“Jelani!” He lets me go and I straighten his robes, which my eagerness disheveled. He holds my hands. “I’m so, so pleased to see you, dear.” His voice cracks and the way his lips tighten in a smile, I know he means it. “Why, you’re pale as a ghost. What is it?”

“I’m okay,” I say, willing myself to hear his voice over the phantom shrieks ringing in my head. How have you fared? I want to ask, but I can see the answer—not well. “Any word on the Chancellor’s whereabouts? What’s the last you’ve heard?”

“Oh, many whispers, Jelani. But it’s hard to tell which are worth their weight in jpango sap.” He huffs. “Kai had gotten word he was on the outskirts of the island when she and the Yakanna snuck in to rescue you.”

“I see.” I’d hoped for more helpful information than that. “Would you happen to have any books here? Did those make it?”

“Oh, yes, we guard those very close.”

“Could I read them? I’m looking for a spell.”

“Whatever you need, Jelani. You’re the Ancestors’ Chosen. I am at your service.”

“No, that’s not. That’s not what this is about. I’m just looking for something to help us.”

“You’ll find several just over there. That wooden trunk against the sack of rice.”

“Thank you so much.” I about-face. By now, the Chancellor knows we’ve escaped. He has to have people looking for us. We won’t get another chance. This time we do it right.

Together.

CHAPTER EIGHT

I PUSH THE RICE SIDEWAYS and it’s deceptively heavy.

Inside the trunk, I finger a train of book spines before grabbing an armful. I plant myself at the farthest table in the room. Bri joins me, lugging her metal contraptions. I shove a book her way, but she’s distracted with some laser-looking gadget with a suction cup on the end. But by the looks of how her tongue is poking her cheek, whatever she is trying to do must not be going right. She holds it near a firebowl on the table and narrows her eyes. But nothing happens.

“Come on!”

“We okay over there?” I envy her ability to be in her own world right now. For half the stares I’m getting, she’s getting ten thousand more, and she doesn’t seem to care one bit.

“Yeah, just trying to get this stupid thing to—” She turns a knob on its top and it falls off. “Dammit!” She rumbles through her bag, which sounds like shaking a metal trash can full of rocks. The more noise she makes, the more stares we get.

“You and your bag of gadgets… could you be a little quieter?” I flip a few more pages but find no related spells. I set the book aside and grab another one.