Quinn wasn’t even out of breath when she made it to Harish’s laboratory. Although she wasn’t sure, that’s what she should call it.

  “Ah, Librarian.” He said without looking up.

  “Quinn.” Siliqua actually flashed her a brief smile before going back to her console. “We’re almost done here.”

  “Great.” Quinn couldn’t help the butterflies of excitement she felt in her stomach. This was a good step. To get their functioning supervisory golem back would be fantastic. “Will Misha be...”

  “Be?” Siliqua murmured in response as she divided her attention.

  “...anything like she used to be?” Quinn finished off. She could sense the others had come in after her. She might have jogged ahead, considering she was eager to see if Misha was already awake and functioning.

  Siliqua actually looked up at Quinn. “I thought Harish explained. There will be elements of Misha that are gone because they were never theirs to begin with. But we do have hope that a large portion of their personality will have remained because of the time we took to delicately separate the two entities that were intertwined in their core. However... there are now gaps there that will need to be filled in with new experiences.”

  Quinn wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so she just nodded.

  Siliqua reached over and tugged Quinn to the massive projected console she stood at. “Look... see this diagram?”

  It was a spherical item that looked much like the cross section of a baseball. Quinn nodded.

  “See these lines that work their way intricately from the sides and all the way through?” Siliqua waited for Quinn’s confirmation before continuing. “Those are the pathways that have been developed. Where you see blank ones, those will need to be refilled in whatever meaningful ways Misha chooses. But, in the grand scheme of things, at least their core was mostly unchanged. Misha was fighting and strong. Things will be okay.” She reached over and gave Quinn’s hand a squeeze of reassurance.

  Quinn was grateful.

  “Alright then.” Harish spoke up. “I think we’re about ready if you want to go stand next to the pod.”

  Quinn didn’t need to be told twice. She moved over, with Lynx standing next to her, and Malakai on the other side. Both Milaro and Eric hovered off to the other side, probably unsure of their required location.

  A whirr hummed through the room and Quinn watched the pod as it began to glow. She could look down and see Misha’s face as it began reforming. Quinn was relieved to see the fine hair spin itself back into being, the moonstone eyes form and the eyelids over the top of them slot into place. The thin line for the mouth and the habitual silver with an underlying black tone as it all came together.

  Misha would at least look the same as they always had. Everything else? Well, they’d know soon enough.

  Finally, with a brief hiss of hydraulics, the lid opened and slid down.

  Quinn stood there, practically holding her breath while she waited. Surely, Misha would remember them.

  The golem in the pod sat up, almost reverberating in place. Moonstone eyes flashed through silver and blinked rapidly.

  Misha gripped the side of the pod and leveraged themself out within seconds. They stood there, acclimating it seemed, perhaps running through their connection, maybe even figuring out who they were and where they were.

  Quinn didn’t want to break the spell. After all, the golem legitimately looked like Misha. So, she stood her ground and waited, as much as she would have liked to bite her nails instead.

  “Calibration Question.” Misha’s voice sounded the same. That faint metallic cling to it.

  “Proceed.” Harish intoned, as if he were accessing base commands. Quinn wondered if that was a thing with the system.

  “Data corruption at zero percent. However, there are several data inconsistencies and holes. Clarify.”

  Harish frowned and his fingers flew over the consoler as he typed whatever it was he needed to do urgently. There was a brief beep and Misha whirred briefly.

  “Much better.” Misha moved their arms, stomped their feet, and did several patdowns of themselves. Then they turned to Quinn. “Librarian. It is good to see you.” A small smile flickered at the corner of Joshua’s couch.

  The relief that flooded through Quinn when Misha greeted her was almost indescribable. She hadn’t expected this. Wanted it? Of course. But she’d been so sure Misha, who’d basically been there since the beginning, had been taken by this whole damned fiasco of a Library thing too. It was amazing how full of life the last six months had been.

  “Misha.” Quinn hoped her voice carried how much it meant to her that Misha had returned.

  She swore the golem wore a smile.

  “That I am.” This time there was a slight downturn to the golem’s mouth. “Strange there are... discrepancies. Several books we need to go over. I do believe I stopped them from being able to retrieve the ones they wanted. But I seem to be at a loss for some of the last few months. I do apologize.”

  Quinn just blinked at the supervisor golem. “Do you feel yourself, mostly?”

  “Yes, most of the time is there, but I can find gaps where something has been removed.” Misha turned to look at Harish. “What are these, and how do I solve them?”

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  Harish cleared his throat, reaching back to touch a few keys before facing the front again and carrying on. “You cannot solve them. They are no longer your memories to use. “

  Misha frowned again, and the moonstone eyes glittered brightly through many phases and several possibilities. “I do see. He succeeded in taking me over then?” There was a defeated tone already in their voice. As if they remembered glimpses of the internal battle they’d endured, remembered standing up for the Library and the connection, and remembered what it is to stick to one’s convictions.

  The supervisory golem cocked their head from side to side as if testing equilibrium before taking a few very cautious steps. They moved around the pod they’d climbed out of, slowly becoming more sure of their movements with every step they took. Another shake of the head. Several more steps. Expressions flying over their face at a rate of... well, fast.

  Quinn watched, fascinated by the way Misha was recalibrating, adjusting. The room watched as Misha continued to test limits, push boundaries, and then eventually rolled their shoulders as they turned to face the other occupants of the room.

  “Did you remove the invader?” Misha asked.

