Children of Virtue and Vengeance (Legacy of Orïsha #2)(55)

“Everyone shut up!” Mazeli’s high-pitched voice rings over everyone else’s. His hands still shake, but he stands his ground, silencing us all. “We got in here despite the odds. We can figure a way out. But we need to stick together and collect these scrolls!”

He takes in the sacred library, prompting us all to do the same. The last time I was here, I was flung over Tzain’s shoulder; the rush of newly awakened magic masked my other senses. What I thought were walls of gold are actually a reflective substance I’ve never encountered. It lights the room with a soft orange glow, like the color of sunsets melted into a glassy stone.

“If my father could see this…” Kamarū releases a low whistle, sitting on the ground. Shelves that stretch to the domed ceiling encircle us, each filled with thin, brightly colored scrolls.

Mazeli inspects the case with the Reaper baajis, running his hands over the gaps that once housed the scrolls Lekan gifted me. But even with those gone, dozens of incantations fill the shelves.

With these scrolls, the Iyika could become an unstoppable force.

“Kamarū.” Amari kneels by the Grounder’s side, concern creasing her forehead. His eyes drift in and out of focus as he presses a hand to his heaving chest. “If we wait for you to recover, could you break through this substance and tunnel us out?”

“It’s not earth or metal.” He shakes his head. “I’ve never felt anything like this.”

Amari runs a hand through her disheveled hair before turning to Dakarai instead. “Can you use the same incantation to find a path out the front entrance?”

“I suppose.” Dakarai treads with care. “But it’d be hard to do with the soldiers—”

“Don’t worry about them,” she cuts him off. “Everyone, fill the bags with as many scrolls as you can. Kenyon, burn the rest.”

“Amari, you can’t!” I whip around, blinking as the ringing sensation in my ears grows louder. My tattoos hum at the sight of her. I shake my head as my vision blurs.

“These are sacred incantations,” I explain. “Histories of our people that will be lost to time!”

“This is war.” She meets my impassioned words with a cold stare. “These are weapons. Do you really want to leave these sacred incantations in the monarchy’s hands?”

Her words sting, though I know she’s right. A solemn air fills the room as we look at the hundreds of scrolls, silently calculating how many will have to burn.

“How do we know which ones to choose?” Mazeli asks.

“Just make sure you take the same amount of scrolls for other clans,” Amari says. “No matter who’s present, all the maji need these weapons.”

She removes her leather sack and walks to the Connector shelf, but pauses when nobody moves.

“What are you waiting for?” Amari circles her hand. “Let’s get the scrolls and get out of here!”

Though a few bristle at her orders, Amari’s conviction brings a calm to the chaos. One by one, we all follow her, filling the bags as if troops weren’t waiting beyond the wall.

“Whatever you feel about Inan, don’t act on it today.” Amari comes to my side. “If not for me, then for Mazeli’s sake. Getting out of here will require your full attention.”

I clench my jaw and brush past her, walking toward the center of the room. How dare she try to tell me what I can or can’t do?

It doesn’t matter if being this close to Inan makes my heart beat like a caged hummingbird. When these walls part, I have to thrust my new spear through his chest. I don’t have a choice.

“Zélie, promise me!” Amari grabs my arm and her touch makes the room spin. I reach for the nearest shelf as I stumble. Sweat leaks from my skin.

“Are you alright?”

I try to nod, but my head throbs. The pain makes my knees weak. I fall forward as my tattoos flicker with golden light.

“Zélie!” Amari shouts.

Bodies crowd around me, but I can’t see them through the blinding pain. I grit my teeth as my tattoos heat, searing like branding irons pressed into my flesh.

Steam rises from my skin, and my body starts to shake. My hands go to my throat as my tattoos glow. In a flash, the sunset walls of the scroll room go black.

No one moves when an explosion of light escapes from my mouth.

The beam shoots from my lips like a snake breaking free from its cage. It coils around my head, so powerful I can’t breathe.

A pulse of air radiates around my body and sends everyone flying into the walls. Amari slams into a scroll case so hard it crashes to the ground.

“Jagunjagun!” Mazeli shouts as the golden beam changes the room around us. Deep blues and purples swirl like night bleeding through the glassy walls. Glowing stars fill the air.

I wheeze when the golden glow ignites in my chest, so stark it paints my rib cage in black silhouettes. My back arches toward the ceiling as my feet leave the ground.

“Hold on!” Amari scrambles up from the floor, running across the scroll room. She climbs onto a fallen shelf as I rise. The golden light floods out of my eyes.

Amari reaches for my hand, but the moment our fingers touch, a cobalt light ignites in her chest.

“Zélie, what is this?” she screams, losing control as her feet dangle in the air. Though she fights, she rises by my side like she’s been plucked from above by an invisible hand.