by Elle Adams
“Humans are so breakable,” he grumbled, pushing me towards the door. “Go.”
The instant he let go of my arm, I grabbed my pen and notebook from my pocket, gripping the pen between my fingertips. A rush of energy shot through my body as the pen touched the page—but I didn’t know nearly enough about magic to know what spell could outdo a vampire.
“None of that.” He bared his fangs. “They’ve taught you some tricks, have they? It won’t help you. I hope you’ll reconsider your choice. Otherwise, your library will be the next to burn.”
In a blink, he was gone.
I stood rigidly, the pen and notebook still clutched in my hands. He was bluffing. The library was magical. He couldn’t set it on fire, right? But—he shouldn’t have been able to find me here. I was supposed to be safe.
I pushed open the doors to the library and nearly collided with Estelle.
“I wondered where you’d gone.” She held a smoking wand in her hand, and her hair stood on end. “Two students got into a fight over the last remaining copy of the Advanced Companion to Magical Theory… Rory, what’s wrong?”
“I ran into one of those vampires.” I pushed my notebook and pen back into my pocket, my hands shaking. “He—threatened to set the place on fire if I didn’t hand over my dad’s journal.”
Her eyes widened. “What? Where?”
I pointed over my shoulder with a trembling hand. “He appeared from nowhere and threatened me. And now he’ll be after all of us.”
I was babbling, but I couldn’t help it. My mind spun in circles. The vampire must have contact with someone in town. It was isolated, miles from my former home… but the paranormal world was smaller than the normal one. Had someone told him I was living here now? Another of the local vampires, maybe? His two companions hadn’t been with him.
Why did they want the journal so badly?
Estelle fetched Aunt Adelaide and dragged her into the kitchen, where she fussed around making me a mug of calming herbal tea while I explained my narrow escape.
“There were three of them.” I sipped the tea, warmth chasing away the chill. I’d barely been outside a minute, but it felt like the cold sea breeze had gone right into my bones. “They want Dad’s journal, and they followed me all the way here. How?”
Aunt Adelaide pursed her lips. “Maybe… they must have followed our trace when we used magic to scare them off.”
“They didn’t need to,” Estelle said. “Come on, there aren’t many biblio-witches out there. They’ll have contacts in other paranormal communities. We never found out where they came from.”
“His name’s Mortimer Vale,” I said. “He told me last time. I should have said.”
“The name doesn’t ring a bell,” Aunt Adelaide said. “Besides, he won’t get into the library. It’s warded against hostile intent.”
“Then how did that cursed book get in?” I took another long sip of tea.
“Books are trickier,” she responded. “But people like him are not welcome here.”
“If not, we could always dig a moat,” I said. “I mean, uh, the water rule applies here, too, right? I wouldn’t have thought they’d want to live in a town on the coast.”
“Oh, they’re definitely not local,” Aunt Adelaide said firmly. “And we’ll run them out of town when we find where they’re staying.”
“They might not be staying here, though,” I said. “Given how quickly he moves, he might be miles away by now.”
“He told you to bring him the journal, didn’t he?” Estelle said. “That suggests he’s staying in town. There are only so many places he could be hiding. I’ll call the local hotels, for a start.”
“I don’t understand how those vampires even know about the journal,” I admitted, drinking more tea. I felt calmer, but no less confused.
“Where is it now?” asked Aunt Adelaide.
“In my room.” I hope. Maybe I should have carried it with me after it’d disappeared yesterday, but if I had, the vampire might have snatched it off me there and then.
“Let me have a look at it later,” said Aunt Adelaide. “In the meantime, I’ll report him to the police.”
“He threatened to set the place on fire if I told anyone,” I said, a fresh shiver of fear fighting against the effect of the calming tea.
“The hell he will.” Estelle looked disgusted. “This place is protected against every kind of magical disaster possible. That vampire has no idea what he’s messing with.”
