I roamed the Tower for the next two days, bored out of my skull. I stole numerous small, powerful objects that no one would miss.
Then I discovered the Library.
I browsed for maybe five minutes before I got bored and picked the lock so I could sneak into the part of the Library that held the more powerful books - and quite obviously, wasn't supposed to be entered. Oh, well.
There were corridors, small rooms, circular rooms. In one, I discovered a Venus fly trap that tried to bite my head off. I wasted a throwing star on it and ran away, yelling softly, "Run away! Run away!"
There was a coffin in one of those rooms. I couldn't read what was written on it, so I found Allison and brought her to it. "It's the language of magic," she said, running her fingers over the runes. "Here lies Mura-ii, Daughter of Lhye, Head Mage of Naeco. May her spirit find rest from the darkness that consumed her." Allison shuddered. "There's also a curse."
"You know, a few years ago this would have seemed really strange to me..."
After that, we just walked straight down the main corridor, ignoring the interesting and possibly fatal rooms we passed. Eventually, we got to a door made of some dark metal. It took us both to drag it open.
The forbidden part of the Library was larger than the public-access part. I found a book made of metal and set my skills to opening it, while Amanda looked at books. It wasn't an easy lock to open, because it wasn't normal. There was a keyhole, surely enough, but it was in the center of the cover and irregularly shaped.
"These are all about resurrection," Allison said, surprised. "Apparently, necromancers can bring the dead back to life."
"Duh," I grunted, poking at the lock. "What'd you think a necromancer does? Necro does mean dead, you know."
"I know, but I thought they killed people."
I set the book upright and kicked it. All I managed to do was knock the book over and hurt myself. Allison peered closer at the titles as I looked around the library. She selected a book, flipped it to a random page, and gasped. "Well, that's a graphic illustration," she said, sticking the book back on the shelf. "What have you got there, Jared?"
"Just this stupid book," I snapped, hitting it and wincing as pain shot through my hand. Allison came over to stand beside me. She stared at the runes.
"It's called The Book of Lost Arts," she said. "There's a list of lost arts, too. Why is necromancy one? That can't be lost if there's all this about it."
I glared at the book. "We're going to find that key," I snapped. "I'll bet it's in one of those other rooms."
We recruited Shannon and Mary to help us out. Meg refused to go anywhere near us, hovering near Kitana, who could barely walk unaided after destroying all the demons. Ashton threatened to do violence upon us if we broke something, but declined to come and supervise, preferring to continue with her shapeshifting lessons.
So the four of us slipped back into the Library on the morning of the third day free of war.
The librarians watched us with dark, suspicious eyes. We strode nonchalantly to the back of the Library and started looking at books. As soon as we judged it was safe, we went through the door.
We skipped over the room with the coffin as well as the one with the Venus fly trap. The next one was locked, so I pulled out my trusty set of lockpicks.
Mary raised her eyebrows. "Where did you get those?"
I grinned wickedly. "Maybe I stole them."
"Jared..."
I prodded at the lock until it clicked open, and we filed into the dark room beyond. Shannon fumbled with a match, pulled out a little candle, and lit it.
This room was filled with cobwebs and dusty old suits of armor. We moved in, candle held high. I spotted a torch near the door, got it down, and held it near the candle until it flared up.
Mary touched a sword hanging on the wall and knocked it to the floor. We all jumped when it crashed to the floor.
"You idiot," I hissed. "They'll hear us. We're not that far from the Library."
We moved on, my torch held high. After the armor came swords, axes. There were some very interesting implements that I borrowed - just to help me kill Asjanel. After all the weapons, we found gold, which we wisely didn't touch. Probably cursed.
On the far wall was a door. I opened it, winced at the loud creaking. In the light of the torch, I saw stairs leading down. I shut the door again.
"Who knows what the mages keep down there," I muttered.
Then I saw the keys.
Thousands and thousands of keys hung on the wall near the door. I blinked as they glittered. "We're never going to find it, are we?"
We searched for two hours, but none of the keys looked like they'd fit The Book of Lost Arts. Eventually, I gave up. Leaving the others to sort through the keys, I went back over to the door.
That was when I noticed the rough carvings on the doorframe. "Allison," I called.
She came over at once. I pointed to the inscription, and she translated immediately. "He who disturbs this door will awaken horror that could bring about the end of the world. Below lie the Tombs of Neker-vu-Ianlaie and the resting place of the unbound." She paused, dragged over a cobwebby stool, and started reading at the top of the doorframe. "Also here you will find the Key and the sacrificial room." She got down, tilted her head, and finished, "May a curse be upon those who pass through here, for they will surely destroy much that has been, and awaken much that should remain forgotten."
