Scarlet and the Keepers of Light (23 page)

“I don’t care how cranky that dragon ends up being,” she said sternly at last, brushing away her tears with determination and setting her hand lovingly on Charles’s chest. “You get him to agree. You get him to help us get to Scarlet.”

“I will, darling.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t mention that you’re a firefighter, though,” Allie said, managing a smile. “Him being a dragon and all.”

“I was hoping that might work to my advantage. Put some fear into him.” Charles smiled back at her, and they both chuckled nervously and embraced one last time.

***

Xavier was waiting in the entrance hall, wearing a heavy pack and carrying a staff much like the one he’d given Scarlet. He and Charles had both put on new spider’s-silk traveling clothes.

“Are you ready, Charles?” Xavier looked as determined as Charles had ever seen him, the aged, wizened professor giving way to the ancient warrior.

Charles took one last deep breath of the peaceful air of Illuminora, and looked around one more time. He would find Scarlet. He would find her and bring her home.

“Let’s go meet a dragon,” he said. And perhaps for the first time since he’d arrived in the land of Satorium, such words did not sound at all strange coming from his lips.

29

Hulpric’s Book

Scarlet opened her eyes to soft candlelight. She wiped the sleep from her eyes, and waited for them to adjust to the dim light before looking around. She was in a small room that had been used for private study and reading in the days when the Thomas Jefferson Building was just a library, Ms. Thandiwe had told her. She felt hungry, and a little woozy. In a stiff wooden chair nearby, Delfi was propped up, sleeping with his head in his hands. His chestnut hair was a mess, standing up at weird angles all over his head, and even though he was asleep at that moment, he had the look of someone who had not slept in days.

“You’re going to get a horrible crick in your neck,” she said, waking Delfi, whose head slipped from his hands as he woke with a jolt.

“You’re awake!” Delfi exclaimed. “You—you woke up! Just a second—wait just a second.”

Delfi got up and opened the glass door to the tiny room. Scarlet could hear him yelling so loudly that everyone in the library must have heard him.

“How long have I been asleep?” Scarlet asked. She raised herself into a sitting position, her muscles feeling a bit stiff from lack of use.

“Two weeks,” Delfi answered, the smile on his face so broad it seemed it might wrap around the side of his head.

“Two weeks!”

“Dakota was afraid you might not wake up at all,” Delfi said, frowning. The memory was a painful one.

“Dakota’s alive?” Scarlet exclaimed. “And Brennan?”

“You saved them both. It was amazing. Never seen anything quite so powerful, not even from Xavier. Dakota said it was foolish to risk your life, but I expect he’s gonna be proud all the same.” Delfi’s smile returned as quickly as it had vanished.

Just then Brennan, Dakota, and Ms. Thandiwe rushed into the room. They were all jammed in like sardines. Dakota wedged his way to where she lay.

“You silly girl,” he barked. “You risked the fate of the entire world just to save us? Do you have any idea what could have happened to you?”

Scarlet just smiled back. Despite the sternness in his voice, she could see the tenderness in his deep blue eyes. Besides, it was best just to let him get the fear and frustration off his chest. After all, he’d been waiting two weeks.

Dakota softened a little. “What you did was . . . very brave. Thinking about it now, I probably should have locked you in a closet. I don’t know why I expected anything different from you. You wouldn’t . . . well, you wouldn’t be you if you hadn’t.”

Brennan leaned down toward Scarlet. “Thank you.” His face and arms still bore the marks of the horrific battle he had fought. Looking at his wounds, Scarlet guessed that he’d carry some of those scars for the rest of his life.

***

After another night’s rest, Scarlet felt well enough to leave her makeshift hospital room and venture out into the rest of the library. Delfi had been busy. Some of the trees Scarlet had called forth to block the tunnels were fruit-bearing. Delfi had added spheres of light to the darkened spaces, and the enchanted trees had responded with a steady supply of apples, pears, and figs. He’d also exposed fresh earth by breaking up some of the tunnel floors, and there was talk of finding seeds and growing vegetables.

