That made no sense to me. “Why would someone close off this room and hide these specific books? There has to be a reason.”
“Maybe it was laziness,” Cillian suggested. “Maybe it was easier to close off the room than heat it. These books all have copyright dates from before 1960 as far as I can tell, although I haven’t checked each one. It’s cold down here. This room is even twenty degrees colder than the gate room. There could be a practical reason for why the room was closed off.”
“But just to abandon these books?” Mason challenged. “That makes no sense. These books are obviously important.”
“I don’t think they are,” Cillian challenged. “I think they’re just books ... and you have no idea how difficult that is for me to say.”
“I’m not simply going to abandon these books,” Mason argued. “I think there is important information here.”
“Then you should definitely continue going through them,” Cillian supplied. “I don’t think they can help us.” He focused on his father. “I think we should go back to the map. This room is a distraction. We need to consider this in a practical manner.”
Cormack nodded. “Then that’s what we’ll do.”
Twenty-One
The whispering was at an all-time fever pitch when I exited the newly discovered library hours later. I stayed long enough to keep looking through the books, determined there had to be something worth discovering, but I came up empty.
Cillian, seemingly at a loss because his hero wasn’t who he’d expected, spent the better part of the afternoon talking to his father in the main gate room. They both looked up when I exited, offered smiles, but didn’t make a move to join me.
I was fine with that. I had other things to focus on, including the intense whispering I heard on the other side of the gate. It was so loud it bled into the other room and I couldn’t ignore it. I hoped Cormack and Cillian wouldn’t find my reaction odd, but the voices were drawing me toward the shimmery opening ... and calling to me.
“Do you hear something from that thing?”
Braden took me by surprise when he moved in at my right. I wasn’t even aware he’d arrived until he stole my breath and caused me to stumble.
“Hey!” He caught me around the waist and stopped me from falling headlong into the opening. “What are you doing?”
I inhaled through my mouth and exhaled through my nose to calm myself as I tried to keep from cursing a blue streak.
“What happened?” Cormack called out from the other side of the room, confusion evident.
“I tripped,” I replied hurriedly, grateful to have found my voice. “I was walking up the stairs and caught my toe. Thankfully Braden saved me before I did a header through the gate.”
“Yes, well, be careful.” Cormack’s gaze was weighted as he glanced between Braden and me before turning his full attention back to Cillian. That allowed me to deal with Braden on my own terms.
“So ... um ... thanks for that.”
“Don’t mention it.” Braden’s demeanor was awkward as he released me, making sure I wasn’t wobbly before completely pulling his hands away. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
His cocked eyebrow told me he was dubious. “Do you hear something from the gate?”
I should’ve expected the question. That was what he’d asked right before I tripped. I wasn’t prepared to give him an answer. “Why would you ask that? Do you hear something from the gate?”
His expression was hard to read, those lavender eyes probing as he looked me over. “You know, my sister says that answering a question with a question is a surefire way to recognize that someone is lying ... or trying to cover up some big secret.”
“I believe you told me at dinner last night that your sister believes you have snakes in the basement. You mentioned that toward dessert, if I remember correctly.”
“That’s Redmond’s fault. He used to hide pot down there and she was a real tattletale so he lied about the snakes to scare her away from the basement.”
“Did it work?”
“Kind of.”
“Well ... I guess Redmond was smart then.”
Braden shook his head. “You still haven’t answered. Do you hear something from that gate?”
I wasn’t keen on lying. To be fair, I wasn’t morally against it or anything. I lied throughout my teenage years without feeling a lick of guilt. For some reason — one I couldn’t explain — I didn’t want to lie to him. That was a sobering thought ... and it also made me want to smack myself around because engaging with him on a truly personal level seemed a bad idea.
“You do.” Braden came to his own conclusions before I could wrap my head around a sensible lie that I was willing to utter. “You hear something, don’t you?”
I decided to stall for time. “Why do you think that?”
“Because you tilted your head, as if you were hearing something, and you were so engrossed you almost didn’t notice that you were about to walk to the other side ... of life.”
That seemed a bit dramatic. “I wasn’t going to walk to the other side of life.”
“You were so.”
“I was not.”
“You were.”
“Wasn’t.”
“Oh, this is easily the dumbest argument I’ve ever been involved in,” Braden groused, dragging a frustrated hand through his hair and causing it to stand on end. “Seriously, I grew up in a house with Aisling, and she once argued that she was queen of the world because Dad told her it was true.”
“She was clearly queen of your world, so she wasn’t wrong.”
“Whatever.” Braden wrinkled his nose in a dismissive way, something I’m certain he thought made him look disappointed. Sadly, it made him look cute. The last thing I wanted was to sit around and think about how cute he looked. “What do you hear on the other side of the gate?”
The question made me uneasy. “I didn’t say I heard anything on the other side of the gate. You assumed that.”
“And you’ve been very careful not to deny it.” Braden leaned closer, his eyes lasering into mine. “What do you hear? Can you hear the people who died and passed over? Like ... can you hear your parents?”