"Doesn't sound happy," Shannon muttered.
Mary shivered. "You opened the door, Jared."
"Yeah, I kinda noticed that myself." Then I noticed something. I bent forward and examined the keyhole. "I think...I think the key for the book is the same key for this door."
We were silent for a moment, pondering that. Then I realized something.
"Okay, if they locked the book, why wasn't this door locked?"
"Something's been in there," Allison whispered, backing away. "Something opened that door..."
We ran like hell, ran for our lives.
*Allison*
I didn't sleep much that night. Whenever I tried, I had nightmares about the Door...and what might lie behind it.
There was something I had read on the doorframe that I hadn't spoken aloud. Something that kept me awake, screaming inside with horror.
At the end were two simple words. Chylaj keminori.
Those two words described a powerful curse. Two words said whole volumes.
Chylaj keminori. Roughly translated, eternal torment. But in their original language, they said even more. That was just the name of the curse, but when I read those words, I understood what would happen if we were foolish enough to go through the Door. And I knew I couldn't. I could never, ever pass through that door. Not ever.
Finally, I just got out of bed and left our room to wander the halls. The Tower was bigger than I thought it was, and I soon found myself lost. Eventually, I just sat down in front of a closed door, worn out.
Somehow, I ended up in the perfect position to hear what was spoken inside - spoken in the language of the Plains.
"My daughter is here, then?" Asjanel! I attempted to scramble to my feet, failed, and sat down again, listening hard.
"Yes, Master," a woman I didn't know said. "Kyretholle brought them here."
I blinked, hard. Was something wrong with my ears? Kyretholle was Asjanel's daughter?
"And has the Door been opened?"
I could hear the smirk in her voice. "Yes, and I have the key. Even should they wish to, once we have the Head Mage in our grasp, they won't be able to get past the Door."
I shook my head desperately. "No, no, no," I whispered as the pieces fell into place. Asjanel was here. The Door was open. And they would kidnap Camryn and we would never find her, because who would know?
I knew. I knew and I could get Jared to steal the key or something. Or wait at the Door to assassinate Asjanel. But what if he got past us? Then we would have to go through the Door and I couldn't, I couldn't pass the threshold because bad things would happen...
Maybe Mary would understand. She would get me out of it.
Needless to say, Mary wasn't very happy when I woke her up. She said something that came out as, "Uh, wha?"
"Get up," I whimpered urgently.
She sat up, rubbed at her eyes. "Whaddya want?"
"Asjanel is here. He's going to kidnap Camryn."
"Izzy really?"
"Yes! They have the key, they're going past the Door..."
"Whadoor?"
"The Door! You know, the door, the door in the armory!"
"Oh, thadoor." She yawned. "Get Jared to killim."
"What?"
"Get. Jared. To. Killim."
"I'm sorry, I didn't quite understand that last word there."
"Killim!" she shrieked, in as much of a shriek as a half-asleep girl can manage. Dakota jumped off of Jared's bed, stared at us, and padded out the door that I had left open.
"Oh, you want to kill him?" I grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "Mary, how can you not get it? He wants to kill our friend, and all you say is let Jared kill him? Why don't you do something? You're the damn general!"
Her forehead wrinkled up as she struggled to think through a haze of exhaustion. "If you know, why don't you do something?" she asked finally.
I bit my lip and sat down on the edge of her bed. "Because I'm afraid."
"Of Asjanel?"
"Of what's behind that Door."
We sat in silence for a few minutes until Mary was awake enough to note, "How did he get here? Ashton told me the bridges were destroyed.
"Hello? If his daughter has a plane, he probably does too."
"His what?"
"Well, I heard that Kyretholle is his daughter. I think. It was in the Plains language."
Mary blinked. "Oh...well, that complicates everything. Somehow, I don't think she'd want us to kill her father."
"How do you know? Maybe she hates him."
"No one hates their father, Ally, get real."
"You need a dose of reality, Josie."
We both whipped our heads around to stare at Camryn, who had appeared in the doorway. It was the first time I'd seen her since we'd arrived, except for that day on the roof. She was different. She looked as if she'd aged several years. Her skin was very pale, her hair wavy instead of straight as it had once been. She'd lost the glasses somewhere along the line. When I thought about it, I discovered that she hadn't had glasses since she'd become Head Mage.
