Page 35 of Monsters in the Museum

Chapter eleven

The text on the screen of Nora’s laptop blurred as she tried to work, drafting a manuscript about the discoveries she had made from the sword and spear, frustrated that her findings didn’t sound as impressive as she had anticipated. Adam’s sources and notes had given her many insights, but as she tried to pull her thoughts together, some puzzle pieces seemed to be missing. She had hoped training with Ezra would help her fill in the gaps on how the weapons were wielded, but they had still only worked on hand-to-hand combat, not giving her any information she could apply to her work. All she had to show for her time was a tapestry of bruises, and her chest burned when she thought about how she had let the Eteria distract her from work so much. Two months ago, she would have gotten this manuscript written in a matter of weeks. Now, with all the time she spent at the Sanctuary, and how exhausted she was when she got home, her progress had slowed to a pitiful crawl.

She glared at the pile of Adam’s notebooks and texts to her left, as if they were to blame for her frustration. Staring at them, a memory from Adam’s office echoed in her mind: mentions of a library at the Sanctuary. He had offered to take her there to help with her research.

Her stomach performed a piece of gymnastics somewhere between a flip and a twist at the idea. After her expedition to Adam’s office at Northwestern, she had made a point to avoid him, telling herself she was relieved that he never met her after work or sought her out in the courtyard with Ezra.

She needed to keep her distance, lest she forget that his professor persona was just that. Although, it hadn’t stopped her tired mind from occasionally wandering to some illicit library fantasies when the exhaustion from Ezra’s training got the better of her.

Nora’s desk chair rolled back so hard it clattered into the desk behind her, as she stood with a huff. She would have apologized for the noise, but nobody else was in the office, as it was a Saturday.

She didn’t need Adam to go to the Sanctuary. She could find the library in the Sanctuary without him.

A short while later, Nora marched up the path to the front doors of the Sanctuary, anxious to begin her search for the great library. She wandered the vast halls for a few minutes, wondering if she should start her search near the training courts, or if she should attempt to find her way back over to the area where she had located the armory.

A commotion of some sort around the corner from where she had been walking distracted her from her thoughts. Curious, she followed the sounds and peeked around a pillar toward the source.

In the hallway gathered a small crowd of people, mostly dressed in green but with a flash of blue and purple here and there. She stared in surprise at the sight, realizing that she hadn’t seen anybody else in the Sanctuary before. She had known that other people must live here, but she had only ever seen Thad and Ezra, as well as Adam, Antony, and Seraphina, on that first day.

At the center of the group, she caught a glimpse of two men carrying a stretcher between them. There was a person on the stretcher wearing navy blue, and the men quickly carried it through a door into what she assumed was one of the numerous bedrooms. As she watched, Nora recognized Thad following behind the stretcher, a deep furrow between his brows. The expression struck Nora as especially dire on his normally cheerful visage.

Once the door was closed, Nora examined the other people in the dispersing group and recognized Seraphina. She was in a green peplos as before, and despite the apparent gravity of the current situation, Nora couldn’t help but take a moment to admire the way the fabric effortlessly dripped off the woman, and she could just make out the tattoo encircling her left bicep in the image of a peacock feather. Seraphina had even braided a silver cord into her golden hair. She’d been rude to Nora when they first met, but Nora had to admit that the woman had style.

Nora stepped out from behind the pillar and waved to get Seraphina’s attention.

Seraphina sneered. “Oh, it’s you.” Although she stood a head shorter than Nora, she still somehow managed to look down her nose at her.

Ignoring the hostility in her voice, Nora asked, “What’s going on?”

Seraphina’s perfectly arched brows rose. “What’s going on? We are at war is what is going on.”

“Oh,” Nora stammered, taken aback. She knew the Eteria fought the Shadow, but nobody had put it quite that bluntly.

“Another one of our Defenders was just injured trying to protect your city.” Seraphina made the statement sound accusatory, as if Nora was personally responsible for everything that happened in Chicago.

“Why so many Shadows in Chicago?” Nora asked. While she certainly admitted that she lived in a world-class city, it seemed odd to Nora that the Shadow would be so prevalent there. There must be other cities for the Shadows to terrorize. In superhero movies, villains always seemed to target New York after all.

“It seems that an agent of the Shadow has taken up residence there. Why, we don’t know.”

Nora made a mental note to look up what Seraphina meant by ‘agent of Shadow’ when she got to the library. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Seraphina had turned to leave, but now whirled back to face Nora, her chin raised like a commanding queen. “You can help by staying out of the way.” The words hit Nora like a punch to the gut, but Seraphina continued ruthlessly. “People like you, prancing around thinking they know everything and acting like they can save the world, are what get people like us killed. If you want to help, just go home and leave the world saving to the experts.”

Before Nora could gather her thoughts to respond, Seraphina had turned back around in an elegant swirl of green cloth and marched off down the hallway. The way she held her head as she strode away made it clear why she had chosen a peacock feather as her tattoo.

Nora stood frozen in place for a few moments as she watched Seraphina turn down a side corridor. A slow heat started to pulse in her gut. It spread until her hands trembled, and her heart pounded in her ears so loud she couldn’t hear anything else.

How dare that woman imply that this was somehow Nora’s fault? Nora had been thrown into this after almost dying in an attack by the Shadows herself. And to suggest that Nora couldn’t help with all her expertise when it was her city that was endangered… While Nora may not have thousands of years’ worth of experience, she was no cowering damsel, and she knew how to grit her teeth and get things done. Nora stomped off with renewed determination, looking for the library.

Turning another corner, Nora found herself staring at a surrealist painting she didn’t recognize. This must be in an area of the Sanctuary she hadn’t come across before. She made her way down the quiet hall and glanced through the open doors she passed. After long minutes, her anger had abated into a mix of curiosity and concern. She began to doubt she would even be able to make it back out of the Sanctuary at this point, let alone find the library. As she peered through the last door in the hallway, she found a wall covered in bookshelves and sighed in relief.

Nora slid inside and was greeted by the scent of ginger and something warm that brought to her a fleeting image of her favorite cozy reading nook for late-night research. As she took a few deep breaths, she glanced around and was struck by the realization that she was not, in fact, in a library, but in a rather eclectically decorated bedroom.

It had been easy to mistake it for a library, with two of the walls completely covered in bookshelves, but the far wall was dominated by a gigantic four-poster bed with navy blue silk curtains. Nora squinted in curiosity as she spotted a cozy art deco-style armchair, upholstered in brown leather, situated next to the bed, as well as a white bearskin rug draped over the polished floor in front of an empty hearth.

Nora told herself that she shouldn’t be poking around in somebody else’s room, but the place just felt so full of personality that she drifted inside a few steps more. The bookshelves drew her further into the room to inspect. She found herself interested in what a person who decorated their room like this might like to read. While the shelves contained a plethora of books, they also housed a wide variety of knick-knacks. A dagger rested on a small cushion, no longer than her hand and simple in its design. On another shelf, she spied a locket, its oval face covered in swirling engravings with the letter “C” at the center.

“May I help you?”