“We research,” Aerin says. “I have access to Echelon.”
65
REYNA
Valtara is a culture shock. As pristine and beautiful as all the tabloids claim, the streets are wide and paved, flowers hang from pots on streetlamps. The storefronts are idyllic, perfectly painted with aesthetic signs in their doorways. It feels like a post-card come to life. Completely opposite the haphazard bustling of Zeneith.
The City-State is the kind of hot Zeneith never gets. The sun beats down on Reyna’s skin, sweat beading on her brow. She understands now why they ran before the sun rose. There isn’t a cloud in the blue sky.
A group of shifted Cougars lope past them in the street, and Reyna all but jumps away into Malice. The Dragon-Fae flares a wing behind her. Reyna’s fried nerves are thankful for the extra protection, even with Khortland on her other side, between her and the rapidly moving Shifters.
Reyna has never seen so many Shifters in shifted forms. It’s rare for a Shifter to be fully shifted in Zeneith. But here, Cougars and Rabbits, Fawns and Spiders, Badgers and Ursine, all dart down the center of the streets in their commutes. Reyna watches as a Fawn gracefully goes from running on four legs to fullyclothed walking on two as he exits the street and approaches a storefront.
The Fae seem to stick to the sidewalks, for the most part, walking leisurely from one place to the next. Though the occasional Fae does venture into the mass of Shifters in the street, running alongside them. Valtara always advertises itself as a haven for full-magic creatures, and now Reyna understands why. The entirety of the infrastructure is for them. It allows them to exist exactly as they are, in a way they simply can’t in Zeneith.
Reyna also has never seen a place so absent of Rogues. Not a single Troll, Elf, Pixie, Wolf, Witch, or Human. It puts Reyna on edge. She feels like prey in a city full of creatures designed to kill her. She’s used to being low on the totem pole, but being the lowest individual in the entire city? The locket weighs heavy around her neck, Reyna is extremely grateful for the Fae skin she wears.
“Marcus!” Aerin calls, waving towards the street. A Jaguar Shifter who sprinted past slows, exiting the street, and shifting before them into a blonde male. He smiles a wide smile at Aerin.
“Good to see you’re back,” the Shifter says, hugging Aerin. They continue forward with the Jaguar at Aerin’s side. A new tension radiates from Malice. The Jaguar and Aerin begin talking about Emrys, or rather, the non-magical Wolf Marcus thinks Emrys is, walking in his massive Wolf form next to Aerin.
Reyna isn’t sure what draws more attention: the Princess or the Wolf at her side. Creatures have been snapping pictures of them all morning. A Badger Shifter with a massive camera has been shadowing them from the other side of the street, raising the lens of his camera whenever he gets a Shifter-free shot. Even now, as they pause, creatures murmur.
“Is it always like this?” Reyna asks Malice. The Dragon-Fae seems reluctant to take his attention from the Jaguar with Aerin, but he eventually does, looking down at Reyna.
“She handles it better than I ever could,” Malice responds, confirming Reyna’s suspicion.
They cross over a lumbering river, the path changing to a picturesque red-brick bridge beneath her feet. A little farther West, and they cross under an archway that reads “Valtara City University” where the Jaguar splits from the group. Aerin promises she’ll see him soon. Malice seems to relax as soon as he is out of their sight.
The campus is bustling for mid-day on a Monday, and they continue to garner stares as they make their way to an immense brick building. It towers several stories up and almost a block long. Sprawling green grass spotted with trees lays before it, pillars rising from the front steps to a small stoop that extends from the roofline.
Reyna follows the other creatures up the steps. “This is Echelon?” she asks, astounded.
“This is the library. Echelon is in the basement,” Aerin clarifies. Theo holds the door open and the group shuffles in.
Malice practically drags Reyna to the stairs at the back, her feet stumbling over one another as she takes in the room. Books are everywhere. The center of the building is hollow, the ground floor spotted with tables and comfortable-looking chairs where students study and read. Above, each level is lined with books, the open balconies stacked atop one another, rising up and up to a dizzying height.
“H—how is there even this many books?” Reyna murmurs.
“Pay attention, Human,” Malice snipes under his breath as he pushes her into the stairwell. Reyna is sad to see the library go as the door shuts behind him.
The rest of the group is already at the bottom of the stairs, at a second door that Aerin swipes a keycard to open. When they push inside, the room is far less grand, but it still holds books for as far as Reyna can see. It smells like must and old paper, the space spanning the entirety of the building. There is a cluster of tables near the door. A few computers and other gadgets Reyna doesn’t recognize sit near a circle of plush chairs. Every other space in the entire monstrous room is filled with rows and rows of books.
66
MALICE
The week passes by slowly. They spend their mornings at the gym and their days in dusty Echelon, searching through book after book for anything helpful. Anything on bonded-mates, Phoenixes, The Curse and prophecies of Old, magic that can strengthen Humans or change species, or Pack magic. They learn little they don’t already know. Every day, the group feels warier, except Aerin. Her stubbornness is the only thing that keeps them on track.
Malice flips through the last pages of another book, slamming it shut and tossing it into the ever-growing pile of books they found useless.
“There has to be someone we can talk to,” Khortland complains. He grew tired of sifting through books after only the first day. Reyna, sitting next to him, is the opposite. She devours perhaps too much information, getting sidetracked by things they don’t need.
Aerin shakes her head and says, “It’s too risky.” Malice agrees with her.
Earlier in the week they caught slack from the library staff about accessing Echelon too often. Thankfully, Theo charmedthem with promises of Mer delicacies and a smile so practiced it makes Malice’s skin crawl, despite its usefulness.
The Princess sits at the desk looking ethereal, as she always does. Even under the harsh lights her skin glows. Her hair is pulled back into a braid which puts her neck on display as she searches yet another digital database. She is the only one not searching the actual textbooks that surround them.
