XV

With his eyes feeling cold and almost scratchy, Yoreno glanced about for the trail that would lead him to the killer. The area was hazy and with no discernable trail.

Surely there was proper theory and application he could apply to his tracking method. Perhaps it would have been a better idea to bring Sorika along and have her track the killer.

“Yoreno?” Dantera asked. “Which way?”

“I’m not sure,” he said.

“Oh no,” Mai said.

“Shhh,” Yoreno noised with a finger in front of his mouth. Still glancing about, he moved to see if the haze about them would change.

And it did.

It was gone.

He stepped back where he was before and tried the other direction. The yellowish glow was there, like a subtle dust in the air.

Following it, the others stalked behind him. They were a group of eleven now. Making sure the killer wasn’t among them, Yoreno glanced at everyone.

None of them was the killer.

Why hadn’t I thought to look at everyone before? he wondered, feeling somewhat stupid.

“What is it?” Mai asked.

Yoreno shook his head and continued to follow the killer’s trail. The haze was faint, but it definitely continued down this path, eventually leading Yoreno into the library.

Stopping for a moment, he stared off into the clear darkness to readjust his eyes. When he glanced back, he could see that the trail was definitely becoming stronger now.

There was a distinct pattern of wavy haze. It floated, almost without falling, moving about like dust motes in a beam of sunlight shining through the windows.

The trail led them deeper into the library as it got stronger and stronger with every step forward.

Now it was a thick cloud of bright yellow scent.

Yoreno raised his hand and in a very quiet whisper, said, “He’s close.” Slowly he unsheathed his sword.

Ito Farralia was let out of its scabbard. Yoreno could tell because of the clean metallic sound it made due to the width and thickness of the blade.

Stepping lightly, Yoreno moved forward between two rows of bookshelves and stopped at the junction where the wall was. The trail led left, but it was so thick now that Yoreno half expected to find the killer standing just paces away.

His heart thundered inside of his chest and he was acutely aware of the need to swallow. Cypia would have her revenge, he thought. By Yoreno’s hand. Or by Danteras—surely.

He leaned out and glanced into the isle that led left.

The trail was so thick here that Yoreno had trouble seeing through it. But now there was such much that it congested the area with thick crisscrossing trails.

Yoreno stepped forward with one boot. Then waited, listening. Then he stepped forward with his other boot.

He continued like this, his heart hammering in his chest.

The killer was here.

Yoreno swallowed and took another step forward. The yellow trail of scent seemed to cut left. He couldn’t see it cutting left clearly, but in this maze he… felt that it did.

Turning the corner, the haze was thickest of all here as it pooled about between the bookshelves.

There was something there.

In this darkness, Yoreno had trouble making out the form.

It was a chair.

And a man was sitting in it. He looked up at Yoreno, the sound of his book closing with a soft clap of pages.

“I… don’t know how you found me here,” the voice said. It hardly sounded human with its airy straining of vocal cords. At once it sounded like the voice of an old man and a monster.

He got up, utterly at east with himself.

“Now you are going to die,” he said, his eyes alighting with a green glow in the darkness.

Yoreno tightened his grip on his sword hilt.