Page 92 of Found in Obscurity

“So word didn’t get out yet?” Glenn said to Lorin with a laugh.

Lorin shrugged sheepishly. “I don’t really talk to anyone. My grandma isn’t a gossiper either.”

Stella tilted her head to the side. “Word about what?”

Glenn looked at Lorin, not saying a word. He was leaving the decision to him, which he appreciated, but if he wanted to know more about his powers then he’d have to clue people in to what they were.

There really was no way around it.

“I, um…” He scuffed the toe of his boot against the marble floor. “Apparently I’m a pathfinder.”

The silence that descended upon them after he said those words was louder than any scream Lorin had ever heard. He swore he could hear the blood rushing through his veins with how still and silent everything around them went.

He looked at Kit, who shuffled closer and looked at Stella suspiciously.

It made all the difference in the world to Lorin just to feel him close. Warm and solid. Muscles tense and body taut. Like he was ready to pounce on anyone who even looked at Lorin weird.

But there was nothing weird on Stella’s face. Her smile widened and her eyes sparkled with curiosity and excitement. All things positive. All things Lorin could recognize and handle.

“A pathfinder! How did I not put it together?” she exclaimed, breaking the silence. “I guess since we haven’t had one in our community for ages, it just didn’t register right away! Oh stars and skies, this is the best news ever!”

She whipped around and opened a drawer, rummaging through it for a moment before she resurfaced with a tiny wooden box in her hand.

“This belongs to you, I think.” She presented the box to Lorin with a little flourish.

“Me?” Lorin asked, wrapping his fingers around the box and pulling it closer.

“Every magical community has one,” she said. “It belongs to a pathfinder. Either one that lives in their community, or one that comes for a visit. Open it.”

He held his breath as he popped the lid open and found a brass key resting against a dark blue cushion.

“Key,” Kit managed helpfully.

Lorin couldn’t even be happy about his progress with another word. All he could feel was building panic. “To where?”

“That’s for you to find out.” She looked around the library. “You’re the pathfinder.”

“Very new,” Lorin choked. “Practically an infant. Like a sprout of a pathfinder.”

She smiled and placed the key in his hand. “But able to see things we can’t. No one else can find the entrance.”

“Great…”

“Fun!” Kit exclaimed, his hoarse voice still managing to sound excited. He tugged on Lorin’s arm to coax him to move.

Lorin allowed himself to be pulled but still protested, “I don’t know what I’m looking for!”

“Door,” Kit said with a roll of his eyes.

“He’s not wrong,” Glenn called after them. “I’ll stay here with Stella. You two have fun! Don’t just make out in the stacks!”

Lorin’s entire face flushed brilliant pink. “We don’t do that!”

“Yes,” Kit said, and Lorin could see it on his face, the abrupt change in his priorities as he started, dragging him with more force all of a sudden. “Do…that.”

“Oral history is usually the best spot,” Stella called out.

It was like she and Glenn were made for each other, snipped from the same aggravating cloth.