Book of Secrets

by Nathalia Books

  “I don’t think I asked them either.” Her mother’s eyebrows shot up.

  “Well I don’t believe that, you smarter than that. They just didn’t tell you. But you’ve already given them your word. So get yourself into your father’s office.” Myrtle had only seen her mother look this defeated once before. That was when they found out that her father was missing.

  “I’m sorry mom, but daddy made me promise, I wouldn’t let fear guide me.” Her mother sighed.

  “I know, little hunter.” She had never used that nickname before. “I was outside your bedroom when you made that promise.”Myrtle squeezed her hand into fists. Her mother walked over to her and put a hand on Myrtle’s shoulder. “Fear is not a weakness, Myrtle.” Her mother’s hand slipped from her shoulder.

  GUILT CREPT ONTO MYRTLE as she walked t through the hallway to her father’s office, her hand reaching for the door handle for the second time that day. She hesitated before pushing it down gently. The door hinges squeaked so much that she got goosebumps and the musty air that met her almost choked her, but she walked into the room with her mouth open.

  IT SEEMED AS IF HER father had left this room only a few hours ago. She left the door open for the stale air to escape. She pulled her father’s desk chair back and sat on it, it creaked like the rest of the house. She looked around for a moment. The walls were covered with bookcases, filled with leather-bound books. The desk had multiple piles of encyclopedias, books on the fey and everywhere through the room were carefully placed weapons. Her gaze turned back to the desk, next to the beast of a computer screen stood two picture frames. One of the frames contained the wedding photo of her parents, they were so young but so in love. She looked to the second frame which contained a photo of herself. The dark brown eyes, inherited from her father just like her raven-black hair, stared into the room. The dimples in her cheeks had disappeared when her father did. She looked away from the photo, leaned forward to her father’s computer.

  “Hopefully you still work and haven’t suffocated in the dust.” Gently she pressed the on button, a light began to burn. The computer started up with a loud humm. “Stay with me here, don’t go back to your own planet.”

  “I never expected to be in here again.”

  “IT’S DINNER TIME, SO half a day. Eat up and drink your lemonade.” said her mother. Myrtle’s mother was standing in the doorway. She held a plate of steaming food and a glass of herbal lemonade. Myrtle had really lost herself into the documents her father left behind on the computer. She even opened a few books, in one of them she had found a map of Fearie. Carefully she had torn this map out of the book. Her father would have scolded her if he knew.

  HER MOTHER LOOKED AROUND, but her gaze stopped at the two frames. Her hand reached for the photo of Myrtle.

  “I remember the day it was taken.” Myrtle nodded.

  “It’s not easy to forget that day, mom. It was the last day we had with him.” Her father insisted on developing that photo the same day. Her mother put the frame back on the dusty desk.

  “Yes, if we had known then what would happen the next day...”

  “Then he would have gone anyway.” Her mother smiled, for just a moment.

  “It’s was the last time, you truly smiled.” Myrtle quickly reached for the plate and took a bite. Her face twisted as the taste of the food spread in her mouth.

  “Mom, you’ve been a too generous with the salt.” Quickly she took the glass of lemonade, to drown the salty taste. Her mother shook her head.

  “That’s my attempt to help you get used to the sensation. Of course this will not apply to all the food in Fearie, but just to be on the safe side.”

  Myrtle muttered something about her mother. But put another bite in her mouth.

  HER MOTHER NODDED WITH contempt and took something out of her pocket. She concealed it until she put it on the desk and pulled her hand back. Myrtle’s eyes widened when she saw the blue stone.

  “Is that a memory stone?” Her mother nodded, while Myrtle picked the stone up.

  “My father gave this to me and now I’m giving it to you.” Myrtle placed the stone on her left temple.

  “Which memory are you going to store in it?” Myrtle said nothing, but looked at the photo of herself. It was just like her mother said, the last time she truly smiled. She felt the memory slowly fade away, until she could not remember what it was. She lowered her hand.

