Assassin of Truths Read online

  So “C” for Czech Republic and “N” for New York. I had solved can figs. And I had the locations of the final Chiavi.

  Arik passed Cadby on his way up to me.

  I slipped the list back into my pocket and put my notebook on top of Gian’s journal, opened it to a page, and pretended to read. When he stopped in front of me, I kept my head down, acting too engrossed in what I was reading to notice him.

  But I had noticed him. I noticed everything about Arik. The way he fought in practice with hardly any effort. The way he cared for the animals on the farm. And the way he would look at me with his hopeful, dark eyes. There always seemed to be an unanswered question between us. One I didn’t want to answer and he didn’t want to ask.

  “What are you doing up here by yourself?” he asked, his English accent lacing his words, and he flashed that smile he used only around me. It was sort of forced and held a hint of uncertainty.

  Glancing around, he waited for my response. He seemed nervous around me. It probably hadn’t helped that I’d kept to myself when I wasn’t doing chores or practicing Sentinel skills with the group.

  “I know where the other two Chiavi are hidden,” I finally said.

  “That’s fabulous,” he said, sitting down beside me. “Where are they?”

  “I want to go alone,” I said, purposely not answering his question.

  He raised a brow at me, his eyes full of disappointment. “Have we come to a place where you don’t trust me?”

  I bit my lip and considered his question. Out of everyone in hiding with us, I knew where Arik’s heart and loyalties lay. “It’s not that. It’s because I trust you that I want you to stay. You must protect Royston while I’m gone. I can’t go if you’re not here with him.”

  “I’ll send someone with you,” he offered.

  “No,” I said. “It’s too dangerous. Conemar’s men have been attacking anyone traveling through the gateways. Uncle Philip said he believes they have one of the missing Monitors. Whoever jumps with me will register.”

  I waited for his response as he thought over my words. There were only four Monitors left. The parrots had a gift of sensing the gateways and registering those who jumped through the books. The other Monitors had died when I’d thrown my battle globe at a trapdoor to save Bastien and Gian. The action had caused a magic blowback that unlocked the traps and killed many of the birds.

  Arik picked at some grass growing in the crack of the wall and said, “All right, then, but Lei and Jaran will keep an eye on the gateway page for any dangers. They can wait in the Dublin Library.”

  I would feel safer with two Sentinels watching my jump. “I’m good with that.”

  Arik tossed the grass to the ground and watched Deidre shake her wet shirt as Royston stared at her. I knew that look on Arik’s face. He was worried about me.

  “Don’t worry.” My fingertips went to the crescent scar on my chest. The bumpy flesh was a reminder of the shield charm Nana Kearns had branded on me. “I’m a ghost in the gateways. I can handle myself. Two quick jumps and I’ll be right back.”

  The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, dimples hinting in his cheeks. “You’ve come quite a ways, Gia Kearns.”

  There was that name again. The one that no longer felt like my own.

  “I’m proud of you,” he added. “There’s no one I’d rather have fighting beside me in a battle. Stay alert. Don’t let your guard down, all right?”

  “Promise.”

  Arik stood and brushed his hands across his pants. “We received a message from Bastien. Carrig will meet him in Asile and bring him to our hideout. Though the Wizard Council believes Carrig had nothing to do with your disappearance, they’re still monitoring his jumps. So it will take a few days to get here, since they can’t go through the gateway. They have to travel through the human world, but you should see him soon.”

  “That’s great.” Excitement swelled in my chest, but I kept my cool and smiled up at Arik.

  Though my response held an even tone, there was a hint of disappointment in Arik’s eyes. What did he expect? I’d moved on when I thought he’d broken up with me to date Emily. The witch. Literally. She’d placed a love spell on him, freeing me up to get close to Bastien while trapped in the Somnium.

  Nothing brings a couple together like surviving a frozen wasteland filled with beasts hell-bent on consuming them for dinner.

  Arik nodded and turned to leave, but stopped. “The remaining Chiavi. Where do you believe them to be?”

