I’d ditched Gabriel the second he bolted the door that led down to the containment area, and retreated to my room. But I wasn’t ready to face Alara, or Elle, so I had grabbed Faith’s journal and ended up lost. Technically, I wasn’t alone. Bear had followed me, unwilling to stay cooped up in our room any longer. I reached down and scratched between his ears.
My mind kept replaying the demon’s words.
Friends who don’t trust you… and a boy who doesn’t love you.
All the doors were identical sheets of reflective steel.
Except one.
At the end of the corridor, an intricately carved door dwarfed the metal ones around it. Symbols were etched into every inch of the wood—a Gothic cross, the Devil’s Trap, a Celtic knot, a pentagram, the evil eye, and others I didn’t recognize. The Eye of Providence stared back from the center of the triangular brass knob.
Bear sat in front of the door, watching me expectantly.
If it’s unlocked, I’ll go in.
I turned the knob, and the hinges creaked. A soft light spilled into the hall from inside. It was probably a study.
Or Dimitri or Gabriel’s room.
The thought stopped me cold. I started to turn around when Bear slipped through the door.
Endless rows of books lined the walls of the circular room. The shelves were lit from behind, illuminating the books like the stars glowing on the ceiling above me. A huge opalescent sphere on a crazy-looking metal stand projected dozens of constellations onto the black ceiling, like a planetarium. Protective symbols and summoning circles like the ones from the journals marred the pale, stone floors.
Six identical glass-front bookcases cut through the center of the shelves at regular intervals. It was difficult to see inside them, and I stepped closer to one. Instead of books, the case held a disturbing assortment: pristine vertebrae and bones suspended in apothecary jars; silver dishes filled with skeleton keys; a Venus fly trap inside a terrarium; exotic butterfly wings, each housed in individual glass bottles; a framed black widow spider; and stranger objects I couldn’t identify.
Bear barked at a fluffy taxidermy chick with two heads, on the bottom shelf. Next to the chick, less identifiable creatures floated in containers of formaldehyde like carnival oddities.
I drifted past the case, examining the cracked spines of the older books and the fabric covering newer volumes: The Book of Secrets, Le Dragon Rouge, The Grand Grimorie, Heptameron of Darkness, and The Sketchbooks of Leonardo Da Vinci. I slid one of the smaller books off the shelf and leafed through pages of architectural drawings, depicting tunnels and passageways with hidden entrances and concealed chambers.
Would Dimitri let us read them? Maybe there was information in one of them that could help Jared.
Bear raced past the sphere-shaped projector and through an archway, across the room.
Perfect. It probably leads to another dungeon.
I was relieved to find a spiral staircase that led up, not down.
Bear peered at me from the top, where the black railing enclosed a second level of the circular room that blended perfectly into the dark walls. As I climbed the steps, the entire room spread out below me. An inscription ran along the circumference of the room, the words alternating in Latin and English.
Confusa Est, Invenitur Ordo
IN CHAOS WE FIND ORDER
“The Creed of Chaos,” someone said from behind me.
I jumped, even though I recognized Dimitri’s voice.
“I didn’t mean to startle you.” He rose from a threadbare armchair, tucked into an alcove.
“You didn’t. It’s fine.” I stepped back, hoping to put a little distance between us, and my shoulder bumped into something hard. Another glass-front bookcase—filled with severed doll heads.
Cracked porcelain and shiny plastic faces stared out from behind the glass. “I don’t know what you guys are into, but these are even weirder than the little alien embryos downstairs.”
Dimitri pointed at the mountain of heads. “Charity work. Every one of those dolls was haunted. Gabriel and I exorcised the spirits.”
The more I learned about Gabriel, the stranger he seemed. “So they’re souvenirs?”
“Gabriel likes to keep an eye on them.”
“That’s not creepy or anything.”
Dimitri studied the dolls for a moment and smiled. “I see your point.”
“Do you guys live at the safe house?” I asked.
“Our work takes us all over the world, so we don’t have permanent residences. This is the closest thing we have to a home.”
I couldn’t imagine living in one of the utilitarian and impersonal rooms I’d seen earlier. I stood at the railing, overlooking the vast space. At least doll heads and the mummy gave this weird museum-library hybrid some character. “So what is this place?”
