Children had come to help, but though both were lads, both were rather slight; Eury had little confidence that they could merely brute force the thing open. She bit the inside of her lower lip, thinking.

Was it a silencing spell upon the room, she wondered, or a deafening one? If the latter, they were well and truly unable to call for help and had to rely on a librarian coming to their aid—possibly not until day's end, at worst. If the latter, however, perhaps sounds made within might still be heard without...

Shooing the boys away from the door, Eury pounded upon it thrice with both fists. If ever a knock was designed to be heard, it was this one, though whether it would bear fruit remained up in the air.