Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 7

spilled in from the windows along one side of the hall.
    "Quickly," Rafferty said, an edge to his voice that Corin didn't like. Rafferty walked swiftly down the hall, half a stride from outright running. Corin followed, not looking around worriedly only because he had to push himself to keep up with Rafferty.
    They passed a handful of small, narrow hallways before Rafferty finally turned down one. It was narrower and darker than the main hallway. There were candles lining the walls, but they were more widely spaced and seemed to throw less light. Rafferty didn't pause, heading down the hallway at the same fast clip. Corin's stomach flipped uneasily as they moved further into the gloomy hallway.
    Rafferty didn't seem to notice, and Corin crossed his arms defensively over his chest, trying not to think about what was lurking in the shadows. Rafferty stopped suddenly, looking up and down the hallway once before lifting his hand to the door in front of him. He held his palm an inch away from the door. Corin watched, but nothing happened.
    Dropping his hand, Rafferty opened the door and stepped into a dark room. Corin hesitated but then scowled at himself. He wasn't afraid of the dark, and he wasn't going to start being afraid now—even if there were things in the dark to be afraid of.
    Rafferty shut the door behind him and ignited a flash of green light around the doorframe. It was the same color as the tiles on the roof had been, and Corin stepped away from the light, startled. It faded quickly, gone before Corin blinked, and Rafferty brushed by Corin into the depths of the room. Corin could hear him shuffling things around, but there wasn't enough light to see what he was doing.
    The unease was gone, Corin realized, shifting his weight from one foot to another while he waited for Rafferty to do or say something. Across the room, Rafferty lit a candle. Flickering light revealed the room to be a bedroom. It was about the size of the room Corin shared, but much nicer. Instead of a pallet, there was a real bed frame. There were multiple blankets stacked on the bed, and the pillow looked like it had five times the filling that Corin's did.
    A dark colored rug covered most of the floor. It was circular in shape, the color impossible to tell in the dim light from the candle. Rafferty was standing at a wide writing desk, lighting a second candle by holding it to the flame of the first. The top of the desk was covered in scraps of paper and books that were stuffed with yet more pages.
    The room had a window, too, Corin saw. It was covered by a dark curtain that blocked any hint of light from outside. Not that there would be much light, Corin thought, and he tried not to worry about how he'd get to his room after Rafferty answered his questions. He'd deal with that when he had to.
    "What questions did you have?" Rafferty asked, setting the second candle back into its holder.
    "How do you know I have a lot of spirit energy?" Corin asked, trying to remember what the other question was. He could ask Rafferty about the glowing tiles on the roof, but that hadn't been the question he'd thought of earlier.
    "I can see it," Rafferty said, as though that made perfect sense. He stepped away from the writing desk, crossing the room to the bureau that was tucked against the bed. "Make yourself comfortable. You're going to be here a while."
    Corin hesitated, then obstinately crossed the room to the bed and sat down there instead of the chair by the writing desk. It brought him closer to Rafferty, but the mattress was thick and soft, and Corin wanted the comfort. "Why can you see it?"
    "This isn't the monastery where I was inducted," Rafferty said, pulling open one of middle drawers on the bureau and rooting around inside it. "I studied at a cathedral in Thoeri. They taught us how to use spirit energy in more than the few ways they use it here."
    "So you cast a spell to see it?" Corin interpreted. "And that's why you know the other spell to seal the demons?"
    "Right," Rafferty said, straightening. He tossed something—a small bag—at Corin, and Corin reached up and caught it reflexively. "Help yourself."
    Corin pulled open the drawstrings on the bag somewhat warily. He rolled his eyes at himself when he realized it was filled with small bits of dried fruit. Deciding it was better not to look a gift horse in the mouth and ask why Rafferty had food in his dresser drawers, Corin said, "Thanks."
    "You'll have to spend tonight here," Rafferty