“Trust me, we’re prepared for every eventuality.” Aunt Adelaide rose to her feet. “I’ll give Edwin a call. Estelle, call the local hotel owners. We have to show we aren’t afraid.”
But I am afraid. My own magical newbie nature aside, vampires were terrifying. “I’d never have got away if he hadn’t wanted me to fetch the journal.”
Estelle gave me a sympathetic nod. “Believe me, I know how scary they can be. I’ll call Frederick. He runs the local B&B, he’ll know if there’s anyone around who shouldn’t be. Besides, any gossip will reach the library eventually.”
I hope you’re right. None of the chatting students or other patrons showed any signs of fear. Then again, vampires were a normal sight to them. They wouldn’t know the terror of being confronted by one of them as a helpless human without magic.
Estelle made the call, while I drank the rest of the calming tea. After a few minutes of questions, she hung up.
“Nobody new has checked into the B&B in the last two days,” she said. “Frederick said he hasn’t seen any unfamiliar faces around.”
“That’s probably because the vampire moves so fast, nobody can see his face,” I said. “How can even a witch outdo a vampire?”
“You’d be surprised,” Estelle said. “Trust me, you’ll feel a lot more prepared when you’ve learned more magic. Anyway, I think we should contact the leader of the local vampires and let him know there’s a rogue on the loose in town. Then the other vampires will chase him off.”
“Oh,” I said, thinking of Dominic. “Well, Dominic was here, but he took off, too. Also…” I hesitated.
“Also what?” she asked.
“Uh, he was looking at books on curses,” I said. “I think he’s the client the curse-breaker was covering for. He mentioned meeting with him today.”
“Ah, really?” She frowned. “He’s lived here for years. Those other vampires, though, they’re not local. And we’ll run them out of town, count on it.”
Until then, no more wandering around alone. Not until those vampires were long gone.
I’d intended to go and have another look at the journal as soon as possible, but errands kept me busy for the rest of the afternoon. I was glad to have something to take my mind off the vampire’s threat, but his fanged face remained in the back of my mind.
As the library closed its doors for the night, Aunt Adelaide snapped her fingers and called all of us into the lobby. All of us except Cass, that is, who’d pulled another of her disappearing acts.
“Rory has been threatened,” she announced.
“She has?” Aunt Candace asked. “By who?”
“The same vampires as before,” I said. “They followed me here. One of them did, anyway.”
A muscle ticked in Aunt Candace’s jaw. “That won’t do at all. Have you told the local vampires?”
“I sent word to them.” Aunt Adelaide wrinkled her nose. “I’ve asked around and nobody can confirm if there’s a strange vampire staying in the town or not, but he wants Roger’s journal.”
“Roger’s journal?” Aunt Candace asked. “Oh, right, that one. I can’t say I know if he made enemies with vampires, but maybe there’s a clue inside the journal somewhere. It must be valuable.” Interest dripped from her words. At least someone would get a good story out of my dilemma.
“It’s written in code,” I reminded her. “I can fetch it, but I’ve never been able to read it and neither has anyone else.”
“We’ll have a look at it, then,” Aunt Adelaide said
. “And just where is Cass hiding?”
“Haven’t a clue,” said Estelle. “I’ll find her.”
“And I’ll fetch the journal.” I walked to the stairs, peering up to make sure there weren’t any obstacles in the way. There came a faint cawing from above, then Jet flew to land on my shoulder. I hadn’t seen my familiar all day, so I assumed he didn’t know about the vampire threatening me.
“Hey,” I said to him. “I’m going to my room to fetch the journal. Is it there?”
The crow made an odd chirping noise, tugging on my sleeve. I got the message and climbed the stairs.
The door to my room lay partly open. I pushed it inwards, my heart sinking a little. Everything appeared to be in place—with one exception.
The journal was gone.
10
I looked around my bedroom, scanning every corner. Then I pulled titles off the bookshelves, checking each one on the off-chance that I’d put the journal there and forgotten.
