“I will.”
Billy and Jason left and Suzie sat down on her bed. She closed her eyes but couldn’t sleep. Reaching over, she pulled out her Theory book.
Turning to the index, she searched for information on boskery. Who came up with such a painful game? Skimming past the rules, she looked for more about the boskery blade. A metal designed to cause pain and temporary paralysis. She cross-checked under “metal” but didn’t find anything new. Her eye went up the page to “’Mental, see Elemental.” She flipped to the section on Elementals.
She found less than she wanted, and nothing on why they were servants, but a lot of information about their abilities. The first Elementals developed the ability to manipulate elements with their minds. Today, Elementals controlled things from animals to colors on a painted wall. Each had a different ability, but according to the book, their powers were outlawed in the College.
Maybe Billy was right. Maybe the Deaths kept ’Mentals as servants out of fear. But why did the ’Mentals go along?
While Suzie read, she heard a knock on the door.
She rose and opened it.
“You embarrassed my brother,” said Luc. He glared at her from the hall. A tall man stood behind him; a large hood covered the stranger’s face.
“Luc? What do you want?”
“I want you to suffer,” he replied. “No one makes a fool of Francois. We’re the only pair of brothers in this damned world. Our parents were devastated when he went missing. He was even worse when he saw me here. Now we stick up for each other.”
“Frenchie attacked
me
. I skipped class because I’m in too much pain.”
“You made him look weak,” replied Luc, his eyes narrowing. “He hates that. What are you, anyway? A girl. A true weakling. A pathetic excuse for—”
“Stop. I’m sick of your taunts. Grow up.”
“My brother was right about you. We might be the only brothers, but you’re worse. You don’t belong here at all.”
She wanted to shove him into the wall and slam the door but the tall hooded man stepped forward.
“It’s time you met my friend,” said Luc. “Francois found him, but never had the opportunity to try him out.”
“What are you talking about?”
The man pulled back his hood. His eyes glowed blood-red, and his skin was whiter than bone. His ears pointed on either end. The albino was perfectly white, especially next to Luc’s black skin.
“He doesn’t talk much. He don’t need to.” Luc took a step backward and the albino opened his mouth.
The world vanished for a moment. When the room stopped spinning, the albino and Luc were gone. An enormous white wolf with blood-red eyes snarled at her. Suzie screamed.
The walls closed in and the wolf pounced. She ran.
Her body still ached with pain, but her heart thundered in her chest, pounding with complete fear. The wolf howled and another white wolf appeared, with the same blood-red eyes. She sprinted away.
She didn’t remember going outside, but the walls were trees. The trees grew dense, a forest closing in. She ran and ran, faster and faster. The wolves howled behind her. More white wolves lurked ahead.
Wolves everywhere. Far behind her, she heard Luc laughing.
One of the bone-white wolves snarled and leapt for her throat. She fell back and rolled. The wolf turned toward her and vanished.
A massive white cobra with blood-red eyes hissed at her. She scrambled to her feet and ran again. Panting hard, her legs in agony, she couldn’t think. Her only emotion was fear. Fear surged through her body, giving fleeting strength to her aching legs.
The ground opened and she fell. Down and down until she landed hard on something moving. Spiders. Thousands of bone-white spiders with tiny red eyes. Crawling. She screamed until the sound caught in her throat.
The cobra re-emerged, hissing.
Suddenly she understood. The cobra hissed at her again, its red eyes glaring at her.
“You’re a ’Mental, aren’t you?” she asked the giant snake.
Luc yelled something behind her. The snake vanished.
For a strange moment, the world cleared. Suzie looked around. The Ring of Scythes surrounding the College stood in the distance. She had run away from the school and collapsed in a field. Behind her, a real forest loomed.
“Not me, you imbecile,
her
.” screamed Luc. His dark face tightened, and he yelled at some invisible threat. The albino man, the ’Mental, stood near him. Luc yelled in terror and ran back toward the College.
The albino turned toward Suzie.
At once all sensation was gone. This time she didn’t see wolves, snakes, pits, or spiders. This time, she saw nothing.
