“Seriously?” Wiley choked out.
“Definitely,” Baer added. “There’s no way we can go through all these books in a timely manner and find what we’re looking for.”
An excited squeak escaped Wiley as he very carefully lifted the first book. It was absolutely massive and thicker than his fist. Holding it by its spine, he opened it just to peek inside. All the writing was by hand and looked far older than just thirty years.
“Look at this,” Clay said as he pulled out a slender leather-bound book and opened it. “It’s a journal. This is like finding gold.”
“Better than gold,” Baer said above Wiley while placing his hand on his shoulder. “This could change everything for us.”
Wiley thumbed through the book in his hands. “There are all kinds of spells. Ones for water and here’s one for lightning. I wonder if that’s where the story of Thor came from. How utterly cool is this?” He grinned and settled in next to the box with his treasure.
Baer grabbed one of the books and joined them. “This is another journal. I wish we knew our past names, so we’d know which journals to read.”
“I plan to read them all. Who knows what we can learn from these?” Clay pulled out another book. “This one isn’t even in English.”
Wiley set the first book he grabbed aside and dug down into the box. “There’s nothing else in here. Just journals and spell books. It’s going to take us a long time to go through all these.” He stopped and grinned broadly at Baer. “I can finally help! I can make spreadsheets and indexes.”
“Why does it sound like you’re excited about that?”
“Because I am!”
Baer snorted. “You have the strangest idea of fun.”
Wiley sent Baer his best saucy look while waggling his eyebrows. He’d show the man fun later. Right now, he had honest-to-God spell books to read.
“The first spell we need to find is one to keep up the protective barrier.” Clay started putting the books into the trunk.
Wiley held on to the first book he’d pulled out. “I thought there was already a spell in place for that.”
“It’s only good until all the Weavers arrive.” Clay eyed the last book in Wiley’s arms and smirked. There was no way Wiley was going to give it up. Not yet. Not when he’d finally gotten a useful purpose to help the Circle. “Come on, let’s take these to the plantation. We have a lot to go through.”
He and Baer hefted the trunk while Wiley hurried to open the back of the Jeep for them. It took some maneuvering, but they finally got it situated. Wiley still held the one magic book, planning to look through it on the long drive.
Once they were in the Jeep, Clay pointed to the front office. “Stop here and I’ll close out that unit. We won’t be needing it anymore.”
Baer pulled into a parking space and Clay jumped out, having given Wiley the front seat.
“Why do you think the spell books were stored here instead of the house?” Wiley asked.
“Safekeeping, I would assume.”
“But the house is safe.”
Baer frowned. “Someone must have worried about how safe it would be with none of us around. The storage unit has all kinds of security and is climate controlled. The aunts might have the grounds protected against pestilents, but I don’t know if it’s protected against something as simple as a fire.”
Wiley reached over and placed his hand on Baer’s leg. “I’m sorry. It must be hard. Thinking about how the Circle has died in the past.”
Baer grunted. “Not so much for me, but my brothers. That they died and I couldn’t stop it.”
“I just know things are going to be different this time. You and your brothers are going to succeed. Not just close the rift but survive doing so.”
Baer looked at him, green eyes serious. “I really hope so, Wiley. I really hope so. Maybe some of these books will show us how.”Chapter 16Baer’s face hurt from all the smiling. Wiley had talked almost nonstop from the storage unit, one of the spell books clutched tightly to his chest. He was a little surprised that Clay had let him keep the thing rather than returning it to the trunk, but Wiley didn’t give him a single reason to regret the decision. He held it in his lap with the same care a new mother would show her newborn child.
A couple of times he glanced into the mirror to see Clay watching Wiley with an amused look on his face, as if he didn’t quite know what to make of the young man. Both Clay and Dane were quieter and reserved, so Wiley’s energy could be a lot to take in. Thankfully, Clay didn’t seem bothered by Wiley’s exuberance. Thank God. Baer was hoping Wiley would be around the plantation for a long time to come.