The rest of us did the same, though I went back out to the firstroom and up to the third level since they could cover the back and the first and second floors.
I didn’t find anything about Skathes, though I did find lots of books about spells I’d have to come back and explore.
I traced the railing on my way toward the far end of the third floor, Pherin a warm weight on my shoulder. She fluffed her tiny feathers again, the pulse of her mind brushing mine, impatient, urging. Not words this time, just an image of threads, stretched taut and thrumming, fading away when I tried to focus on them.
“More wards to unravel?” I asked, and she peeped.
I slowed. “Where?”
She blinked and tilted her head toward the wall at the end of the long aisle.
The shelves there looked no different from the rest, dusty, overstuffed, a few books lying on their sides. But when I reached the end and placed my hand on the shelf, a vibration shivered through my palm. It wasn’t a sound or exactly magic, either.
I peered over the railing on my right. Down below, the statue hadn’t moved, but his head had turned. He was looking directly at me.
Shivers scraped down my spine.
The carved mouth hadn’t opened, yet I swore I could hear his earlier command to leave sliding across my skin like the sharpest knife.
I studied the book spines, edging toward the left wall. The vibration grew stronger.
“Isi?” Kerralyn’s voice floated up from below. “Find anything? There’s nothing out back.”
I didn’t answer. If I spoke, I’d have to admit I wasn’t sure.
Pherin nipped my ear, then hopped down my arm and pressed her breast against the wall.
The surface rippled. I jerked my hand back, flattening it against my chest.
Behind me, the scrape of stone rang out. A gowned statue had stepped off her dais on this level.
“Leave or suffer the consequences,” she growled. One grinding step was followed by another, her stone dress rippling around her.
Pherin’s mental image sharpened on those same threads, tangled, humming, alive.
“I already broke the wards,” I hissed, and she shook her tiny head.
More?
I closed my eyes and tried to find the threads holding this ward together.
No knot.
I opened my eyes, and for the first time, I saw a lattice made up of thin strands of light crisscrossing the wall like a spiderweb, quivering faintly where they intersected. Every point vibrated on its own frequency, humming in a rhythm I could feel in my chest.
Pherin’s trill sharpened.Push. Pull. Not hard, not fast, but gentle.
I hesitated. As far as I knew, my magic was a blunt thing. I assumed I’d eventually be able to move larger objects, that this could play some role in the war against the Skathes.
Funny how I no longer saw myself returning to my home court but staying here.
By Trew’s side? That remained to be seen.
Yet I’d discovered an ability to fracture wards.
One ward,Pherin essentially sent.
I pursed my lips at her. “Alright, one.”
