She processed my explanation without thinking I was mad. It was becoming one of my favorite things about her. She never thought ill of me as I struggled to make sense of this new world. She simply waited patiently for me to understand or explain.
“Then let’s follow it. It must have something to show us.”
So we did. It danced over the floor of the library and out to the balcony. The grave flowers were in full bloom by now, and the dark cemetery glowed with their luminescence. The light disappeared among them, and we hesitated near the staircase leading us to it.
“She hasn’t forbidden us to leave,” Katrinka said carefully. “We wouldn’t be disobeying.”
I nodded. “That’s true. And I’m sure we will hear her return. Then we can come right back.”
With the decision made, we hurried after the disembodied light, careful to stay on the path and not disturb the flowers or the graves.
“She told me our mother’s name Finnick used to be Fenwick. And before the pagan war, we were the royal house.”
“She told me the same thing,” Katrinka agreed. “That the Fenwick power and dignity was taken as punishment for the war. And the curse.” We had started to admire each gravestone and the flowers that bloomed. “Look, Tessa, they’re all Fenwicks.”
She was right. Ancient stones that had simple runes and singular names. And as we walked, and the stones became more elaborate, so did the runes.
“Do you know our grandparents’ names?” she asked.
“No.” But there was an urge within me to find it, to pay respect to our mother’s parents. “Pressydias,” I pointed out in an unadorned corner.
We walked over together and read the plain stones that bore no runes and had no glowing flowers to make them beautiful. In the farthest corner of the most distant section was the simplest stone. Mynot Pressydia. And nothing more.
“She did not love him,” Katrinka said plainly. “Why did he marry her?”
“A love potion?” I had meant it to be a joke, but Katrinka’s frown deepened.
“Do you think this is where the other witch meant the Crown of Light was hidden?” she asked instead, walking toward Mynot’s stone and reaching out to rest her fingers on the top.
“What is the Crown of Light, Kat? What will happen if we find it?”
Katrinka turned back to me, her eyes wide with surprise. “Are you saying we leave it be?”
“I’m saying, I do not understand any of this. Ravanna being our aunt. Our uncle’s madness. The magic we can suddenly wield. There are strange forces at work, and we have yet to know what any of them mean. Where any of them are from.”
“Where they are pushing us to,” she added thoughtfully.
At just that moment, the spectral beam of light began jumping in front of us and darting between where we stood and back the way we came. Katrinka and I shared a look of surprise and then raced for the balcony stairs.
Whatever the light meant, it did not intend to harm us. At least not this time. This was one small force I was beginning to believe we could trust.
We had just reached the balcony, out of breath and tight with panic, when my uncle’s booming voice burst through the library.
“Where are they?” he shouted, stumbling over a pile of books in his way and sending them toppling in a spray of ancient pages and dust. “Tessana! Katrinka!”
He was wild with terror. So much so that my own fear flared to life and mimicked his. “We’re here, Uncle,” I said soothingly, stepping from the balcony. “We were admiring the flowers.”
Tyrn swayed on his feet and had to catch himself on the table we had been working at. His unsteadiness knocked over the candles Katrinka and I had been lighting and unlighting with our new powers, but he did not seem to notice as they crashed to the floor. Or as we quickly extinguished any lingering flames before the entire library went up in flames.
“We’re leaving,” he growled. “Get your things together. We must go now.”
“Leaving?” I did not know if Katrinka and I were safe here at Fenwick Keep, but there were so many mysteries to solve. And for the first time since my family had been murdered, I finally felt like I was on the right path to finding out what happened.
Whyit happened.
“Now!” Tyrn screamed, his face turning purple from the force of it and spittle spraying the table. “Now, nownow! We must go now! We must leave. We must.We must!”
Katrinka’s hands pushed at my back, and I lurched into motion. Ravanna marched into the room and looked around at her upturned library. Her shoulders were rigid with tension, and her face a mottled red as though she’d been screaming. Whatever patience and grace she’d displayed the last couple of days was gone. The Cold Queen was back, and she was on a rampage.
