Chapter 6 The Wall’s Secrets
The Wall’s Secrets
I sprint into a sea of shelves.
The faerie darts around a corner, and I’m right on her glittering trail, so focused on keeping up that I hardly notice I’m venturing deeper and deeper into the library.
My heels click along the marble floor as I follow the faerie down a quiet corridor, up a set of stairs that nearly leaves me breathless, then around a sharp right turn—
Nearly crashing into a stone wall.
“Got you!” I say, cornering the faerie. But she just turns back into paper that slowly drifts to the floor. Right next to two other small, blank pages.
I frown, peering down at the faeries-turned-paper, then around at where following the faerie has brought me.
Why did the faeries come here, to this obscure corner of the library?
There’s just a plain wall in front of me. I’ve hit a dead end, in more ways than one. “Great. I can’t even use the paper right,” I say, wondering how I’m going to find my way back to the library’s entrance. I lean against the wall.
And the stone behind me gives.
I pause. Look down at the paper faeries. Push my back against the wall… and then stumble a few steps as it falls open, revealing a hidden room.
No. Way. I step inside, my breath hitching. The room is rounded, as though it’s in a turret. It’s dim, the only light coming from the corridor, and completely abandoned. There’s even a layer of dust on the floor, like no one’s been in here for ages.
Strange.
But the faeries must have been coming here to try to answer my question.
What lies beyond the mists? The answer is in this room.
Suddenly, something catches my eye. A flash of color on the far wall.
Carefully, I shuffle forward, squinting, my steps echoing.
As I move closer to the stone, I see it’s covered in remnants of an old painting, most of the pieces chipped off or faded. With enough studying, I realize the pieces are part of a map of Heartland.
But not just Heartland.
I drag my finger from a tiny remaining fleck that looks like part of Swancrest outward, toward a curl that looks like the pink mist surrounding our border.
And then farther still, toward the other bits and pieces dotting the wall.
There isn’t enough of the painting left to read or make sense of, as if it’s been scraped away.
But one thing is clear.
There are other lands all around us.
Hope springs in my heart.
Maybe the Fates do live in one of these other places.
I take several steps backward to consider my piecemeal, barely there map. When I do, I notice one more speck of color off to the left that I missed when I was up close.
That’s when I go very still.
Because there is a symbol on that fleck of remaining paint that I’d recognize as easily as my own heartbeat.
A circle of shooting stars, melting into a single, larger star at the center.
I reach up to my necklace. To the “B” there, with the same stars surrounding it.
The moment my fingers brush the charm, the stars on the wall begin to shine, pink light flooding the small room.
I gasp. Suddenly, my necklace lifts off my chest, glowing, tugging me forward toward its matching symbol. I panic, trying to fight it—but my feet glide toward the piecemeal map, compelled by the pull of the necklace.
And the closer I get…
Color begins to spill across the wall, bleeding from the circle of stars and filling in the blanks between the specks of paint, forming what looks like an entire land full of pinks and glitter.
I stare at the colors in awe.
A word begins to take shape over the now-completed image of the land below the symbol, appearing one letter at a time in a sprawling script.
Dreamland.
My eyes widen. My thoughts race. I don’t know anything right now, but the pulsing necklace at my throat is still pulling me toward this place, like a message. Telling me I need to go there and find answers. Is this where the Fates live?
Even if I were certain… how would I get there?
I rush out of the room, getting lost before finding my way down to the first floor.
There, I run through the different letters of the alphabet, reading the spines of all the books starting with “D,” but there’s nothing on Dreamland.
I even hunt down another Librarian, and she sends off a faerie who comes back with little luck.
This library doesn’t have any information on Dreamland.
But I know someone who might.
I march toward the doors of the library and almost run right into Callie. “Oh, thank the Fates! Where did you go? I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
“I have to run,” I say with energy I haven’t felt in days. “I’ll explain everything later!”
She gapes at me as I push through the doors. “Barbie!” Callie follows me outside, quickening her steps to keep up with my pace. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to find my destiny, even if I have to go to the Fates themselves to get it. And if they refuse… I’m going to claim one.”
For days, I’ve felt unmoored, but right now, I’m rooted in confidence. In conviction. In… hope. And purpose.
She blinks. But she doesn’t try to stop me or ask me how I came to this conclusion. She doesn’t ask me if I’ve lost my mind (probably). All she says is, “Okay. Be careful!”
I look over my shoulder at her. “When has being careful ever gotten me anywhere?”
I’ve been careful my entire life. And now… look where I am. Fateless. A disgrace. A cautionary tale.
Callie considers this, pursing her lips. “Right. Be not careful, then.”