A Violet Fire (Vampires in Avignon #1) - Kelsey Quick Page 0,27

which adds an ounce of comfort to this dangerous mission that I would most definitely get reprimanded for.

Add it to the rest of the list.

I walk across the room and look down and along the shelves filled with scroll cases and books, making sure that some creeper vampire isn’t hiding out, waiting for me to take the bait before leaping on me. The room is empty, I conclude as a script at the back of it catches my eye. Between two windows at the back, some sort of cursive scribbling is chiseled into the wall. I take one last glance around me before making my way to it. The title is legible enough for Acclevin, the official language of Cain, but the rest of the words are in a completely foreign language, most of which look like “n’s” and outdated math symbols.

The Setting Sun? I mull over the title in my head, hoping it will lend some sort of clue to the overall message. It looks like a poem by the way the sentences are structured, but it must be important if someone took the time to inscribe it on a wall.

Despite the frustration of having no earthly idea how to decipher it, but feeling every need to, I think of how I could maybe bribe a servant for a language dictionary or something. It takes almost too much time for me to realize that I’m practically brain-storming how to get a book while walking through a library.

Only you, Wavorly.

I start at the far-left bookcase and run my fingers over the spines, mumbling the different words for ‘dictionary’ so that I don’t accidentally skip over one. To my surprise, I find “The Setting Sun” written on the spine of one of the books. The entire thing is gold-plated, making it heavier than a brick. What’s better than a dictionary? An entire book covering a couple stanzas of poetry. I open it and the first thing that graces the pages is, “On Behalf of the Elders: Great Library of…” The next word is lost on me, so I try to sound it out. “...EE-Shah-er.”

Amidst my endeavors, a glinting object in the far corner of the room catches my attention. A glass case enclosed by gilded metal rests against the far-right wall. I close the book, hugging it to my chest—definitely because I want to and not because it is heavy—and walk over to the display.

On one end there’s a handgun with a chain attached to it, an artistic impression of a fruit tree running up and down its grip. Next to the gun is a bracelet with tri-colored beads, followed by a white and black swirl patch, and then on the far right there are two steel bracelets with fleur de lis on each end of the wrist adjustments. On the second shelf of the case are dual cuff links with “SAW” embossed on the front, and next to it: a brooch. A beautiful sapphire and gold piece, intricately fire-shaped and crafted to the finest detail. I’m suddenly reminded of the dying fire in my mother’s bright blue eyes that night. And as I recall them, the entire library, including myself, is engulfed by flames.

chapter 6

“Wake up! Wavorly, what happened?!” I can sense Savvy and Katarii, even though I can’t see them. Sound illuminates my world, but my body is frozen. The horribly dry feeling along my lips and tongue tell me that my mouth has been open for a while. My eyes and mouth are gaping, begging to be reconnected to my brain, and everything is darkness until a weight lifts itself from my chest and I fling upward, gasping.

“What the hell happened?” Katarii is still lightly shaking me. “Are you okay?”

I look around to see Savvy crying in the dim light of the hallway. Everything is black. The violet wall and door: gone.

“Did you… did you guys see the room?” I ask, though I already know the answer.

“What room? Are you going crazy? This is a dead end, there’s nothing here.” Katarii gasps for breath, her sentences running together. “We came after you and found you lying on the floor. You were breathing, but barely, and your eyes were open, not blinking. It was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.”

I look to Savvy who confirms everything with her concerned, doe-brown eyes. The rippling violet wall, the soft fur of the rug against my feet, the weighty casting of the golden book… all of it felt so real. Savvy nears