Page 40 of Strength of Desire

I’d been inching forward this whole time, drawn to the conversation without knowing why. Something in the air, or the tone of those whispers, told me to move quietly, and Ash and Felix seemed to have picked up on it too. They followed my steps as I drew up to the last row of bookcases that separated us from the speakers.

I could hear the sound of shuffling papers just around the corner. Someone bumped into the huge table that stood back there, making a soft crash. A pencil rolled, then hit the floor, and the sound seemed to fill the room. Burning with curiosity, I tilted my head just a little further around the corner, and froze.

Sean, Rekha, and Tim were clustered around the maps table—the very last people I’d expect to see doing extra evening research in the library. Not that they were stupid—well, not Rekha, anyway—but she made a big show of already knowing everything there was to know and being bored in our classes. Sean and Tim had never seemed interested in anything that wasn’t related to violence.

They were all standing at different points around the table, which was covered with spread-out maps. Rekha was staring at the map in front of her with disdain, like it had personally offended her. Tim was scratching his ear and looking at his map with disinterest. But Sean was poring over his, his eyes scanning the paper, fingers running back and forth across it.

“Here!” he said suddenly.

Rekha and Tim’s heads snapped up. I jumped, then steadied myself on the bookshelf I was standing behind. It shuddered slightly, but the three around the table didn’t seem to notice.

“This could be it,” Sean said, pointing at something I couldn’t see on the map in front of him. He looked over at Rekha. “The third mound. It’s a little east of yours, I think, and south-east of the mound by the lake.”

Rekha moved around the table, her jeans swishing softly, and shouldered Sean out of the way, peering down at the map herself. She frowned. “I think you’re reaching.”

“It’s a mound,” Sean said stoutly. “It’s clearly marked.”

“I think it might just be a smudge,” Rekha said. “And it doesn’t have any of the other two spots marked.”

“It’s not supposed to,” Sean said. “The whole point is it’s supposed to be hidden.”

What were they talking about?Whatwas supposed to be hidden?

“We haven’t seen the spring onanyof these maps,” Rekha said. “I don’t think it actually exists.”

The spring? I couldn’t help myself. I slid my foot forward, trying to see what they were arguing about on the map.

“It’s not supposed tobeon the maps,” Sean said. “If it only appears one night a year—”

“Which might not even be the night you’re planning on looking, astrologically speaking.”

I slid a little closer.

“—then it wouldn’t be marked anywhere permanently,” Sean finished. “And it has to be the right night, because Vesperwood always celebrates Imbolc on the same day. And people have found the spring before.”

“Peoplesaythey’ve found the spring before,” Rekha countered. “We still don’t have any proof.”

I slid another step forward and a chime went off, sounding through this end of the library like a tiny bell. Sean, Rekha, and Tim all looked up and saw me, before I could dart back around my bookcase. Tim’s hands curled into fists, and Sean shifted into his pre-fight stance, one I recognized all too well from Combat.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Rekha demanded, eyeing me suspiciously.

I flushed, embarrassed to have been caught. Embarrassed to have been listening at all, let alone in secret. But I hadn’t done anything wrong, had I? It’s not like they were working on anything top-secret or important—not three freshmen, only one of whom was a witch.

“Getting a notebook,” I said, making myself shrug nonchalantly. I didn’t feel nonchalant, but maybe I could fake it. “I left one here earlier today.”

She looked at my hands, which were clearly empty. “Right. And what part of getting your notebook requires you and your friends to spy on people?”

I frowned, then realized Ash and Felix had stepped up behind me.

“We weren’t spying,” I said, still trying—and failing—for coolness. “I was just curious what you guys were—”

“It doesn’t concern you,” Rekha said, at the same time that Tim snapped, “Nothing.”

Sean just looked at Rekha. “I thought you were going to ward us.”

“Idid,” she said. “I told you I wasn’t strong enough to cloak us, just to let us know if someone came close”

“And what good was that, if you couldn’t even warn us until someone was on top of us?”

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