Life Reader

by Shea, K. M.

  “What do you mean how? It’s pretty obvious with Asher’s scar and everything. I sort of have to wonder why no one else has noticed it,” Raven said before yelping when the twins increased their pressure on her and stopped walking.

  “What?” Asher growled.

  “The scar in your eyebrow,” Raven said, making a slashing movement through her own eyebrow with her pointer finger.

  “How long have you been able to see it?” Aron asked, his face stony.

  “I don’t know,” Raven said, forcefully pushing the twins away from her. She tapped her lip as she thought. “I guess I didn’t really notice it until after we were attacked by the decayor in the tunnel. Why?”

  “No one but Aron and I should be able to see it. The scar,” Asher said, self-consciously touching the white mark. “We use our magic to cover it,” he said as they started walking again.

  “Maybe you really are our long lost triplet,” Aron said, sounding bewildered.

  Raven frowned, her eyes narrowing as she puzzled through the situation. “No. The key to this puzzle is that I wasn’t able to see it, and then after the decayor I could see it. Perhaps it had something to do with seeing your magic in action?”

  The twins shook their heads.

  “If that were the case all the guys from Saint Cloud would know about it,” Aron said.

  Wrinkles plagued Raven’s forehead as she carefully recalled the attack. “After you erased the decayor, Asher, you placed your other arm around me too and your ring sorta burnt my neck,” Raven recalled.

  Aron stared at her incredulously and Raven hurried to add “But it wasn’t bad. It was just like I burnt myself with a curling iron. You know, a little scorch?”

  “Your other hand around her too, huh Asher?” Aron drawled at his older brother, who was turning tomato red.

  “Shut up!” Asher sputtered.

  “Hooo boy does that explain a lot,” Aron snickered.

  “That’s got to be it,” Raven said as they crossed a crosswalk. “Something about your ring burning me must allow me to see past your magic.”

  “That could be it,” Aron said after smirking one more time at his twin—who had completely withdrawn. “The magical core of our rings is a dragon scale chipped in half. I have one half, Asher has the other. Either way, this is clearly a magical anomaly. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Not as much as Asher apparently worries about you.”

  “What?” Raven asked as they walked up to the library.

  “Shut up, Aron,” Asher hotly said. “Come on, it’s cold. I want to get inside,” he continued, hurrying down the sidewalk.

  A few minutes of walking and Raven and the twins were stashed inside the twins’ private room, throwing their stuff on the ground and rubbing their hands and appendages to warm up.

  “Okay, so start your spy novel back story,” Aron said as he nosed around a few boxes stashed in a corner.

  “Wouldn’t it be best to do it in the fiction section?” Raven asked, seating herself on the couch with a shiver.

  “In a word: no. Anyone could stumble on us when we’re in there. And believe me, Miss Morris and Mrs. Conners patrol that area like goblin guards,” Aron said. “Although I think Daire’s been the worst since you showed up.”

  “In here we can set up wards without attracting Director Eastgate’s attention. Aron and I invoke all sorts of magic in our room, we don’t use our magic very often in other parts of the library,” Asher said, pulling off his ring while sitting down next to Raven. “Want to help?”

  Raven tipped her head as she thought. “What kind of ward—and how would Director Eastgate know you’re using your magic?”

  “We’ll just do a basic secrecy ward, so when we speak only the three of us can hear our words. Until we break it anyway. As for your other questions, they’ll have to wait,” Asher said, holding out his gold ring. “So, will you?”

  Raven wriggled her silver ring off her finger. “Wouldn’t the ward be stronger if you did it with Aron? You two share magic,” she said, doubtfully raising her eyebrows.

  “We’ll be fine,” Asher promised as Aron stopped shuffling through boxes to watch and toss his brother his page turner ring. “Ready?”

  “Yes.”

  “Conceal and guard against,” Asher said, the power and depth of magic in his page turner voice surprised Raven, but she added her part of the ward.

  “Abdo caveo,” she said in her page turner voice.

