Gwyneth slams her book closed, making me jump. “Daphne, come help me.”
I rise from my chair. Finally, something that doesn’t involve me staying still. Gwyneth grabs my hand and tugs me along before turning down an aisle lined with enormous bookcases. Not unsurprising, given where we are.
She turns to face me, her face displaying herlet’s get seriousexpression that I am not a fan of. “I might have found a way out of this,” she whispers.
I glance over my shoulder. No sneaky knights. But why are we hiding out? “Okay.”
“But you’d have to pick another Lady of the Lake.”
I shake my head. “No. I’m not putting another woman in this situation.”
“I knew you’d be like that, so I was thinking, what if we find someone super old, on the verge of passing on?”
I jerk my head back. It’s not like I haven’t had the same thought, but my sister is normally the kind one, the voice of reason. Only I can make such heinous suggestions, being assured she will shut them down before anyone dies. “Are you being serious?”
She swipes her hands down her face. “No. Maybe?” She turns and stalks away before coming back. “Never have I faced a problem I couldn’t solve. But this? It’s like some sadistic person who demands a price for a life wrote it. I hate it. I hate that you are caught up in it, and I will not let fate have you. Fuck that.”
My lips twitch. Gwyneth swearing is a rare treat. Her sacrificing some poor old woman would weigh on her soul, though. I reach out and catch her hand. “It’s going to be okay,” I tell her. “Now is not the time to panic. I need you to keep your cool, because we both know I don’t deal with smarts and logic.”
She drags in a breath, pushes her shoulders back, and gives me a nod. “Okay. The answers are here somewhere. We simply haven’t found the right book yet.”
I skim my fingers over the spines of bound paper, hiding eons of knowledge. “You’re right. It could be in here, or here.” I lift random books out. The fourth one is bound in a soft hide, with no title or sign of what wonders wait inside. I flick it open. The metal corner catches on my thumb, tearing a scratch across the pad.
“Dammit,” I mutter. A droplet of blood gathers and drops onto the edge of the book. My eyebrows dip as it sinks into the cover.
Gwyneth grabs the book. “Don’t bleed on the books,” she hisses. “The librarian will have our heads.”
“The short dude who gets off on dust and paper? He doesn’t have the balls to remove our heads.”
“Well, no, but he will get someone else to do it.”
That would be a pity. I’m quite attached to my head.
I pop my thumb into my mouth and suck off the excess blood. A strange, almost sighing sound echoes through the library. Gwyneth turns around, searching, her face a mask of confusion. The surrounding bookshelves creak, and dread slicks down myspine. The sound grows louder, as if something ancient and heavy is waking from a long slumber.
The books whisper in a language I don’t understand, but their tone is unmistakable—urgent, excited, alive. The ground trembles beneath my feet before the aisle shoots backward, knocking me to the floor. I lift my head and brush my hair from my face, glancing around for my sister, who is nowhere to be seen.
“Uh... Gwyneth?” I call, my voice trembling as my heart flutters in my chest. I push myself to my feet, backing away as a low groan rattles the air. The shelves beside me part, their enormous weight moving with an eerie grace as they slide open, revealing a dark passage. “What in the Blazes?”
“Daphne! What did you do?” Gwyneth’s voice echoes down the hallway, growing closer. The sound of footsteps—hastier now—rings in the silence.
The light flickers in the passage, beckoning to me like a siren’s song. The blood did something, activating the library somehow. But how? Why?
Gwyneth catches up to me, holding her own bleeding finger to match mine. I point at her finger. “What happened?”
“You bled on the book and disappeared, so I tried the same.” Oh. That was smart.
“Daphne? Where are you?” Nash hollers. I turn to look over my shoulder. I can make out their shadowy forms at the end of the passageway.
“In the library,” I yell.
“She thinks she’s still in the library,” Theo says.
“Daphne, you and your sister are not here,” Hart calls back.
“How are you speaking to me then, bright spark?”
“She has a point,” Malachi says.
