Why couldn’t anyone understand that the magic wanted what it wanted when it wanted it? I wasn’t going to put it off because of some arbitrary rules about where I could and couldn’t go.
Swallowing the words, I followed Rilen and Roran out of the room and down the corridors to the library. Someone had put the doors back up. New and clearly reinforced, Phoenix opened them by swiping his cell phone over a reader.
Crow pushed the door open and motioned us into the room.
Phoenix pulled the door closed behind himself. “No one remembered this was here. No one in the stronghold remembered it, so we don’t know what’s in here. Kimber, you’ve been granted this much. You have free rein to explore here. You may catalog or not. You must report all discoveries to Lord Xenon.”
I started, “That’s not—”
Phoenix chopped a hand through the air, cutting my words off. “Those are the terms. And if you don’t, we will toss you in the dungeon, no questions asked.”
“There’s a dungeon?” Rilen whispered. “This isn’t the bowels of this place?”
The two bodyguards leaned against the door, arms folded, and said nothing more. They just checked out and stood guard.
I didn’t like this version of them. They had been kinder and more interesting yesterday.
Still, this was a library, and this was where I would be happy, at least for a little while.
I turned in a circle and got my first good look at the room.
That was an exaggeration. I could see a few shelves nearby, a remarkably high ceiling, and some tables. There was no light in here, except the small lanterns someone had set on the table.
That wasn’t going to work.
Curling my fingers, I held my hand out in front of me. The magic was everywhere here, and I carefully curled it in my palm. It ignited in soft yellow light and floated it to the ceiling. I expanded the light as much as I could.
The ceiling was far higher than I thought it was, and the bright ball of light chased away a lot of the shadows and revealed—
“Achoo!” Roran looked horrified.
“This place is all dust.” Rilen walked toward the stacks. “Oh, my sweet S’Kir. There are scrolls in here. And the dust—”
“Achoo!”
“—is about a mile thick.” Rilen lifted an eyebrow at his brother. “Are you all right?”
“No,” he said, his nose clearly stuffed up. “What kind of dust is this? I’m dying.”
“Ancient dust,” I said.
Rilen lifted a scroll from its place on the shelf.
It disintegrated in his hand.
“Achoo! Shit!” Roran put a hand over his mouth. “I’m leaving. I’m going out to the one place we’re allowed, and I’m going to take deep breaths of cleansing mountain air, and I’m not coming back in here unless you discover the secrets of the universe!” He yanked the door open, stepped through, and slammed it shut behind him.
“Okay, so he has allergies,” Rilen said with a chuckle.
* * *
Even though I was only allowed to be in my room and the library, it felt better than being locked in one place.
Everyone seemed to have calmed down, and I was glad they were able to relax. The attitudes from my twins had started to wear on me.
I hadn’t found anything groundbreaking yet, but Rilen and I had stumbled across some things that Lord Xenon, and even Lord Cato, were interested in.
“We’ll never get through all of this,” Rilen said, sitting back in his chair. “I’m not even sure we can say we have touched the surface. Are we looking for anything in particular?”
