“Let me. Help me up,” Aysha says, and Morgan obliges, letting her use his hands and then shoulders to clamber onto the shelving. She reaches the nearest jar and shakes her head.

“Good for jam, not for ghosts,” she says, earning a chuckle from Morgan. I think I might be sick.

“Maybe the slightly bigger one then.” I point to a jar two over from the one Aysha is holding.

She stretches even farther with Morgan holding her waist to keep her steady as she grapples along the shelf. The ominous sound of splintering wood heralds the shelf’s collapse.

Morgan scrawls the raido air rune with a finger and exhales a string of words I don’t understand. The six containment jars bob above my head, cushioned by Morgan’s magic.

“Jeez, it’s freezing.” Sini shivers and rubs her arms vigorously.

“You should try to use less energy, be more conservative,” Ekaterina’s tone is fully chastising.

“That’s rich coming from you,” I say, rushing to catch the books sliding off the collapsed shelf while Morgan plays hero to Aysha’s damsel in distress.

The book in my hands doesn’t have a speck of dust on it, despite sliding out of a particularly cobwebby corner. The others prop up the shelf and return all but one of the jars to their former places. I’m still staring at the book.

“What is it?” Morgan asks while securing the jar in his backpack.

I blink. Words are impossible. This book is impossible.

“Is that…?” Sini swallows the rest of her sentence with a terrified gulp of air.

“It can’t be.” Ekaterina backs away, her fingers sparking with nervous energy. The last thing we need is Ekaterina starting another fire.

“Tai, drop it. You don’t want to touch it.” Morgan tugs on my shoulder, pulling me away.

“I’m magic resistant, remember,” I say. “And someone has to pick it up, otherwise Joakim will know we were here.”

“Clever, hiding it behind all the jars,” Aysha adds. “All the wards on the jars were masking its energy.”

“It is what I think it is, right?” I scrutinize the symbol on the cover emblazoned in white.

“That’s a chaos star,” Morgan whispers.

He’s right, but it’s different from the chaos stars I’ve seen before—all jagged and messy. This one has eight points of equal length neatly arranged around a central circle.

“It’s a book on chaos magic.” He stifles a sneeze and rubs at his eyes, which are already turning red and puffy. Mascara and eyeliner smear down his cheeks.

“I’m not going near it.” Sini wraps her arms around her chest.

“I didn’t know the school had books like this.” Ekaterina takes a curious step forward even though tiny bolts of lightning still flicker off her fingers.

Aysha grabs her arm and jerks her back. “Careful, Katya. Don’t get too close.”