Page 109 of House of Crimson Hearts
There’s a beat where we all gawp at each other, and then like a starting gun was fired, we all move at once out of the grand library and after Gabriel before we lose him.
Gabriel turns down several corridors, leading us through the warren of hallways. Finally, he slows and enters another room that honestly is almost identical to the grand library. Except this time the books are enormous. They come up to my hip and I am not short. The leather smells a little older, the paper a little mustier. It reminds me of happy childhoods and infinite worlds lodged in fairytales. Maybe I could get used to being in a library more often.
“Map archives,” Gabriel announces. “And that is where I leave you.” He grabs hold of Keir and speeds out of sight.
“Well, fuck you. Bye then,” Dahlia says. “Come on, Linc, we’ve got some losers to beat.”
I glance at Red as Dahlia shortens Lincoln’s name and I don’t fail to notice the twitch of her expression. Honestly, I wouldn’t want him to be friends with Dahlia either if he was my bestie.
The rest of the teams peel off leaving only Red and I.
“Where do we start?” she asks.
“Here is as good a place as any, because I have absolutely no clue.”
We traipse down the aisles. Pulling out book after book. The maps all pertain to cities. Some I know of, others are lost, and others still are so obscure I can’t believe they exist.
“This is ridiculous,” Red says. “We’ll never find anything in here. We have to think differently or we’ll be walking these aisles for the next century.”
“I agree. Gabriel gave no indication of what he was looking for either, just that he was starting in here.”
Red stands up straight. “Didn’t he? What was the exact phrase he used?”
“Umm, he said ‘I will be heading to the archives, that’s all the clues I’ll give you’ or something.”
“No. He said something else about the archives. That sly bastard. He did give us another clue. He said, ‘Where all the most lyrically written books and maps lie.’ What the hell does that mean?” Red says.
“Let’s walk down a few aisles and see if we can find anything that suggests music maps? Or, or… Gods, I have no idea. There have to be records of dhampir maps,” I say.
“Records? Like music records? I wonder if that was his clue,” she says.
“Good thinking. Let’s search for them first.”
With that, Red walks back out to the main aisle and crisscrosses her way through the library. I keep pace with her, watching her move: the hard lines of her body, the way she walks a little heavy on her heels, the fact her fingers dance at her sides like she’s twizzling a stake. I wonder how many times she’s practiced, how many stakes she’s flung at walls and mannequins. How many times she’s imagined killing me for what I did to her sister.
We check the records section, searching through various books and documents but find nothing. We continue to schlep through section after section.
After an interminable time, we decide to try a new area, so we walk for what must be half an hour through various aisles, some lit with lanterns, others electric lights, others not lit at all. We reach a corridor where all the maps are behind glass.
“Where are we?” Red says, suddenly pulling up to a stop.
The room around us has changed, we’re no longer in the main area of the archives. The walls are darker here; instead of mahogany wood panelling, the walls are made entirely of bookcases. It’s dim, scarcely a light in here.
“I have no idea, I was following you,” I say, my fingers trailing the spines of the leather-bound books behind me.
“What was that?” she says, spinning on her heel to face down the corridor.
“What was?—”
“Shh,” she cuts me off by placing her hand over my mouth.
“Donth doo s’thing you’th mmgret,” I mumble into her palm.
She glares at me. “I neither have your blood in my system, nor do I want to fuck you. Now, silence.” She removes her hand. But I can’t help the wind-up.
“Liar,” I whisper.
“Don’t make me gag you.”
