“I think I have the one,” Siona said. “Though you’re lucky. There’s only two copies left.”
Siona and Kiara went down another aisle. I went to follow, but something caught my eye.
It was an old book— covered in so much dust I couldn’t read the spine. It was purple velvet, and had rusting golden clasps. I took it down off the shelf and dusted it off, coughing as I did so.
The title was written in a language I didn’t know, though it wasn’t Malovian. It wasn’t like any language I’d ever seen— scrawling letters in a pretty, ornate cursive font. I opened the book, and the sound of crinkling, antique parchment with worn edges hit my ear. This book was super old. It could’ve come from the Middle Ages. I turned the crinkling pages and saw paragraphs of the same strange language, although there were ornate drawings of winged Marked and Companions within.
The book looked like it’d been handwritten, not printed, the drawings done by a skilled artist with a quill. They were so beautiful. I pressed the book to my chest. I didn’t know why, but I had to have it. The sketches inside were so pretty.
Siona was ringing Kiara up at the cash register. “Hey, how much for this?” I asked, putting the book on the shelf. Kiara sneezed as dust from it rose into the air.
“That old thing? You can have it.” Siona wrinkled her nose. “It’s been sitting on the shelf for ages, and nobody’s bought it. I don’t even remember purchasing it for the shop.”
“Wow, really? Thanks,” I said, pressing the book to my chest.
She laughed. “Don’t thank me. I should be thanking you for taking that old tome off my hands. Now I can put something in its place that’ll actually sell.”
Siona put the old book and our two new textbooks into an eco-friendly bag and handed them to Kiara. “So, how’s old battle-ax Korva treating you girls?”
Kiara’s face fell. I knew she didn’t want to tell her sister what Korva had said to her. “Just about as well as an old battle-ax would.”
“I thought so.” Siona’s expression was grim. “I wasn’t fond of her either when I was in school. I’ve enchanted the stone griffin outside to vomit on her if she tries to come near my shop.”
Kiara and I laughed. We waved farewell to Siona, and began the walk back up to the university.
As the city turned into heavy woodland, Kiara gave a shiver. “Something doesn’t feel right.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. What was it with Arcanea andfeelings?
“I don’t know.” She bit her lip and looked down. “I can’t put my finger on it. But my stomach’s churning. Like something bad is going to happen.”
Just that very moment, the two of us heard screaming. It sounded like it was coming from a bird in distress— a very large one.
“Someone’s in trouble,” Kiara said. Her face had gone pale. “Come on.”
She ran into the woods, following the sound of the voice. “Kiara!” I shouted. I had to rush to keep up. My breath soon came in labored gasps. Shit, she was fast, and my energy wasn’t what it used to be. “Slow down, will you?”
She didn’t listen. She stopped far up ahead of me, where it looked like things dropped off over a cliff. I skidded beside her and looked down. Below us was a ravine, a nearly-vertical twenty-foot drop that ended in a canyon that was circular in formation.
A griffin had fallen down the ravine. His feathers were gold, and he was in a curled-up position on the ground, his right wing bent at the wrong angle as if broken. He tried to flap his wings to fly, but it only resulted in blood gushing from the gaping wound. He couldn’t go anywhere, nor could he climb the ravine. He was trapped. Kiara observed him in stark terror.
I cupped my hands around my mouth. “Hey! Are you okay?”
The griffin’s eyes widened when he saw us. I realized he was the same one I’d accidentally bumped into outside the train station weeks ago. “Don’t come down here!” he shouted. “It’s not safe!”
We saw what he meant when a large, hairy spider ventured out of the cave at the bottom of the ravine. It was huge, with large pinchers and dozens of beady red eyes. Venom dripped from the pinchers as it approached the griffin. The spider drew near. The griffin swung his talons at the spider, hissing at it to back off. The spider retreated, but only a short distance away. It was biding its time to attack until the griffin passed out from blood loss.
“Hold on down there! We’re going to get you help!” I shouted. “What’s your name?”
“Alexei! And hurry!” he called back. “I don’t think I can hold out much longer!”
The spider attacked again. Alexei lashed out with his beak and struck at it, causing a wound. The spider backed away again, but the effort to wound the insect had made Alexei weak. He transformed into a man, though he remained on all fours and struggled to breathe.
I worried if we went back together and left Alexei alone, he’d be dead when we returned. I didn’t know what to do. But no mind, because Kiara made up my mind for me.
“He’ll be eaten alive!” Kiara shouted. She dropped the bag of books. “You go back, Emma. I have to do something.”
Before I could grab her, Kiara slid down the ravine. She landed on the ground and ran to Alexei, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You need to stay conscious. If you pass out, it’ll be the end for you.”
