Page 138 of Lore of the Tides

“I know it’s hard, Mouse. But I need you to open your eyes.”

He pressed the heavy object against her chest.

She ignored it.

“Lore!”

By reflex, Lore flinched away from the sharpness in his voice.

“I’m sorry, I won’t raise my voice again. Just, please, look.”

Would that shut him up? Would he go away and leave her in peace then?

She opened her eyes and saw something impossible. Well, two impossibilities.

“Someone took them from me.”

“That’s right,” he said slowly, concern flooding his face. “My cousin, remember?” He tapped the binding of one of the books.

Lore supposed they wouldn’t burn a ghost, would they? That must be how he was holding them.

She wanted to be a ghost too.

“These saved us, Lore. Coretha... she... came to my cell to gloat, not knowing that I’ve been tortured by my uncle before—I was... She assumed I was in no state to fight back, but... this being tortured by him... was my normal, for a while, when I was younger. She was always one of his favorites; she never knew what it was like to be... his focus... I was able to overpower her and pilfer the books.” He pressed them into her chest again, waiting for her to take them from him. “For you. I got them for you.”

His... uncle? Lore’s mind closed off against it. She shouldn’t follow that train of thought.

“Is the blood hers?”

A shadow fell over Syrelle’s face. He didn’t have to nod for Lore to know that it was. The pain in his eyes at what he’d had to do was answer enough.

Lore pushed the books away.

“Don’t want them.”

“What do you mean? They’re yours, remember?”

“They are nothing but a false hope. There’s nothing for me anymore.” An idea occurred to her. “How about, they can be yours? Take them and go.”

“I’m not leaving you. Not ever again.”

Lore frowned, a slight shiver of terror coursing through her. “You should leave. There’s something after me—a monster.” She looked at Syrelle, met his eyes, which were creased with worry. “It will take you from me again,” she whispered, afraid it would hear her if she spoke too loudly. “I’ll have to watch it eat you.”

“The monster can’t come into the library. No one can but us. We are safe here.”

“Safe?” Lore didn’t know that word. She thought, at one time, she might have. It represented something nice.

Confusion tangled her thoughts. Her mind was a spider’s web, broken by a demon passing in the night. Her thoughts were ripped apart, blowing in the breeze.

Lore was somewhere safe, the ghost had said.

She looked around. She knew this place. Had known it. Once. Long ago.

A library.

Thelibrary.

The one that changed everything.