palm. That lamp fascinated me because when lit, the parrots became a prism, casting a rainbow on a nearby wall.
“Luce,” I said.
Nothing.
I added a little more force.
Nada.
Arik supported my hand with his. My pulse jumped.
“Try again.”
“Luce.” Light flickered above my palm and a softball-sized bubble of light popped to life. I had light! In the palm of my hand.
“Shall we?” He motioned to the stairs with a nod.
Our footsteps echoed off the cut-stone walls as we charged down the steps. There was barely room for one person to go along the tunnel at a time, so I led the way with the ball of light hovering over my palm.
Too busy admiring the light, I stepped on a rock and it rolled under my foot. The action caused my stitches to pull again, and I stumbled and hobbled a bit before regaining my balance.
“Careful there, you’ll sprain your ankle,” Arik said.
I wrinkled my nose at the rank stench of the cave. Water trickled down the sides and dripped from the ceiling. Rocks underfoot turned and rolled to the side or tumbled down the steep passageway. It was a claustrophobic’s nightmare.
Arik’s heavy boots sounded behind me. I glanced back, catching his gaze, and quickly turned back, watching my steps and tugging the bottom of my hoodie down with my free hand.
“Anyone else know you can create a globe?” Arik asked.
“No.”
“How many times have you conjured one?”
“I want to tell you, but my mom used some sort of spell to keep me from speaking about it.”
“Hold up,” he said.
I stopped and faced him. He cupped my face in his hands and I sucked in a startled breath, almost dropping the glowing ball. I tried to back away but he kept hold of me. “What are you doing?”
“Removing it.” Up close his eyes were captivating, if not a bit tortured. “Annullare tutte le magie,” he said and released me.
“Did it work?”
“Not certain. How many times have you conjured one?” He gestured for me to continue walking.
“A few,” I said, heading down the cave. “The first time was a total accident when I was like four. The next one was when I was about ten.” I peered over my shoulder at him. “I guess it worked.”
“I believe so. And how did you know the charm?”
“I didn’t. I was practicing my Italian when the light flickered on my palm. It was a complete accident. I can’t remember how I did it when I was four. Maybe I overheard my mother say it.”
“Let’s keep it our secret for now, all right?”
“Why?”
Behind me, Arik panted, a low rhythmic beat that matched the thumping of my heart. “It would be wise,” he said between breaths, “with all that’s going on lately, that we keep your lineage to ourselves.”
The cave grew colder and I shivered. “Why do you only protect the libraries? Those hounds could get out and hurt people.”
“There are wards around them, preventing Mystiks from exiting. To enter the human world requires a clearance. It’s very difficult to obtain one and once received, a device is inserted under the skin, allowing passage through the wards. Our job is to keep the peace between the different races traveling the gateways and assure the safety of all humans.”
“I see,” I said. “So have you ever jumped into a famous person’s library? That would be so cool.”
“Unfortunately, no,” he said. “We only guard libraries that have gateway books. And I’m not aware of any private collections with one.”
“Right.”
When the cave widened, we trotted next to each other, trying to catch up to the rest. I slowed down when the pain in my leg was too much to keep up. Arik’s pace eased.
“Do you need a rest?”
“No. I can walk. It’s jogging that’s killing me.”
“We’ll take it easy, then.”
A fat drop of water landed on my arm, and I wiped it away, hoping it was water and not drool, or something else gross.
We followed the cave for twenty minutes or so before the tunnel began to tighten again. Arik motioned for me to go first. He had an insanely hot grin playing on his lips, which made me nervous.
“Why are you smiling?”
“I’m impressed,” he said. “For a novice, you’ve retained your globe for quite some time.”
“I totally forgot it was in my hand,” I lied. My arm ached from holding it out so long, but I was determined to keep my globe lit, especially since he’d just said that.
We were getting nearer to the four globes blazing down the corridor ahead of