The attack was swift and precise, cutting her deeper than a scythe.
Fear.
Pure, unfettered fear. Fear deeper than terror, darker than nightmares. Fear filled with horrors, too terrible to deny.
Fear swept through every cell in her body.
Suzie tried to fight. She tried to scream. Finally, she started to run again. She ran into the forest, tripping over roots. The albino followed her, and the forest darkened.
Crows cawed at her. If she turned, they’d attack. The trees reached down to grab her, but Suzie ran until she reached the other side of the woods. She collapsed.
Deep in the forest, far behind her, someone was crying.
* * * *
Suzie didn’t move. She didn’t open her eyes. Trying not to breathe, she waited.
The world quieted. Suzie sensed a change in the air, and the menace faded. The albino was still in the woods. He hadn’t followed. But where was
she
?
The sun was high, probably near noon. She looked around. The forest stretched behind her. A path led away, and the gnarled silhouette of West Tower writhed in the distance. She wouldn’t have to go back through the forest. The path extended toward more woods in the other direction. Near her feet, gnarled tree trunks crept out of the dirt, wrapping around a ruin. Suzie walked to the building.
A house, or what was once a house, lay hidden in the overgrowth. It seemed ancient, far older than the College buildings. The door stood ajar.
“Hello?” she said in a voice scarcely louder than a whisper. A tinge of fear crept into the back of her mind. She had to hide, in case he was still trying to find her. She walked through the door.
Dust and cobwebs covered the walls. Parts of the floor looked clean; the wind had blown the hardwood bare. A movement made her freeze. She held her breath as a tiny mouse scampered across one of the patches of light streaming from the windows. The mouse wasn’t bone-white, it was brown. She exhaled slowly.
Large bookcases lined the walls. Ancient-looking volumes with torn but colorful spines filled the bookcases, adding color to an otherwise bleak room. One of the bookcases jutted away from the wall in an unnatural angle.
She heard something far behind her. Was the albino still looking for her? Was Luc back? She walked to the angled bookcase and it swung forward. Expecting a secret passage, she was surprised to find a wall with two large words “Librvm Exelcior” in gold writing. She touched the letters and her hand sank into the wall. She pulled her hand back.
Trying again, she touched the letters, and her hand passed through them. She took a deep breath and stepped through the wall. Behind her, the bookcase slammed shut. She turned and peered back. She saw straight through the wall and over the books of the bookcase. One book with a red cover leaned toward her, while the others leaned away. She reached through the strange wall and pulled on the red book. The bookcase swung open. She stepped out into the room. Suzie pulled on the same book and walked through the wall again, closing the bookcase behind her.
Behind the wall, a staircase led downward. A thick layer of dust covered the walls and stairs; she couldn’t stop coughing. White flowers on either side of her lit up with a faded light, as if they hadn’t illuminated for many years. Dust and cobwebs covered each flower, muting the dim light even more. She walked down the spiral stairs, holding her sleeve over her mouth.
At the base of the stairs, she came to a large open room with a vaulted ceiling. The room must have been beneath the house, and was older than anything she’d seen since she fell into the ruins on Widow’s Peak. Strange paintings on the walls of the chamber reminded her of the pictures of Dragons and Lovethar, though these were paintings of Deaths. More white flower-lights, each covered in dust, struggled to light the room.
Stacks of books covered the floors and lay in heaps. Some old bookcases leaned against the far walls, but most had fallen over.
“It’s an ancient library,” she said to herself. Books were everywhere, many torn. Loose pages crumpled under her feet. To her left were scrolls, like the one she had signed. Behind piles of books to her right, she found heaps of stones covered in strange runes. Stones, scrolls, and books lay in pieces on the dusty floor. Many of the books had scorch marks.
“Someone tried to destroy this place,” she said. Her voice echoed in the chamber and something screeched back. She ducked when two bats flew toward her, landing somewhere in the dome above.
She’d found an ancient library, but why here? Why put a library outside the College, beneath an old abandoned house? And what had happened here?
