Read Online The Sunlight Slayings by Kevin Emerson - Free Book Online Page B

again, this would be a good excuse to ask her why she’d given him the portal vision.
    Oliver descended the spiral staircase and proceeded down a similar aisle, reaching the curtained entrance for Codex six, where he planned to ask about the Scourge of Selket—
    But the curtains were drawn back, the candles extinguished, the stone altar empty.
    â€œI’m sorry,” said the Catalog pleasantly from its hidden speaker above, “Codex six has been temporarily removed for information authentication and erudition. Codex six will be returned to service on”—the voice paused as another automated voice, still female but slightly lower in pitch, cut in—“date unavailable.” The regular voice returned. “For temporary assistance, please see the Librarian.”
    Oliver stared at the empty chamber. It seemed like too big a coincidence that the Codex containing information about the Scourge would be unavailable at exactly the time when the Scourge had reappeared. Oliver headed back up the stairs, wondering as he went if this was the Half-Light Consortium or Central Council, or both, trying to keep people in the dark until they could solve the problem. Oliver wondered if there was a way to ask his dad about this without unraveling any of the other lies that had brought him to the library in the first place.
    Speaking of which, Oliver now arrived outside the curtains marked thirty-four.
    â€œEnter,” said the Catalog.
    Oliver entered an identical candlelit chamber. He sat on the single pillow and uttered: “Orani.”
    Orange eyes lit in the dark and the stone pedestal rumbled forward. The crimson-robed Codex breathed heavily, but with less labor than the previous one had. “Continue,” it said in a raspy female voice.
    â€œGeneral history,” said Oliver.
    The Codex inhaled deeply, echoing in the chamber. “The Orani, Overview, as described by Professor Irving Emerick, Sitting High Doctor of the History and Epidemiology of Demo-sapien Bloodlines, Avernus Academy, Morosia: A human tribe cursed with extra-dimensional intuition, the Orani first appeared in Mesopotamia in the Bronze Age and were worshipped as goddesses. When their fame spread, they were invited to the high court of Pharaoh Amenemhet I. Their leaders were promptly enslaved and their followers massacred. But the Orani organized a revolt and disappeared. They have since lived a secretive existence.
    â€œLeaders have often searched for the Orani, seeking their intuitive powers to advise their rule. Emperor Dometian of the Roman Empire and Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire were each reportedly successful in finding an Orani, yet soon after, both of these leaders coincidentally fell ill with conditions of paranoia and insanity consistent with Orani dream manipulation.
    â€œNo cited references for the Orani appear after the year 1657, yet they are believed to exist in hiding, and persons of power and influence are still known to seek them.” The Codex inhaled again. “Please specify topic to continue.”
    Oliver hadn’t planned on asking anything else, but something about what he’d just heard struck him, so he said, “Orani dream manipulation.”
    The Codex inhaled. “Professor Emerick has asserted that Orani can travel into the dreams and memories of another to change them. These alterations can lead the victim to believe falsehoods and be consumed by paranoia, guilt, and fear. Emerick theorizes that the Orani are to blame for the mass hysteria that destroyed Arcana in 1868. Please specify topic to continue.”
    â€œFinished,” Oliver said blankly. He exited, lost in thought about Emalie. He’d had that dream where she seemed to be moving things around, directing the action. She’d been telling him he’d killed Dean, even when he protested that he didn’t. It had almost seemed like she was making him responsible for Dean’s death in his own mind. Was