Hi, from Toronto! I'm here for the Wattpad party. (No Kidding...I really am invited!) So Freaking excited. Thought it was only appropriate to give you all a chapter. Hope you like it. HUGs to all of you!

"Why two days?" Sage asked, picking the bookend lying at Vega's feet.

"That's when Kellan will be here with Robin."

Sage gasped when I said Robin's name. "You saw Robin?"

"No—Kellan."

Vega peered at the book, then back at me. "The book transported you and Kellan to—?"

"The beach pictured on the cover of the book."

"The beach?" Sage said, with a sigh. "Sweet! I'd happily let it transport Robin and me somewhere secluded. Do you think it takes requests?"

"After we burnt its cover and beat the living daylights out of it to get it to spit her out? Are you crazy?" Vega gave Sage a stern look then took the bookend from her and put it back on the shelf.

"Crazy in love..." I answered.

"I can't help it. My head's still spinning from the kiss Robin gave me yesterday."

"Come on." I wrung out my hair onto the floor. Puddles of water trailed behind me as I walked.

I grabbed her arm and snatched the book off the floor. Spying the table Vega had pointed at earlier, I headed over to it and dumped the book on the top, then scanned the tower's shelves hoping to find something that might be familiar.

I narrowed my eyes, then turned to Vega, the tallest of the three of us. "How about you take the top shelves, I'll search the middle two."

"I'll take the bottom rows," Sage said, walking over to the nearest shelf. "Any idea what we're looking for?"

What are we looking for? I concentrated for a moment, tugging at threads of my hazy memories. A rustic cinnamon color filled my thoughts.

"Worn from years of use," I muttered to myself.

Vega, already searching the top shelf, turned and asked, "Did you say something?"

"I don't know—maybe. I keep seeing a rustic, worn cinnamon color in my thoughts."

"Maybe it's the color of book's cover?" Vega asked.

"That's what I was thinking." I scanned the line of books in front of me. "The image is timeworn like it might have a tattered front cover."

"Well, that will help," Sage said, pulling a brown book past the bindings of the others, marking it for me to come back to. "That eliminates more than half the books here."

But two hours later, we weren't any closer to finding the book than when we started. Sage slumped in a chair, while Vega sat on the edge of the table, resting back on her hands, letting her legs swing. I leaned against the railing overlooking the floors below.

"We could pull the red volumes. They're kind of a cinnamon color," Vega said, looking at the bookcases we'd just gone through.

"I don't know... I just have a feeling it's browner than that."

Sage rested her elbows on the table and propped her head in her hands. "You're dad's been missing for three years. Maybe someone's moved it since then."

That's possible. But something told me, if it were important enough for me to find, my father would have made sure it was here. I rested my hands on the railing as I gazed at the floor below. The lingering smell of burnt paper reminded me of the morning's events, me vanishing into the cold abyss with Vega and watching Jaxon ask to see my mother. The flashback was so real...

"The flashback—" I mumbled. "Of course! Why didn't I think of that earlier?" I ran toward the stairs, tearing down them two at a time.

"Think of what?" Sage hollered looking down at me from where I was just standing at the railing.

"The Oracle table. If my father spelled it—" I jumped onto the landing.

"He might have left a clue in the table's recordings," Vega said to Sage, finishing my thought.

Their sprinting footsteps behind me told me they were closing the distance between us. When I made it to the main floor, I raced to the table and slammed my outstretched hand on the surface. Thoughts of the cinnamon colored book and my father filled my mind. My palm tingled, and the bright colors of the library faded into a dusty version of itself. A soft click alerted me of someone entering the room. My breath hitched when I looked up—my dad.

I would've recognized his gray eyes anywhere from the number of pictures Gran had all over our house—they were the same shade as mine. He strode toward the table with the confidence of a trial lawyer and lowered a bag from his shoulder. Pulling the drawstring he retrieved a large volume and placed it on the table.

