Awakening Infinity (Archivist 0) by Meghan Ciana Doidge

Author:Meghan Ciana Doidge [Doidge, Meghan Ciana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781989571248
Publisher: Meghan Ciana Doidge

Chapter Four

Somehow we stepped directly from the library into the heart of the nexus, ending up facing the white-and-gray door that I was fairly certain led to Jiaotu’s territory. And, when focused on a specific point, our family estate.

Sisu, still atop his father’s shoulders, leaned deeply to the side to brush his fingers against the relief carved into the door, tracing the lines of a long tooth. Up close, I could see other animals tucked around the main pairing of the snarling wolf and the striking raptor.

“You don’t shape change,” I blurted before I’d thought the question through. “I mean … Jiaotu doesn’t take the form of an animal … a wolf … or eagle …” I trailed off into the silence, dropping my gaze from Jiaotu’s piercing blue eyes.

“No,” he said, lifting Sisu from his shoulders and setting him on the marble floor. “That talent lies with Bixi.”

I tried to help Sisu on with his backpack, but my brother wiggled away from me, slipping the pack on frontwards instead. Then he unzipped the outer pocket, peering into it and grinning. “Hello.”

I’d let him keep the golden egg.

“You were wondering about the carvings,” Jiaotu finally said. “The animal motif.”

“Yes,” I said, turning my attention back to the door. “I understand that the dominant Adept species in Northern Europe was once the shapeshifters, and werewolves specifically.” Human industrialization had long ago devastated the wilds of Europe — the territories that had once been held by the shifters. Even among those who had started new packs in North America, werewolves heavily outnumbered the other animal forms.

“Along with the wily witches.” Jiaotu’s tone turned wry. “Though the vampire that Suanmi finds so amusing wiped entire generations of necromancers from Europe, the witches kept him at bay with a pact of fealty.”

I blinked at him. “The witches would have had to offer a powerful vampire something very … valuable.”

Jiaotu nodded, grimacing distastefully. Then his gaze settled back on the door. “They sacrificed their second-born children.”

“Sacrificed? You mean they gave him, and the vampire shiver specifically, their children?”

“Once they reached a certain age. Jiaotu-who-was drove him from her territory, and Suanmi keeps him in check now. Though I have no idea why she doesn’t just destroy him. Balance, perhaps. But more likely boredom …” He touched the door, stroking the line of the raptor’s wing before allowing his arm to fall at his side. “The design has changed since I became Jiaotu. All the doors do.”

“The European shifters are … rebuilding?”

“Perhaps.” Apparently done with the conversation, Jiaotu laid his hand on Sisu’s head. Power shifted under his palm.

Sisu raised his chin, giggling.

As far as I could sense, nothing happened to or around my brother. So most likely a glamour, then. Not to change Sisu’s appearance, but to make his magic pass for witch power more easily. I’d almost forgotten that the guardian Haoxin had insisted on it, along with the deed to the property and the extra cash Jiaotu was sending.

The guardian lifted his hand from Sisu’s head.

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