Kael pulled away. "You act like you knew this would happen."
Her lips tightened. "…I suspected. That's why I came here. I was looking for the one who bore the Path."
Kael's stomach twisted. "So you came for me?"
"To protect you," she said quickly. "If the Cartographer gets his hands on you, the whole world is in danger."
Kael barked a harsh laugh. "The world? I'm just an orphan in a nowhere town. Why would I matter?"
Lira's eyes were fierce. "Because the Path doesn't choose at random."
Before Kael could reply, a bell tolled in the distance—the town's alarm. Hunters would sweep the streets soon.
Lira's voice dropped. "We need answers. And I know where to find them."
"Where?"
"The old library."
Kael stared. The town's library had been abandoned for years, ever since the duke had banned 'untrustworthy texts.' Dust, cobwebs, rats. Nobody went there.
But Lira's gaze was steady. "If there are records about the Path, they'll be there."
---
They slipped through the sleeping town, sticking to shadows. The night was bitterly cold, the streets empty except for patrols of hunters. Twice they ducked behind barrels as torches swept past.
At last, they reached the library. The tall stone building loomed like a skeleton, windows boarded, doors chained shut. Snow lay thick on the steps.
Kael shivered. "It's locked."
"Not for me," Lira murmured. She pulled a thin piece of wire from her sleeve, kneeling at the chain. In moments, the lock clicked open.
Kael raised an eyebrow. "An orphan girl who knows how to pick locks. Should I be worried?"
"Worry later," she said briskly, pushing the doors open.
They slipped inside.
---
The air was thick with dust and the faint musk of rotting paper. Moonlight streamed through cracks in the boards, painting silver lines across shelves sagging under the weight of forgotten tomes.
Kael coughed softly. "It stinks in here."
"Shh." Lira lit a stub of candle, shielding the flame with her hand. Shadows leapt across the high arches.
She led him to the back, where a staircase spiraled downward. "The restricted archives should be below."
Kael hesitated. Every instinct screamed at him to run far away—not down into a dark basement where nobody would hear them scream. But he followed. He didn't know why. Maybe because, for the first time in his life, someone else seemed to know what he was.
The stairs groaned under their weight. At the bottom, they found rows of iron-bound chests, dust-covered but intact. Lira knelt before one, fumbling with the rusty clasp until it snapped.
Inside lay stacks of scrolls, their seals cracked with age. She pulled one free, unrolling it carefully.
Her eyes widened. "It's true."
Kael leaned closer. The parchment was filled with curling script and a crude illustration. He squinted. It looked… familiar. A spiral road. A starburst at the center.
His chest tightened. "That's—"
"Your back," Lira finished softly.
Before Kael could respond, a voice echoed from the shadows.
"Well, well. The Path reveals itself again."
Kael spun.
A man stepped into the flickering candlelight. His cloak was black as ink, his face hidden beneath a hood. But his presence was suffocating, like standing too close to a storm. His eyes glimmered faintly beneath the hood—cold, calculating.
Lira's face drained of color. "You—"
The man bowed slightly. "The Cartographer, at your service."
Kael's blood ran cold. The hunters weren't the true danger. This was.
The Cartographer's voice was smooth, almost gentle. "Come along, boy. That mark on your back belongs to me."
Kael's hand trembled as he stepped back, clutching the scroll.
Lira grabbed his arm. "Run."
But the Cartographer's smile was cruel. "Run, if you like. The map will always lead you back to me."
Kael's pulse thundered in his ears. The Cartographer's presence filled the archive like a rising tide, pressing against his chest, squeezing the air from his lungs. Every instinct screamed at him to run, but his legs felt locked in place.
Lira tugged his arm, hissing, "Kael! Move!"
That broke the spell. He bolted, scroll clutched tight against his chest, following Lira up the spiral stairs. Behind them, the Cartographer's laughter echoed—low, patient, as though the chase amused him.
"You can run as far as you like," the voice carried after them, "but the map is loyal only to me."
Kael didn't dare look back. He shoved past shelves, scattering books across the floor as he and Lira sprinted through the ruined library.
A blast of air erupted behind them. Wood splintered as a shelf exploded, hurling Kael forward. He slammed into the floor, the scroll rolling from his grip.
"Kael!" Lira grabbed his arm, hauling him up. Her candle sputtered, the flame nearly dying. Shadows twisted unnaturally along the walls, like grasping fingers reaching for them.
The Cartographer was coming.
Kael's chest heaved. "We can't outrun him!"
Lira's eyes darted wildly before locking onto the scroll lying on the floor. She snatched it up, scanning the lines with frantic speed. "Wait—look!" She thrust it toward Kael.
The inked spiral road shimmered faintly, glowing with the same starburst that had burned into his skin that morning.
Kael's throat went dry. "It's… changing?"
The road twisted, ink flowing across parchment like water, redrawing itself. The spiral unraveled, straightening into a single line pointing east. At the line's end: a symbol like an open door.
"It's guiding us," Lira whispered.