Page 112 of Alchemy of Souls

No Guardians anywhere in sight except this one. And this Guardian isn’t patrolling. She’s just standing there, arms crossed.Guarding.If I had doubts about the Archive Room location, they’re long gone.

Grayson throws up a soundproofing bubble. “When the coast is clear—run for the door.”

“Wait, you’re not coming with me?”

“I’ll meet you there. I just need to get rid of this Guardian,” he says, and pops the soundproofing bubble with a wink.

The nerve.

He casts his wind spell, sprinting down the hall at lightning speed. And because he’s Grayson, he flicks the Guardian’s braid as he passes.

“The hell?” the woman growls, and there’s no hesitation. She takes off after Grayson, very unfortunately using her own wind spell to give chase.

The second they disappear around the bend, I run for the door, pulling the Key from my pocket as I slide to a stop.

I’m about to slip the Key in the keyhole, only to discover there is none. Just a handle. How did I never notice this before? Just the same, I shove the Key at the space where the hole should be. Nothing happens, not even a hint of magic. I look both ways down the hall.

Despite my depleted magic, I say a simple unlocking spell. But even that small magic pulls at my insides in the worst way.

Nothing happens.

I try Alchemy next, pressing the Key to the door while I attempt to alter the wood. My chest aches with the effort and my head feels like it’s being squeezed. All this only to have my magic pool uselessly on the outside of the wood like oil on water.

Think, Eloise,think.

There’s a crash somewhere in the distance and as I momentarily survey the hall, the Key bites me. At least that’s what it feels like when it shoves one of its beautifully rendered leaves into my palm. Blood bubbles from the tiny wound and reflects off the Key in a way that makes it look oddly iridescent.

My thoughts immediately flit to the iridescent potion Akari made us retrieve for our punishment, and a wild idea forms. I grip the Key, running it along the arch of the frame, the same way we painted thepotion. And lo and behold, the frame starts to glow where I touch it. I jump to reach the curve of the arch. But just like with the potion, the very top refuses to glow. And I know without a doubt that it’ll only open with Grayson, that we have to do this together.

Another crash sounds in the distance. I whip around as an ice dagger hits the wall at the end of the hallway with such force that it sticks a good two inches into the wood.

Grayson rounds the bend, his hands held high to form a shield as another ice dagger bounces off it.

“Grayson, run for it!” I yell. “I need your help with the door! It’s just like in the training room.”

He backs up toward me as fast as he dares without dropping his shield. But when he’s about five feet away, Akari appears at the other end of the hall.

Grayson’s back is to her and I know in my gut that if I don’t do something, all this will be for nothing. So, despite my magic resisting me, I raise my hand, demanding that it move. I cast the first spell I can think of, the only one I can really manage right now.

Akari’s eyes flit from the glowing doorway to me before registering Grayson’s back, like she’s putting together the full extent of our crimes. And in a flash, she raises her hand to cast, but I’m already pulling at the floor under her with my sputtering Alchemy spell, rippling the wood below her feet just enough to make her step falter and her hand wobble. I buy us a second, maybe two, just enough for Grayson to use his wind spell to crash into me and wrap his arm around my waist. He lifts me in the air, and together we press the Key to the top of the arch.

The arch flashes brightly and magic shoots through the door into the handle, making it shine like a pearl lit from within. I don’tsee Grayson grab the handle; he’s moving too fast as he pulls me in the room.

Akari appears in the doorframe, and Grayson kicks the door shut with his boot. The instant the door slams, there’s absolute silence. Unnatural quiet like we’re the only two people in existence. The door handle doesn’t rattle. No one pounds. Voices don’t drift through the wood. And in a way, I suppose that makes sense, because we’re in a room that doesn’t exist.

Grayson

This shit is wild.

The Archive Room is a two-story circular library that shines like it was just polished. There’s a large arched window that looks out at the valley, four columns that run along the walls and meet in the center of the domed ceiling, and glass flower sconces that give off a warm glow.

But the thing I can’t stop staring at is the heavy round table, in the center of which is a tree, one that has a shimmering dome over it like a translucent bubble.

“Whatisthat?” Eloise asks as we walk toward it.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” I reply in awe.

“Look,” she says, moving around the table. “Here in the back, there’s a piece of the dome that’s popped out.”