I kept my eyes on the bookstore as Mardiana walked off, only sneaking a glance when the sound of her heels softened with distance. Angel Kitty kept close to Mardiana's heels as she clipped down the road.
Does she mean an actual storm or metaphoric one? Whichever one she meant, I decided to go with her warning. Tearmann was an ally. I'd be safe there.
After wiping the frosting from my hands and face, I threw my trash in a fancy nearby can.
A cart, pulled by a brown horse with white hoofs, bumped over the road. I waited for it to pass before crossing over to the bookstore. Everything in the haven was quaint and old-world feeling. I tugged the door open.
"Buongiorno," said the same scholarly looking young man with glasses and a bright smile from the last time I was there.
"Morning," I said and leafed through a stack of magazines on a table.
"English?"
"Sì."
He straightened his glasses. "Please to tell me if you're in need of assistenza."
Déjà vu. I could've sworn we'd had the same exact exchange when I was here before.
"Grazie," I said.
It would be a lot easier to find Gian's books if I asked him for their location, but I didn't know if it would raise suspicion. And I didn't know who in Mantello had seen my face and knew that the Wizard Council had a warrant, or whatever they called it in the Mystik world, out for me.
My finger bounced across the spines of books as I searched the shelves for Gian's name. I finally came across them in the special studies area. There were a few I'd already read, one about Mystik creatures and another on charms and spells. I paused on one titled My Magnificent Journeys. I removed it from the shelf and flipped through the pages, leafing through the photographs until I came to it. A picture of three large mountains capped with snow.
I recalled Gian's message. You shall find the entry into a mountainous, frozen land. The Four sleeps under the tallest peak …
I ran my fingers across the photograph, and it tugged at my fingers. I'd found it. Mardiana came here every day, sat on that bench from the time the bookstore opened until it closed. She was here to watch over the book. The entry to where the Tetrad was caged was in its pages. Until today. Her job was done. It was now my turn to protect it. I grabbed another book of Gian's, not wanting the one containing the Tetrad's prison to stand out, and went to the counter.
"Just the two?" the man asked in his broken English.
I handed him a gold coin. "Yes, please."
His gaze went to the window. "Signora Acardi never leaves the bench until the sun lowers past the buildings. Strange, no?"
It didn't seem like he was talking to me so I stayed quiet.
"Buona giornata." He handed me a few silver coins in various sizes, his eyes still watching the window.
I hugged the books to my chest and rushed outside, worried that he'd look closer at me. My boots pounded against the cobblestones as I hurried down the road.
One you should never let out of your sight. Mardiana's warning went off in my head. I had to keep Gian's book with me.
Bags in the window of a store stopped me, and I went inside. With my head down, I grabbed a satchel with long straps, paid the girl operating the register, and tucked Gian's books inside.
Mardiana had told me not to wait. But it was early. Bastien and Edgar wouldn't be back until late that night or in the morning. I decided to listen to her and go to Tearmann. They were allies. There hadn't been an uprising there like in Santara. Besides, I was shielded. I could sneak in and out without being noticed.
It took me nearly an hour to find the outbuilding with the tunnel leading to the Riccardiana Library in Florence, Italy. I'd been there before, but I was following Bastien and hadn't paid attention to where we were going. I kept running into dead ends until I noticed the stucco structure just down the hill from the haven.
The store windows with their displays and decorations were enticing. I passed a costume shop with a long blond wig sitting on a porcelain head. The door stuck a little, and I tugged it open. A round woman dressed in a black dress and wearing a red cape took a gold coin for the wig and handed me a small silver one. She let me put it on in front of the mirror.
I didn't look too bad as a blonde. It actually seemed like real hair-long with a little wave. Hopefully, no one would recognize me.
"Bellissimo," the woman said.
"Grazie," I said and exited the shop. The hill was steep, and my steps were fast on the way to the outbuilding.
I thumped down the stairs to the tunnel. It was narrow, just like most of them were, with a series of stone steps going up and down and twisting left to right. The light from my globe bounced across the rock walls. As I neared the end, there was a line of people. I held tight to the straps of the bag holding Gian's books.