  I glanced down at my notes. “I can’t say. Uncle Philip gave me orders to tell no one.” My uncle had become the new High Wizard of Asile after the previous one was murdered. As Sentinels, we had to follow his orders. And Arik, being a strict rule follower, would never allow me to go against them.

  He nodded again and again turned to leave. “You should go tonight, then. Alert Philip of your jump schedule,” he said over his shoulder as he started to trot down the hill. “Are you coming? The meal is ready.”

  I closed my notebook, hugged both it and the journal to my chest, and trailed him.

  Arik’s pace picked up as mine slowed, the distance growing between us. Unlike his normal confident posture, his muscled shoulders were slumped.

  Bastien’s face flashed across my mind. Without him, I wouldn’t have survived the Somnium. The memory of his kisses and gentle touches tingled across my skin. I missed him.

  I shook my thoughts away and plodded across the lumpy grass. My love life would have to wait. There were life-threatening things to consider.

  Chapter Two

  Decked in their Sentinel gear, Lei, wearing her samurai-like helmet, and Jaran in his horned one, looked ready for a battle as they stood guard for me. I spoke the spell to retrieve the gateway book and waited.

  The Long Room in Dublin’s Trinity Library was dark and quiet. The two-story bookcases soared to the arched ceiling. I created a light globe on my palm and strolled down the center of the room, my messenger bag bouncing against my hip. I’d stuffed my cat-shaped helmet in it. My boots clacked against the polished floor as I passed the red ropes lining the bookcases on both sides of the room.

  “I’m curious.” I glanced at Jaran. “How do you get into Tearmann from here?”

  The Irish haven intrigued me. Carrig’s roots were there, which meant mine were, too. I hoped to visit it one day.

  “You step on the spiral staircase in this library,” he said. “Then say the charm that opens all the entries into the havens.”

  “Good to know.” I rubbed a tickle from my nose.

  “It’s unwise that we don’t know where you’re going,” Jaran added. “What if you don’t return? How can we come to your rescue?”

  Jaran had been a rock I’d clung to when my world seemed to slip away after Arik broke things off with me. He’d kept me company. Watched horror movies with me. Listened when I’d talked excessively about Arik and Emily’s new relationship. Had held me while I’d cried over the loss.

  “If something happens,” I answered, “you call Uncle Philip. He’ll tell you where I went.”

  Perspiration dampened my T-shirt and caused my leather pants to stick to my legs. Inside the library, wearing both my Sentinel gear and a trench coat, it was like being in a sauna. I tugged at my breastplate. Faith’s pendant and the glass locket Uncle Philip had given me with Pip’s white feather inside clanked against the metal. I removed the elastic band from my wrist and tied my hair up with it.

  Where is that book? It never took that long for it to float over to me. I spun the watch that Carrig had given me on my wrist. It was ancient and clunky, and way too big for me, causing the leather to rub against my skin. When we left Asile in the dark of night to go into hiding, we had to leave our cell phones behind out of fear of someone tracking us. It was as if we were in the Stone Age using watches and landlines.

  I decided to search for the gateway book and headed down the center of the room.

  Plaster busts of famous men sat
on built-in pedestals between the alcoves lined with bookcases. As the faces came in and out of my light, I read the names—Aristotle, Cicero, Homerus, Plato—

  Jaran kept to my side. “Why isn’t the book coming?”

  I stopped, glanced in both directions, and shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s strange. Sei zero sette periodo zero due DOR.” I repeated the numbered charm to locate the gateway book. A scraping sound came from some ways down from us. I went to the area and said the charm again. On a shelf labeled “ll,” the book shook but didn’t come to me, something preventing it from moving.

  “It’s stuck.” It was too high for me to reach, so I climbed the ladder. Jaran grabbed the sides to keep it steady.

  I reached for the book and paused. “Someone tied a rope around it.” My fingers followed the braided hemp. “The ends are nailed to the wood behind it.”

  “That’s curious,” Jaran said.

  Lei sighed, startling Jaran and causing him to bump into the ladder.

