Assassin of Truths(22)

The paper rustled and popped until we faced the back of a gate that slowly opened. I held the straps to the two boxes crossing my body and stepped through first, then Bastien. The page folded back and the book shrank to its normal size.

I turned and walked backward, watching The Secret Garden float over to a nearby shelf and slide into a gap between two books. "That's so wild."

"We're not in Edinburgh." Bastien pivoted on his heel, taking in our surroundings, the boxes he carried bumping against his body, the vials inside clanking against each other.

"Careful," I warned. "We don't want to break any more."

He grasped my hand, and we crossed the carpet to the middle of the room. My palm in his felt as natural as breathing. That was, if breathing came along with tingles and a heightened awareness of his skin against mine.

We were in a library I recognized. Fake trees reached to the ceiling, one of them with fall leaves, its roots hugging plaster replicas of books. A large sculpture of a book canopied the entrance. Little creatures, one of which was an owl, peeked out of holes in the trunks of the wooden pillars that held up the structure.

My gaze touched all the fantastical murals, trees, woodland animals, and the many book sculptures dominating the walls.

"I know this library. I've been here before. We're in the Brentwood Library in Tennessee." Nana had brought me to the city for one of her conventions when I was twelve. Going to the library was my reward for surviving the boredom of sitting in a room with old women talking about herbal cures. Now that I think about it, it was probably a witches' convention.

Jumping through the gateways, I'd never ended up in a modern library before. The Fey were always changing the entrances into their realm, so it made sense they'd branch out to newer places. The library was a children's fantasy. I wanted to sit down on one of the large, stone books like I had five years ago and enjoy all the magical artwork around me.

"This must be a secret exit," he said.

"I hope there's a gateway book in this library." I adjusted the straps to the leather boxes crisscrossing my body. "Sei zero sette periodo zero due DOR." I spoke the charm for calling the gateway book and listened for any sound that would lead me to it.

A fluttering noise came from just outside the children's library.

"Is that a bird?" Bastien let go of my hand and marched toward it. "It's the book."

"Oh good. It's not tied down."

Bastien followed the book as it passed him and flew to me. I caught it and thumbed through the pages until I came to the Abbey Library of Saint Gall's photograph. I gripped the book tight at the memory of Bastien and me being sucked into a trap there and dumped into a barren Somnium. We could have died, but luckily, we had escaped when I'd thrown my globe at the trap. But I'd also released Conemar from his prison, along with tons of Mystik convicts.

Bastien placed his hand on my back. "Are you okay? Your knuckles are turning white."

I loosened my hold on the book. "Yeah."

"Don't be frightened." His voice was soft and soothing. "It won't happen again."

He was right. It wouldn't happen again. I'd broken all the traps and released the Somnium's creatures into the libraries. It took weeks and a few human lives before every one of them was captured.         

     



 

I placed the opened gateway book on the floor.

"I'll go first in case there're guards in the library," Bastien said. "They won't suspect me. Give it ten minutes before you leave."

He clutched the straps to the boxes and jumped into the book.

I paced as I waited. It had to be the longest ten minutes ever before I plunged into the gateway. There was a slight tug on the leather boxes as I went, but then they slacked and sped along with my body. The black coolness of the gateway engulfed me. I stretched my arms out. Fresh, cold air rushed over me and filled my lungs.

The strap on my right suddenly loosened. I pushed against the wind trying to reach the strap. The box tore away before I could grab it.

No, no, no.

Panic caused me to lose my balance, and I tilted forward. I quickly righted myself.

Think, Gia. You have to catch it. But how?

I created a light globe to search for the box. It was behind me and too far away to reach. Air resistance. The flat bottom and sides of the box were slowing it down. I'd reach the exit to the library before it would …  All those cures. All those people. I couldn't let it crash into the library. I had to stop myself.

An idea came to me. The globes.

I reached down and tore my dagger away from my boot. In my free hand, I ignited a globe. Fire? That wouldn't work. I tossed it and formed another. Glass.

No.

