Gellara pales.
“They’re saying you killed the shades.”
“I know what they’re saying, Gellara,” I snap and instantly regret it.
I run a hand across my brow.“I’m sorry.I didn’t mean it.Look, let’s just get out of here, before they break in.”
She nods but doesn’t raise her eyes to meet mine.
And the bitter monster in my gut slithers up my torso and strangles my throat.
14
Midnight
Twenty-four hours in the Great Library is enough to drive anyone to the brink of hysteria.And I am feeling the drain, an exhaustion settling in my muscles that no amount of caffeine, sleep nor sustenance is getting rid of.
Verrill, bless her demonic soul, even deigned to let us have a takeout in her office at one point because she couldn’t get us to leave.
“Hey, did you know moths—entropy ones, specifically—will eat literally anything?Like even a wraith or a person under certain circumstances.”
I chuck another book about Veilwalking on the table and get up.
“I’m done,” I announce.
Bastien leans back in his chair and scans me up and down.“This should be good.”
“You can’t be done.We don’t have a plan.”
“Then I’m going into the underworld without a plan.What I know is that I can’t sit here for another minute, I’m going to crawl out of my skin if I do.”
Lex puts her head in her hands.“Midnight, hun.Be real.Lucy doesn’t have a soul.How do you plan to get her through a Veil tear?”
I point an accusing finger at her about to tell her to stop being such a pessimist when I stop and cock my head at her.
“What did you just say?”
She frowns.“Lucy doesn’t have a soul?”
“No.The other bit.”
“Umm.How do you plan to get her through a Veil tear?”
My eyes bug out of my head.I throw myself over the table, grab Lex’s face and drop a giant smooch on her forehead.“You little fucking genius, you.”
I scramble off the table and break into a run.
“WAIT,” Bastien says.
I throw a glance over my shoulder and the pair of them are tidying the books.
Lex flings her hands in the air and throws all the scrolls and books in a pile.
“I’ll clean it when we get back, Prof.Sorry!”she bellows in the general direction of Verrill’s office.
The professor sticks her head out of her room and scowls at us.“Come back here at once!”.
I am long gone, letting the library door swing shut behind me as I power walk to Finis Tower.
