Chapter Five
Emily scrambled around retrieving all the Chiavi and books, and she’d barely finished when I reached the other side of the room. I waited for her to close the closet door behind her before peering through the opening between the curtains.
“Afton?” I pushed open the curtains at the same time she was about to bang on the glass again.
She jumped back, tripping over a garden stone and landing on some purple aster flowers. Her big eyes found mine, and she pointed to the front door.
“Why didn’t you ring the doorbell?” I asked, as if she could hear me through the thick glass.
Emily pushed open the closet. “Because it’s broken.”
I dropped the Chiave on the bed and headed for the hallway.
“Oh no,” Emily said. “You’re supposed to be resting.”
“I feel fine.”
“Nope,” she bit back. “I’m not getting in trouble for letting you walk around. I don’t want to cross Nana. She can be scary.”
“Her? She’s easy.”
Emily frowned. “I doubt that. Now get back in bed.” She nodded toward the bed before leaving me.
Not too long after, the front door opened and shut. Afton’s excited words were muffled against the walls, but I knew that tone. Something was wrong. Like, way wrong. I slipped out of bed and struggled to change into my gear.
The bedroom door flew open, and Afton rushed in with Emily on her heels.
“We have to leave now—” Afton stopped when she noticed I was slipping on my cargos. “Oh good, you’re getting dressed.”
“What’s going on?” I pulled my T-shirt over my head, wincing at the pain in my shoulder.
Afton paced the carpet. “I don’t know. Nana said to head here and get you out. I think the whereabouts of this hideout has been compromised.”
I struggled to get my foot into my boot. Emily knelt down and pushed the left one on, then the right.
“Where are we going?” I asked, fumbling with the straps. Every movement caused pain to shoot through my wounds. My muscles felt petrified from being in bed so long.
Afton’s eyes darted from me to the door. “We’re to meet someone at the Boston Athenæum. I’m not sure who because I lost service, and Nana didn’t answer when I called back.” She crossed over to the window and peeked through the opening of the curtains.
“Is Nana okay?”
“She’s fine,” Afton said, keeping her post at the window, rocking from foot to foot and wringing her hands.
The strap to my boot kept slipping out of the buckle. I heaved a long sigh before asking, “What’s Nana up to? She’s not in Seattle. Do you know where she went?”
“Okay, I lied,” Emily said. “She told me not to tell you. The Wizard Council has been enforcing more and more restrictions on the covens. Nana went to the Mystik League meeting in Eelsteed.”
Restrictions? The covens were home to the many different creatures in the Mystik world. I’d thought Nana and I were beyond lies now. She’d promised never to keep secrets from me again.
“Why would the council do that?” I lost hold of the strap again.
“She didn’t say.” Emily brushed my hand aside and secured each buckle for me.
“Thanks,” I said.
Emily straightened and wiped her hands on her jeans. “No problem. Now let’s get out of here before any uninvited guests show up.” She gathered the ancient spell book, and Gian’s journal and canister, and shoved them into my messenger bag. The sword wouldn’t fit in there with the other Chiavi, and she frowned at it.
“I’ll wear it.” I fastened my empty scabbard around my waist and slid the Chiave in.
There was a sound like hoofs hitting the cobblestone sidewalk outside.
I put on my trench coat and tightened the belt, tying it in a knot.
“Too late.” Afton turned from the window, panic shocking her words. “Duck!”
I dropped down to the floor beside Emily at the same time Afton dove onto the carpet. The window exploded, sending shards of glass shooting through the room and raining down on us. The pain from my wounds almost stopped me, but I clenched my teeth and hobbled up. With a flick of my wrist, I created my battle globe and threw it.
A flaming ball soared from my hand and grew in size before hitting a creature, half bull and half man, climbing through the window.
I glanced down at my hand. What the hell?
My globe had changed again.
A Laniar, a creature that looked more greyhound than human, leaped into the room, baring her teeth and readying to pounce. Her dark eyes burned like coals against her pallid skin. The look on her face was fierce and determined. I created another globe, and it was cold in my palm. The sight of it caused me to pause. It wasn’t mine. This one was white as snow.