A surprising lump formed in my throat. “No. It’s not like that.”
“What is it like?”
“I .... .” My heart rate picked up a notch. “I don’t hear anything. I don’t know why you think that.”
Disappointment lowered over Braden’s handsome features. “You can trust me. You don’t have to lie.”
“I’m not lying.” I held his gaze for what felt like forever and then shifted my eyes to the left. “Your brother and father are over there. I think they’re waiting for you.”
Braden glanced in their direction but didn’t immediately move to leave. “Izzy ... .”
“I have work to do.” I kept my voice even, but just barely. “Your brother needs you. He met a hero today and it didn’t go well. Apparently Edgar Mason is not the superhero your brother fancied.”
“Cillian will get over it.” Braden took a deliberate step back. “I guess I should leave you to your work.”
“That’s probably best. I’m behind because of everything that’s going on. I’m guessing that my job performance review for the first week won’t be worth framing.”
“You might be surprised.” He heaved out a sigh. “I won’t tell anyone about what you can hear. If that’s what you’re worried about, don’t.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” It was difficult to get out the words. “I don’t hear anything.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t believe you.”
I didn’t blame him.
MASON PACKED UP MOST of the books before leaving. He stopped by my computer station long enough to tell me that he would be in contact if he found anything of importance ... and he was certain he would find something of importance because he always did.
After he left, the workers who had uncovered the r
oom packed up their tools and vacated the premises, too. The Grimlocks were the last to leave, Braden lingering by the door and watching me as I made a big show of going over reports with Oliver and Renee. Finally, he disappeared through the opening. I was almost sad to see him go. Relief warred with my disappointment and ultimately won out.
Once I was certain I had the facility to myself I decided to let my magic out to play. It was rare that I could take over the gate room and experiment without worrying about someone stumbling upon me. I wanted to take advantage of an opportunity I might not have for some time.
I strode to the spot in front of the gate — the place where Braden had managed to grab me before I tripped and fell into oblivion — and raised my hands to send wisps of magic through the opening. The first bolt glanced harmlessly away. When I focused, the second zipped through what looked to be a small fissure in the shimmering opening.
I reached out with my senses, opening my mind, but came up empty. I meant for the magical jolt to serve as a drone of sorts, a way for me to see what was on the other side without risking myself. My connection to the magic was severed as soon as it disappeared through the filmy barrier, though, and there was no way for me to call it back.
“Well, that was stupid.” I rubbed the tender spot between my eyebrows. “I wonder ... .” I extended my fingers toward the surface, intent. I knew it would probably hurt when I touched the gateway, but I was prepared to absorb it ... right up until the moment I felt a presence move in behind me.
“Don’t jump.”
“Aunt Max!” I sucked in a calming breath as I slowly turned to face her. She looked amused more than concerned, which only served to increase my irritation. “That wasn’t funny.”
“It was mildly funny.” She pulled her purse strap over her head and left the bag on the table before drawing closer to me. “What were you doing?”
“Trying to see if I could sense anything on the other side.”
“Like what?”
I shrugged. “I’m not sure. I was experimenting.”
“You always had a scientific mind.”
“That’s not what Grandpa says. He maintains I’m prone to fits of whimsy. He’s said it for as long as I can remember. I actually had to look up the word ‘whimsy’ when I was in junior high to figure out what he was saying.”
Maxine waited a beat. “And?”
“And I don’t think he meant it in a complimentary way.”
Maxine snorted as she looked around the room, her eyes drifting to the newly-created door that was hidden only five hours before. “That’s new. What happened there?”
I related my day, leaving nothing out except my fluttery reaction to Braden’s presence. When I was done, she seemed intrigued.
“Well, isn’t that something?” She strode across the room and poked her head inside the forgotten library. “What happened to all the books that were on the shelves?”
“Someone named Edgar Mason took them.”
Maxine furrowed her brow. “Edgar Mason? Are you serious?”
“Why would I be anything other than serious?”
“I don’t know.” Maxine was clearly at a loss as she leaned her hip against the door jamb. “I don’t understand why he would be here. This isn’t normally his idea of a prime location.”
“Do you know him?”
“I’ve met him.”
I expected her to tell me more. When she didn’t, I fixed her with a serious look. “Would you like to tell me what you thought about him?”
“I don’t know that I really thought anything about him,” Maxine replied after a beat. “He’s a ... dandy. I guess that’s the word that most closely fits his personality.”
“Are you going to make me Google that word?”
Maxine snorted. “It’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s more that he’s kind of a prima donna.”
“How is that not a bad thing?”
“I think it comes down to perception.”
“You’re still the same word maestro you were when I was a kid, Aunt Max,” I offered. “No matter how you butter that bread, though, I don’t think prima donna is a compliment.”
“Fair enough, but I didn’t necessarily mean it as an insult.”
“What did you mean?”
