Chapter 139

THE BREAKING POINT The air in the library was suffocating and I all I could smell were the old books Rachel had managed to source. Rachel and I had spent hours combing through every tome, scroll, and scrap of parchment we could find, searching for something—anything—that might help wake Gilly from her coma. “Anything yet?” I asked tiredly. Rachel didn’t look up, her fingers just kept flipping through the brittle pages of an ancient book. “Nothing,” she muttered with her frustration evident. I sighed, leaning back in my chair and rubbing my temples. The silence of the library, which was usually comforting, now felt oppressive. “Keep looking,” I said, though my words felt hollow. Rachel glanced at me with her face pale and drawn. “Serena, we’ve been at this for hours. If there was something here, we would have found it by now.” “We can’t stop,” I said firmly. “There has to be an answer.” Rachel hesitated before nodding, though I could see the doubt in her eyes. The sound of something cra