Page 22 of Monster's Reward

“Can’t it wait?” Mikaela demanded.

“Not really. I’ll be completely stressed out if I don’t get it now. Mr. Brecken, do you have any cookbooks in the library?”

“We have an entire collection on the second floor.” Mr. Brecken said.

“Could you show me?”

“If you want me to take you, I’ll have to lock this door and Mikaela will need to wait until we return to visit the archives.”

“Fine,” Mikaela said, “but let’s be quick, all right?

The door closed and the sound of the lock turning echoed in the silence of the archive room.

I stood frozen for a moment in the darkness, then let out a breath of relief when Shadow brushed against my legs, reminding me that I wasn’t alone.

I was used to feeling the weight of Shadow, even though she had no real, physical form, but I was stunned to realize I could also feel her when in my shadow-form.

I drew my shadows in, settling back into my physical form, then leaned over and stroked Shadow up and down her sides. “Let’s see what we can find out, shall we?”

I lifted a hand and whispered the first spell I had learned at the Academy. “Luceat.”

The room brightened as if the sun had suddenly risen in the sky, even though I was inside a room without windows.

The archive room was bigger than I had expected. There were aisles of shelves branching off in every direction from where I stood.

I chose one at random and walked it quickly, scanning the spines of books as I did so.

Vampyr Lore, From Blood to Grave, The Study of Blood, The Age of the Vampyr, The Fall of the Empire, Mythology and Reality: The Rise of Vampyrism.The list went on and on.

“Great,” I muttered to Shadow as she paced by my side. “We found the vampire section. Not exactly what I was looking for.”

I finally reached the end of the aisle and glanced to my left and then my right.

There were rows in both directions and I was overwhelmed at the enormity of the task I was facing. How was I to find what surely felt like a needle in a haystack without even the help of a librarian?

As far as I could tell, there was no technology in this room to do a word search, no old school card catalog, nothing. How was I going to findanythingin this room?

I don’t suppose you know where the shadow monster section is?I asked Shadow.

Shadows,she replied.

What does that mean?

Shadow-beast, shadow-cat, shadow-room, shadow-shelves, shadow-books, shadow-secrets.

“Sounds a bit convoluted,” I said out loud, glancing around the room.So, you’re saying we should look for a shadow room?

With shadow shelves.

Got it. And I assume the shelves will have shadow books?

With shadow secrets.

Okay, first things first. If you were a shadow room, where would you be hiding?

I don’t know, Kasi-mew.

In shadows, certainly, deep and dark ones I assume. But where would that be?I turned to the left and started walking, Shadow at my side.

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