Page 27 of The Healing Dragon (The Red Book #2)

In a spell, the talisman or magic stone would help power the spell by providing the strength needed to carry out the request. The remaining ingredients in the spell would be tailored for the desired results. My father was tapping into the magic of the Red Book.

Matias shrugs. Santiago rests his hand on Matias’ for support.

It’s starting to make sense. My father’s plan wasn’t to destroy the Red Book if doing so would uncap everyone’s magic. He would never want to be at a disadvantage again. He wants to be more powerful than others. After all, he never liked competition.

“I think so,” I agree. “He uses it as a part of a spell. But what spell?” I ask.

“He tried so many…” His words trail off, leaving behind room for interpretation.

“He was guessing.” Santiago whispers. His eyes drop to his hands.

“Test subjects,” I add. Finally, truly settling into the meaning behind those words. They were truly test subjects.

“The thing is…” Matia’s words trail off, then as if finally getting enough courage, he looks up and meets my gaze, then Santiago’s. “Something he did worked. The book gave me something.”

The pause that follows is only because wrapping our minds around the news is a reach. My father actually accomplished part of his goal, yet he doesn’t know.

“How?” Santiago whispers.

“I don’t remember exactly which spell did it.” Matias pulls at his hair .

“You never let him know.” I’m in shock. The mirror expression on Santiago tells me I’m not the only one.

“I didn’t want him to get what he wanted,” Matias says, looking up at the ceiling as if eye contact is too hard to hold at the moment.. “He didn't uncap my magic but knowing something he did had a result could have only encouraged him.”

“Instead, you subjected yourself to further torture.” I lean back on my chair and look at him with new eyes.

This man didn’t just endure, but continued enduring in order to not allow evil to prosper. Yeah, Matias and I are nothing alike. He is brave.

“I couldn’t let him win. Whatever he had planned next would only be worse.”

“Matias,” his name falls from my lips in a soft tone.

Recalling the words he said while helping us escape, I ask, “In the cell you said the book wants revenge. What exactly did you mean?”

Santiago waves a hand between us, getting our attention. “Hold on, start from the beginning.”

Matias leans back and takes a deep breath.

“I was picked up at the edges of the Black Castle soon after the attack. The first time Lord Duelo tried to uncap my magic, it didn’t work, but I was still alive. Which hadn’t happened with his other test subjects.”

My heart aches for him.

Matias looks between us as if waiting for us to add anything.

When we don’t, he continues, “After surviving, they zeroed in on me. They no longer tested on the others, deeming me strong enough for the process. They just needed to find the right spell, and then on the sixth attempt something happened.”

“What happened?” Santiago asks at the edge of his seat.

Matias looks down at his hands and this time he fists them tight. “I heard a voice inside my head. That was the first time I heard it but not the last. I hear it at night. It makes it hard to sleep. Amy Bee gave me herbs that help quiet the voice.”

“What does the voice say?” Santiago asks.

“At first, I only heard it while they attempted spells on me. Later on, I heard it even while alone in my cell. It started by encouraging me not to cave and give Lord Duelo what he wanted. It told me to hold on and fight the pain. The voice was angry, but not for what I was enduring…”

“Calaca called you its sire.” I pause mulling over all the details and implications. “The magic that created it is in you. The voice is the Red Book,” I say, concluding.

“I think it is,” Matias says, tilting his head.

“Books don’t talk.” Santiago looks at us like we lost our minds. “Did the voice ever identify itself?”

Matias looks pensive, as if he is thinking back to those days. “It told me it wanted to fight back. It said that before long, Lord Duelo would lose his patience and begin finding ways to completely destroy it.”

The book is right. I wouldn’t put it past my father to get to that point sooner rather than later. If Matias was the only soldier that survived his attempts, taking him away would bring my father to the edge. Unknowingly, I took his only hope.

But the thing is, the book shouldn’t be able to talk to him at such a long distance. “How does it still reach you if you are now so far away?”

“That’s what I want to know,” Matias says. His voice is stronger.

I recall his words to Amy Bee. He doesn’t want Bianca or anyone else to know until he has an idea what it is and how to fix it.

I cross my arms. “Why don’t you want Bianca and Brandon to know?”

Santiago leans back with a gasp. “Are you expecting me to keep something from my King?” His tone is stern.

Keeping things from his King and future Queen is not something he would willingly sign up for. I would’ve thought Matias made sure Santiago was on board first. Did they not talk about this before?

“I’m sick and tired of being a burden. I want to do it myself. Just let me figure it out first. I am not asking you to lie, just don't tell him until I can figure out what it is and how to fix it.”

I relate all too well to that feeling. Matias and I are alike in the broken and beaten parts of our soul. They have been bruised black and blue.

“Lying by omission.” Santiago shakes his head. “Also, you’re not doing it alone. We are here.” He gestures between us.

Santiago makes an obvious point. Even though he is not asking for aid from Bianca and Brandon, he is still asking for help.

“They’re looking for the Red Book, which should be their focus. I don’t want to distract them. I know the second Bianca learns of my problem, she will want to fix it. Brandon will drop everything else to do it to see her happy.”

Then it hits me. He is keeping his distance from them, not because he doesn’t feel like he belongs there or trusts them, it’s because he fears they will figure out his problem.

Then they will focus on fixing it. I don’t know if Brandon would truly drop everything to help Matias.

