Heart of Ashes

Samuel

Evelyn, after getting lost several times, managed to find her way back to Caine's bedroom, which is where Dmitri had instructed her to go to find Caine. She knocked quietly on the door and knocked again when there was no answer. She figured he might be resting but according to Dmitri he'd been seen carrying someone through the castle so, as far as she was concerned, he was back on his feet.

She nudged the door open a crack and there seemed to be no sign of anything in the room. Not Caine, not his demon raven, nothing. She pushed the door open a little further and peered into the darkness, that the heavy, dark curtains provided, to confirm her suspicions. Caine wasn't there. She stepped inside and looked around frantically. Where had he gone? Despite the signs of stability in him, she didn't really want him wandering about the castle on his own. One could never tell what would happen with him.

She went and checked his bed, his bathroom even, he was nowhere to be found. She searched for her cell and found it in the back pocket of her jeans. She dialed Dmitri's number.

He answered after two rings, "Evelyn, what's the matter?"

"Dmitri, I can't find Caine," she said, "he's not in his room."

There was a short pause, "Well, the only other place he'd be at this time would be the study, but I know he's not in the study because I am."

"So, where the hell is he?"

"Just stay there, I'm coming now," he ordered and hung up.

Evelyn stayed where she was. She didn't switch on the lights and she didn't move. She stayed exactly where she was. A short while later, Dmitri came through the door with Mercedes and Katrina in tow. He flicked on the light switch as his eyes swept through the room. For a second she thought she saw his nostrils flare as if he were sniffing something.

"Damn it, Caine," he muttered, "where are you?"

Mercedes and Katrina were also looking around and then Katrina said, "This is impossible, I was literally just here."

"You're really going to question whether Caine has an ability to teleport?" Dmitri asked, "After what you saw last night?"

She nodded, "Fair point, but why would he?"

Dmitri shook his head, "He didn't he's still here... somewhere."

Evelyn raised an eyebrow, "Are you saying he's invisible?"

Dimitri shrugged, "It wouldn't surprise me."

Evelyn's eyes found Mercedes she'd steepled her fingers under her chin and she was looking at Caine's bookcases. She stood like this for a moment then went to the bookcase in the middle and reached for a book. Dmitri threw his hands up as if realising something.

The book was an unmarked, black leather-bound tome and when Mercedes pulled it back, the bookcase swung open. There was, of course, a room behind it. There were rows of bookcases in the room with books packed haphazardly on the shelves. Some were double stacked, some were even triple stacked and every shelf had a few books lying on their sides on top of the others. Mercedes shook her head at the mess.

Evelyn ran her finger down the spine of one of the books, as expected, it was dusty as all hell and its title was written in some strange script Evelyn wasn't familiar with. There were more like it, many more.

Mercedes shook her head, "What a mess."

A voice came from behind the bookcase, "It's not a mess," Caine stepped round the corner and snapped a book shut, "it's called organised chaos."

Mercedes put her hands on her hips, "So, in other words, a mess? Caine, I don't know how you find anything in here."

He looked a little irritated at having been disturbed, "Yes, well, how I find things in here is hardly important, just that I find things in here."