Chapter 28
Rumor
We stood outside the big door.
“I did it last time,” I complained. “I’m not doing it again.”
Riot replied, “Did you bring the key dagger? You know, Spade, the dagger I gave her.”
Spade scoffed. “Like that means anything.”
“It means a great deal, I’ll have you know.”
“I gave her my pocket watch. Arguably, it’s more powerful than a talisman.”
I looked up at the ceiling and exhaled. “I should have let the red wither kill me.”
“What red wither?” Riot asked, glancing at me before asking Spade. “You didn’t mention that part of your little mountaintop date.”
“Forgot about it. There were other things on my mind.” Spade flashed Riot a lazy smile.
“If one of you doesn’t open this library door,” I gritted through my teeth.
“Allow me.” Riot dropped to his knees in front of me. He rolled my pants leg up to my thigh, finding the white dagger strapped there. “Good girl for wearing it. It looks as if every now and then you can, in fact, do as you’re told.”
Before I could kick him in his pretty, perfect, cocky face, he removed the dagger and stood, placing it into the slot in the door. Two eyes opened, and the lips of the door parted.
“Well…” I tapped my foot. “One of you go on and whisper something true.”
“It won’t be Riot,” Spade grumbled. “He can’t tell the truth to save his life.”
“You’re the one who lied about the mountain. What did the wither want?”
“To… I don’t know. His name is Wraith, and he was collecting Vore’s body, I think, before going to search for my sister.”
Spade raised an eyebrow. “You’re on a first name basis with withers now?”
“A lot has happened. When I jumped into his mind… when Twenty took me to the scrying stone…”
Riot furrowed his brows. “Sounds like we all need to talk.”
I lifted a hand to my mouth in sarcasm. “Wow, Riot, what a fantastic idea. It’s almost as if that’s the very thing I’ve been trying to accomplish for hours now—no, days actually, no, forever.”
“Step aside. Goddess, what have I gotten myself into?” Spade parted Riot and me and bent towards the mouth of the door. His whisper was imperceivable, though selfishly, I tried to hear it. I wondered if Riot could hear what it was.
What was true for Spade?
After claiming I was a gray witch failed, mine had been that I loved my sister.
It was a strange comfort to know that was indeed true.
Though I knew it, and Prism didn’t believe it, it didn’t change the truth of the fact.
I love her, she was my family, and despite her hatred of me, I’d still do anything to save her.
The tall door slowly opened, and we all stepped inside.
The musty smell of wood, waxy candles, and old pages permeated the enormous space.
It took my breath away, even the second time.
The sheer wealth of knowledge that existed here.
“You two don’t deserve such a grand library. Do you ever even use it?”
“We do,” Spade answered. “But then again, we’ve read most everything in here.”
“Everything?” I asked in disbelief, my gaze roaming over case after case of books. Stacks on tables, stacks on the ground, and ladders reaching up stories to books on higher shelves. “You’ve both read every single one?”
Riot answered, strolling down an aisle, “Can’t say I care for the Wiles and Winsome Ways of the Feminine. But, I probably read it.”
“Unbelievable.” I shook my head. “So much knowledge, yet you both still act like children.”
“Speak for yourself,” Spade said over his shoulder.
A high pitch squeak sounded on a shelf next to me.
“Oh, my! Oh, my, oh, my!” The little risible mouse, Wormwood, pushed up his glasses on the brim of his pointed pink nose.
“Did I miss an appointment? I can’t imagine I’d overlook such a grand meeting.
Both of the Blackthorne Lords here at once! My, oh, my!”
The squeaky little mouse’s excitement was palpable. Spade plucked a title from the bookshelf and thumbed through the pages. “You didn’t miss anything, my friend. This is a surprise visit. Miss Malefic would like your finest curation of books, I assume.” He lifted an eyebrow in my direction.
“Yes,” I replied absently, finding it hard to look away from his piercing gaze.
“I would like to read anything you might have on the underworld, realm to realm travel, and…” I felt both Blackthornes’ stares on me as they pieced together what I was after.
“Whatever you have on the monsters called withers.”
Riot clapped slowly. “What a spellbinding combination.”
“Miss Rat?” Wormwood scurried closer. “We—”
“Rumor,” I corrected. “Or, I suppose, Miss Malefic”—I shot Spade a pointed glance—“works, too.”
