Chapter Twenty
Goose bumps broke out on Bryn’s upper arms. “Why do I get the feeling this isn’t a good thing?” She walked around the card catalog and found Valmont staring at the wall.
“Can you see it?” he asked.
“I’m going to go with no, since all I see is the wall.”
“It’s the same as upstairs. ‘Only those who have given their all may enter. Those who have taken everything must give to see.’”
“And it’s just written on the wall?”
“No. There’s an outline of a door.” He held his hand out to her. “Come here. I want to test a theory. I think the message refers to a knight and his dragon.”
She moved closer and held his hand even though she didn’t like how the description made it sound like the knight gave while the dragon only took. “Okay. Now what?”
He unsheathed his sword. “I think it want’s your blood.”
She did not like where this was going. “Like in Mr. Stanton’s class?”
He pulled the hand he held toward the wall. “I’ll hold the sword. You touch it.”
It went against her instinct to willingly touch the razor sharp weapon, but Valmont would do it for her, so she slid her finger down the edge of the blade, flinching as it sliced through her skin.
The sword glowed red as Bryn’s blood trickled down the blade.
“Touch the wall right there.” Valmont pointed at a blank piece of stone four feet off the ground with the tip of his sword.
A tingling sensation started on Bryn’s scalp the closer her finger came to the wall. When she touched the stone, an electric shock made her wince. The smell of hot copper filled the air. And the wall was gone. In its place was a wooden door with iron hinges. “No way.”
Valmont grabbed the handle and pulled. This door did creak from disuse. No lights came on, but the scent of dust and decay drifted out to them.
“I don’t think anyone has been here in a long time.” Bryn produced a fireball in her right hand and leaned in the doorway, scanning the area for anything dangerous.
A long wooden table took up the center of the room. Books were stacked on the table and spilled over onto the floor.
“Seems safe enough.” Valmont crossed the threshold batting cobwebs out of his way. He pointed at a fat candle in a sconce on the wall. “Light that.”
“Sure.” Bryn lit the candle with her flame. The sound of creatures scurrying across the floor made her shiver. When something scrambled over her foot, she jumped backward.
“It’s only a mouse,” Valmont said.
She might be a kick-ass shape-shifting dragon, but a mouse crawling over her foot still gave her the heebie-jeebies.
Valmont laughed, like he knew what she was thinking.
“Shut up.” As the flame on the candle grew, light filled the room. How was that possible? And then she saw it. The wall behind the sconce held a large mirror, which directed the light across the room to another mirror, where it bounced across the room again. “That,” she pointed at the candle, “is ingenious.”
“And probably a bit magical,” Valmont said.
From the table, Bryn picked up a dust-covered book. Scrawled inside, she found names, with lists next to them, like a family history of greed, malice, and cunning. That was weird. Did the person who made this list consider those positive or negative traits? The elements symbol, a circle with the four triangles representing the elements, was drawn at the bottom of the page. Family names were written in under the different elements. If this was Directorate property, had there ever been a time when that symbol didn’t mean treason? She tried to turn the page, but it crumbled beneath her fingertips. “Crap. Should we get Miss Enid to look at these? She might be able to preserve some of them.”
“Are you sure you want to share the existence of this room?”
“If anyone else discovered it and found out we already knew, we’d be labeled as disloyal. We’ll tell Miss Enid when we go back upstairs, but for now, we investigate. Sound good?”
Valmont checked his watch. “We have time.”
The room held books in varying states of decay. A glass case on the wall contained leather bound scrolls. Another case held daggers. Using the tips of her fingers, Bryn picked up a scroll and gently laid it on the table. Touching the edges, she unrolled it, becoming more confident as the scroll unwound without breaking. “This is so cool.”
She scanned the handwritten report detailing Clan members that were allowed to marry and those that weren’t. “I wish this told us how they tested the bloodlines. There’s a drawing of two dragons touching some sort of maze or plate.”
“I might have found that.” Valmont carried what looked like an oversize metal dinner plate. He placed it flat on the table so she could see it. “Careful, the rim looks razor sharp.” A channel started on both sides of the plate and then turned into a maze, which met in the center.
“Do you think they actually bled on this and did some sort of scientific test?”
“Maybe.” He cocked his head to the side. “Do you hear that?”
