Bastien spoke to his Sentinels in a hushed voice. I couldn’t make out anything he said.
Arik came over to us. “Jaran, I want you to go with Mr. Kearns, Deidre, Afton, and Nick to the shelter. The rest of you will come with me to Couve.”
“What’s Couve?” Nick asked.
“The French Haven,” Lei answered.
Pop rested his hand on my cheek. “Promise me you’ll be careful.”
I rested my hand on his. “I promise.”
“I’m not ignorant, you know?” He smiled. “I knew there was something different about your mother. I felt there was something more to my mother. And I’m sure there is something magical about you. It’s hard to let go. Let you be who you’re meant to be…but I know I must.” The tears in his eyes mirrored mine.
Deidre stepped forward. “I’ve been trained to fight. I should go, as well.”
Sinead’s head snapped in Deidre’s direction. “No. You must go to the shelter and help Jaran protect the others.”
It was so weird having Deidre around. It was as if I was watching and hearing myself.
Deidre scowled. “As you wish, Mother.”
Jeez, I would have begged and protested longer before giving up. Watching Deidre give in to Sinead’s magic without putting up a good argument made me feel guilty about all the times I pestered Pop until he’d given in to my requests. A headache was building behind my eyes and I rubbed my temples.
Bastien was at my side in a flash. “If you aren’t well, I’ll aid you through the gateway.”
“No, that’s okay,” I protested. “I can jump by myself.”
Arik leaned against a wall across the room, eyeing us with a scowl. He angrily unhitched himself from the wall. “Let’s get this over with,” he said then jumped into the open gateway book on a nearby table.
One by one, the Sentinels jumped into the photograph of France’s Senate Library. Before I jumped in, Bastien wrapped his arms around my waist, tugging me into the page with him.
“Let go of me!” I yelled.
His grip tightened. “It’ll throw us off balance.”
“You’re really something, you know that?”
“I’m pleased you finally realize that.” His breath puffed against my neck and my stomach twisted. We fell in silence for several minutes, until we landed in the middle of a battle.
Colored globes flew by like paintballs in an arena, smashing against walls and shields, bursting into flames, shooting whips of light, and blowing gusts of wind. Lashing swords, explosions, grunts, and yells echoed around the room. A French Sentinel fought off a hairy eight-armed man near us.
Across the room, Arik battled a hound, just like the one that had attacked Nick, Afton, and me in the Paris Library. Arik darted and rolled away from the beast. The hound charged him. A fire globe burst to life on his palm and he manipulated it into a fiery whip, snapping it at the hound until it backed away. Once the hound was in range, Kale stabbed it with his sword.
To my right, Demos held tight to a rolling track ladder with his sword extended, speeding across a bookcase toward a Writhe who was climbing the shelves. The track ladder stopped violently, and he swung his sword at what I recognized from the books as a Writhe. The blow fell short, hitting a shelf.
The Writhe soared to the floor, swinging a spiked mace. Demos shrugged with a cocky snicker and slid down the ladder, his sword meeting the Writhe’s mace at the chain. The chain broke and the spiked-ball fell to the floor. The Writhe and Demos stared at the decapitated mace.
Thick veins branched across the Writhe’s pale bald head like raised roots of a tree. The frozen expression on his face reminded me of a theatre tragedy mask. When the spell of the murdered mace wore off, Demos and the Writhe resumed their battle dance. The Writhe contorted his body away from Demos’s sword, twisting and bending in different directions to avoid each blow. Demos chased him down an aisle of bookcases.
A Laniar sprinted on all fours and attacked a hairless creature with an oversized head, a spindly body, and tons of teeth heading for Arik. The creature whipped its tail at the Laniar, who clawed the demon with its sharp nails, then latched onto the creature’s throat with its canines. Dark blood sprayed down the Laniar’s pale chin.
I choked on a gasp and spun away. Oh my God. A wave of nausea swooshed through my stomach. Everything was