Page 8 of A Dusk Of Stars

But Derek is already opening the door for me, his lips curling into a smile as he says, “Congrats on finally getting a peek.”

It makes me let out a low laugh. I shake my head, say, “Thanks, you know me so well,” and I step through the door.

It startles me, when I hear them close the door behind me, and I find myself in a room with no windows, in silence even more total than the one on the Main Floor. Compared to it, this room — because the Restricted Sections area is more like a beehive of separate rooms connected with often hidden doors — is cramped, dimly lit and, well… It’s less organized, to say the least, I think as my eyes sweep over the books stacked into veritable towers between the overflowing bookshelves.

It makes a thrill rush down my spine, just thinking how organized I could make it.

I first need togetthe fucking job, don’t I?

Treading carefully, I keep walking until I find a small desk with a single book on it.

That’s it. It’s just lying there, open and waiting for me to do my thing. Back to being excited, I walk up to it, I take the pen off the weathered wooden surface and I decide to just give it a try.

As soon as I lay the tip of the pen onto the rough paper surface below the last signed name, a painful jolt of electricity rushes through me.

I double back, dropping the pen to the floor.

What the…

I thought the magic would just start digging around my intentions about this job. This felt more like it was trying to opendoors that I keep locked, things that have nothing to do with what I’m trying to achieve here.

I swallow around a lump in my throat, but despite the implied danger, I decide not to give up.

Frowning, I get the pen and try again, but all I get is another jolt of electricity. A more painful one this time.

I try again.

And again.

The fifth time I try, the magic leaves a burn on the fingers of my right hand, the one holding the pen.

I inhale deeply, fighting not to lose my cool.

Gritting my teeth, I remain standing there with the pen in my hand, my mind buzzing in search of potential solutions.

As a human, there’s nothing I can really do here but keep trying.

Hesitant to feel another one of those jolts, I keep holding the pen in my hand, but instead of trying to write my name again, I start skimming the ones already signed.

The last one is Orpheus, the second to last Zahur, then Fionnuala.

It makes me more hopeful, when I see it’s just first names.

As I skim, something starts happening with my vision. There’s this soft burst of light that blinds me for a second, making me grip onto the table.

Confused, I keep standing there even once it passes, staring at the book in front of me. I don’t know how else to describe it, what I feel next. Like something giving in deep inside me.

I don’t have time to linger on it.

The pen still in my hand and my eyebrows pulled down, I notice this soft movement somewhere ahead.

My heart racing and my ears pricked up, I let go of the desk and fix my eyes on the room in front of me, catching something black disappear behind that bookshelf over there.

For a second, I just keep looking at it, this powerful restlessness filling my limbs with the need to get going.

Don’t, I warn myself. They didn’t send you here to snoop around.

Still, the curiosity that’s drawing me…

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