Bryn listened. “I hear the disturbing sounds of tiny scurrying feet which will probably haunt my dreams tonight. That’s about it.”
Valmont pointed toward the back of the room. “It’s coming from over there.”
Bryn followed him around the table to what appeared to be a box covered by a tapestry. He flung back a corner of the cloth to reveal another one of the glass display cases. Inside rested a sword etched and decorated with a red metal that created a design which looked like fire and some bluish metal embedded alongside it to resemble frozen flames.
“Holy crap.” Here was physical proof hybrids had existed in the past. “No one would make a sword with both elements on it unless they were bonded to a hybrid dragon.”
Valmont didn’t respond. He was too busy running his hands over the case.
“What are you doing?”
“This has to open somehow.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Bryn asked. “There could be booby traps.”
“Not against a knight who serves a Red-Blue Hybrid,” Valmont said like he was 100 percent certain. “Ah-hah.” He pushed on something, and the side of the case swung open.
Bryn could feel something like Quintessence pulsing from the case. “Be careful.”
“It’s meant for me.” Valmont reached in and grasped the pommel, which was decorated with red and blue stones. Whoosh. Magic pulsed through the air like a wave.
With great reverence, Valmont removed the sword from the display case and held it up to the light. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
The red and blue etchings seemed to pulse in the light.
“It is.” Bryn noticed something else. “I think it comes with its own carrying case.” She reached in and pulled out a black leather scabbard. Since Valmont didn’t seem inclined to set the sword down, she buckled the black leather belt around his waist. “There you go.”
“I’m not ready to put it away yet.” He looked like a five year old with a brand new Star Wars light saber.
A thought occurred to Bryn. “We need to head upstairs and share this with Miss Enid.”
“I’m not sharing my sword,” Valmont said in a tone, which sort of sounded like he was joking.
“I doubt anyone will try to take it away from you. As for the rest of this,” Bryn indicated the dusty old books and scrolls, “she’s probably the only one who can read the books without destroying them.” Something caught Bryn’s attention. Amid the dust on the far wall, something twinkled. “What’s that?”
Valmont turned to see where she was going. “What’s what?”
“The sparkly thing.” As Bryn walked toward it, the light winked out. “Where’d it go?”
“Where did what go?”
Had the sword scrambled his brain? “The light on the wall.” Bryn hurried forward and scanned the items on the back shelf. There were boxes of paper and blank scrolls. Empty wooden boxes sat with their lids propped open.
A strange warmth started in Bryn’s chest. Wait, not in her chest, on her chest. She pulled on the golden chain, which held the gold key with the red and blue stones. The key itself felt warm…far warmer than her body temperature.
“I think the key is attuned to something in here the same way you were attuned to that sword.” Taking great care, she pulled the chain over her head and let the key dangle from it. Even though there was no breeze in the room, the key swung forward and to the right.
“It’s like a magical magnet?” Valmont asked.
“I guess.” Bryn advanced in the direction it indicated, taking care not to step on the books, which lay scattered about on the floor. It seemed to be leading her to a shelf, which held intricately carved wooden boxes.
“Before you try to open any of those, we should make sure it’s safe,” Valmont said.
“The same way you made sure that case was safe when you were trying to reach the sword?”
“Point taken.” Valmont joined her by the boxes. “I believe this falls under the do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do rule. Which box does the key want?”
Bryn extended her arm, holding the chain out so that the key dangled in front of the boxes. It swung forward and landed on top of the box in the middle. Leaning in close, Bryn blew on the top of the box, scattering layers of dust. She used her sleeve to gently wipe away years of residue, revealing a keyhole surrounded by red and blue stones.
“This could be big,” she told Valmont.
“It could, but be careful.”
Afraid if she picked the box up it might fall apart, she placed the key in the box and gently turned it to the right. The lid slid sideways rather than opening like a normal treasure chest.
Nestled in blue silk, lay a thick gold cuff bracelet with red and blue stones. She picked it up and stared at it before attempting to slide it onto her left wrist. It didn’t fit, so she tried her right wrist where it slid on and fit like a second skin. The metal of the bracelet felt cold, but then warmed to her body heat. Magic pulsed up her arm making her suck in a breath and then the bracelet stung her… It felt like two fangs had sunk into her wrist. She gasped as a wave of dizziness hit.