“What!” Nell gasped.
He was grinning now, thrilled to be able to give her some good news for once. “It’s great, isn’t it?”
“Yes—I mean, I don’t know,” she fumbled. “The library definitely does need better security, but . . . a tech company? It’s like the exact opposite of what the library is all about.”
“Come on, it’s not like that,” he said. “Yes, Haberson is huge, but it’s a good company. More data will always benefit us, but it’ll help the NYPL, too. Ainsley Simmons herself has been in constant communication with the police since the day of the break-in, and we’re helping them search for the burglar using our tech—it’ll only be a matter of time before it finds Wally. And until then, the library will be impenetrable. Every map and book will be backed up a dozen times, the archives better organized, and all inventory tagged with microscopic chips, trackable to the millimeter.”
Nell made a face at that last part. She was even more old-fashioned than her father when it came to technology. He used to tease her constantly about it.
“Bottom line, the library will be safe,” Felix repeated. “And so will this map, if you let the library have it.”
Nell sighed and ran her hands through her hair.
“Plus, this is your last night with it anyway,” he said. “You’re still going to meet Irene tomorrow, right?”
Nell nodded—with far less enthusiasm than he’d been hoping for.
“Irene will keep her word,” he continued, trying to remind her of how much she missed her old job. “You could be back in those halls in no time. The library needs a Young in it!”
It was working. Nell was smiling now, despite not wanting to. He could see how excited she was, and how conflicted. How badly she wanted both things at the same time. “You know me.” She sighed, frustrated.
“Yep.” He shook his head affectionately. “Can never let anything go.”
Especially this.
It had hung over her life for seven long years—even more than that, if he now considered the way it had shadowed her entire childhood, unbeknownst to them. How much more would she let it take?
“I just wish . . .” She sighed again. “I’m so close, so close. If I could just get there, I’m sure it would finally explain things with my dad. About why he did what he did to us that day, when I accidentally found it the first time. About why he was always the way he was, even. The way our relationship was.”
“I get it. I do. But maybe some things are worth more,” Felix replied.
“Like what?” she asked.
“The future,” he said, and then closed his mouth suddenly, shocked that it had slipped out.
She stared at him, surprised too.
“Like your job back,” he raced on, before she could say anything. “I just meant, this map already ruined things during the Junk Box Incident, and it seems like all of Dr. Young’s friends want to keep the past in the past, as well. If you let the library and the police take over, you might not get all the answers about this map, but maybe what you could get instead would be better. Not to mention safer.”
Felix held his breath as he watched Nell weigh the choices, trying to see which way she would go.
For a moment, it looked like she might actually allow the library to take possession of the map. But then her expression darkened again, and she was lost in the inescapable grip of her own determination. She’d wanted these answers for so long, she couldn’t quit before she had them—no matter the cost.
His heart sank.
She wasn’t going to let go. She couldn’t.