by Brenda Drake
Carrig studied my face for a moment. “I’ll be going through the gateway with Ms. Kearns. Are you okay to jump?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” Who was I kidding? I was terrified to jump. I wasn’t sure who to trust, and my danger radar was blaring out of control. How bad could it be, anyway? I could break my neck, or wind up back in the Vatican, that’s how.
“All right, then,” Carrig said. “After the book be silent, follow us.”
Demos nodded. “Will do.”
The other Sentinels jumped first, in case danger waited on the other side of the gateway. Carrig grabbed Nana’s arm, and they vanished into the pages. I stared at the photograph of the Bodleian library in Oxford, England. Trying to get up the nerve.
“It’ll be all right,” Demos said. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Before I could psych myself out of going, I rattled off, “Aprire la porta.”
This was my third time through the gateway, and already I was getting used to the falling sensation. It was easier to keep myself upright, though it required a lot of limb flailing. I landed on the hard floor with a loud thump and staggered forward before stopping.
Demos flew out of the book right after me.
“Bravo, Gia.” Kale applauded. “You were born to jump.”
I smiled at him, taking deep breaths of musty air. “I guess so.” I dashed to Nana and gave her a tight hug. “How was your jump?”
She patted her chest. “I hadn’t jumped in years. It knocked the wind out of me.”
“I know, it’s a real rush, right?”
“That it is. Excuse me, I must ask Carrig something.” She headed over to where he was talking to Jaran and Demos.
Arik shuffled off from the group as well, shoulders slumped.
I sidled up to Lei on my right. “I don’t think he’s getting over it. What happened to him?”
“We got separated from him. The two men following us were only decoys. They led Arik to an alley where a compelled man waited.” She glanced at him. “He must’ve had Arik longer than we suspected. Tortured him. Arik’s the leader of our group, so he doesn’t want any of us to see him weak.”
Arik stood in the moonlight streaming through a tall gothic-style window. Dust danced in the beams of light around him, making him look like he was in an old silent movie. His silhouette was small in comparison to the height of the dark bookcases bordering the room.
The tilt of his head made me aware he was staring directly at me. My stomach jolted, and I reeled away.
Carrig ordered everyone to follow him, leading us down a corridor of bookcases. A row of desks sat between each set of shelves we passed. Dark wood arched overhead. The coffered ceiling had many squared tiles with depictions of open books on their surfaces. Carrig stopped at the third bookcase on the left.
“This is the passageway to Asile.” He pulled down two wooden knobs flanking each side of a house-shaped box fastened to the bookcase.
“Ammettere il pura,” he said.
Admit the pure. I was certain now that the reason my mother wanted me to take Italian lessons was because, so far, all the keys were in Italian.
The floor quivered, and the bookcase wheezed and creaked as it slid open, exposing a staircase plunging into the darkness.
All the Sentinels, except Carrig and Arik, held up their palms and in unison said, “Luce.” Light. A glowing sphere the size of a softball formed in each of their palms. One by one, they went down the dark stairwell, the light from the globes bouncing on the rock walls. Carrig aided Nana down.
Arik produced a globe and stepped over to me. The blood around the cut on his left cheek had coagulated, and there was a knot by his right eye.
I reached to touch it but pulled my hand away when he frowned. “Does it hurt?”
“I’m mint. Get going.”
I scowled at him and adjusted my pack. “Why are you mad at me?”
He watched the others disappear down the steps. “I’m not angry with you.”
“Then what’s your problem?
“I haven’t a problem.”
“Well, you were nice to me earlier and now you’re glaring at me.”
“This morning?” He raked his fingers through his dark, tangled hair. The light globe in his other hand lit up his beautiful face. The globe reflecting in his eyes looked like a star in a pitch-black sky. “I fancied you. Your bravery. How quickly you responded in the Paris library, the way you wielded that stapler. Even your willingness to attempt the jump from the Vatican without my help. But you are a Sentinel. There are laws—”
“You fancied me?” I interrupted.
“It wouldn’t matter if I am…was. Sentinels cannot be together. The punishment is severe.”
“Doesn’t matter anyway. I’m the Doomsday Child. You should keep far away from me.” I spun on my heel and headed for the stairs.
Arik seized my arm before I took the first step. “Who told you that?”
I whirled around to face him, yanking my arm from his grasp. My foot caught on a raised part of the floor. I fell forward, and he caught me with one strong arm.
“Easy there,” he said, keeping the light balanced on his palm.
I stared into his dark eyes, shrugging out of his hold. “Carrig. My nana. They both told me.”
His face fell serious. “Shite.” He paced in mad circles, glancing at me a few times before he stopped. “Oh, Gia,” he said, grabbing my hand. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
I pulled back. His fingers gripped mine tighter, and my hand sparked under his touch. I bit my lip to stop its tremble. “That compelled man showed you something about me,” I said. “Didn’t he?”
“No. It was all about me… Some tragedy of my own. The compelled can only see their captive’s past and fears. No need to worry. You’re safe here. Trust me.”
“What did he show you?”
“I…I can’t…”
“You ask me to trust you, but you won’t trust me.”
