Page 50 of Cinder
At four o’clock, Mrs. V. lets me finish up. But I don’t leave right away. I take advantage of the clubhouse being quiet and decide to sneak into the library.
Cracking the door open, I check to see if anyone is inside, but the vast room is empty.
Inside, I close the door behind me and pause to even my racing pulse. I draw in a deep breath, then slowly release it, telling myself it’s going to be okay.
Five minutes pass.
Then ten.
Then another fifteen.
My finger runs along the old spines. My lips whisper the name of each book as I pass over it. First edition books worth a fortune. My curiosity to know what hidden gems are in this library is getting the better of me.
When I come to a book about flowers, my heart kicks inside my chest.
Could it be?
Pulling it open, I check inside the cover.
And there it is. A handwritten note scribbled onto the old paper.
In Latin.
And scrawled in a flowing handwriting of decades past.
This has to be the recipe.
To be honest, when Viktor mentioned this to me, I thought it was an urban legend. Something made up. A really, really bad rumor.
But here it is.
Obviously, I can’t read what it all says.
But it’s written the same way someone would write out a recipe. With measurements and what looks like a list of ingredients.
I shake my head.
If Viktor is right, then this is the very first record of the Fantasia recipe.
Hidden in plain sight.
It’s so easy, it’s pure genius.
Most people would put something so valuable behind glass, or lock it in a safe, or do…something.
But not the Knights.
I laugh out loud, because I figure they did it because no one has the balls to walk into their clubhouse and steal it from under their noses.
And even though I’m here to do exactly that, I’m not stealing it.
I close the book and put it back on the shelf.
Because it’s not what I’m here to steal. Luca and Viktor can go to hell. If they want the recipe in this book, then they can come get it themselves.
Instead, I’m going to steal the first-editionGrimm’s Fairy TalesI saw on the shelf the first night I was here. It’s worth almost fifteen thousand dollars, if you know the right people.
And I know the right people, thanks to my mom.