  Asher and Raven clinked all three of the page turner rings together. Raven’s groaned like the deep crack of an iceberg, while the twins snapped like a burning bonfire. The magic was working.

  “Incipio,” they said together, their voices blending.

  The room was bathed in red and silver light. The colors splayed over each other like oil and water before mixing and fading all together.

  Raven slipped her ring back on her finger while Asher tossed his twin his ring and put his back on. Aron caught his ring, slipped it on, and rustled around a box for a moment longer before unearthing something and carrying it to the couch.

  “What is that?” Raven asked as Aron set a box that was covered by thick, velvet cloth.

  “You’ll see,” Aron smirked, twitching the fabric aside to reveal a wooden box underneath. The box was unremarkable, except for the fact that tiny beams of light struggled out from beneath the lid.

  Aron nonchalantly popped off the lid and dumped the contents of the box on the velvet cloth. It was a feather that was approximately the length of Raven’s hand. The quill was crimson, but the crimson bled into a brilliant scarlet red, and the very edges of the feather were rimmed in gold. The feather glowed, giving off heat like a small but potent fire.

  “…That is a phoenix feather,” Raven said after a few moments.

  “Yep,” Aron said, cupping his hands over the feather, reveling in the warmth.

  “Why do you guys have a phoenix feather?” Raven asked, dumbly staring.

  “Because the library director is a cheapskate who won’t turn on the heat until it’s January and we have six inches of snow,” Asher grumbled, sliding off the couch to move closer to the feather.

  “HOW did you guys get a phoenix feather?” Raven asked, her voice starting to lose its tranquility. “They’re illegal. They’ve been illegal for ages, ever since the Preservation Society for Magical Animals successfully lobbied for the halt of unicorn horn hunting and the harvesting of phoenix feathers.”

  “Our Dad works for the Bureau of Magical Investigation. He’s in the illegal artifact division, so he’s constantly bringing home magical items,” Aron said.

  “We liberated this from his desk about a year ago,” Asher said, lazily leaning against the couch. “We can actually make smores with it. It gets warm enough if you place the marshmallow and chocolate right next to the feather. Do you want one?”

  “No!” Raven said, her voice cracking with hysteria before she cleared her throat and tried again. “I mean no thank you.”

  Asher shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

  “Enough about the feather, start talking,” Aron said.

  Raven shifted closer to the feather, enjoying the luxurious warmth it radiated. “I was sent here by an emissary from EC to search for a magical item of interest,” Raven said, repeating the words her father had approved the night before.

  “Oh, is that all?” Asher asked, scooting aside to make room for Raven as she shuffled to the edge of the couch to get even closer to the feather.

  “That’s anticlimactic. I was hoping you would be sent from Bakertown KQ Headquarters to oust Daire or something. That would be much more dramatic and interesting,” Aron said, standing up to reach for a crate that was filled with snacks. He dug out a bag of gigantic marshmallows and opened it.

  Raven blinked. “I was sent here by an emissary and you are unimpressed?”

  “Oh, it’s not a bad reflection on you,” Aron said, impaling a marshmallow on a shishkabob stick stolen from the snack crate before he ploppe
d down.

  “Just about every bureau and its sister want a piece of Saint Cloud. It was obvious you were working for or with someone. We just didn’t know who,” Asher said, reaching for a bottle of water as his brother held his marshmallow an inch above the feather.

  “So tell us about this artifact you’ve been sent to get,” Aron said, carefully rotating his marshmallow.

  “Yeah. It’s gotta be pretty hot if the EC is looking for it. It can’t be your average stolen artifacts, like the phoenix feather, or it would be our dad tracking it down, not a black dog.” Asher said, gesturing to the glowing item before taking a swig of his water.

  “It’s a cauldron,” Raven said.

  Aron pulled his shishkabob marshmallow away from the feather. “A cauldron?” he said over his marshmallow, his forehead wrinkling in disbelief.

  “There is no such thing as magical cauldrons,” Asher said, his voice haughty.