The Laniar charged, and I hurled the globe at her. It exploded against her body and ice crackled across her skin until she was completely frozen.
Emily pulled on my arm, my messenger bag slung over her shoulder. “Come on!” she shouted. “This way.”
Afton followed us into the hall. “How did you create those globes?”
“I-I don’t know.” My voice didn’t sound like my own. How did I do that? What’s happening to me?
Emily opened the basement door. “We can’t hide down there,” I said. “We’ll be sitting ducks. Let’s go out the back.”
“No. This is the way.” Emily pounded down the stairs with me on her heels and Afton on mine. She wove through the moving boxes stacked around the room and over to an old-looking furnace, the kind used as a gateway to hell in scary movies. It dominated most of the back wall and looked as if it hadn’t been used for centuries. She pushed on one of the bricks in the wall beside it. The furnace swung out, revealing an opening into a dark tunnel.
I created a light globe. “Where does it lead?”
Emily entered the tunnel. “I don’t know. Nana said to use it in an emergency. We’re to follow it to the end.”
I stepped inside, trying not to think about what kind of insects or tiny critters would live in the cool, moldy-smelling cave. Afton came in behind me. Her measured breathing told me she was just as nervous and scared as I was. Emily lifted a handle by the opening, and the furnace closed.
“I don’t like this,” Afton said.
From the other side, we could hear voices, and boots clapping down the stairs.
Emily lifted a finger to her lips to quiet us. She motioned with her head for me to start down the tunnel.
I rushed down the tight passageway, leading the way. The light from my globe bounced against the brick walls. Tree roots had broken through the packed dirt, and we had to climb over several of them. Water leaked down on us from the many cracks above.
“What is this place?” I asked.
Emily adjusted my overstuffed messenger bag on her shoulder, the Chiavi inside clanking against each other. She’d added the velvet bag, and the flap to the bag barely closed. “Nana said it was used during the Revolutionary War,” she said. “The patriots transported guns to the center of the city. That house we were in was a makeshift armory—”
A thunderous boom shook the tunnel’s walls.
Another bang resounded quickly after.
“Guess they figured out where we went.” I hurried my steps and glanced over my shoulder at Emily and Afton, both with frightened looks on their faces. “Keep up. We have to get out of here.”
We rushed as fast as we could over the roots and fallen piles of bricks where there must have been a mudslide. One pile was so massive we had to crawl through a tiny opening at the top. It was difficult to keep my light globe going while climbing, and I dropped it several times. The darkness that enveloped us terrified me until I could get another one lit. Whoever was following us didn’t bother being quiet, which succeeded in freaking us out even more.
It sounded like the group was gaining on us. I slipped down a brick pile and waited for Emily and Afton to get on the other side before creating a battle globe in my free hand. A purple ball of light pulsed on my palm. “What is this?”
“How are you doing that?” Afton asked.
“I have no idea.” But that globe wasn’t going to help me in this situation. Or would it? I gently placed it on the ground, trying not to pop it or snuff it out. It worked. The globe sat in wait just under the opening.
“What’s that for?” Afton asked.
“To stall them, I hope—” A sharp pain hit my shoulder, and I stumbled.
Emily caught me before I fell to the ground. “You’re bleeding through your bandages.”
“It feels like it’s on fire.” I inspected my shoulder. A stain had bled through my trench coat.
“This isn’t good,” Afton said. “You have to rest.”
“Can’t.” I straightened and tried to focus. “It just hurts. I’ll be fine in a sec.”
“Why didn’t you say so?” Emily reached into her front pants pocket and tugged out a small glass bottle. “Nana’s elixir. It should ease the pain.”
I took the bottle she offered and popped off the cork.
“Only half,” she warned. “Or you won’t be able to move. And we can’t carry you.”
The sweet taste drenched my tongue as I gulped it down. “Okay, let’s get some distance between us and them,” I said, returning the cork and slipping the bottle into my vest pocket.
