V. The Lunae Libri

Lila Jane stood in the stone Doorwell.

Behind her, worn, uneven rock steps led down into the Tunnels beneath Perkins. In front of her was an ancient door, weathered and grooved by time and the elements.

She shook her head. “How is this here? And how is it possible that I never knew this existed?”

“The great work must inevitably be obscure.” Marian shrugged.

“Except to the very few,” Lila Jane finished. “Don’t you use Henry Miller on me, Mare. I’m the person who pointed you to Tropic of Cancer.” It was true, and Marian smiled, pushing open the door.

“What the hell?”

The stone stairway twisted into another, and then another, and then a fourth, until Lila Jane could no longer track the difference between where they’d come from and where they were going.

“What is this place?” Lila Jane stopped on the step behind Marian.

“I told you,” Marian said. “My library.”

“This is not just a library,” Lila Jane said.

“No. It’s just not your idea of a library,” Marian said. “It’s not much farther now. Come on.”

Marian quickened her pace, and Lila Jane hurried to keep up. As she moved, she tried counting the flickering torches mounted on the mossy, damp walls, but it became impossible after the first few minutes, and she felt like the Tunnel would never end.

Then suddenly it did.

Marian pushed with two hands on a heavy stone door, murmuring a few words of Latin that Lila Jane couldn’t make out. The rock disappeared beneath her touch. “What just—?”

“Save that thought, Janie,” Marian said, taking her friend by both shoulders. “Because things are about to get even crazier.” She pushed Lila Jane through the door. The moment Lila Jane stepped into the room, she knew Marian was right. They entered what appeared to be the central hub of the space, a large vaulted chamber that seemed utterly without end. Lila Jane stopped, stunned. “It’s incredible.” She reached out and touched the closest row of books, but Marian grabbed her arm.

“And powerful. Only a Caster can touch these books.”

“A what?” Lila Jane stared at her friend. “As in—”

“As in spell caster,” Marian said slowly.

Lila Jane stared wide-eyed at the surrounding stacks, speechless.

Marian tried again. “As in a race of gifted Supernaturals who can and always have been able to bend Mortal existence to their will—in different ways, depending on their different powers.”

Lila Jane put her hand down on the counter behind her for support—but accidentally touched the edge of a stray piece of parchment, sending sparks flying. “Ouch.”

“Careful—” Marian grabbed her friend by the arm.

“Macon’s spell book,” Lila Jane finally said. “It really is a spell book.” She shook her burning fingers. “I didn’t believe it.”

“A book of Casts? Possibly. Yes.” Marian hesitated. “I know there’s a lot to explain, so just trust me on this. If you touch anything in this library, you’ll burn your hands off.”

“Mare. You forget who you’re talking to.” Lila Jane pulled her beloved white archival gloves from her bag and waved them at her friend. “Not a problem.”

Marian smiled. “Of course.”

Lila Jane pulled out the nearest book, holding it carefully in her gloved fingers. “Castere Compoundes of Alchemies Elementaus? Is this for real?”

“It depends,” Marian said, looking over Lila’s shoulder.

“On what?”

“On whether or not you really want to know the answer to that question.” Marian looked at Lila Jane. “Or the answer to exactly what sort of Supernatural your beloved Macon Ravenwood is.”

“So there are different sorts, now?” Lila Jane looked overwhelmed.

Marian kept going. “Or the answer to where I go when I’m not at home at night.”

Lila Jane nodded, keeping her expression remarkably composed. “What if I do?”

Marian looked at her. “Are you sure? Because there’s no going back.”

Lila Jane nodded, moving down the aisle. The stacks appeared to spread in radial spokes, branching through the massive underground cavern in every possible direction. “It seems to me we came to the no-going-back place the moment you made the stone door abracadabra away.” She pulled out a thick parchment scroll, examining it every bit as thoroughly as if she were in the rare books reading room.

Marian shook her head. “These aren’t small decisions, Janie. These are the moments that shape a life, even a destiny. The first time I saw this place, I couldn’t eat for a week. Everything I’d ever understood about the world was fundamentally and forever changed.”