He lowered his head and studied our linked hands. “I was fourteen and in training. A hound had attacked my group in the library. My parent faery, Oren, was with me. The hound sunk its teeth into Oren’s leg, and the beast pulled him through the gateway book. I froze. By the time the older Sentinels reached Oren, he was dead. That’s what the compelled showed me. He also revealed that I would face the same choice again in the future. And I will fail again—” His voice cracked. “I miss Oren very much. He was a loving father. It’s like the hound tore a piece of my heart away when he took him.”
I squeezed his hand. “You were just a boy. It wasn’t your fault.”
“Many have said the same, but I’m still haunted by it.” His voice was gravelly with emotion. “In the throes of sleepless nights, I still see the horror in Oren’s eyes as the beast dragged him away.”
My thoughts caught up with me. I’m going to a place where these creatures live. If they find out who I am, they’ll kill me. I’m going to die.
My mouth went dry. “I’m scared,” I croaked, swallowing back the gumball-sized lump in my throat.
Time stalled as he stared at me, his dark eyes so intense and full of compassion. “Gia,” he said finally, voice soft. His face was mere inches from my own. He smelled like sweaty leather and soap. His jaw was tight, causing only hollows in his cheeks where his dimples came out when he smiled.
I focused on his lips, staring at the cleft just below the bottom one. My heart raced as his arm came around me and I leaned into his embrace, feeling the warmth of his body. My heart felt like it would fly out of my chest. He rested his cheek against my head, and his warm breaths whispered against my hair.
Something scurried over my Converse, startling me. I yanked away from him, teetering on the edge of the stairwell. He caught me before I fell backwards, losing the light globe he held in his palm. It burst, and little flashes zapped the air.
He laughed. “You’re dangerous.”
“Oww,” I snapped, grabbing onto my injured le
g.
“Are you all right?”
“It’s just the cut in my leg,” I said. “My stitches pulled. Something ran over my feet. It was way too big to be a rat.”
“The rats down here are rather huge. They’ve lived here for centuries. They won’t harm you.”
“Says you.” I glanced around my feet, my skin crawling.
He chuckled. “We should catch the others.” He seized my hand in his and turned my palm up. “There’s a charm that releases one’s light globe.”
“Yeah, I heard you say it. Luce, right?”
“That’s correct. Clear your mind and think only of light.”
“Wait. What? I can’t—”
He placed a finger on my lips to stop me. His crooked grin made tiny flutters rise in my stomach. “We won’t know until you try,” he said.
Thinking of anything other than Arik at that point was tough. But Nana’s lamp with the three stained-glass parrots perched on a base of bronzed twigs came to mind. It was the lamp I had stared at during one of my many attempts to ignite the light and had managed to create a flicker of gold on my palm. That lamp fascinated me because when lit, the parrots became a prism, casting a rainbow on a nearby wall.
“Luce,” I said.
Nothing.
I added a little more force.
Nada.
Arik supported my hand with his. My pulse jumped.
“Try again.”
“Luce.” Light flickered above my palm and a softball-sized bubble of light popped to life. I had light! In the palm of my hand.
“Shall we?” He motioned to the stairs with a nod.
Our footsteps echoed off the cut-stone walls as we charged down the steps. There was barely room for one person to go along the tunnel at a time, so I led the way with the ball of light hovering over my palm.
Too busy admiring the light, I stepped on a rock and it rolled under my foot. The action caused my stitches to pull again, and I stumbled and hobbled a bit before regaining my balance.
“Careful there, you’ll sprain your ankle,” Arik said.
I wrinkled my nose at the rank stench of the cave. Water trickled down the sides and dripped from the ceiling. Rocks underfoot turned and rolled to the side or tumbled down the steep passageway. It was a claustrophobic’s nightmare.
Arik’s heavy boots sounded behind me. I glanced back, catching his gaze, and quickly turned back, watching my steps and tugging the bottom of my hoodie down with my free hand.
“Anyone else know you can create a globe?” Arik asked.
“No.”
“How many times have you conjured one?”
“I want to tell you, but my mom used some sort of spell to keep me from speaking about it.”
“Hold up,” he said.
I stopped and faced him. He cupped my face in his hands and I sucked in a startled breath, almost dropping the glowing ball. I tried to back away but he kept hold of me. “What are you doing?”
“Removing it.” Up close his eyes were captivating, if not a bit tortured. “Annullare tutte le magie,” he said and released me.
“Did it work?”
“Not certain. How many times have you conjured one?” He gestured for me to continue walking.
“A few,” I said, heading down the cave. “The first time was a total accident when I was like four. The next one was when I was about ten.” I peered over my shoulder at him. “I guess it worked.”
“I believe so. And how did you know the charm?”
“I didn’t. I was practicing my Italian when the light flickered on my palm. It was a complete accident. I can’t remember how I did it when I was four. Maybe I overheard my mother say it.”
“Let’s keep it our secret for now, all right?”
“Why?”
Behind me, Arik panted, a low rhythmic beat that matched the thumping of my heart. “It would be wise,” he said between breaths, “with all that’s going on lately, that we keep your lineage to ourselves.”