It was then I noticed I’d forgotten to put on my breastplate. Veronique hadn’t worn hers, and she’d ended up dead. I suddenly felt vulnerable. If I wanted to survive, I had to stop making careless mistakes. A warrior doesn’t take risks. They calculate. I glanced from Afton to Emily. It was up to me to get them to safety.
The elixir was kicking in, so I hurried my steps. Behind us, there was a soft punch of air, and a purple light flashed through the tunnel. Someone had stepped on my trap.
We stopped at a thick wooden door with wide, rusty hinges and an ancient looking handle. It took all of us to get the heavy door open. It creaked and squeaked so noisy, I worried whoever might be on the other side would hear. The footsteps and voices behind us grew louder. Whoever or whatever followed us was getting closer. We threw our bodies against the door, and when we pushed hard, it moved an inch.
“Harder,” Afton yelped from her spot nearest the opening. “They’re here.”
We threw our bodies repeatedly against the door. Inch by inch it opened until we could squeeze through one at a time.
“We have to close it,” I said and pushed the door as hard as I could, blood from my shoulder staining the wood. Emily and Afton joined me.
“Again,” Afton called, and we shoved it again.
A long hand with claw-like nails reached out at the same time as we threw our bodies at the door with one last heave, closing it with so much force it snapped off the creature’s hand. It thumped to the ground, blood spraying across the stone floor.
Afton screamed.
I pulled her away from it. “Don’t look. Keep moving.”
“That was seriously gross,” she said. “Will this nightmare ever end?”
“No.” I shook my head, surveying the room we were in. “Once you know about Wonderland, you’re never the same, Alice.”
Afton crossed her arms. “That’s not funny. It’s cold in here.”
We were in a room with brick walls.
“There are stairs,” Emily said, adjusting my messenger bag before climbing the steps to the top. “Get up here. I think this is the way out. We should exit together—no telling what will happen.”
“That’s comforting.” Afton uncrossed her arms and climbed. I followed, darting quick looks over my shoulder in case someone got the other door open.
A rusty brass knob stuck out of the rocky ceiling. Emily pulled on it, and nothing happened. She pushed, and that didn’t work, so she twisted it, and dirt dumped in her face. The top slid aside, opening up to the outside world. Fresh air rushed in, and I breathed deep, filling my lungs with its sweetness.
Once we were out, I glanced around. We were in the Granary Burying Grounds. We’d exited through the tall obelisk that marked the grave of Benjamin Franklin’s parents in the middle of the cemetery.
“Did you see that? They came out of the memorial.” A woman’s voice caught me off guard, and I realized we had an audience. Families with small children, a group of women in their sixties, and some teens stared at us blankly. It was daytime, and there were tourists in the graveyard. Behind me, the memorial moved and slid back into place, covering the tunnel we’d just exited. My eyes found Emily and Afton. Both were stunned to their spots, not knowing what to do.
The obelisk shook. Someone was trying to figure out how the knob worked.
“We must get these people out of here,” I said. “Afton take the right and Emily left. I’ll take the center. Tell them all to go.”
I ran to the group of six women. “You have to go. There’s bad crea—” I stop myself from saying creatures. They’d think I was pranking them or something. “Men. There’s bad men coming.”
The women smiled, and one asked, “What is that, dear?” Her eyes went wide, and I spun around.
The obelisk shook and slid to the side. First, a Laniar came out, followed by a horned man and a creature that resembled a six-foot troll.
Panic made my heart flip in my chest. I can’t beat them. I’m outnumbered and hurt. I had to get out of my head, push back the fear, and fight. There were too many people around. Someone could get hurt, or worse, killed.
I couldn’t tell if it was two women or all of them who screamed. But they did, their screams matching the ones blaring in my head.
“Get out of here,” I ordered them. The women, some still screaming, dashed for the gate. I summoned my globe, and fire swirled on my palm. Taking a few running steps, I chucked it at the creatures. It hit the horned man, setting his clothes on fire.
I launched globe after globe at them—stun, fire, glass.
Ice.
