Page 30

Chapter 30

The Pagemaster

VANESSA

“T here’s always something that can be done.” Oracle speaks for the first time, their eyes never leaving the contents of the cauldron. “We can remove the essence from her body, which will make it impossible for her to move onto another reincarnation after death.”

“That would kill her, Oracle,” Lilith says drily, her lips softening as she gazes at them. “I think we’re trying to avoid any options that end in death.”

“We can keep her here in the Shadow Realm where her life can be extended.”

Mags looks at me and I shake my head. “I don’t think she wants to live here forever. Besides, she’s human. The Shadow Realm would eventually grate on her, and at some point she would descend into madness and probably kill herself.” At my horrified expression, she adds, “Humans don’t do well here in the long term.”

“What I am trying to say, my youthful companions, is that there are always options.” Oracle finally looks at us. I gasp as a pair of blank silver eyes with no pupils examines me. “Some are bad, some are not, but there’s always something.”

Mags bumps me with her arm and says in a whisper, “Trust an oracle to say nothing while sounding important.”

“Respect, daughter,” Lilith snaps. “Listen to their words and you might learn something.”

“Come here, child,” Oracle says, holding out their hand.

“Who? Me?” Mags asks, looking around.

“Probably me.” I step past Mags, placing my hand in Oracle’s.

I should be more cautious in trusting these people, but Keenan and his brothers have prepared me to trust Mags. And she trusts these people. Maybe I’m desperate for a cure, but even if all the witches can do is give me more time with Keenan, I’ll take it.

The Oracle’s hand is dry and wrinkled, papery, but also warm. Comforting. They squeeze my fingers. “This is no deal with the devil, child. We have brought you here to help you because it was one of ours that put you in this position. When Lyra Guardian Witch cast the original spell on the wolf princes, her magic had far-reaching consequences. There are rules in our world about how our magic impacts humans. We must do only good if we want to stay on the right side of the natural order.”

Mags clears her throat. “Oracle is really into Law and Order.”

“Indeed,” Oracle says. “There must be both for the universe to work without chaos. Now, child, I need your blood.”

“My what?” I try to tug my hand away, but Oracle is fast. They snatch a knife from their belt and prick my finger. “Ouch, that hurt!” I pull my hand away, examining it. It’s a tiny cut, smaller even than the wolf bite, but it’s my blood and with all this talk about law and order, I really think they should’ve asked first.

Oracle dips the tip of the knife into the black liquid in the cauldron, which sizzles and snaps. When Oracle makes a twirling motion with their finger, the liquid contents swirl energetically, throwing off sparks of light. “I think that should do it.” They dip a tube into the cauldron, scooping up some of the liquid, then dribble a couple of drops onto a slide. “Let’s have a look.”

I follow as they step up to the most complicated microscope I’ve ever seen. There are knobs and dials all over it and it’s so tall, Oracle has to use a step ladder to look through the scope. “I should be able to see the elements of the reincarnation spell binding to the blood cells… wait… what?” Oracle adjusts a knob, then gasps. “This can’t be right.”

Mags and Lilith huddle next to me and we barely dare to breathe as we wait for Oracle to speak.

“Shifter,” Oracle says, lifting their head to pin me with those strange silver eyes. “You have shifter blood.”

I’m too stunned to say anything.

They step off the stool and grip my hand, pulling me to another table. “I’ll need a cell sample.”

“Oh… no…” I back away, but their hold is unbreakable, which is odd considering they look like a tiny, old person. “Isn’t there a form I should sign?”

Picking up a swab, they thrust it into my open mouth, scraping my cheek.

“Ouch!” They let go of my arm and I jump back.

Bustling back to the microscope, they smear the swab on a slide and thrust the slide under the lens. Climbing the step ladder, they look through the lens. “Hmm, this is interesting. Extremely rare. Mythical even.” They adjust a dial, gasping again before swinging their astonished gaze to me. “There is indeed shifter genetic information in your deoxyribonucleic acid molecules. Theoretically possible, but there has been no evidence of humans carrying these characteristics before now.” Her eyes move to Lilith. “You have your answer, Lilith Guardian Witch. The child is a latent shifter.”

Mags grips my arm. “So she’s immortal then, right? She’s not going to die?”

“No,” Lilith says. “If she were immortal, then her reincarnations wouldn’t have died.” A frown wrinkles her brow. “We need to figure out how the curse connects with the reincarnations and if that has anything to do with Vanessa’s latent shifter blood.”

“So am I a shifter, or not?” I’m very confused and a little freaked out by what I’ve learned so far. “I’ve never had the urge to turn into anything nonhuman.”

