Beale decided to spend some time wandering around the corners of the Library he rarely saw while he waited for the rest of his new team to come back. Veronica had always made the Library sound like a magical place that had marvels in every nook and cranny, but Beale was not particularly impressed. Admittedly, he was spending most of his time trying to avoid his normal team, because he still wasn’t ready to talk to them yet. He was a little disturbed by the fact that Veronica wasn’t at her desk, or at the usual work table with the rest of the team. The rest of them had gathered, and he could see that there was concern on their faces, but he knew that his presence wasn’t going to improve the situation right then.

  While he had spent most of his time in the main reading room, he knew that there were other, smaller rooms meant for people from multiple universes to congregate outside of their individual universes. He’d gone to a couple of ModRom mixers in the past, but he found himself at sea with some of the characters from the more traditional Romance universes (so many of the woman were lacking in personality and depth, not like his Kelly at all), and so he hadn’t gone back. While wandering the Library this time, he stumbled upon a meeting room with several of the same person, all of whom were engaged in some kind of brawl with each other; he ducked out and closed the door as quickly as he could. He also found a proper coffee shop, which had sugar cookies that he didn’t remember seeing before, and he made a note to himself to ask Veronica why she would hide such delights from him. Actual sugar cookies! Well, as close to actual cookies as he could get in the Library, as opposed to Prime, but it was still head and shoulders above what he’d found before.

  Eventually, he made his way back to the work table where his new (temporary, he reminded himself) team was set up, hoping that the others had been successful in their quest. He met Kierkkegard on the way, as the cyborg had come out of a room Beale hadn’t noticed before. They gave each other the classic head nod of acknowledgement, and arrived at the table.

  Unsurprisingly, Cassidy was there, feet up on the corner of the table once again. This time, however, instead of scrolling through their phone, they were reading through a stack of papers, and had a pen in one hand with which they were making comments as they went down the page. The phone itself was on the table, next to several pages that had evidently been reviewed already, judging by the red pen marks and the way they had been laid face-down on the table..

  Beale was already aware that Kierkkegard was capable of moving almost silently, so he assumed that the loud steps the cyborg made were for Cassidy's benefit. The human cat's tail swished lazily once or twice, then remained dormant, curled around one leg of the chair in which Cassidy sat. Beale wondered how long it had taken for this kind of silent shorthand to develop between the team members, and what kind of similar communication he had with the rest of his real team. That line of thought was not going to be helpful at the moment, however, so Beale pushed it aside as he sat in the same chair he'd been in that morning. "Back from the Archive, I see. Anything good?"

  "This book is weird," Cassidy pronounced without looking up. “Is it young adult or adult? UrbFan or PoliFic? Who would even want to read something like this?" Cassidy shook their head as they made another mark on the page they were currently reading, crossing out a line completely. "How'd the author get this published, anyway?"

  "Indie pub," Beale responded, confident that the term would explain everything. From the blank looks on the faces of Kierk and Cassidy, however, he was wrong. "It's what they call self-publishing now. Sort of like vanity publishing? You know, where the author pays for the cost of publishing, along with any promotional work and editing and such, and then they put their book out into the world? It's been a pretty big deal in Prime the last few years. I've heard there are authors who are making their living off of books they're selling as indie published."

  Cassidy turned back to their paper with a shrug. "Whatever. Just means that no one with the slightest bit of sense ever took a look at this thing and realized that it just shouldn't be made public, is all. But no, now it goes out into the world and gets read, and then it becomes our problem." Cassidy's voice faded with a few other muttered comments, but Beale didn't try to listen too closely. He knew the type, and had dealt with them several times in the past.