The cave grew colder and I shivered. “Why do you only protect the libraries? Those hounds could get out and hurt people.”
“There are wards around them, preventing Mystiks from exiting. To enter the human world requires a clearance. It’s very difficult to obtain one and once received, a device is inserted under the skin, allowing passage through the wards. Our job is to keep the peace between the different races traveling the gateways and assure the safety of all humans.”
“I see,” I said. “So have you ever jumped into a famous person’s library? That would be so cool.”
“Unfortunately, no,” he said. “We only guard libraries that have gateway books. And I’m not aware of any private collections with one.”
“Right.”
When the cave widened, we trotted next to each other, trying to catch up to the rest. I slowed down when the pain in my leg was too much to keep up. Arik’s pace eased.
“Do you need a rest?”
“No. I can walk. It’s jogging that’s killing me.”
“We’ll take it easy, then.”
A fat drop of water landed on my arm, and I wiped it away, hoping it was water and not drool, or something else gross.
We followed the cave for twenty minutes or so before the tunnel began to tighten again. Arik motioned for me to go first. He had an insanely hot grin playing on his lips, which made me nervous.
“Why are you smiling?”
“I’m impressed,” he said. “For a novice, you’ve retained your globe for quite some time.”
“I totally forgot it was in my hand,” I lied. My arm ached from holding it out so long, but I was determined to keep my globe lit, especially since he’d just said that.
We were getting nearer to the four globes blazing down the corridor ahead of us. “Here’s a bit of fact for you,” he said. “The havens’ tunnel systems accelerate our actual speed. A day’s walk in the human world takes only about an hour in a tunnel. Notice we don’t feel like we’re going any faster than a stroll.”
“Really?”
Arik grasped my shoulder and pulled me to a stop. “Your shoulder is tensing.”
I shrugged his hand off. Every time he touched me, my stomach reacted, and it was starting to freak me out. Get a grip, already. He’s just a guy.
“Let me take over the light for a bit,” he said.
“Okay.” I wasn’t going to argue with him. My shoulder was tired and sore. I lowered it, and the globe popped. Sparks shot across my hand. My arm felt like a rock at my side after keeping it raised so long.
“Why would anyone want to go to these havens?” I asked. “They have hounds and hunters and compelling creeps.”
“The havens were once peaceful.” The globe he carried lit up the side of his amazing face. His silhouette bounced across the cave wall. “There’s been unrest lately,” he said. “Caused by a vengeful wizard named Conemar. Don’t trust anyone. Just Merl and myself. We aren’t sure where loyalties lie.”
“What does this Conemar guy want?”
Something crunched under his boot, something that had a hard shell. I cringed and fought the urge to scratch my skin off.
“What do most lunatics want?” he said. “Power. He wants to rule over both the human and Mystik worlds. He needs the keys to release an extremely powerful being. One that can cause natural disasters and bring people to their knees.”
“That makes me feel so much better.”
He gave me a sideways glance. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to scare you. We’ll keep you safe. That compelled man found me fast in the subway.” He kept his voice low as we continued toward the others, who were scaling a set of steps in front of us. “It makes me think the wizard compelling him was tipped off by someone from our Haven. So we must be careful.”
I stopped. “Then why are we going there?”
His foot paused on the bottom step and he turned to face me. “Because it’s the only place to protect and prepare you for whatever may come. You’ll be safe as long as w
e keep who your biological father is a secret. Shall we continue?”
I nodded.
“All right, then.” He sprang up the stairs.
I carefully went up after him, my leg wound screaming at me with each step. The idea of a wizard casting a compulsion spell gave me the creepy-crawlies. So did the enormous rats in the tunnel. There was no way I was going to be left alone down there for even a second.
Halfway up, I looked back over my shoulder. Without the light globes, it was eerily dark. Somewhere in the depths, there was a sound like nails scratching on rock. It’s only rats, I reassured myself. Arik went through the door. My heart sputtered as I scrambled up the last steps, ignoring the pain. I froze there on the landing, stuck between two worlds, desperately clinging to one while called to embrace the other. If I went through the door, my mother’s stories would come true, and I could never go back.
Arik reached his hand out to me. “It’ll be all right. I won’t leave you.”
Stop fooling yourself, Gia. There’s no going back.
I took his hand and crossed over the threshold, unsure of what I would find on the other side.
Chapter Nine
We came through a trap door into a stark room about the size of my bedroom. A bluish light peeked in from a door left ajar across the room. We headed for it, the floorboards squealing under our weight and disturbed dust clouding the air. I coughed.
We exited a small outbuilding, and I took a deep breath of fresh air—an earthen smell of mud and grass. Thin streamers of silvery light hung from a crescent moon that tilted in a black sky stippled with stars. A shadowy silhouette of a castle protruded from a dark hill like a shrine. Smaller buildings surrounding the castle reminded me of grave markers in an eerie cemetery.
“The castle ahead is our tribe’s haven,” Arik said. “Do you see the light on the horizon? Just beyond the hill is the city of Asile.”
We crossed a long pasture. The silhouettes of the others disappeared over a rise in the path ahead of us.
