Tella clamped her mouth shut as they stepped inside. She told herself that none of it was real. The rotting scent snaking up her nose was in her mind. Whatever squished beneath her slippers was not fungus; the yellow spiders crawling over her arms were not really there.

“This is the oldest magic I’ve ever felt…” Legend trailed off, and for a moment she thought she saw something like admiration in his eyes as the walls around them begin to crumble and a waterfall of spiders poured down from the ceiling.

Tella fought the urge to scream lest one, or more, landed in her mouth.

Legend captured her hand and propelled her forward through an avalanche of spiders. She felt their tiny legs crawling everywhere as the murderous spiders multiplied, covering every inch of her skin.

Tella didn’t know if death by illusion was possible. Then she remembered what Jacks had said about needing to summon Fated places with blood. The wound on her palm from when she’d exchanged blood with Jacks was nearly healed, but Tella imagined she could reopen it with her nails.

She pulled her hand free from Legend’s and scratched her healing wound, drawing a fresh surge of blood.

Drop it there, instructed the map, pointing to an eruption of spiders in the corner of the room. There were too many for Tella to make out a symbol, but she obeyed the map and instantly the spiders, the fetid ground, and the decaying walls all vanished.

One blink and the world was falling apart, and then she and Legend were in a courtyard made of sandstone walls covered in star jasmine that smelled as sweet as it looked. Tella took a timid breath. She wasn’t sure if this was another illusion or the Fated library, but it was extremely preferable to that cascade of killer spiders.

Above them half the sky was intense with sunlight, while the other half shimmered with stars. At one end of it was a decorative sandstone arch with two massive statues on either side, formed of sparkling peach sand. The statues’ lower halves were feline, while their torsos were human, one male, one female. Their heads would have appeared human as well if not for the curving horns poking out from the tops of them.

The male statue opened his mouth. “Welcome, fellow immortal and young mortal.”

“We hope you find what you seek,” added the female. “But be warned, there is a small tithe to step inside and read our books.” Both statues’ mouths slammed shut with an audible snap.

Tella’s jaw crashed to a close as well. She fought to part her lips, to open her mouth to speak, but she couldn’t.

She turned to Legend. He shook his head, his mouth as closed as hers.

Their silence must have been the cost of entering the library.

41

Donatella

The silence inside the Immortal Library was absolute and alive. Tella could feel it swallowing up her footsteps, and sucking up the sound of flipping book pages, and flickering wicks inside hurricane glasses, but the worst was the feel of the silence keeping her lips pressed painfully shut.

Legend reached out and took her hand once more. His eyes silently promised they were in this together, and then he pressed the world’s softest kiss to her knuckles. She felt it from her fingertips all the way down to her toes, reminding her there were good uses for closed lips, as they ventured under an archway made of books and farther inside the Fated place.

Everything smelled of dust trapped in light, cracked leather, and wayward dreams. Breathing in and out through her nose, Tella looked down at the Map of All. It had transformed once they’d entered the library. It now revealed an entire kingdom made of books that could have either been a book lover’s nightmare or their wish come true. There was a Broken Spine Castle, an Unread River, a Ravine of Ripped Pages, a Poetry Valley, a set of Novel Mountains, and then finally the Ruscica and Books for Advanced Imaginations.

The most direct route to this room was through an area referred to as the Zoo. Tella wondered if it would have books in cages, but the Zoo didn’t even have bookshelves. The volumes all roamed freely in this room as they clung together to take the shapes of different animals. Tella spied bookish rhinos, papier-maché elephants, and very tall giraffes that milled about in an oddly peaceful silence. The elephant sniffed at Tella with its leathery-gray trunk of books, while a paper bunny made of loose pages noiselessly hopped after Legend. The bunny continued to follow as they left the Zoo and reached the Reading Chamber, where books formed couches and chairs and one massive throne.

A warning flashed on the map: Do not sit on the throne.

Tella was instantly curious, but not enough to test the map, especially when they were so close to what they wanted. According to the map, all they had to do was climb the staircase made of books, which rested behind the throne, and they would find the Ruscica room.

The steps were too narrow for them to walk side by side.

Tella reluctantly released Legend’s hand as she started to climb. The bookish stairs were the type of steep that made it feel treacher ous to turn around. They were unsteady, shifting beneath her slippers. But Legend touched her back or her shoulder every few steps, letting her know that he was still there. He was with her, and he wasn’t leaving even though she couldn’t see or hear him.

It made her wonder at all the other things he’d said to her in the past without words. By the time they reached the top of the steps and the room with the Ruscica, Tella was grateful the library swallowed up sound. It didn’t enhance her other senses, but it made her more aware of them, and more aware of Legend as he came up beside her and silently brushed his fingers against hers. The movement was quick and subtle, and she might not have noticed it if she’d been standing there waiting for him to speak, rather than paying attention to his silence.

The map didn’t give any indication of where in the room the Ruscica rested, forcing her and Legend to split up as they searched. Many of the volumes had spines covered in numbers, symbols, or languages she didn’t read. There were also a few spines with titles that she would have liked to read, had she not felt pressed for time.

Mermaids and Mermen and How to Become One

Ten Essential Rules of Time Travel

Shape-shifting for Beginners

Cakes, Cakes, and More Cakes

Turning Your Shadow into a Pet

Love, Death, and Immortality

She might have picked up the book on cakes or immortality, had the latter not been sitting right next to a thick flesh-colored volume with one word crudely stitched into the spine: Ruscica.

The book slid out from the shelf in a cloud of red-tinged dust that made the tips of Tella’s fingers tingle as she took it.

She found Legend on the opposite side of the silent room. When she showed him her prize, he smiled. Neither of them knew if it would have the information they needed, but Tella finally felt victorious as Legend took her hand again.

* * *

After the Maiden Death and the Assassin had visited his home in the Spice Quarter, Legend had decided they needed to move every night. But a part of Tella thought he was just showing off his many homes. His four-story coastal cottage looked as if it had been built around the same time as Count Nicolas’s estate, but whereas Nicolas’s estate had appeared as if it was in need of magic, Legend’s house was the opposite. Full of glittering windows and expansive balconies that looked over the foaming ocean, the house sat on Valenda’s rocky coast the way that Tella imagined Legend would have sat on his throne, demanding attention by simply being there.

They’d started about a mile away, and Legend’s fingers stayed entwined with hers for the entire walk. She should have broken free; earlier his touch had grounded her, as he pulled her through the spiders and steadied her in the library. But now, he wasn’t helping, he was making a claim. Tella reminded herself that nothing good could come from this as she looked down on their clasped hands. But she didn’t let go. He had long fingers, strong palms, neatly trimmed nails—and no traces of ink.

She lifted their hands, peering closer. “Your black rose is gone?”

“Did you really think I’d keep it?” He dragged her hand up to his mouth and brushed a kiss to her knuckles. “You don’t have to be jealous of the tattoo anymore.”

“I wasn’t jealous.”

“Then maybe I should have left it on longer.” The rose reappeared on the back of his hand.

“You’re wretched.” Tella lifted her free hand to playfully smack him with her book.

He caught her wrist before she could, and then he took her other hand and trapped them both behind her. They’d finally reached the porch of his cottage, and in one quick move he spun her around and pressed her back to the door. “I think you like me because I’m terrible.”

“No.” Tella wiggled against him, but he didn’t budge. “I’ve decided I like nice boys, like Caspar.”

“Lucky for me he doesn’t like girls that way. And I can also be nice. But I think you like it when I’m not.”

He freed her wrist and wrapped his hands around her hips. Tella’s heart raced as his fingers spread out, claiming her as he drew her closer.