked room in the archives but you had already figured that out didn't you? You're a smart wolf" his voice was cold and his shifted from the book to her.
She shifted her feet nervously. Looking at his stance and stone cold eyes she knew she had definitely done something she shouldn't.
"I couldn't make out what it is anyway, and it wasn't part of the return list"
Excuses.
She's sounding like a child caught misbehaving.
He examined her for a minute and relaxed.
"It's a book cherished by cults. It's forbidden because it'll put ideas in weak minds but still, we keep them because they still have valuable knowledge and history. We just have to decide what we can teach from it and what stays buried" he opened the book.
"These are rituals to contact the moon goddess" his finger pointed at the picture she had seen with humans and wolves being naked in piles.
"Orgies? you don't want a bunch of students having sex all over campus or that's what you were hoping to see on bonfire night?" She didn't mean to say that last part but she couldn't help smiling at it.
His face flashed with irritation. Not quite anger but definitely annoyed.
He turned the page and pointed. It was almost the same drawing she had seen before with the beautiful moon goddess and all her love. But it was perversed. She was covered in blood and she looked sinister. Followers stood underneath faced towards dead naked people everywhere.
"That's the same ritual" he added.
"The book went missing a while back when o was teaching at the school and we been working hard to track it. In it's absence we realised more like it was missing and they appointed me Dean to deal with the situation. I have more authority than my title. The title was just a title nothing else" he closed the book.
She felt sick. She couldn't imagine that she had actually been looking at a real event in history that would be so horrific.
"This has actually been done?"
"And still is. Not on this scale but it's happening" he was watching her reaction. He seemed satisfied with it.
She had gone pale. How on earth is this a thing. The moon goddess surely didn't reward them.
"Did they ever think that it's because of them our gifts are disappearing" she felt such anger. They were no better than humans and their wars.
He was amused. "It's not for us to say" he picked up the books and nodded for her to follow
"Whose to say the moon goddess isn't evil?maybe she isn't even a god" he shrugged.
"And not for you to worry about, the grown-ups are handling it" he smiled at that.
She didn't smile, his arrogance was back.
She was a grown up. Old enough to drink and old enough for this school, she wasn't taking the bait he was trying to wind her up again.
They had walked all the way to the end of the library towards a door she had never managed to open, gray insignificant and she had assumed it led to a basement with pipes and boilers and things for maintenance to access if they ever needed. They stopped Infront of it and he dropped the books in her arms. Heavy but she acted as she was unbothered by the weight.
If he noticed he didn't let it show he got a bundle of keys out from his pocket and flicked through them til he found the right one. He unlocked the door and held his hand on the handle for a minute before turning to her thoughtfully.
"This will be the only time you're allowed down here. And you will not speak of it ever" his voice was harsh, the tone was commanding. And she knew she'd stay quiet about it even if she didn't want to. The wolf inside her made sure of it.
She bit her lip and nodded.
Satisfied with her response he gave a quick nod and opened the door.
There was stone stairs leading down in a spiral lit up with a couple of dim lights just enough to make out the steps. She was growing anxious. He had just caught her reading things she shouldn't, the fact that she knew they existed was by all means a crime.
And she was being told to go down this path with a man who claimed was protecting them from it. Who was to say he wasn't the fanatic, he could have been the crazed person. Covering his tracks cause she sent out an email.
Who else could have put the books there for her to find.
She hesitated and looked back at the library exit. Maybe she could run, if she was fast enough.
She looked back up at the Dean and his eyes went dark.
"Move" he commanded
She swallowed and did as she was told. Walking slowly down the steps as he closed the door behind her and with the library light gone so was her hope of escape.