Finale (Caraval 3)

“There’s no deal involved. Consider this gift my apology.” Jacks’s eyes slowly met hers. Today, they were a brilliant blue with threads of bloodshot red, as if he were so torn up he hadn’t slept. But Tella knew that was a lie since he’d appeared in her dreams. “Even if you don’t want to accept it, it’s what you need if you want to find the Immortal Library. You can only locate the library if you’ve been there before, or if you use the Map of All.”

The scroll began to glow in Jacks’s hands—just like the Fates often did.

Tella tried not to look at it. The Map of All was a Fated object, similar to the Reverie Key, but instead of finding people, it located places. It was said that if a person touched the map, it would lead that person to the place they wanted t

o find most—even if that location was in another realm. It could reveal hidden portals, and doors to other worlds. It was priceless and mythic, and made other treasures feel as thin as slips of paper.

It was difficult to resist the urge to grab it right out of Jacks’s hands. “We don’t need your map.”

“But we’ll take it,” Legend said. With one lightning-quick move, the rolled map was in his hand.

Tella expected a protest from Jacks, but he merely placed his pale hands in his pockets. “I hope you can now find what you’re looking for.” He gave Tella a final look, meeting her gaze with sad, hooded eyes and so much sincerity he could have been a picture of a saint on a confessional wall.

But while she could believe he was upset that she hated him again, she doubted he truly regretted what he’d done. Tella had no doubts that Jacks wanted her, but wanting someone wasn’t the same as loving them, and yesterday he’d proved that he wanted his powers even more than he wanted her.

Jacks walked away without another word.

Legend unbound the map. His face was aloof, but the quickness with which he unrolled the scroll betrayed a hint of his eagerness at possessing the Fated object, despite its unsavory source.

The paper was a bland shade of oatmeal, but Tella watched as it shifted in Legend’s fingers. It started out blank, but as he held on to it, a spot of dark blue ink appeared. It grew into the smoldering remains of the Temple District, sketched piles of ash forming alongside statues of Fates. Tella saw the Prince of Hearts statue and the Bleeding Throne fountain. Then she appeared. First her untamed ringlets took shape, followed by her heart-shaped face, and her striped gown with its sweetheart neckline and tiny cap sleeves.

She waited for a rendering of Legend to materialize next, but all that showed up was a tiny star at her feet.

She was where Legend wanted to be.

“Don’t look so surprised.” He flashed a crooked smile, eyes filling with the same teasing look he’d given her earlier when he’d called her sweetheart. But she noticed that he didn’t even brush her finger as he handed her the magical map.

Was it possible that Legend was actually falling in love with her?

Not that she wanted him to. Not anymore. No matter how much just the thought of the possibility of his love made her heart start to race. She didn’t want him to become human and thus susceptible to death for her. And he’d made it clear, over and over, that he didn’t want to, either.

Tella looked down at the map as it began to shift again. She didn’t want to trust the map—it felt too much like trusting Jacks—and she imagined Legend had to feel the same way. But she was grateful he’d taken the Fated object.

The uncontrollable feeling that time was moving too fast and they were moving too slow was back. Whenever Tella thought about Scarlett, Tella’s heart clenched with fear. She reminded herself that her older sister was cautious, and the letter she’d sent yesterday promised she would bring them the Fallen Star’s blood tonight. But Tella couldn’t help but fear that something was about to go wrong, and even if Scarlett managed to get the blood, it wouldn’t do them any good if they didn’t find the Ruscica. Tella and Legend didn’t have the luxury of wasting time—and the map was too incredible to ignore.

As Tella and Legend followed the Map of All, it didn’t just outline a route for them, it revealed a strange sense of humor as it affixed odd labels to several of the places, plants, and animals that Tella and Legend passed—and some that they didn’t pass.

HIGHLY INTELLIGENT DOG

BEWARE OF LICE

ACTUAL SKELETONS INSIDE THE CLOSETS

VALENDA’S FINEST FISH FUDGE

UNDERGROUND TUNNELS THAT LEAD OUT OF TOWN

UNDERGROUND TUNNELS THAT LEAD TO DEATH AND DISMEMBERMENT

Tella had almost stopped thinking about where they were actually heading, when the path on the map finally ended just south of the Satine District. The words Entrance to the Immortal Library appeared. But all Tella could see was an out-of-use sky carriage house with a set of rotted boards nailed crosswise in front of the main door.

The words Danger and Do Not Enter were painted crudely over the boards, with symbols of skulls and kissing spiders painted beneath them.

Tella had never encountered the deadly arachnids, but she’d heard the stories. Kissing spiders attacked at night, while people were sleeping, laying eggs inside of a person’s mouth and then sealing their victim’s lips shut with their webs. There was no way to destroy the webs. They remained in place until the spiders hatched, and by then the victims were always dead.

“This is all a glamour,” Legend said.

Tella looked down at the map. The words He’s right hovered over the image of the infested carriage house, and yet she still felt reticent to enter. “If it’s a glamour, why are you ripping the boards off the door?”