“No. You’re trying to force your wants on me.Yours. Not mine.”
“You’re so full of fucking shit,” Notto hisses as he gets in Keary’s face. “I can see that lie in the eyes of your monster.”
Keary shoves him away far more violently than necessary, but I’m still surprised when their fighting actually comes to blows.
“Should we do something?” I ask Drystan. My next question comes up short when there’s a shudder in the air. A low hum reverberates off my bones, and I shiver.
Then they’re flung through the large doors and out the window by some invisible force. The solid-pane window that somehow opens for them visibly seals back up right before my eyes. Holy fuck. I get to my feet, alarmed, but Drystan hasn’t moved.
“Nah,” he answers.
“What just happened?”
“The rules of the library are to be obeyed at all times. It’s a place of peace. Their hostility got them kicked out.”
I blink then look around the space as if seeing it for the first time. Libraries have always held magic, but to me, it was the magic of childhood. I thought that magic faded into something more realistic, like an idea.
Apparently, that magic always existed. I swear to fuck, the entire library winks. Like there’s a spirit here that watches over everyone to make sure they’re behaving. That spirit isamusedby my shock and winks at me.
Holy fuck.
“Want to see a secret hidden in the library?” Drystan asks. There’s a twinkle of mischief in his eyes.
“Sure,” I say, digging my fingers into Kaida’s fur.
“They’re going to be busy for a while, so we have some time to explore.”
I look at Kaida. She meets my eyes, and I think she’s completely on board with this suggestion.
DRYSTAN
I love the way your passion shines like a bright star in the sky. If only you’d point it at me where it belongs.
Only select libraries around the world have portals, and they only go to very specific places. Once, the portals were plentiful, and you could travel freely between any one.
But, like everything else, Silence ruined that. In an effort to keep Silence separated from the monster world and keep them from regaining power, the portals were shut down.
That meant travel was stunted unless you were someone like Keary who could travel by different means. Or if you had wings. I always wished I had wings. I’d have flown away from Silence when I was a kid.
Rainer and Kaida walk beside me as we travel down into the hidden bowels of the library.
Much of the library has remained the same as it had been when humans built it, intending it as a place to read, research, and escape into stories. There are back rooms with archivesand boxes of books that had been waiting to be unpacked. Old machines are here, dust-free. I could probably turn one on if I pushed the button.
Rainer looks around as I take him through the maze of shelves. Old inventory. New inventory. Books being processed.
When the beasts were first released, there were no barriers to stop them. If they were chasing a target, nothing stopped them from reaching that victim.
Except libraries. Even before monsters realized that the beasts avoided libraries, they did so on their own. As if there is true magic within the walls that humans created. I think it’s the books themselves that create magic. Each book is its own portal, after all. You just have to know how to activate it.
Once monsters realized this, they began weaving protective magic into all libraries to assure that they remained safe havens for everyone. It took maybe a decade for monsters the world over to seek out every library standing and set magic within their walls for absolute protection.
It serves two purposes, really. Not only is it a safe haven for the roamers, but it’s also the preservation of millions, maybe billions of stories.Andhistory. Human history has not been erased. It simply stopped being recorded a hundred years ago.
“Ah,” I say, touching the frame of the bookshelf where the portal symbols are carved. “Ohh, this is a nice one. Ready?”
Rainer looks at me skeptically. He raises one shoulder, giving me a dubious look.
I run my fingers along the symbols in the combination required to activate it. Simply put, the symbols spell out the name of the place we’re going.