Missed my target, but it spread across the steps of the memorial. The creatures slipped around trying to get their footing.
I shot a purple globe, and it stunned the troll-like beast. It collapsed to the concrete with a reverberating thud. The stun would stop his breathing. He would die if someone didn’t release him from it.
The Laniar stooped to all fours and soared off the steps. The ice globe I propelled smacked him in his wide chest, freezing him in midair. He crashed to the ground, his body breaking into several pieces.
Noises came from the tunnel under the obelisk. There were others and they’d be out soon.
“Running would be good now,” I yelled to Afton and Emily, sprinting down the pathway to the street. I followed the last of the people scrambling to get out of the cemetery. With all the adrenaline rushing through me, I had renewed strength. Afton and Emily panted behind me. I darted up the street and headed for the Boston Athenæum.
“Emily, get my membership card,” I said over my shoulder. “It’s in the front pocket of my bag.”
She unzipped the pocket and took it out. “Got it.”
I slowed down as we approached the library. “Keep close to my sides so the desk person won’t notice a sword hiding under this trench coat and the blood on my shoulder.”
Afton bit her bottom lip as she stared at the red-leather salon doors of the Boston Athenæum. “That’s not going to work. You’ll have to remove your coat. And they now have lockers in the lobby for bags.”
“I have one of those entry cards,” I said. “We’ll have to find an emergency exit.”
“Entry card?” The confused look on Afton’s face said she didn’t remember the magic Arik had used to open the library doors before.
I retrieved the card from the breast pocket of my vest. “It’s magic.”
“Right, that,” Afton said, tugging her cell out of her back pants pocket. “I’ll search Google for a floorplan of the library.”
Several minutes later, she looked up from the screen. “Got it. This way.” She led us down the sidewalk.
A black cloud of dread hovered over my head, and I searched the road. Maybe the creatures inside the tunnel hadn’t seen which way we went.
I slid the card across the lock on the emergency exit and opened the door.
The street filled with screams and crunching metal. I tensed and fought the fear turning my stomach. Afton and Emily needed me. I couldn’t give up.
“Get inside,” I said, opening the door wider. “Beacon Hill just met some scary Mystiks.”
“We have to hurry,” Emily said, shutting the door behind us.
“You and Afton go ahead of me,” I said. “Make sure the coast is clear. I don’t want anyone freaking out about this blood. I’ll be right behind you.”
Afton gave me a slight nod, and I responded with one. It was our secret signal, our way of saying we had each other’s backs. She hurried after Emily.
Each step forward sent pain surging through my body and fear to twist in my stomach. The elixir was losing its edge. I took the bottle from my pocket and downed the rest of the liquid inside.
We passed the Children’s Library and got to the elevator leading to the fifth floor without running into anyone. Excited voices came from the foyer just around the corner. They all must be gathering by the entrance to see what the commotion was on the street. We dashed inside the elevator.
The voices turned to screams, and feet scrambled across the marble floors. Inhuman growls and grunts rushed over the library. A Mystik, tall and lanky, with long arms and grayish skin, came around the corner. I’d seen one of his kind before, after the council hearing with Bastien. I’d found out later he was a Grigiolian. Panic pinged my stomach like moths hitting a porch light.
At spotting him, Emily and Afton sucked in a collective breath.
The Chiave’s blade shiiinged as I drew it out of my scabbard. I willed my hands to stop shaking.
Don’t show fear.
Keep calm.
But my body ignored me.
Emily’s finger kept stabbing the fifth-floor button. The noise alerted the Grigiolian to where we were, and he charged after us. The door started to close, but it was too late. His long-fingered hand stopped the door. Our backs slammed against the walls of the elevator as he lunged inside.
Afton and Emily shrieked at once.
I held up the Chiave. The blade picked up the light from the overhead lamps.
“Gianna, you needn’t fear me,” he said in a growling tone before I could take a swing at him. “I was sent by Katy. She said to say she loves you and something about a bug. Not quite sure about that one.”
I love you, Bug, I could almost hear Nana say. It was her term of endearment for me.