  Some people were very fond of the world of traditional publishing, which involved a series of people who would review a book and make changes before it was published. The author didn't have to handle nearly as much of the labor up front with a publisher as they would have to as an indie author and publisher; however, they also wouldn't make as much money, nor would they have complete control over their books. Beale could understand why a lot of authors were willing to go the indie route, especially if they had been rejected by traditional publishers in the past. Sadly, not getting the official approval of a traditional publisher was enough to make some people, Cassidy evidently among them, believe that indie books were simply not of as high a quality. It was a shame, really, but there wasn't a ton that Beale could do about it. After all, Beale was from a traditionally-published universe himself.

  "You cannot blame an author for wanting to branch out beyond the edges of the known universes," Kierkkegard said unexpectedly. He was looking at Cassidy curiously. "After all, none of us would be here if someone hadn't looked beyond what already existed to see what might come next."

  "Whatever," Cassidy intoned, their voice flat. It was clear that they didn't want to keep discussing things. At that moment, their phone vibrated on the table, and the screen lit up with a message indicator. It jolted Beale out of his thoughts on publishing because it was so abnormal. To his knowledge, cell phones didn't work in the Library - so how was Cassidy receiving new messages on their phone? The thought was obviously not a strange one to either Cassidy or Kierkkegard, as neither of them seemed to think twice about the notification, but Beale was stunned. He desperately wanted to know if there was something that Cassidy had worked out that would allow them to use their phone in the Library, and if so, how he might get a hold of it.

  "Say, Cassidy, what kind of phone do you have?" Beale tried to keep his tone light and friendly, just one person asking another about their phone. He had such conversations in his universe all the time, and they had never turned out poorly, even the ones he was certain would be awful. "I've had a terrible job getting reception out here, so I'm wondering if you know something I don't."

  Cassidy's mouth curved into a smirk. "I bet there are a lot of things I know that you don't," they said laconically, before raising their head to look Beale in the eye. "As for the phone, I don't know. Lady Ruby got it for me when I joined her team. Said she always wanted to make sure she had a way to keep in touch with us, just in case. She also loaded a few different apps on it, with stories and images, so I use it to look at those, too. When I'm not working. You know." They turned back to their paperwork, their words completed for the moment.

  Beale thought to himself briefly, his mind racing. If Cassidy somehow had a phone that worked within the Library (by the sounds of it, the rest of the team did, too), then Lady Ruby would have the ability to contact them. He didn't know how that would look on the phone, or what other apps she had installed on the phone - she may have added some kind of spyware to keep an eye on her team when she wasn't there to watch them, or if they were just in a different part of the Library than she was and she wanted to keep an eye on things.

  Kierkkegard sat across from Cassidy, gesturing to the seat beside him for Beale. It left Beale sitting between the cat person and the cyborg, and as he settled himself into the chair, he reflected that this was not how he would have expected the day to go if someone had asked him two days ago where he would be. There was something to be said for the way things changed day to day working for the Library, he supposed, but there were times that he wished things would have stayed the way they had been before, when all he had known was his own universe. Idly, he picked up his own phone and looked at the texts that had been saved there from his past relationships.

  Beale hadn't realized Kierkkegard was watching him until the man said something. "You seem to have many people who send you their love." Beale jumped a bit, surprised by the sound of the metallic voice so close to his ear, and tried not to look as frightened as he felt. He couldn't stop the blush from heating his cheeks, however, and naturally, Cassidy zeroed in on his discomfort with a finely-tuned sense of humiliation.

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  "Oh? Does our ModRom have a lot of partners?" Cassidy sat up straighter in their chair, suddenly looking curious and with more emotion in their voice than Beale had ever heard. It made his cheeks get even more warm, and he was grateful that his blush wasn't as obvious as it would have been on someone like porcelain-pale Sofya, for instance. He did his best to keep his head up and not look down in embarrassment, but rather he met the cat person's eyes and watching the smirk on their face grow. He did pull his phone to his chest, trying to keep the screen covered and away from the other two, when they all heard the sound of a woman clearing her voice.

  "Clearly, I didn't leave you with enough to do," Lady Ruby sighed as she looked at the table, the three team members squabbling over a phone she didn't recognize. 'If I had, you wouldn't be reduced to this petty fighting in my absence. Well, show me what you've found."