  The ladder wobbled, and I clung to it. “Jaran,” I hissed.

  “Sorry,” he said, then looked over his shoulder at Lei. “Perhaps you shouldn’t sneak up on someone in a dark library.”

  “I’d apologize, but we both know it wouldn’t be sincere.” Lei inspected her nails. “The Wizard Council sent out an order to all the havens. The gateway books are on lockdown ever since some rogue Mystiks attacked Mantello. Most likely, they were part of Conemar’s band of evil misfits.”

  The wizard havens were realms cloaked by magic and connected to the human world through secret entries within the libraries. There was too much unrest in the havens, and we weren’t sure who could be trusted. By binding the gateway books, it looked like the council was also in doubt.

  “Wait.” I glanced down at her. “What would happen if I jumped and there’s another secured book on the other side? Would I get through?”

  “Of course you would.” She looked disinterested in my questions but answered them anyway. “It’s a charm that opens the book when someone jumps through it, then locks it afterward.”

  I opened my mouth, but she stopped me.

  “And before you ask, humans can’t see the bindings or the book. Isn’t magic a wonderful thing.” The deadpan way she said it sounded like she thought it was anything but.

  “Right. Good to know.” I glanced down at her. “Do you know the charm to release it?”

  “Liberato,” she said.

  “Set Free.” That makes sense.

  “Didn’t Philip give you the charm?” Jaran asked.

  “No. It must’ve slipped his mind.”

  “Nothing ever slips his mind.” Lei returned to inspecting her nails. “This is going to be a long evening.”

  She was right. Could his new role as high wizard be wearing on him?

  I spoke the charm and freed the book. It was difficult to climb down the ladder with the heavy reference volume. Lei grasped my elbow and supported me as I stepped off the last wrung.

  “Thanks,” I said, smiling at her, though there was a dullness to her eyes. I missed my playful friend. She hadn’t called anyone ducky since Kale died. The spell tattooed on Lei’s hand—a radiant lotus between her thumb and pointer finger—had subdued her emotions; losing the love of her life had to be torture. I understood her need to not feel anything, but she’d become unrecognizable.

  She gave me an impassive look. “Put your helmet on—you’ll want to protect your vital parts. There have been reports that the spell disabling human weapons in many of the libraries is broken. Probably happened when your globe hit that trap.”

  I wrenched my helmet out of my messenger bag and secured it on my head. The silver casing covered half my face and was shaped like a cat’s head and decorated with sapphires.

  Jaran rested his hand on my shoulder and leaned over to my ear. “Listen, do you still call Nana before leaving the libraries?”

  It had become routine for me to phone her just before jumping out of a library. I’d find a landline or swipe someone’s cell phone and make a two-second call. “I’m okay,” I would tell her.

  “Yes,” I said. “Why?”

  He handed me a slip of paper. “It’s Cole’s number. Can you ring him for me? Tell him I’m alive and well? I can’t use the phone or computer here. Carrig said they aren’t safe.”

  Cole was the student council president at the school we’d attended while hiding in Branford, Connecticut, and Jaran’s boyfriend.

  The separation from his boyfriend had to be difficult for him. I got it. Being away from Bastien sucked.

  Bastien’s face flashed across my mind, and it was as if a dart hit my chest, piercing through flesh and bone, piercing my heart. Missing him was like my soul bleeding out. Memories of us together kept me up at night, and every minute away from him was like an eternity.

  “Gia?” Jaran’s voice pulled me from my thoughts.

  I stuffed the note into the front pocket of my pants. “Of course.”

  “You’re the absolute best.” He winked and stepped away to guard the other side of the room from Lei.

  I riffled through the pages of the gateway book until landing on the one with the National Library of the Czech Republic in Prague. The photograph was in motion. There wasn’t anyone inside the reading room. It was definitely closed.

  “See you on the flipside,” I said.

  “What was that?” Lei glanced over, her mouth a straight line, her eyes unfocused.