Faded gold script scrawled across the cinnamon leather. The words, Grimoire de les Delacroix, had my complete attention. Holy crap—no wonder he didn't shelve this book.

"Wren—" my dad said, drawing my attention back to him. "I would have said more in the note, but your mother has a way of finding out things." His lips turned up into a smile when he mentioned my mother. "I don't want to upset her any more than I already have about making this trip tomorrow."

He hoisted the bag back to his shoulder and picked up the book. "I'll puzzle lock it in the table's drawer upstairs," he said, pausing for a moment to hold up the book before continuing. "Safe travels sweetie. I know we'll see each other again."

I wanted to throw my arms around him and tell him not to go, but a breath later, he touched the table, and the illusion washed away.

I stared at the spot he had just been in, taking in what he said. I didn't know what spells might be in our families grimoire, but it was time to find out. I jogged toward the stairs.

"No one in their right mind would have shelved this book!" I hollered back to Vega and Sage.

"Why's that?" Vega answered.

"You'll see. You were practically sitting on it—it's inside the table."

Half a minute later, Sage clung to the railing at the top of the stairs out of breath. "He couldn't have put it in a table downstairs?"

"You hate physical activity, don't you?" I said.

"That apparent? I'm more about helping the physically injured, than becoming one. With my lack of co-ordination, I'd have broken limbs and bruises everywhere. Besides ladies don't run," she said, smoothing out her pants with her palms.

Vega blurted out laughing. "You've met Wren, right? She's the highest ranking person at the Guild, and she's been training as far back as I can remember."

Sage scrunched her nose and stuck out tongue. "Well, there are exceptions to every rule."

"Like healers that break fingers?" I said, kneeling in front of the locked drawer.

"Hey, that got us out of a fix with those fire guards."

I ran my hand over the crisscrossing wood patterns until a section tingled beneath my fingers. I traced the sensation following the looping design back to the beginning where I started. A soft click sounded, and the drawer popped open.

Sage sprawled across the table on her stomach peered down at me from above. "Woo, come to mama," she said rubbing her hands together.

I shook my head and pulled the drawer the rest of the way out.

"Grimoire de les Delacroix..." Vega read over my shoulder. "Your family's Grimoire, now that's cool."

"That's not all," Sage said swinging a small leather sack from her fingers.

The door creaked open downstairs, and the three of us turned to look at entrance downstairs.

"Josie," Astra's voice echoed, "I think you're right. They're not ready yet. We should probably do a review before we move on to portal creation."

Crap. How are we supposed to get out of here, now? The three of us stared at each other with our mouths hanging open. Vega tapped the side of her head like she had an idea and motioned for us to follow her.

I held the book close to my chest and wrapped the string from the sack Sage passed me around my wrist. Last, in the procession, I crouched low enough, so the staircases ledge blocked me from view. When we got to where the ledge of the staircase no longer provided cover, Vega grabbed Sage's hand and disappeared on to the astral plane. I followed now understanding her plan.

"Holy crap it's cold," Sage said, her breath visible in the air.

"You about to be a popsicle if you don't get to that door—run!" Vega said sounding like a drill sergeant.

Dashing around the bookshelves past Astra and Josie, we made it to the door.

"Wren, you uncloak and open the door. Astra is expecting you for your session anyway. Sage and I'll slip out when you open it."

I pulled from the astral plane tripping over my feet, landing on my knees sprawled across the threshold. Gathering the grimoire in my arms, I stood up and turned to close the door.

"Wren, before you close the door," Astra paused, "would you be so kind to invite Vega and Sage back in?"

I looked out the empty doorway. How the heck did she know? There's no way she could have seen us.

Astra tapped the side of her head. "Sight isn't the only way to detect a person's presence."

Sage. If she weren't broadcasting her own personal radio signal, Astra would've never known.

"Come on you two. We might as well get whatever reprimand she has planned over with."