by MJ Fletcher
I can only imagine how powerful the Artifacts are if the instruction pages emanate such power.
The Chronicle pages are the key to finding the Artifacts of the Old Kind. Legends and myths we thought were lost to history can be rediscovered. But we have to be careful, if the wrong people found these pages it could be very dangerous. The Artifacts are incredibly powerful and according to the pages when they are used in unison they do something incredible. What, I’m not sure since the pages pertaining to that are missing.
The whole team is ecstatic. Robert is informing the Council and Dillon, Henna, Charles and I celebrated for most of the night. Once we get this back to the Council, our job is done and I can’t wait to get home and finally be able to tell everyone about it.
I know Nightshade is eager for me to return home. I can’t wait to see him. It’s been way too long and I’ve missed him way too much. Robert’s calling a team meeting. I’ll write more later.
The hand writing changed at this point from fluid and neat to scratchy and short like Lauren had been in a hurry as she tried to get her thoughts down quickly.
Something’s gone wrong. Robert talked with the Council and they are coming for the Chronicle. We’re not allowed to talk with anyone about what we found and we’re also not allowed to leave here yet. Robert is very nervous; I’ve never seen him like that before. I spoke with Henna and she and I agreed that something is not right. Why is the Council forcing us to remain here when our job is done? She and I took a page from the Chronicle and didn’t tell the others, I don’t know what’s going on but I’m afraid, terribly afraid.
I don’t care what the Council ordered us to do, I called Nightshade and he’s coming to get me and we’re going to run. I am trying to convince Henna to come with us but I worry that fear has paralyzed her so much that she won’t do anything to help herself. Robert continues to act very strange and what is even stranger is that I can feel a current of power all around us. It’s as if someone is trying to activate a lockdown but I think the power of the Chronicle is interfering with it.
This might be my last entry for a while since Nightshade and I will be on the run to God knows where. All I know is that there is no one else in this world that I would rather have by my side than him. I love you so very much Nightshade.
With a hefty sigh, I handed the journal to Jess. I felt like an intruder, invading Lauren’s most personal thoughts by having read it. I knew it was imperative that we find out what we could and I believed Lauren would understand the intrusion, she no doubt having to intrude in various places to find out what she and her team had been searching for. But the thought brought me no peace of mind. I had felt horrible for Lauren and Nightshade since he had first told me about her death. But it was only now, reading her journal, that it all seemed real to me, that she seemed real, as did the horrifying fact that her life had been snatched away from her at a young age. Then there were the people she had left behind; people who had loved her very much. And then there was... Nightshade.
“She loved him so much.”
I looked up to find Jess wiping away tears as she laid the book down. “Yes, she did.”
“You should have seen them together.” Jess smiled as she remembered a happier time.
I felt a pang in my stomach thinking of Nightshade and Lauren together but brushed it aside.
Edgar walked into the room. “What’s going on?”
“We found something.” I was happy for the diversion and explained quickly to Edgar about Lauren’s journal. Edgar eagerly joined us on the floor, rifling through the books that were in the bag.
He smiled as he pulled each one out. “Wow, some of these books are restricted to each Order, just having these in your possession can get you in trouble.”
“I guess since she was working for the Council that wasn’t an issue,” I said.
“True, if you were going to find a Chronicle the only way to do it would be to bring sources together from every group. From what she describes it seems as if they are detailed plans of the Artifacts and how to use them. The power she talks about coming from the Chronicle is an old Mapmaker trick. It acts like a lock from people being able to use them. That would also explain why they needed to activate the Chronicle.”
“What about the page Lauren and this other girl took?” Jess asked.
“The way the Chronicle works is that it not only tells a story but it’s also infused with energy of each Society. If you were to remove certain pages it would be like taking away pieces of a map. You might be able to find certain locations but without the whole picture you could get lost.”
“That’s good to know,” I sighed, glad something was going in our favor.
Jess moved the books around until she found one that was about the true First Kind. “Edgar, what would happen if the First Kind was able to get their hands on the Artifacts?”
“Well, you saw how powerful the Legend of the Mapmakers Union was when we found it. If the First Kind had access to power on that scale none of the Societies could withstand them. It’s bad enough the Societies fight against one another. Now just imagine people with the powers of each Society not restrained by the Old Kind or the truces we have with one another.”
“So chaos?” I asked.
“No, much worse than that,” Edgar said. “In history class we’re taught to admire and respect the First Kind. But there was a reason the Societies were created and the groups separated. No single person or group should wield the kind of power the First Kind possessed. They crushed whole dimensions under their heels; some even think they are responsible for the creation of the gremlins. But worst of all, the world we know would cease to exist if they returned.”
“Wow, Edgar, melodramatic much?” Jess forced an uneasy laugh.
“Say what you want, but remember their used to be more than our five Societies. Who do you think destroyed the three lost Societies?” Edgar raised an eyebrow.
“They were lost not destroyed.” Jess’ voice cracked.
“Sure,” Edgar said shaking his head. ”Old Kind just as powerful as our own just suddenly disappeared. At about the same time the Chronicles were destroyed and the First Kind disappeared for good, seems a little convenient, don’t you think?”
I considered the scope of what Edgar was saying and realized that this went a lot deeper than I ever could have imagined and it could end up much worse than I thought possible.
I spoke aloud without thinking. “We can’t let it get that far,”
“We should bring this to the Council.” Edgar pointed to the journal.
“No!” My emphatic response had their eyes popping wide.
“We have to let them know about all this, especially about the missing page,” Edgar argued.
