Muse Unchained (The Last Library Book 3)

by Jill Cooper

  I said from memory and heat and flame mounted in my chest. When the spider was ready to strike, the light exploded up from my book and from me, destroying the spiders in the building.

  Covered in a layer of dust, I rolled up to my feet and scurried toward my book. I ran at the creature as she shot a giant arrow toward me. I rolled away and landed next to another pillar and picked up a golden shield. I tossed it toward the creature and it hit her just beneath her neck, driving her back.

  I reached for her throat as I ran up the stairs to her throne. A moment later, my fingers snared the golden chain of her necklace and broke it clear with one strong yank.

  She screamed and her mouth filled with sharp fangs. She fell backward onto her throne and slowly the coiling snakes on her head turned into luscious, brown curls. Her scaly skin was replaced with a flowing dress made of yellow and black. Beneath it, bare dirty feet protruded.

  “Sleep now, whomever you are,” I whispered as I leaned over and touched her soft skin, realizing how beautiful she really was. “Your torment is now over.”

  She moaned and when her eyes opened they shined a brilliant green, same as mine. “My gentle hero,” she whispered with a gentle smile and stretched her fingers out to me, stroking my cheek. “Beautiful as you are righteous. You take your part in the story before you even know what the story really is.”

  I didn’t know what she was really trying to say. “Do you always speak in riddles to those that have saved you?”

  She smiled widely, her posture near regal as she strained upward. “Abby Taylor, you haven’t saved me, but you have set me free. The remnant, those spiders you so happily destroyed, were my warden.”

  As she stretched and arched her back, she started to grow taller. I backed up off the steps, slipping the golden chain around my neck. “What are you?”

  She extended her arms, each finger uncurling as if testing them to see if they still worked. “I’m old. An ancient spirit. Free from the power of the books by the Dark Lord Creighton.” She stood from the throne and walked down the steps toward me. Electricity bounced between her fingers as she spoke. “I am not alone. You’ll face many of us as you try to complete your quest, we will stand in your way. We like being free.”

  There was such grace in her movements, such power in her voice, my chin quivered. Ancient spirits now? What else was I going to have to conquer? “Who are you?”

  She tilted her head back and gasped with a breath. Head upright again, she glared. Her simple beauty becoming angry and ugly before my eyes.

  “Nemesis. I whisper secrets in the ears of heroes and those that support them. I change the tide of victory into despair. I bring darkness where there was once light. You’ll never be free of me or of the terror I bring. Where you stand hero, I stand the villain and I will have my victory!”

  She grew taller, her green eyes now white and shining with lightening. I pivoted away and ran. Electricity raced past me to the walls and gathered in front of me. An outline of a person blocked my way, and inch by inch, Nemesis reappeared in its broken sketch.

  “Fool you were, to think you could defeat me.” Nemesis pushed her hands out in front of me and a blast of blinding power hit me. I sailed backward, falling onto the tile floor as it waved like the tide, breaking and cracking, and I was rolled up, stuffed inside it like a coffin.

  Nemesis laughed and raised her hand to me. A blue, shining ball of light gathered in her palm. “Now this unforsaken land should be mine, and all those in it, shall fall onto bended knee. They will worship me!”

  Chapter: Sebastian

  Sebastian paced out in front of the wreckage of the old Smithsonian museum with his hands on his hips. Tarnish had gone in but hadn’t come back out yet. She had been gone awhile, but had she been gone too long? When should he start to worry? What was taking so long?

  Sighing, Sebastian looked back at Ella. Bent over, she gathered a collection of pebbles in her hand. When she tilted her head back to look at the ravengers, her hood fell off and her long, blond braids were visible. She played with the pebbles in her hand and then pulled her arm back, like she was thinking of throwing them.

  “Ella,” Sebastian warned. “You’ll get yourself killed.”

  She threw him a look. “Don’t get your knickers in a twist. They know who I am and the agreement I have with their little miss.”

  Sebastian shook his head as Ella threw a pebble at a low flying ravenger. It made a second pass toward her with outstretched hands and screeched at her. Ella gave a cry and ducked, running for Sebastian. She hid behind him and clung to his robes.