“I meant that he has a certain reputation,” she replied, her eyes shifting back to the empty shelves. “Even in reaping circles, where people are supposed to keep their profession on the down low, he thinks an awful lot about himself. He’s one of those people who constantly wants to seem bigger than life, even if he’s done nothing of note.”
“You’re saying he’s a braggart.”
“That’s a fair assessment,” she confirmed. “He likes to be the big man on campus when he’s really the freshman who can’t find his way to the university center.”
“And you still have a way with words.” I winked at her as I crossed to join her in the doorway. “Cormack and Cillian Grimlock were here for the discovery. Cillian was thrilled when Mason first showed up, but he grew disillusioned quickly.”
“Cillian has a giving heart and a thirst for knowledge. If he’d never met Edgar before, he probably thought the man had something to offer. In truth, on his worst day Cillian is smarter than Edgar on his best.”
“I think he figured out fairly quickly that Mason was full of himself,” I noted. “He grew agitated when Mason said some of the books were in Sumerian.”
“Sumerian?” Maxine made a face. “Edgar thought books squirreled away in the Belle Isle Aquarium dated back two thousand years before Christ?”
I shrugged. “Apparently so.”
“I’m guessing Cillian didn’t take that well.”
“He pointed out that the language was Italian.”
Maxine pressed her lips together as mirth flitted through her eyes. “Oh, well, that is just priceless.”
“Pretty much,” I agreed. “Cillian said the book that Mason was holding was some sort of paranormal creature dictionary or something. That it wasn’t anything important. Mason didn’t happen to agree, so they spent the rest of the afternoon ignoring one another.”
“Well, I don’t like to cast aspersions on people ... .”
“Yes, you do.”
“I do,” Maxine agreed, grinning. “In this particular case, I would align myself with Cillian. He’s a good boy and he knows a great deal about a variety of different things.”
“I got that feeling myself. He’s back to focusing on the map.” I gestured toward the wall, to where the pins remained. “He thinks we might be able to outthink the wraith and figure out where it will show up next.”
“That map isn’t correct,” Maxine noted after squinting a bit. “The casinos aren’t even on it.”
“Yes, well, he’s working around that.”
“And what did he find?” Maxine abandoned her post by the door and moved to the map. “What’s with the pins? Does he think the blue pins are outlier wraiths serving as a buffer to protect the new alpha?”
It took me a moment to translate what she was saying. “Pretty much.”
“I guess that makes sense. If the enhanced wraith is the smartest game in town, of course the displaced wraiths will start sniffing around. Now that Lily Grimlock is gone and her band of rogue reapers in hiding, the wraiths want leadership. This new wraith is filling a vacuum of sorts ... and things could get seriously worse if we don’t find that creature.”
“I’m open to suggestions,” I said. “My understanding is that the Grimlocks were going to hunt in the area where they believe the wraith might show up tonight. They have no way of knowing it will be there, but they’re going to try. If you have a better idea, I’m all ears.”
“Well, I might have a better idea.” Maxine tapped her chin as she adopted a far-off expression I remembered from my childhood.
“Oh, I don’t think I like that look,” I complained, my stomach lining turning acidic. “You’re about to suggest something weird, aren’t you?”
&nb
sp; “Define weird.”
“I can’t even come up with a good definition.”
“That means you’re overreacting.” She adopted a pragmatic tone that told me I was right to be afraid. “I simply think I have an idea about how to find the information we’re looking for.”
“And how is that?”
“By conducting a seance, of course.”
Whatever I was expecting, that wasn’t it. My mouth dropped open as I ran the words through my busy brain. “You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, I’m completely serious.”
“Aunt Max ... .”
“Don’t worry about it.” She patted my head as if I were three years old and had just asked why the sky was blue. “This is going to work. I think we’re going to get answers and ... hey .... we might even come up with a way to help the Grimlocks.”
Now she was just talking to hear herself talk. “Why do I think this is going to blow up in our faces?”
“Because you’re a worrywart.”
“Why else?”
“I have no idea.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“I’ve never been more certain of anything in my entire life.”
Oddly enough, that didn’t make me feel better.
Twenty-Two
This wasn’t the first time I’d participated in a seance with Maxine. She was always the fun one when I was growing up. That’s not to say that my parents weren’t fun. They were. But in simple terms, they also were rule followers. Maxine didn’t have that problem.
“Do you remember when we held the seance in your living room during that storm?” I asked as I sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the gate. “There was a storm raging and you claimed that I’d called a ghost to your place.”
Under the dim light of the candles she lighted, Maxine’s face was hard to read. “I remember. You did call a ghost to the house. It took weeks for me to get rid of it.”
“Yeah, right.”
“You did call a ghost over.” Maxine’s voice was soft but firm. “You didn’t realize what you were doing during the seance and you opened a gate. Heck, I didn’t even know there were other types of gates until you managed to call something from the other side. That ghost — his name was Roger and he kept singing — was a real pain in the butt.”
Only The Lonely (A Death Gate Grim Reapers Thriller Book 1) Page 20