Scarlet gathered her father’s pack, removed the green satin bag containing the seeds she’d saved when she sowed the dwarves’ field, and went to find Delfi. She found him in the Madison tunnel, looking over a pear tree and making sure his sphere of light gave it enough energy to bear fruit.

“Pretty brilliant,” she said, sneaking up behind him.

Delfi jumped, spun around, and then laughed when he saw Scarlet. “Yep, you are.”

“Me, I didn’t even have a clue what kind of trees I was calling up. Giving them light and harvesting the fruit—now
that’s
brilliant.”

“Hungry is more like it.” Delfi grinned.

Scarlet picked one of the pears and bit into it. It was perfectly ripe and extremely juicy. “Oh, these are for you,” she said, handing Delfi the bag.

“What are they?” he asked, answering his own question as he looked into the bag. “What kind of seeds are they?”

“I don’t know. Xavier gave them to me, and I gave most to the dwarves. They sprouted into all sorts of stuff in their field. Some of it’s what they used to save you.”

“I can’t believe you thought to save some. This is going to be amazing.” Delfi bent down and dropped a few into the freshly cultivated soil.

“So what happened after?”

Delfi laughed. “After you sent out the lightie wonder ball, you mean?”

“Lightie wonder ball?”

“It’s what the little ones call it. I think it sounds pretty menacing, so I like to use it. It’s become its official title.” Delfi smirked. “As I was saying, after you conjured up the lightie wonder ball, it radiated into the army outside. They were all repelled—or anyway, just somehow disappeared. Funny thing was, Brennan and Dakota made their way back to the library, but there was no one to ask the trees to stand aside. They had to go to a back entrance and hack their way through. Took them the whole night.”

“Oh no,” Scarlet exclaimed. “No wonder he’s mad at me.”

“He’s not mad.” Delfi raised his eyebrows. “He was so worried about you. It was killing him not to be able to get to you.”

He took her hand. “Come on, I want to show you something.”

“Oh, Delfi,” Scarlet cried, suddenly realizing what had been bothering her. “Your wings!” They were completely gone.

“What, those?” Delfi craned his neck to try and look at his back. “Don’t worry about it. It’s a relief to have them finally gone, all tattered and hanging down like they were. A bit uncomfortable. Besides, I’ve got something to show you.” He tugged on her arm, nearly hopping up and down in his eagerness.

Scarlet followed, giggling, as Delfi led her up to the second floor and walked her around to the window where she had watched Brennan and Dakota fighting. The small opening in the roots was still there outside the window.

“I should probably close that,” Scarlet remarked.

“Not necessarily. Take a look.” Delfi pointed.

Scarlet peered through the hole in the vines and gasped. Like a colossal bell jar set down over the library, filled with a golden radiance, the dome of light she’d created shone steadily, cheerfully.

“Mortada and tiranthropes have been trying to get past it for days, sending out dark magic spells or charging it. They haven’t gotten anywhere. The incruetati have tried from the air as well. Same thing.”

“I don’t understand. How could I possibly . . . I would still have to be concentrating to maintain something that big. I wouldn’t have the energy.”

“I figure it’s like when the craftsmen in Illuminora make those toys. They make them out of light, and they are permanent. They don’t have to think about them anymore—they just are what they are. You’ve done the same thing, only with an enormous burst of light energy. Never heard of anything like it—but after all, you
are
the For Tol Don.”

Scarlet smiled, and then sighed. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

***

After lunch—at which, thanks to Delfi’s horticultural activities and to Brennan, who’d found tables and cleared a space for a proper dining room, they ate fresh food, seated like a family—the children were allowed to play outside, sheltered by Scarlet’s dome of light, for the first time in their lives. She asked the trees and vines to draw away from the doors, and with timid steps at first, then running full tilt, the children poured out of the building and onto the grassy lawns surrounding the library, shouting with joy.

