Phantom of the Library - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,22

here,” Gaston said, “except that I thought you caused my friend Deveraux trouble. Now I see that the ones causing you trouble are definitely more odious people. After three hundred years of living, I suppose I have some duty to do some good.”

“Well, that’s the spirit!” Billie said. “I’m ready to go. I’ve been waiting for this for years.”

I was still looking into Byron’s eyes, remembering the sight of Lord Abiron’s fallen form, mere hours after he made love to me. And I still remembered the sense that Lady Hulda actually wanted to marry him, not kill him. Her mother reminded me all too much of my own mother. That woman told herself she was protecting the Ethereal witches from chaos…but she killed the man her daughter loved. What could be more chaotic than that?

It really has been all wrong for a thousand years.

It’s likely my own family will be hurt by this, and never speak to me again, but no matter what, I’ll have these people. And I’ll have my brother. They love me just as I am, and not for how they hope I might change.

Of course I was scared. It was silly to expect otherwise. But I had also seen enough. I told Byron I trusted him, that I would be his queen, and that felt more true than ever now. I could hardly imagine the strange life he had lived, being thrust into this role.

I never realized how brave you were until this moment, I thought, and in his brooding beauty and the magnetic golden eyes, I also saw the heaviness of courage gained bit by bit.

“I’m ready too,” I said. “What the hell. I didn’t do all this for nothing. But I do know that Sam left a hell of a liquor cabinet, so let’s have a Pandora’s Box cocktail first.”

Chapter Nine

Helena

I was really glad that if we were going to do something crazy and possibly apocalyptic, it was in this house. Jake mixed some cocktails and we all gathered around in the sunken living room with the three pieces of the box laid out in their wrappings. Once they were removed from the cloth, they would beam light and emit power, and after that? I had no idea.

Byron, Billie and I were sitting crosslegged together on the floor in a circle while the other guys took up the couch.

“The difficult part is over,” Byron said. “I will bring these pieces together. Once I do, the fabric between worlds will melt away. However, I do have the ability to close gateways. If chaos ensues, I might be busy concentrating over the maps. As you know, the council has been trying to get these pieces and stop us, but they don’t seem to fully understand what they are trying to stop. Once we accomplish our goal, they will know. I’m sure they will arrive shortly to try and kill me as they did then. As witches, you two will be best suited to channel the power from the maps and summon allies to our side. I don’t want you to fight unless it’s absolutely necessary. It’s more effective for you to call help.”

“While we fight to defend you,” Jasper said.

“You four only have to defend the ladies and myself just long enough for more powerful help to arrive,” Byron said.

Jake threw up a hand. “Here we go again. You think we’re useless.”

“You’re not useless,” I said, getting a tiny bit worried that Jake’s ego would lead him into stupidity. “You do the most work on the houses. But you’re not Gandalf, okay?”

He scowled and I could tell he was nervous too, which made me feel a little better, because I was deeply nervous.

“I’m just making sure we’re all on the same page,” Byron said. “I wish I could tell you exactly what will happen when I join the maps together, but we need to be prepared for a fight.”

“Gaston, are you listening?” Billie glanced back.

“Of course I’m listening. What else would I be paying attention to besides your loud voice?”

“It’s loud for a reason,” she said. “Just checking.”

“Deep breaths,” Byron said. “We are ready to join the worlds together. Helena and Billie, would you hand me the maps of Sinistral and Wyrd?”

“Should we…maybe…call our loved ones first? Just in case we get killed?” I asked, musing over how my brother would feel if I died without even asking him for help. He’d be mad. Maybe I should have called him here to help. But of course,