“This is something new,” Oracle murmurs, moving around me, examining me like I’m a lab specimen. “Dangerous magic for sure.” They give Lilith a significant look. “Too volatile to remain in the Citadel. She’ll have to go back to Earth.”

“But she’ll die!” Mags cries, the concern in her voice warming me. “We have to find a way to stop the cycle.” Her voice cracks. “If we don’t, we’ll lose both Vanessa and Keenan. It’ll destroy the Wolven-North family.”

“Human death is inevitable,” Oracle says dismissively. “It is part of the natural order.”

Mags looks like she wants to argue but it’s Lilith who intervenes, her tone gently chiding. “My darling Oracle, we must do more for her. We are magical creatures; we make miracles happen all the time. This problem is simply more complicated than we’re used to.” She lifts the Oracle’s hand to her lips, kissing their knuckles. “Lyra Guardian Witch was family. When she cast that spell, she embroiled both the Wolven-North family and mine in a centuries-long curse.”

“And the perpetrator of the curse has been punished,” Oracle says in monotone. “We have done our duty to the recipients of the curse.”

“Yet the damage continues to cause harm,” Lilith steps closer to Oracle.

I feel like a voyeur as an intimate moment unfolds between the two. Lilith runs her fingers down Oracle’s cheek. “I must help them, for the sake of my daughter, for the sake of her friends. And for the sake of my future grandchild. This curse must be lifted and the reincarnation spell dealt with.” She bends, pressing her forehead to the Oracle’s. “Please help, my love. We need your wisdom to see our way through.”

Oracle let’s out a breath and their tone has a hint of humor to it. “This is why Oracle’s don’t date. It affects our impartiality.”

Lilith grins, kissing them. “You can’t resist me.” She deepens the kiss and I decide the linoleum floor is more interesting.

Under her breath, Mags says, “So gross. Get a room.”

“So is the Oracle like your stepparent or something?” I say softly, then realize my curiosity might be rude and add, “You don’t have to answer.”

“Not really,” Mags replies with a shrug. “They’re my mom’s partner, but otherwise just an Oracle.”

“I don’t know what that means.” I felt horribly out of my element in Wolf-Haven and now I’m feeling the same sensation in the Shadow Realm.

“It means Oracle is the ultimate in impartial.” At my blank look, she adds, “Not really parent material. No Christmas presents, no birthday cards, no family pictures.”

“What about your dad?” Do witches even have fathers? Maybe the question is too personal.

She answers though. “My dad is a warlock and warlocks tend to be dangerous to everyone but themselves, and even themselves sometimes. I’ve never met him.”

I glance at her. “I’ve never met my dad either.”

Oracle breaks away from Lilith. “Perhaps that is where your shifter blood comes from. Come, we must scour the archives for information on latent shifter blood among humans. It’s not something I’ve heard of before, but I suppose I might not know everything.” They sound offended by the idea.

They open the door to the laboratory and leave. We look at each other and rush after them. “Does Vanessa need to be here for this?” Lilith asks Oracle, catching up to them. “She shouldn’t be in the Citadel any longer than she needs to be. We have no idea how the Shadow Realm will affect someone with both shifter and human blood.”

“Indeed,” Oracle agrees. “We won’t keep her long, but we may need a few more samples.”

I shake my head vigorously at the idea and Mags whispers, “Probably just a hair or nail clipping. Don’t worry, we hardly ever need body parts.”

“What?” I gasp and she cackles, skipping ahead.

We make our way to the elevator bank, which feels like a marathon walk given how long the corridors are. The building must be magical because it doesn’t look wide enough from the outside. “Are the archives in this building?” I ask as we stop at the elevator.

“Of course not.” Oracle pushes the button for the lobby. “There’s not nearly enough room here to house the entirety of the archives.”

“How big are they?” I look at Mags who grins back.

“Bigger than you can imagine.”

The archives are located several bridges away from the laboratory building, stored in what looks like an erupting volcano. “Mind the lava flows,” Oracle warns as we make our way across the bridge leading to the mouth of the volcano. Heat blasts me as we follow a spiral staircase which winds down into the center.

My heart pounds with fear and my mind is racing. I’m inside an erupting volcano! Unharmed! “Are the archives located here for security?” I ask. “Because no one in their right mind would descend into an erupting volcano?”

“Why ever not?” Mags asks, surprised. “There are some incredible magical properties in lava.” She leans over, muttering something as she captures a sample in a glass vial that appears in her hand.

With excitement, I reach for the lava flow, assuming it must be safe to touch. Lilith drags me back, narrowing her eyes at her daughter. “Stop showing off and mind your human before she kills herself.” Lilith lets me go and continues after Oracle.

Shame-faced, Mags says, “Sorry. She’s right. I like to dazzle when I can and humans are easy to get a reaction out of. I used a spell to make my hand indestructible when I touched the lava.”

