Chapter 6 #2
Noah thought of The Others and the struggles the people of Havenwood had endured. “I can’t deny there are dangers.”
They stopped before an intricately carved door, and Skye instructed Keir to remain in the corridor.
When she opened the door and they stepped inside, Noah’s breath stalled in his chest as he looked around the high-ceilinged room filled with books beyond his ability to count.
Floor-to-ceiling shelves lined the library walls, filled with volumes of every kind, many bound in strange materials.
Some looked ancient. Some seemed impossibly new.
What manner of power and resources did The Keeper employ to amass this?
“This is incredible,” Noah muttered, running his fingers along the spines of a long row of matching leather-bound volumes. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Where did they all come from?”
“My father collected them over many years. He knows how much I love books and reading, and he’s always encouraged my education.
He’s an avid reader himself. As you’ve seen, he keeps a few of the books that interest him in the solar, but he built this room to house the rest, and for my particular use.
” She looked around with sincere fondness, but there was something else in her eyes, something akin to regret.
“I spend a great deal of time in this room.”
She touched the spines of several books with gentle reverence. “He never leaves without bringing some new volumes back to me. Some he chooses himself, and some, he said, are given as tributes.”
“Tributes?” Noah queried, finding her use of the term odd. “From whom?”
She shrugged as puzzlement crossed her face. “I honestly don’t know. Friends of his, I suppose. He doesn’t like to be questioned, so I don’t ask. It’s one of the few rules he requires of me.”
Smiling, she drifted toward another bank of shelves filled with thick, ancient-looking tomes. “As strange as it sounds, these books are my refuge, though I imagine that’s hard for you to understand. Knowing their origin is not something I’m willing to pursue enough to risk losing access to them.”
She looked away before facing him again, her stance unexpectedly defensive. “Respecting and accepting my father’s decisions and actions are not too much to ask for all he gives. Not just to me, but to everyone at the fortress, and I assume, beyond.”
Their eyes locked for several seconds before she continued along the shelves, her fingers trailing over book after book as genuine pleasure lit up her face. “These gifts are far more than I could ever have asked for. I can’t express how much joy I find within them. There’s so much to discover.”
“A kind of refuge, you said?” Noah repeated, curious why she needed one.
“Yes,” she laughed. “Though I don’t know from what.” Smiling, she continued her stroll along the shelves. “In the countless hours I’ve spent here I’ve discovered many friends and look forward to finding many more.”
Despite her attempt to appear cheerful, he detected a hollow undertone in her voice. For the first time in the few days they’d spent together, Noah suspected she must be very lonely. Had she always been?
“Do you have siblings, Skye?” Perhaps there were older brothers who assisted The Keeper in amassing all the wonders he’d seen since arriving. Something, or someone, he hadn’t considered he might need to deal with in his quest to find the portals.
She shook her head and moved to a different section of books, keeping her face averted. “I’m an only child. My mother died when I was born.”
Noah recognized the same empty recitation quality he’d heard in her voice earlier.
“What about aunts? Uncles? Cousins? Close friends?”
“Just my father.”
“Are you saying you’ve been kept here your entire life? Isolated from the world outside these walls?” Impossible.
The smile she’d clearly fought to keep on her face faltered. “My father only wishes to protect me.”
“Ah, yes, of course. From unpredictable things, you said. Can you be more specific? Has he ever offered more detail? Have you ever asked?”
Noah wasn’t sure if it was confusion or frustration that crossed her face. “I’m sure he refers to the dangers beyond the fortress.”
He moved closer. “Exactly what dangers would those be? Is he referring to something tangible? Predatory animals, perhaps? Or people? Like, The Others? Or is there another warring factor of some kind that threatens the fortress?” He looked for recognition in her eyes but found nothing.
“Or perhaps does that danger refer to something else entirely, like the portals, perhaps?”
Her eyes narrowed. “I told you. I don’t know. And if you insist on badgering me about it, I’d be happy to have Keir escort you back to your chamber.”
