Page 16 of Change

He did, and by the time I finally caught my breath, he was sitting on his heels, waiting patiently on the floor beside me.

“What was that?” he asked once I pushed to sit on my butt.

“I’m…” I shook my head slowly, rubbing my temples. “I’m not sure.”

Brayden was gazing at me curiously but chose not to press for answers. “I don’t know if it will help,” he said slowly, “but I have some books with me about that topic you’d been asking about.”

My breath caught in excitement. “The prophecy?”

“The very one,” Brayden answered, getting to his feet. Then he leaned forward, offering me his hand. “Let’s go look.”

I stared at his hand for a moment, and the remnants of the prickling sensation along the back of my neck dulled. I’d asked for this—to see the prophecy—but now that it was so close to me…

I was scared.

Still.

The worst feeling was not knowing what to expect. I couldn’t run away now, not when the answers were so close. So, despite my hesitation, I placed my hand in his. “Okay.”

Brayden led me to a brightly lit room tucked away in the far corner of the first floor. I looked around at the glass windows and bright-colored books as he spoke, never having explored this area of the library before.

“The most popular hangouts in the library are psychology and science,” he was saying. “No one comes back here.”

Here?

I glanced at the markings at the surrounding aisles—which I hadn’t been paying even the slightest attention to at this point.

“Children’s literature?” No wonder the small tables were bright red and the chairs smaller than the other study sections. “Why do we have children’s literature?”

Brayden shrugged, holding out a red chair for me. “The early childhood education department uses it sometimes.” He pushed my seat. To anyone else it might have been a tight fit, but for me, I was still able to fit semi-comfortably.

“Now”—he sat on the floor and pulled his backpack around to his lap—“I stole this from—”

“Wait.” His choice of words had thrown me off, and I held up my hand, interrupting. “You, what?”

Brayden paused, watching me in the most critical way, before he finally opened his mouth, speaking more slowly. “I’verecently acquiredthis book that basically has everything that you’ve asked for.” He finished, setting a deep-brown colored book on the table and sliding it toward me.

I eyed the book with a racing heart, and my palms began to sweat. Why did I not believe that this book had been ‘recently acquired’ by anything less than illegal means? My fingers began to tingle.

“What is it?” I heard myself ask. My voice had a hollow quality that caused a shiver to run down my spine.

Brayden didn’t appear to notice. “It’s from your private library,” he said.

I was finally able to tear my eyes from the book.

“Your personal library.” Brayden was almost bouncing in excitement. Clearly, he was thrilled to be sharing this with me. “You have a few.”

“And… you stole… fromme?” Now I was personally offended. What kind of lackluster security measures were being put into place around here? “How?”

“Never mind that now.” He waved his hand, dismissing my question.

No, I really did mind.

Brayden moved to his knees, opening the book. “The first couple chapters are a broad overview of your origins, a breakdown of fae powers, how quintets work—the basics. Then it moves on”—he ran his finger down a finger smudged page—“where there’s a list of some—of many—prophecies. Some have already been fulfilled, they’re marked in the book. I’ve put a sticky in here”—he pointed to the yellow paper—“where you’ll find the whole dragon prophecy.”

“Is that the rest of the book?” There was still quite a bit of reading after the marker. “Just prophecies?”

“Nah.” Brayden flipped forward a few random pages and moved it more fully in front of me. His curly hair fell over his eyes mischievously. “There’s also a lot about fae customs.”