Page 39 of Shattered Darkness

It's that bit that makes me extremely nervous, that and I know that it's strong, really fucking strong, which also scares me because my other magic isn’t weak, and it is only just keeping it under control and stopping it from releasing.

It’s the what-ifs that surround it.

But even with all that, I just instinctively know that it's not bad, not like the magic that’s on the object that is controlling the teachers and that has forced the library to withdraw.

“That’s a fucking book,” Dash points out the obvious.

“No shit,” Damon teases.

“Fuck off, you know what I mean,” Dash fires back, “it’s going to take longer than I thought to get through it.”

“Well, we better get started then,” Asher comments as we move back into what I’m referring to as the dead zone now.

“Wait, wouldn’t it make more sense if we made copies of the pages and then handed them out so that we can all start in different places?” Harry suggests.

“Yeah, actually it would.” Asher replies, “Give me a minute, and I’ll go and copy some pages.”

“I’ll come too,” Hunter says, and then adds, “I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to go anywhere alone, not at the moment.”

Asher just nods, and I watch as they both walk back toward the front of the library where they have this machine that pretty much works exactly the same way as a photocopier back in the Earth Realm but it's run by magic instead and is almost instantaneous. They shouldn’t be very long at all, even to copy the whole book should only take a couple of seconds.

“You guys don’t have to stick around for this bit,” Harry says to Dean, Maria, and Yates. “It's going to be tedious, and there’s still the risk of protection spells that could hurt us.”

The three of them share a look, and Dean says, “Well if it’s okay with you guys, we’d actually prefer to stay and help. With the teachers acting weird and the students all scared and hiding out, we would all rather be around people that are normal.”

Erin and I laugh as I say, “Sorry, I just don’t think that we’d ever be referred to as normal. Of course, you can stay with us. We need all the help that we can get. You’re good company too.”

Maria grins, “Thanks, normal is boring anyway.”

“That’s what I always say,” I reply with a smile.

“Got it,” Asher says as he and Hunter come back around the corner with a stack of papers. “How do you want to split this up?”

“Just give everyone a page for now, and then we can start. Once a page is finished and everything is accounted for, put it face down in a pile on this small table and pick up another one. I doubt that we will get it all done today but we should at least make a dent in it,” Levi suggests and everyone nods along in agreement.

“You never know. We might get lucky and find it on the first page,” Kai says optimistically and everyone gives him skeptical looks. He shrugs, “Yeah, okay, so probably not but think positive!”

“I think,” Cole starts, “that you are positive enough for all of us.”

We all chuckle and then take a sheet of paper and spread out, looking over the objects. I start off looking through the list quite quickly, but I quickly slow down, when I realise that the stories behind some of these objects are absolutely fascinating.

For example, I’m currently looking at a simple silver chain necklace. It looks like it's not much to be honest, and it is on the list, so it's not the object that has been controlling the teachers here, but it's so much more than what it looks like.

It belonged to one of the Fae Queens and is said to carry some of her magic; when needed, it changes into a deadly spiked whip, which has the capability to absorb its opponent's gifts for a short period of time when it comes into contact with their blood.

It’s a formidable weapon and one that I know a lot of people would love to get their hands on; fortunately, it's very well protected.

For a while that’s how my time is spent, going from object to object and reading up on the history behind it, there are a couple that interest me enough that I make a note of them to see if I can find more details about them but for the most part I’m satisfied reading the snippets of information on the page. I’m so absorbed in what I’m learning that it surprises me when Levi taps me on the shoulder and I look up, catching sight of the windows and the darkness beyond.

“Wow, I didn’t realise I was that absorbed in the objects,” I say.

“I think we all got pretty absorbed. I had no idea that it was this interesting, or I would’ve come down here much sooner,” Levi replies.

“I assume that no one has found anything?” I ask as I realise that only Levi and I are left.

Levi shakes his head as we leave the area, “Nope, they’ve only just left. Everyone is starving since we all missed lunch but I think it was decided to all go back to our own rooms to eat since we’ve got a training session with Cain tonight, and we need to get some sleep first.”

I nod and thread my fingers through his as I say, “I like that idea.”

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