But then a book drops from a shelf off to my left and slides slowly across the floor, halting by our feet. Clare crouches down, brushing dust from the velvet cover and reading the golden letters embossed on the cover.
“Lumomancy,” she says out loud.
Instantly my gaze falls to my hands.
“That’s right,” Clare says. “Briony is a lumomancer. Show her, Briony, show her what you can do.”
I’m not sure if that will help my situation, but I hold out my palms nonetheless and let my magic speed through my veins, sparking into my palms and causing great beams of light tohover in the air in front of my face. Clare and Fly have both seen me do this numerous times before, and yet they still gasp with amazement. I almost gasp myself. I’m still not used to how easy this is becoming, like it’s second nature. I can draw magic now like I can draw words from my mouth or breath from my lungs.
Again, there’s silence. But this time, I swear, the atmosphere in the library has shifted, as if every molecule hovering in the air is tense and watching me.
And then something incredible happens.
The bookcase resting against this far wall of the library – a bookshelf I’ve never seen move before – slowly swings outward, revealing another dark passageway, one that was hidden behind all the books.
I extinguish the light in my hands.
“Have you ever seen this before?” I ask Clare.
She shakes her head. “No. Never.”
I step forward and peer inside the tunnel, ignoring Fly’s anxious draw of breath. I think he’s half expecting the library to push me into the tunnel and block and lock me in with a bookshelf. After all, we’ve always assumed the library is on our side, but maybe she is loyal to the Empress and, with me a traitor, plans to capture me.
But the tunnel is similar to the one I climbed through from the Highlands with Fox, and as I bring my light back to brighten its darkness, I see those same strange symbols carved into the walls. The books vibrate on the shelves around us, a humming noise swimming through the air of the library.
“I think she wants us to go in,” Clare says.
“Is that wise?” Fly counters.
Clare shrugs and walks straight past him and into the tunnel. I hesitate and then I follow, and once again Fly has no choice but to come with us. As soon as we step inside the tunnel, the bookcase slides back into place and Fly whips around in despair.
“Great, and now we’re trapped,” he says.
“Not trapped,” Clare points out. “Hidden. The library is protecting us, Fly.”
“I hope you’re right,” he mutters.
“I am,” Clare says confidently. “Can you light the way, Briony?”
I do as my clever friend says and we follow the tunnel a short distance until it emerges into a larger room. It’s similar to the dungeons down where the Professor’s room lies – same stone walls, floor, and ceiling – only in this room an old chandelier hangs on a chain from the ceiling and it’s more than simply a secret section of the library. It houses several old, creaky-looking beds, dusty covers strewn across their old mattresses. Several shelves are stacked with more linen clothes and what look like stores of food. Next to that hang old, ancient weapons, the likes of which I’ve never seen before, even back in the palace in the Onyx Quarter. In one corner is what must be some ancient kind of sink, fed by a natural spring from down below – I can hear it gurgling. And then finally, on a decorative shelf stand three large books, ancient tomes that seem to brighten as I enter the room, drawing my attention their way.
“What is this place?” Fly says, strolling right to the packed shelves as Clare’s gaze lifts upward and all around the room.
“It looks like some kind of safe room,” Clare says. “Somewhere someone could stay hidden in the academy.”
“Why would the library have a safe room?” I say. “And why would it not open for you, Clare, but it would for me?”
“I’m guessing you’re more in need of a safe place right now than I am, Briony,” Clare says. “I knew the library was holding something back, some secret, something she couldn’t tell me or wouldn’t tell me until…” She flicks her gaze back to me. “She had to know you were a lumomancer. She had to see it with her own eyes.”
“The library has no eyes,” Fly points out.
“It’s a manner of speech,” Clare says a little sniffily.
“You think there’s something in these books that can help us then?” I say, almost as excited as my nerdy friend.
“Most definitely.”
Clare strides to the nearest shelf with utmost confidence, reaches out her hand to pull out the first book from the shelf, and then snatches her hand away, yelping as she does.
