“Secured beneath the desk by a special adhesive.”
“He was all about hiding things around this office, wasn’t he?” Carrow asked.
“He died quite suddenly in 1643,” Ubhan said. “It seems that he didn’t have time to clean the office.”
“All the better for us.” She went to the table and retrieved the book, then turned back to him. “Is there anything else?”
“Not that I know of.”
A disembodied voice came from a comms charm around a fallen guard’s neck.
“It’s time to leave.” I looked at Ubhan. “Stay seated there for ten minutes. Afterward, I suggest you not give us any trouble over this, or it will look like you support Rasla’s actions.”
Ubhan glared. “I’d never support such a thing.”
“Good. Then we are on the same side.” Carrow grinned and strode toward the door.
I followed her, and we made our way quickly through the halls. Near the stairs, we passed a reedy-looking man I recognized. He was an assistant to one of the council members, but he didn't do more than glance at us.
“Are you sure he’ll stay put?” Carrow asked as we began to descend the stairs.
“Ubhan? Yes, for the ten minutes, at least. After that, my hold won’t work on him.”
She nodded. “We’ll be across town by then. Let’s go to my place to check on Mac and Seraphia. We can read the diary there.”
“Excellent plan.”
Together, we hurried across Guild City. Carrow clutched the bag containing the books and papers, a deep frown on her face. “I really hope there’s a cure for Mac and Seraphia in here.”
“We’ll find it. I promise.”
She looked up at me, eyes wide. “We haven’t even figured out how to fix us, much less them.”
She had a point.
We reached her place a few minutes later, and she took the stairs two at a time. The door to Mac’s flat was slightly ajar, and she ducked inside.
“How are you feeling?” she asked.
I joined her in the flat. Mac and Seraphia were on the couch, looking pale and wan. Eve appeared in the kitchen doorway. Her face was streaked with something purple.
“Fine,” Mac said.
“I’m working on a strength potion to give them,” Eve said. “But we need a cure. Soon.”
“This will sound strange,” Seraphia said. “But I feel like the building is pulling at me. Like I want to return to it.”
“Same,” Mac said.
“Yes,” Carrow frowned. “It’s odd, but I feel it too.” She looked at me. “Do you?”
“I feel nothing.”
“Well, we’ve got more clues.” Carrow held up the book and pulled the pages out of her bag. She handed off the pages to Seraphia.
The librarian took them, interest gleaming in her eyes. “Where were they?”
Carrow sat in the chair near the window and relayed our adventures.
“There’s another guild in town?” Shock shone in Mac’s eyes. “The Shadow Guild, and none of us even knew about it?”
“It seems so,” Carrow said. “And I don’t think the building is evil. It’s the curse that Councilor Rasla put on the place to hide it.”
“And to kill the members,” I said.
Carrow’s gaze flashed to me, shock in their depths. “What?”
“It’s the only way it could have stayed a secret,” I said. “If we read his diary, I imagine we will find record of that. Otherwise, what would have happened to them once their tower was gone? Perhaps he erased some of their memories and evicted them from town, but it’s just as likely the curse on the building killed them.”
As it might kill Mac and Seraphia. I didn’t say the words, but Carrow and the others were too clever not to intuit what was left unsaid.
“Does that mean I’m meant to belong to the Shadow Guild?” Mac asked.
“But you have a guild,” Carrow said.
“I never fit in well.” Mac shrugged. “One of the reasons I live here instead of there.”
“I don’t fit particularly well in mine, either,” Seraphia added.
“This is insane,” said Carrow.
“It could still be true,” I said.
“But I wasn’t cursed,” she said. “And I’m currently the biggest misfit in town.”
Mac leaned forward. “But the way your eyes glow, you’re definitely connected to it. Just because you don’t feel the effects of the curse doesn’t mean you aren’t part of it.”
Carrow opened the tiny diary in her lap. “I’m going to get to the bottom of this. We’ve partially broken that curse. We need to finish the job. Then we’ll have time to figure it out.”
Seraphia flipped through the papers on her lap, handing some off to Mac. As they began to search the text, the sky darkened abruptly.
Carrow looked up, a frown creasing her brow. “That’s weird. It’s not even close to dusk.”
Energy surged on the air, and thunder rumbled.