  “Mom, can you keep this stone safe until I get back?” She handed the stone back to her mother, who looked at it and nodded.

  “Of course.” Her mother closed her hand around the stone and turned away from Myrtle. “Don’t let your food get cold!” Before Myrtle could respond, her mother had already left the room.

  Dakkar La Croix

  Rain fell hard on the ground and Myrtle was soaking wet. She checked her watch, which indicated it was just past noon. She sighed deeply. Why were her friends so late? Multiple scenarios were running through her head. Maybe they ran into a hunter. Or maybe they were just playing with her.

  She shook her head, heavy raindrops flew from her hair. She sighed again, her hands went to her twin swords. It surprised her when her mother came into her room with the swords in her hands.

  “Your father always wanted to give you those when you were old enough.” her mother said. Myrtle closed her eyes, when her hands touched the cold and wet hilt of the swords. It has been years since she did that but it felt like it was only yesterday. She opened her eyes, let her hands fall down, she rolled her shoulders so they wouldn’t get stiff, but the backpack on one of her shoulders made that a little bit difficult. It was filled with trinkets she could trade in Fearie without feeling guilty about it. She checked her watch again.

  “Okay, I’ll give them another half hour.”

  “And then what?”

  MYRTLE TURNED QUICKLY, to find her friends had crept up to her. Sarra had her arms crossed, clearly waiting for an answer.

  “And then I will go home. Can you blame me? It is raining cats and dogs.” A shadowy figure obscured the conversation. His name was Dakkar la Croix and he couldn’t wait for his turn to speak.

  “What is she doing here, I only hired the two of you.” Dakkar was hard to hear, his voice was nothing more than a low growl.

  Myrtle straightened her back, not wanting to be addressed like that. Certainly not by the man, she believed, who was responsible for her father’s disappearance.

  “I’m here to make sure my friends come back alive.” This time Dakkar grunted something unintelligible. She had seen the man a few times, but his appearance astonished her every time. Every visible patch of his skin was signed with white scars, with exception of his face. There, the scars were red as if the wounds underneath were still fresh.

  HE CLEARED HIS THROAT and looked at her friends, ignoring Myrtle.

  “Well it is clear to you what I want, The Book of Secrets. It is protected by a being called The Keeper of the Key. I don’t need that freaking key, just the book.” Now Myrtle cleared her throat to get his attention.

  “Why? Why don’t you want the key? From what I read the book is useless without it.” Dakkar narrowed his eyes, clearly not happy with her question.

  “Then you also most have read that the key cannot be stolen from its master, so why ask this stupid question?” Myrtle opened her mouth, to say something clever. But the words died in her throat. “Are there any more questions?” Not waiting for an answer, he nodded and walked away from them. “Well, I’ll see you again soon I hope, when you get back, but for now I need to go, my time is money.”

  SARRA GLARED ANGRY at her.

  “Why did you ask that stupid question?” Myrtle squeezed her hands into fists.

  “Why didn’t you tell me that Dakkar hired you, I had to find out about that from my mother.” Eldric moved between them. “Sarra, come on. Have you forgotten why we asked Myrtle?” Sarra said nothing, so Eldric continued.

  “Well, she’s the smartest of us three and I have no do
ubt she’s done her homework.”Eldric looked at Myrtle and she somehow felt used. She narrowed her eyes and looked to Sarra who nodded.

  “You are right, for once little brother.” Myrtle closed her eyes for a moment. She could have known. Sarra looked away from her and walked to the portal.

  “Well there is no time like the present, so let’s go.” Myrtle grabbed Sarra by the arm.

  “Wait a sec. Tell me why you didn’t tell me?” Sarra tore her arm free.

  “If we had, would you have come?” Myrtle felt her anger grow.

  “You know he was there the night that my father disappeared. The night your parents died. How can you trust the man who most likely the one who did it?” Again Eldric came between the two. He was a few minutes younger than Sarra, but he acted as if he was years older sometimes.