He sighed, realizing he’d pushed too hard. Gone too far. “I’m sorry. Truly. I guess I was just surprised that in all your life, you’ve never been beyond the fortress walls or seen anything of the real world for yourself.”
“I didn’t say I was confined within the fortress walls. I go on short ventures,” she stated tersely. “I enjoy hunting. That’s where I’d been the day we met.”
He watched her face, wondering if he dared risk pushing her further. He didn’t want to. But the narrow window of time he had to discover all he could about the fortress was rapidly closing.
“Are you allowed to decide where to go? Or how far?”
Her eyes sparked with annoyance. “Obviously, you think I’m a child to be told what to do, what to think, that I’m incapable of making any real decisions on my own.”
“No, Skye.” He tried to keep his true thoughts about her from his voice, and in doing so, only managed a whisper. “I don’t think of you as a child at all.”
Their eyes met, and for a moment, he wondered if she thought of him as anything but a stranger causing discontent in her home. He wished with all his feeble power he had the time and ability to persuade her of his desire to be far more.
If only he’d met her before. Before illness turned his family’s world upside down. Before the need to leave this world for another overrode any other consideration.
It troubled him that he’d angered her, even while it saddened him that she couldn’t deny her father’s control. “It’s only that you seem to accept everything your father says, regardless of proof.”
“Why shouldn’t I?”
Noah shook his head, frustration warring inside him. “Because you’re too intelligent not to.”
Her mouth tightened. “Says the man who accepts rumors about my father’s knowledge of portals without proof.”
Noah smiled despite himself. “Touche.”
She laughed with him as the tense moment passed. He’d pushed as far as he dared for now without risking alienating her. Besides, the pull to indulge himself in her company was too strong.
As they moved deeper into the library, she pointed out several of her favorite volumes, briefly explaining what was in them. He watched her closely, struck by her extensive knowledge as she touched on a broad selection of topics.
“You’re very well-educated,” Noah observed. “You must have had tutors?”
“No. The distance… My father said it was not possible.”
“Quite a feat, learning all you have on your own. I’ve always assumed books could only teach so much, that you needed experiences to teach the rest. If not your own, then at least someone else’s.”
He’d hoped she’d open up about her father’s experiences. Perhaps share places he’d talked about or things he’d told her that might reveal some useful information Noah could use to locate the portals.
She gave him a challenging look. “Isn’t that what books are? Someone else’s experiences?” Before he could form a response, she continued. “What has experience taught you?”
Noah considered his earlier life before the storm changed it, colonial Boston with its narrow streets and bustling harbor, his parents, siblings, and the life they’d built.
His plans to complete his apprenticeship, become a master cartographer and join exciting expeditions mapping out new routes in undiscovered regions.
The night he and Emily had been carried away flashed in his mind.
He stifled a groan at the irony. That old dream was gone forever, yet here he was in the most distant of lands, searching for a route to yet another time.
“It’s taught me that nothing is permanent,” he said quietly. “That the world as you know it can change in an instant.”
“Yet there are also constants to hold on to. Like this room,” she said, glancing around. “Whenever I feel lost, alone, happy or sad, whatever I need, I can find here.”
Noah wanted to challenge that limited thought. But he couldn’t bring himself to take it from her. He knew she knew better. He saw no benefit in pointing it out.
“Emily would love this room,” he smiled, wanting to put some joy back on her face.
“Paige, our mother, would enjoy it as well. Even Taran, I suspect. We all would. But Emily craves nothing more than books and learning. Paige does the best she can with the handful of books available in Havenwood, but Emily is always hungry for more. I can’t even describe how happy something like this would make her.
I’m sure she isn’t aware anything like it exists. ”
As hoped, Skye’s eyes lit up. “I’d love to share it with her. When she’s well enough, of course.”
“Your father would allow that?” he tested.
Her smile faltered a little. “If not, I’d be more than happy to loan her anything she’d like. The same applies to you. Whatever you’d like.”
Noah looked at her for a long time, thinking of all that would have to be gained and lost for that day to come.
That Skye would count among the losses when they found the portal put an indescribable ache in his chest.