Greg’s blood covered Earl in gruesome stains. He hadn’t been able to wash, and he didn’t dare leave the closet, a safe zone Dante had shown him five years ago when it became evident the rift hated Earl. Earl had activated the seal by pressing points on the doorframe in a precise pattern, like a combination to a safe. Dialing the pattern the first time brought the closet back into reality, the second time took it out of the notice of the world and beyond the senses of those who came from the rift.
He had sat on the pine boards with his knees pulled to his chest, waiting. Hawley had made enough noise to rival a booming mine. As long as Earl didn’t touch the door, the closet remained hidden.
The Rifters, the people in town who protected the world against the horrors of the rift, had battled Haw Shot to exhaustion. Earl had heard it all, had heard the discussion about what to do about the mess and Wald’s solution. The gossip and wild stories during the clean up made Earl snicker. Perception had more power than truth when it came to the rumors about himself, Charming, and Cerin.
None of them knew Cerin was Dante’s brother, arriving here to combat the same evil Dante had stumbled upon. In the process, Cerin had bewitched Charming with his elegant speeches. He didn’t have his brother’s skills at concealment, and the guardians of this world had discovered him. Exposed, he and Charming carried on a very public romance to cover his real reasons for being here. If the Rifters knew the truth about Charming and Cerin, the remaining guardians would be branded as enemies too. Then the threat Dante had come here to mount an offensive against, would come hard and swift.
To protect his girl, the town, and its people, Earl couldn’t reveal Charming’s romance with Cerin as a sham. He worried the Governors knew she had information on them she shouldn’t and traveled the rift to thwart them. Hawley’s presence proved they at least suspected.
The library grew quiet except for singing. Daelin had a fair voice, but Earl didn’t need a serenade. He needed her to find him. The library wouldn’t betray its keeper, wouldn’t let him out until she allowed it. She had to see the door and unlock it. Dante had called it the librarian’s hex.
Earl placed his palm on the doorknob, making the storage space visible. The edges of the closet became less fuzzy. He pounded on the door until she yanked it open.
“I’m here to help you not harm you.” His tongue had always held magic, weaving lies into the truth. It was how he had lived a double life in the 1870s: one as a gentleman, the second as a notorious stagecoach robber. This time he’d used his gift to tell the truth. Daelin had to listen to him, but by the squint of her eyes and the set of her jaw, she’d beat him to a pulp first.
He raised his hands, showing them bare and empty. “I didn’t kill Susan and Greg. I swear it on your sister’s life.” She had to believe him. She had to trust him, yet his faith in himself slipped. The feel of Greg’s tendons popping against his palms wouldn’t let him be. Earl swallowed past the lumps in his throat, vowing for the three thousandth time to make Haw Shot pay.
A heavy book in her hands, Daelin smacked it over Earl’s head. She did so two more times before he could get a grip on the book and wrestle it out of her hands.
She growled. “What did you do to my sister?” Her voice rattled with a fury to match George Hawley’s. “Did you kill her? Starphish and Culver told me the two of you were together, that you were upset she left you for some intern last summer.”
Pins and needles popped in his legs and feet, making it a struggle for Earl to stand. “I swear to all I hold dear, I would never harm her. Never. I’d die for your sister.”
Daelin crossed her arms. Her height made her formidable. Once the Rifters trained her, she’d be a fierce opponent, which had to be Dante and Charming’s plans for Daelin. If they planned to wage war, they’d need as many allies as they could get. Earl had to make sure Daelin joined the Rifters without a hitch. It was how he could help his girl.
“Don’t tell me something stupid like the ghost did it,” Daelin said. “Nonsense belongs in novels.” Her jaw stiffened. Irrefutable proof would be all she’d accept.
Earl would have to give up some secrets. “Settler has nonsense at its foundation. The phantom and its vendetta are very real. It’s after your sister.”
“Then why is it after you?”
If only all of this could be explained without him, but it couldn’t. He’d have to let a few things go and trust her with them. “Because it learned of our bond.”
“That you’re in love with each other?”
The need to atone made him act as foolishly as a devoted lover with Charming. He had to believe it would eventually erase his previous sins. “No. Charming and I are not romantically involved. Never were. Never will be.”
“Then why are you so committed to her?”
Half honesty wouldn’t satisfy Daelin. Earl sighed and gave her what she needed. “She’s the only family I have.”
“Family?”
“Distant relations.” He wasn’t entirely sure how many greats to put before their titles of grandfather and granddaughter. “On her father’s side. You and I aren’t related.”
“Damn the ain’ts, Earl Blacke. None of this makes sense. My sister never told me of you and you’re not telling me much.”
“I don’t know what else to do—”
“Pssst.” The whisper came from the stacks.
Daelin whirled. Earl jumped out of the closet in front of her. If Haw Shot had returned, he’d have to go through Earl to get to Daelin.
Daelin pointed at an empty portrait behind the librarian’s desk. “It’s Cordelia.”
If that didn’t beat all. He tiptoed to the painting, touching the frame. It tingled with energy much like the waking nerves in his feet. “She’s appeared to you before?”
“When I opened the library for the first time, and again just a few moments ago. She showed me the storage closet.” Daelin slipped into the stacks, reappearing with a book in her hands.
While standing in front of empty painting, Earl blinked once and Cordelia was suddenly back in it, like she had never left. He had never seen such a thing.
“It’s a message for you.” Daelin held out the opened book.
A crystal, which resembled a bullet, sat in the hollowed out interior. It came with a folded note sealed with wax. Earl scrawled across it.
His fingers broke the seal and unfolded the sheet. A third pillar will open the gate on cue. It could only be from Dante and it meant it was time for Daelin to remember.
hapter 