  “Of course, we don’t trust him, it’s just.” He looked briefly towards at Sarra. “Our parents borrowed money from him before leaving. Our grandmother did what she could to pay off the debt so we could be free, but it was all for nothing because, our grandmother is not longer with us.” he said after a moment of hesitation.

  “O, for goodness sake. She is dead just say it.” Myrtle looked surprised at Sarra; she knew better than to lash out to her brother like that. Eldric didn’t like the word dead, or concept behind it. Eldric bit on his lip, but recovered quickly.

  “That is why we took this job. Dakkar told us our debts and interests would be scrubbed away if we bring him the book.”

  MYRTLE NODDED. THIS was what she wanted to hear.

  “Look, we’re going to a dangerous place. The only ones we can trust is ourselves, so no more secrets.” Myrtle looked at her friends who nodded. “Then, let me share what I have learned. The fey love to make deals, I have a backpack full of stuff to do that. I also read a theory in one of mine father’s books about a way to repel a glamour; you have to put your T-shirt inside out. I don’t know if this is true, but I can’t see the danger in trying.” She let her backpack slide off her shoulders and unzipped it. She pulled out two pouches. “Hide these underneath your clothing, it has salt in it. Almost all the food in Fearie has been poisoned. Salt helps to neutralize most of those poison, still we need to be careful with everything we put in our mouth.”Sarra took one of the pouches and motioned to her brother to turn before she took off her T-shirt, and when she was done she said.

  “You can turn around, Eldric.”

  MYRTLE OPENED HER MOUTH, but Sarra was ahead of her.

  “Before you gonna ask about our memories. Yes we locked those away.” Myrtle closed her mouth and nodded. Stood up while she pushed the backpack on her shoulder.

  “That indeed was what I wanted to ask.” Myrtle looked how her friends hid their pouches under their clothing. Sarra claped in her hands. “Well let’s go.” Sarra turned to the portal. Myrtle watched how her friend ran trough it. Fear crept up on her, her heart was beating in her throat. She cursed it, she was no longer a little kid. She would not let fear stop her, just like her father, when he walked out of the front door of their house for the last time. Eldric looked at her. “We’ll see you on the other side.” He started to follow his sister and disappeared into the portal. Myrtle looked over her shoulder, there was nobody there. She looked again to the portal, squinting her eyes and started running until she felt her body hit the portal.

  Varaln Foxcrest

  It seemed as if her entire body was covered with some kind of slime. Myrtle opened her eyes. She was standing in an open field at the edge of giant pine tree forest. She looked at the sky where out thick drops of rain fell down on her. Even in this world rain would find her. She looked at her body, she was expecting to see something strange, but the only thing she could see was the rainwater. She closed her eyes, she had overcome her fear. She didn’t let fear guide her or hold her back. She opened her eyes again, she wanted to celebrate this with her friend, but her sense of euphoria disappeared instantly, when Sarra and Eldric where nowhere to be seen.

  “Sarra, Eldric!” Her gaze went between the trees, looking for a sign. But there came no answer from those two. It only started to rain harder. The rained so hard, she couldn’t see the trees anymore. She called the name of her friends again, still no answer.

  THE SKY WAS LIT BY a lighting bolt. Myrtle looked up and saw at the last minute that the bolt was shooting down. She jumped away from it. A little green flame showed her where the bolt landed. She swallowed and doubt hit her like the lighting bolt had hit the ground. She turned around, maybe she could go back, but to her horror, the portal had disappeared. She tried to push back the panic that grew in her.

  “Myrtle, watch out!” She turned to the one who called her, what should she watch out for? The sky was illuminated again by a bolt of lightning. She heard the crackle of the bolt just above her head and quickly ducked aside. The bang of the impact echoed in her ears, she scrambled to her feet.

  “Myrtle, get out of there!” This time she heard the crackle a little too late, the bolt shot through her body. Her nose stung from the smell of burnt flesh. The cool wet grass eased the pain only a little. Her eyes grew heavy. A pair of bare feet stopped in front of her before darkness took over her world.

