Page 18 of Hell Fae Captive

I also couldn’tseeit.

Yet…

It’s as if magic forms the very walls,I mused, humming to myself.Well. May as well find out what magic lurks inside the library.

Shoving the double doors open, I stepped inside and craned my neck, impressed by the cathedral-style ceiling that seemed to stretch up into eternity.

The library was huge—much bigger than it appeared to be from the outside.

It was also completely empty. Wandering to the unoccupied reception desk, I coughed to announce my presence to anyone who might be lurking behind the shelves.

Silence.

“Hello?” I called, glancing around the large open space. The books spanned the walls with floating ladders, and the ceiling was at least ten stories over my head. “Is anyone here?”

“We’re always here,” a voice floated back to me with a giggle. “Always, always!”

“Yes, always here,” another echoed. “No one visits anymore. The Quandary Bloods are gone, you see.”

“Does she see, though?” a third female murmured.

“Perhaps not,” the original hummed. “She’s unique, yes?”

“Very.”

“Original?”

“Like him, indeed.”

“Indeed.”

I frowned, trying to find the source of the voices and realizing that these must be the figments Ajax had mentioned. “You’re invisible. Ghosts?”

A flutter of movement caught my senses. I whirled in a circle, trying to spot the phantoms, but only found the empty foyer.

“Ghosts?” one of them said, aghast. “How rude.”

“Very rude.”

“She’s new.”

“Virtuous, too.”

“Yes! That’s it, isn’t it?” The singsong voice whirled around in the air, coupled by the flying of pages of nearby books. “What would you like from us, dear virtuous one?”

Virtuouscertainly wasn’t a term I would use to describe myself, but perhaps I was slightly more innocent in comparison to the Hell Fae. “I… I just want to know where your Hell Fae law books are.”

“Law books?” the original voice repeated. “Regulations and legislation. How droll.”

“Droll, yes,” a deeper voice deadpanned. It was still feminine, but more guttural than the others.

“But she probably wants the book.” A subtle gust of wind tickled my ponytail with the words.

“The one…?” a tinkling voice asked, trailing off.

“Yes,theone.”

“Ah, yes, yes. Up we go!” the original voice chanted, a whirl of air sending more pages scattering and causing a few books to fall from the shelves. I watched in amazement as they were caught before hitting the ground and settled back onto the shelves, telling me there were numerous invisible beings floating around this massive library hall.