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21
Raven
Matt seta stack of books down in front of me. “Have you seen these? I found them in a very neglected corner of the library. I had to wrestle a spider for them.”
I laughed and dragged the books toward me. “Thanks, Matt. But you should be focusing on your research. You’ve got your test before mine.”
He shrugged. “I’ve been studying this stuff for weeks now. And after what Zach said, it doesn’t sound like she’ll be quizzing us.”
“No, it doesn’t,” I said darkly. “I still can’t believe that the illusions were real enough to inflict actual injury.”
“Good thing mine’s a dream, right?” Matt said. “You can’t get hurt in a dream for real.”
“Luka did tell me something about danger if you were woken up from within a dream, though. So definitely don’t do that.” I pulled the top book from the stack and wiped the dust and cobwebs from it. Matt wasn’t kidding when he said he’d had to wrestle spiders. Sticky webs were all over the book. Trying not to overthink it, I wiped my hands on my jeans.
“I guess I should have talked with Luka about it,” Matt said. “But that felt weird.”
“How come?” I asked. “I mean, youhaveseen him naked. How weird could it be?”
He shrugged. “Most of us don’t want everyone to know what we’re capable of fully, you know? We’re taught to always hold some magic back in case we’re ever attacked for real.”
I remembered when Coach Miller had pushed Luka too far in gym. He’d done magic he wasn’t proud of. Magic that he didn’t want anyone to know about. But I was glad I knew and it helped me understand him better in a weird way.
“What are you hiding from me?” I asked Matt with a grin.
He leaned closer and his lips brushed against my ear. “Why don’t you come to that corner I found and find out?”
“With the spiders?” I asked. “No, thank you.”
“I’ll get rid of the spiders,” he said.
I cocked an eyebrow. “If you have magic that gets rid of spiders, that’s something I want to see.”
He stood and took hold of my hand, helping me up from my chair. I followed him through the shelves of books, past the librarian’s desk. She frowned at me while eyeing me over her glasses. Her mossy green hair moved as she shook her head. The things she must see - and ignore - in here.
We wove between tables dotted with other students who were studying for classes. Then we came to a staircase I’d never seen. “Has this always been here?”
“Who knows?” he said. “Every time I’m in here I see something different.”
We went down the twisting staircase into another level of the library. It was just as large as the space above and overflowing with books. A few tables were scattered around and a couple of students were working on various things. We walked past them and through the zig-zag disarray of shelves.
In an especially dark corner we sped up to get away from the group of students who were obviously not studying. A trail of clothing led away from them like breadcrumbs.
I stifled a giggle and we kept walking. Matt tugged my arm, dragging me toward an isolated little corner that was nearly fully dark.
“Is this the place?” I asked.
“Nice, right?” he asked.
“Yeah, if you’re looking for a place to build a nest for your hundreds of eggs.” I shuddered. I could see the webs clinging to books. It did look abandoned. We were surrounded by shelves on four sides with only a small entry way formed by a space between two shelves. It was very much like it had been done on purpose. Whoever set the shelves up here knew what they were doing.
“Just wait,” Matt said.
“You’ve got a minute,” I said as a shiver ran through me. I could almost feel the skitter of bugs on my skin. “This place is freaking me out.”
Matt let go of my hand and walked toward the center of the square space. “Watch this.” He grinned as he lifted his hands and a bright light shot out from his fingertips.
I closed my eyes against the initial shock of the light and then slowly blinked them back open. When I looked again, there was a shimmering transparent dome over the two of us. It filled the space around us right up against the book shelves.
