Veil of Shadow and Rain ✓ [TSC #1]

Chapter 7 - Library Secrets

'This is serious,' Wren said, pushing open the doors. They made loud, creaking noises. She gestured Jake and Ladislaya to enter. They made it into the academy, the doors slowly shutting behind them.

'This school's a labyrinth,' Wren said in amazement. 'You two know where the school library is, don't you?'

'Uh ... which one are you talking about?' Ladislaya said, her face falling. 'The one in the North Wing, the East Wing, or the South Wing?'

'Three libraries?' Wren said, raising her eyebrows. Ladislaya shrugged. 'What happened to the West Wing anyway?'

'Oh - no one's allowed to enter the West Wing,' Jake said. 'No classrooms, libraries, or labs are up there. It's just North, East and South.'

'Well, in that case, which library should we start with?' Wren asked.

'We're not - we're not going to search all the libraries, are we?' Jake asked tentatively.

'That would take ages,' Wren said.

'We should try the East Wing's library,' Ladislaya suggested. 'It's the largest. We could dig out some information there.'

'East Wing it is,' Wren said.

They went up the winding staircases that led to the East Wing. It took a heck of a long time to get to the East Wing, but they finally did reach the East Wing's library.

They entered and nothing but books swallowed them. They were surrounded by many bookshelves and the scent of old books hung in the air. The bookshelves were tall and towering, and were arranged neatly and tidily by alphabet. Moving staircases moved gently from bookshelf to bookshelf, and a huge, sparkly chandelier hung from the ceiling.

'Whoa,' Wren breathed.

'How are we supposed to find out about the Shadow Angels with this?' Jake wheezed.

'We start from S, of course,' Ladislaya said, hurrying over to a bookshelf. 'We follow the arrangement of the bookshelves. 'Sacrifice to scars!' she called.

Wren hurried over to the bookshelf next to Ladislaya's and browsed through the books quickly. 'Scars to sediment!'

'What are we doing, playing dictionary?' Jake yelled. He skimmed through the books on the bookshelf opposite Ladislaya's. 'Hang on ... no F, no G ... H! I got it! Shack ... shadow!'

Ladislaya and Wren rushed over to Jake's side, peering intently at the books.

'Here!' Wren said, pulling a book out from its shelf. 'Shadow Angels: A Guide to Shadow Angels.'

'A Guide to Shadow Angels?' Jake said, scrunching his nose up as if he'd smelt something bad.

'Here's another one!' Ladislaya cried aloud. 'The Gruesome Facts You Need to Know about Shadow Angels.'

'And another one!' Jake said. 'Histories of the Shadow Angels,' he read the title. 'And this book has like a thousand plus pages!'

'So's mine,' Wren said.

'Same,' Ladislaya said in despair.

Jake started looking frantic. 'Three whole books about Shadow Angels? How are we supposed to read all of them tonight? Is there any other way to read a book without actually reading a book? Ladislaya!'

Ladislaya looked bewildered. 'Why are you asking me?'

'You're the smart one!' Jake shrieked.

'You're stressing me out!'

'Are we sure Aurora read all this?' Wren asked. 'Maybe ... maybe there was some other way she could find out about the Shadow Angels. Maybe ...'

There was a long pause. 'Maybe what?' Jake said, close to screaming. 'We don't have time to read three thousand-paged books! Is there any way we can read a book quicker?'