Trial By Fire (Going Down in Flames #3)(70)
Bryn nodded. “Looks like the magical Maintenance door on the first floor. I don’t suppose you see any weird cryptic messages.”
“Not this time.” Valmont grabbed the handle and turned, pulling on the door. It opened without making a sound. “I expected those hinges to creak loud enough for the entire campus to hear.”
The lights in the room beyond lit up, revealing floor to ceiling bookshelves and glassed-in cabinets containing museum qualify artifacts.
Valmont pointed at a saddle with an intricate pattern of frozen flames created from embedded silver. “I want one.”
“I’ll remember that next Christmas.” Bryn investigated the next glass case, which held a sword with the same frozen flame pattern etched onto the blade. “You might want to check this out before you make your list for Santa.”
Valmont came to stand by Bryn and stared into the case with a longing that almost made her jealous.
“Would you like some time alone with your new girlfriend?” Bryn teased.
He backed up a step, shaking his head like he was trying to clear it.
“What’s wrong?”
He pointed at the sword. “I’d swear there’s some sort of magnetic pull from that sword, like it wants to find a new knight.” He held his hand toward the glass. “Can you feel it?”
Bryn moved in closer and stared at the sword, putting her palm flat on the glass. “No. I mean it’s beautiful, but I don’t feel the need to possess it. Let’s investigate the bookshelves and see if we can find the information for my paper and something about hybrids.”
Valmont pointed at the old-fashioned mahogany card catalog. “Do we start there?”
“I guess.” Fifteen minutes later Bryn had a newfound respect for anyone who’d done research before Google. “Why isn’t lineage under L?”
“Did you try Directorate Lineage checks?”
“Yes, and marriage and laws.”
“What does lineage check for, in the simplest sense?” Valmont asked.
Bryn racked her brain. “They talk about checking bloodlines.” She moved over to the B drawer. Halfway through blood-related titles, which there seemed to be a disturbing amount of, she found “Bloodlines: Lineage Checks.”
“Finally. This card says the books start with number 762 and go through 894.”
“That narrows it down,” Valmont headed for the bookshelves. After staring at a row of books, he sighed. “Did the card catalog tell you where the numbers were located on the books?”
“They’re not on the spine, like normal library books?” Bryn moved to the closest shelf and grabbed a green leather bound book. The spine was bare. No title. No number. “It feels like the Directorate is mocking anyone who finds these books, like maybe you found our secret stash, but we removed all the titles to spite you.” She flipped the book open to the first page, The Best of Botany. She slammed it shut. “There has to be an easier way.”
When Valmont didn’t respond, she glanced up. No knight. “Valmont?”
“Over here,” he called from the other side of the ginormous card catalog. “You need to see this.”
Chapter Twenty
Goose bumps broke out on Bryn’s upper arms. “Why do I get the feeling this isn’t a good thing?” She walked around the card catalog and found Valmont staring at the wall.
“Can you see it?” he asked.
“I’m going to go with no, since all I see is the wall.”
“It’s the same as upstairs. ‘Only those who have given their all may enter. Those who have taken everything must give to see.’”
“And it’s just written on the wall?”
“No. There’s an outline of a door.” He held his hand out to her. “Come here. I want to test a theory. I think the message refers to a knight and his dragon.”
She moved closer and held his hand even though she didn’t like how the description made it sound like the knight gave while the dragon only took. “Okay. Now what?”
He unsheathed his sword. “I think it want’s your blood.”
She did not like where this was going. “Like in Mr. Stanton’s class?”
He pulled the hand he held toward the wall. “I’ll hold the sword. You touch it.”
It went against her instinct to willingly touch the razor sharp weapon, but Valmont would do it for her, so she slid her finger down the edge of the blade, flinching as it sliced through her skin.
The sword glowed red as Bryn’s blood trickled down the blade.
“Touch the wall right there.” Valmont pointed at a blank piece of stone four feet off the ground with the tip of his sword.
A tingling sensation started on Bryn’s scalp the closer her finger came to the wall. When she touched the stone, an electric shock made her wince. The smell of hot copper filled the air. And the wall was gone. In its place was a wooden door with iron hinges. “No way.”
Valmont grabbed the handle and pulled. This door did creak from disuse. No lights came on, but the scent of dust and decay drifted out to them.
“I don’t think anyone has been here in a long time.” Bryn produced a fireball in her right hand and leaned in the doorway, scanning the area for anything dangerous.