Dragon's Gift - The Druid Complete series Box Set Page 10

  “She doesn’t stand a chance,” Lavender muttered, just loud enough for me to hear. “Not qualified to be here.”

  I seethed but shoved the anger down deep. I didn’t have time to respond. Not when so much was on the line. “I’m going to the library.”

  “What about the meeting in the round room?” Rowan asked.

  “Skipping. I really need to get started on this, and I need something to help jumpstart my premonition sense, since I certainly can’t do it on my own. Will you update me if anything happens?” I tapped the comms charm around my neck.

  “Sure,” Bree said. “We’ll tag team this.”

  “Good luck in the library with Potts.” Rowan shuddered.

  The day librarian was a mean old bastard. Given the choice, I’d have waited until night, when Florian, the ghost librarian, took over.

  But time was the last thing I had.

  “Thanks, guys.” I left, hurrying down the hall toward the library. I passed more than a dozen people on my way, and every one of them looked dejected and stressed.

  They were all hunting the spell, and they’d lost control of their magic. I almost thought I could see the dark shadow of magic that surrounded them, repressing their power.

  I was nearly to the library when Caro, Ali, and Haris turned the corner and bumped into me.

  Caro’s platinum hair gleamed, but her eyes were duller than normal. Her silver leather jacket was speckled with blood—not her own, from the looks of the pattern.

  Ali and Haris weren’t kicking their usual hacky sack between them, and their dark skin was pale. Their eyes were also duller.

  “How’s your magic?” I asked, even though I knew.

  “Gone.” Caro frowned.

  “It’s the bloody worst,” Ali said.

  “Second that,” Haris added.

  “Where are you going?” Caro asked. “There’s a meeting in the round room.”

  “Library.” I explained my plan.

  Caro grinned, the first sign of the spunky girl I was used to. “I like how you think. But we’ve got some info that might help.”

  “Italy,” Ali said.

  “Italy?”

  “Exactly.” Caro nodded. “We were in Beijing, tracking word of new bad guys in town. We came across a group with a silver circle tattooed on the back of their necks.”

  My eyes widened. “So did I. In Paris.”

  Ali’s gaze sharpened. “It must be their symbol.”

  “And maybe Paris wasn’t the only invader’s city that these guys were in,” I said.

  “It sounds like a large operation,” Haris said.

  “No kidding.” Caro gripped my shoulder as if to impress upon me the seriousness of the situation. “This group—the ones in Beijing—they mentioned something about a drop-off in Italy.”

  “Dropping off the spell, maybe.” My heart thundered. “This is a good clue.”

  “So Italy means something to you?” Ali asked.

  “It could. I have an idea where to look. A rough clue. Lachlan will tell you all about it in the meeting. I have a feeling the teams will split up again, each going after different info.”

  Haris rubbed his hands together. “The race continues.”

  Caro grinned. “I like it.”

  “Good luck,” I said. “Let me know if you learn anything else.”

  “Will do.” Caro grinned and turned, then looked back. “When this is all over, you’ve got to teach me how to paint, okay?”

  I nodded. I’d promised her earlier, but we hadn’t had a chance. Not that I knew what to teach her. I just painted by instinct, slopping colors on in whatever order appealed to me. Fortunately for me, it usually looked damned good.

  But I liked the idea of having a friend date. I wouldn’t trade my sisters for all the gold and kittens in the world, but it was nice to have another friend. We’d lived on our own so long, wary and afraid of forming connections.

  I turned and headed toward the library. The heavy wooden doors beckoned, and I pulled them open. As soon as I stepped into the massive, book-filled room, the fireplaces on each wall burst to life. The orange flames shed a warm glow on the brightly colored leather spines of the thousands of books in the library. Paintings hung on the walls—some of them even hung over the books, and they all glowed in the light of the fire.

  High against the wall, I caught sight of Mayhem, the winged ghost pug. She had a rag gripped in her teeth and was rubbing it against the spines of the books.