  All three team members froze, then settled back into their seats with the attitude of students who had been reprimanded by the teacher. Beale wasn't sure how to respond, particularly since he hadn't gotten a specific mission from Lady Ruby before she left for the universe to pick up the author. He exchanged looks with Kierkkegard, who, as best as Beale could tell, looked similarly befuddled. Cassidy, thankfully, spoke up.

  "I managed to get the book Pretty Boy's team found up in the Archives - I don't think I know exactly what the errors were that the system was dealing with, but the manual review went pretty smoothly." Cassidy's tail had smoothed out again, which Beale realized meant that the tail must have been puffed up previously. The cat person was very good at disguising their discomfort when they wanted to. "The book seems like some kind of strange twig off the UrbFan branch, like it can't quite figure out what it wants to be. It's not very good," they added drily, picking up the copy they had left on the table during the cell phone argument. "I can't say that I would recommend it to anyone."

  "Have you ever actually recommended a book to someone before, Cass?" Joan pipped up. She had been following Lady Ruby, but was so much smaller than the Lady that she was invisible behind the team leader's immense robes. "I'm honestly kinda shocked that you've actually read a book. You don't strike me as the type to do much more than scroll through that infernal box in your paw."

  Cassidy's eyes narrowed, and Beale felt himself shrinking away from their suddenly dangerous face. He hadn't known that Cassidy had it in them to turn quite so angry, but he sure didn't want to see it aimed his way, and he wasn't about to get caught in the cross-fire if he could possibly help it. He looked back at Kierkkegard, and was gratified to see the cyborg responding similarly. He met Beale's eyes and simply shook his head no, pulling Beale's chair a little further away from Cassidy.

  Lady Ruby, fortunately, knew her team quite well and was able to step in at just the right time. "That's enough, you two," she said severely, looking between Joan and Cassidy. "People will think the two of you were related, the way you fight. And anyway, we have more important business at hand. Joan?"

  At the team leader's gesture, Joan scowled and moved around the taller woman to reveal herself completely. There had been a bit of an outfit change, as Lady Ruby had said would be the case - Joan was in a skirt and top that looked similar to the type of thing Veronica would wear, and it made Beale's heart stop for just a second. But only for a second, as he looked past her clothing and saw that she was not alone. Standing next to her was...someone. Something? No, it was roughly person-sized, though Beale couldn't quite make out any other shape beyond that. There were at least two feet, however, as Beale could see them on the floor, but the rest of the figure was covered in a sackcloth that reminded him of a shroud. It was none too clean, but it was whole, with no tears that he could see, and it was held onto the figure's midsection with a length of rope that ran several times around it and wound back to Joan's hand. Joan gave a sharp tug, and the figure stumbled forward, looking like they were seconds from falling over.

  Kierkkegard stood up and moved to the figure's side, watching Lady Ruby with each step. She gave him a silent nod, then turned to Joan and held out her hand. With yet another scowl, Joan thrust the end of the rope into Lady Ruby's hand and stomped over to the table. She didn't quite fling herself down into a chair on the other side of Cassidy - she was more careful than that, and she kept some distance from the cat - but she made her displeasure known.

  Kierkkegard, for his part, took the rope from Lady Ruby and gently followed it to the knot holding the shroud in place. "I'm sorry you had to be restrained like this," he said, in a voice approximating a sympathetic tone. "It was to keep you safe while you travelled. I'm going to untie you now, OK?" The top of the shrouded figured moved up and down in the manner of a head nodding, and Kierkkegard went to work on the knot. Meanwhile, Lady Ruby moved away from the tableau and took her place on her not-quite-throne. She caught Beale's surprised gaze.

