A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update! I've been really busy with school and training, but here is Chapter 2! Enjoy and review please.
Disclaimer: I do not own Darkest Powers. That right belongs to Kelley Armstrong, the lucky girl.
Chapter 2: Secrets of a Supernatural Safehouse
"See you guys tonight!" Trace called as she drove the minivan full of the shopping party away from the house.
I waved along with Andrew; Vladimir, who was the other sorcerer, and Shiraz, the witch, as the van sped away. Derek merely watched them leave, leaning against the doorframe.
Once they were out of sight, Andrew launched the rest of us on an expedition to determine what we needed in the house necessity-wise: food, medical supplies, repair materials, and necessary household items. Essentially, everything we would need to survive and inhabit the safe house. The other supernaturals had supplies, but not enough to sustain the addition of our group.
About an hour after we had set out, we reconvened around the kitchen table, each with a list of needed supplies. Vladimir called Trace and the others and asked them to stop by a few more stores to pick up some extra bedding, rugs, and bedroom furnishing for the rooms that we would be sleeping in; right now, we were borrowing from the original group here. Andrew and Shiraz, meanwhile, planned for a shopping trek of their own for everything else. I watched alone on the outskirts, Derek having disappeared as soon as possible. Wondering where he was, I excused myself and went to look for him.
The first few rooms that peeked into along the hallway were currently uninhabited, blanketed by a soft quiet. There was an impressive looking entertainment room, complete with plasma flat screen and enough electronic devices to make any geek think he was in heaven. Across the hall from that was an old tearoom of sorts; there were several china cabinets, a large stone fireplace, and several armchairs and loveseats. Further down the hall I found a large conservatory. A large bay window let the little light that could get through the thick clouds into the room, and plants, many of them tropical looking, covered almost every surface.
The fourth door that I opened, however, led to a library. Shelves stretched up from the floor to the high ceiling, completely packed with books. Comfortable looking armchairs and couches were scattered between the shelves, often accompanied by a side table with a reading lamp or potted plant. Thick rugs layered the floor, and a weak light filtered through the strained glass windows. The room was quiet, though not eerily so.
Unknowingly, I had walked into the room as I took it in, and now I was struck with a thought. If this was a library in a supernaturals' house, then there was a good chance that it would contain books about supernaturals, books about necromancers.
Books that could help me understand and control my powers.
As I approached the shelves, I noted with much relief that the books were arranged on the shelves alphabetically according to their subjects. I quickly moved through the shelves, flicking on lamps as I went, slowing as I reached "N". I searched, but I couldn't find anything on necromancers, even though I looked multiple times. Out of spur-of-the-moment curiosity, I looked for a book on werewolves. Again, I found nothing. The same thing happened when I attempted to locate books on sorcerers, witches, or half-demons. Frustrated, I flopped into one of the library's plush armchairs.
Directly in front of my chair was a painting of what looked to be a battle scene. Normally, I would have looked away from such a painting, but something about this one held my eye. It seemed familiar, in a way…
When it came to me why it did, it took my breath away.
The reason the fight scene looked so familiar to me was because of the way it was being fought. Those flashes weren't lightening or bursts of fire from the barrels of guns; they were bolts of electricity springing from the hands of several of the people depicted. What I had taken to the battle's wounded crawling along the ground were really corpses, flesh rotted away, teeth grinning horribly as they advanced, controlled by
By now, I was on my feet, standing right before the painting. I could see the anger and the fear on the people's faces, and the blood on the ground. On a cliff above the battle was a single wolf. This lone figure caught my attention not only because he was so obviously a werewolf; rather, it was because of where he was looking. Instead of looking at the battle raging below him, he was staring away. Bidden by some instinct, I followed his gaze, out of the picture frame and onto the wall across the way, the wall that I know noticed had an odd seam between its shelves.
I hurried over to the shelves, excitement rising. However, despite all my pushing and pulling, the seam remained the same. I was just about to turn away, berating myself for being so foolish as to think that there was actually a secret door in the library, when a voice that sounded like it belonged to a woman who had smoked too many cigarettes rasped in my ear, "Try behind The History of Deception."
I jumped and looked behind me, though I already knew that it had been a ghost talking.
"Behind The History of Deception, " the voice prompted.
Praying that this wasn't some kind of trap, I reached up with a trembling hand, and pulled out the book, half-expecting something to jump out at me.
Instead, set into the back of the bookcase, there was an old, worn lock, the type that needs a five-digit code to unlock.
"The code is in the back of the book…" the ghost whispered in my ear.
I quickly flipped to the back of the book and found the code: 74381. Holding my breath, I carefully rolled the digits into place on the lock. As I rolled the "1" into place, there was a dull, muffled click from somewhere behind the bookshelf.
"Push," the voice rasped before I could ask, and I obliged, pushing on the packed shelves. Slowly, the wall angled inward, creating a narrow opening that I could just barely slip through. I took a step toward it, then hesitated, wondering if I should get Derek to come with me.
"Go," the ghost said, deciding me with her next words. "Go, and find what you are looking for, child."
Overcome by my curiosity, I slipped though the sliver of an opening, and into the secret passage.
Once I had slipped through the hole in the shelves, however, I realized that the passage wasn't a passage—it was a hidden library. This circular room was much more ornate than the one which I had just left, and it was immediately apparent that it contained everything that I hadn't been able to find. Titles jumped out at me; topics, words, hundreds of books about us, about supernaturals. I walked around the room in some kind of a dazed, pulling out books and flipping through them, marveling at all of the information collected and stored with this room.
As I circled the room, questions flitted through the back of my mind like cars around a track. Who's library was this? Why had they made it? If this was a supernaturals' house, why were the books concerning supernaturals hidden away?
And what in the world was the odd map laying on the desk for?
Curiosity sparked yet again, I bent over it. It looked to be a diagram of the house. I could see the kitchen, the bathroom, the first library…and the second one. And from this, there were other lines leading off, hallways to room that I didn't remember other hallways going to, doorways in places that there weren't any doorways.
It was a map of secret passages.
A/N: How was that for a cliffy? I promise I'll post the next chapter soon…the more reviews, the sooner!!! Review, review, review!!
~PunkRockScientist