Atsuki Nightwhisper's Arc

Chapter 3 of 17

The water closed cold around Atsuki's chest. He dove into the black pool and felt along the sunken floor. His fingers found a stone shelf. On it lay a heavy shape, thick with silt. He gripped it and kicked up. He broke the surface gasping and dragged the book onto the wet steps. The cover was swollen and dark. Two silver discs sat joined at its center, the twin mark Selene had named. He wiped the mud clear. But the pages had fused into one solid block. The book was sealed shut by twenty centuries of water. "Don't," Selene said. She dropped from the arch and landed beside him. Her white scales caught the gray light. She pressed one claw flat on the swollen cover. "Force it and the pages tear. The name inside becomes pulp. You get nothing." Atsuki's hands shook, cold and eager both. "Then how?" "Not with those." She flicked her tail at his broad fingers. Her blue eyes fixed on him, sharp the way they had been at the doorway. "The old keepers used one tool. Thin. Silver. They lifted each leaf slow, from the spine out." She tilted her head. "You came unprepared, grave-robber." Atsuki reached into his soaked pack. His fingers closed on a slender handle. He drew out a silver letter opener, its grip worked with green leaves. It had been his mother's. He had carried it for twenty years without knowing why. Selene went still. "That will serve." He set the book on the driest stone and slid the thin blade under the top page. He moved it a hair at a time. The paper groaned. A corner lifted whole. He breathed out and slid the blade deeper. One leaf peeled free. Hour after hour he worked. The sun crossed the temple arches. Selene watched every stroke, saying nothing. Twice the paper caught and he stopped, sweat stinging his eyes, until it loosened. He did not force it. He would not lose the name to haste. At last the blade reached a page thicker than the rest. He lifted it. There, pressed into the old leaf, was the print of two joined discs. Half the mark matched the half in his fist exactly. Beside the print ran a line of faded script. Atsuki could not read it. He turned the open book toward Selene. She leaned close. Her breath stopped. When she spoke, her light voice had gone quiet. "I know this house," she said. "I sang its name into the oath. And it still stands in Eldergrove." She lifted her eyes to his. "The family that holds your other half is not dead, elf. They are hiding." Atsuki closed his hand over the pendant. The trail no longer ended in old water. It led to living doors. "Tell me the name," he said. Selene folded her wings. "Come inside. This name is not spoken in the open."