  Siliqua stepped forward. “That we did. How do you feel? How are your pathways? What of your core?”

  Misha stood, that same small frown tugging at their lips for a few seconds. “I am missing key memories of my tenure here. But nothing until several weeks ago. Wait.” Their eyes turned into darker pools very briefly.

  Quinn only hoped that meant they were looking inward or behind or something that didn’t mean another core was about to take them over.

  “Yes.” Misha said. “I believe the glitches I seem to have suffered became substantially more pronounces about three months ago.”

  Harish let his fingers fly over the console, inputting data, tracking down graphs and information if what Quinn saw on his screen projection was anything to go by.

  “And before then?” SIliqua pushed gently.

  “Normal. Or mostly normal.” Misha paused, “Of course as the Library itself was witnessing some problems, I thought mine were occurring inline with those. I do apologize for worrying people by not reporting them. I never, for even a second, though these were unique to myself.”

  Siliqua’s fingers tapped a soothing cadence into her entries. “That’s a good sign, though. You’re being analytical. Not run by anger.”

  “I do apologize.” Misha said suddenly. “I seem to have lost my connection to the Library. I cannot access any of the databases to make sure the work has been completed in my absence.”

  “It’s okay. When the Supervisor reared his head, we shut off your access temporarily in order to safeguard the Library.” Quinn spoke gently. “It’s good to see you back. How do you feel?”

  “Wise decision.” Misha, it seemed, understood the motivations. But they paused briefly, as if contemplating Quinn’s question. “As for how I feel? Right now, without my usual access, I feel sort of distanced. I recognize all of you. And have a certain fondness for most of you.” Their gaze lingered briefly on Eric.

  “Hey that isn’t fair! Why am I the only one you don’t remember fondly?” Eric grumbled.

  “Do I really need to elaborate?” Misha deadpanned. But Quinn could see they were at least partially kidding. Eric’s penchant for hefty fines was a running joke, and Misha was more of a by the books sort of golem.

  “Excellent.” Quinn said, feeling like this was a sort of silver lining. After all, at least Misha had been able to be saved.

  “What must I prove in order to assume my role again?” Misha asked.

  Siliqua cleared her throat. “We just need to run some diagnostics, make sure everything is free of... Supervisor, double check your creation was correct this time, and then Quinn can reallocate your permissions.”

  Misha nodded. “I am ready for the tests.”

  And just like that... Misha was back. Well, sort of anyway.

  “Should I stay?” Quinn asked, unsure of this whole procedure.

  “Oh. No. I just thought you’d like to be here when they woke up. You’ve been worried for ages about this.” Siliqua gave Quinn a soft smile. “You’re almost as bad as Nishpa with the worrying.”

  Quinn rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’ll be in my office. Come over when you’re ready Misha, I’ll get you all set up then.”

  They left Misha to undertake their tests while Quinn decided she needed to look into the murder board some more.

  Something was eating at the back of her mind. Nibbling away at her sanity, taunting her with something she’d forgotten. Milaro said his farewells for now as they approached the office, but Malakai, Eric, and Lynx came along with her. Aradie was preening on her perch when they got in.

  Walking up to the board, Quinn frowned.

  She hadn’t put those weird dreams up there. Not the one between Drav and Dro... and not any of the other hints she’d gathered. Because hadn’t they said there was a way to get into the Library? That Drav had built in a failsafe, or at least thought he had.

  Which meant there were likely weaknesses in the protections placed around the Library. How did they go about finding those in the first place so they could reinforce them?

  Obviously, just rebuilding or strengthening wards upon wards wouldn’t help if one of the lower or original building blocks was faulty. That would only cause the entire structure to come falling down around their ears.

  “What’s bugging you?” Lynx asked, prodding her arm with a finger.

  Quinn shook her head. “That’s just it. I can’t quite put my finger on it. I feel like it should be jumping out at me, like it’s on the tip of my tongue.”

  “Share.”

  She looked at him. “What do you mean, share?”

  “Your thought process. Most of us might be able to use telepathy, but your wards are formidable and you haven’t invited us in. So talk to us. Share the thought process so we can all work on it.” Lynx crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently.

  And Quinn realized she’d totally forgotten she didn’t have to do this all on her own. “Oh. Yes. Of course.” And so she went through her current thought process since she got back to the room and waited to see what the rest of them thought.

  Lynx’s eyes went crazy, and this time, Quinn did balance a book on his head.

  He growled softly. “My glitches have almost been fixed. I’m aware while connecting now.”

  Quinn laughed and removed the book, oddly annoyed that part of her fun had just been removed.

  Malakai frowned at her board. “You know. If we strip away the protections and rebuild from the ground up, that leaves us too vulnerable.”

  Quinn resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Yes. Quite.”

  “Don’t be like that. I’m sorting through it verbally.”

  “Sorry.” she cringed.

  “Anyway. Couldn’t we build a second wall, for want of a better word, right next to the original and just get rid of the original after the new one is done?”

  “Technically.” Quinn mulled it over. “But that might also not address the breach. However, they’re getting into the Library, into my dreams, in through the wards to get to the ritual circle and leech off the information... however they’re doing that? That’s what we need to shut down. And while I keep thinking there are more important things out there, anyone with nefarious intentions breaching our security? Yeah, that’s not going to bode well.”

  She sighed. There really was only one thing to do.

  “You know what we have to do, right?” Malakai asked, obviously suppressing laughter.

  Quinn grinned. “Yeah. I’ll see if we can coax Hal over.”

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