Chapter 25
As I headed out my cabin door the next morning, the image of Typhon’s face, grim, sorrowful, wanting, was wedged in my brain like a splinter that I couldn’t quite reach.
I might be a fool, but something in me told me to trust him, even as Lucinda’s ominous words from my dream only days before rang in my ears.
“Trust no one.”
I hurried to reach Thalienne’s office, knowing I was going to be a few minutes late. A stitch in my side, I bent at the waist and knocked on her door.
Nothing. One last big gulp of air and I stood straight. A piece of paper with my name on it was tacked to the door.
“Hannah, forgive me but I must cancel our lesson today. I will see you in my Curse Breaking class tomorrow morning. We will take up our lesson again at the weekend.”
I was partly relieved. It was hard enough to think of all that needed doing without potentially facing another water torture session, or whatever else kind of torture she might come up with to help me break through my magic.
But part of me was worried – she’d been so adamant that I do these lessons, and learn, it had to be a big deal that she cancelled.
What if that mess with Bryony last night was just the start of the Runecoats and Mallachtan pulling Thalienne down? What if Typhon was right, and the storm brewing took out not only Bryony, but also the Sage and all Heathermoor with it?
Not your fucking problem, Harlow.
Because I already had dozens of them crying for my attention.
Which left me with time on my hands before breakfast was served. I made my way through the nearly silent halls and found myself at the library. No teacher at the front desk, no sign-in sheet. Everything here was so different than Neverthorn.
Fable might be in the back somewhere. I smiled, thinking of her slumped over a stack of books, searching into the wee hours of the morning for a clue, a way to break through the door. Not that I wanted her exhausted, I just knew how she could be once she had a mission in mind.
“Where are you?” Calypso asked. “I don’t hear the Fae who tried to kill you.”
“She didn’t try to kill me,” I muttered. “And I’m in the library. My lesson was cancelled.”
“Hmm. Lazy teacher.”
I shook my head as I checked down the long aisles looking for Fable. But she wasn’t here. “I don’t know why you hate her so much.”
No answer from Calypso on that one. I had expected her to say, “Because I do.” I found myself in front of a section labelled ‘Quirks and Unusual Gifts.’
The first book I picked up was more like a dictionary.
Using my yellow glass helped as I skimmed through.
The book listed every known Quirk and some of the better known Dwimmers who held them.
Many of them I was familiar with, some less so.
I found myself flipping to the S section, my finger sliding down the page until I found the one that we needed the most help with.
Splice: Only known Splice is the infamous Nocta, though there is a suspicion that there may be one more.
With the ability to blend and merge runes, creating new runes that other Dwimmers cannot in most cases duplicate.
As far as can be seen, there is no limit to this ability.
It is noted that the runes he creates do not seem to cause any lasting damage to the Weave unlike other bastardized runes. Not much is known other than this.
Staring at the page didn’t change how little information there was about the Splice skill set.
But maybe there was something else I could learn. More slowly, I turned the pages back until I was near the front of the book. Typhon’s Quirk was at the top of the page.
Draw: rare and incredibly dangerous. The ability to draw another’s magic and either use it themselves or in some cases gift it to another – even using it in others’ rune casting.
The stronger the Draw, the more magic they can take.
Very little is known about the depths of this skill as they are culled at the first sign of their abilities.
More common in some Draconell families – Elmwood, Moreno, Elliott, Adamson.
Recommended these families are watched closely. Culling as needed.
Elmwood. That was Nikita’s husband’s family. Nocta had killed him the year previous. I frowned, almost feeling a connection there, like puzzle pieces that were so close that I –
“Hannah?”
I about jumped out of my skin, stifling a scream as I spun to face Fable. “Gods almighty, would you not sneak up on me?”
She shrugged. “Sorry, what are you doing?”
“Just . . . nothing.”
“I didn’t know you’d be here, but . . . I have some news.” She was stiff and didn’t seem herself.
“You have news, that’s good.” I put the book down and then touched her arm. “Are you okay? You don’t seem yourself.”
She immediately stifled a yawn and stretched. “I didn’t sleep well. Too excited.”
I grinned. “Tell me, what did you find?”
Fable pulled a small stack of papers from her back pocket. “The entrance. I was up half the night, but I found these stuffed into a box way in the back. Librarian Tayni helped me find it.”
