Page 58 of Cursed Crowns

“Nice catch,” said Fathom, without looking back. “Of course, I knew that would happen.”

Shen glared at the back of his head.

Rose could tell by Kai’s crouch that he was preparing to tackle the old man.

“Be patient,” she chided them, even though she was running low on patience herself.

Finally, Fathom jumped back. “Ah! But of course! The map isn’t in the Moonlit Menagerie at all.” He chuckled to himself. “It’s downstairs in the cartography section of the Lunar Library!” He waved at them as he shuffled out of the room. “I won’t be a moment!”

Kai flopped down on one of the pillows. “I say we steal everything in here and see what we can get for it at the market.”

“We’re not stealing from the seers,” said Rose as she idly trailedher fingers along the shelves. She stopped, suddenly, as they began to tingle. She picked up a gold comb to inspect it.

“But if Fathom knew we were going to rob him, he would have already stopped us,” said Shen.

Rose threw him a warning look. “Your cousin is a bad influence on you.”

Kai snorted. “I’ve never met a seer before. Are they all like him?”

“My grandmother’s sister was a seer.” Rose shuddered as she remembered poor Glenna, the seer Rathborne had kept trapped in the west tower of Anadawn. How he’d slit her throat and left her to bleed out in Rose’s arms. “She wasn’t like the seers here, but she was close to madness in a different way.”

Celeste came to her mind, unbidden. Wren was convinced that Celeste was a seer, too. Celeste herself had always denied it, but recently her nightmares had been getting more vivid. And Rose had begun to notice more starcrests at Anadawn, flocking to the roof above Celeste’s bedroom. If therewasany truth to Wren’s suspicions, Rose hoped this wouldn’t become Celeste’s future. Living in a far-off tower, surrounded by poison, falling so far into visions that you couldn’t tell the past from the future, or the present.

Rose set the comb down. She walked on, but the tingling in her fingers got stronger. She stopped again, this time drawn to a hand mirror. It was silver and bordered with a delicate row of sapphires. As soon as her fingers closed around the handle, the mirror sparked, sending a jolt of power into her hand. She yelped.

“What is it?” said Shen, spinning around.

“Nothing, I just... pricked my finger.” Rose didn’t want to tell Shen about the strange jolt, in case he thought her mind was slipping, too.

Just then, the door swung open and Fathom returned. Rose jumped back from the shelf.

The seer wagged his finger. “Be careful what you touch, Your Majesty. Some of those trinkets bite.”

“Did you find what you were looking for?” she asked.

Fathom held up a roll of yellowed parchment. “Come and see for yourselves.”

Shen spun from the window and was across the room in four strides. Kai sprang to his feet and reached for the parchment.

Fathom yanked it out of reach. “I think the queen should be the one to unroll it.”

Rose took the parchment and did so, her heart climbing into her throat until she could taste her hope. She held her breath... and then blew it out in one big sigh.

The parchment was blank, save for a single black squiggle in the middle.

“There’s nothing here.”

“Listen to me, you old prune,” said Kai, grabbing Fathom by the collar and lifting him off the ground. “This isn’t a game to us. Stop giving us riddles and start talking sense.”

Rose handed the parchment to Shen. “Kai! Put him down at once!” she said, railing her fists against his arm. “That is an order from your queen!”

Kai flung Fathom to the floor. With remarkable grace, the seer stood up and dusted himself off. “Your temper will be the end of you, Kai Lo,” he said, raising a finger in warning.

“I’m so sorry,” said Rose as she fixed the old man’s robe. “We’re all just so exhausted and coming here was our only...” She trailed off asthe parchment began to glow in Shen’s hands.

“Rose?” he said as his fingers trembled. “Are you seeing this?”

“Yes,” breathed Rose. “Yes, I see it.”

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