With a final flick of his pen, Sam sat back from the book he had devoted the last week to and smiled, glad to have finished a project. Not his most complex or lengthy work, but a work nonetheless - the slim volume on the Flora of the Grounds was a collection of rewrites of some of the more faded tomes in the Atheneum, ensuring that the words of history would not be forgotten.
Waiting for it to dry he poked Mia with his quill, laughing as she lazy batted at it with her paw. He was just considering leaving it on the table in the Loreseekers for the night, a way to be sure it would be properly dry before closing, when a noise from upstairs made him jump. Not too loud, a scuff or a scrap of a shoe against the floor maybe, but he was unused to anyone else being in at this time.
Frowning, he reached to bundle Mia in his arms (if he was about to run from a serial killer, he wasn't going to leave his cat behind) and slowly headed up the stairs one at a time, peering around the door into the Atheneum. The flickering light of the lantern confirmed indeed that there was someone present and Sam closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down - probably just a Loreseeker coming in for some late work, or someone looking for shelter from the night. Still, he was anxious and walked forward slowly, just looking around the bookshelf to ask loudly: "Who's there?"