  “Yes,” he said dryly, “I can see they understand that you’ve been granted amnesty from Temptress. I was wrong and you were right.”

  “Shut up,” Ella said with a dramatic sigh, “with your big words, acting like you’re better than me.”

  Sebastian shook his head. “I’ve never once—okay, maybe a few times, but it had nothing to do with your limited vocabulary. It had more to do with your double-crossing.”

  “Well, guess me and Tarnish Rose are on equal footing then, aren’t we?”

  Sebastian drew his lips into a thin line. “What she did, isn’t the same as all that. She was trying to save us, not betray us.”

  “A little time, a little worry, and you’ve completely gone soft on her already? Well, that didn’t take long. When she turns the completed remnant over to Temptress, I’m going to tell you I told you so.”

  Sebastian resisted rolling his eyes. “Tarnish has no interest in giving the remnant to the Temptress. She’s merely buying us time.”

  “Time?” Ella snorted and placed a hand on her hip. “You don’t break a deal with Temptress, I’ll tell you that. Once Tarnish sees her beloved George with his doe eyes, she’ll do whatever necessary to free him. I’ve seen the love-sick variety before. She’ll betray us, have no doubts about that.”

  Sebastian grunted and shook his head. If he had to spend much more time with Ella, he might kill her. “For God’s sake, Ella. Shut up before I sew your lips shut.”

  Her eyebrows arched. “We know the truth when we hear it, don’t we?”

  “I have faith in Tarnish. She’s brought us this far.”

  “Right. Your lady friend exploded, don’t forget that.”

  Sebastian narrowed his eyes and spoke with great malice. “What happened to dear Rebecca was not Tarnish’s fault.”

  Ella’s lip drew together into a thin line and she didn’t respond. Maybe Sebastian had finally won an argument with her.

  “I also won’t forget it’s you who brought the ravengers to the McGee homestead and had their sons kidnapped. Those very same children that Temptress is using to manipulate Tarnish.”

  Ella’s face dropped and she frowned. “Guess I just lost the moral high ground.”

  “Ella,” Sebastian whispered angrily, “you never had it. Even if you help us, even if you never try to sneak off and run toward the enemy, you’ll never be our friend or an ally.”

  She was silent for several moments and a tear glinted in her eye. “Well, you sure have a way with words, don’t you?”

  Sebastian shrugged. It was never easy to see a girl cry. “Just trying to make a point. I have no joy in seeing you hurt. Lay off Tarnish and we can continue on.”

  Ella nodded. “Wonder what the hold up is. Maybe she got lost down there or fell down a sink hole.”

  Sebastian just wished she’d stop talking. He got his wish when a moment later, a great light shone through the broken windows of the Smithsonian and out of the fractured roof. It split the gray clouds hanging overhead and parted the ravengers as if they were nothing more than paper cutouts.

  The ravengers caught in the stream were cut in half and their robes lofted down from the sky, cut into mere rags. Their brittle boned arms and hands turned to dust and those that were far enough away not to be harmed, screeched in pain and flew away.

  Sebastian’s heart stilled even as his panic surged. “Tarnish,” he whispered.r />
  Ella’s eyes were as wide as his and her skin went ghostly pale. “She can kill even those immortal with evil? Those that have tormented us for hundreds of years. Temptress is right to fear her, as am I.”

  Ella’s irrational superstitions were coming home to roost again, Sebastian grabbed her shoulder to steady her as a blast from inside the Smithsonian pushed them backward. The roof crumbled inside and the ground beneath their feet howled as it shifted.

  Tarnish, no! Sebastian ran up the stairs and stepped through the wreckage into the museum. What lay before him was one of the grandest entrances he had ever seen, and over the years, he had seen his fair share. It made him pause as he looked for which way Tarnish might’ve gone. To the left past some sort of bone sculpture that was falling apart or through another doorway over to the right.

  “Sebastian, stop!” Ella grabbed his arm and yanked him back, but he cemented his footing and shrugged her off.

