His long fingers capture my face, cradle my cheeks. “She’d sell them. There are people in the world who would pay a lot of money for even one of these.”
I swallow and peek past him to where Roan has claimed the seat Kellen evacuated. He picks up the same book and continues shredding the pages.
“That isn’t for us to decide.” I lift my gaze to his face. “Those are her mother’s things. It’s her choice —”
“These are not fairytales, little one. They are a collection of evil bound together by idiots who thought they could control things beyond their comprehension. Nothing good will ever come from them.”
I want to argue that that isn’t our call to make, but the fire screams. Or something in the fire does. It wails as the edges of the paper curl and blacken. As thick smoke coils into the room like a claw.
Kellen grabs my arm and pulls me behind him as Lukan chucks the entire book in after the pages. The leather-bound tome smacks into the logs and falls open.
And the thing howls.
The spine snaps in half, bowing backwards as if in agony. It flutters and thrashes, reminding me of a bird caught in an open flame. The beautiful loops of ink darken as the fire falls across it. As it bites and gnaws the edges.
And the book screams the most unholy sound. A desperate howl of pain that cuts straight through me.
“Save it!” I cry, heart frantic as the book rolls and burns. “Get it out.”
Kellen turns and grabs me before I can sprint forward and do it myself.
“No, Rina. That thing is not real.”
I stare wide-eyed from him to the twitching book now nearly entirely consumed. “What do you mean? Listen to it. It’s ... it’s in so much pain.”
Kellen’s face softens when my voice breaks and tears well.
“No, little one.” He smooths a stray tear with his thumb. “It wants you to think that so it can pull you in with it. Creatures like that live in fire and darkness. It feels nothing.”
I try to grasp what he means. What he’s trying to tell me, but the words don’t make sense.
None of this does, I realize as the screaming slows to the whistle of a tea kettle. That, too, stops when Roan stabs it with a poker and scatters the book into ashes.
I’m breathing hard and I don’t know why. It’s like I was running up a hill but now I can’t remember why.
“I don’t understand...” I stare at the fire and the charred remains of all the books left behind. “What was that? What just happened?”
Kellen moves me away from the hearth and the single-minded focus of his brother’s destroying the last handful.
“Don’t worry about that.” He turns me to face him. His hold is gentle, but firm on my upper arms. “Are you okay?”
I have to think about that.
Ever since my arrival, nothing has made any sense. I know I keep avoiding them, but I’ve reached a point where I don’t think I can anymore.
“No,” I snap, voice tangled with all the emotions bubbling up in my chest. “I don’t know what’s going on. From the moment I arrived here...”
I break off because I don’t even know where to start. There’s been so much and yet, I feel like maybe I’m overreacting. Everything so far can be explained, and my brain is more than capable of helping me fool myself, except over the book.
“That book screamed ... like a person.”
There.
I said it.
I voiced the crazy thought in my head because everyone know, books don’t scream when you set them on fire. It’s not possible. Yet, I know they heard it because...
“You said,creatures like that live in fire and darkness. It feels nothing.”I take a step away from him to really see him. “What did you mean? What was that thing?”
