Page 132 of Of Blood and Banes
“In Arterias, the library is built there,” Marge whispers as she pauses in front of a wall of various doors, archways, and dust-coated windows.
The first door I try is locked, and Cole’s first door swings wide open with a creak that grabs all our attention.
“That was almost too easy…” he mutters, and peeks his head inside.
Marge, Daeja, and I all slide over to him, and he backs his head out before turning to us. “You’re right, Marge. Looks like this was the library.”
He pushes the door open for us to peer inside, and my heart sinks.
The room, unsurprisingly, matches the rest of the rooms we’ve encountered here at the castle. Lavish furnishings faded with time sprawl about the cavernous room, along with curtains framing the windows spanning from the marbled floors up to the arched ceilings, so high above us I have to tip my head back just to look. Rows and rows of shelves line all the walls.
But every single one is empty.
We all slip inside to double-check, and Daeja grumbles when she tries to squeeze in but finds she’s far too wide.
“They probably were hesitant to have dragons in here with paper…”
“I’ll stay back and keep watch,”she mutters, her wings sagging at her sides.
“We won’t be long,”I promise, patting her neck.
Marge gravitates toward the farthest wall, hovering her fingertips along the shelves, like if she moves slow enough, one might appear. Cole and I exchange an awkward look before wesplit up to search the walls at the opposite sides of the room. After scanning all the bottom shelves, I find an old wooden ladder and take a step onto the bottom platform.
The wood shrieks. I flinch, looking over my shoulder to Marge, who only diverts her attention away long enough to make sure I haven’t broken an ankle before returning to her own shelves. Cole stops what he’s doing and strolls over to me. Before he can reach me, I brace my weight onto the step, testing its limits before I begin to ascend.
“What are you doing?” Cole whispers.
“I have to check the top shelves.” I test the next step. Lift. Test, then lift.
The ladder groans underneath me, its wooden frame trembling more the farther up I get. Until it suddenly stops quaking. I stop and glance down about fifteen feet to find Cole gripping the sides of the ladder to still it. He gazes up at me, his forearms locked and jaw tight.
Taking a soft breath, I keep my hands on the sides and pull myself farther up the ladder. Checking each row as I go, my hope sinks deeper with each dusty, empty shelf I pass.
I’m almost to the top of the ladder when I notice a stray piece of paper on one of the shelves. Face down. Just outside of my reach. I glance back down at Cole, and my stomach swings as I realize how small he is below me.
“I found something,” I call out.
“Great. Grab it and come down,” Marge responds from across the room as she walks to join Cole at the bottom.
Gripping the side of the ladder harder with my left hand, I stretch to my right. The corner of the page is still a little over a foot away. Sliding my other hand over to give me extra reach, I lean farther until my chest is past the ladder’s width.
So…close…
The ladder groans. Warning that this much pressure on one side of it will snap it in half.
“Get down. Quickly,”Daeja growls.
She doesn’t have to tell me twice. I snatch the paper and, to free my hands, stuff it into my waistband before securing a two-handed grip on the ladder. I work my way down, trying to keep my weight dispersed and balance centered. Four stories left. Then three. Two.
Snap.
The ladder swings to the right.
“Kat!” Cole cries.
Daeja roars.
I lean left and grab onto a shelf with both hands as the ladder drops to the right, and the steps beneath my feet disappear. Swinging back and forth from my momentum, I kick out for the shelves beneath me to steady myself. Then pull my knees up slightly until I find a shelf I can rest them on. It does little to solve the current dilemma. It’s only a break from the inevitable fall.
