Page 36 of The Fifth Soul

I begin to say something, but the words die on my lips. Shaking my head, I remind myself to focus and remember who I am talking to. “Where is Jesse? Or Alejandra?”

I look behind him to the empty hallway. I expect to see one of them coming, but the halls are dead quiet.

“They aren’t coming.”

I turn back to the crown prince slowly. “Excuse me?”

He scratches his head, looking sheepish. “I guess we forgot that there’s usually at least one guard outside my room at all times. Alejandra had to stay outside my room. Someone would have noticed her missing.”

“And Jesse?” I dare ask.

“My grandfather asked him to cover a shift for one of his guards. The guard has a daughter who lives in the city, and my grandfather wanted to give him the night off.” He shrugs. “I didn’t want to explain why Jesse needed to be elsewhere.”

I nod, of course. I’m stuck with the prince.

“Well.” Brandon gestures to the hall. “Let’s not waste time. I need my beauty sleep, after all.”

Yes, let’s do this as fast as possible. I take a deep breath and close my eyes. As I open my eyes, I pocket the map and lead the way out. Exiting the glass castle is the easy part. We decide to take a side door and prop it open so we can get back in when we return. Unlike the city streets of Fierno, the City of Light has a calm, quiet energy this late at night.

Brandon walks behind me as we move down the streets. I don’t have to look at the map in my pocket to know which street leads to the library. After a block, Brandon touches my arm to get my attention and nods toward a dark alleyway.

“What?” I wait to ask until the shadows fully cover us.

“You should try to take breaks while using your gift.” He looks out the side of the alleyway to see if anyone’s coming. “We can use the shadows to cross the city. There doesn’t seem to be anyone out, anyway.”

“That would take twice as long,” I huff.

The more time it takes to get there and back, the less time we have to find the information we need. I would rather not have to return another day, not if I can help it.

“I insist.” Brandon pushes.

I cross my arms. “I’ve been doing this for years, I will be fine.”

He raises both palms in the air. “If you say so. Headache is the first sign of exhaustion. Just make sure you have enough juice up in there,” he taps my temple, “to return us back inside the glass castle.”

I shove his hand away from my face. He must have done his research on my gift, but I got this. I set the pace back on track to our route. I keep a light jog as we make our way across the city. After the seventh block, I start feeling a burn in my legs and choppy breath. I turn and see that Brandon isn’t even winded. His chest is pushing air as easily as if he were walking. When his eyes land on me, I turn forward and add a bit of speed to my step.

As the Hue’s Royal Library comes into view, I gasp. From where I stand, the building looks like a massive glass lantern. Two floors of the glass building showcase bookshelf after bookshelf. The lights inside the building are low, making the massive structure look even more mysterious and beautiful.

“It’s beautiful,” I say in a near whisper.

“It is,” Brandon agrees.

Our eyes meet in the shadows, only illuminated by the moonlight.

“Do you have the map?” He extends his hand for me to hand it over.

I settle closer to him to look at the map together. I watch as his finger traces the outline of the library halls disguised inside the crossword puzzle. He finally looks at me as his fingers land on a center cell. It must be a room.

“What exactly are we looking for?”

“We’re looking for what is not there. The library has a vault full of items the Hue family collects.”

“And we are looking for an item that was taken?”

Brandon pockets the map. “Anything that might give us a clue on what the enemy is planning.”

I try to rationalize his train of thought as we move in silence. Looking for what isn’t there seems too broad if his goal is finding the reason behind taking the cursed book. Lexi Blue comes to mind. The way she can rattle out spells and ingredients. I nearly pause walking when an idea hits me. I look at Brandon next to me.

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