Page 27

Chapter

Twenty-Seven

Nobody even gives Harek or me a second glance as we walk down the golden streets. For as much as I feel like I stick out, apparently we fit right in. Nearly everyone else has similarly styled hair and clothes.

When we ask someone for directions to the library, he happily points us in the direction and doesn’t question why we’re looking.

Shortly after we enter the education district filled with different colored buildings, the library looms over several smaller buildings. It looks like a mixture between a massive oak tree and a small version of a skyscraper.

I don’t know how any of this is possible, or if I’ll ever get used to any of it. Everyone else seems to walk around like all of this is completely normal. I can’t even imagine feeling that way.

We cross through a park where several groups are gathered and appear in deep discussion.

Harek leans closer. “I think those are academy study groups.”

I stare in disbelief at people in their teens and even older. Some looked to be about my age. My brothers had talked about their brief time in nursery school—Gunnar never allowed any of us girls to go, and even the boys only went long enough to learn basic skills. They didn’t get any certificates of completion like most of the other schoolchildren.

The group nearest us is discussing an ancient fae battle that destroyed much of the known world at the time, even knocking out an entire mountain.

“We should get going.” Harek pulls on my arm.

“I want to listen.”

“Don’t you want answers to your questions?” He gives me a knowing look.

My shoulders slump. “You’re right. I’m sure the library has all the ancient history I want to know.”

“And the current events involving your father are much more useful than something that happened a thousand years ago.”

“True.” I keep my pace slow as we make our way through the rest of the park, trying to listen in on more discussions.

Someone says something about a woman ruler, and I stop in my tracks.

Harek turns to me with a pleading look.

“Did you hear that?” I lean a little closer, trying to hear more. Skoro never had a woman leader. Could this place have one? Or is this group also talking about ancient times?

“Let’s find what we can about your father, and then I promise we can sit and listen to all the discussions you want.”

“Yeah, you’re right. The first thing I’m going to dig into is a woman ruler. Could you imagine the reactions of the older men in Skoro? They might just fall over dead at the thought.” I chuckle.

“I wish that was all it would take. I’d have told Gunnar about that long ago.”

My heart warms. I love how protective of me he is.

“But if your father takes you in, then maybe he’ll be willing to go back and deal with Gunnar. Can you imagine his face if the fae hunter came after him?” A slow smile spreads across my friend’s face.

I can easily picture it, and I hope one day it comes to pass. That gives me the resolve to leave behind all these interesting conversations in the park to see what I can find out about my heritage. I grab his hand and drag him toward the library.

We pass tables where more groups are holding discussions. It looks like so much fun, just sitting around talking about things from days long gone. Perhaps one day I can take a class and participate.

Harek skids to a stop.

“What are you doing?”

“Listen.” He nods toward a group of older fae gathered and speaking in low tones. They’re probably the teachers.

I turn slightly away from them, trying not to be obvious in my eavesdropping.

A man with the nose of a cat and hair like rain adjusts a bowtie. “It was completely ravaged. My cousin sent a message asking for supplies. His house is a pile of rubble.”

“Nobody could stop them?” asks a woman with shimmery skin like scales.

He shakes his head. “There were too many of them.”

The second man, who looks like an imp on steroids, crosses his arms. “It’s just like last week.”

All three of them nod knowingly.

I want to ask what happened last week, but they probably don’t know Harek and I can hear from this distance. Before, I always wondered why my hearing was so much better than others in Skoro, and now I know it’s because I’m a werewolf.

The three teachers discuss another fae town that was ruined by evildoers—and they blame the hunter. Apparently my father has been slacking lately, due to me coming into my powers, and because of this, the fae world is getting turned upside down.

Things are even more urgent than I imagined. Either my father and I need to work together to solve this issue, or one of us is going to have to kill the other.

I really hope Vivvi is wrong about that. There has to be another way.

But if there isn’t, the results could be catastrophic.

Harek and I exchange glances then hurry toward the library. My mind is racing so fast, I barely register the high shelves filled with books as far as the eye can see.

There’s so much destruction out there, and it’s only going to get worse if I don’t do something. But what? With all of these, it will be impossible to know where to even begin looking.

“Where do we start?” I ask.

“I think here.” He walks over to a screen and taps it.

It lights up, and words appear. He taps the image of a button, and more words appear. Harek interacts with the device like he’s been using it his whole life.

Maybe he has. Well, not this exact one but a similar one. He’s been familiar with all things fae his entire life.

Whereas everyone has hid it from me.

I try not to be bitter about that and attempt to lean into how helpful his knowledge will likely be. He can read the strange letters, whereas I cannot. He knows about magic, whereas all I seem able to do is absorb it and get sick.

If only we could simply find my father and have him explain everything—that would save so much time. We wouldn’t have to research where to find the books and then spend however much time reading them.

Harek returns to me. “We need to go to the third level.”

“That’s where the books are about my father?”

“It appears there are a few of them. We might find more in other places with a little digging.”

“Why is it so hard? Don’t they list all the books?”

“They do, but you have to know where to search. It’s a complex system that keeps outsiders from finding out too much.”

“Outsiders like us?”

“Technically, you belong here.”

I glance at the screen full of lettering I can’t understand. “How did you learn that language? Did your parents teach you?”

He nods. “You’ll pick it up quickly. It’s a similar system to the one we’re used to.”

“If you say so.”

“I’ll start teaching you as soon as we find the first book.”

“Let’s get started.”

We find a map to a spiral staircase that takes us up to the third level. Harek follows signs with weird lettering to a maze of shelves with book spines of every color imaginable. There are actually a few with titles I can read.

I stop and pull one from its place. “They have human lettering?”

“Apparently. Come on.” He waves me toward him.

Reluctantly, I put the book back then hurry to catch up. We go down one aisle, up another, zigging and zagging until I’m not even sure we’re still in the same building. There must’ve been a portal that took us somewhere else because the inside is at least ten times as big as the outside of the structure. Or that’s just the way of magic. The foreign magic in my stomach is the calmest it’s been.

Harek stops walking, and I bump into him. He doesn’t seem to notice as he pulls out a book so black it seems to suck in the colors around it. The gold lettering is almost too bright to look at compared to the rest of it.

“Is that a hunter book?” I ask, even though it’s obvious it is. That’s what we’ve been scouring the library for, and the only reason Harek would stop.

He nods and hands it toward me.

My breath hitches. Am I ready to find out my legacy?