Silence. Awkward, heavy silence that presses in on me from all directions.
I’m so mixed up inside, so fucking twisted over him and Baz and everything I’m supposed to do.
I look into his eyes, letting him see the hurt in mine.
The love.
“Kirin, the other night, when you said you were falling? The truth is, I think I’m—”
“I should get home,” he says dismissively, and even though I feel the regret in his energy, the pain, and yes, the love, it still stings. He reaches up to touch my shoulder, but just gives it an awkward pat instead.
And then he disappears down the path, leaving me with a head full of questions and a heart full of swords.
* * *
Up in the archives, I throw myself completely into the work, blocking out all other distractions. All other pains.
I keep going back to the authoress book—Journey to the Void of Mist and Spirit. There’s something here, I’m certain of it, but I can’t seem to crack the code. I flip through each page, noticing again how the odd, broken language is written a lot like my mothers grimoire, with thoughts that go nowhere, as if the sentences are literally chasing their conclusions off the page.
Frustrated, I flip back to the original translations Kirin and I worked on our first few days here, reading one of them aloud—the one from my dream.
Book of shadow, book of mists.
What magick draws, you won’t resist
Death to those who shun its call
Where one shall rise, the others fall
Book of shadow, book of mists
The truth emerges from the myths
Flame and blood and blade and bone
What starts with zero ends with one.
Book of shadow, book of mists. Book of shadow, book of mists. I look through my notes, my journal, scanning over my Tarot reading again. All those twos.
Book of shadow, book of mists.
Book of shadows. A witch’s grimoire. My mother’s grimoire.
Twos.
The broken, missing-pieces language.
Two.
Book of shadow, book of…
Wait. That’sit! Two! Fucking two!
My heart hammers in my chest, and I flip through my notes once more, the idea taking shape, excitement and adrenaline flooding my limbs.
I’m out of my chair, racing back downstairs, back to my suite.
All along, I kept thinking it was one book—the Book of Shadow and Mists. Even Professor Phaines indicated as much—It’s said that the Book of Shadow and Mists will unlock the arcane spells protecting the sacred objects, thereby making their secret location known to the caster…
