Siege of Shadows (Effigies #2)(117)

For Patricia Haas: 1848–1865.

“Patricia Haas,” I whispered as the other girls spread to different corners of the hall. Naomi had said that Baldric’s family had kept the secret volume safe through generations. But the girl’s first name caught my attention also. “Emilia, Abigail, and Patricia . . .” The three girls Alice had mentioned in her letter to Marian.

“Guys, come look at this!” Lake said excitedly, disappearing behind one of the two open doors. We followed her inside.

“Okay, I think we can agree this place is hella weird,” Chae Rin said as Lake motioned to the three stone statues in the center of the room.

I’d seen them before. These women, their bodies carved out of white stone, naked but for their hair wrapped around them like ancient robes. They were exact replicas of the statues stationed around Blackwell’s mansion. And like Blackwell’s statues, each held a pearl in her hands, their bodies only slightly different in position. The mysterious “knowing” in the hollow grooves meant to represent their eyes was the same for each of them. As if they saw us. As if they’d known we would be coming here.

It was like the statues were just another exhibit. Well, secret room or not, we were still in a museum. The three statues faced each other in a triangle on top of a wide, circular platform at the center of the room. And next to the platform was another golden stand with a plaque telling its visitors the name of this exhibit. This time it was only one word: FāTUM.

“?‘Fātum’ . . . does that mean ‘fate’?” I asked.

Belle walked up to the velvet rope surrounding the platform. “Fate. Destiny. Sometimes ‘death.’ Though other times it refers to the words uttered by gods. Their words . . . their will . . .” Belle went silent, but her eyes never left the statues. “What are these? Why are they here? Who are you three supposed to be . . . ?”

“We tried to get into the other room, but it was locked,” said Chae Rin. “I have no idea what these statues are. Or that.” She pointed at the digital clock screwed into the front of the room behind the statues: 20:00. Twenty-four-hour time. But that couldn’t have been right; we’d left after midnight.

Belle stepped over the velvet rope and knelt down next to the platform. “These depressions . . .” At the foot of each statue was a straight, sunken path that stopped just at the edge of the platform. “It’s leading the statues away from one another.”

After a long moment of considering the pathways, she hopped onto the platform and tried to push one of the statues.

“This is so weird.” Lake shook her head and snapped her photos.

Chae Rin walked up to the rope. “What are you doing?”

Belle gave her best effort, but they didn’t budge. They were a little taller than us and made of marble. Heavy. Too heavy to move yet. “It’s no use,” she said, righting herself. “The inoculation is wearing off, but I’m still not strong enough to move these on my own. Chae Rin, what about you? You could use your power to move the stone.”

It was true that it had been a while since we’d inoculated ourselves. I could start to feel the beginnings of magic struggling awake deep within my body. It must have been the same for Chae Rin, who sighed.

“I don’t know what you think is going to happen, but all right. Why not?” She lifted her hands, grimacing as she struggled to channel the power through her body. Gradually, one statue began to move, dragging along the depressed path in the stone platform with a terrible screech. Our powers were coming back, but that also meant we had to finish up here and get out fast. It was hard to tell how long we had until the Sect could track us again, and with Naomi’s ring bugged during our conversation with her in Madrid, we couldn’t be sure who was already on our tail.

Still, Belle was serious about this, so Chae Rin pushed herself despite the strain it caused her. She heaved each statue until they’d reached the edge of the platform. The moment the third statue clicked into place, a buzz rang out softly from outside our room, but it was the clock that took my attention.

“It’s counting down,” I said. Nineteen minutes and fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight seconds . . .

It wasn’t a clock at all, but a timer.

“Okay, counting down to what, exactly?” Lake looked from one statue to the other. “Should we be worried?”

“What was that sound back there?” Chae Rin nodded toward the door, breathing heavily as she recovered. “Did anybody else hear that?”

Jumping off the platform and stepping over the rope, I ran back out of the room. Just as I thought—the second door. Directly across the hall, it was open just wide enough for a soft light to slide through the crack. Whatever we’d done to the statues must have triggered the door. But if the countdown was any indication, we wouldn’t have much time to inspect it. Calling the girls over, I strode across the floor and entered the room.

I felt the change in the air immediately. The way gravity suddenly weighed my body down the moment I crossed the threshold. Each step felt alien atop the stone floor tiles. The air was rich with an unspeakable energy. Familiar. I’d felt this before.

“What is this?” Shutting the door behind her, Lake drew her hand to her chest. “I feel really . . .”

“Calm.” Closing her eyes, Belle raised her chin and soaked it in. “I feel calm.”