  “It’s just an old saying.” When that didn’t seem to register with her, I sighed. “Never mind. I’ll be back soon.” I spoke the key, “Aprire la porta,” jumped into the book, and tapped the page with my hand to turn it before fully entering the gateway.

  It was a dangerous move, but they didn’t need to know where I was going. If I was attacked in the library, I’d be spared because I could find the Chiavi. Lei and Jaran would be killed.

  The coolness of the gateway welcomed me. I plunged into the darkness, not bothering to ignite a light globe. With my feet under me, it was like surfing in the nothingness. The wind howled in my ears, and my mind was as blank as the void in front of me.

  I flew out of the book, and my boots smacked against the marble floor, the sound echoing off the frescoes on the arched ceiling. The book rose from the ground and returned to its place on the shelf. Leather straps instantly wrapped around its spine, securing it.

  Good thing Lei was right. Missing the exit and being stuck in the gateway was certain death. By luck or an act of God, Afton, Nick, and I had made it through that first time when we accidentally jumped into the book.

  Since the library was empty, I removed my trench coat and draped it over my arm.

  Twisted wooden columns between the bookcases supported the gilded, wrought iron railing around the upper gallery. I hated galleries. If I was going to attack someone, that’s where I’d hide.

  I passed a row of various sized globes displayed on wooden stands. Something buzzed behind me. I’d heard the noise before. I spun around. Aetnae, a book faery, hovered in front of my face like a humming bird.

  “Hello, Gianna,” I could barely hear her say.

  “How are you?” I asked. Every time I’d see Aetnae, her praying mantis form and green skin always threw me off for a second.

  “I am well.”

  Another faery flew up to Aetnae’s side. It was a boy about her age. Maybe. How could a person tell with such a small, insect-like person? He had cropped brown hair and olive colored skin and was a little larger than Aetnae, with a wider wingspan.

  “So what are we doing here?” he asked.

  “We?” Aetnae snapped at him. “Why are you always following me? Don’t you have something better to do?”

  A worried expression crossed his tiny face. “I thought we could, you know, go together.”

  “Go away,” she said, the exertion of hovering in one place causing her to sound breathless. “I’m working.”

  “All right,” he said. “I’ll see you a
t dinner. I’ll save you a seat.” He flew off.

  “Goodbye, um…” I didn’t know his name.

  “Sen,” he said from somewhere in the library.

  Aetnae landed on my shoulder, grabbing my ponytail, draped over my collarbone, to keep from falling off. “I hope you don’t mind, but I’m losing the energy to keep going.”

  She was practically weightless, and I could barely feel the pull on my hair.

  “No problem,” I said. “I think that boy likes you.”

  She groaned. “He’s such a bug. Always at my side. And he prefers the modern libraries and all those graphic novels. Doesn’t appreciate the architecture of the older ones. Or the classics.”

  “Well, he’s definitely smitten.”

  She glanced in the direction he’d disappeared, a tiny smile tugging at her lips. “You think so?”

  “Anyway, you needed to talk to me?” I wanted to hurry her along. If I let her, she’d talk endlessly, and I had a mission to do.

  “I must get a message to Sinead. A travesty has happened in the realm of the Fey.” Her words were so soft I had to strain to hear them. “Not a single Changeling hatched in the Garden of Life, so the Fey couldn’t retrieve the newest batch of Sentinels. They’re lost somewhere out there in the human world. Unless…”

  She didn’t need to finish her sentence. I knew what she would have said. The new Sentinels could be dead or might have never been born.

  My neck was starting to ache from craning it to look at her. “Do they know what caused it?”

  She let go of my hair, her fists landing on her hips. “The elders believe it’s because of what you did.”

  What I did?

  “I’ve never been to the Garden,” I said. “How could it be because of me?”

  Losing her balance, she grasped my hair again. “It’s because of your battle globe. When you threw it at that trapdoor, it destroyed the charms securing the Somniums and messed with the enchantments surrounding the Fey realm. Everything is connected in the Mystik world, you know. The elders think it did something to the magic in the Garden. The Changeling pods withered away. I’ve never seen such a thing, not in all my hundreds of years.”