Page 23
His smirk is a thousand times more charming than any male I’ve seen. He purrs, “Liar.”
Thankfully, he’s distracted getting us onto the shore, and I need all the time that takes to cool my body as he jumps out into the foggy water and pulls the boat onto the shore with me inside before helping me out. He unclips his cloak, leaving it in the boat, and I see the massive sword, which is the whole length of his back, touching his very nice ass in his tight leather clothes. He should have left the cloak on. Gods. He is oblivious to my stare as he stalks towards the front doors and climbs up the steps. “Come on.”
“Do you get that feeling that we shouldn’t be here?” I question as we continue to walk up the steps.
“Yes, but I feel a lot of things, and I just ignore them. It’s better for everybody.” I sense there is a double meaning to that, and I’m not remotely touching that one.
We walk up the broken old steps, and Ren’s arm shoots out, stopping me. I flash him a questioning gaze, but the ground shakes softly, right before the double stone doors that are bigger than a house slowly creak open of their own accord. A cold breeze blows out of the doors when they stop, and Ren nods to me before we both wordlessly continue our way up the stairs.
The walk through the open doors feels like stepping into Ixchel’s hell, but I do it, and I keep my spine straight the entire time. Fake confidence always looks like confidence. It’s only me who knows it’s not real. “If there’s trouble, if this goes wrong, you run and get back on that boat. Go back to the ship, and send Chaos after me. Do you understand?”
“I’m not leaving you here. We’re going in together, we come out together,” I mutter. “Being the self-sacrificing hero isn’t for you.”
He grits his jaw and turns away, not disagreeing with me. Ren picks up two lanterns off the wall and lights them both, handing one to me. The smell of old books and dust fills my senses as we head further into the library, which is nothing more than rubble, piles of scrolls and paper, some odd books… It’s so silent still, and I never thought I’d miss the sound of the waves, of the sea, of the birds flying above, or even an angry storm.
We keep walking down what seems like an endless, long corridor until we come to two archways. Ren lets me pick which one. Considering I’m the map, I’m meant to know, but I don’t have any feeling in my body except for the one telling me to run away. We step into the left archway, and the sound of a hundred clicks fills the air as lanterns on the wall burst into light, flames growing on their own in each of them lining the ceiling.
The magic is not nearly as impressive as what they light up: a library a dozen miles long, filled with a million or more books in rows and rows. Even with the lights, it’s still dark and cozy as I scan the library, taking it all in.
“Do you have a feeling of which way to go, Map?”
“Nope,” I draw out the word. “If this place wasn’t haunted, I’d live here happily reading until the end of my life.” With Rowe. Maybe there would be a book in here on how to help him without the magic and the map, but I doubt it. If there was a cure, people would know about it and charge a fortune. Rich or poor, people like Rowe die every day. The rich are usually older, kept alive by money and pure will.
Something feels wrong about touching any of the books here, like they are something more than books and they are watching my every step. Now that I’m certain magic is in the world far more than the king wants us to know, I wonder if maybe these books are alive in their own way.
“Where I was born, some witches are said to be marked by the god Amaterasu for a place in his great library. Here.” He gestures out towards the books before he pushes up his sleeve and shows me a red marking that almost looks like a burn until I look closer, seeing five symbols pushed closely together. “These are words, ones that only witches can read and understand in our taught language.”
I wait for him to explain why he is telling me this, why he sounds sad. He isn’t the only one that has something like that. There are three of these markings right at the bottom of my ankle. It was there when I was born, and I assumed it was just one of those strange things. “So what do you think it is? If it’s not just a birthmark.”
“Where I come from, when witches die, these words will appear in a book in the great library. The great library was once a place where acolytes lived and breathed until their very last days. Once you go in here as one of them, sign your soul over to the great library, you become part of it. It was said you lose your magic, you lose everything that defines you, and every person who knew you just doesn’t anymore. Every title, anything that possibly could belong to you, just disappears, and instead, you become a protector of the library. The great library holds the stories of everybody who’s been marked like this because we become history. We are said to read our own book in the sky with the god Amaterasu.” He looks around. “The acolytes never left here when the library was attacked and cursed over two hundred years ago. I suspect they are what haunts this place now and makes sure no one comes near.” He looks down the rows. “Somewhere in here is my father’s book. Only family or mates can touch the books of the dead they knew.”