"What?" Mary asked.
Camryn stared at her, blue eyes cruel. "Most people hate their parents," she said. "Lord knows I did, when I had parents."
"You still do," I murmured.
"Not here, I don't. They're on Earth. That's no longer my home, and they're no longer my parents." She turned away. Her voice choked with buried sobs, she said, "They never supported my writing - never. My writing is my life. My writing is my life, dammit! They never cared about my life or anything - just that I got good grades and turned in my homework and did something with my life. They couldn't see that I was doing something with it. They didn't get it. They didn't get me. I'm not a fool. No way I'm changing for them."
"That doesn't mean you hate them," Mary cried. "You can't hate your parents."
She laughed bitterly. "Do you know what hatred is?"
I couldn't help it. "Hatred. Prejudiced hostility or animosity. See hate, an intense hostility and aversion usually deriving from fear, anger, or a sense of injury."
"That's it exactly." And she left, her robes fluttering around her ankles. We watched her go, startled.
"Why do I get the feeling she's not the same person we knew on Earth?" Jared asked. I glanced at her and saw that Shannon and Ashton were also awake.
"That's the same Camryn, all right," Ashton said, looking relieved. "That's her. That's who I knew."
"That's not who I knew," Shannon said. "Her parents are awesome."
"Um, hello? You're a classmate. You knew them when they took the two of you to the mall. I lived - I live - next door. I think I'd know her parents better than you do."
None of us got any more sleep. I kept hearing snatches of conversation in my head - the Door, Asjanel - but I didn't say anything.
I was still afraid.
*Shannon*
We were all silent the next day, disturbed and frightened by what we'd heard and seen last night. Imarath offered to give me fencing lessons, but I declined with a polite shake of my head.
I went to the Library instead, to read a book. Generally, I don't read much, but I felt like being alone. Almost all the books were in some other language, though, so I left, frustrated.
My wanderings soon led me back to the Library. I loitered until the librarian on duty looked away, and then slipped through the door and into the restricted-access section.
I was drawn like a fly to the Door and stood there, tugging on it. Suddenly, someone tapped me on the shoulder. "I think you need a key to open that..."
"Hi, Meg," I said. I waved at the thousands of keys. "Show me which one, then."
"This one." She produced a strange key with jagged edges and a sharp point. "I bet you could stab someone with it."
"Yeah," I muttered.
"Um, Shannon?"
"Yeah?"
She struggled for a minute, then sighed. "Nothing. It's...nothing."
"Uh-huh."
I slid the key into the lock and felt it click. I turned it to the right and pulled on it. The door creaked open, so I tried to yank the key out. It wouldn't come until Meg reached past me and pressed a hidden button on the door. The key slid out easily.
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
Meg looked at my torch, then went back to get another one. Together, we descended the stairway. She stayed behind me, a fact I took no notice of.
We emerged into a large room filled with coffins. "The Tombs of Neker-vu-Ianlaie," Meg whispered.
The stench of death was unbearable. I pulled my shirt up to cover my nose and walked rapidly on, trying to ignore the smell. Meg stayed behind me until we reached a door made of gold. I tugged it open and we passed through.
From there, I didn't see much except cobwebs. Meg's soft voice gave me directions until finally we emerged into another room.
The room was oval in shape, with a ceiling roughly three times my height. The only other exit was a black metal door at the opposite end of the chamber. In the center of the room was a long stone table, with spikes jutting out of either end. Tied to those spikes were assorted ropes that dangled limply. The room was lit by several torches, casting eerie shadows. I figured out after a moment that this was the sacrificial room Allison had spoken of. The sacrifice was probably going to be tied to the table, and then...
I finally looked back and saw that there was a niche in the wall. Standing in that niche were the last people I expected to see - Hedaris and Amidan.
"Get out!" Hedaris cried. "Get out, my Lady! There is danger here!"
"Indeed," a cold, too-familiar voice said. A scrawny old man in animal skins stepped out of the shadows, smirking at me.
"Asjanel," I squeaked. I reached into my pocket and pulled out six throwing stars.
"I don't quite think so," Meg said, grabbing my wrist and removing the stars from my hand. She shoved me against the wall, smirking. "You shouldn't have come to the Library, my Lady. There is much danger here."
"You're...working for him?" I asked, my hand going to my knife. I felt a slight surge and the stars flew from Meg's hand and at me. I didn't scream, even when the stars caught in my clothes and pinned me to the wall.
"Isn't this lovely," Asjanel drawled. "The prince, the princess, the prophet, and the noble lady. And, of course, my apprentice and my trustworthy servant."