Suzie pulled a scroll from one of the piles. The smeared writing was in a language she couldn’t read. She tossed the scroll back and reached for a book. When she opened it, the binding snapped and pages scattered onto the floor. She started to pick them up but stopped herself. No one had been here in years, if not centuries. What did it matter?
She glanced at one of the fallen pages, and read a list of names followed by dates. It meant nothing to her. She let the page fall and made her way across the paper-covered floor. She lifted a piece of carved rock. An image of a Dragon’s wing covered one edge, with flame images visible on the other side. She put the rock aside and lifted another piece of stone. This one showed Deaths in a boat, holding scythes. Floating above them was an image of a key. She peered closer. The Deaths were crudely drawn stick figures; a child could have etched them. Yet the key above them was intricate and covered with tiny curves and filigree. A hint of color stained the rock around the key as well.
She put the stone down and glanced at a large stone lying in the floor. She saw another picture of the war between Deaths and Dragons. Deaths stood on one side with Dragons on the other, and flames in the middle. She started to turn away when she noticed something drawn in the middle of the flames. She walked up and rubbed away the dust. An intricate key, identical to the one on the other stone, had been carved in the midst of the flames and the battle. Odd.
She looked through books and stones until her stomach growled. She needed food. The albino must be gone by now. She turned and walked back toward the stairs. She would have to come back to this strange library sometime. Maybe she’d show Billy and Frank. Maybe.
Suzie walked over loose papers and started to wonder. Maybe she shouldn’t show this place to anyone. Luc had found where she lived. He’d attacked her in her home, a place she was supposed to be safe. But where could she go in the College? Sindril had claimed he’d help her, but had done nothing. They distrusted her. Billy, Frank, and Jason were friends, but they were still boys. They’d never completely understand.
Now here was a place only she knew about. A place filled with forgotten books, forgotten stories. A hidden place. Suzie smiled as she climbed up the stairs. She took a last look back at the library. At
her
library.
When she reached the top of the spiral stairs, Suzie stopped to catch her breath in the tight, dusty air.
“No, they will never suspect.”
Suzie froze.
“Yes, yes my lords, of course.”
The voice came from the other side of the wall. She peered through the wall, over the books of the bookcase. She prayed it wasn’t the albino.
“She is here now. As you requested, the girl is a Death at the College.”
Suzie almost fell backward. Girl? They were talking about her. She peered over the books again but couldn’t see anything. The room on the other side was empty. The open door, the dusty bookcases, and nothing else.
“What of the girl herself? Do you need her alive, or just the body?”
Suzie’s heart skipped a beat. What were they saying?
“She’s been attacked already,” said the voice. “But I will try to keep her safe. You will have her for yourselves.”
No, this is wrong. Someone wanted to hurt her. Maybe even kill her.
“I will deliver the girl as promised. It will be ours soon.”
Suzie started to back up as she heard a faint grumbling. Someone was answering the voice, but she couldn’t make out the words. Should she hide in the library? Who was speaking? The voice sounded familiar.
“I understand,” said the voice. Something moved between two of the bookcases. A curtain pulled back and a Death strode into the room. He glanced around, and Suzie held her breath. The face looked around the room. She gasped when she recognized him. Couldn't he see her? The Death pulled his robe close and hid under his black hood.
Headmaster Sindril turned and left the house.
Suzie didn’t move for what felt like an hour. She stayed behind the bookcase, looking through the wall into the open room. She expected Sindril to return, or someone to come from the curtain. If they came now, she’d be trapped. She had to get out before they found her.
After she couldn’t wait any more, Suzie pulled the red book. The bookcase slid open and she sprinted through the wall, out the front door, and toward the College.
She skirted the woods, still running. Fear ebbed into the back of her mind, but was it the albino or her fear of being found? Should she be afraid? Sindril had offered to help her.
Panting, she passed the dark, twisted trees. She saw the Ring of Scythes far in the distance. Yes, Sindril had offered to help her, but Sindril had been acting as Headmaster in the College. The man she had watched was terrified. He had been wearing a black robe, probably hiding, hoping people didn’t recognize him. Suzie leapt from theory to theory, her mind filled with dark plots and conspiracies. What was going on?