Page 110 of Blood that Burns
A smile spreads across my face. “Here,” I say, sliding the second book toward her.
“It’s not that I don’t want to find Molly,” she admits. “It wasn’t my priority because, having never met her, it’s easy to push her from my thoughts. Out of sight—”
“Out of mind,” I say, completing her sentence.
She nods. “And a part of me hopes that wherever she is, she’s happy. Safe.” She takes a breath, opening the cover of the book. “This world is falling apart all around us. There are vampires and witches, and now angels and demons? What kind of a world are we bringing her back to?”
Guilt slams into me. How had I been so stupid? Marina wasn’t being selfish or prioritizing Julian’s agenda. She was trying to make things better so that when we bring Molly home, she’ll be safer.
My hand lands on top of Marina’s and I squeeze. An olive branch. A show of solidarity.
“Let’s work on bringing her home to a safe world.”
She nods and we both get to work, scanning our books.
Mine proves worthless where the Fae are concerned, and I find myself back searching the stacks. Another half hour passes, but I’m back to work with four more books that could hold some information.
Show me something, I think, flipping the green-covered book to a page in the middle. A gasp springs from my chest at the picture staring back at me. It’s equal parts alluring and frightening.
The creature has perfect features—sculpted cheekbones, beautiful flowing hair, incredible height—but it’s the pointed ears that tell me I’ve stumbled across something of worth.
Somehow, those strange ears do not detract from the beauty of the man in the illustration, but his calculating eyes and macabre grin chill me to the bone. It’s truly terrifying how he seems to stare back at me as though he can see into my soul.
“What did you find?”
I about jump out of my skin. “Jesus, Marina. You scared the shit out of me.”
“I’ve been sitting here the whole time,” she says with a hint of laughter.
I slide the book next to her, showing her the photo of the Fae man.
She whistles. “That’s—”
“Creepy?” I finish.
“I was going to say, sexy in a very strange way.” My head falls back, and I burst into laughter. “What?” she cries out. “He is.”
My head shakes back and forth as I swipe stray tears from my eyes. “I find it ironic that you’d find him strange considering you skipped right over normal boy and went straight to a vampire. Not sure people would find that any less strange.”
“Touché,” she says, joining my laughter.
When we’ve finally managed to pull ourselves together, I dive into the text accompanying the picture, skimming for the highlights.
“What’s it say?” Marina says, trying to look over my shoulder.
“They live in another dimension that borders the human realm. They like to play tricks and toy with humans for sport.” I keep skimming, finding the text to be repetitive. “Their magical powers are limitless. Most of their dealings with humans are for the exchange of changelings.”
“What does it say about that?” she asks, sounding eager to hear everything.
“They swap out a human child for a Fae child to amass wealth and knowledge. According to this book, the human children are treated as slaves in the Fae world while changeling children are nourished in the human world.”
“Oh God,” Marina croaks.
Dread creeps in as I consider what kinds of torture Molly could be enduring now.
“On their eighteenth birthday, they’re switched back, bringing their wealth and knowledge with them, and leaving the human parents to believe their child is dead.”
“The journal said that Molly was a changeling, but our eighteenth birthday has come and gone, there was nobody to take away,” Marina says, looking to me as though I can solve the riddle that is Molly’s disappearance.