Chapter 49 Break And Enter
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
brEAK AND ENTER
ADELINE
The flutter of wings echoes again as I retrace my steps, returning to the nest. Fluttering, slithering, clattering… Was it so noisy in here before? I’d never noticed.
It sends goosebumps over my skin and sets my heart racing. I’ve never walked these halls alone before and I keep reminding myself that Roane isn’t far. If I scream, he will hear me for sure.
What else lives in here? I want to ask him. I need to know more about this world. About him.
Rushing between the twin rows of pillars is disorienting.
Space seems to distort, the distance between my location and the nest seems to lengthen.
The temple shakes again and I yelp when snakes made of stone slither over the floors, then sink back into the patterns.
Were they really ever there? I turn in a circle, panting, then frown as I lose my sense of direction.
Something crashes into the pillar over my head and I scream, spinning around and running as if wolves were nipping at my heels.
Thankfully, I end up running in the right direction.
The soot on the pillars lets me know I’m getting close, and then I see the familiar area on my left: the cold ashes of a fire, the pot knocked over, the griffin egg, as well as the pile of clothes on the floor, some gnawed bones left by Ardruna, and the nest.
Home, I think and shake my head at myself. Really? This dirty nest is your home?
One adapts. This is the only safe place for me in this world. It looks empty, though.
“Roane?” I shout. “Where are you?”
Only silence greets me.
Where did he go? Fine bones crunch under my soles as I walk toward the nest. I climb onto the niche, sprawling among the furs and pieces of paper and fabric. I’m bone-tired and hungry again.
How does Roane do it? When does he manage to hunt for food when the monsters attack non-stop and nowhere is safe? How do you survive when every moment of every day you need to be on high alert?
It’s exhausting.
I nestle among the furs and hope they are all right. Roane, Ardruna, Talton. After a moment, I realize I’m worried about them and haven’t thought about my real family in a while.
Instantly, guilt hits me in the gut and I sit up. I should be working on finding a way to get out of this world, not feeling bad for disturbing the lives of those living here, much less… caring.
Pulling myself to the back of the niche, I press my back to the wall, letting my hands burrow into the furs, and I encounter something hard.
Of course. The book. Roane’s diary. His journal, locked with a proper lock and all.
“It’s odd,” I whisper to myself as I pull it out. “Why is it hidden here and isn’t inside the sanctum with the other librarians’ journals?”
“Because he’s writing it.” Olm appears inside the nest, sitting down beside me. “Easier to keep it close.”
“But Ardruna said she has never seen him write in it. Besides, you need a lectern, a quill and an inkwell. Blotting paper. And this is the official log of the library’s guardian, not a farmer’s ledger.”
Roane had no qualms about my reading the other journals. He would have let me read them if that quake hadn’t hit. So why is he opposed to my taking a look at this one?
After a brief hesitation, I pull my knife out of my belt and stick the tip into the lock.
“What are you doing?” Olm asks.
“What does it look like? Breaking this lock. Opening this book.”
He leans toward me, lips parted. “Do it.”
“You only want me to do it because Roane forbade me from opening it.”
“That’s a good enough reason for me.”
I sigh. “I don’t believe you’re attracted to me. This jealousy thing you have going with Roane is a game and it has to stop.”
“Why don’t you believe it?”
“Because I don’t believe you have any real feelings.” I worry my lower lip with my teeth as I struggle to pry the lock open. It’s rusted, as if it hasn’t been opened in a very long time, which corroborates Ardruna’s observation. Roane hasn’t been using it.
Finally, the lock gives with a small crack. Here we go. I lick my lips, excitement filling me as I flip the journal open to find a wealth of handwritten pages.
Why can’t I resist a mystery?
Slowly, I leaf through the diary. The ink has slightly faded but is still perfectly legible. The handwriting itself is careful and beautiful, with many flourishes. I wrinkle my nose because, for some reason, I can’t imagine Roane using flourishes and taking his time to write so neatly.
But there is the title, on the first page of the book. “The Journal of Ersil Davara, current warrior-librarian of the Library of Areon.” He was telling the truth about this, at least. It is his journal.
A tiny mouse of guilt sinks its teeth into my gut. He told me not to open it. I wasn’t given permission. What am I doing?
Then again, like I told Olm, this can’t be private. It’s not a young lord’s diary. It’s a work log. Hopefully, in it, he describes how his magic changed, how it failed him, but also allowed him to pull creatures out of books. How this world got so out of control.
‘Day Nine-Thousand of my Guardianship: this world is unlike anything I’ve ever imagined, and yet it’s exactly as I was told it would be.
It changes once in a while, the alterations coinciding with the escape of monsters from the books.
A rare occurrence, to be sure, but so uncanny.
The library has a cave with a lake in it and columns with symbols that seem to flash in the dark.
I don’t know what this place used to be, but just like previous librarians made it their home, I have done the same.
However, I think there is something alive in the water of the cave.
My predecessor, Velirius Fonserres, wrote that it might be a sylkie.
Day Thirteen-Thousand of my Guardianship: I caught a griffin in the library heart.
A pleasant encounter. I asked her if there was any chance of the law changing and my being allowed to leave.
She said the laws of the outer world don’t bind me here, but if I leave, any advantage I was offered would be removed.
She is right. My freedom was given away in exchange for my family’s, and if I leave, the deal will be broken.
In return, she wanted to ask where the king of this world resides.
I gently ushered her back into the pages of The Last Words of Istur, telling her this world has no king or queen.
She said she heard rumors that the king was seen wandering the halls of the library.
That the king was sick. Her conviction left me shaken.
My interactions with book characters are always weird, but this one stuck with me.
Or maybe it’s a clear sign I’m losing my mind…
Day Twenty-Thousand of my Guardianship: I went exploring the mountains.
I have been through the previous librarians’ journals for lack of something else to do, as well as a need to understand this world better, and they mentioned stelae with carved writings that they couldn’t decipher in the mountain passages.
I excelled at old languages in my early studies, and am excited to take a look.
I also want to see if the stories of monsters living there are true.
Previous librarians have said certain characters did escape the library heart and now inhabit the slopes—mostly lesser fae of the cave-dwelling sort, giant eagles, and a few dirt wyrms.
Day Twenty-Two-Thousand of my Guardianship: The Book of Areon has been restless again, rattling its chains.
It calls to me, asking me to open it, but that’s forbidden.
That book is the heart of the library and its magic is so powerful, it could destroy everything, so it cannot be opened for any reason.
I was forced to leave the building, lock the doors and wander as far away as I could to escape its lure.
My father always said I was easily seduced, especially after the incident with Merhill…
Day Twenty-Six-Thousand of my Guardianship: The books are secured. I tested the chains and spells yet again. All is quiet, and yet I can’t shake the feeling that someone is in the shadows, watching me.’
I blink. That’s the last entry. I honestly hadn’t expected a cliffhanger in a diary.
Quickly I flip the empty pages after that.
What is this? Why did he stop writing? I want to throw the book across the vast hall, my frustration mounting.
I broke the lock and Roane’s trust to find some answers and all I got was endless reports about his wanderings and encounters with some tame monsters?
A distant rumble catches my attention. “What was that?”
“Uh-oh,” Olm breathes.
“Aline!” a familiar male voice calls out, then, and before I can move, Roane appears between the pillars. “There you are.”
I glance down at his journal in my hand. “Shit.”