Libraries had always been a kind of refuge for Alec. It had been the one room in the Institute that he could go where he usually when he needed time alone or to study the strange little details that no one else seemed interested in. Once he'd moved in with Magnus, the amount of books available had dwindled - he would not allow Magnus to conjure up books for him - but they still offered their own type of comfort and fascination.

Which was one of the reasons he didn't mind being caught up in a magic library, shelving books and trying to put things in order. Occasionally, he'd find some volume that looked interesting, leaning against one of the shelves and thumbing through the book, reading a chapter before putting the book away. Eventually the shelving stopped and Alec hopped up on one of the tables - he hadn't found any solid-looking chairs nearby - and started reading, not noticing that some of the pixies had gotten loose in this area of the Library.