  “Stay out there alone or come with me. It’s your choice.” Sebastian hurried forward, trying to determine which way was the best course of action. If only he had some way of knowing.

  A groan of anger and power burst through the doorway on the right, combined with a rumbling in the foundation. That’s the way I’ll find Tarnish. Sebastian kicked up his heels and ran through the corridor.

  Behind him, Ella shrieked as she charged after him. “Wait! Wait! I don’t want to be alone!”

  Sebastian slid along the tile floor, ducking the falling rubble from the ceiling and walls. The whole building groaned as more of it began to fall apart. He ran through several corridors and came to one that had double doors wedged open. The new corridor shrieked like it wanted to be left alone and Sebastian froze.

  Ella slammed into him and grabbed his arms. “Are you crazy? This place doesn’t want us here.”

  “It’s a place. It neither wants or cares.” Sebastian found the door was wedged open and in the crumbled flooring he saw the remains of a giant, white spider, now nothing left but a dried up carcass.

  Ella screamed, and Sebastian swung his arm around her, covering her mouth before she alerted whatever was in the museum to their presence. He dragged her inside the room. Tarnish was on the floor, surrounded in a tight stone cage, small pillars on each side and a tight roof, not allowing her to move. Her book was out of reach and Sebastian was sure if he could knock it over to her….

  But she wasn’t alone. A woman of tall, elegant stature stood in front of her with fingers curled up to the sky, a black mist swirling around the hem of her dress with every step she made. “Now, Abby Taylor, you’ll find out why I’ve earned the name, Nemesis.”

  “Nemesis,” Sebastian whispered without meaning to. He knew this creature and from where she had sprung. An ancient being of power and evil might, sprung from the magic of books when creativity had been banished from the world—similarly to how the creatures of Imagination had. Only this one had the power to infect minds and forge destruction.

  Nemesis hissed and she spun toward Sebastian and Ella. “Well, well,” she said as her hands circled each other, “new toys to play with.”

  Chapter: Tarnish Rose

  Sebastian attracted the attention of Nemesis and it gave me a chance to do what I needed to do. The tight space I was trapped in didn’t give me much room to move, but it was enough to slide my hand in my messenger bag and retrieve the glowing remnant, desperate to be whole again.

  “I am all and I am none,” Nemesis said as she approached my friends. “I shall become one.” She lifted her hands over her head and lightning shot from the roof, shooting down through her head and spreading from the tips of her fingers, running down her torso.

  “She speaks in riddles.” Ella hissed, wide-eyed with fright. “We’ll never get out of this place. Tarnish, do something.”

  The fear in her voice spurred me on. I ripped the necklace from my neck and inserted the shard into the remnant. Full and whole, the fractured pieces fused together, and inside, a crystal grew outward like a flower, then a snowflake, and it shined brightly into the sphere.

  Snapped in place, the hot glow burst the stone prison I had been trapped in. I rushed up to my feet, coming face to face with Nemesis.

  I held the remnant out and it surrounded Nemesis in a thick glow of light. She gasped and spun around, fighting against the beacon. Her fact contorted, eyebrows pinched together, mouth puckered against the strain. Her arms fought and pushed against the glow, and I struggled to hold on.

  The heat from the remnant burned my hands and I closed my eyes, barely able to withstand the searing pain and the intensity of the blinding light.

  “You won’t defeat me. You—.” Nemesis shrieked and I opened my eyes to see Ella standing on the other side of Nemesis. Her hands pointed out, the glow that had helped us through the old subway tunnels surrounded our enemy.

  Nemesis spun sideways and pushed her hands out to us both equally, but the light grew, lacing tighter around her like webbing. Her brown hair went white, and it covered her face like a mask, drowning out her appearance.

  “No,” she screamed, her crystal white essence circling around Ella.

  My eyes widened as I feared for her. “Ella!”

  The light from Ella and the remnant faded and all that remained of Nemesis was a drifting, black fog, floating up toward the building.

