When Zelie approached the eagle knocker, she simply folded her hands and awaited the riddle. “Take away the whole and some still remains. What is it?”

Zelie frowned. This was much easier than she had anticipated. “Wholesome.” The door swung open and Zelie climbed through the doorway that led to her new common room. She gasped. The room was a circular shape, with tall creme-colored walls and a galaxy for a ceiling. But that’s not what caught Zel’s eyes. What made her squeal in excitement were the hundreds of thousands of books covering the walls, sitting in neat bookcases that rose from the ground to the ceiling. 

“Hey! Are you Zelie?” Zel turned around to see a girl about her age, with straight blonde hair and big green eyes. The same girl she had sat next to during the Sorting Ceremony.

Zelie nodded, smiling slightly. “Yeah, that’s me. What’s your name?” she inquired.

The girl smiled brightly. “I’m Taylor,” she chirped. “I was just wondering if you wanted to come down to the library with me? We have a couple hours before curfew and I didn’t want to go by myself.” Taylor shrugged sheepishly. 

Zelie’s face brightened. “I’d love to come!” She slid her wand into her small robe pocket and followed Taylor out of the common room. 

Taylor grinned as they walked down one of the many moving staircases they had to cross to get to the library. “So, who was that Gryffindor boy you were talking to during the Sorting? He was really cute,” she added with a small giggle. 

Zelie chuckled. “His name is Jace. We sat together on the way here.”

Taylor frowned in thought. “So you two are friends?” 

Zelie furrowed her brows. “I guess so? I don’t know if friends is the right word. Acquaintances, maybe.”

Taylor leaned toward her, big green eyes twinkling. “Well, do you mind putting in a good word for me?”

Zelie chuckled. “Sure, but just know that I’m not anything close to Cupid,” she added with a pointed look at Taylor. If she was being honest, Taylor was a total catch; she shouldn’t have any trouble pulling a guy like Jace. Or any guy, for that matter.  

Taylor simply laughed. “Totally get it. Oh, here we are!” She pushed open the large oak doors to the library and Zelie gasped.

The room was bigger than she could have ever imagined. There were books of every shape and size, and the stuffed shelves reached the incredibly high ceiling. “This is amazing,” Zelie breathed. 

Taylor’s mouth was agape. “Oh. My. God. This is crazy!” she exclaimed, running in to the maze of books. 

Zelie made to run after her but a strong grip tugged her behind a bookcase. “Wha-” she was about to swing on her kidnapper, but stopped when she saw a pair of stormy blue eyes that she had only seen once before. “Jace!” she whisper-yelled. “I thought you were going to kidnap me!”

Jace laughed. “I didn’t know you were gonna be here.” His golden hair looked almost brown in the dim light. 

Zel shrugged. “I met a girl named Taylor and she wanted to come down here together.” Zelie chuckled a little, leaning closer. “And she asked me to put in a good word with you, by the way.”

Jace chuckled, ducking his head. “Well maybe I’ll talk to her sometime,” he arched a brow. 

Zelie mocked his expression and they both burst out laughing. “Zelie?” a faraway call from Taylor echoed around the library. 

Zelie bit her lip. She wanted to ask Jace why he had dragged her over here, but instead responded to her new friend. “Coming!” Zelie shot Jace an apologetic glance and followed the sound of Taylor’s voice. 

“Hey,” Zelie found her new friend thumbing through a large black book with gold lettering in the restricted section of the library. “We aren’t supposed to be looking through those books, you know,” Zelie commented, but she didn’t sound like she cared much.

Taylor just grinned when she caught sight of Zelie. “Look at this,” she opened up to a page with a picture of a man on it. He had black hair and golden eyes, and was standing over a pile of corpses. 

Zelie shivered just looking at it. “Who is that?” she whispered.

Taylor’s eyes twinkled. “Damian Xaris.”

Zelie’s eyes widened. “He’s the one that the Karnas are after.”  

Taylor nodded. “I know. That’s not what worries me, though. Look at him closely.” Zelie studied the picture, brows furrowed. “Does anything look familiar?” Taylor asked quietly. 

Zelie narrowed her eyes but did not notice anything she had seen before. Until… she looked back at his face, where golden eyes stared down at the pile of corpses in front of him. She knew those eyes; she saw them every day in the mirror. “His eyes,” she breathed. “They’re just like mine.”