I spread the papers out. One resembled the map (if you could call it that) that Bellamy had shown us. The same multiple pathways going into a central area full of water, only this one was labelled and had layers.
Turning it so I looked at it as if looking at Heathermoor from the front, I traced my finger along from the front door to the place where my ‘finders keepers’ rune had taken me. Bingo. The same blank wall.
“Damn, Liam had thought it might be a different entrance,” I muttered.
“Right, but there were a few, you couldn’t know which one your rune took you to. We had to be sure.” Fable took the paper back and slid it into her pocket. “What do we do now, fearless leader?”
That part was easy. “Do you have the Quirk class today with Liam?”
Her eyes dipped low. “Yeah. Why?”
Damn, did she think I was going to shit on her because she hadn’t had her Quirk rise yet?
I put a hand on her forearm. “Get a message to Liam. Tell him what you found and get him working on the wards and distractions. I’ll reach out to the others.
If Liam thinks he can get through the wards by tonight . . . I say we go in.”
Fable’s eyes popped wide. “Tonight? How do we have time to prep?”
I shrugged. “We don’t. But I don’t think we can prep for this and the longer we wait on hunting for the coin, the weaker I will get. If we do this tonight . . . we’re far better off.”
“You mean you are better off.” Fable shook her head. “Sorry, I really am tired.” She put a hand to her head. “I’d better go get breakfast and head to class. I’ll see you later.”
Fable was gone before I could stop her. She really was struggling in some ways here. No doubt she was feeling the distance between all of us, the same as I was.
“I don’t like her,” Calypso muttered. “She doesn’t care that your curse could be lifted tonight? Shitty friend.”
I bit back the reply I wanted to throw at Calypso, “Better than the friend who’d done the cursing,” but I was working on being more mature, at least when dealing with her. Go me.
The rest of the day flew by. I went to my classes, but I wasn’t there. Not really. My mind churned with everything that happened the day before.
Let’s be real, mostly it churned with thoughts of Typhon and the way he’d touched my face, the way our bodies just . . . fit. How different it was than when I was with Liam who was sweet, gentle, without feeling like one touch would possess me.
Like the difference between warming yourself by a candle, or a bonfire whose heat caught you from twenty feet away. Both gave off warmth.
One of them, though, could kill you.
But damn, that flame was intoxicating, and it was pulling me in.
Messages were easy to get to Gary, Ross, Marina and Ellie. Caterina was hidden away and it took me most of the day to find her in the kitchens of all places. I slipped her the stone, and booped her on the nose seeing as it was covered with flour. “Hey, whatever you’re making, save me something?”
Her smile was there and gone in a flash. “Sure.”
I paused, and leaned a little closer, picking up on her emotions. Uncertainty, and a bit of fear. Nerves. “You okay?”
Her smile tried to spread again, and she just shook her head. “I’m just . . . struggling a bit.”
“What can I do to help?”
“Nothing but,” she held up a hand, stopping me, “I will ask when I’m ready. Fair?”
A slow nod. “As long as you promise. No matter what it is, Cat. You still have us.” I pulled her into a quick hug, feeling her fear fade a little, her heart lift. That was better. “I’ll see you later.”
She waved a flour covered hand at me and I slipped back upstairs.
By the time the day was over, and I was full after a good meal – pho with chunks of veggies, shrimp, chicken, and beef, crispy spring rolls and followed up with a sweet taro bubble tea which was in fact not tea at all but more like a milkshake with tapioca pearls – I was more than hopeful.
“Calypso,” I said as I let myself back into my cabin, “We’re getting that coin tonight. Come hell or high water, we’re getting it.”
Oh, the words we weave when at first we think we are right.
I waited in my cabin and stared out at the other dorms. We’d decided that the signal would be when the lights dimmed, for everyone else to go to sleep.
Liam’s message after dinner was simple on a single slip of paper.
“It’s a go.”
Before the night was over, we’d have accomplished what we’d come to Heathermoor to do.
Find the kraken coin.
When the grounds were finally dark, I fished the locket from my pocket and flicked it open, squinting to see by the moonlight. “You there?” I called softly.
“Where the hell else would I be?” Calypso demanded, slipping into view as if she hadn’t been avoiding me since she’d bitched about Fable earlier.
“Liam has the wards taken care of so we are going in tonight. I’m taking you along, but this is a stealth mission, so you can’t talk.”
“I won’t!” she held up both hands toward me, “Unless, of course –”