20. Sage
Sage
This library was no joke. I expected a small storefront like the others had been. Instead, I was met with a massive building that looked almost like a castle. Spires curled into the sky on either side and the large set of black doors loomed, taller than even Shadowhart.
When they opened, the inside was filled with light from a large arched window in the back, containing a stunning view of the ocean beyond the port that I pretended were paintings. The sky was a vibrant blue dotted with clouds. Sunbeams danced from the ocean waves.
Before everything happened, I used to love the ocean. It was beautiful, but even beauty could be dangerous.
Rows and rows of shelves seemed to go on forever, and when I looked up, I could see half floors with shelves all along the edges and walkways stretching the length of them, creating a web directly above.
“Let’s find Bramwell first,” Shadowhart said, snaking down a row, on a mission now.
I felt a bit bad he was so loaded with things that weren’t his—save for the plant I’d thrust onto him. He didn’t seem to mind as he pressed on, even as the bags crinkled with every movement in the very quiet space.
We found Bramwell on the second floor, a stack of books already by his side.
“Find anything?” Shadowhart asked as we approached.
He glanced up, his eyes first finding the contents of Shadowhart’s arms.
I thought he might say something, but he was all business. “A few I think might prove helpful. There’s a whole section on ancient metalworks we should check.”
Shadowhart nodded, in full captain mode. “They will be the most useful, so two of us will search there,” he said. “Sage, could you check in the children’s section?”
I lifted my brow. “Children’s? Anything specific?”
“Classics,” he specified. “All fables stem from somewhere. There might be some truth in one of them.”
I wanted to be distrustful in the reasoning, but then I remembered Bramwell said the same thing when we were studying. “I can do that.”
“Let’s meet back at the table in an hour,” he said.
I nodded and strode off, holding up my skirts as I weaved through the small shelves. This place looked very open because of the atrium, but once you were inside, it was like a maze. And everything was sorted into the most specific categories.
Dragonology: How to Fire Breathe
At-Home Remedies for Magic Mites
How to Fire Breathe (NOT for Dragons)
And the further I got into the shelves, the harder I found it to get out.
For a few moments, I worried that I’d just be...
trapped in here forever. Until they found me in the Cooking Stews, Soups, and Chilis Without Accidentally Brewing a Potion section with nothing but my bones and this accursed necklace.
After a left at Contemporary Commentary on the Sixth Continental Negotiations and a right at Frogs and their Spotted Coloration Definitions, I was spit out near the upstairs rail around the atrium.
I wasted no time sticking close to it and following it around to the landing, where thankfully, there was another staircase that led me right down and towards a desk.
The fae woman behind it had her hair pushed up in a high bun that was neat as a pin, leafing through a book of her own on the counter.
“Hello,” I said.
Her eyes barely flicked up from her reading, peering at me from over her crimson scale-shaped glasses, perfectly matching her lipstick. It made me wonder if she had a pair of glasses for every lip shade.
“Can I help you?” she asked, like she had no real intention to help me.
“I’m looking for children’s stories,” I said. “Classics if you have them.”
Her eyes went back to her book. For a minute, I thought she wasn’t going to help me at all.
“Towards the back, turn left, turn left again once you hit Overgrown Vegetables for Knighting Ceremonies, then go up four rows to Ironworkers Guide to Welding, and then turn right. Should be right there. If you hit the Homemade Caskets section you’ve gone too far.”
I stood and blinked at her, those directions leaving my brain as soon as they entered. Though she didn’t look up, she read my non movement as the confusion it was.
She huffed in irritation, like anyone should be able to simply find their way, before waving her hand. A magestone ring sat on her finger, lighting up and helping her conduct magic.
A small ball of light appeared in front of me, level with my chest. “Follow the ball. It’ll fizzle when you get to where you’re going.”
“Thank yo—”
I couldn’t even finish thanking her before the light started moving and I had to almost run to catch up.
After far too many turns and almost losing it completely, I stopped in front of a shelf and it poofed out of existence. I looked up at the plaque denoting the section. Children’s Classic Fables.
Perfect.
I began looking through the spines. Shadowhart hadn’t been too specific about what I was looking for, but I tried to keep my eye out for ocean themed stories or tales from the sea, since that’s where I got the blasted necklace.
My fingers fiddled with it absently as I pulled and examined books from the shelf.
