Page 78 of Fall into Place

After a couple of wrong turns—one down a trick passageway with doors that all led back to each other and took Tess the better part of an hour to get out of, another into a room that looked like an operating theater but was lavishly appointed in brocade and velvet and definitely seemed like an Eyes Wide Shut situation—Tess finally found what she was looking for.

The compound’s library wasn’t a room, exactly—more like a giant glass terrarium that housed an elaborate treehouse. Except “treehouse” was far too reductive: This was a self-contained tree city, with at least twenty towering oaks whose long boughs twisted and intertwined to provide a kind of webbing, on which there were dozens of wooden platforms, each about the size of a small room, filled with bookshelves and tables and comfortable chairs. An intricate system of stairways and ladders connected the various platforms; it would take hours to explore them all. The whole place had a twinkle-lit glow—there were fairy lights strung through the branches and lamps with jewel-bright stained glass shades on every table—all of which reflected in the glass enclosing the library and the trees outside the room.

“Oh my god,” Tess said aloud. She quickly looked to see if anyone else was here—the last thing she wanted was to be trapped in a labyrinth fifty feet off the ground with a vampire who fancied a snack. But the library was totally silent except for the soft rustle of leaves.

Tess wasn’t sure how she could possibly navigate all these books—finding one that had the exact information she needed seemed utterly improbable. But when she ascended the staircase to the first platform, just a few feet off the ground, she discovered it held several plush wingback chairs and a card catalogue. She opened a few drawers at random to see what topics they held, including “Crusades, role of vampires in” and “Garlic, common myths regarding,” before she found the card for “Portals, properties of.” On the card’s back side, there was a whole list of books, many of which were in languages Tess couldn’t understand. She decided to start with a philosophical text on dimensional theory, a memoir of a time traveler, and a compendium of gems that could be used to enhance other forms of magic (which she didn’t expect to be all that useful, but it sounded fun). Each book listed on the card had a corresponding platform number. The platforms were arranged in a haphazard spiral pattern, and each platform had a small wooden post with a gold plaque engraved with its respective number. So Tess took her card and got to climbing.

As breathtaking as the library was when she walked through the door, it was somehow even better once she started making her way up the platforms. Each one was different, reflective of the books it housed: The carved wooden chairs in the Egyptology section were inlaid with gold hieroglyphics, while the section on common remedies for vampire ailments was its own small greenhouse filled with herbs for various tinctures. The gemology section felt like being inside a giant geode, every surface spiky with glittering crystals. And all of it felt like floating through a forest, rich with the scents of pine, soft leather, and ancient books.

It was Tess’s idea of heaven—and it made her miss Columbia so badly her chest throbbed with a dull ache.

She remembered how it felt those first few weeks at school, the outrageous notion of being paid (an absolute pittance, but paid nevertheless) to spend her days surrounded by scholarship on all her favorite topics. It was ironic that she was in this library trying to figure out how to get back to New York when she’d come to the Isle in the first place because she was desperate to escape. She’d been terrified when she saw Rick at Joni’s party—but was he scarier than the vampires in this place? More frightening than standing up to Tristan or staking Althea in the gut? Was some golden boy with a rich dad enough of a threat to keep Tess from living the life she’d worked so hard for, the future she’d dreamed of?

After hours in the library, Tess found all the books she was looking for, but she didn’t feel any closer to understanding the portal she’d seen in the moonflower meadow (let alone how to re-create it). The philosophical text was too dense to parse; the time-traveling memoirist used objects from the past to create his portals, which was interesting—maybe something Tess had brought with her from New York could help to create a portal to get back there? She’d have to see if she could find another book to confirm that theory. The compendium of gems was, as expected, more fun than it was useful. It had gorgeous illustrations of fabulous jewels that could be used to enhance all kinds of spells, but the only one it mentioned for portal magic was a rare snowflake obsidian mined exclusively in Antarctica, which reminded Tess of the dome she’d walked through back in Brooklyn to get to Bar Between. But Tess thought it rather unlikely they’d find any on the Isle. (Glamoured or otherwise man-made stones, Tess learned from the book, were of no use for magic, because they lacked the inherent properties of the places from which they were mined.)

Tess’s stomach growled—Sylvie’s pastries were delicious, but she needed a proper meal. She carried her books to Callum’s rooms, feeling increasingly nervous as she walked down the compound’s empty hallways. She wanted so badly for him to be better. She wanted herself to be better too.

But when she knocked on his door, no one answered.

“Sylvie?” she called softly, not wanting to wake Callum if he was sleeping. “Callum, are you in there?”

When there was no response, she gently tried the door handle, and it opened right up. The room was empty, but there was a note on the desk scrawled in Callum’s slapdash writing:

Tess—Meet us in the great room. C.

Tess knew that vampires made fast recoveries, but had Callum really gotten better so quickly that he could already leave his room? She hurried down the hall, hoping everything was all right. She wondered if Nantale had called a clan meeting, and if so, what it was about—maybe news had spread about the crystal bridge? But when Tess made it to the great room, she saw something different entirely.

Two dozen vampires were there, all yelling at one another.

“I am not rude!” Angelique huffed. “I’m truthful, god, there’s a difference!”

“At least you’re described at all!” Hamish looked on the brink of tears. “I’m only mentioned in an aside, Angelique. An aside!!”

Every single one of the vampires was holding a copy of Blood Feud.

“Oh my god.” Tess had to stifle a laugh. “Are they—is this—?”

“Welcome to vampire book club.” Callum appeared beside her, a snide grin playing on his lips. “Shall I fetch you a chardonnay?”

Chapter 19

Snapchat transcript: “It’s giving tragedy” group thread

Zoe: Omg what’s going on with Prof. Chaudhari

Rebecca: Is she sick???? She looks DEAD

Rob: Dude she’s been out of it for like a week

Rob: She has a new boyfriend, bet

Jessica: Ok in the first place are you blind she’s g-a-y

Jessica: Second place yeah she’s down bad for someone

Rob: So you’re saying I was right??

Jessica: I would never say that