He is the King and has a duty to his people, but Matias was right about something. He would do anything for Bianca.

“Can I trust you two to help me?” Matias looks between Santiago and me.

Our gazes lock as we both nod .

“All these secrets are going to give me an ulcer.” Santiago grunts dramatically.

“How can we know for certain if the Red Book is the voice I hear?” Matias asks, rolling the sleeves on his shirt.

“I now think you were right.” Santiago gestures in my direction changing the topic of conversation. “Checking out the cursed book can’t hurt. We need to cover all our bases.”

“I think we should ask Calaca,” I say to Matias’ question.

“The thing that followed you two here?” Santiago’s face pales at the thought.

“She’s not that bad,” Matias defends.

“It’s not a girl.” I roll my eyes. “Can you call it?” I ask Matias.

He nods in confirmation.

“Perhaps that is something we will do tomorrow, during daylight.” Santiago clears his throat. “It’s dark now and more than one guard will be alerted to our movements in the forest.”

Matias appears ready to object when I add, “Brandon will be notified within minutes.”

This revelation causes him to close his mouth.

“Tomorrow it is.” I knock on the table with my fist and I get to my feet, intending to leave, but Santiago raises one hand, stopping me.

He goes to his desk and returns with something in his hands. “I guess we can start here.” He pushes a black book in my direction.

I take the infamous cursed book I have been hearing so much about. The material feels so fragile. Easy to erase from existence. The notion that the information on these pages has been relentlessly pursued to a lethal degree is preposterous.

“What are you doing?” Santiago looks at my hands.

I flex them, letting go of the cover I had been bending. I open the book to the first page and trace my finger over the name written on the top. “Klause P.” I look at Santiago. “Do you know what P stands for?”

“His last name?” Matias asks.

We both turn our heads and give him a perplexed look.

“I’m not sure what it stands for.” Santiago looks through the pages of the journal, but we all know it’s unlikely he spelled out his full name on a journal entry.

“I know this might not mean much, but If we find his family tree, we could find more information linked to their disappearance and the Red Book.”

He nods. He gets up and gestures for us to follow him. We walk a few rolls down, then he leads the way into a tall bookshelf.

“This is all the information we got,” Santiago says. “Perhaps looking into him while we wait to talk to the creature is what we should do.”

“Calaca,” Matias whispers behind me, but not loud enough for Santiago to hear. “Where do we start?” he asks, looking at the impossible number of texts on the shelf.

The description on the row reads ‘autobiographies.’

I look at the shelf and think about all the moving pieces.

We might not know exactly what we need, but learning as much information about the topic will only help clarify the image.

If I have learned anything from my father, it is that learning all you can about your enemy is essential to know how they would act.

Klause is not our enemy, but the answers to a lot of our questions lie around him and the time he spent in Puerto Quinn.

“I think we should split into two tasks.” I gesture to one section of the shelf containing the autobiographies. “People like Klause don’t go through life unnoticed. His peers must have written about him. The time frame is between one hundred and fifty and two hundred years ago.”

Santiago walks over to the autobiographies. “Anything between that fifty-year gap?”

I nod, and he turns to face the bookshelf. I turn in Matias’ direction. “We should use the same time frame to look at family trees. If we find the full names of Klause’s family, we will connect his research easier.”

Matias looks up at the shelf with a sour expression. “This is going to take us weeks.”

“I got it,” Santiago says.

He gestures for us to move away and takes the spot in front of the bookshelf.

He extends his hand forward and a blue light glows out of his palm towards the books.

The glow grows as one by one more books join in the light.

The light is not strong enough to grab the attention of the people in the main sitting area.

With one hand up, palm facing the shelf, Santiago uses his other hand to write the year gap we are searching. A section of books slides out of the bookshelf into mid air. It slowly floats down into the floor in front of Santiago.

“That’s still a lot.” Matias rubs his brows.

“We don’t need to get through them tonight,” I say, shoving him forward to help me carry the books to the table. We fill our arms and do a second trip to carry everything. “Let’s do as much as we can, then pick up tomorrow.”

Santiago carries his own pile of books to his side of the table. The stack he has is twice the size of ours and consists of various sized journals.

“We can switch between piles,” I offer.

Santiago gives me the first side smile. “I would appreciate that.”

Matias cracks his knuckles. “Let’s do this. ”

The only tracker of time becomes the candlelight in the library. Every hour the flames flicker announcing the time change. Santiago has to get up and help people a few times, but other than that we power through a big chunk of books.

A whistling sound distracts me from my work ahead. I look around, trying to place the noise, but my eyes are tired and I feel disoriented.

“It's Matias,” Santiago says between a yawn.

“What?” I look next to me at the man in question. “He’s sleeping.”

“For someone who needs tea to sleep, he sure seems to snooze hard.”

The chuckle that bubbles out of my chest is loud in the quiet space. I shouldn't laugh. It's mean but ironic. Matias jumps up at the noise, which causes Santiago and me to burst into laughter.

“I think that is enough for tonight,” Matias says, stretching. “Good work everyone.”

Santiago and I share an amused look at the statement coming from the person who had been sleeping.

“Let's all meet tomorrow during lunch at the clearing.” Matias gestures to the back of the castle over his shoulder.

Santiago’s expression falls, and I fight the smirk on my face. He needs to get used to the idea of Calaca. I have a feeling it’s not going anywhere. We all will see more of it with time.