"That's great." Excitement swelled in my chest, but I kept my cool and smiled up at Arik.
Though my response held an even tone, there was a hint of disappointment in Arik's eyes. What did he expect? I'd moved on when I thought he'd broken up with me to date Emily. The witch. Literally. She'd placed a love spell on him, freeing me up to get close to Bastien while trapped in the Somnium.
Nothing brings a couple together like surviving a frozen wasteland filled with beasts hell-bent on consuming them for dinner.
Arik nodded and turned to leave, but stopped. "The remaining Chiavi. Where do you believe them to be?"
I glanced down at my notes. "I can't say. Uncle Philip gave me orders to tell no one." My uncle had become the new High Wizard of Asile after the previous one was murdered. As Sentinels, we had to follow his orders. And Arik, being a strict rule follower, would never allow me to go against them.
He nodded again and again turned to leave. "You should go tonight, then. Alert Philip of your jump schedule," he said over his shoulder as he started to trot down the hill. "Are you coming? The meal is ready."
I closed my notebook, hugged both it and the journal to my chest, and trailed him.
Arik's pace picked up as mine slowed, the distance growing between us. Unlike his normal confident posture, his muscled shoulders were slumped.
Bastien's face flashed across my mind. Without him, I wouldn't have survived the Somnium. The memory of his kisses and gentle touches tingled across my skin. I missed him.
I shook my thoughts away and plodded across the lumpy grass. My love life would have to wait. There were life-threatening things to consider.
Chapter Two
Decked in their Sentinel gear, Lei, wearing her samurai-like helmet, and Jaran in his horned one, looked ready for a battle as they stood guard for me. I spoke the spell to retrieve the gateway book and waited.
The Long Room in Dublin's Trinity Library was dark and quiet. The two-story bookcases soared to the arched ceiling. I created a light globe on my palm and strolled down the center of the room, my messenger bag bouncing against my hip. I'd stuffed my cat-shaped helmet in it. My boots clacked against the polished floor as I passed the red ropes lining the bookcases on both sides of the room.
"I'm curious." I glanced at Jaran. "How do you get into Tearmann from here?"
The Irish haven intrigued me. Carrig's roots were there, which meant mine were, too. I hoped to visit it one day.
"You step on the spiral staircase in this library," he said. "Then say the charm that opens all the entries into the havens."
"Good to know." I rubbed a tickle from my nose.
"It's unwise that we don't know where you're going," Jaran added. "What if you don't return? How can we come to your rescue?"
Jaran had been a rock I'd clung to when my world seemed to slip away after Arik broke things off with me. He'd kept me company. Watched horror movies with me. Listened when I'd talked excessively about Arik and Emily's new relationship. Had held me while I'd cried over the loss.
"If something happens," I answered, "you call Uncle Philip. He'll tell you where I went."
Perspiration dampened my T-shirt and caused my leather pants to stick to my legs. Inside the library, wearing both my Sentinel gear and a trench coat, it was like being in a sauna. I tugged at my breastplate. Faith's pendant and the glass locket Uncle Philip had given me with Pip's white feather inside clanked against the metal. I removed the elastic band from my wrist and tied my hair up with it.
Where is that book? It never took that long for it to float over to me. I spun the watch that Carrig had given me on my wrist. It was ancient and clunky, and way too big for me, causing the leather to rub against my skin. When we left Asile in the dark of night to go into hiding, we had to leave our cell phones behind out of fear of someone tracking us. It was as if we were in the Stone Age using watches and landlines.
I decided to search for the gateway book and headed down the center of the room.
Plaster busts of famous men sat on built-in pedestals between the alcoves lined with bookcases. As the faces came in and out of my light, I read the names-Aristotle, Cicero, Homerus, Plato-
Jaran kept to my side. "Why isn't the book coming?"
I stopped, glanced in both directions, and shrugged. "I don't know. That's strange. Sei zero sette periodo zero due DOR." I repeated the numbered charm to locate the gateway book. A scraping sound came from some ways down from us. I went to the area and said the charm again. On a shelf labeled "ll," the book shook but didn't come to me, something preventing it from moving.