“That’s even weirder,” Mac said.
Wind began to howl, and the air prickled ominously, pulling from the direction of the Shadow Guild tower.
“Something is wrong.” Eve walked to the window, and the others stood.
I joined her, looking out into the eerily dark sky. Dusk appeared to have fallen, and lightning exploded against the blackness.
“I’m going to check the tower,” Eve said.
She spread her sparkling wings and launched herself off the windowsill and into the sky, flying in the direction of the tower on the other side of town.
Eve wasn’t gone long. She flew back through the window, her eyes wide. “It’s coming from the tower. We need to get over there.”
Mac spoke into her comms charm. “Quinn? Meet us at the new tower. Bring any shifters you can get. We might need backup.”
“Time, I need time,” Carrow muttered. “There’s something in this book. I feel it.”
“Read and walk,” Seraphia said.
Carrow nodded, her gaze on the book. Eve strode into the kitchen with a bag over one shoulder and two vials, one in each hand. She gave them to Mac and Seraphia, who gulped them down.
“What you really need is rest,” Eve said.
“So do you.” Mac looked her over. “You’re pale.”
“We’re all pale, and we all feel like shit,” Seraphia said. “Now, come on. Let’s go win this fight.”
My brows rose. There was more to the little librarian than first met the eye.
Eve gave Seraphia the bag. “That’s full of potion bombs. Most are meant to kill, so be careful with them.”
“Thank you.” Seraphia looped it over her shoulder.
The four of us hurried down the stairs, Carrow bringing up the rear as she kept her nose buried in the book. I walked in front of her, close enough to catch her in case she tripped.
When we reached the street, Eve launched herself into the air once more and looked back at us. “I’m going to get a head start.”
“Be careful,” Mac said. “That lightning looks bad.”
Eve kept low, flying just below the rooftops.
We pushed our way through the streets, which were crowded with people staring up at the strangely dark sky. The wind whipped more strongly, coming from the direction of the Shadow Guild tower.
“Getting any clues there, Carrow?” Mac asked.
“Maybe.” Her eyes raced over the pages as she flipped through them. “There’s got to be something about this.”
We had nearly reached the narrow alley that led to the courtyard in front of the tower when Carrow yelped, “I found it!”
“What is it?” Seraphia asked.
“When the spell on the tower is threatened by the return of the guild members, Councilor Rasla will rise one last time to protect it.”
“Guild members?” Mac said. “That has to be us.”
Carrow nodded. “It says they will be led by one with strange and deadly magic. It is her arrival that instigates it all.”
“That’s you,” Mac said. “It has to be.”
Carrow frowned, her eyes still racing over the page. “The disturbed magic will reinvigorate him for a short time. He will be powerful, so powerful that he can ensure his agenda once again.”
“Killing all of us,” Mac said. “Because I’m pretty sure that’s his goal.”
“And hiding the Shadow Guild once more,” Seraphia said.
“We won’t let him.” Carrow snapped the book shut.
We reached the alley. I led the way, sprinting through the narrow space. It had become a wind tunnel. I forced my way through, pushing against the gale.
The courtyard in front of the Shadow Guild tower was chaos. Lightning struck overhead, thunder booming every few seconds. The ferocious wind roared and whipped the dead leaves in a cyclone.
Magic pulsed, oily and evil. It came from the statue at the center of the courtyard.
The others joined me, and Eve landed at our side.
As if it had been waiting for us, the magic pulsed once more, so hard that it popped my ears like we’d changed elevation.
“What’s happening?” Mac shouted. “The magic is changing!”
The statue of Councilor Rasla exploded with a deafening boom. Shards of stone bombarded us, and we ducked against the wall to protect our faces. I wrapped myself around Carrow and Mac, who stood closest. The stone sliced through my back and arms, and Carrow hissed in pain.
As soon as it stopped, we whirled around.
The statue was gone. In its place stood a man formed of thick smoke instead of muscle and bone. Power radiated from him, chilling me to my core.
17
Carrow
Fear shivered through me when I saw the man. If black holes were human-shaped, they would look like him. When he moved, it was with a sinuous, snakelike motion.
Though he had no eyes, I could feel his gaze upon me. His voice was cold and smooth, evil incarnate. “So, you are the cause of all this trouble.”