  “Earning your keep?” I asked her.

  She yipped.

  In front of the fire, two plush dog beds contained the other Pugs of Destruction—Chaos and Ruckus. They snored in front of the flames. Chaos’s devil horns glinted in the light, while Ruckus’s fangs gleamed on either side of his lolling tongue.

  I grinned at them, then searched the library for any sign of Potts, the day librarian. He’d chew my head off if I messed around in his library without him knowing it. I was willing to face down a half dozen demons, but I was not willing to get on Potts’s bad side more than I already was.

  “Oooooh, oooooh!” Ghostly wails echoed from somewhere in the library’s recesses.

  I grinned.

  Jackpot. It was Florian, my favorite ghost librarian. Bonus—I’d get to avoid the miserable Potts too.

  “Oh my fates, what terrifying apparition is this?” I cried, laying on an accent that I most closely associated with a rich lady from the 1800s.

  It probably sucked.

  A ghost drifted out from the wall. He was young, with thick glasses that magnified his eyes and clothes from the eighteenth century. His fancy wig was a bit askew, but I wouldn’t dare tell him. Florian Bumbledomber, the ghostly night librarian, could be quite sensitive.

  “Did I scare you?” he asked.

  I nodded. “Totally.”

  It was Florian’s greatest hobby, scaring the library visitors.

  “I’m glad you’re here, but why isn’t Potts? It’s the middle of the day.”

  “He had to attend the meeting in the round room.” Florian sniffed, as if offended he hadn’t been invited. “So I’ve taken over for him.”

  “Thank fates,” I said. “Because I really need your help.”

  He brightened. “You do? But why aren’t you at the meeting?”

  “I’m hunting answers. I already know what they’ll talk about.” I tapped my comms charm. “And Bree will update me.”

  “Excellent plan. What do you need?”

  I explained the clues I’d been given—an ancient conqueror’s city, likely in Italy. A place that was literally full of ancient cities.

  “Ooh, that’s a doozy,” he said. “There are quite a lot of places like that there. You’re going to need the ghost library.”

  I smiled. I loved the ghost library.

  He led me toward the far wall, which towered high, piled with books, then veered toward the left corner. A large wooden door was hidden in a nook, and he pushed it open.

  A wall of cold air rushed out, carrying along the scent of paper and leather and magic. Shining sparks drifted on the air as I followed him into the best part of the library.

  It was an enormous circular area, making the huge room we’d left behind look miniscule. We stepped out onto a platform in the middle of the ten-story space. The walls soared high above us and dropped down far below. The huge empty section in the middle allowed me to see all of the circular levels filled with books.

  Florian drifted onto the platform, sighing with contentment. “My domain.”

  It was much grayer and darker than the other library—but it was massive. And there was something hauntingly magical about it.

  Beams of light streamed down from the domed ceiling above, and dust motes glittered in the air. Shining golden balls of light floated near the ceiling.

  There were hundreds of nooks and crannies and different sections, all crammed with millions of books. I’d been here a couple times before, and it was still a maze my mind could
hardly comprehend.

  I walked toward the railing, realizing that no stairs had appeared to admit me to the rest of the library like they often did. Which meant there was no way to access the books. If I jumped over the railing, I’d plummet five stories to the huge mosaic map that made up the floor.

  No thanks.

  I turned to Florian. “Do I have to make a contribution?”

  He looked around. “It seems that the library demands it.”

  Dang. I chewed on my lip.

  In order to access this part of the library, one had to occasionally make an offering. The first time I’d been here, Bree and I had been in search of answers. In order to gain access and get those answers, we’d written down everything we knew about crossing Death Valley.

  The library had been pleased and traded us info for info.

  But this time? I’d already told the library all the good stuff I knew.

  What new thing could I contribute?

