Who: William and Spencer Where: The library When: Saturday afternoon What: Old things
It was quiet in the greenhouses. You're being an idiot, Spencer told himself sternly, but ended up conjuring the faint silhouette of the bindrune in front of himself again, resting his chin in his palm and staring. The charred wood, the S rune (what had William called it? Sôwilô--), and fragments of his scarf hanging from either side. Spencer stared, as though it could give him something new, something he'd missed the last, oh, twenty times he'd called it up from memory.
Spencer thought about that night, thought about feeling the faint, evil hum of the thing even when they were just outside the door. He wondered how much stronger that would be if you were tuned into bindrunes, if you knew about them, knew how they'd existed. Spencer knew the exact location of most of the plants in the school, the magical ones especially. He'd seen Jon find magical creatures without thinking twice. The rune had almost felt alive, and Spencer hadn't seen Ryan Ross in a long, long time.
With an exasperated noise, he flicked his wand, letting the image collapse in on itself and disappear, and headed up for the castle, hands shoved in his pockets. There was no point wondering about things, driving himself crazy on his own. He'd get some books, figure things out. Then he could lose the uneasy feeling of dread, even with the dream banished, like he was back in the war.
It was one of the last sunny afternoons of the year, and the students were clearly taking advantage of it; the inside of the castle was mostly empty, and the library had only a handful of students in it. Spencer stepped inside and breathed in the cool room, heading vaguely over to the first section of shelves to get started.