  “Apparently there is,” Raven said, shaking her head.

  “What does it do?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “What are its origins?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “What does it look like?”

  “A cauldron.”

  “Really? You don’t say. That’s surprising considering what it is,” Asher rolled his eyes.

  “How are you supposed to find this thing if you don’t know anything about it?” Aron asked, stuffing his toasted marshmallow into his mouth.

  “I’ve been given an approximation to its size, and I’m just supposed to look for it. Considering Kingdom Quest and where we work I doubt there will be many cauldrons lying around,” Raven said.

  “Good point,” Asher said standing up before handing Raven her coat. “Come on, let’s go.”

  Raven blinked and took it, shrugging it on. “Go where?”

  “To the tunnels. You’re supposed to look for this thing, right? We might as well get an early start on the search,” Asher said, reaching for his own jacket.

  “You two have heard of a cauldron being kept here?”

  “Nope.”

  “Never.”

  “Doesn’t mean we can’t find it though,” Aron said, zipping up his jacket. “Button up, it gets cold in the tunnels.”

  As Asher tested their speaking ward to make sure it would move with them Aron started prodding cinderblocks in the wall at the back of their room.

  “Did they at least tell you why it’s so important to find this cauldron?” Asher said, nodding with satisfaction when the room glowed silver and red for a moment before he packed up the phoenix feather.

  “Sort of,” Raven said, jumping when the back wall of the room abruptly dropped, falling into a tunnel like an unceremonious drawbridge. The resulting bang filled the room, making Raven and the twins cringe.

  “It doesn’t do that every time,” Aron said, climbing into the tunnel after he caught Raven’s stare.

  “Yeah. It changes depending on the library’s mood. Which isn’t great because that means today it’s feeling snippy,” Asher said, also entering the tunnel.

  The twins offered their hands to Raven, she took them when she stepped off the wall and into the slippery tunnel.

  “By the way, these tunnels aren’t monitored,” Asher said

  “Yes they are,” Aron said, shaking his head.

  Behind them the wall abruptly sprang up, snapping back into place with a crack.

  Asher looked back to stare at the wall before speaking again. “I guess they are. But only for signs of life and any active magic. It ignores us though, we’re built into the system. What I meant was we can say whatever we want. Like this. DAIRE EASTGATE’S MOTHER IS A TROLL,” Asher shouted. His sharp voice echoed in the tunnels. “And Daire will never know. Unless he’s here with us.”

  “That’s kind of therapeutic,” Aron said as they started out down the dark passageway.

  “So if the EC sent you in, I’m guessing they’ve already tried reasoning with our director?” Asher asked, holding his hand out to shed more light in the tunnel.

  “Yes,” Raven said.

  “And he told them to get out?” Aron guessed.

  “In terms not quite as polite as that, yes,” Raven nodded.

  “OK, so why does the EC want this cauldron, and how did the library end up with it?” Aron said.

  “I don’t know how the library got it, and I don’t quite know why the EC wants it. However, I do know the emissary I’m working under was spurred into action when the EC discovered that a magic abuser group is after the cauldron,” Raven said, carefully wording her answers to match the approved information her father had outlined.

  Asher whistled, the sound echoed further down the tunnels. “What magic abusers?”

  “I can’t say,” Raven said.

  Aron nodded in acceptance. “That’s fine. It’s enough to know it’s being sought out. It certainly narrows down the areas that it might be kept in.”

  Asher folded his arms behind his head, blocking some of the light from his ring. “If this cauldron is that much of a big deal Daire and Jeremiah won’t know squat about it,” he said before reaching out to flick the air with his fingers. The shell of silver and red flickered for a moment.

  “Yep, we’ll have to set our sights higher,” Aron said.

  “What do you mean?” Raven said, suspiciously eyeing the duo.

  “We mean we’re going to have to break into an office.”

  “WHAT?!”

  “Don’t worry, it won’t be the director’s office.”

  “Yeah, that would be suicide.”