The journal wasn’t in my room. Either someone had taken it, or the library had tried to play yet another trick on me. Not great timing, considering the threat the vampire had made. Aunt Adelaide had called the library semi-sentient, so you’d think it’d be aware by now that someone wished us harm, but I’d found the journal downstairs before. Maybe the library had tried to shelve it again.
I turned to Jet, who sat on the bedpost watching me. “Did you hear what my aunts said about the vampire?” I asked him. “He threatened the library. And me. I think we should stick together from now on.”
I held out a hand, and the crow chirped and landed on it. There’d be time to train my familiar later, but right now, I needed to find that missing journal.
Of course, there was one other possibility—someone had taken it to give to the vampire, so he’d leave us alone. Cass’s face came to mind. Even she wouldn’t be that mean, right? But I had seen her carrying a small, square book under her arm earlier. Had she been sneaking peeks at the journal, or was I letting our mutual dislike cloud my judgement?
I left my room, with Jet still sitting on my shoulder.
“Hey,” I said to the library in general. “If you know where the journal is, it would be great if you could show me where to find it. I don’t know if you can understand me, but someone wants to get his hands on that book, and if I don’t give it to him, he threatened to burn you down.”
The library did not respond. But it didn’t take away the stairs on my way back down, either. I hurried back to join my family in the lobby.
They weren’t alone. Edwin the elf stood beside a rather windswept Cass.
“Your daughter was trespassing on private property,” he said to Aunt Adelaide.
Cass scowled. “It wasn’t trespassing. Nobody lives on the pier.”
“The pier is out of bounds when the tides are in,” the elf said sternly. “You could have been swept out to sea.”
She gave a disparaging snort. “I wouldn’t be much of a witch if I was scared of a little water.”
The chief of police shook his head at Aunt Adeline. “She refuses to tell me why she was on the pier on a freezing winter day when the tide was out.”
“Maybe I wanted to go for a swim?” Cass said.
Aunt Adeline sighed. “Cass, apologise to Edwin. Really, how old are you?”
“Sorry, Edwin,” Cass said, not sounding sorry. “Searching me wasn’t necessary.”
“For all I knew, you were out to vandalise the place,” Edwin said. “Adelaide, please discipline your daughter. No charges will be pressed today.”
“I’m honoured,” Cass said, and Aunt Adelaide gave her a warning look.
Hmm. Cass hadn’t even been inside the library today. The book had definitely been in my room this morning, and if she’d been on the pier, she couldn’t have been meeting with the vampire. Not when they hated water so much.
The image of Mortimer Vale on the bridge came to mind and I fought a shudder. He hadn’t seemed afraid of the water, more annoyed that I’d eluded him. And he was here in town somewhere.
I hurried over to the elf policeman before he left. “Hey, Edwin, did my aunt call you about the vampire in town who shouldn’t be?”
“Yes, I heard your aunt’s complaints,” he said. “Both times. Don’t worry. The vampires will gain nothing from threatening the most magically protected place in town.”
“But—they were trying to steal my dad’s old journal,” I said. “And I just found out it’s missing.”
“Did you want to file a complaint?” he asked. “Miss Hawthorn, you live in a library. Perhaps you misplaced the book among the many other titles on your shelves.”
He was right: I should at least check the whole library before I threw accusations around. Besides, if the vampire got the journal, he wouldn’t come after me again. He’d have no reason to if he already had what he wanted.
The following day was Sunday, so I slept in late and woke feeling refreshed despite my failure to find the journal yesterday evening. Estelle and I had searched the entire ground floor, but it was impossible to check every title. I got out of bed and checked my room again in case it’d reappeared overnight. No such luck.
Cass had refused to help me search, to no surprise, but hadn’t exhibited any signs of guilt either. It was entirely possible Aunt Candace had swiped the journal for book research purposes or something, but she knew how serious the vampire’s threat was. That left Sylvester, who’d come when I’d called his name, told me he wasn’t in charge of lost property, and swooped off again.
