I awoke with the weak sun in my face. No classes today. Everyone was sleeping in. I sat up, stretching, and glanced at Felix’s bed like I did every morning to greet him.
His bed was empty. And I remembered.
There was a crushing pain in my chest. Felix was gone, I had no idea what to do, I couldn’t tell anyone, Sam was being even more of a brat than usual-
Calm. Down. I inhaled and exhaled for a few seconds, and looked at the clock- then I remembered the time limit.
I slept for nine hours. Which meant I had 39 hours left.
“Arghh!” An angry cry escaped my lips and I saw Sam’s head poking through the door. He was awake? He usually took advantage of the weekends and slept for a long time.
“What’s wrong, Cory?” He said, smirking.
“What’s wrong with you, Ham?” I said, not in the mood for his bullying. “Nothings wrong with me- I’m looking for Felix. What did you do last night? I know you weren’t in the library, unless the library got swamped.” Sam looked suspicious and angry now, glancing at the leaves on my clothes.
“I don’t know,” I said, feigning innocence. “I wasn’t sleepy last night and went for a walk in the woods.”
Sam burst out laughing. “Cory, in the woods? You’ve got to do better than that if you’re going to lie. Just tell me where he is! Be nice, Cory. It’s Christmas Eve. Good spirits, right?” He said in a mocking voice.
“Felix went home for Christmas. You know that.” I said in a casual voice.
“No, I don’t. I would’ve known. Besides, he left all his stuff,” Sam said, waving at Felix’s unmade bed.
“Please stop bugging me, Sam. I have something very important to do- stop looking at me like that, it’s not homework. Now go eat breakfast.” I tried to sound as nice as possible.
Sam sighed. “Fine,” he muttered. “Dylan told me to stop pestering you anyways.”
“Dylan?” My mouth dropped open. Dylan Jones, Sam’s best friend, partner in crime, and also Ruby’s brother, annoyed me almost as much as Sam did.
“I said that aloud? Sorry, sorry. Ignore me. See you,” Sam said in a rush, then stumbled downstairs, cursing and muttering under his breath, “Dylan is going to kill me when he finds out I said that.”
Did Sam Decomo, the boy who had bullied me since the day we met, just say sorry? Twice? Something was definitely wrong.
I had to think about that later. Felix was in danger. I grabbed a purple hoodie and some comfortable leggings and dragged them on. After brushing my hair so quickly I doubt any change was done, I peeked into Ruby’s bed to check if she was still asleep, and then ran out the door, heading to my favorite spot in Hoteluxgic:
the library.
I opened the door, and for some reason it was unlocked. I inhaled the familiar, dusty scent and took in all the hundreds of shelves. I closed the door quietly behind me, and after it shut with a snap, a voice chirped, “Hello, Cora! How are you?”
I spun around, almost knocking down the poor lady behind me. It was Ms. El’fonte, the librarian. She was a tall, graceful woman with flowing dark hair. Her green eyes had that misty look whenever she saw me- I had no idea why she did that.
I answered with an innocent smile. “Hi, Ms. El’fonte! I’m doing great!” I couldn’t think of a moment when I had felt less great. “Why is the library open two hours early?”
The smile disappeared from her sweet face. “Oh, my dear, I just felt like I should. I woke up quite early and couldn’t go back to sleep.” The strained grin gave away the lie, but I didn’t press.
“I’m looking for a book that can make other books into magic. Do you have anything like that?” I asked, walking to a nearby shelf in case my face gave anything away.
“Ahh… genius…” She murmured under her breath so quietly I barely heard her. What was it with all these people and their secrets?
“Sorry?” I said politely. She looked up. “Just fazed out a bit, dear. Of course I have a book like that. I’m assuming it’s in a section over there.” Ms. El’fonte waved towards a long aisle of books. I took a deep breath, thanked her, and started the endless surfing through the books.

* * *

I only left once, when I was about halfway through the aisle, to eat lunch. The sun was setting when a happy laugh bubbled through my lips. The chapter read “Transportable Book”. I began to read the description.
“To use this spell, you must require two things: a detailed book with images about the world, magical and non magical- preferably an atlas. You also need a wand. The incantation is ‘Transportania Totelum’.”
I smiled. Finally.
“Found what you need yet, dear?” It was Ms El’fonte, doing her hourly check on me. I smiled weakly. “Yes. Thanks so much. I’ll see you later!” Before I walked out, Ms. El’fonte grabbed my arm. She had a vice like grip and her sharp nails dug into me. “Don’t come back here tomorrow, alright, Cora? It’s very important that you don’t. All you need to know is that it involves Mr. Finch.”
I looked at her curiously, planning to come back secretly. “I won’t, Ms. El’fonte.” I gave her an innocent smile.
She didn't let go of me.
“Um, I’m in a rush.” I said, staring at her eyes, which were wild looking at the moment and a strange shade of green. Green… Why did that seem so familiar? My brain was starting to hurt from her grip.
She let go instantly. “I’m sorry!” She gasped. “It is so, so hard to control!” Without waiting for a response, she flipped around and ran into her office.
Ooookay. That was weird. I shook it off and headed to dinner.