  “We can’t break into an office! Someone will see us!” Raven said.

  “Duh. That’s why we’ll have to break into the library too,” Asher said.

  “WHAT!?”

  “Jeez, do you really have to shout that loudly? Anyway it’s not as bad as it sounds. Thursday nights Miss Morris is in charge of closing procedures. Director Eastgate and Mrs. Conners will have left already. The only page turner remaining behind will be Jeremiah,” Aron said as the trio passed through a series of tunnel intersections. “We simply hide in the library until everyone is gone, come out, disarm the alarm, and commence with our office break in activities.”

  “We have to do it on a Thursday night because that is the only night in which Director Eastgate, Brannon, or Daire don’t work,” Asher said. “We need to do it on a night that Jeremiah works because Jeremiah is lazy and doesn’t complete all the lock up tasks, making our job infinitely easier.”

  “Why do we have to break in to begin with?” Raven asked, following Asher as he made a turn, leading them through the maze of passages and tunnels.

  “Because I’m willing to bet money if there is any information about this cauldron of yours in this library, it’s going to be in the administrative assistant’s old office,” Aron said, looking up at the ceiling when a drop of cold water fell on his head.

  “You must have heard that there was a large scale war in the library when Director Eastgate announced the temporary shutdown of the book sections and that the library would only offer eBook materials for the foreseeable future,” Asher said. “But it was a lot worse than you’ve imagined.”

  “Eastgate didn’t mean for all the circulation librarians to be fired: they walked out on him. Locked all of their stuff up tight and left it where it stood. Eastgate is the library director, but the circulation librarians are the lifeblood of the library. They get stuff in and out, and they control most of the library operations. When they walked out the library was pretty much finished,” Aron said, dodging a few more water drops.

  “What started it all was the circulation supervisor: Abigail Chadwick. When she left all of her people followed without hesitation. Headquarters was furious at Eastgate because Chadwick is one of the best in the nation. They refused to let him hire replacements and told him to get Chadwick back. He decided not to. The library board sided with him, and since then we’ve had no materials circulated with the exception
of magazines,” Asher shrugged.

  “One of Chadwick’s best friends, Gertrude Alberts, was Eastgate’s administrative assistant. When Chadwick pulled out she followed. She abandoned her office and everything. All of the papers are still there; Eastgate hasn’t gone through it since headquarters won’t let him hire anyone new. Alberts had notes and information about everything. Besides Eastgate she probably knew the library best. It’s Alberts’ office that we’re breaking into. If anyone else knew of that cauldron of yours besides Eastgate, it would be Alberts,” Aron said, a half smirk playing on his lips as they stopped in the middle of the tunnel.

  “Alberts’ office is easy to open. It’s a simple lock, there are no magical traps. The information might be old, but it’s a heck of a lot safer to break into than Eastgate’s office,” Asher nodded.

  Raven uneasily folded her arms. “We don’t have to do this. I could tell my emissary, maybe they can—,”

  “It won’t work,” Asher interrupted. “The only reason we can break into the library is because we are recognized by its magic. It will smite anyone else. I don’t care how amazing that black dog of yours is, if they try getting in the library will get them. It has to be us, there are no other options.”

  Raven sighed. She had a feeling her dad wasn’t going to take kindly to the burgling idea, even if it meant uncovering a possible lead.

  “You can’t tell your black dog anyway,” Aron said.

  Raven jerked her gaze up to stare at the twin. “What do you mean? I have to tell him.”

  Aron shook his head. “No, you can’t. That’s our requirement for helping you with this nutty quest.”

  “We’ve done this fairly often. Playing video games is only entertaining for so long,” Asher shrugged. “And we really don’t want anyone to know we can do this. Oh sure, Eastgate occasionally figures out we’ve stayed behind, but he doesn’t know what we do. If the EC knows the library defenses can be breeched by employees they are going to do something with that information.”

  “And we would prefer to keep things they way they are,” Aron said with a businessman smile.