Inner Demons

37. An Old Tune

I clutched the book close to my chest and spun around happily. By blind luck, I had found the key to how the library works. I placed the pen back on the bookshelf and sat down with Memoria.

Jackson told me I shouldn't take the book out of the library. No doubt the Order had some kind of tracking system for the books. I didn't want to forget the recipe for the elixir or make any mistakes, so I pulled out the flip phone Drake had given me when we first started dating. There was a pretty decent camera built in, and I planned to put it to good use.

The first thing I did was locate the recipe for the Elixir of Kendria. It wasn't too hard to find, and thankfully, it was written in English. I snapped a picture of the ingredients and instructions, then flipped back to the beginning of the book. One by one, I snapped pictures of each page. Total, there must have been at least a hundred pages with different handwritten spells. Near the end, I smiled when I noticed the spell that Mrs. King used to store our cheerleading routines in our sneakers.

I was tempted to take my time with the book, but I knew I still needed to try to get to Jackson's room before anyone noticed I was gone.

As soon as I was finished with the book, the glittery dust that stuck to the binding floated the book back to where it belonged. When the book was back on the shelf, the glitter fell to the floor and faded away. I smiled, amazed at how cool magic could be sometimes.

I stuffed my phone in my pocket and stepped into the main room. As I placed my foot on the top step, I heard footsteps below in the hallway. My body tensed. The passage-way opened and I jumped back. I needed a place to hide.

I had no way to know which room the person coming up the stairs wanted to go into. From the last time I was up on the third floor, I knew there was a library room, a potion room, and a room with beds. None of those rooms had a good place to hide. The fourth one, however, the one with the demon face engraved on the wood, held a long corridor of doors. On instinct, I chose this door.

The length of the corridor was shocking. Some kind of magic allowed there to be more space on this floor than was physically possible. I had no explanation for what I saw, but all I cared about at the moment was not getting caught.

I pulled open the first door on my left and stepped inside. The room was completely dark. I leaned against the door and tried to catch my breath. My heart pounded against my chest. Part of me was certain the Order had been watching me.

In the distance, I heard a woman humming. Ella Mae? I'd heard her hum that song before. It was an old tune I couldn't quite place.

I waited and listened, trying to track her footsteps and guess where she was going. Then, the demon door opened and her humming grew louder. I placed my hand over my mouth to muffle the sound of my breath. I stood as still as I could, but my knees were shivering.

Ella Mae's footsteps passed by the room where I hid, then continued down the long hallway. I sighed in relief. No one was coming for me.

I didn't move for a while, listening for some indication of whether she was still out there or not. Eventually, I heard the clicking of a door as it closed somewhere far away. I wished I had the energy to make myself invisible, but I knew I couldn't risk it. If I got sick again, I might not be able to make the potion.

I had no choice but to step back into the hallway and try my luck. There was no sign of Ella Mae, but as I left the small dark room, I could swear a pair of red eyes opened, watching me as I fled.