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“Hey, Xavier,” I said, holding back a giggle. Cordelia and Xavier! Xavier and Cordelia! I wassogetting the full scoop from her later. “I’ll keep your secret if you keep mine?”
He blinked.
“Goodnight,” I said lightly, walking in a different direction.
Thankfully, he didn’t follow.
* * *
The moon shonehigh in the night, illuminating the sky over the library. Stone arches lined the entrance to the massive building, taller than the tree line. The inside was all brick and stone; it was one of the first buildings built on campus. Only candles lit the inside, giving it a warm glow on a quiet night.
Arched semi-circles cut rays of moonlight into the otherwise stony stacks. My feet shuffled across ornate rugs as I perused the oak wood shelves for something to entertain me.
Flora:Wake up, house mouse!
Luna:Already up, your highness.
Flora:The oracle claims a beautiful creature will roam tonight. Wander around at midnight and find him. I need more info. What is he? How do you get rid of him? The safety of our campus is at risk. As is your place in it.
I gritted my teeth. Was that how all leaders lead? Exploiting young people's hard work for personal gain?
My fingers burned, each throbbing at the tip, like I’d drawn blood from each during my bargain with Flora. That must have been her way of encouraging me to get on it.
A marble statue of Athena stood in the center of the grand reading room, a tribute to the University’s location off the coast of Greece. She watched over me as I sought her level of wisdom among the supernatural tomes.
Where would one find a book on basic demon identification? I couldn’t exactly go and ask the late-shift librarian for help. I could hear my mother’s warning now.
Stay away from the dark side of magic. The unhoused demons remained on the other side of the veil for a reason. Only the corrupt and cowardly ran from justice.
My hands browsed through the tomes. All I had to go off were my memories. A three-legged raven. A ghastly pale man with dark eyes and darker shadows. What kinds of creatures were those?
Demons of the Sky. Demons of the Earth. Demons of Ancient Times. New-Age Demons. Demons Resembling Men. Aha!
I ripped it out, then slid deeper into the archives. I should read this in a secure location where I wouldn’t be easily spotted. It wasn’t forbidden to read it, but public distrust of the unhoused was at an all-time high following recent attacks. No need to shine a spotlight on me as a potential suspect. I’d already survived one interrogation with university police. I’d rather not go through another.
“Consider yourself prey,” my freshman orientation advisor had told me during move-in day, “because if any unhoused demons find you, you’re fresh meat!” She’d jumped close to me, trying to scare me, and I had laughed. Didn’t age well.
When I reached a dusty, isolated part of the library, I sat down and flipped through the pages. Sirens were still in it, which marked it as an ancient text. Sirens only became Housed recently.
It was a good thing, too, because they were causing problems before they did.
“Never date a creature that hasn’t allied with an Aether-affiliated House,” Mother warned. “Unhoused demons will drag you to the other side, and you will never return. Like sirens of the past, dragging their lovers into the deep.”
Aether University had banned romantic relations between the Others and the students after too many had gone missing. Or returned in pieces. Or they returned, warning others that their love had never been reciprocated, broken and bruised.
“Think of all the sailors that have drowned. The drained bodies of vampire victims. Before they became civilized, they, too, were monsters.”
“You’re just an insignificant doll to them,” mother had emphasized. “Demons are pretty and charismatic enough to feign love. Too savage to ever feel any.”
After sirens, there were chapters on centaurs, ghosts, and then a section calledDeath Carriers. The first was a grim reaper, sickle sticking out. He was oddly familiar but not from the night of the attack. Just general folklore. I admired his figure longer. The long black cloak matched, although the face was shrouded by shadow. Could this be him?
Curious, I eyed the illustrated sickle. I ran my finger along it, jerking back when I felt a prick.
A drop of blood welled. “Ouch!”
Did the book just… cut me?
I whipped my head around, as if someone could have seen that. Surely not. It was just a paper cut. From the middle of the page. Not from the sickle!