To the immense surprise of everyone who knew him, Dakota let some of the younger children climb onto his back, where they held tight, some wide-eyed as he carefully walked around the lawn, some of the braver ones giggling madly as he galumphed about like a big puppy. It was a golden moment of peace and merriment. Scarlet lay on the grass, watching them. When had she last felt so content, so carefree? Surely this had been one of the best days of her life, she thought as the children filed back into the library, tired but contented. If only the rest of her family had been there with her, she could have asked for nothing more.

She’d grown up so much since that fateful day when her father brought home the skinny puppy with the big paws and the deep blue eyes. Sometimes she felt like an entirely different person, like the heroine of the legend, even, but others she still felt like an awkward schoolgirl. It was hard to imagine that once life had been so simple.

S
he thought about the stories she used to write. Now she knew that it was Satorium in those stories, Satorium she had been dreaming of. It must all have been part of the prophecy; somehow Satorium—Xavier, perhaps—had been calling to her through the barrier. She had never told him about her dreams or her writing, and she now wished that she had. It wasn’t only that he might know what they should do next; she just wished that he were here, so she could ask some of the million questions they hadn’t had time for before.

She stood up to head back inside too, but then stopped, her head tipped back as she looked up at the Library of Congress. In the enchanted light the building seemed almost translucent, glowing from within. It was as beautiful as it had ever been, yet utterly changed. In this fortress of enchanted living wood and earthly stone, the two worlds seemed joined as one.

***

That evening Dakota, Brennan, Delfi, and Scarlet met in what had once been a conference room to discuss their next move. They had a secure base from which to plan now, and the children and Ms. Thandiwe were safe. Now they had to find a way to complete Scarlet’s education, and to anticipate Xavier’s and Prince Thanerbos’s next moves so they could either help or thwart them.

“Is there a way Scarlet could learn any of what she needs to know here, in this world?” Delfi asked.

Looking at Delfi standing with the rest of her friends, his face so grave, Scarlet thought that he had also grown up a lot in the short time she’d known him. She felt a deep gratitude that he had risked so much to be with her.

“I don’t know. I’ve never heard of any magic on this side. I wouldn’t even know where to begin. In Satorium it was always clear who to ask for help, and where to go.” Dakota’s forehead wrinkled as he thought. “Can you think of any legends or stories in this world that could really be true?
”

“Sure, loads,” Scarlet answered. “Greek mythology, the Nordic sagas, the legends around Christmas, fairy tales—even some great works of literature are about imaginary worlds, and magic. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, even Shakespeare,” she said, thinking about Ms. Thandiwe.

“That may be worth researching,” Delfi added. “We
are
in a library, after all.”

“Or we could find a way to get back to Satorium,” Dakota said, looking doubtful. “I just don’t know how we could do that without—”

But he never finished the thought. Just then a small boy, maybe eight years old, burst into the conference room. “Scarlet, Scarlet, you have to come quick!”

“What’s wrong, young one?” Dakota barked.

“It’s in the rare books part of the library. We were playing, and—you just have to come look!”

The group got up and followed the boy to the rare books room, where Thomas Jefferson’s personal books, among other treasures, were kept. The boy pointed up at one of the bookshelves, nearly hopping up and down in his excitement. “I’ve played in here loads of times, and that’s never been like that before.”

High up on the shelf, a book was glowing softly.

A little gingerly, Brennan reached to get the leather-bound volume down, handing it over to Scarlet at once. It looked familiar, somehow. Opening it reverently, she watched in amazement as the letters and the lines of the woodcut pictures rose off the page like a flock of tiny black birds, spiraling in the air and then settling back down on the page to create new images and stories. At one of the new pictures, Scarlet’s breath caught in her throat. There were words below the image. She began to read.

In the land of Satorium, in the Northern Woodlands, beneath a great oak tree, lies the village of Illuminora, the home of the Tounder, the Keepers of Light . . .

Again the letters rose in a swirling cloud, and again they settled on the page like blackbirds on a field.

And from humanity will rise a great sorceress, and the people will call her the For Tol Don. She will stand against the dark one, for only she can match his power. And though she may doubt herself, though she may struggle through fear and disbelief, she will find the magic within . . .

The End

The adventure continues in the second book of the Scarlet Hopewell series . . .