A light dotted the blackness in front of me. The exit.

"Come on. I need ice," I yelled above the wind's howl, anger taking over me.

A shimmery white sphere sprouted on my palm.

"Yes!" I tossed it at the blooming light, hoping it would spread as it had across the bookcases when that Sentinel had thrown it at me.

I was getting closer, and adrenaline shot through my veins at a speed faster than I was going.

The globe hit the side of the exit and ice rushed around the opening, crackling and fanning out, growing until it covered it. I landed hard on the ice, the vials in the box I still had clinking against each other. The heel of my boot went through the frozen membrane. I stabbed my dagger into the ice and used it to hold on.

The box got closer. It was too far left. I would miss it. I tried to stretch more, but it wasn't enough. I kicked my other boot against the ice to make a foothold. Facing the ice, my boots holding me up, I removed the dagger and stabbed the ice as far as I could reach in the direction the box was heading.

I rolled to my back to face the gateway and punctured my heel into the ice to keep from slipping. The box landed on my stomach and punched the air out of me. I clung to it with my free hand, not moving, trying to catch my breath.

"Great. Now how am I going to get through the exit?"

I had to break the ice. With as much force as I could, I kicked my heel against the ice. It cracked but didn't budge.

I kicked again.

Crack.

And again.

Crack.

The crack spread across the surface.

On the next strike of my boot, I broke through, shooting out of the gateway. I turned and fell backward, keeping the boxes in front of me. My body dropped hard onto a marble floor. One box landed on my chest and the other on my stomach.

I laid there, stunned, my back stinging. "That hurt."

The bookcase I'd flown out of was dripping, the ice thawing and slipping down the spines of books.

"Gia." Bastien fell to his knees beside me. "Are you injured?"

"I'm not sure." I pushed myself up to a sitting position and, surprisingly, I hadn't broken my back. Bastien lifted the box with the broken strap off my chest. I placed the other box on the floor, opened it, and examined the vials. Two were broken, liquid puddled at the bottom. Each damaged one represented a life I couldn't save.

"What happened?" he asked.

"The strap broke. It must've torn when I crashed the aircraft."

Bastien unsnapped the other box and lifted the lid. "No others are damaged in this one. Just the three broken vials from before."

"So now what?"

"We need to summon Doylis and my guards," he said. "They're waiting for us. Can you use the tracer?"

My fingers touched the silver tracer on my wrist. I'd forgotten about it. I blew on the butterfly form. It pulled from my skin and hung in the air in front of me.

"Find Doylis." The tracer jetted off, bouncing along the display cases filled with antique books until disappearing around a corner. A dim light shone across the dark wood and gold leaf accents on the pillars and bookcases surrounding the large room.

"We should get to a place less in the open." Bastien lifted two of the leather boxes and carried them into a nearby alcove surrounded by polished bookcases. I followed him with mine and placed the carriers on the floor, sat beside them, and hugged my legs, resting my head on my knees. Bastien put his down next to mine and took a seat beside me.         

     



 

"I messed up." The weight of my mistake crushed me. "I damaged vials."

Bastien slid an arm around my back. "It was an accident. You never flew an aircraft before."

I tilted my head to look at him. "People will die because of me."

He lifted my chin with his fingers. "There are forty vials in each box. You will save one hundred and fifty-five beings."

A deep voice called Bastien's name from the reading room.

"It's Doylis." He released my chin, stood, and offered me his hand.

I gripped it, and he towed me to my feet. He kept hold of my hand all the way to the reading room.

With Doylis were five older Sentinels-two women and three men in their late twenties or early thirties. Bastien let go of my hand and crossed the room to them. "I'm so glad to see you, dear friend."

Doylis towered over Bastien and the others. "Glad to see you made it, as well."

The tracer flew over and bounced in front of me. I lifted my wrist and it sank into my skin.

The gateway book flew out of the bookcase, water spraying out as it opened. Arik jumped out of the thawing page, followed by Demos.

I sucked in a ragged breath and quickly backed away from them.