Lila Jane replaced the scroll and looked up at her friend. “But that’s the thing you don’t understand, Mare. My world already changed. It changed the day I met Macon Ravenwood. And if this is a part of his world, then last Sunday it became a part of mine.”

Marian pulled her friend into a fierce hug.

Lila Jane stared at the world beyond Marian’s pale cashmere shoulder, considering the words she’d just spoken.

They seemed real, but it was hard to tell what was real anymore. Especially now, when her entire world had just turned upside down.

“I think I’m going to love him, Mare.” The words sounded odd as they echoed through the vast cavern, as if they surprised even her.

“Then we should talk.” Macon stepped out of the shadows and held out his hand.

Slowly, Lila Jane let go of her friend and took it. He pulled her hand to his lips, tenderly kissing her white-gloved fingers with a smile. As he did, the look in his eyes said more than he could otherwise ever possibly hope to express.

Lila Jane understood it all.

I’ve broken him, she thought. I’ve never seen him look happier and sadder, all at the same time.

“What’s this? A kiss on the hand? Surely you can do better than that, my dear Macon Ravenwood,” Lila Jane said, smiling back at him.

“Come here, Jane.”

Marian disappeared before the gloves even came off.

By the time Lila Jane crept back home, it was the middle of the night, though every light in the apartment was on.

Marian sat up on her futon. “Do you have any idea what time it is? I was worried sick about you.” Her futon was full of books, and Lila Jane flopped on top of them.

“You’re the one who left me in the Caster Library,” she said.

“Would you have preferred I stay?” Marian raised an eyebrow.

Lila Jane smiled. “Of course not.” She crawled next to her friend, curling against the warm pile of comforters like a kitten.

Marian sighed. “I worked for hours, thinking you two would come up for air and I’d catch you on the way out. But apparently neither one of you requires oxygen.”

“I didn’t realize how much time had passed.”

“You have a watch.”

“I lost it.”

“It’s on your wrist,” Marian said, looking at the delicate mother-of-pearl face.

Lila Jane slid off the silvery band. “Now it’s not.” She sat up. “Here, I want you to have it, Mare. I don’t want any more time to pass. I want it to always and only be tonight.”

“Janie,” Marian said. The word was a warning.

But Lila Jane shook her head. “Don’t. Just let me do this. I have to. I know my life could be headed into a great big disaster. But it’s my disaster.” She smiled. “It’s the greatest disaster of my life.” She looked over at Marian. “Even if it’s my last.”

“Your last disaster? I think we both know that’s not likely, though appropriately melodramatic.” Marian let Jane strap the watch onto her wrist.

“I’m in love.”

“Clearly.”

“But he’s an Incubus. Practically a mythological creature. Except, of course, he’s real.” Lila Jane shook her head in disbelief. “Which makes no sense whatsoever.”

“He’s a Dark creature, Lila.”

“Lila? I’m suddenly Lila now?” Lila Jane looked taken aback.

“Janie. I don’t know what Macon told you, but his very nature is darkness. He can’t be with you. You’re a Mortal. You are literally anathema to each other. Fire and water. Madness and reason. Death and life.”

“Who’s being dramatic now?”

“I want you to be happy, Janie.”

“I know, Mare.”

“But you can’t. Not like this. Not with him.”

“You’re the one who showed me the way into his world through Caster Tunnels, and now you just expect to take it all away again?”

“I wanted you to know the truth, and I wanted you to decide for yourself.”

“So let me. But give me more than a few hours to try to understand what’s going on. My whole concept of the universe just imploded. How am I supposed to know how I feel about things that I didn’t even know existed yesterday?”

“It’s tomorrow I’m worried about,” Marian said. “You don’t know what Macon can be like. You don’t know him at all—him or his world. You don’t know anything.”

“I don’t. That’s the whole point, isn’t it? How can I walk away when I don’t know what I’m leaving?” Lila Jane’s voice rose.

Marian bristled. “How can you stay when you don’t know what you’re risking?”

Lila Jane didn’t answer.

They lay next to each other in silence. There was nothing more to say.