The little mouse twitched his whiskers and flicked his beady gaze to Riot, who was leaning on a bookshelf behind me. “Pardon me, but Lord Riot informed me you’re always to be called Rat. He said that Rat is your preferred name, no matter what you say…”
I crossed my arms. “Did he?”
Riot snickered behind me. “Just looking out for you, Rat.”
Brushing him off, I continued, “Do you have books on all of those?”
Wormwood tapped his chin. “It would be helpful if you could narrow your needs in regards to the underworld. What would you like? A history? An overview? Myths and legends versus facts and findings? Guardians? Or are your pursuits more fiction oriented. Say, lovers in different realms?”
“No.” I shook my head. “More of a guide… maybe a map and overview?”
“I’ll see what I can dig up for you, Rat. As far as travel through realms, we only have one or two old first editions on the matter. Really, I believe your companions, the Lords, would know best.”
“Oh, would they?” I glared at each Blackthorne boy as they shrugged. Elusive and maddening as ever. “And withers? Anything on them?”
“The beings you’re referring to are only known by that name in this realm. Most commonly they are called—”
“Archdemons,” I whispered, feeling the hair on my arms stand. It was a much more menacing name. Though, it suited them. “I remember Spade and Riot calling them that.”
“That is correct.” Wormwood smiled a buck-toothed grin.
“Even still, information about archdemons is highly guarded. Though, the Blackthorne library does have a title or two for your review. It will take some time for me to curate this tantalizing list.” Wormwood did something like an excited little dance.
“What a day! What a fine day! I will pull these books personally. Is there anything else I can help you all with?”
Riot answered, “Very good, thank you. We’ll be in the gazing study awaiting your discoveries.”
“Wonderful! As always, it is a pleasure to be your keeper of the sacred knowledge of Blackthorne.” The little mouse scurried away with purpose, bouncing from shelf to shelf.
I followed after the lords as they led me to the gazing study.
The space was much different than the cozy table nook I’d studied at the last time I was in the library.
This area was open and light, with huge vertical windows, a round table, and leather armchairs around it.
Stopping by the window, I looked out over the graves and thorns, admiring my little town.
Riot found a bar cart near the fireplace and poured us all glasses of alcohol. The smell of rich and sharp oblivion pulled me to my seat.
Spade put his hands on the table. “You said you wanted to talk. Here we are. Let’s talk.”
“I want direct answers.” I narrowed my gaze at Riot.
Riot put a hand to his chest in mock astonishment. “I am the most upfront daimon lord in all of Willowspire. Surely, there is no other more forthcoming than I.”
I rolled my eyes, knowing that working with these two was akin to a complicated spell. A spell that could explode in my face at any moment.
“Why the sudden urgency?” Spade asked. “Never tells me your sister is safe and where she chooses to be. However futile her quest, what can you do for her? You’re the reason she’s there.”
A shot of pain reverberated in my chest at this last sentence. “I’m considering doing something really, really stupid.”
“At least you’re aware of it now, rat. The first step to even grander stupidity is admitting your pursuit of foolishness outright.” Riot moved his chair closer to mine and swirled the alcohol in his glass. His proximity was distracting. I fought to stay focused.
Spade took a sip from his glass, eyeing me pensively. “Well, you certainly have me intrigued.”
“Before I embark on this… stupidity… there are things I need to know.” I gazed into the amber liquid and twirled the glass anxiously in a circle. “Can you travel to other realms?”
Spade inclined his chin in a slow nod. That was good enough of an answer for me. I’d suspected as much, and Cronos, the grandfather clock, basically confirmed it.
“I’ve performed dark magic. The requiem spells, turning Birch Viper into a horse, communications through the scrying stone into the Underworld—”
“You did what?” Riot leaned forward. “How? Who did you speak to? That’s incredibly dangerous work.”
“Twenty helped me.”
“You could have found yourself intruding on a being with much more power than you. That being might not let you leave next time.”
“I suppose I did indeed do just that. I spoke with Vore.”
Spade thrummed his fingers against the table. “The wither you killed and your sister’s fixation. His soul is trapped in the Underworld, I assume, until some being puts it to their use. What did he have to say?”
“He said that even though his mortal body holds on, that even if Prism reaches him, he cannot return.”
“Glad he has that awareness,” Spade answered. “After the requiem spell, his body is too weak for even some grand enchantment to render him capable of harboring his damned soul. That’s if Prism even succeeded in finding him and getting him out. Neither are easy tasks.”