“The glow is definitely coming from the library.” Rylana waved toward a bank of windows that also overlooked the courtyard.
“We’re not there yet? This place is huge.”
“It’s in the back with the largest windows and a seating area facing the lake. My room is—was—above it.”
“You don’t think it’s there anymore?”
“I have no idea.”
“I doubt your father needed to clean it out to makespace. Are you sure we haven’t passed the library already? What were those other rooms full of books?”
“Father’s study, his office, and the castle scriptorium.”
“Who has ascriptorium? I can’t believe I’ve always half-believed you when you claimed you didn’t grow up spoiled.”
“I should have left you on the threshold.” Rylana lifted her hand as they turned down a hall leading through the back of the castle, and another moan wafted toward them. It sounded almost animalistic, or maybe like it came from an ogre or troll throat rather than one belonging to a human. “That’s not Vormalt,” she decided again. “Unless he’s got a bad cold.”
The hall flowed into the spacious library with its tall windows overlooking the courtyard on one side and the backyard and lake on the other. Thanks to the blue glow filling the space and beaming up toward the high ceiling—toward it andthroughit—every table, chair, bookcase, and polished marble floor tile was visible.
Another time, Rylana would have looked nostalgically around at what had always been her favorite place in the castle, an ideal spot to hide from her chores and homework assignments by burying herself in books of mystery and adventure. But the ongoing moans and eerie blue light kept her focus toward finding Vormalt—and figuring out what was going on.
“The magic is most intense in here,” Sylin said.
“I guessed.”
“I assume this isnota part of the security system.”
“Not unless something went awry, like a wheel falling off Gniknik’s dish collector.” Rylana ventured into the center of the library. Was the beam strongest and maybe originating in that back corner? Behind the last aisle of bookcases?
“How often does that happen?”
“Something falls off one of his contraptions at least daily. I have a feeling he’s waiting tables because he doesn’t have the natural aptitude to get into the Gnomish Invention Academy.”
“That’s a prestigious school. They’ve heard of it even in the south. I doubt many get in.”
A cold draft whispered through the library, raising the hair on the back of Rylana’s neck. She caught herself reaching for her bow before remembering she hadn’t brought it. Maybe that had been a mistake. As Jildarin had once pointed out, even when it was tied with a tranquility ribbon, she could use it as a club.
“Not thatclubsare useful against magic,” she muttered.
Sylin pulled out her knife and held up the blade.
“Are you volunteering to go first and stab the glow?”
“It’s hard to stab light, but I can go first.”
Despite the offer, Rylana continued to lead. She rested her hand on the hilt of her own knife as she stepped around the bookcase, and the back corner of the library came into view. The glow originated in the floor, appearing to flow straight up from the marble tiles.
“Is there a basement?” Sylin asked.
“There’s a root cellar, but it’s under the kitchen.”
“I don’t thinkrootsare making that glow.”
“Parsnips can be pretty bright.”
As Rylana crept closer, her foot caught on something. Not a dog toy but a jagged crack in a tile.
She wouldn’t have thought much of it—the castlewascenturies old—but the next tile was also damaged. Severalof them were. And was that asledgehammerleaning against the wall?