Emily’s and Afton’s backs were still pressed against the wall.
“It’s okay.” I inserted the Chiave into my scabbard. “Nana did send him.”
“Anyway,” he said. “I’m Doylis of Grigiol. I have met you once. You were with the honorable Bastien.” He practically pushed me into the corner as he stepped in and let the elevator door close.
The space was already too small for my comfort. Adding him made it stuffed. You will not freak out, I tried to convince myself.
“The Mystiks following you were not too far behind me,” Doylis said. “Go straight to the gateway book. Don’t stop. Don’t look back.”
Afton slipped her hand into mine. “You’re okay,” she whispered. She knew me well, knew my fears and quirks. I had to get myself together.
The elevator doors slid open. A great commotion resounded up the staircase. Our pursuers must have reached the library.
The fifth-floor reading room was empty.
“Sei zero sette periodo zero due DOR.” I recited the numbered charm for calling the gateway book. I wanted to get as far away from there as possible. But we needed to lead those bad Mystiks away from the Athenæum before they hurt anyone.
Amid the shouts and screams, a loud bang came from somewhere below us, as if a heavy wall-to-wall bookcase had tipped over. The shattering of glass made me flinch, and I glanced at the elevator.
I have to go back. They need help.
Doylis must have noticed my concern. “Don’t worry. My men are there. They’ll protect the humans. We must get you and yours to safety.”
The rustling of pages sounded through the room, and I scurried toward the noise. The others raced behind me. The book was tied to a bookcase. I recited the charm to release it, and fetched it from the shelf. “Where are we going?” I asked.
“Scotland,” he said. “The Central Library in Edinburgh, to meet Aetnae. She’ll lead you to Katy.”
Aetnae. I hadn’t seen the faery in a while, not since the day Veronique attacked me in New York.
Emily twisted her hands. “Are we really going to jump through that book? Nana told me about it, but I never thought I’d go through one.”
I paused flipping the pages of the gateway book and glanced over at her. “Don’t worry. It’s not too bad.”
“Not too bad?” Afton gave me a look that told Emily I wasn’t being that truthful. “It’s like freefalling through a black hole.”
Emily swallowed before clearing her throat. “I’m not afraid. You all have done it. I’m sure I can.”
“That’s the spirit,” Afton said with a dash of sarcasm.
Doylis’s head snapped in the direction of the entrance. “Someone’s on the stairs.”
I stopped at the photograph of the library in Edinburgh. “Got it. How are we doing this?”
“You’re going without me,” he said. “I must stay here and see that no one goes after you. And I must aid my men in protecting this library.”
“Are you with the havens’ guards?”
He shook his head. “No. I’m with the Mystik League. Now go.”
I placed the book on the floor, grasped Afton’s hand then Emily’s, as I slid a look at her. “Whatever you do, don’t let go. I’ll lose you if you do.”
“That’s encouraging.” Emily gripped my hand tighter, and my fingers grew numb.
I turned my head toward Doylis. “Thank you, and be careful.”
He nodded without a word before returning his focus to the entrance.
Afton adjusted on her feet. “Let’s just do this already.”
“Okay. Here we go,” I said and then spoke the spell to launch us. “Aprire la porta.”
Open the door.
A blast of wind hit my face and sped around us like a lasso, squeezing Emily and Afton against me.
“Jump up with me,” I called.
A yelp escaped Emily’s lips as we jumped together and the book sucked us into the page. Without my hands free, I couldn’t form a light globe, and the darkness engulfed us. Emily and Afton were gray silhouettes beside me. Afton had gotten good at transporting, not making a sound, and keeping her legs down.
Emily’s legs flew out from underneath her. “I don’t like this,” she shouted over the wind’s howling. Her free arm and legs flailing, she almost broke my hold on her hand.
“Stop pulling from me!” I shouted. “Try to get your legs down.”
“I don’t like this, I don’t like this, I don’t like this!” Emily screamed, the arm of the hand I held jerking up and down.
“Calm down!” My panicked command tumbled into the void.
Emily’s hand was yanked from my grasp.