Chapter 26 #2
“I’ll be right back,” Niamh said as Morton spread his wings and flew to her shoulder. “I just need to check something.” She disappeared behind one of the bookshelves.
I drummed my fingers on my legs, not sure what to do. Would it be rude to leave or would it be rude to stay? Was that why she’d said something—because she wanted me to wait for her? I moved to get up, then plopped back in my chair, unable to make up my mind.
Trying to pick up on social cues that came so easily to humans was exhausting. I glanced around and realized Margaret was staring at me curiously from her painting.
Here it came. Some comment about my skin color or my plants or literally anything else about me that bothered someone. It always happened. I couldn’t escape it no matter where I went, though I’d hoped tonight might be different.
Margaret just kept staring, head tilted.
“Can I help you?” I finally snapped.
“Oh!” She put her hands to her cheeks. “I didn’t even realize I was staring.” She sighed. “It’s just so nice to meet someone like me.”
I blinked. No one had ever compared themselves to me. “You and I aren’t anything alike,” I said.
Margaret studied me, and I had no idea how a painted character could have so much depth, so much emotion as she shrank back, clearly hurt by my words. “You’re right. I’m just a painting. Not a real human like you.”
Except I wasn’t a human.
I swallowed. I should have said something, but before I could, Margaret disappeared, then reappeared in another painting. I gaped as she moved from painting to painting until she got to the last one by the library doors and disappeared entirely.
“You get used to it,” Niamh said, and I looked up to see the librarian smiling down at me.
“Well, you’ve had a lifetime,” I responded.
She dropped into the chair next to mine. “Actually, no, I haven’t. My husband found me and brought me to Fairwitch.”
My gaze traveled to her forearm, where her golden key lay tattooed on her skin.
“When?” I asked.
She tapped her chin. “About two and a half years ago.”
She hadn’t been lying. That was recent. “How long did it take you to get your key?”
“Six weeks,” Niamh said. “Though everyone was so kind from the beginning. I felt like I belonged here almost immediately.”
I winced. Of course she did. It was impossible to dislike Niamh, and this was coming from someone who disliked almost everyone.
“I have a good feeling about you,” Niamh said. “I think Castle brought us to your bog for a reason, and you might be that reason. Nevan’s lab appeared when we first landed. That’s not nothing.”
My brows furrowed. “Appeared?”
Niamh frowned. “How much do you know about the history of Fairwitch?”
“I know that it’s been under attack by the brotherhood.” I knew that was the reason they’d moved the castle. That the brotherhood had found their location and were doing everything in their power to break the magical barrier so they could conquer the city.
“So you know of them?” Niamh asked.
I nodded. “They came to the Cragh once. They wanted to take some of the plants here and use them as weapons, but we fought back, and I think we scared them because they haven’t been back since.”
Niamh shuddered. “I’m glad for it, but that’s not the only problem in Fairwitch. There’s also been concern about the castle’s magic, that it’s fading.”
That was new information. I straightened, wondering how that was connected to Nevan’s lab disappearing.
“Ever since Cillian was crowned high prince, weird things have been happening here. No queen was chosen, for one. Apparently, the castle has always chosen a queen alongside the high prince. Then there are the rooms that started disappearing out of nowhere.”
I thought about how the castle shifted and shuddered at the thought of standing in a room that just suddenly disappeared.
“Nevan’s lab was one of the rooms that vanished,” Niamh said.
I knew how passionate Nevan was about his lab, about alchemy. He had the same love of potions that I had for my bog, for my plants.
Niamh gestured. “The library was another room that disappeared, but I found it when I came to Fairwitch. Kind of like how you found Nevan’s lab.”
“I didn’t find it,” I said quickly, not sure why I felt the need to argue. “I woke up in it.”
Niamh peered at me. “Nevan said you can’t remember how you got there.
That you were the first one to actually set foot in his lab after it had been gone all those years.
I think it might be a sign.” Niamh twirled a strand of red hair around a finger.
“All I know is that it wasn’t a coincidence that the library appeared for me.
I was meant to run it. I just hadn’t realized it. ”
I wasn’t meant to run anything. I certainly wasn’t meant to be an alchemist. Reading Nevan’s notebooks had been like reading a foreign language. I had no interest in the math or the equations or the science of it all. I just wanted to be with my plants.
Niamh grabbed my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I’m glad you came tonight, and I’m glad you’re going to be in our book club.”
“I’ll try,” I said quickly, not sure I wanted to fully commit to this, commit to these women and their little group that already seemed so complete.
They’d been friendly enough, but I was still waiting for the moment where they all realized I was nothing like them and they’d made a mistake inviting me.
Niamh let go of my hand and stood, smoothing out the skirt of her pink dress. “Well, I do hope you join us again. Maybe give the book a try. You might surprise yourself.”
I doubted it, but I stood and clutched it tight to my chest. “Thank you for a lovely evening.”
“Good night, Enid,” Niamh said.
I turned and walked toward the door, thinking about how easy that conversation had been. How comfortable Niamh had made me feel. I couldn’t help but wonder if that was what friendship felt like, and in that case, if I’d just made my very first friend.