“We should look at them all, just in case.”
No one argued with Tucker as we steadily made our way around the room, carefully reading over the titles on the leather-bound books.The rich smells of leather and parchment permeated the air, and at any other time, I would have enjoyed examining the tomes more closely.
The creaking of the ladders Callan and Tucker used for the higher shelves and the crackle of our lightning were the only sounds in the room.Occasionally, someone would open a book and rifle through the pages, but no one spoke.
As we made our way around the room, we approached a red fireplace with the remnants of burnt logs still heaped within.Two armchairs sat beside the fireplace; one was a vibrant yellow, while the other was a pale pink.
A shirt sat on each chair while pants and a skirt had fallen to settle around the different boots.A book lay on top of one of the shirts while another book sat on the table beside the yellow chair.
We had to leave this town before we turned to ash too, but we couldn’t leave without searching for answers.Still, I could feel the pendulum of death grazing my neck as it swung steadily lower.
When I placed my palm against my nape, I half expected to feel the lethal kiss of steel against my hand, but while the clock ticked toward doom, that time hadn’t arrived yet.We’d have no warning when it did, just like these poor bastards.
Hopefully, we’d be gone by the time it did.
To the right of the fireplace was a row of shelves lined with rolled parchments.When we stopped before the shelves, I lifted my hands to examine the scrolls.
“It’s going to take time to read through all of these,” Tucker said.
“Can we take them with us somehow?”Ianto asked.
“I don’t see how,” I said.
Scarlet and Callan came to stand with us while Ellery remained by the pink chair.Her head tilted as she examined the scrolls.
“If we all do it, maybe we can get through them in a few hours,” Ellery said.
“What time is it?”I asked.
Ianto removed his watch from his pocket.“Almost three.”
“We’ll never get through all these scrolls, this town, and back to the gargoyles in time to leave the temple tonight.”
“We did tell the others there was a chance we wouldn’t return tonight,” Tucker said.“They won’t start worrying about us for at least another day or two.”
That was true, but I didn’t like being trapped here for so long.That steel blade of death was descending steadily lower.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have much of a choice.We’d already spent this much time down here; we couldn’t walk away now.
“The books are all fiction, so if there’s any answers, they’ll be in this parchment,” Tucker said.
“Let’s hope so,” Ellery murmured.
Tucker rolled one of the ladders into place and climbed to the top to pull down the upper row.He lowered them down to the others before joining us.
CHAPTERFIFTY-SEVEN
Ellery
We carriedthe scrolls of parchment out to a sitting room we’d discovered during our explorations.The colorful chairs and sofas allowed us to gather near the windows, which provided plenty of the pulsing light to read.Ryker and I extinguished our lightning before we each claimed a roll.
It didn’t take long to discover the parchments were all fiction too.They contained tales of giants, monstrous creatures, grand adventures in foreign realms, pirates, and princesses, all told in neat handwriting.
Because of their fictional contents, we breezed through the numerous parchments far faster than anticipated.By four o’clock, our stomachs were rumbling, and we’d finished the parchments.
One good thing about spending the past hours focused on the scrolls was I’d mostly forgotten all about the stone and its effect on me.I was pretty sure I could stand next to Ryker again without feeling overwhelmed by lust.
When we finished the last parchments, we rolled them up and restored them to their rightful places.With no one here to notice, we could have left them out, but it didn’t feel right to do so.