“It’s kind of sad that you have to read about their lives in a book when they’re gone,” I admit as he walks down to the first library row. We both stop to look at a row of books, all black leather-bound with marks down the spine. “And it’s very creepy thinking the acolytes never left. They have to be dead around here somewhere.”
Ren doesn’t agree with me, and I really, really don’t like that. They have to be dead…because what else could they be after two hundred years? A screeching cuts through the air and echoes in my ears, so loud I have to clamp my hands over them. The bookcases begin to shake, books falling out of it onto the floor, and before any of them can hit me, Ren grabs my hand and we run. Books hit my shoulder, slamming into him too. But neither of us is stupid enough not to keep running when the shaking sounds like it is getting closer.
The room is growing cold, like ice creeping across the sea. We come around a corner, and I look behind me for just a second, and in that second, I wish I hadn’t. A creature made of gray, white and black smoke is running for us like a giant cat, but it isn’t remotely cute or soft. Instead of fur, its body is made of smoke-shaped spikes. Its huge paws and teeth are blood red. Its eyes are red too, the deepest shade, and the sight of it makes me freeze in fear.
Ren pulls me into the next row of bookcases, and he pushes me against the bookcase, covering me with his body, his hand slamming over my mouth. He puts one finger to his lips with his other hand as I shake in his arms, before reaching his hand over his head to rest on the hilt of his sword. Shadows wrap around us like a blanket, the inky black warmth of them soothing. I swear I feel the shadows stroke down my arms, down my thighs and back. Ren is so still against me, and it’s strange—he is keeping me safe. I haven’t had anyone protect me since my parents died. His eyes dart around as the bookcase continues to shake, as the creature snarls and roars somewhere nearby before the shaking begins to fade away into the distance. Until Ren feels it’s safe enough to stop his magic and light pours back.
“What was that?” I whisper when he lowers his hand, but he doesn’t move away from me. Our bodies are still pressed together, and he feels warm against the chill of this place.
“I wasn’t sure…but that was a cursed acolyte.” He looks at me, lifting his hand like he might touch my face, but instead, he tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear. “Whatever you do, don’t touch them. Any creature the gods have cursed like this is strong, full of dark magic, and there is a risk they could bind themselves to your soul, only to haunt you and kill you. They will want out of this place, and a mortal is an easy way out. You’re safe with me though.” He moves away, and the cold feeling returns in full force. I barely noticed the blood dripping from his lip until he wipes it away with the back of his hand. He must have bitten his tongue or cheek for the blood magic to save us. “Lead the way, Map. Where are you being tugged to?”
I don’t want to is my instant thought, but I don’t back away from anything I’ve chosen to do, and today will not be the first time. I close my eyes and feel for anything, any kind of tug, but all I feel is him at my side. Then I sense something else, a burning sensation in my stomach that screams for me to go left. “I don’t know why or how, but I feel like we need to go left.”
He wordlessly takes my hand like it’s his, and we go down the rows together. We jog slowly and quietly, and I’m impressed he knows how to keep his footsteps so silent, just like I do, as we search through the endless bookcases, through the maze of them that never seems to end or look any different. It starts to hit me that I don’t know how we will even find the exit. I whisper, just in case one of the acolytes is near. “We are lost. How are we going to find the entrance again?”
Ren taps the strange ring he wears, the one that looks like a sea is constantly moving through it. “This will lead us back. The ring is a map in a sense, just like what’s on you, and it will always lead me back to the sea. I can’t get lost on any land.”
“Useful,” I mutter, looking at it. “Where did you find it?”
“I didn’t find it. My father gave it to me before he died,” he whispers back, and it feels like he is admitting something he doesn’t tell many people.
I touch my necklace. “I’m sorry. My parents didn’t get time to give me anything before they died. Be grateful you had that moment. By the time I got to my parents, they were nothing but bones and light.” He looks like he wants to ask me what happened, but there are enough horrors in this place without me adding another one to the air.
I feel the same tugging in my stomach, the feeling getting stronger and clearer. “This way.” The light from the flames makes it look like something is always in every shadow, in every nook and hidden part of the darkness between the library walls. Ren follows at my side, and I won’t ever admit it, but I’m glad he is here.
We come out into a new corridor. This one is destroyed on both sides by thick rubble and stone. There is an archway on the other wall, leading to a new part of the library maze. I walk through it and turn to see Ren is a step away from me, just as a wall slams down between us. “NO!” I shout without thinking, slamming my hands on the stone wall.
