The Majors, Rebuild and Reunite (Book 3)

Chapter 13: Wonderland

~Scott~

My feet hit the ground running.

The flight through the mountains had eaten up time, probably close to an hour. Why the library was so far from society, especially when Rivendale was hardly younger than it was, was beyond me. Knowledge should not have to be hidden.

The cyan tiled roof came into sight, shooting up like a sprout from the mountain side where the library was buried underneath. The November air whistling past my ears, starting to throb from the windchill, as I dove towards the entrance.

The door wouldn't open at first, hinges rusted shut by corrosion. I smashed my shoulder against the center, one, two, three times, before a crack and a metallic shriek followed the door bursting inwards.

It was all dust and rot, the floor coated in a smear of gray like a rug. Every step I took was cushioned by the centuries, perhaps millennia, of neglect hiding the wooden boards.

I kicked at the residue with the heel of my boot, trying to uncover the markings of elvish spun into a circle around where the staircase lay. "Tha eòlas nas cumhachdaiche na cumhachd fhèin." I recited, watching as each letter began to glow a shade of blue, one that made my spine stiffen upon realizing it matched that of the Rune Blade.

Slowly the floorboards within the circle began to drop, forming the spiral staircase that led down into darkness. I didn't wait to gather light or a spell to guide me, immediately descending down.

The only sound was my breathing, heavy from the flight. Despite the cold, sweat rimmed my hairline, my lips gaining their own small heartbeat.

I couldn't see a thing, my fingers slipping between the grooves on the bricks that closed in on either side of me. The fact that I didn't trip head over heels down the stairs was a miracle, but there were a couple of close calls that made my heart drop down into my stomach.

Then there was a flicker in the darkness.

Something red flashed in the black, spraying an eerie glow against the stone for just a moment, my hand washed in crimson, before it was gone.

I froze.

My eyesight was fuzzy, readjusting to the darkness after the sudden burst of color.

But then it came again.

A streak of red darted past my nose, a curl of light dancing across my line of sight casting everything in a red glow. It shot forwards, twisting down the staircase before disappearing around the wall, the red light beginning to fade as it got further and further away.

"Wait—" I stammered, throwing myself after the ribbon trailing off into the dark. "—slow down—" I skipped steps, two, four, six, practically falling down the staircase, watching helplessly as the red became dimmer. I hit the end of the staircase, staggering out into the hall that led down to the library.

I sprinted, squinting as the braziers hung up on the wall lit with bursts of flames...before going out. I slowed down the slightest, a gust of cold, cold wind barreling past me and snuffing out the fire, leaving the hall in darkness except for that one strand of red just ahead of me.

And I kept chasing it.

The unnatural chill whistled by my ears, just as cold as outside, but I kept chasing that one source of light. That one little fleck of my sister, somehow here.

I was in the library now. When the hall transitioned to the thousands of rows of bookshelves I have no clue. Every one of my steps was cushioned by dust and centuries worth of build up.