The Black Stars by Dan Krokos

Author:Dan Krokos
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781466809994
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

Chapter Twenty-one

Mason woke forty minutes early—before the day had to start, but after curfew. He showered, brushed his teeth, donned his uniform, and was out the door while Tom and the others slept soundly in their bunks. The sleep of soldiers: completely unconscious, until they needed to be conscious. Though, as he was slipping out the door, he saw Risperdel watching him, one golden eye peeking around the covers.

The library was three levels down, in the middle of the sphere, where Blood met Stone. It was enormously tall, with pillars of what looked like creamy marble but probably weren’t. A waste of space in Mason’s opinion. The stacks rose fifty feet high around him. Hover platforms took you where you needed to go, but the highest books held a special risk, since the platforms had no railings.

The Tremist seemed to love paper books. This wasn’t the reusable synth-paper the ESC used, which could display any book uploaded to its pages, but real paper that would tear if you weren’t careful. The shelves were full of them, of all shapes and sizes. Tremist apparently didn’t need or want all of their books to be rectangles of a similar size.

The library had a circular desk in the middle, usually staffed by several librarians, if the chairs were any indication. But today there was only one, a Tremist woman in her early twenties. She wore a long tunic of rich, velvety purple. Her hair was snow-white and piled around her shoulders. Her eyes were dazzling silver, catching and magnifying the dim light of the library. Mason was dumbstruck when he saw her.

She smiled, recognition in her bright eyes. “You’re up early. Have a thirst for knowledge? You’ve come to the right place.”

Mason cleared his throat. “Yes, hi, I am.”

She folded her long, delicate fingers on the counter. “What can I assist you with?”

“I … was hoping I could find a book on Aramore the Uniter.”

Her cheek twitched at the name, but her smile didn’t break. “Aramore, huh? That is a broad subject, Mason—”

“How do you know my name?”

She lifted one eyebrow—Really?

“Right,” he said. “One of two humans in the school. What’s your name?”

“I’m Calora. Would you say we’re well met?”

“Uh, yes—”

“Now, several texts cover this history of the Uniter and the Divider. Some written by Bloods, some Stones, so you can imagine there may be a slight disparity in accounts.”

“What do you recommend?”

Her eyes lit up. “The United, by Sephaman. He remained neutral through everything. But what specifically are you looking for?”

Mason licked his lips. “Information on his gloves. Where they came from, what they can do, that kind of thing.”

“That kind of thing…” She quirked one side of her mouth. “You know what? I have just the thing.” She came out from behind the counter, moving as if she were walking on air, then stepped onto the nearest hover platform. It dipped slightly under her weight. “Be right back.” The platform rose up and away, cutting between stacks, disappearing from view. Mason stayed where he was, until Calora returned with a huge black book bound in leather.

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