Phantom of the Library - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,23

I didn’t do that because he was a father of young children.

“No way are we calling our parents,” Jasper said. “They would just freak out and treat us like kids out past curfew all of a sudden. Our mom is not going to understand why we should have to put our lives at risk to save the world, but…someone has to do it, and I don’t think we’re going to die.”

“Me neither,” Jake said.

But I’d seen them stand one-legged on ladders while reaching for stuff. Risk assessment was not their strong suit.

“I don’t have anyone to call, really,” Graham said.

“Okay, okay.” I picked up the map, feeling the magic emanating so strongly off it that it felt alive. It was going to be very intense to unwrap them all at once.

“Here’s the Wyrd map…” Billie put the second piece in front of him.

Byron slowly unfurled the cloth from the maps and light streamed out of them, shooting to the ceiling like spotlights. The power was undeniable, and we could all feel it, every one of us edging back just a little by instinct except Byron, who tamed the maps. He carefully rested them on the carpet and brought the two seams together, pressing them with his fingers.

He chanted words I didn’t know, although I picked up a few fragments—“holy”, “life”, “death”.

The two triangles began to emanate a hum, and the vivid light that filled the roof died back as the hum lessened and then swelled again, like a song, or the heartbeat of a sleeping dragon—a very slow pulse that carried an edge of heat and danger.

Now the light seemed to become contained within the maps, drawing down into the stone surface and lighting it from within. Pinpricks of light sprung up all over the surface of the stone.

“Now, Etherium,” Byron said.

I handed him the third map, holding my breath.

This was the moment of truth. When he placed the Ethereal map against the edges of the others, the gates would open for the first time in a thousand years. Demons, angels, and fae would be able to dwell in each other’s realms. Byron unwrapped the map of the Ethereal world and its light struck all of our faces in the dark room.

He didn’t hesitate at all, his hands as steady as I was with a caulking gun as he put the last map in place. The light was consumed into the map and the three maps briefly flashed as one, sealing together into the pyramid that Lord Abiron called the Way of Paths.

Byron gazed into the pyramid, watching millions of tiny lights appear all over the surface, some of them brighter than others, many of them seeming to move very slowly, each single one almost imperceptible to the naked eye but contributing to the sense of movement. It was like looking down on a planet from space.

“Wow…,” Billie breathed. “I wish I had more eloquent words, but just…wow.”

“It’s like a living thing. Is this…the whole magical world?” I asked.

“The magical world is a pyramid?” Graham asked.

“The magical world consists of planes,” Byron said. “This is the best way to convey it visually, I guess. Each plane is separate but parallel. And now, their edges meet. The Way of Paths is, in a sense, the entire world that I can fit between my hands. But this thing is not the actual world. It’s just a living, breathing replica of what is happening right now.” His eyes were reluctant to tear away from it, but he finally looked at me. “I hardly have words for this moment. I have never felt like a god in this life, but now…”

I was a little awed by this strange man who had once greeted me as a handsome ghost telling me to get out of his house. “It’s so strange the way life works,” I whispered. “I just knew I had to pay too much for Lockwood House.”

Byron leaned over the Way of Paths and kissed me, right in front of my other three men, and it actually felt more right than embarrassing. I didn’t feel any jealousy or shame. I felt like we had all come together to accomplish something astonishing, for Byron, and we were all in this together.

As our lips drew apart, there was a pounding on the door.

Chapter Ten

Jasper

I knew the shit would hit the fan any moment. I was just glad to see that there was no regret on Hel’s face before it did. The three of us sprung off