Isaiah walked out of the bathroom, drying his hair, when he noticed Zira angrily throwing the bed pillows on the floor. He couldn’t help but laugh as she huffed around looking for something else to throw around.
“Zi, you need to relax. Arias told us everything and Lana didn’t hurt him like we originally thought.”
“I don’t know Isaiah. When I walked in there, I sensed something familiar but couldn’t quite figure it out. Especially with her kicking us out so fast. She’s hiding something. I just know it.”
“Maybe you’re right, but right now we don’t have…”
“Don’t say it,” Zira snapped. “The last time we had a conversation like this your crazy ex-mate was trying to kill me.”
Isaiah walked over to her and grabbed her hands. “Hey, it will never be like that, Zi. I do believe you. Councilman Faulkner, on the other hand, might need a bit more convincing. So, until we,” he stressed, “can convince him, let’s stay on course with Arias.”
Zira plopped down on the bed in a huff. “I just don’t want to wait for something bad to happen. Arias said a lady called out to him, wanting to play. It could’ve been her. Pulling him to her.” Zira got up quickly. “Maybe Arias should sleep in here tonight.”
Isaiah laughed while climbing into bed. “OK. I’ll wait here while you try to pry him away from my mother. She feels guilty for letting him escape. She’s had a vice grip on him since dinner.” Zira sat back on the bed defeated. Isaiah pulled her against him. “Look, tomorrow we will meet with this Mother Essie about Arias and then we can investigate this whole Lana mess. OK?”
“I’m just worried it’ll be too late. She knows we’re onto her, so she might do something to get us off her tail, but it won’t. I’ll expose her.”
“Okay there, Miss private eye. Until then, let’s just sleep on it.”
Isaiah successfully pulled her into bed with him. She cuddled against his body, momentarily forgetting her mission and indulging in the closeness. It was still so foreign to both of them, but it felt…right. Though the thoughts of Lana’s schemes plagued her mind, eventually Zira fell asleep.
******
Zira woke up to the sound of screaming. She realized she was on the ground and sat up quickly. Around her was absolute chaos. The houses were on fire, smoke bellowed in the air, and people were running around her. She got to her feet, trying to make sense of what was going on. Against her better judgment, her feet moved her in the opposite direction the people were running. Every once and awhile, she would see people falling, screaming in agony, but she couldn’t tell what was wrong. She ran to one of them.
“What is it? What’s wrong,” she asked the man.
“Nia…Niamh,” he choked out. “It…it hurts. Please…help…”
The man stopped talking and his eyes closed. The image of him shocked Zira so much she couldn’t help but jump back. She grabbed her head, trying to wake herself up when she saw her. Standing a few feet away from her was Niamh. She just stood there staring at Zira while her people writhed on the ground before them.
“You have to help them,” Zira heard herself scream. “Please help them.”
Niamh scrunched up her face as she looked around the chaos. She took a few shaky steps back before turning around to run away. Without much else to do, Zira followed her. They ended up near the fountain that was in the middle of the town. The same fountain from before stood prominently with a pulsating black ball floating in the middle. Little black lightning bolts burst from it from time to time. Zira looked around and noticed more bodies lying on the ground.
“They’re…they’re all dead,” Zira said more to herself.
“No,” Niamh screamed, but she looked like she was talking to the black hole as it transformed into some kind of demon. She spread her hands and turned into a beaming light. White lightning bolts spread from her body as she turned her head to look at Zira. The light was bright, but Zira could see Niamh’s face clearly. There was a smile, but it slowly disappeared as tears fell down her face.
“I had to protect them from him,” Niamh said. Him. No, it was her, Zira thought. “Now it’s up to you. Help them.”
“How,” Zira asked, desperately.
The demon in the fountain seemed to grow by the second and got Niamh's attention. She stepped into the fountain and her light matched its size. Niamh turned to Zira with one last smile.
“Open the book,” she said before everything exploded right before Zira’s eyes.
*****
Zira jumped up in a bolt with Isaiah only a few seconds behind her.
“Zi? Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
Isaiah quickly scanned her, silently wishing he could use their link to figure it out. It took a minute for Zira to realize where she was before she settled against him.
“Nothing. It was…just a nightmare,” she said, looking at Isaiah, who looked as if he didn’t believe her. “I promise. I’m fine. Let’s just go back to sleep.”
They settled in bed once again, but Zira couldn’t sleep. She laid there for what seemed like hours, thinking about the dream. She looked at the clock that read four in the morning and sighed. That dream replayed over and over in her mind. She had to get to that book. For some reason she believed it would explain everything that was going on here. She groaned internally, thinking about the last time a book had some kind of power.
Maybe I should wait until the morning and go with Isaiah, she thought. Or maybe I should go now before it's too late. Or maybe…
“Or maybe make a decision so I can sleep,” Nina said. Zira could see her balled up with her head lying on top of her paws. She was staring at Zira with one eye open.
“What do you think I should do, Nina?” Nina blinked her eyes multiple times and shook her head in disbelief.