I smile at her. “I like to dazzle people too.” Pointing at the sample in her hand, I ask, “What are you going to do with that?”

“Dragon conjuring spell,” she says, grinning. “Only Rage Witches can do it, and dragons are so rare, I want to find out if there’s any left.”

“There’s at least one,” I tell her.

“Girls!” Lilith’s sharp tone has us quickly descending into the bowels of the volcano. The lava flows around us but doesn’t touch the stairs or the corridor at the bottom, which leads us deeper into the volcano.

“Never go that way,” Oracle points at another passage.

I peer curiously down the cave-like hallway. “Why?”

“It ends rather abruptly in a magma lake,” Lilith answers, then indicates a set of golden double doors labelled in glowing letters: Bibliothecam Magicam Ordinem.

Mags leans in to whisper, “Library of the Magical Order.”

As we walk through the doors, I’m awestruck as I gape at an endless room filled with hundreds, maybe even thousands, of bookshelves. At the center, a cracking fireplace reaches up several stories, a cauldron the size of a car sitting atop the dancing flames.

The archives look like a disorganized mess with books covering tables, parchment paper littering almost every inch of the floor, and books and shelves moving constantly, but I don’t think it is disorganized. I think it’s probably the best library I’ve ever seen. Books fly around the room with purpose, landing on shelves while others unshelve themselves and fly to a series of tubes before being sucked into one.

I’m pulled from my musing as Oracle announces, “I’ll need someone in the shifter section, while the others cross-reference with reincarnation and mating curses. We need all hands, so let’s get moving.”

“I’ll take shifters,” Mags announces, skipping away before disappearing behind a moving shelf that I very much hope doesn’t crush her.

“I’ll take reincarnation,” Lilith mutters. “Maybe I missed something.” She steps into a shadowed alcove, snapping her fingers with purpose. Several books unshelve themselves and float after her.

Oracle looks at me and I say, “I guess that leaves me with mating curses?” They beam as if I’m a show dog performing the correct trick and points at a set of stairs leading to a labyrinth of bridges, enabling researchers to reach the higher shelves.

I glance over my shoulder, hoping to see Mags but the two witches and Oracle have disappeared. I’m on my own. I climb the metal stairs, wondering how I’ll know when I reach the right section. As soon as the thought leaves my head, golden glowing footsteps appear on the stairs in front of me, leading me up to another level.

I follow them. “You know where I need to go, don’t you?” I ask, then laugh out loud as I realize I’m talking to a library. “Are you alive? Is that how you know where I’m going?” A book flies out from the shelf in front of me, and I’m forced to stop walking as it opens in midair, the pages fluttering like a deck of cards.

It stops at a page and a particular line is highlighted. Alive: having life; living; existing; not dead or lifeless.

Assuming the library is talking to me, I say tentatively, “So you’re alive because you’re definitely not lifeless.”

The pages move again, stopping on another highlighted line. Life: the condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms, being manifested by growth through metabolism, reproduction, and the power of adaptation to environment through changes originating internally.

“I see what you’re saying. You’re alive but you don’t meet the definition of life because you aren’t organic and you probably can’t reproduce.”

The book wiggles in what looks like it might be a nod.

I run my finger over the entire definition of life. “You might not meet the definition of the noun for life, but you do have the required characteristics for the adjective. You will last a lifetime and you’re animate.” The book stops moving, the glow from the highlights dimming. I’m not sure why, but I sense the library seems a little lost on its own sentience. I take hold of the book, closing it to look at the cover. “This is a dictionary written by humans for humans. It was created for… well, not you. These definitions are meant for people to understand the world around them. I suspect you are something beyond the comprehension of humans.”

The book wiggles in my hands and I release it. The pages flutter open and another definition is highlighted. Thank: to express gratitude, appreciation, or acknowledgment.

“You’re welcome.” I smile as the book replaces itself on the shelf and the glowing footsteps reappear.

I follow them to an alcove where they end at a desk with a chair. Several books sit atop the desk and as I watch, one of them opens to the table of contents.

“Are these for me?” The pages flutter, then settle on the table of contents once more. I take it as a yes and sit at the desk counting books. “Eight. That’s a lot of reading. I think the last book I read was a history of Monet’s artwork when I was sixteen.” After my mom passed away, there was no one to urge me to read.

A sound behind me has me twisting around and I groan as a stack of floating books settles on the edge of the desk. Glancing over the titles, all referencing mating curses, I confirm they’re for me. “This is going to be a long night.” One of the books opens in front of me, pages flipping before landing on a highlighted passage. Nice! The library is going to do my homework for me.

Caressing the page, I whisper, “Thanks.” The edge of the page wiggles and I start reading.