The Teachers' Quarters sat behind the eastern gardens.
Small cottages lined a winding stone path beneath enormous oak trees.
Every house looked normal.
Which immediately made them suspicious. Nothing was ever normal in the Academy.
"Looks like a fairy tale " Jordan commented. Like a gentleman, he had evacuated the books from my arms and was holding them without any slight uneasiness. As if they did not weigh like a little vehicle.
"Maybe it's a good day for a start." I snort, watching him gingerly adjust the books on his arms.
Jordan nodded. "Fair."
My migraine wasn't helping.
Every few steps another pulse crawled through my skull.
Clink.
A chain.
Clink.
A muffled groan.
I nearly stumbled.
Jordan's hand shot out automatically, steadying my elbow while keeping the books pressed to his chin to prevent them from falling.
"You keep doing that." He said worriedly, his eyes hovering every inch of me with concern.
"Doing what?"
"Looking like you're about to fall into another dimension."
"I have a headache." I lied.
"You have prophetic visions."
"Same thing." I roll my eyes.
"Not even remotely."
"Agree to disagree."
Jordan sighed. "One day you're going to have a vision while crossing a road."
"I'd survive."
"You'd flirt with the bus."
"It depends if the bus was interested."
I stared at him.
Jordan looked pleased with himself.
Unfortunately, so did I.
___________________________________
The third cottage stood at the very end.
Unlike the others, ivy swallowed half the walls.
The windows were curtained.
The garden was dead.
Not neglected.
Dead.
As though every flower had simply decided life wasn't worth the effort.
Jordan stared. "Charming."
I inserted the key.
The lock clicked.
The front door swung open.
And books attacked us immediately.
Books on shelves.
Books on tables.
Books stacked on chairs.
Books balanced on other books.
A mountain of paper rose from nearly every available surface.
I said "She's building a second library."
Jordan snorted "Nah. Ma cherie. Looks like she's breeding them." I stifled a laugh.
Viviette Tom wasn't collecting books.
She was hoarding knowledge like a dragon hoarded gold.
I squeezed between two towering shelves.
"The study. She said the study." I lifted the key .
"And where exactly is 'the study' " Jordan sneered .
"Very Helpful."
The study took several minutes to locate.
Mostly because every room looked exactly like every other room.
Books.
Dust.
More books.
An alarming amount of books.
Eventually we found a room with a large desk.
We dumped the stacks.
Jordan stretched.
Bones cracked.
I winced."That's disgusting."
"That's health." He countered, his radiant face bubbly in the bookish disarray.
"That's the sound of your skeleton filing a complaint."
Jordan grinned.
Then froze.
His head tilted.
Just slightly.
The grin vanished.
I immediately noticed.
Because Jordan's instincts had saved our lives more times than I cared to count.
"What?"
His gaze drifted toward the floor.
Silence.
Then—
Clink.
The sound shot through me.
A chain.
Metal scraping stone.
My pulse exploded.
Jordan went still.
Completely still.
The way wolves did before violence.
Or danger.
Or both.
The sound came again. Faint.
Somewhere below us. Clink.
A slow dragging noise.
My migraine slammed into my skull.
Instantly.
Violently.
The room blurred.
And suddenly I wasn't standing in Viviette's study anymore.
I was back in the vision.
Chains.
Darkness.
A man struggling.
Night Carter.
The memory crashed through me.
I stumbled.
Jordan caught my arm before I hit the floor.
"Night."
His voice sounded distant.
The chain rattled again.
Louder.
Real.
Not a vision.
Real.
My breathing stopped.
Jordan's eyes narrowed. "There is somebody under this house."