Chapter 14

“No, it’s not too much to ask. I won’t…I won’t do anything like this again.”

“Good.” With that cleared up, it felt like the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders. “Now let’s get out of here. This place gives me the creeps.” 4

Oliver Madding’s library was as daunting and overwhelming as when Jesse was a child. There were more books than space, and if the collection had belonged to anybody else, Jesse would have felt a deep and abiding sense of jealousy. But he didn’t want his father’s library, even if it contained dozens of rare texts, steeped in mysticism and history. He didn’t want anything that once belonged to Oliver Madding. He didn’t even want his name anymore.