Chapter 31
Chapter
Thirty-One
Iknew we were close when we stepped through the portal and found ourselves behind the Hollywood sign. The air was thick and hard to breathe, even in the human realm.
I felt like I was on the edge of my seat, waiting for something big to happen, but Torin's hand in mine was a grounding force.
He tugged me along as we hiked down the hillside toward the closest residential neighborhood. The sun was setting, casting a golden glow over the city below, making the human world seem magical.
If Hayden got his hands on the ancient powerful book, this realm I called home would be destroyed. Images of the ruined fairy cities popped into my mind, causing me to swallow the sudden dryness in my throat.
Willa had sacrificed her life, remaining imprisoned for decades but unwilling to share the location of the book. I was determined to end the wicked King’s pursuit of immortality and power, completing my mother’s mission.
As we reached the road, I flagged down a taxi. Robert took the passenger seat while Torin and I slipped into the back.
Time was running out, and every second felt precious. Torin seemed to sense my urgency, his fingers tightening around mine as our eyes met.
I told the driver to take us to the library in the city.
We didn’t have money to pay for the ride, so the three of us decided that Torin and I would search for the book while Robert would have the taxi drop him off at Adrian and Tammy’s apartment nearby.
Robert was to alert everyone, including Lucy and her men of the fairy realm, about the wicked King.
“Robert,” I said and waited until he turned his head to me. “Please check on my parents, too.”
I couldn’t exactly mention the werewolf kingdom in the taxi, but by the grin on Robert’s face, I knew he understood my request.
The cab pulled up to the library, and before I exited the car, I gave Robert the last instructions.
“Ask everyone if they would mind joining us one last time in a fight.” I glanced at the cab driver.
He paid me no attention as he swiped on the screen of his phone.
I gave Robert a serious look. He was to recruit our allies for a second war, but this time, we were going to infiltrate the fairy castle. Hayden was too big of a threat to be left ruling over the fairy realm—a threat to my life and everyone I loved.
And we’d missed our chance to kill Hayden in my dream realm. I doubted he would show up there again. He had to be dealt with in a way that justified my mother’s death.
Death for death.
Robert nodded, and I left the car, joining Torin in front of the library staircase.
The familiar building was a sprawling old building, its walls lined with shelves upon shelves of books. It was the same place where Tammy and I had found the secret apartment behind a hidden panel in the children’s section.
"Let's find the Celestial Hall of Truth," I said, touching the spot where my heart raced. “I’m feeling its presence already.”
The pulse of The Book of Thoradis reflected in the rhythm of my erratic heartbeats. I had been here many times before but never felt the magic of the immortality book, maybe because I didn’t possess my full light witch abilities.
Instead of wandering within the library, I dashed toward the door with the red illuminated sign above it. Taking the stairs, Torin and I arrived at the bottom floor—a dead-end with no doors or windows.
On instinct, I immediately placed my palms on the cold white wall, sliding them across row by row, hoping a secret door would pop open as usual. If it existed, it wouldn’t be easy to find, or others would have found the book long ago.
But then I recalled my mother’s words—only a light witch could detect the presence of The Book of Thoradis.
I took deep breaths and kept touching the wall surface, but nothing happened.
“Let me try,” Torin said, stepping behind me and kissing the top of my head.
He lifted his giant hands, pressing his hard body against my back, and did the same movements as me but at the top of the wall, which I wouldn’t have been able to reach.
A click echoed around us, and we turned around. Behind the staircase, a cement door had snapped open.
“Hidden in plain sight,” I whispered. “One day we will share the secret of the supernatural existence and the location of hidden rooms.”
Torin gave me a strange look, but the edges of his eyes softened. “Do you think we’ll be able to coexist with the humans? In a peaceful way?”
I smiled. “I want to believe that it’s possible,” I said, but my next thought made the smile on my lips disappear. “But promise me that after I’m gone, you’ll still protect the humans and keep a balance between the humans and supernaturals. This realm will need a protector of the peace.”
He moved quickly and wrapped me in a warm hug. “Stop talking about the future like you won’t be in it to share it with me.”
I leaned my head against his solid chest and inhaled deeply, filling my senses with everything Torin.
