Over the Sea [Dual Trilogy Book 1]

Melai

There was a flash of white light as Evan reappeared in our room.

"Well?" I asked, impatiently.

He shrugged. "He said he'll let them know. They'll cooperate with whatever methods we deem logical." Evan stepped out of the fire's light and sat next to me on my bed. "How should we go about this?"

I stared at the shadowy corner of my room, mentally skimming through the pages of all the technique books.

"Absolute darkness," I blurted.

"What?"

"There's a technique called Absolute Darkness. I read it in Eyara's book. The magician absorbs as much shadows as they can, and then releases it, sending—."

"Yeah, I know what it is. It sounds like something Aunt Exona once taught me, but for light."

"We could trade. One night I do Absolute Darkness, the other night you do Absolute Light. We sneak into the house, suddenly the whole house goes dark—or bright—and there the family is, dead on the floor."

***

A couple days later, I spent most of the morning wandering the castle, looking for the library. I may have gotten lost a few times, but I didn't mind. I had never thought I would one day set foot in Kalhaire Castle, so all I could do was marvel at the beauty of the twisting wooden halls that weaved in and around the center Bunder tree, all with their own branching hallways and staircases. From the outside, it looked like a tangle of branches, vines, and trees; on the inside, it was clean, smooth, and confusing.

After mistakenly walking the same hallway three times, and taking a staircase I hadn't seen before, I eventually make my way to the library. I had thought the throne room was big; this was larger, and far more grand than anything I'd ever seen. The warm glow of the glow stone lamps and torches lit the room and the shelves. So many shelves! And books; books upon books stacked in every nook and cranny, with the occasional rolled-up scroll wedged between them.

"Welcome to Kalhaire Library."

I spun around to see a pudgy little man in a navy robe pushing a cart overflowing with books. "I don't suppose you know where I could find the book for Shadow Magic?"

"You are a Magician?" he asked, bored as ever.

"Well, um—yes."

He tilted his head, clearly puzzled. "Don't you have a Master?"

My gaze dropped, and I felt heat rise up my neck. "I don't have one, sir."

He scoffed. "That's absurd. Every Magician trains under a Master. Shen, even Prince Kano has never asked to see the book on Water Magic."

"Well, fortunately for Prince Kano, he was given an element common enough for there to even be a Master." His eyes widened, and I could only imagine what the pulsating, shadowy haze around me looked like.

He stopped the cart, told me to "Wait right there", and off he went.

Have you asked him yet? Evan asked impatiently.

Not yet, I'm getting there.

He returned sooner than I expected with a thick book tucked under his arm. He handed it to me, eagerly bid me farewell, and returned to pushing his cart.

"Do you happen to have a list of all the Magicians that live in Broasau?"

His wrinkled eyes squinted at me. "Of course I do. Why?"

I shrugged. "I'm just interested in my family history. I want to know if any one in my family has been a Magician."

He hesitantly led me over to a little wooden table along the far back wall. A small glow stone lamp sat on the right edge of the table, and a book that sat near the front of the table, and almost reached the back of it, laid open. From a glance, it looked like it held records.

The man flipped the pages until he found what he had been looking for. "The next five pages is the list of all Broasan magicians, going many generations back up to those still alive."

"Thank you," I said, sitting down in the chair to read through all the names.

Evan had told me to find the list, and I assumed it would be found in the library. I only came to the library for the Shadow Magic book and the list's location; I wasn't actually interested in reading the names, but thanks to my lie, I had to sit there pretending to read them.

The little man walked around the library putting away the books. Thanks to the shadows cast by the lamps and torches, I could sense his movements around the library. Once I felt comfortable with how far away from me he was, I reached my left hand out into the nearest shadow and teleported myself back to my room.