“You’re…actually asking my opinion,” Nina asked before baring her teeth in what Zira could only think was her way of laughing. “This is a first. I am…shocked but pleased. Hmm…I think we should investigate. If we find something, good; if we don’t, we can rest easy...at least for now.”
Zira didn’t wait for her to second guess her decision. She slowly crept out of bed, stopping only when Isaiah made a noise. She was almost home free when she felt his grip tighten on her wrist.
“Zi,” he asked sleepily with his eyes still closed, "where are you going?
“Just to the bathroom. Shepherd’s pie really did a number,” she whispered as he laughed.
“Okay,” he said, pulling her down into a kiss. Zira had to pry herself away before he settled back into bed. “Just hurry back.”
Isaiah turned over and Zira walked to the bathroom’s door. She closed it to make it seem like she had gone in before slipping out of the bedroom door. She entered the dark hallway and realized how scary the place was at night. Thanks to her werewolf’s vision, she was able to see through the darkness.
She made her way down the hallway, stopping to check on Arias. Like Isaiah said, Bella had him wrapped so only his face could be seen. Zira was surprised he didn’t feel trapped. She carefully placed a kiss on his forehead before continuing on her journey. It didn’t take her long to find the library as she made a mental note of its location earlier. She only had to dodge a few warriors on patrol, which was a piece of cake.
Her security is terrible, she thought to herself.
She huddled under the locked door and pulled out her picklock case Mary gifted her. Bless you Mary. It took Zira five minutes to figure out she didn’t know what the heck she was doing.
“Dammit! I wish Mary would have shown me how to actually use this?”
“Are you trying to get into the library,” a voice asked from behind.
Zira nearly jumped out of her skin when she turned around. She was so focused on trying to get in she forgot about her surroundings.
“Clary, geez, you scared me,” Zira said, standing up. “Um…it’s not what it looks like.”
“Oh,” Clary said with a smile, “because it looks like you’re trying to break into the library.”
Zira could hear the accusation in Clary’s voice and smiled. “What can I say? Your tour was so riveting. I had to come and…”
“I’ll stop you right there, Zira, before you embarrass yourself. My tours are hella boring but my sister keeps a tight lease so I have to try to find amusement where I can.”
Clary walked over and opened the door to the library. “Which involves stealing the key to the library,” she smiled.
“I like her,” Nina said.
“Of course you do.”
Zira followed Clary and went to the table, searching for the book as Clary watched from a distance.
“Looking for the book?”
“Yes, why? Are you,” Zira asked, suspicious of Clary’s intention. Why would she just let me in here, Zira wondered.
“No, like I said, I’m bored,” Clary said, moving books around here and there. “Ever since this place was created, I feel like we’ve been under a microscope. Being watched because of what we can do.” Clary raised her hand and electricity sparked from them. “They say it's for protection but I think they’re scared of us. Even Arias.”
Zira stopped and looked at her. “What do you mean?”
Clary laughed but this time it sounded bitter. “You think we wanted to be this close to the Alpha King’s region? What? For their protection? Hmph. We can protect ourselves. We might be small, but what we lack in size we will make up for in power. Soon.”
There was silence between them as Zira stared at her. The way she said that rubbed Zira the wrong way. On the other hand, she was helping out right now. Clary was looking into the distance before she shook her head and smiled.
“Anyway, knowing my sister, she wouldn’t just leave it out and about. Maybe she hid it in plain sight. I’ll check the bookcases over here.”
“Good idea.” Zira checked the bookcases when she came upon the statue. She stopped when a familiar scent came to her. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she followed it to one of the bookshelves. Her hand traced along the books until she came to the edge. She felt a breeze coming through and realized there had to be an opening behind it.
“Clary, I think I found a secret tunnel,” Zira said with her inside voice. She waited for an answer, but nothing came. “I’m going to try to open it.” Still nothing.
Zira removed every book off the shelf to find the switch and still nothing moved the shelf. She tried strong arming the shelf but even Nina’s strength didn’t budge it. She looked around for Clary and still couldn’t find her.
“Where the hell did that girl go,” Zira asked herself, leaning on one of the empty shelves and the bookcase moved.
Zira fell through the opening into a narrow hallway. The familiar scent grew stronger, and she looked back, wondering if she should wait for Clary, but her curiosity won. She walked until she came to an open door and peeked inside. She saw people lying on beds, hooked up to machines and on the table, she saw the book.
“Anything interesting?”
Zira almost jumped again if she didn’t recognize the voice. “Clary, I might have to put a bell on you,” Zira whispered.
Clary gasped. “Look! There’s the book. Should we take it?”
“Shh, shh, shh. Someone’s coming,” Zira said, moving back into the darkness.
The whistling grew louder as the back of a man in a lab coat walked into view. Zira leaned in further to try to see who it was when the machines started to go off and the man rushed to them. They stopped as suddenly as they started and he finally turned towards them.
“Who’s there,” he asked, peering into the darkness. Zira’s eyes went big.
PERCY?!?!