CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Wendy

Another library. Another dead end.

So far, anyway.

"Nothing." I close the book louder than I mean to, and a woman at the next table over glares at me. I make an apologetic face and shrink into myself.

"Same here." Alec pushes his book away.

The local library on the third island isn't much bigger than a house, and the number of books on local lore amounts to what can hardly be called a stack.

"Maybe this is pointless," I mumble. "Igor spent decades searching for the coin. What makes us think we can find it in a few days?"

I drop my head into my hands and allow myself a pity party. I'm so beat down, so tired, so scared. I can't stop thinking about what might be happening at Hawthorn, and I wish I could wipe all of that from my mind.

But I can't, of course. I won't be abandoning the people there.

I'm just tired of how rough this is, and I want to complain for a little bit.

Alec looks even worse than I feel, with bags hanging under his eyes. He slipped into the woods for