"Prophet?" I asked, struggling to free myself. "Elu!"
"I'm here," the boy said miserably. He stood next to a barbarian - Asjanel's apprentice. He wrenched his arm free and looked at the ground. "Lady Shannon, remember the Oracles!"
"How can I forget?"
"No, what they said."
The apprentice hit him, knocking him to his knees. I heard chains clank and realized that his legs were shackled together.
The Oracles. "The light of hope is always given to the faithful," I said. "What does that -"
Elu coughed, wiped blood off his face. "Now do you understand what you didn't hear?"
Oh, yeah, I remembered. The Oracles had told us that we would know in time what we hadn't heard with our prejudiced ears.
"It's about time," a soft, hissing voice said in my mind. "Lady Shannon, now you have found your place in this world, and you can hear what I said then. You are a true noblewoman, and with the royal blood comes certain powers that I cannot reveal unto you. Know only that many have died here, and more will die ere the end."
"No," I whispered, my voice broken.
"Yes," Asjanel exulted. "My dear Lady, you will watch as I murder Kitana, and then as I destroy these insolent adolescents." He gestured at Hedaris and Amidan.
"No!" I screamed, flinging all my strength into the effort to get free. "No!" I glared at Meg. "How could you do this to us?"
She looked away. "Ryac, leave the boy in my care, and go get the Head Mage," she said. The barbarian nodded and shoved Elu at her, vanishing the way we had come.
"You can't do this!" I yelled. "You just - you just can't."
"Who's going to stop me? You?" He shook his head. "Lady, understand this - if I don't kill Kitana, she'll bring Avrien into a dark age. Do you want that?"
Then I got it. Something the Oracles had said, something I hadn't heard with my prejudiced ears. "Yes, I do!" I declared. "It never meant darkness. It meant - like the dark ages. On Earth. When there weren't guns and there was King Arthur and stuff. She's one of us - she's a preserver of life. Darkness? No. Protection. That's what she's up to. That's what I didn't see."
"A pretty speech," Asjanel sneered. "How does that change anything?"
"You're evil, we're good. Good always wins."
"Not in Telaia," Amidan said. "Not in America, either. My Lady, evil has won out on Earth."
"Has not."
"You're a native, how would you see? You're prejudiced."
"Hell yes! Just screw you, Amidan. Screw you. We're not as fucked up as you seem to think we are, okay?"
She shrugged and mouthed, "Prejudiced harlot," at Hedaris. I clenched my teeth.
"I am not."
"You are so."
"No I'm not!"
Elu watched us impassively, bleeding where Ryac had hit him. Meg shook her head sadly.
"You're wrong, Shannon. Earth is as...messed up...as Amidan thinks it is. I don't know how you don't see it."
We argued on and off for three hours, at which point I started to get hungry and my arms and legs started to go numb.
*Mary*
I looked at several calendars, made some polite inquiries of Imarath, and went looking for my personal advisor. I eventually located her with Jared. They were looking under the beds.
"What are you doing?"
Allison bumped her head and yelped in pain as she sat up. "Looking for Dakota and Elu. No one's seen them since last night."
"It's a big Tower."
"But they're always with me," Jared said. "And now they're not. I can't find Shannon, but maybe Elu is with her. Dakota's always with me, though."
I cut through all of that and flourished my calendar. "It's been three months since we met the Oracles on Mount Kayan."
"So?" Amanda asked.
"Well, I just...it's kind of strange. Look at this." I pulled the map out again. "The three day mark. I mean, three days after the Oracles. Nothing happened to us, but Imarath tells me that was when he first met Kitana. Seems pretty significant. The three week mark. Jared and Elu got to Calsa. Three days before that is when I was made general. Nine days before that is when we actually arrived, if my math is right. Three times three is nine. Three days after Jared and Elu came, Kitana attacked. And today is the three-month mark."
"What's happened today?" Jared asked.
"Nothing yet. But something will, I'm sure of it." I sat down on the floor beside them. "What do we do about it?"
"I don't know," Allison snapped. She seemed suddenly pale and defensive. "Why're you asking me?"
"You're supposed to be my advisor. Advise me."
"Hey, that was in Calsa. It burned down. Remember?"
"Well, obviously." I sighed. "Three months, Allison. We've been in this dreadful place for over three months."
