Billos shoved his finger down onto the book and gasped. Then Darsal. Now all three of them were trembling, eyes closed.

Silvie followed their example impulsively, refusing to consider the consequences any longer. She lowered her finger next to Johnis’s and touched a book.

The darkness came at her like a blast of heat and swallowed her. She’d expected something, but not this flash of blackness.

A dark being stood in front of her, reaching out with fingers that looked too long. She couldn’t tell if this was a man or a woman or a beast because he-she-it wore a hood and cape. Or was it wings? Enshrouded in shadow and distorted by heat waves.

A loud moan filled Silvie’s ears, and she instinctively cowered. Such a sound of trembling agony that she thought she might be dying. But there was another sound, a woman’s cry, behind the moan, echoing softly.

“Johnis . . . Johnisssss.”

The dark man-beast’s arm reached for Silvie slowly, and she felt herself panic. Just beyond the darkness the horizon faded to light. A desert fogged by black streaks.

This was the other world?

But the Dark One was trying to kill her. She stepped back, and only then managed to remember that her finger was on the book, making the contact. She yanked it off.

The dark world blinked off. Forest light blinded her.

Silvie jumped back and stared at the others who’d already come out as well. Billos had his eyes on the books, captured by a frightful fascination. Darsal trembled slightly. Johnis’s face had gone white, like a Roush.

No one could speak.

“Did you see him?” Billos finally whispered.

“The Dark One,” Darsal said. “The books are evil?”

“The Dark One is evil,” Silvie breathed. “The books reveal the truth. They’re Books of History, after all. Absolutely true history.”

Billos wiped his bloody finger on his pants. “They do more than reveal truth, clearly. What was that behind the Dark One? The desert?”

Johnis spun from them and paced three steps before whirling back. “Did you hear her?” he cried.

The woman . . .

“Did you hear my mother?”

Silvie had heard a woman, but not a voice she recognized. Then again, she hadn’t known Johnis’s mother. “Are you sure?”

“Yes! She’s alive.”

“But I didn’t see anything that would help us find her,” Darsal said.

“You heard her, though! She’s out there! In the desert!”

His eyes were wide and pooled with tears. Silvie had never seen him so frenzied. Contact with the book had pushed him even further over the edge.

“Please, Johnis, we don’t know that.” She closed the gap between them. “What I saw was evil, and the intentions weren’t good. I don’t think there’s anything we can do.”

Johnis closed his mouth and drilled her with a stare, nostrils flaring.