The Altered.

Chapter XLIII.

"Ahh," Lia sighed when the group reached the second floor. "I love the smell of books."

Meanwhile, Miles was wrinkling his nose. "I'm not half surprised."

Percy said, "We need to change clothes or we're going to get sick."

Miles liked the idea of changing clothes. Their clothes were dripping all over the carpet, and the sticky feeling of rain-slick clothes plastered to his body was something he'd rather rid himself of as soon as possible.

"Where do you think we're going to find clothes in a library, Percy?" Lia asked. She sounded tired, but also looked uncomfortable in the soaking clothes.

"Actually," Miles said. "Beneath the library - around the opposite side from where we entered - there's a couple of little stores. Coffee shops, souvenir places, probably a clothing shop or two."

"Isn't it dangerous to go back out?" Aaron asked.

"Maybe," said Miles with a shrug. "But if we leave through the back door of the library we can probably just slip into one of the stores without even getting wet. They're all under the same roof."

Aaron seemed confused, but didn't ask questions.

"I'll go," Miles offered, since he knew where it was and he knew that the others would probably have asked him to go, anyway. "Can someone come with me?"'

"You're going now?" Lia sounded shocked.

"What, you want me to wait 'til nightfall or something?" Miles scoffed. "I'm telling you, it's easy to get into those stores from the back exit of the library. We'll be perfectly safe."

"I'll go, then," she said, tugging the backpack off her back and passing it to Percy. "We won't need that," she explained when Percy gave her a quizzical look.

Miles wondered if he ought to leave his knife behind - it was still in his hand. Lia had hers, too. He decided against it. It was better to be safe than sorry.

"Are there any food stores down there?" Aaron asked, and it only now struck Miles that that was something that would be useful information.

"I don't think so," Miles replied. "I mean, unless you get want week-old cafe food."

Aaron waved a dismissive hand through the air. "No, thanks. We can find somewhere else."

"We have enough food for now," Eira said.

Miles wasn't as concerned about food right now as he was about getting what they needed while the rain outside would continue to drown the sound of their movements. "Lia, let's go."

Lia met Miles by the top of the escalator, ready to go back down again. "If we're not back in fifteen minutes -"

"We'll be back," Miles interrupted, grabbing her sleeve and giving it a soft tug towards the escalator. He started down it, one hand on the railing and knife in the other hand. He sensed Lia hesitate behind him, but she eventually followed him, trotting to reach his side.

"So," she said when they met the bottom, "where are we actually going?"

Miles took the lead by a few inches, taking a minute to remember where he was going before setting off. "There's another entrance to the library. The doors to it are manual and can be opened only from the inside, so we'll open those. Then there's like, a patio area with cafes and other small stores." Miles wove his way around sleeping HelpBots and continued on. "It's sheltered, so we won't get wet. Then we'll go onto the path and duck into the first clothing place we see."

"You said we'd be safe!" Lia said. "Going out onto a public path isn't safe. We'll be in plain sight."

Miles knew that what he'd said before hadn't been entirely accurate, but he couldn't take it back at this point. "Look, we'll be in and out of the first clothing store along the path real quick. We won't be seen."