I drove into Asher Falls late that afternoon to meet Sidra at the library. She was behind the counter when I came in and lifted a finger to her lips, then pointed to the office door to let me know that Luna was still around. I nodded and went back to the records I’d been sorting through the day before. I was leafing through one of the research books when she came to get me.
“Luna just left,” she said in a hushed voice.
“What now?”
“This way, but keep away from the windows, okay? The library is supposed to be closed. If anyone happens to glance in, I don’t want to be seen.”
“Won’t they just assume you haven’t left yet?”
“Maybe. But I don’t want to take any chances. Luna would be very angry if she knew you were here after hours.”
“Then maybe we shouldn’t be doing this.”
“No, it’s fine. Just stay behind me, okay?”
The clandestine nature of our rendezvous both worried and excited me. Why so secretive? I wondered.
Luna’s silver tabby was stretched out on the desk in her office, and he watched with suspicious eyes as we came through the door.
“What’s that cat’s name?”
“Whisper. Don’t mess with him,” Sidra warned. “He’s a biter.”
His baleful eyes tracked me as I crossed the room to the framed photographs on the wall. To Freya’s ghost. Now I knew why she looked so angry.
I felt Sidra’s gaze on me and turned.
“It’s through here.” She pointed to the narrow, arched door. Then, extracting a skeleton key from an ivory box on one of the shelves, she inserted it into the ornate lock and opened the door.
As I moved across the room, my gaze fell on the cabinet where Luna kept an assortment of treasures. The blown-glass figurines, the antique pocket watches and that collection of oddly shaped knives… .
“Is something wrong?” Sidra asked.
I tore my gaze from those blades. “No, everything’s fine.” I followed her into the dim little room, the only natural illumination spilling in from an octagonal window near the ceiling. Sidra turned on the light, and I glanced around curiously at the crowded bookcases, then walked over to peruse some of the titles: Animatism in Polynesia. Belief and Practice. Magic and Religion. The Sleeping Giant.
“Why are these books in here and not outside?” I asked.
“I don’t know. My mother has some of the same titles at Pathway.”
“Does she keep them under lock and key?”
Sidra paused. “No. But she keeps other things locked up.”
“Such as?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never been able to find the key.”
I thought of that secret door in Catrice’s studio and shivered.
“So what did you want to show me?”
“You asked about those symbols carved into the cliff at the waterfall.”
“Yes. You told me I wouldn’t find any information about them at the library.”
“That’s not entirely true,” she said and lifted her eyes.
I followed her gaze and gasped. The Drudenfuss had been perfectly reproduced on the ceiling of Luna’s secret room.
“It’s like the pentagram in Faust,” Sidra said. “Mephistopheles was able to enter the study because one of the points was left open.”
“And in order for him to leave, the pentagram had to be destroyed.” I remembered what Thane had said about the Daughters of our Valiant Heroes and the old rumor that it was a coven.
“What do you think it means?” Sidra asked.
“Maybe it doesn’t mean anything. The story is just a fable,” I said, but my mind had gone to those knives in Luna’s office and now my heart was racing.
“What if it’s not? Just a fable, I mean? Shouldn’t we destroy it?” she asked anxiously.
I glanced at her in surprise. “Destroy public property? We could get in a lot of trouble for that. Not to mention, we’re not even supposed to be in here.”
“I know, but…”
“But what, Sidra?”
“Nothing.
She looked very small in that room, and very, very frightened. “Is there something else you want to show me?” I gently grilled. “Or tell me?”
Her eyes went wide. “Someone’s coming.”
“Are you sure? I didn’t hear anything.”
“Shush.” She pulled the door closed with a slight click and turned off the light. A moment later, I heard Luna’s muffled voice through the wall. Someone was with her, and from the intimate laughter, I thought it must be Hugh.
In the muted light, I saw Sidra lift a finger to her lips. I nodded. We could do nothing but wait. Unlike the library, the room had no air shafts to magnify voices, but I had a pretty good idea of what they were up to. I was sure Sidra did, too.
Something drew my gaze upward. Instinct, perhaps, or a slight sound that barely registered. The gray tabby, perched on top of a bookcase, stared down at us. He must have slipped into the room when we first came in. He blinked slowly as he got to his feet and stretched. And then he meowed.
Sidra spun toward the sound. Then her head whipped back to me. We stared at each in horror for a moment as I pressed my ear to the door.
“Hush,” I heard Luna say.
“What is it?” Hugh asked.
“I heard something.”
“There’s no one here but us.”
“No, I heard a meow. It was Whisper.”
I held my breath in the ensuing silence.
“He’s probably down in the basement chasing rats. Shall I go look?”
“That’s very noble of you, but no. Stay here with me. We haven’t much time.”
“What do you mean, we haven’t much time? Maris won’t be back for days.”
“I’m not worried about her.”
I heard him laugh softly. “You shouldn’t be worried about the other one, either.”
“You’re a fool not to worry,” she said. “You know why he’s brought her here.”
“It’ll never happen.”
“How can you be so sure? I’ve seen them together.”
“Have you been spying on them, too?” he asked with a chuckle. “You always did like to watch. Shall we call Bryn and Catrice over? We could have a party like in our younger days.”
My gaze shot to Sidra, but she was still watching the cat.
“What’s the matter?” Hugh taunted. “A little competition never bothered you before. Of course, you are getting older. Is that a gray hair I see?”
I heard something that sounded like a slap.
He said angrily, “Why you vicious little witch.”
Now it was Luna who laughed. “Yes,” she said. “I am, aren’t I?”
During the whole of their conversation, I’d kept an eye on the cat. Now I let out a breath as he stretched and settled back down for a nap.
I moved my ear away from the door, not wanting to hear what might come next. But the rendezvous seemed to have run its course. The office door slammed, and I waited another moment, then said, “That was close.”
“Too close,” Sidra said. “We should probably get out of here. It’ll be dusk soon.”
Dusk. My scalp was already tingling as I followed her into Luna’s office. She locked the door, returned the key to the ivory box, then took my arm. “Hurry!”
But it was too late. As we passed from Luna’s office into the library, I felt the all too familiar chill of a ghostly presence.