“If…I survive the war with the fairies, I’ll live a long life because of my supernatural heritage, but I’m not eternal like you, Torin. I thought you accepted that already.”
His hands gently gripped the sides of my head, pushing it backward so I could look at him. His amber eyes had turned stormy. I preferred the emotional version of Torin to the stoic one who’d come to see me in London.
“Why wouldn’t you use The Book of Thoradis to become eternal, Anna? After all, you are the only one who can find it. It was meant for you.” His intense gaze searched for answers in my eyes, but after a moment of silence, he released me and sighed.
“I can’t use the book for personal benefit. Then I’ll be like everyone who searched for the book.”
Torin dropped his slack arms at his sides, averting his gaze. Deep creases etched his forehead, and his jaw clenched.
I’ll try to make the best out of my life with Torin for as long as I can.
I wanted to reach out to his face and stroke his cheek to soothe him, but I walked to the ajar door in the wall instead. With both hands, I pulled it wide open and stepped into the darkness with Torin behind me.
Letting my eyes adjust and calling on my wolf eyesight, I strolled forward. A short distance away, we encountered another set of stairs descending, though its end was not visible to us.
We made our way down, deep beneath the library. The musty scent of old books grew stronger around us. At the bottom, I stepped into an open space, which I believed to be the Celestial Hall of Truth, and gasped at the architectural brilliance untouched by time.
Tall columns of polished granite stretched toward the vaulted ceiling painted with a map of the sky and stars with gold and silver.
The floor, a mosaic of precious stones, told stories of half-naked Gods who looked like perfect sculptures I’d seen in museums. The paintings on the floor depicted scenes of celestial beings, their faces serene and thoughtful.
A gentle light radiated from a peculiar stone at the center of the hall, bathing everything in a soft glow.
I stood at the threshold, my heart pounding. The chamber was vast, and in the middle of the room stood a pedestal, upon which lay a single book.
"Is that…?" Torin began, but I was already moving towards it, drawn by the power that seemed to pulse from its essence.
"Yes," I whispered, my fingers hovering above the cracked leather cover with intricate engravings of mystical symbols and sigils that begged me to touch them. "This is it. From what Mom said, I thought the book would have been harder to find.”
I glanced back at Torin. He knew what this book represented, what it could mean for us—our world. And so did I.
Its alluring aura drew me closer as if to tell me the secrets of rare knowledge. Even closed, the pages looked yellow and fragile.
The temptation to wield its power overwhelmed me, but I knew the consequences could be devastating. Along with its energy, I could feel the book contained danger, carrying a sense of unpredictability.
Opening the book and unleashing its power required caution. We had faced so much to get here, and now that we were finally within reach of our goal, I couldn't help but feel a sense of dread.
I didn’t want to destroy such a valuable, ancient book, but I had no choice. In the wrong hands, this book could destroy the realms. People would always be after it.
The book had caused so much pain and suffering. It could bring about the end of everything we held dear. It needed to be destroyed.
" I want to burn it," I said in a low voice. "We can't let anyone else find this."
Torin nodded, his body tensing next to me.
I reached out and picked up the book—warmth infused my veins, a power like no other I’d felt before. Not even when I found the witch books Mom had left for me.
Sighing, I closed my hand around the book and called on my fire. The flames from the bracelet seemed to wrap themselves around my forearm and then the book.
But the book didn’t catch fire. Tiny bright lights shielded it, protecting it from the flames.
Torin and I exchanged looks. I could touch its covers, but I couldn’t burn it.
The flames seemed to dance around the cracked leather, leaving it unscathed. I willed my bracelet to withdraw the fire.
Torin stepped closer, called on his razor-sharp vampire talons, and scraped the leather. He didn’t even leave a mark. I smashed it against the floor with my supernatural strength. The book remained undamaged.
My blood boiled, realizing the Gods had protected the book, probably with a spell.
"If I can't destroy it, I'll just have to open it and destroy its pages," I snapped.
Picking the book off the floor, I tried flipping the front cover, but it didn’t budge.
“Oh, c’mon,” I said. “Maybe they put riddles on it the same way Willa did.”
I blew a hot breath over the front cover. The familiar tiny squiggly lines appeared and danced erratically, carved into the leather. I had to touch them so they could rearrange into words.