"Doesn't seem like that long, does it? Where'd the time go?" She blinked, and started counting on her fingers. "Hey, Mary, it can't have been that long. It's been a month and a week - at the most." She counted again. "Three weeks plus three days plus the battle took four days until we met Kitana. Twenty-eight days. Plus one day in the barbarian camp and that night we flew here, arriving on the thirtieth day. Am I right?"
"I think so." I frowned at my calendar. "Plus three days and then today. A month and four days." I stared down at the piece of paper. "Oh, I see where I've gone wrong. I counted the days since we actually got to Avrien."
"That's what the Oracles said," Jared said suddenly. "After three months have passed in all."
"Nuh-uh," Allison objected. "They said 'in three months' time.'"
"I heard the 'in all' too," I said.
Ashton came in at that point, and we all turned to look at her. "What did the Oracles say about three months?" I asked.
She blinked. "Nothing. They didn't say anything about three months...or maybe...in three months' time you will - "
"Ha!" Allison cried.
"Wait..." Ashton bit her lip. "That's not it."
"No," Allison murmured. "That's...not it..."
"Is it or isn't it?" I asked.
Ashton smacked her head. "Of course. Remember? 'In time you will understand my words – and that which you cannot hear with your prejudiced ears.' Now we hear differently because events have changed our perception of the world."
I nodded. "A month and four days, plus a month and six days to get from Halico to Mount Kayan. That's two months, one week, three days. Niyuu was destroyed on the third day here, that's two months, one week, six days, two months and two weeks with the night we spent at Halico." I studied the calendar, which I now noticed didn't make any sense whatsoever, and continued, "Where'd we pick up two weeks?"
Ashton grabbed the sheet of paper from me and twisted it around. "Here's where you went wrong," she said at last. "You're counting in Earth months. If what we remember now is correct, I heard the Oracles say moons. A moon is twenty-eight days."
I counted rapidly in my head. "Two moons, eighteen days," I said finally. "We lost ten days somewhere, even then."
"No, see, you counted two months with thirty-one days. That's two moons, twenty days. Only eight are missing." She scrutinized my calendar. "Your math sucks, Mary. See, look here. It was a month and ten days to Kayan, that's four right there. The other four come from the journey from Kayan to Calsa. You totally forgot about when we came to the river and had to walk ten miles east to find a bridge."
"Oh yeah." I shuddered. "That was a terrible four days. I must have pushed it out of my mind. Three moons."
"I'm so bored," Jared complained. "Can we please concentrate on finding Dakota and Elu?"
Ashton blinked. "What, are they missing?"
"Yeah. No one's seen Shannon or Meg, either," Allison added.
"Then why are we sitting around arguing?" Ashton asked. "I mean, seriously, you guys. This is a fantasy world. Missing people are usually dead or in terrible danger."
"Well, excuse me," Jared snapped. "I didn't know."
"Obviously."
So we looked for Kitana. We didn't find her, just Imarath. He stood at the door to the Tower, staring out at the sunset. "I'm worried," he said in response to our queries. "Tonight is the dark moon. All kinds of evil things happen at the dark moon, especially in the month Kitana calls August. These, she says, are the dog days."
I pulled out my calendar. "It's August thirteenth."
"Ooh, fun, let's do more math," Jared said sarcastically.
"Hardly necessary," Imarath said. "If you were interested, you arrived in this world on the twenty-first of May. So Kitana has told me."
"Oh. Okay, thanks."
I bit my lip. "It was October on Earth. Either we were catapulted back in time, or forward."
"Backward," Kitana called from the top of the stairs. "I would tell you what year, but it turns out the Internet is virtually useless. No one bother me, okay? I've got stuff to do."
"Okay then," I said, turning back to everyone else. "That was interesting..."
*Kitana*
I stood in the room with the broken window. It wasn't as easy as it sounds. It was very cold in there, and my robes weren't all that warm. Standing in itself was a chore, since I'd been sick all day. I'd woken at sunrise with a massive headache and a fever, as well as a sore throat.
I shuddered as I gazed out at the plateaus. The barbarians built bridges rather quickly. They'd be here by tomorrow, or earlier.
I coughed, a simple thing that made my throat hurt. Medicine. Had to have medicine...
I thought myself onto Earth. I had no body there, but that was okay. I surveyed the scene, checked the clock in the kitchen, and concluded that it was safe to use my sister's body at three in the morning.
She slept on as I tottered out into the dark kitchen. Three-year-olds don't really move very fast, and I took care to be quiet. Once out there, I dragged the stepstool over to the sink. It grated unpleasantly on the floor, making me wince. I climbed up.
