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I take a few deep breaths before looking over the titles again. Expand the breadth of my search. Double-check that I’m at the right row. Look up and down adjoining aisles.
Nothing. The book isn’t here.
Why in Hades is it gone? My heart pounds like a jackhammer, making it even harder to think. I check the time. I’m down to ten minutes before the spell wears off and I have to be out of here. Heir of the throne or not, I’m not a fourth-year. I can’t be seen here.
I race up and down each aisle, scanning the books. Look at the tables to see if anyone brought it out and left it.
Still nothing. It’s nowhere.
Am I imagining having found it in the first place? No, that’s not possible. Bash was here with me, and he was insistent that I wouldn’t have to kill my dad. He saw the book too. It’s not something I made up.
I glance at the clock. Three minutes. And that’s assuming the spell will last exactly one hour. It could wear off two minutes early or five minutes late. I have no idea, and Rudder didn’t tell me either way. And I promised him I wouldn’t ask for this favor again.
Frustration builds in my chest, and I want to punch something—or someone. Preferably whoever moved the book.
Earwyn and her dogfish swim by, whispering to each other.
I’d love to take my frustration out on her, but that wouldn’t be right. I glance at the books in their arms. Nothing I have any interest in.
Ninety seconds.
Everything spins around me. I race toward the door. My skin starts to glow, flickering like a candle flame. I’m going to be visible before I know it.
I swim faster and nearly crash into a guy from my weapons class. He stares at me, his eyes wide. I don’t know what he can see, but I’m not about to wait around and find out. With any luck, he thinks I’m a ghost and that he’s losing his mind.
Please be thinking that.
I hurry around him and throw open the door. Rush out into the hallway. Lean against a wall and slide to the ground. Struggle to breathe normally. My skin flickers again, then stops. Everything is back to normal. I’m probably visible again.
Mr. Brant rounds a corner and stares at me.
The spell has definitely timed out.
“Are you here to spar?” he asks.
I leap up. “Yeah, exactly. I forgot to sign up for a time and hoped someone would be here.”
He waves toward the weapons room. “You’re in luck. Koda just canceled on me. You’ll be sparring me today.”
“It’s my lucky day.” I force a smile and follow him in.
He rambles on about something, but I can’t pay attention. My heart is still racing from my close call. And my mind won’t shut up, trying to figure out what happened to the book about Queen Sirena. Did someone plant it there for me to find? Or did they take it away to mess with me? That’s more likely. There’s no way anybody would put a book in the fourth-year library, expecting me to find it. That’s actually pretty ridiculous. But then again, so is taking it so I can’t get to it. Unless the mystery person knew I was in there and read it.
But who? Only Rudder and Bash knew about that. Neither one of them would be behind it.
“You ready?” Mr. Brant’s question brings me back to the present.
“Yeah.” I grab the trident, then it warms and brightens at my touch.
“I still can’t get over that,” Mr. Brant says.
I turn to him, surprised. “You can’t?”
He shakes his head. “I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’ve been working with weapons for nearly a century.”
That throws me off for a moment. It’s easy to forget merpeople live longer than humans. He looks like he’s in his late thirties or early forties. “It’s odd for me too. Especially when you consider I grew up in a place without magic.”
His expression softens. “I’ve been waiting for so long, hoping one of my students would finally be chosen by the trident. I never imagined it would change your hair and glow like that.”
