The Book Of Shade (Shadeborn 1) by K.C. Finn Page A

nothing at all unusual about the very ancient book, it wasn’t covered in dust like everything else in the rehearsal space. Lily reached out with her aching arm to touch its shiny cover.
    The book opened by itself, flipping its old, cracking pages as Lily leapt back in shock. It flicked to and fro, like it would have if someone was unsure about which page to choose, only no hands were visible to turn each ancient leaf. She leaned in closer again and the page flipping began to slow down, eventually settling on one double spread. Lily frowned. The pages were all blank.
    “What are you doing?”
    Lily smacked her head hard on the sloping roof as she tried to turn. Novel stalked over and thrust the glass of cold water into her hand, his eyes travelling over the open book.
    “It just opened,” she stuttered. “It opened on its own. What does that mean?”
    Novel’s brow came down rapidly to hood his thoughtful eyes. He stared at the book for a long moment, as though he was suspicious of it rather than Lily herself. She watched as fascination overtook him, and a thousand thoughts passed quite clearly in his glassy gaze as the illusionist was lost for long, drawn-out seconds of wonder.
    “It means nothing,” Novel said abruptly, slamming the crimson cover shut. “Let’s get back to practice.”

Eno
     
    Lily made only one more visit to Novel before the next show loomed at the Theatre Imaginique. Dharma insisted on having the rehearsal space for herself and the illusionist had an act of his own to attend to. He asked Lily to practice a little on her own, and drop in before showtime to report. She only wished she actually had something to report, but so far her mild success in generating fire continued to happen by accident, after she’d got irritated with herself for failing. She had tried valiantly to channel some kind of false sense of anger in the hope that it would trick her body into performing the cast, but there’d been no luck thus far.
    She dragged Jazzy down to Old Mill Lane early so they would be at the front of the queue to get in, giving her a few minutes to nip backstage without it looking too suspicious. Baptiste was already waiting in the dim foyer despite the lack of a line, the MC grinned with his perfect sharp teeth as the girls approached. He took their tickets with his usual cordial grace and followed them in through the red double doors.
    “The Monsieur is expecting you Miss Lily,” he crooned. “Go on up and slip behind the curtain. Dressing room 14.” His dark eyes glittered over Jazzy. “I’m sure I can keep your friend company awhile.”
    Lily gave Baptiste a grateful smile and raced up onto the stage, quickly edging through the thick red curtain into a sudden hive of activity. Lawrence and Poppa Seward were costumed in their full voodoo gear, examining a set of lethal looking throwing knives whilst Dharma adjusted her curves within her skimpy dress. Lily weaved past them and narrowly avoided being smacked in the forehead by Rasmus and Erasmus carrying a limbo stick. Beyond the twins, there was a black door marked with the number one and a corridor branching off behind it.
    As Lily approached the first door, a cold shiver travelled up the back of her jacket. She was passing by a rather large cube shape draped in a thick black curtain, underneath which something was growling. She paused a moment, listening fearfully to the sound of scratching and scraping within, then hurried on down into the badly lit hall full of doors. She passed them by numerically until she had to double-back, realising that there was no number 13. With a jittery hand, she knocked right under the golden 14, hearing her own thumps echo through the wood.
    “Enter.”
    Novel was halfway into putting on his stage make-up. The illusionist’s face was a ghostly pale hue, but he had not yet painted the black skeletal sockets that framed his sharp eyes. He reached into his terribly untidy make-up box, retrieving a brush to