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With growing tension in my chest, I stared at his fingers as he ran them over the sandstone.

Of course, nothing happened. What had I expected?

“Strange,” he murmured, shrugging his shoulders and turning to me. “Is there such a thing as snake magic?”

He grinned, and I didn't know if he was joking or serious.

“Of course not,” Julie said with a critical expression. She turned to me. “But maybe you have a powerful Quatura father and carry the element of earth within you, which would cause minerals to react to your core energy.”

That might explain what just happened, but not all the Senseque and Ruisangor things that had already befallen my body.

“Except it would be almost impossible for nobody to know him. There are only three known living male Quatura in the world.”

Not to mention the fact that you can't smell me or sense my magic...

I turned away from the others.

It would be easier if I were one of them. Maybe not a Ruisangor. Just a regular Quatura. Everything would be fine.

I would be at home with Mum, even if we were part of a cult. We would have each other, and she wouldn't have to rot somewhere in the dark depths of Moenia, captive of insane women.

I turned back and caught them all staring at me. Larissa's eyes still held that miserable pity.

“What?” I blurted out, a pathetic weakness in my voice that must have somehow crept in there.

Larissa and Miles immediately looked at each other helplessly.

Emely raised her hands defensively. “We should keep looking and not stand around...” staring at me because I'm obviously different and abnormal.

Luckily for me, Larissa immediately scurried to a shelf further back in the room and Miles followed her right away.

Emely watched them go, then turned away as well, striding back to her shelf, and Julie crossed the room to inspect a candle next to the fireplace.

Being the center of attention made me feel uncomfortable. God, that had been intense.

Drowning in desperation, I turned around and examined the snake and the barely visible runes.

As my thoughts tried once again to dig into the black void inside me and grasp at coherent explanations out of thin air, I stifled them and tried to focus on the mission. The thing we were here for.

Something told me this search for information in books was pointless, that we were going around in circles. I had found all the important information at home. But then there was this strange book by Alice, which I absolutely had to continue reading, and now we kept ending up in Alarik's office over and over again.

“Strange that all the candles are lit... except for the fireplace.”

I turned to Julie, who was staring at the fireplace as if it would provide all the answers to our questions.

I gave up looking for books and walked over to her.

“Maybe Alarik didn't want that.”

“Or Alice.” Larissa had appeared behind me.

“Or both of them,” Julie said.

She crouched down and examined the fireplace.

“Come on, shouldn’t we be checking the books like we agreed?”

Julie didn’t let Emely’s words bother her, but instead started fumbling around the ornate stone fireplace.