  I placed the remnant back in my bag, aware of how badly my hands were burned as I moved my bag’s inner flap away. My skin shivered and the palm of my hand stabbed with pain.

  “Worried for me?” Ella scowled at me.

  “I am worried about you and what just happened. I was afraid Nemesis would hurt you.”

  Sebastian wiped his chin and wore a pensive expression. “You defeated an ancient spirit together. There’s more than one reason that Ella has joined our party, even if she won’t admit it.”

  Ella shook her head and swayed on her feet. I think she was going lightheaded again. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve never done that before. Never! It’s just a light, not some sort of magical power.”

  “Then what just happened?” I asked.

  Her face widened and her features became almost childlike in their innocence. “I don’t know. You looked like you might lose. I didn’t want that thing to attack me. I didn’t mean to do anything. Suddenly, I was just….” Ella swayed even more and started to crumble. Sebastian raced toward her with outstretched arms.

  Ella fainted right into them. Her face was serene, and she looked like a sleeping child.

  “She’s out cold,” Sebastian said and netted his eyebrows together.

  I was concerned for Ella and what this surge of power meant for her. “Let’s get her out of here before anything else decides to awaken in these hallowed halls.”

  Sebastian and I walked together through the rubble side by side. “You did it, Tarnish. You have the completed remnant.”

  “I never thought I would,” I admitted.

  We fell silent as we crept through the halls and back out of the museum. Outside on the floor, I saw the remains of the ravengers robes. My eyebrows rose as I regarded Sebastian. “A great light shined from inside the museum. It destroyed them.”

  “I was reading my books. I didn’t think I could do it.” I took a deep breath and my chest rose. “Now I have the completed remnant… what do you think we’ll be able to do?”

  We’d be able to defeat Creighton. I knew it and that knowledge felt like pure joy.

  “It’s meant for you and you are meant for it. You’ll know what to do. I have faith.”

  I smiled at Sebastian for his support. After what I had done, I wasn’t sure if he would come for me, but both he and Ella had. Our team was back together as we headed into our biggest challenge yet.

  Find the Temptress and beat her at her own game.

  Chapter: Tarnish Rose

  We walked as far as we could before succumbing to exhaustion. Ella had awoken and managed to walk on her own two feet but staggered. She
barely spoke and had a far-away glint in her eyes. In my racing panic, I feared Nemesis had done something to her, but logically, I knew helping me had drained her.

  I hoped a good night’s sleep would restore her.

  We made it past the pit of lava fires and crumbling streets. Back on solid ground, the air drew cooler the more distance we carried. Soft grass grew beneath our feet and we came to a crumbling, brick bridge. We found a good hiding space beneath it that was dry and warm, protecting us from wind.

  Ella and I sat together as Sebastian started a fire to keep us warm during the night. Her eyes were lidded, and she rested back against the stone of the foundation, her robes drawn tight around her body. I cradled my hand and tried to ignore the pain when I tried to curl my fingers. I hoped I’d heal quickly.

  “Your power hurts you, yet you still do it.” Ella’s voice startled me.

  “I didn’t have much of a choice,” I said. “I was trapped in stone. I needed to get out of there and Nemesis blocked my way.”

  Ella rolled her sleepy eyes. “What kind of name is that, anyway?” Her head fell to the side as she drifted off to sleep and I gathered my things up and met Sebastian by the fire.

  He poked the logs with a stick, ash and amber dancing through the air before they settled back down. The smell of the smoke thickened in my chest, but I enjoyed the warmth of the fire. “How is she?” Sebastian asked.

  “Tired and asleep. I’m hoping tomorrow she’ll be back to normal.”

  Sebastian chuckled. “Imagine that. You hoping Ella will be back to normal. If she even knows what normal is. And you? How’s your hand? I noticed how you cradled it.”

  I lifted my palm where my skin was charred and dry like a piece of crispy chicken skin. “It could be better. I’m just hoping tomorrow I’m able to regain some use.”

  Sebastian sat down in the grass and pulled his bag open, handing me a salve. “Wrap your hands in that. It’ll at least make it feel better.”