  "What? Why do you seem so surprised? You knew that we needed to find the author and bring her back to the Library for questioning." Lady Ruby's eyes were wide open, the picture of earnest confusion. Beale felt his jaw drop slightly when he realized that, as far as she was concerned, this was business as usual. Everything had gone according to plan, and the author had been brought back. He looked at Cassidy and Joan, neither of whom were acting like anything was out of the ordinary, and back to Kierkkegard, whose thick fingers (both flesh and metal) were working their way through the knot with a gentleness Beale didn’t expect. Apparently, this was how the team operated - they went into the universes and what, kidnapped characters? Snatched and grabbed anomalies? It was...efficient, Beale supposed, but it seemed so counter ever instinct he'd picked up as an investigator that it made his head swim.

  Lady Ruby watched as Beale's face went through the cycles of his thoughts, before he relaxed into resignation and looked over at Kierkkegard and the - prisoner? Prize? Hostage? "Need any help, there?" he called, hoping for something to do to make him feel a bit more active and give him less time to sit and think. He'd always been better at handling strange situations when he was able to put his thoughts aside and work on a specific problem instead.

  Unfortunately, that wasn't going to work this time. Just as Beale asked, Kierkkegard managed to pull the rope free and gently peeled the shroud away from the lump it was hiding. Beale noticed that Kierkkegard, while being much more gentle than Joan had been, still kept one hand on the author at all times, so there wasn't any chance that they would be able to run away once they could see. Kierkkegard wasn't doing this for the first time, Beale noted sourly, and he couldn't help but wonder how many other people had been abducted by this team in this past.

  The author stood motionless once the shroud was removed, as though afraid to move at all. Her head was ducked down, long, tangled hair covering her face so Beale couldn't make out any features. Their clothing was worn and mended, utilitarian pants and some form of top covering the torso and arms, but again, the tangled mass of hair kept most details hidden. Beale thought she might be barefoot at first, but upon closer look he saw that she was wearing a pair of moccasins that had been caked in mud and dirt, and worn down so thin they were functionally part of the author's feet. Beale had to wonder just how long the author had been in the book, to be in such a state. Had she been in-universe for so long that she'd had to scramble and claw her way into some kind of shelter, some kind of life? Beale found himself feeling a bit sorry for her.

  Lady Ruby tutted irritably. "Come now, Ms. Jensen, we don't have all day. Put your head up like the proud woman we know you are, and come take a seat. The sooner you answer our questions, the sooner you can return to that lovely universe you've created." She beckoned to Kierkkegard, who started pulling the author to the table. The author didn't make it easy for him, refusing to pick up her feet and walk or lift her head, but rather remaining stock-still and essentially becoming dead weight. Kierkkegard tried pulling a little harder, but it was impossible to get the woman to move that way. He sighed deeply, then picked up the author in a fireman's carry and brought her over to the table, gently setting her down on a chair facing Lady Ruby's throne. The rest of the team and Beale hastily moved their chairs away, making the table less of a table of equals and more of an audience for an inquisition.

  Picking the author up seemed to pull her out of whatever trance she'd been in. Her head was up now, blue eyes burning brightly as she looked around wildly at the team. She settled her gaze on Lady Ruby and sneered. "You think I'll do anything for you, after you dragged me out of my home?" she asked hoarsely, her voice sounding as though she'd been shouting for weeks. "After you let that child pull her guns on me?" She turned a poisonous glare at Joan, who met her eyes steadily. Beale hated to admit it, but he was a little bit impressed by the girl's hutzpah. He doubted he could have met that kind of glare as easily as she did.

  "Well, yes, Ms. Jensen, I do expect you to answer my questions. We need to know how it is, exactly, that you managed to make your way into your 'home,' as you so quaintly described it." Lady Ruby continued on as though the woman hadn't said anything out of the ordinary. "What you've done is quite unusual, and when we encounter such things, we need to learn about them, find out how they work. Sure you understand - I believe you were an academic out in the Land of Men?"

  Beale blinked rapidly. The Land of Men was an extremely old term for Prime. Just how old was Lady Ruby?