The library wasn’t open to the public on Sunday, giving me free rein to search as much as I liked. I wouldn’t have minded grabbing a muffin from Zee’s place, but I’d avoid going outside alone until the vampire was definitely gone.
I went into the kitchen and found Estelle buttering toast.
“Hey,” she said. “I made coffee.”
“You’re a lifesaver.” I picked up the mug she indicated on the sideboard. “The journal didn’t show up in my room overnight.”
“It’s in here somewhere.” She stuck more bread in the toaster. “Mum ordered me to go to every hotel in town in case the vampire’s using a disguise, so that’s my task of the day.”
“Will you be okay?” I asked. “I know it’s me he’s after, but he’s creepy and dangerous.”
“I’m prepared.” She tapped a page in her Biblio-Witch Inventory and the toast jumped onto a plate, which floated to me. “I’ll be wearing a disguise of my own, for a start. Vampires might have a lot of talents, but they can’t use magic the way we can.”
I walked with her to the living room. “I guess not, but they can still threaten to burn libraries down.”
“He won’t get past the front door,” she said. “Also, Aunt Candace is in the reference section looking up this Mortimer Vale character. Since he’s a vampire, he’s probably centuries old and they always seem to find their way into the history books at one time or other.”
“Right, that’s why Dominic was fact-checking.’ I never did get to visit the curse-breaker again, but there was no chance I’d be going there alone after yesterday. “Anyway, I guess I’ll keep looking for the journal. I wish I knew what my dad actually wrote in there. That might tell us where the library decided to shelve it.” If a magical library could read a code nobody else could, that is.
“Ask Sylvester to help out,” she said. “Or Jet.”
“Sure.” I munched my toast. A free day… trapped indoors. Not that I was in the mood to tempt fate by wandering around outside with a murderous vampire on the loose. I just wished I could do something useful.
When I’d finished eating, I walked out to the lobby to find Xavier standing in front of the desk, his scythe thankfully tucked away behind his back.
“Oh, hi,” I said. “You’re not here to find another body, are you?”
“No,” he said. “My boss is putting pressure on me, so I thought I’d come and have another look around. Your aunt invited me in. I won’t m
ake any trouble.” He gave another of his dazzling smiles. Angel of death, indeed.
“I’m not sure my aunt’s made any progress with the book,” I admitted. “She’s busy looking up the vampire today. Did Aunt Adelaide tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“There’s a vampire in town who shouldn’t be. He’s chasing me, because he wants this old journal my dad wrote before he died.”
Xavier’s eyes widened. “No, I didn’t know that.”
“I thought Aunt Adelaide was telling everyone she ran into,” I said. “My cousin is trying to track down where the vampire is staying.”
“Did you say he was after your dad’s old journal? Why?”
“Haven’t a clue, but it’s gone missing somewhere in the library,” I said. “Estelle and I already checked most of the ground floor, but there’s a million places it might be hidden.”
“Want me to help look for it?” he said. “I’m heading over to the Reading Corner anyway.”
“Sure.”
In the Reading Corner, Tad was still in his usual hammock, asleep. Other than that, nobody was around, not even Samson. Xavier and I talked as we made our way through the fiction section. It turned out he was a fan of my aunt’s books and knew all about her secret pen names. I admitted I hadn’t read one yet, and he gave me a whole list of recommendations. Despite our lack of progress on the journal, my mood improved. I’d put it down to the coffee, but I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a real chance to get to know someone new. I’d met up with Laney a lot, but all I’d ended up doing was talking about Abe and the shop. Now the weight of responsibility had lifted, I felt… lighter.
Or maybe it was because the floor was moving.
Xavier gave me a grin. “I like this bit.”
“I’m getting the impression you’ve been to this part of the library before.” The floor continued to slide, conveyor-belt style, and I was glad my cloak stopped at ankle-length, or else I’d have tripped over the end. We glided across the floor, bookshelves flitting past on either side.