Page 86 of Creatures of Chaos

“How do you know?”

“Look!” He points toward the wall as we zip up the steps. All the sconces are straightened and the faelight has changed from red to purple, revealing arrows painted on the wall that point up to the second floor.

Shock runs through me. He figured it out while the rest of us were waiting to see what happened to the first couple of competitors.

Reaching the landing, Talon grabs the knob and throws open the door, pulling me in after him. The room we pour into is full of books, shelves and shelves of dusty tomes from floor to ceiling, and covered with shade ivy. It looks like the books haven’t been touched in decades.

A scream from somewhere below pierces my ears. Talon and I twist around in time to watch three bodies barrel in after us: Titus, Kiaro, and Stryder, a dragon shifter who graduated from Nightlark the year before. The black mist crawls up the stairs behind them.

“Shut the door,” Talon yells, and Titus slams it shut. Immediately, any noise from below is cut off. The only sound filling the room is our own ragged breathing. Hopefully that means the door is barrier enough to keep the mist at bay.

We regard each other warily as we catch our breaths. This might not be the grouping any of us would have chosen, but it’s the one we’re stuck with now.

Talon checks his watch. “We’re twenty minutes down. Let’s get working,” he says, and we fan out.

There’s only one door that leads out of the room, but we quickly find it locked.

“We must be looking for a key of some sort,” I say, and a moment later Stryder comes across a small, locked chest.

Talon immediately snatches it from him and tries to break it open, but it doesn’t so much as dent.

“The lock needs four numbers,” Titus says, after coming forward to inspect it.

“Check the books,” I say, and start carefully pulling books down to inspect them, doing my best to avoid the shade ivy’s thorns.

The guys join the search, and after less than a minute I pluck a thick book from the shelf and there’s a number written on the wall behind it. “You guys, look.”

“Keep checking,” Talon orders. “We need three more numbers.”

“And then we need their order too,” I remind him.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Stryder pulls a book from the shelf and then yelps and jumps back. When I look over my shoulder he’s revealed a hole in the wall that a rat is crawling out of. Kiaro curses, and I jerk my attention to him to see he’s uncovered another hole that spiders the size of my fist are scampering out of.

“Wait!” I shout, searching through the pile of books at my feet for the one that revealed the number. I remember it was a burgundy leather cover and find it quickly. “It’s a copy of the Ancients. Look for more of them on the shelves.”

Talon finds one and there’s another number behind it. Stryker, Titus, Talon, and I look for the remaining two copies while Kiaro is busy stomping the spiders, which is honestly fine with me. I don’t want those hairy little beasts getting anywhere close to me. It’s only a few minutes before we’ve revealed all four numbers.

“We have to check the books for clues on the order,” Talon says, and I start flipping through the burgundy copy I first pulled. It only takes me a few seconds to realize I don’t have the full copy, it’s only a volume of part of the Ancients. I ask Talon for the one he found and see that he has another copy.

“They’re different volumes,” I say, getting all the guys’ attention. “The one I pulled is volume three. Talon’s is volume one. That must be the order of the numbers.”

“You’re right,” Titus says and then goes over to the chest and asks for the numbers in order. When we give them to him he puts them in the lock, and it springs open to reveal a key inside.

We did it!We figured out how to get out of another room.

“Give me that,” Kiaro says, and snatches the key from Titus. He jams it in the lock and the knob turns.

The rat Stryder released skitters across the wall near his head, spooking him, and he immediately shoots a stream of fire at it.

“No!” I yell, but it’s too late.

Stryder fried whatever creepy crawly spooked him, but he also charred a bit of the shade ivy. There’s a visible plume of spores hanging in the air around him. Talon’s the closest and tries to twist out of the way, but coughs when he inhales some of the spores. Stryder, who got a faceful of the spores, falls to the ground batting at his clothes like they are on fire, shouting for us to put it out.

Before I have a chance to react, Kiaro slams his fist into Stryder’s face, knocking him out cold, and then spins toward Talon with his arm raised.

“Try it, and I’ll break your hand and every finger,” Talon warns, and Kiaro sneers at him.

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