Somewhere

Chapter Sixteen

The hidden passageway led to a spiral staircase and Cooper went in first, which was fine by me. With my luck, there'd be some sort of booby-trap that would stick me with a thousand-poison darts or I'd fall through a trap door into the basement, which would be covered in piercing spikes. I'm sure a couple of werewolves around here would actually enjoy a Sam-Kabob.

I laughed suddenly as we climbed the stairs.

"What?" Cooper asked, using his phone to create some extra light. A few of the lamps attached to the wall needed replacing or at least cleaning. Their glass cases were caked in dust. The whole house had that sort of coppery old smell, like a book left outside in the rain.

I said, "I'm thinking about Nani. When I was a kid, we decided to move the study around. I think she just read a book about Feng Shui. We moved a bookshelf and found a small door. It was the crawl space, but she told me it was a secret room. She told me every house had secret passageways that parents just kept hidden."

Cooper smiled. "That sounds like Nani."

"It's probably true."

"At least for my family," he grinned and I agreed. It'd be a crime if that big house back in Somewhere didn't have a few secret rooms.

Before I knew it, we were faced with a door at the very top of the stairs. No lock. No window to peak through. Cooper raised his hand, motioning me to stay and I obeyed. Every now and then I should be still. It'll be good practice for the day I become a corpse. Cooper pushed the door open and flicked the nearest switch.

"Wow," he said and I quickly caught up, stepping onto the wooden floor. Above us was a domed, wood beamed ceiling and hanging from the middle was a chandelier made up of the solar system, slowly circling the giant sun in the middle. The round room was covered wherever there wasn't a bookshelf. Immediately, I recognized a map of Somewhere. My eyes drifted as I walked around a large table in the middle. Standing on top of a red velvet display, in the middle of the table, was a wolf skeleton and I shuddered.

"That can't be real," I said.

Cooper slipped his hand into mine, pulling me to his side. He kissed my forehead and squeezed my hand. His calm heartbeat nuzzled my nerves, soothing me better than one of my mother's lullabies. Across the room, there were file cabinets and display cases. We hurried over. In the middle of all the displays was one leather bounded tomb. I flipped it open as Cooper peaked through every display as possible. It was a ledger. I flipped through until I found the "C" and I read the page.

I read it again.

"The Claw! It would have been here!" Cooper exclaimed, pointing to an empty case. "Someone is paying the light bill, and someone has taken this claw-"

"No," I said. It was like ice water was poured down my back. "It was destroyed. The Sage's Claw—" I read directly from the book "—proved to be more powerful than we first anticipated..."

"Wait," Cooper shook his head. "The Sage's Claw?"

"With the advice of my counsel, I have decided to destroy the claw and avoid another massacre of my pack..." My voice grew louder as my irritation fester. "The Sage Family has signed a treaty and submitted in order to remain in Somewhere. I think we have finally soothed the Sage beast- THAT'S IT!" I declared, throwing my hands in the air until my sheet started slipping and I had to yank it back over my shoulders. "You have to tell me what's with your family and the Sage family! What started this?"

"It started so long ago, Sam. It has nothing to do with me-"

"Uh," I narrowed my brow. "I've seen the way you act around the Sage family. And obviously, it matters to someone. Who ever is murdering the Omegas cares about it enough to emulate what the Sages did with claw just to take you down."