He’d added an inner circle of smaller shelves, and it was behind one of these that Joe found Winter, lying on the floor reading, concealed in the shadows. 99

She showed him where she’d just started her research, and he set to work on a different section.

They spent the whole day leafing through old books and papers.

‘Have you found anything?’ Joe asked after a few hours, daring to lift his hat off and scratch his head, checking no one was looking in their direction.

Winter’s head drifted up and her eyes lost their faraway look. ‘Maybe.’ She put her book down, stretching till her shoulders clicked. ‘I’ve been reading one legend … have you heard of shadow dragons before? It says they hatch from eggs, like other dragons, but they’re linked somehow to volcanoes.’

‘Volcanoes? That doesn’t sound good.’

‘Where is there a volcano, anyway?’ Winter asked. ‘Not on the island.’

‘Out at sea, maybe?’ Joe said vaguely. ‘I remember some­thing from school: Mount Bara – isn’t that a volcano?’

‘Surely a volcano would destroy everything. I don’t understand …’ Winter said. ‘Let me ask the librarian for help.’

Joe watched her from the other side of the room, keeping his face low. He could just hear them murmuring.

‘Hmm. Shadow dragons. Yes!’ Susanna sat taller. ‘That’s a rare one. Now where have I heard that before? Bear with me. Let me check something, and I’ll come and find you in a moment.’ The librarian started looking through a huge catalogue behind her desk, intent on her search.

Winter returned, and they read and read until it started to grow dark.100

Eventually, Susanna came to find them, holding a book bound in soft honey-coloured leather, with one finger marking a particular page. ‘Here! I found it at last. I’ll leave it with you. Bring it back to me before you go, please.’

‘We will. Thank you.’ Joe took it carefully, as Winter’s hands were full of books.

‘I need to go and light the lamps. We’ll be closing soon, all right? Not long now.’

He gazed down at the book in his hands. The spine was stamped in gold, and its pages were thick and yellowed with age. He opened it. The first page was hand-lettered in old script, with gorgeous scarlet flames encircling the words: Rare Beasts of the Ancient World.

Joe spoke and read both of his parents’ languages: his mother’s Sartolan, which was spoken all over the region; and Norlandish, from his father’s distant homelands. This book was written in an old-fashioned kind of Sartolan.

He found the page that Susanna had indicated, and traced his fingers over the image. Finally!

101

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

‘Look! Look at this picture!’ Joe whispered to Winter.

The page was quartered, and each of the four parts was vividly illustrated. One was full of fiery flames, with its sunset-tinted sky giving way to clearer blue in the other top quarter. The lower left had surging waves, leading to a rocky shore with deep caves in the last quarter. The long-dead scribe who’d created this page had painstakingly lettered a little banner on each section.