  MYRTLE WOKE UP SLOWLY and blinking a few times. She found herself in a strange room and couldn’t help to look at the strange ceiling. The ceiling was complete out of wood with rings on it. The rings reminded her about the rings inside of a tree. Slowly she rose and looked around the room, all the furniture was made out of one kind of wood. Where was she, was this a dream? Her gaze went across the wooden bedroom again. It has to be a dream because this was really not her own bedroom. She yawned, stretched out and she frowned for a moment. Why did this not alarm her. She was clearly awake in a strange room, but she was calmer then she had been. She wanted to throw off the blankets made out a weird fabric, when her ears picked up a weird sounds, that sounded a lot like moaning. She swung her legs over the bed side, when the door of the room opened. Eldric entered the room, with his gaze towards the floor. His ruby-hair was messed up and he looked pale. Alarm bells inside her head began to ring and he looked up. The color of his normal emerald eyes was dim.

  “Oh, your awake.” Even his voice sounded different, but she couldn’t place what it was. She looked at the door, he didn’t shut it. The sounds of the moans got louder. Myrtle listened intently, it wasn’t the sound of one person moaning but from two.

  “Eldric.” Her voice sounded strange in her ears, she shook it off.

  “What’s going on? Where are we?” As she asked, the memories of the lighting strike rushed back in. Quickly she checked her arms and legs, there was nothing to be seen, no burns. Her hands touched her hair but even that felt normal. What happened to her, how was she even alive?

  “What do you remember?” She looked at her best friend.

  “Well I came through the portal, you and Sarra were nowhere. A thunderstorm started and I was hit. The last thing I saw was is a pair of bare feet.” She looked at Eldric who was frozen in place, she saw someone appearing in the wooden doorway. The person walked into the room and hung himself over Eldric, pushing himself totally against him.

  “SO THERE YOU ARE DARLING. I was already looking for you.” The strange mans hand stroked over Eldric’s chest. Then the man looked at her.

  “Ah little hunter, you’re awake. My apologies, I didn’t see it sooner.”

  The man’s voice gave her goosebumps, but not in a good way. She looked at him, he looked so human. Except of his reddish brown fox ears on top of his head. The man didn’t let Eldric go, but put his mouth close to Eldric’s ear. “Darling, are you going to introduce us?” Eldric shivered for a moment.

  “Of course, I’m so sorry. My lord.” Eldric looked at Myrtle, she saw the fear in his eyes. She wanted to move, she wanted to hug him. But instead of all that she sat on the bed, frozen. “Myrtle Hunter, meet our host Varaln Foxcrest.”

  Varaln nodded approvingly and stepped away from Eldric.

  “
That’s much better, darling.” Myrtle noted that the tone of Varaln’s voice had changed. “Well darling, make yourself useful and make us some food.” Eldric made a light bow a turned around without saying a word.

  “Don’t mind to wake your sister by the way, she is really exhausted and who can blame her.” Varaln said. “Myrtle, forgive me. I was hoping my face was the first you would see when you’d wake up.” Varaln walked to the bed and grabbed her hand. He pulled her from the bed. He was so close, too close, she wanted to pull away from him but again she couldn’t move. He smiled for a moment and the he was the one to stepaway. His light brown eyes lit up. “Where are my manners, how do you feel?”

  AGAIN HE CAME CLOSE, his hand touched her forehead. She closed her eyes, was she shivering? would he notice?

  “Don’t worry little hunter.” He did notice, she opened her eyes and looked into his. “You have nothing to fear from me. Unlike your friends.”

  That word her from the frozen state.

  “Unlike my friends?” He looked a little bit surprised.

  “Your friends are in debt with me. Your debt has already been paid, by your father.” She stepped back and almost fell on the bed again.

  “By, my father?” She had many questions about the debt of her friend, but those melted away. “What can you tell about mine father?”

  Varaln bowed, for a short moment.

  “Well little hunter, that kind of information comes with a price.” She looked around the room and her eyes fell on her backpack by the door.