原文录入，请勿删贴
Cutting Ties
by Michael Gallowglas
Eryn laughed at the board of deans as they questioned her. Questioned? This was closer to an interrogation. Each question met with greater laughter. Eryn had trouble believing that she had at one time cared what these men had thought of her, especially since her trip to the library had revealed the place where she needed to perform the ritual. Once she had the final piece of the T'tka Halot, nothing would be beyond her.
"Miss Cochwyn," her graduate advisor said, in the voice of a patient parent, "it's only because of your father's long standing member as a contributing alumni that we haven't expelled you already. Imagine how it must look to our other students that one of our most brilliant graduate scholars has been absent for the better part of a semester, and when she does return, she continues to neglect her responsibilities and is found breaking into the Restricted Section of the Orne Library."
Eryn cackled. Was that really a cackle?
"It might make them consider that you don't actually know as much as you pretend you know, and that they might not need you as much as you want them to think they do." She stood up. "Keep my tuition. And don't worry. I won't do anything to disrupt the endowment Father set up for the university. Good evening."
She left them sputtering. Good. Let them wonder what was going on. They blind and knew nothing, while Eryn's eyes were being opened and her mind expanding. She was just beginning to understand the greatness and vastness of the universe. Once she performed the ritual, she would gain true wisdom and knowledge, the kind these blind fools would never know.
She walked across the grassy quad outside of the administration building. She'd learned of an auction that took place once a year that catered to a clientele that sought out the strange and bizarre. She would go there and ask around. Someone might know something to set her on track for the last page of her book.
Halfway across the quad, a hand closed on Eryn's shoulder and spun her around. The large man looked down at her. Eryn barely came up to his chest. The white suite had been exchanged for lavender one but the rose was still present, although now it was shriveled and wilted. How had she missed him? The quad was nearly empty and the nearest tree or bush was over twenty yards away at the closest and he had to way over three hundred pounds.
"What do you want?" Eryn asked.
The large man reached into coat and pulled out a piece of what looked like paper from a very old book. Eryn recognized the writing. The last page! She reached for it with one hand while holding firmly to her bad with her the other, the bag that held the T'tka Halot. She wasn't about to let that book out of her presence for even a moment. As soon as she her went to the bag, the large man glanced at it, snarled, and tried to pull it from her. As startled by the attack as she was Eryn didn't fail to notice the man's tongue was missing.
Eryn cursed herself. He'd shown it to her to find out if she had the book with her, and she had given herself away.
His grip was like iron and the fight over the ancient tome would be over before it had even started the moment he put his muscle into it. Eryn slid her free hand into the bag. As soon as her fingers brushed the leather cover, the shadows slithered through her mind and she saw what she needed to do in order to protect her book and gain possession of the last page.
"Help," Eryn screamed. "He's trying to steal my bag."
The large man let go of Eryn's bag and was moving away as several young men with letterman's jackets started running over. The large man moved at a surprising pace for someone his size.
Eryn didn't wait for her savior to arrive. She dashed off in the other direction for her car.
When she reached her car, she tossed her bag which still contained her precious book to the passenger's seat, got in herself, and began to speed around the campus. After a few minutes, of not finding him, she reached into the bag stroking the book, and her mind opened up. Now that she knew what to look for, he was hard to miss, especially in that white jacket. Eryn slammed her foot on the gas pedal.
The impact sent the large man flying. The impact had brought her car to an almost dead stop. It had been like hitting a brick wall. Eryn got out, and ran to where he lay, crumpled and bleeding among a row of rose bushes. She enjoyed the irony as she reached into his pocket and took the last piece of that which was rightfully hers. Now she could finalize her trip to Syria and the site of the Library of Ebla to enact the ritual.
Halfway to her car, a sudden impulse compelled Eryn stop and go back to the large man. She knelt down and checked his pulse. Nothing.
"You won't need this anymore," she said.
Eryn took the rose from the large man's jacket and attached it to one of her hair clips. It felt right there, even though it was wilted. She'd do something about that after she completed the ritual.
Her business at Miskatonic University completed, Eryn Cochwyn got in her car and drove away. She was fairly confident she could reach the airport before the authorities caught up with her.