They're inspecting people. Panic fluttered in my chest, and I clenched the cloak closed to hide my Sentinel gear underneath. I turned to go back the way I'd come, but was stopped by an older couple's approach. They looked like parents who had just walked out of a Norman Rockwell painting, the man in his suit and the woman in a flowery dress. The man studied my face before I whirled back around.
"The libraries are crowded," the woman said. "It seems quite unnecessary to make everyone return to the place of their births to reregister."
With every movement of the line, my heart stopped, and I caught my breath. I should have stayed in Mantello as Bastien and Edgar told me. I was second in line, and my stomach clenched.
"Next," said a guard with a hawkish nose and barrels for arms.
The man in front of me stepped up to the guard.
"Identification," the guard said holding out his hand.
Identification? I didn't have any. The panic in my chest nosedived to my gut.
The man held up a metal card. The guard studied it and then nodded the man through.
I approached the guard, playing in my head all the scenarios on how to get out of this.
"What's in the bag?" he asked.
"Books," I said in a soft, timid tone. He motioned for me to open the bag. I did and he searched inside.
Okay. There're two guards. I'd have to use my globes.
"Identification," he said.
"Just a second." I squatted, put my bag on the floor, and pretended to search inside.
I opened my hand by my side and whispered, "Accendere la stun." The power of the globe tugged at my palm. Leaping to my feet, I slammed the purple sphere against his shoulder. It spread across his body, encasing him in a purple glow.
A sharp intake of breath came from the woman behind me.
I glanced over my shoulder. "Make sure to call someone to remove the stun, or he'll run out of air and die. Okay?"
His eyes wide, the older man nodded.
I darted through the entrance, creating another stun globe and hurling it at the other guard pacing the library. It smacked him the chest, and he fell to the floor like a chopped down tree.
The Riccardiana Library's warm woodwork and gold accents flashed in my peripheral vision as I dashed for the main reading room. My boots clacking against the checkered tiles resounded against the fresco ceiling. Moonlight came in through the tall window, casting shadows over the bookcases.
I called for the gateway book and spun around listening for it. Above the fresco was a circular window, the frame resembling a lemon slice. Though it was day in the havens, it was nighttime in Florence. Tables were lined up in the center of the room, gold-painted chairs with pink cushions pushed up against them.
The book wasn't chained to anything. It floated to me and I flipped to the photograph of the Trinity College library in Dublin.
"Aprire La Porta." I said the charm and jumped into the book, an alarm sounding as I disappeared into the gateway.
I searched the Long Room in the Trinity library for the spiral staircase Jaran had said led to Tearmann haven. The arched ceiling soaring overhead made me feel small. I walked past the display of the Book of Kells, which was an illuminated manuscript of the Christian Gospels created around 800 AD. Jaran would be impressed that I remembered what he had told me.
Finally, I found the spiral staircase tucked away in a tiny alcove surrounded by bookcases and beside a bust of Shakespeare. I stepped onto the first stair and clutched the black rod iron banister swirling up to the top.
Admit the pure. That's what the charm to open the doorways into the havens meant. It was spelled to let only those without evil intentions into the haven. But I wondered if it really worked, because some of the wizards on the council weren't playing nice. Could they have altered the charm? Most likely.
I took a deep breath and said, "Ammettere il pura."
The rod iron shook in my grasp, the floor slid aside, and the staircase spun down. My grasp tightened. It landed with a bang, and I ended up in a rock tunnel, one that was surprisingly empty. I stepped off, and the staircase returned to the library above, the floor shutting me inside the tunnel.
"Okay, whatever happens, there better not be a flood." I removed the itchy wig and shoved it into my bag.
Water leaked from the arched ceiling and plunked into puddles forming on the uneven stone floor. The tunnel walls were covered in beautiful graffiti art of wizards, Mystik creatures, and unusual landscapes. I stopped when I spotted one of me, a sense of pride swelling inside. Someone had actually painted me. By the details, whoever it was took a lot of time doing it. I looked fierce in my Sentinel gear with my pink battle globe, the wind blowing back my ponytail.