Peta pushed herself against me. “Fiametta will know, you should take more from me.”

“I’ll wear a long shirt,” I said. “I can’t take all your strength, Peta. I need you. And I don’t like causing you pain. How often did Loam come here?”

“Daily.” Her green eyes glittered with what I thought might have been tears, but she looked away before I could be sure.

“Ladies,” Cactus said and we both turned. He stood in a doorway that hadn’t been there only moments before.

Peta and I jogged forward and slipped through the door into the semi darkness. Cactus let go of the edge of the door and the panel behind us slid shut. A bloom of fire lit over Cactus’s hand. He moved forward and lit torches ensconced in the walls. The tiny place lit up as though we had noonday sun beating down on our heads. Bright shiny reflective panels covered the ceiling, picking up light and throwing it around with abandon.

The walls were lined with books and scrolls and the place felt . . .old. Not that it was dusty, in fact it was remarkably clean. Twenty by twenty feet across, it was by no means a large room. But there was history here, like it was the first place the mountain had given up to be used by an elemental. The age of the place seemed to settle in my lungs as I breathed, the feel of the past becoming a part of my body.

I walked to the far side of the room and put a hand on the spine of the first book that stood out. “The Divining of Souls,” I said and dropped my hand. “Not quite what we’re looking for.”

Peta nosed the books near her. “These are about controlling lava at the highest level.”

We skimmed the books, looking for something that would lead in the right direction. I froze in front of a thick book with pale leather so light, it could almost be called pink. The color isn’t what stopped me though, but the title etched into the spine as though with a rough tipped knife.

Destroying Spirit Elementals.

I pulled the book from the shelf and held it in my hand. Distant cries of terror, the beating of hearts slowing, the breath of a final goodbye to those they loved.

With a hard shove I jammed it back onto the shelf. Ash’s life was on the line, I needed to keep focused on that. I could always come back for the other book.

That’s what I told myself anyway.

“I think there is something here,” Cactus said, his excitement contagious. Peta and I ran to him and he held out a book at least twelve inches thick, and easily as wide. He flopped it onto the floor and opened it. The pages were so thin that the words on either side bled through and made the words difficult to read.

“Are you sure?” I frowned. A not so small part of me hoped the answers were not in it. The thing was monstrous and I doubted anyone had bothered with a table of contents, or goddess forbid, an index of some sort.

Cactus held the book up so I could read the cover. “Elemental Law.” Damn it, that was not what I wanted to see with the time we had left.

I sat beside him and started to thumb through the pages. “Look for key words like Ender or execution.”

We sat like that through most of the day, ignoring our stomachs’ demands for food or drink, ignoring the fatigue that finally caught up to me. We were halfway through the book when a bell sounded. A bell that could only mean one thing.

“The day is over,” Peta said softly, yawning. “I’m sorry, Dirt Girl, your friend will die in the morning.”

I skimmed the page I was on, the words blurring, but they were all I had left to stop the execution. This was the other option I’d sought, the fail safe that would allow me to stave off Ash’s execution.

Unable to fight the combination of the sleep spell and my own lack of sleep, I lay on the hard floor next to Peta. Cactus curled up behind me, his body a vibrant heat that soothed my aching muscles.

I clung to the two of them, knowing what I had to do when the morning came, and knowing they both would be furious with me.

But as far as I was concerned, it was the only way to save Ash, and it would buy us the time we needed. At least, I hoped it would.

CHAPTER 17

I dreamed of fire and lava spilling over me as I screamed out my last breath, Peta’s eyes glowed as she laughed, and I sank under a wave of red death. Scar’s eyes glittered as Maggie tore him apart. “Save me,” he called out.

Jerking awake, I sat straight up, my heart pounding and my body covered in a fine sheet of sweat that evaporated as I slowed my breathing.

Beside me, Peta in her snow leopard form purred in her sleep, obviously her dreams were not anything like mine. Then again, she wasn’t planning what I was. Cactus lay flat on his back with his hands linked over his belly, a soft smile on his face.

I pushed myself to my feet and went back to the big book of Elemental Law. That last page was still there, the words as solid as they’d been the previous night. Carefully, I tore the page out, folding it and tucking it inside my vest. Turning back to my two companions, I clapped my hands together.

“Come on, you two, time to wake up.”

Peta yawned and stretched, sticking her butt in the air as she arched her back toward the ground. “The dawn is coming, we have to hurry if you want to say goodbye to your friend.”

I nodded, but kept my thoughts to myself. The last thing I needed was Peta or Cactus trying to stop me. We woke Cactus and the three of us left the tiny library. The tiger fountain continued to bubble and boil, and I knew I would not be able to help if they had to go back into the library. “Cactus, can you get messages out of the Pit?”