"It's stuck." It was too high for me to reach, so I climbed the ladder. Jaran grabbed the sides to keep it steady.
I reached for the book and paused. "Someone tied a rope around it." My fingers followed the braided hemp. "The ends are nailed to the wood behind it."
"That's curious," Jaran said.
Lei sighed, startling Jaran and causing him to bump into the ladder.
The ladder wobbled, and I clung to it. "Jaran," I hissed.
"Sorry," he said, then looked over his shoulder at Lei. "Perhaps you shouldn't sneak up on someone in a dark library."
"I'd apologize, but we both know it wouldn't be sincere." Lei inspected her nails. "The Wizard Council sent out an order to all the havens. The gateway books are on lockdown ever since some rogue Mystiks attacked Mantello. Most likely, they were part of Conemar's band of evil misfits."
The wizard havens were realms cloaked by magic and connected to the human world through secret entries within the libraries. There was too much unrest in the havens, and we weren't sure who could be trusted. By binding the gateway books, it looked like the council was also in doubt.
"Wait." I glanced down at her. "What would happen if I jumped and there's another secured book on the other side? Would I get through?"
"Of course you would." She looked disinterested in my questions but answered them anyway. "It's a charm that opens the book when someone jumps through it, then locks it afterward."
I opened my mouth, but she stopped me.
"And before you ask, humans can't see the bindings or the book. Isn't magic a wonderful thing." The deadpan way she said it sounded like she thought it was anything but.
"Right. Good to know." I glanced down at her. "Do you know the charm to release it?"
"Liberato," she said.
"Set Free." That makes sense.
"Didn't Philip give you the charm?" Jaran asked.
"No. It must've slipped his mind."
"Nothing ever slips his mind." Lei returned to inspecting her nails. "This is going to be a long evening."
She was right. Could his new role as high wizard be wearing on him?
I spoke the charm and freed the book. It was difficult to climb down the ladder with the heavy reference volume. Lei grasped my elbow and supported me as I stepped off the last wrung.
"Thanks," I said, smiling at her, though there was a dullness to her eyes. I missed my playful friend. She hadn't called anyone ducky since Kale died. The spell tattooed on Lei's hand-a radiant lotus between her thumb and pointer finger-had subdued her emotions; losing the love of her life had to be torture. I understood her need to not feel anything, but she'd become unrecognizable.
She gave me an impassive look. "Put your helmet on-you'll want to protect your vital parts. There have been reports that the spell disabling human weapons in many of the libraries is broken. Probably happened when your globe hit that trap."
I wrenched my helmet out of my messenger bag and secured it on my head. The silver casing covered half my face and was shaped like a cat's head and decorated with sapphires.
Jaran rested his hand on my shoulder and leaned over to my ear. "Listen, do you still call Nana before leaving the libraries?"
It had become routine for me to phone her just before jumping out of a library. I'd find a landline or swipe someone's cell phone and make a two-second call. "I'm okay," I would tell her.
"Yes," I said. "Why?"
He handed me a slip of paper. "It's Cole's number. Can you ring him for me? Tell him I'm alive and well? I can't use the phone or computer here. Carrig said they aren't safe."
Cole was the student council president at the school we'd attended while hiding in Branford, Connecticut, and Jaran's boyfriend.
The separation from his boyfriend had to be difficult for him. I got it. Being away from Bastien sucked.
Bastien's face flashed across my mind, and it was as if a dart hit my chest, piercing through flesh and bone, piercing my heart. Missing him was like my soul bleeding out. Memories of us together kept me up at night, and every minute away from him was like an eternity.
"Gia?" Jaran's voice pulled me from my thoughts.
I stuffed the note into the front pocket of my pants. "Of course."
"You're the absolute best." He winked and stepped away to guard the other side of the room from Lei.
I riffled through the pages of the gateway book until landing on the one with the National Library of the Czech Republic in Prague. The photograph was in motion. There wasn't anyone inside the reading room. It was definitely closed.