Three-year-olds also have short arms. I couldn't reach the Tylenol. Frustrated, I took her back to bed and arrowed into my brother's body.
Perhaps I shouldn't mention how damn weird adolescent boys are...all those hormones floating around in their blood!
Now I could reach. I took two Tylenol and a glass of water, then stole a spoon and searched out the medicine for sore throats. I filled the spoon and then debated. How was I supposed to put my brother back to bed without spilling the medicine?
My health was far more important. I left him leaning on the counter and took my medicine back to Avrien. It's the first time Tylenol ever tasted good.
"Enjoying that?"
I whirled, dropped the rest of my water. "Ryac," I hissed.
"In the flesh," he replied cheerfully. "My dear Head Mage, I'm here on behalf of Asjanel. Are you going to come quietly?"
"Somehow I doubt it," I muttered. "Why can't you just leave me alone? I'm sick."
"Do I look like I care?"
I shuddered. "Go away. Come back tomorrow."
"It has to be tonight," he replied, smiling apologetically. "I'm sorry, Kitana, but that's just how life works. We can't wait anymore, not now that the demons are gone."
"Oh, whatever," I snapped. "I'm not going anywhere with you, you should know that. Do I look like I'm stupid?"
"You look like a very ill young lady."
"Exactly! So leave me and my illness alone."
He shoved me - a sort of warning. I stumbled back, heard glass crunch under my feet, good thing I wore sneakers. Any control, any logic that I normally possessed, it was gone now. Glass underfoot, broken window, totally shattered. Who broke it, some kids playing baseball?
Memories, memories of fire and water and wind and dragons and demons and oh, God, talons, claws ripping, shredding my skin, water filling my lungs...
Ryac punched me, knocked me over, so that me head and shoulders hung out into space. I touched my bleeding lip, tasted coppery blood in my mouth, so dizzy, I wanted to sleep and forget everything...
Ryac dragged me to my feet. "Let me ask you again, Kitana. Are you coming peacefully or in pieces?"
"Bad joke," I mumbled. "Ha ha, so funny. No way I'm coming with you, you hit me." I felt for my power, touched it, but it was different. Frayed around the edges. It shrank away from me, tried to protect me, knew that I couldn't use it in my condition. I stretched out, fingertips touching it...
"In the end, the creatures of hell with return, Kitana. They will sap your power and leave you as defenseless as a blind prophet. What is the price of magic, Kitana?"
Blood on my hand. My blood. The price of magic.
"Yes. Great power requires much blood. Do you have enough to save your own life? The demons will tear the magic from you, and Asjanel will kill you. You know I speak the truth. For even if he does not kill you, he will wrench your life from you."
No. No. I still had my magic. It hadn't been torn from me. Elu was human, he was fallible. No way was Asjanel getting my magic. It was mine.
I dragged the power into my hands, poured every bit of it out. Ryac didn't look at my hands, he watched my face. I'm an actress, I kept looking stricken and confused even as my hands flew, braiding strands of power together, tightening them, no longer inherent magic but unbound magic that hurt. I bit my lip, which hurt the cut on it, and quickly glanced down. The silver power had turned to crimson, the color of blood. My heart beat slower, my breath came in labored gasps. That was my lifeblood, my life force, going into that braid. I'd poured into it everything, every drop of power.
Asjanel would never have my magic.
I tied a knot and slipped the braid into a pocket. My skin had turned gray from the effort. I coughed, wrenched away from Ryac, drew out a handkerchief that came away from my mouth red with blood. Not all of it was from my split lip, either.
What did I have? Nothing. My power, gone. My life, gone. I was dying and I knew it. Nothing could save me but that braid, and I couldn't use it, because then Asjanel would kill me and get the power. Either way I was dead. My friends, gone. They thought I was evil. Even if they knew of my predicament they'd never save me.
Ryac guided my stumbling steps into the Library. Strangely, all of the librarians were gone. Then I remembered - the Library was closed. It closes early on the new moon.
We went into the forbidden section, through a door, across a room and down some stairs. I was dead, powerless, helpless in the grasp of the enemy.
With the last strength I could manage, I spoke to Ryac. "You are a pagan magician. Even if you get away with my murder, your own death will bring you to hell."
He laughed. "The demons reward those who help them. I will be immortal."
"If you are immortal, you will become unbound, and that in itself will destroy you. No matter what, you're looking at an eternity in hell."
"Perhaps." He didn't seem worried, and I didn't have time to wonder why, because that's when my body gave up on me and I fainted.