I had a pretty decent stack when I was done.
There were a few that showed real promise, and a few that just caught my eye for one reason or another.
My plan was to grab my stack and head back, but I knew there was no way I’d find my way back as easily as I found my way here, so I took a break, deciding Shadowhart would come looking for me sooner or later.
Or my bones in the library theory would prove correct.
I picked up one, Short Stories On Long Ship Rides, and began flipping through its pages. My dress pooled around me as I sat on the floor in front of the shelves. The book rested in front of me as I began reading.
The first story was about a boy who was stranded on an island and built his own ship after many trials and tribulations. Until he finally sailed off, trying to find his way home.
I was just to the part where he ended up in a raging storm, when the light above me went dim. Looking up to see the cause, Shadowhart loomed over me.
“I thought you’d find me,” I said.
“You were supposed to be back in an hour,” he said.
I shrugged. “There’s no clocks, and this place is a maze.”
“You get to know it,” he said, reaching his hand out to help lift me up.
His hand was warm and rough, hardened by years of hard work. He probably didn’t think the same of my hands. They’re soft and pliable, never knowing a day of real work.
He helped me up and I pressed down my skirts.
“Find anything?” he asked gruffly.
“A couple of books I thought could help. You guys?”
“Bramwell spotted a few we took. Sorting books isn’t my strong suit.”
I hummed. “I don’t believe that. You seem to be good at everything.”
He snorted as we began to walk back. “Far from it. I just have an excellent team that makes up for everything I lack.”
I glanced his way. He was so unlike any leader I’d ever met. Though every duke and lord, even my mothers, had a council they referred to, when given such praise they would just take the thank you. But he was always the first to credit the people around him.
It took Shadowhart much less time to navigate the shelves than it took me, and soon we were back in the atrium, where Bramwell stood with books piled high in his hands, the bags at his feet and the plant I bought sitting on top.
Shadowhart took my things, but with both of them carrying everything, I insisted on taking something. He lowered the vazlaire into my arms.
As we walked, I noticed an influx of people. It was getting close to dinner time, so it made sense more people were milling about.
“Come one, come all!” a loud voice shouted from just ahead. “The Show of Light is tonight, and you won’t want to miss it! Acrobats, fire eaters, and of course, a light show you’re sure to never forget!”
Most people ignored him, just brushing past, Shadowhart and Bramwell being two of them. But I had stopped just long enough for him to spot me. He was a bit off in the crowd, but it felt like he was suddenly in front of me, as if he had teleported there.
A paper was suddenly right in my face. “Care to join us tonight?” he asked. “It’s sure to be a magical time.”
I took the invite, a painted image of someone in a floating hoop with fireworks shooting off behind the pretty font that read “The Show of Lights.”
“What are you doing?” Shadowhart snapped, jolting me from my perusal.
When I glanced up, the man was gone, back to his spot, calling out about the show, as if he’d never appeared in front of me at all.
I held the paper out. “The show,” I said. “It looks fun, we should go.”
He looked at it briefly, before dismissing it entirely and starting to slither again. “No.”
Annoyance flared, like the sparks of a match that didn’t quite light on the first strike.
“You don’t even know what it is.”
“A distraction,” he said, continuing to walk. “And I need to be back for Connie to go out later.”
“Fine, I’ll go by myself,” I said.
“No, you won’t.”
“You can’t tell me what to do.”
“When you’re on my ship, I can.”
I reeled back as if he hit me. “I’m not your prisoner.”
His exasperated sigh reminded me of the ones I was used to getting from Sybil when she would catch me coming back late. “No, you aren’t, but I am trying to return you home all in one piece.”
Bramwell walked in step with us, but was purposefully keeping his attention elsewhere, not wanting to get in the middle of it.
That reminded me of Sorcha.
“I’ve been out before. I don’t need you to worry about me.”
“This isn’t the same as your lavish balls you love so much. This is the port, the crowds are more dangerous, and you would have no idea anything was wrong until you were kidnapped for real, or worse. I said you’re not going, and that’s the end of it.”
If a gaze could set someone ablaze, Shadowhart would be ash. I didn’t continue to argue. I knew he saw me the same way everyone else did. A princess worth nothing but her looks.
I walked faster than either of them, eager to get back to the ship and get this whole trip over with.