Page 41 of Brimstone

I leaped up. The chair fell. It crashed to the floor, but Onyx, still lying in a huddle of blankets by Everlayne’s feet, didn’t even stir. Whatever fell magic this was, I didn’t fucking like it. “What are you talking about?” I hissed. “What are you? Why are you here?”

“Ed-Edina,” the thing stuttered. “Edina. Edina. I am Edina.”

The name was so familiar to me. I’d heard someone speak it recently, hadn’t I? Seen it written down somewhere. “What are you doing to Layne?” I demanded. “Release her body. Let her wake up.”

The thing—Edina—slowly closed her eyes, and tears chased down Everlayne’s cheeks. “Sh-she is . . . beyond my reach. I am . . . not keeping her from this . . . body.”

“Then where is she?”

Edina’s answer caught in Everlayne’s throat. She could hardly speak as it was, but these words seemed especially difficult for her to say. “She is in sha-sha-shadow. I cannot see.”

“You’re scaring me.”

“Fear is not . . . real, Saeris Fane,” she croaked.

I took a giant step back from the bed. “How the fuck do you know my name?”

“You must g-g-go.”

“Yeah, no shit.”

“The library. Go to the library,” she said, her teeth chattering even harder. “There, you will fi-find a b-b-book.”

“Libraries are full of books,” I whispered. This wasn’t right. It was unnatural. Honestly, it was freaking me the hell out. A voice in the back of my head urged me not to run, though. It was the same voice that had told me to steal that guardian’s gauntlet. The same one that had made me fight and kill two of Madra’s men outside the Mirage. It couldn’t be trusted, but I was nothing if not a creature of habit. “What kind of book?” I demanded. “And why do I need it?”

“Sm-small,” she wheezed. “But thick. Blue. There is a butterfly . . .”

“A butterfly? On the cover?”

Edina couldn’t manipulate Layne’s facial features too much, it seemed. Her pale eyes were full of pain. I could feel it, feel her confusion, all underpinned by a sorrow that made me want to weep. “It’s hidden,” she rasped, “among the stars.”

“What does that mean?”

“Thestars. . .” Edina’s eyes rolled back into her head.

“Hey!”

“Hundreds and . . . hundreds of . . . stars.”

“Edina!” Why was I suddenly choking on panic? It suffocated me, shoving me back to the bed. I picked up Layne’s hand and clasped it tight, fighting for air. “Edina, what’s in the book? Why is it so important? Tell me!”

An eerie calm settled over the visitor in Layne’s body. Her sightless gaze found mine, and for a second, her confusion slipped away. “They told you. About the rot,” she said in a clear voice. “They told you it would come. It’s here, now. You must find the book in order to stop it. Without it, the decay will spread until it swallows this realm and millions more with it. I have seen it, Saeris. Find the book. Stop the spread. It’s the only way.”

“Edina—”

She squeezed my hand tighter than tight. “Find it. But donottell him about it. I mean it. It’s important. He can’t know about the book. Only you. Do you understand?”

I didn’t. Not even a little bit, but I heard the desperation in her tone and the lie came easily. “Yes. I understand.”

“Thank you. Make sure he knows how much I loved him, Saeris,” she said. “At the end, make sure he knows that I’d do it all again.”

What didthatmean? The question was there, ready to be asked, but it wouldn’t come out. Layne’s—Edina’s—grip on my hand had tightened, and it was beginning to hurt. Not my hand. But . . . the ink that marked it. The runes on my fingers, the backs of my hands, chaining my wrists and spiraling up my forearms—suddenly it felt as though the runes were on fire. Were they glowing? No. Oh, gods, they were burning. A wisp of smoke curled away from my skin, and Edina’s milk-white eyes went wide. “You haven’tsealedthem?” she gasped.

“Sealed them? What does that mean? I don’t understand.”

“An Alchemist must seal her runes,” she rasped. “You are a well that runs deep. When you were marked with your runes,their magic began pouring into you. It flows and it flows. It will not . . . stop . . .”

“Edina!” She was drifting. Her eyes were still clouded, but I sensed that they’d lost focus. The pain around my wrists and up my arms had intensified, almost unbearable. I tried to pull my hand back, ready to claw away my own skin if it meant escaping the burn, but Edina suddenly seemed to return. Her grip held little strength, but I couldnotlet go of her hand. “Seal them, Saeris. If you do not . . .”