  Florian took his usual seat by the door to wait, and I walked toward the table at the side of the platform. It was piled high with empty books and magical pens. All I had to do was think of something that I alone knew, and then put magical pen to magical paper.

  And voila!

  Except….

  I was fresh out of original ideas. I fiddled with a pen as my gaze traced over the table, catching sight of a box. It was ornately carved and about as large as a takeout pizza.

  Muffin sat on top of the box, staring at me.

  “Where’d you come from?”

  Just being helpful.

  Mayhem, the winged pug, flew into the room. She made a beeline for Muffin but didn’t chase him. The Cat Sìth was much scarier than Mayhem anyway. Muffin jumped off the table to join Mayhem.

  Off to find some hams. He flicked his tail. Use your talents.

  Use my talents? I watched him trot away, then opened the box. An array of paints and brushes sat there.

  Was that new? I hadn’t seen this last time I’d been here.

  A flash of white near the corner of the desk caught my eye. I leaned over and looked. Canvasses.

  Clearly the library wanted me to paint it something. I had no idea what, but since I didn’t feel prepared to write a treatise on something, I picked up the canvas.

  This, at least, I understood.

  I propped it on the desk, picked up some paints, and squirted colors on the palette that had sat under the paint box. I chose red on instinct, putting a broad swath across the white canvas.

  Most of my painting was done this way, colors flowing out of me like words. I rarely had a plan—just followed what was in my soul. Ever since I’d been little, painting had fascinated me. You could make your own reality on the canvas. In a world that had been full of fear and hiding, that had been intoxicating.

  But we’d never had the money for supplies, or the time. I’d put my creativity into the buggy, which had provided our desperately needed living.

  As a result, the buggy was an incredible work of art, though some might mistake it for simple machinery.

  But it wasn’t painting.

  Something in this spoke to my soul in a different way.

  So I kept at it, imagining what the library might want. As I worked, magic began to flow through me. It started as a tingle in my stomach, then spread out to my limbs. Unmistakable, but also a bit foreign.

  It was the new magic.

  The prophecy or seeing or sight or whatever it was.

  The magic directed my hand, taking over instinct and melding the two together. I chose brown, slashing it on the canvass. Then a lighter beige, black, white. The painting that began to form was unlike anything I’d ever painted.

  I covered up the slashes of bright color, replacing them instead with a more realistic rendering of a trapdoor in the corner of the library. It was beaten and old, with the corner of a bright rug overtop of it.

  When I stepped back, finished, the strangest sensation came over me.

  That door was real. And it was somewhere in the library.

  “Finished?” Florian asked, his voice sleepy.

  I turned. As usual, he’d fallen asleep in his chair while waiting.

  He stood and came closer. His eyes widened. “What is this?”

  “I have no idea.” I set the paintbrush down. “I painted it, but magic directed my hand.” I could probably tell Florian about the prophecy power I was beginning to develop—we could trust the ghost.

  But old habits died hard.

  He leaned toward the painting and squinted. “That’s the southwest corner of the ghost library. Rarely used anymore. I didn’t realize there was a trapdoor under there.”

  “Did I find it?”

  “I suppose we’d have to check to see if it’s really there.” He stood upright, then pointed to the railing that separated the platform from the rest of the library.

  Magic swirled around it, and the railing disappeared, replaced with stairs leading down to the next level. “The library seems to agree that you’ve contributed something of value, though.”

  “Can we go check out that trapdoor? Like, now?” I needed to know. Had my power really found something that even Florian didn’t know existed?

  9

  “Let’s go!” Florian’s voice was tinged with excitement, and he rubbed his hands together. “An adventure! To find a secret passage.”

  I grinned and followed him down the stairs, around the lower level to the left. Occasionally, the ghostly form of Mayhem, the winged pug, appeared in the corner of my vision. She must already be done with the hams.

  “How are you able to say which part of this round room is the southwest corner? It has no corners.”

  “I guess, mostly.” He grinned. “It’s my domain. I do what I want.”

