The Onyx Vial (Shadows of The Nine Book 1) by Alexis Lampley

She hadn't meant to take them, of course, but she hadn't realized they were inside it. Though she was very curious to read them, she let them be, and focused instead on his book. The damage was all but irreparable. The side back to Earth had been hastily and thoroughly destroyed. In comparison, the Heledian book gave her hope. The damage was minimal; a few ripped pages and blanked words. But no pages torn out completely, and nothing burned.
    She studied tirelessly through the viewing panel — a sheet of glass set in a wooden frame that slid over the edges of the papers to prevent contact —and eventually stowed Hunter's book and the masking box back in her satchel, giving her room to spread out so she could be more careful with the page turning. The wood on the viewer was the same as the masking box. Something in its chemical makeup suppressed the etâme, making the book far safer to study than holding the edges of the covers and trying not to touch the pages, but it still required that a certain level of care be taken when operating it. A mechanism in the wooden frame, which attached to a small glass slider, enabled her to turn the pages without removing the viewer. It was small, delicate. The last thing she wanted was to break that. It was a new problem for her to have. She'd only ever been in contact with a portal book so damaged that it had become a notebook. She could put her hands all over that.
    "Ariana!" Pabl's panicked yell jolted her from the peaceful silence and she was suddenly very aware of how different the light was in the room. How long had she been working?  "Stay out of sight!"
    She dropped her quill and whipped around. "Why?"
    "Huntsmen," Pabl rasped.
    Her heart shot into her throat. She ran to the wall that opened to the stairs. Several large shapes darkened the windows. She ducked out of sight as the bells of the shop door sounded, and clapped her hands over her mouth to stifle the sound of her breathing.
    "Farstat." A voice, more of a rumble than speech. "You lied to me."
    She pressed her back to the wall, pinched her eyes shut, and listened.
    "They're all legal, Marek. I assure you."
    Marek. A familiar name. He'd been in the Pass.
    A hiss of anger. "Don't speak to me that way, old man."
    "So sorry, Master Ryszard ," Pabl replied, his voice edged with derision. "But as I told you the last time you barged into my shop, I do not sell — or lend — any banned books."
    A low growl. "You don't have to sell or lend them to own them, Farstat."
    "I assure you," Pabl repeated. "I have no banned books in my possession."
    She clenched her teeth. The air in her lungs grew thick as soup. But I do . Her eyes snapped open. Across the office, her satchel hung over the back of the chair, the Heledian portal book lying open on the desk.
    Pabl coughed and sputtered. One of the men must've gripped his throat.
    "There's no tolerance in the Sovereign's domain for liars, Farstat."
    She had to get that book back in the box before they searched the place. She inched away from the opening in the wall, dropped low, and snuck back to the desk.
    "Master Ryszard," said one of the men as she got to her feet. "The girl. She's upstairs."
    They'd seen her. How?
    A loud thud. Pabl's heavy groan.
    She scanned the wall that ran parallel with the stairs. They couldn't have seen her. She hadn't been anywhere near the opening.
    Then she saw it: A large rectangular mirror set at an angle near the ceiling, where Pabl could see customers enter the store from his desk. It had worked the other way. Her movement had caught someone's eye. Now all five of the Huntsmen stared at her in the reflection, and the hungry look in their eyes made one thing very clear: they had come for her.
    Her eyes swept the rest of the room. There were two heavy wooden desks, a wall stacked with books from floor to ceiling. No door. Nowhere to hide. No way out except down.
    "Bring her here," Marek ordered.
    Immediately, three of the men barreled up the