The Library
Chapter Fourteen
THE LIbrARY
Alison
A lison listened as Keir recounted his experience in the office. There was no sign of a fire or any other presence in the room, but she didn’t doubt him for a moment: she’d seen what magic was capable of.
Speaking of magic, she was wildly impressed that he’d been able to wield her magic—their magic—to put a stop to whatever it was that haunted him. As much as he tried to deny it, he seemed to be deeply connected to the old magic, and she was proud of him for facing his fear and wielding it in his time of crisis.
“Shall we keep going and try for the library?” he asked after she had finished with her questions.
“I think we’d better. Something like what happened to you could be happening to Ceri right now.”
The door of the library was cracked open despite the breeze blowing through the hallway.
“It seems like this should have shut,” said Keir, his voice filled with apprehension. “I don’t like it.”
“We’ll stay together,” said Alison. “We’re stronger together.”
Once they were inside, Keir lit Alison’s candle to help them see. “What happened here?”
The floor was littered with books. It was as if the library had thrown a tantrum, emptying half of its shelves in its fury.
“There’s a path through them. Look,” said Alison. There was a narrow path through the shelves where the books had been roughly shoved aside. “Ceri’s magic, I think.”
“Ceri?” she called. “Are you in here?”
“Ceri! Leo!” Keir shouted. His voice carried quite a bit further than hers, but there was no answer.
As they followed Ceri’s path, they heard a whispering sound from across the room.
“Do you hear that?” asked Keir.
“Whispers? Yes, I hear it. I can’t make out what it’s saying.”
“It’s probably better if we don’t know.”
They turned the corner in the opposite direction. Whatever the whispering was, it didn’t seem like Ceri had gone that way.
As they came upon the next set of shelves, a couple of books fell. “Poetry,” said Alison, kneeling to pick one up. “This is where I was when we first arrived. Thanks, library, but we’re a little busy right now.”
The next book that fell hit her in the head. “Ow! That’s really unnecessary.” She felt odd speaking to the empty room in the dark. “Did Ceri go this way? We’re trying to find her.”
As if in response, a book dropped from a shelf further down.
“Thank you,” said Alison.
They continued on the path, letting the library guide them when they lost her trail. It led them to an area in the far back near to the whispering sound.
“I don’t think that’s Loegrian,” said Keir. “I can make out some of the words now, but it doesn’t sound like any language I know.”
The trail through the books on the ground seemed to lead to a door, but the library was dropping books nearer to the whispers. “What do you think?” asked Alison. “Left or right?”
Keir picked up one of the books the library had just dropped. “ Grimoires of Turtle Island: A Collector’s Guide. These are magic books. Codex Voynich. The Principles of Elvish Spellwork .”
Alison lifted her candle in that direction. “There’s a possibility that whatever you encountered in that office could have gotten to the library.”
“I don’t feel it here. Do you?”
“No,” said Alison. The whispers didn’t sound angry, but Alison had some sort of innate distrust of talking inanimate objects that was hard to shake. She sighed. “I guess we better see where it leads.”
The answer was an ordinary bookshelf. It contained more whispering magic tomes— Mystical Properties of Gemstones, Ritual Sacrifice in Antiquity, and a book that seemed to be vibrating on the shelf.
“ On the Study of Portals and Doorways —portals?” asked Alison. She tugged on the book, but she felt resistance.
It wasn’t a book. It was a handle.
She heard the click of a switch, and the bookshelf swung open, revealing a hidden passage.
“Whoa,” said Alison. “Do you think she went this way?”
“Only one way to find out,” said Keir, leading her inside.