  Fair enough. He led me toward a set of bookshelves that looked just like the ones I’d painted. And there was the rug, though it was no longer as bright as it had once been. As I’d painted it in my picture.

  So had my power seen into the past as well?

  Weird.

  Florian bent down and flipped up the rug.

  It revealed only bare wooden floor.

  Shit.

  But relief followed. Was this good or bad, that my magic hadn’t been a real vision?

  Did that mean I was going insane?

  Florian frowned. “This can’t be right.”

  “No?”

  He knelt down and began knocking at the wooden floorboards, inspecting the edges of each piece of wood. As he worked, he hummed to himself.

  I got down on my knees, joining him. As I poked at the floorboards, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to find something or not.

  Then my fingertips slipped into a larger than normal crevice between the boards. The board jiggled. I pulled it up easily.

  “Florian.”

  He swung around from where he was kneeling, eyes brightening. “Now this is something!”

  We removed the board, which made it easy to pry up the next one and the next. Soon, we’d revealed a trapdoor, long ago covered over by a false floor.

  “Wow.” I looked up at Florian. “That’s cool.”

  “Indeed.” He pulled on the trap-door, but it was locked. He yanked harder, straining. His wig tipped to the side, going slightly askew.

  Mayhem appeared, little wings fluttering wildly to keep her chubby body aloft, and she pulled at the back of his coat, trying to help. Then Muffin appeared, joining the endeavor with Mayhem.

  I stifled a laugh. Their efforts weren’t doing much, so laughing out loud would just add salt to the wound.

  “Let me try.” Some ghosts could interact with the real world, but they weren’t always very strong. I replaced Florian, pulling on the metal ring on the trapdoor. Magic sparked against my hands, and the door held fast. “It’s enchanted.”

  Florian grinned. “That means there is something good down there!”

  I wondered if it had anything to do with the mystery I was trying to solve but doubted i
t. I’d painted the door, revealing it as my admittance price to the library, but I felt no pull toward it. Whatever was down there interested me, but I didn’t think it held answers to my most pressing problems.

  So unfortunately, it would have to wait.

  “I’ll come back to help with it later,” I said. “But right now, I really need to figure out where the thieves took the ancientus spell.”

  Florian nodded eagerly. “Indeed. That is a problem of the utmost importance.” He shook his head. “What’s happening to the people who are hunting it is terrible! To lose your magic.” He shuddered. “Unimaginable!”

  “Agreed.” My magic was only partially gone, and it felt awful. I stood, turning to the library. “I’m trying to identify an ancient place, one torn down by heat and the rage of nature. An ancient place of conquerors and villains that has grown again.” Mordaca’s words came to me naturally. “And I think it’s in Italy.”

  Caro’s clue.

  The magic in my comms charm crackled, and I touched the metal with my fingertips.

  “Ana?” Bree’s voice whispered out. “Another team found a clue. The name Abbondanza. No one knows who that is, though.”

  “Thank you, Bree,” I said.

  “One more thing,” she said. “Another team found a group of demons wearing the silver circle tattoo. That makes at least five us to find them. We think that there are bases of operation all over the world.”

  And we were all working together to find the answer. Competing to find the spell and win the prize, but together, we were finding the clues to solve this.

  I smiled. This was my kind of place.

  It fueled my determination to find the answer.

  “Good luck,” Bree whispered.

  “That name sounds Roman,” Florian said.

  “It does, doesn’t it? But Rome…” I felt nothing when I thought of Rome. Even though it was the conqueror’s city, was it the one I sought?

  Florian cleared his throat. “Dearest library. Could you help our guest?”

  Nothing happened at first. Then a light glowed across the great open space in the middle of the room. It was two levels down, close to the bottom.

  “Let’s go!” Florian hurried off, a skip in his step.

  I followed, my heart thundering as we neared the glowing light. A sense of excitement filled me. Of knowing.