“An athenaeum,” Dimitri said. “In addition to Gabriel’s collections, this room houses our library and Illuminati records.”
“Records of what, exactly?” I asked.
“Anecdotes, case studies, observations—”
“Your spy diaries?”
Dimitri frowned. “We’re not the Order. We don’t employ spies in the way you’re suggesting.”
Which means they employ them in some other way.
“The Illuminati has a long history of observing and recording paranormal and unexplained phenomena. You’d be shocked if you knew how many of the world’s greatest thinkers were members of the Illuminati.”
I pointed at the linen-wrapped mummy. “Like him?”
Dimitri laughed without even looking. He obviously knew every inch of this place by heart. He glanced up at the stars on the ceiling. “How about Galileo?”
“And you know this because?”
“Like I said, we keep great records.” Dimitri switched on a crystal floor lamp, illuminating the alcove. It gave me a clearer view of the mummified guy—who I hoped wasn’t a former Illuminati member they were preserving. A broken piece of a Renaissance-style fresco was mounted on the wall behind the mummy.
Dimitri pointed at the fresco. “The missing section of Raphael Santi’s La disputa del sacremento, Disputation of the Sacrament. Painted inside the Vatican and commissioned by the Pope himself. Of course, Raphael was only one of many Renaissance painters who was in the Illuminati.”
Dimitri made the Illuminati sound like an average, run-of-the-mill organization like the 4-H Club.
He gestured at the silver-plated journal under my arm. “Were you looking for a place to read?”
I shrugged. “More like a place to be alone.”
“We don’t generally allow anyone in here, but I can make an exception.” He patted Bear on the head. “I’ll leave you to it.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“I’m not offended,” he said. “I come here to be alone, too.” He glanced up at the ceiling. “And to look at the stars.”
Once Dimitri left, I settled into the armchair furthest from the mummy, and Bear curled up at my feet. I skimmed Faith’s journal this morning, but I didn’t have time to read it carefully. Maybe I missed something between its silver covers that could help Jared. I read the first few pages again, which were identical to the one Faith’s father had copied.
Anarel’s words still gave me the chills: Soon enough, the sins of man will rival those of the demons in hell. There are no innocents among you.
I flipped past pages filled with drawings of summoning circles and demon seals, exorcism rites and cyphers, unti
l I reached an incantation I hadn’t paid much attention to before.
An angel’s blood.
A demon’s bone.
A passing shadow.
A dragon stone.
Heaven and hell, darkness and light.
Caged in the Vessel, as they wage their eternal fight.
The Vessel—that’s how Faith had referred to the Shift.
Did we give up looking for it too easily? What if the answer was right in front of us all along, but we missed it because we so busy looking for another one? I heard Faith’s voice in the back of my mind.
A prison to hold a demon.
It was the one thing we needed to save Jared, and we had lost it.
Lukas opened the door to the room he and Priest shared holding a slice of pizza. An open box lay on his bed next to his journal and laptop. “Hey. I’m reading everything I can find on demonic possession and exorcism. I can access source documents from libraries all over Europe.”
“Have you found anything?”
He finished the slice and wiped his hands on his jeans. “Not yet.”
“I need to show you something.” I ducked under his arm impatiently and sat down on the end the bed across from his. I’d rushed here from the athenaeum, hoping to find them both. “Where’s Priest?”
“I think he’s in the Mech Room. It’s a metal shop on steroids. If everything didn’t completely suck right now, he’d be having the time of his life in there.” He gestured at the half-eaten pizza. “Want a slice? I was so hungry I couldn’t think straight. I conned Gabriel into picking it up when he went on his supply run. He almost had a heart attack when I suggested delivery.”
“No thanks.” I handed Lukas my aunt’s journal and pointed at the page. “Remember when Faith mentioned the Vessel? There’s something about it in here.” I rambled on without giving him time to read the passage. “Faith said the Vessel was the only prison that can hold Andras. This is how we’re going to save Jared.”
Lukas held up his hand. “Back up. I missed something.”
“We can use the Shift to trap Andras.” I waited while he read the passage.