A Rip of Realms (A Shade of Vampire #39)(36)

“Thanks for letting me come,” I yelled to the guard over the wind that rushed past us. He turned his head sideways.

“No problem. I saw you protect Jenney yesterday. It was brave.”

His compliment surprised me. Maybe I didn’t need to be as embarrassed of my bruise as I thought.

“You looked funny falling down though—ha!” He guffawed.

Thanks…

Ignoring him, I looked down at the landscape below us. I could see the crack that ran through Nevertide clearly from this perspective. The damage was extensive. Around the crack, landslides had appeared, tipping the forests downward like waterfalls, and large rock formations had exploded out of the earth like jagged teeth. Soon, what was left of the castle appeared on the horizon. My gut clenched. I had hated the place, but seeing the ruins of something that had always looked so foreboding and indestructible was an unwelcome reminder of the awesome power the entity had. If we didn’t find this book, we wouldn’t have a chance.

We landed inside the ring of rubble that had once been the outer wall of the main castle. I jumped off the vulture, my legs wobbly from the adrenaline of the flight. The guard and I looked around, both of us silent as we digested the enormity of the task.

“Guess we better get on with it,” muttered the guard. “Mind you, I’ll be blown over if this book has survived all this—see the black of the stone?” he asked, pointing at the main part of the castle. Only half-towers and broken walls suggested what the building had once been, and as the guard had observed, the stone was mostly charred black.

“Fires have done that,” he continued, “they must have been burning for a long while for them to have caused damage like that. And the emperor thinks a book would have survived? Pah!”

I was inclined to agree with him. What were the chances that paper would have remained intact when the stones themselves were practically burnt to cinders? This was starting to look like an idiot’s errand.

The two other vultures had been flown by a pair of ministers, and Ash and Ruby. I heard the approach of the birds, and soon the guard and I were joined by Ruby, while Ash discussed the likely location of the book with the ministers.

“I guess we just start looking,” Ruby said, looking despondently at the ruins.

“Okay,” I agreed, walking toward the nearest pile, which I suspected had been one of the four towers. I clambered over the larger stones, pulling out anything that looked like it wasn’t just plaster and crumbling rock.

It was tiring work. I had to keep hauling stones about, only to find an assortment of burnt objects, none of which resembled a book. I envied the ministers and guards—they all had double our strength, and a few were using True Sight, standing in front of rocks, seeing right through them without having to do a thing. Hazel had joined our search party and kept trying to do the same, swearing that she’d accomplished it last night, but unable to achieve it today.

“Old Viking coin, anyone?” I asked, holding it up to the light. I’d found a pile of them wedged in between some rocks and an iron pipe. “I think this could make us pretty rich once we got back home.”

“Julian, can you focus?” Ruby snapped.

“Sorry.”

She turned back toward me, her face scrunched in remorse. “I’m sorry. I’m a bit moody. This feels kind of hopeless.” She chucked a bent cooking pot back where she’d found it with a frustrated sigh. I’d noticed that for most of the morning Ruby had seemed a bit distracted and glum—maybe we all were, but because she was normally upbeat, it was more obvious that something was bothering her.

“What’s up, Ruby?” I stopped rifling through the rubbish and went for the direct approach. “I mean, besides looking for a needle in this crappy haystack. Something’s bugging you.”

“It’s nothing really.”

She glanced over to where Ash and Tejus were standing, a few yards off to our left. I followed her stare. It was something to do with Ash.

“How’s it feel being the girlfriend of an emperor?” I asked, pretending to turn my attention back to moving rocks so she might feel more comfortable opening up.

She groaned. “Difficult. We had all these plans…I don’t know, it’s just difficult. There’s always something standing between me and Ash. If it’s not Queen Trina, it’s Nevertide politics—and I guess now, as emperor, he has this massive responsibility that I can’t even begin to understand…it makes me feel separate from him, you know?”

Uh… Not really.

“Sure,” I murmured. “That must be difficult.”

“Anyway, ignore me. I’ll snap out of it.” She forced a grin, and I returned it.

Privately, I thought that Ruby might have been better off without Ash. I didn’t understand how they could have a future together—he would always be needed in Nevertide, and Ruby couldn’t just turn her back on her home and her friends, and GASP. She had a whole life back at The Shade, one that Ash just wouldn’t understand. I didn’t really understand Ruby or Hazel’s interest in dating sentries—to me it seemed plain weird. They were so old-fashioned and strangely unemotional, and tall. They were really, really tall. Nobody needed to be that tall! Ruby would have an amazing future ahead of her—dating someone from back home would be way better for her. Someone who could fight by her side when they joined GASP…