The Right to Die | ✓ Amby Winner 2023

10. Mice and Rats

M'yu bit his lip, holding back a laugh, and Ruslan's face went deadly slack. He took a step closer, body wound for a punch. His teeth grit. "I said, say it."

M'yu glanced up to meet his eye. "Are you sure?"

"Are you talking back, brat?"

"No, no, sir. Fine then. Fine." M'yu let his body language deflate but slipped some extra lockpicks from his coat sleeve behind his back. As somber as he could manage, he said, "Ruslan is nothing more than a filthy guttersnipe."

The boy threw a punch, but M'yu was ducking before Ruslan had even finished rearing back. Where he hit, there was no M'yu; his fist slammed into the hard door. "Sorry, sir," M'yu said. "I was too busy bowing and scraping to take your punch, I suppose."

"You little—"

M'yu ducked another punch, but it was difficult while trying to keep his hold at the door. With his back against the wall, he could only keep up the dodging for so long. "Ruslan," M'yu pleaded. "What are the teachers going to think when I come to class with a black eye?"

"That you got it on the streets," he growled, throwing another punch. His hand hit the door again, just barely whizzing past M'yu's ear.

M'yu shoved him off, then slipped the lockpick into the door behind him. The lock popped, and M'yu shoved the door open, tumbling into the hall. Ruslan hurried out after him, looking like an entirely different boy. He straightened his jacket and ran a hand back through his slicked hair. The only thing that maintained was the dark gleam in his eye and the sick grin on his face. "Shall we continue the tour then?"

M'yu swallowed. He wasn't used to fighting with rats who could swipe at him when he couldn't swipe back, who changed into mice when the cameras were on. A teacher strolled down the hall and nodded at Ruslan. Ruslan raised a hand in respectful greeting.

M'yu used the shadows and distraction to disappear around the corner. He watched Ruslan glance around for him, but M'yu held still. Hiding was more about holding your will than having the best spot. Ruslan called his name like you might a friend, but what M'yu heard was a butcher calling to his chickens. He waited for Ruslan to wander off a direction looking for him, then peeled away to hunt down this library that Sviya had mentioned.

The building had no signs. He wished he could tap the place's security just to get a map, but for that, he'd need a linkcard that was halfway programmable. He cursed under his breath, wondering why Ruslan had one and how to convince Aevryn not to deny him any sort of weapon.

The halls were quiet, so there was nobody to mind as he cracked open doors and peered inside. They really were ridiculously early, and M'yu sucked on the witchcandy sore in his mouth, worrying. M'yu couldn't believe Dymtrus had shown up here just to meet Aevryn. These people had him nailed to a tee. It was no wonder he was so desperate for M'yu to find some dirt on them.

M'yu closed the door to a large auditorium and continued through the labyrinthine halls. After long enough that he was starting to hear hubbub from the other halls, he finally spotted an arch marked THE GREAT LIBRARY. Sighing, M'yu hurried through the heavy doors.

A wide, circular study area took up the main space, filled with dozens of tables and hundreds of chairs. Around the clearing loomed a forest's worth of books, all stacked neatly in rows and rows of bookcases. Staircases on M'yu's left and right wound up to a second floor, leading to more books, and in the back, past that—

Consoles!

M'yu sprinted up the curving stairs, wound along the rail overlooking the first floor, and bee-lined toward the glistening black screens. There were two whole banks of the beauties, ten deep. At the school in the Gloam, there had been only one console in the entire place, hidden deep in the headmaster's office.