“You read the last entry in Lauren’s journal, Edgar. What happened as soon as Robert went to the Council?” I let the thought hang in the air.
“You think more than one Council member is involved?” Edgar asked. “With Mr. Jordan no longer on it, I figured the Council proved no problem.”
Jordan had been the head of the DS and someone responsible for endless grief in my life; he hadn’t been seen since the battle at the Library.
“Maybe it was him,” Chloe said, “or maybe someone connected with the Council is involved. Whatever it is we can’t take that chance. We need to find the page Lauren and Henna removed without letting anyone know what we’re doing. No one has dealt with the First Kind more than we have. We can do this.” I didn’t mention that I also wanted to learn as much as I could before I had to bring attention to the fact that my mother appeared to be a traitor and member of the First Kind. I still had trouble believing it. I kept trying to convince myself that I didn’t see her helping the people who were trying to kill me, that it was all an illusion. But it wasn’t working. I knew what I saw no matter how hard I attempted to convince myself otherwise.
“Chloe’s right.” Jess nodded in my direction.
“So what do we do?” Edgar looked
to me.
“The first thing we have to do is talk with Nightshade and see if he knows where Lauren might have hidden the page and then we need to find this Henna girl. Do either of you know her?”
“All I know is that Henna was a member of HVO,” Jess said. “I remember Lauren mentioning her. They were friendly and I think they used to study together. But I’m not sure if she was among the people killed that night.”
“What are we talking about?” Slade asked as he and Nightshade walked into the room.
I noticed Nightshade glance over the books and bags scattered around us on the floor. He lingered on Lauren’s journal but said nothing. I quickly brought them up to date, leaving out the parts that Lauren had written about Nightshade.
“Lauren never told me about the Chronicle,” —Nightshade kept his eyes on her things as he spoke—“Henna survived the attack. She was injured and spent time in the hospital. The last I saw her was at a special ceremony held for Lauren at the end of the school year. Henna had graduated and she told me that she was going to work for the HVO in Rome.”
I wanted to ask him more about the missing page and if Lauren had said anything else to him but it didn’t feel like the right time.
“We’ll need to find her and talk with her. Who do we know in the HVO who can help us?” I looked around the room hoping someone besides me had a contact. But all I got were blank stares.
“You’re going to have to talk with DI Emory.”
I dropped my head at Slade’s comment. I knew he was right but Emory was like a human lie detector and I wasn’t sure I could withstand a session of his endless questions as I tried to get information out of him. “I’ll give him a call tomorrow and see what I can learn about Henna.”
“Now that that’s settled why don’t we go grab some coffee at the Beanery,” Edgar piped in happily and I knew the real reason he wanted to head over there. I had also told Val I would try and stop by so I nodded in agreement.
“I think I’ll stay and clean up.” Nightshade didn’t move, instead he kept staring at Lauren’s belongings on the floor.
“I can help.” Jess stood and walked over to Nightshade placing her hand on his shoulder.
He shook his head. “No, I’ll be fine.”
His rejection hit Jess like a physical wound. She slumped and managed a smile as she walked away from Nightshade.
“Well let’s go then,” Slade said and we all started down the stairs. I turned back and caught one last glance of Nightshade as he kneeled down, his hand reaching slowly for Lauren’s journal.
Chapter 7
Status: Surrounded by coppers; what am I thinking?
I had called DI Emory the next day as planned and left a message and two weeks later I still hadn’t heard from him. My message didn’t exactly sound urgent, but it made me wonder why he hadn’t gotten back to me right away. If I didn’t hear from him soon, I’d either call him again or go see him. Not something I really wanted to add to my to-do list since it was plenty full already, but it was a must-do.
Excitement was running high at school with the end of the school year fast approaching and of course the year end dance. I was looking forward to the summer when I could get back to my part time job and have more free time to spend with my friends. I barely had time for anything but school, work, having to study for year-end exams and finish all the year-end projects. Still I couldn’t help but be annoyed that my time had been limited and I was no closer to locating Henna than I had been the night we found out about the missing Chronicle page. And the dilemma with my mom still haunted me; I just didn’t know what to do or maybe I was too afraid to do anything.
Cape May was just beginning to swing into summer mode with many of the stores reopening for the season and warm sunny days drawing more and more people to the beach. I had only seen Nightshade in passing and Jess was in a state as she had barely been able to spend time with him.
Most nights found all of us, except Nightshade, at the Beanery trying to plan our next move. We hadn’t learned anything new, though we continued to comb through history books on the Chronicles and the First Kind. And the more I read the more concerned I grew about how difficult a task we were facing.
I was sitting at one of the benches outside the lunchroom reading a book on the First Kind. It was such a beautiful day out that I hadn’t even worn my hoodie and I had on a pair of shorts even though I thought my legs looked like hell. I needed to try and get some color since my dad told me that I was starting to resemble a vampire. Plus it got me out of the cafeteria where everyone gawked at me or tried to be my new best friend because of my recent celebrity status.
“Hey.” Edgar plopped down on the bench across from me at the table and his voice sounded as if someone had just given him the worst news of his life.
“What’s wrong?”
“The dance is coming up.”
“Yes, it is, so what?” I didn’t understand the notion of a dance. I mean I liked dancing well enough, but getting dressed up, hanging with a bunch of people from school, and jumping around to music like idiots or worst hugging while you swayed to music just seemed dumb, at least to me.
“Well, everyone is going and I don’t know what to do.”
“What do you mean?” I was lost at this point.
“I don’t want to be the only one not going, but how could I, you know, bring someone?”
“It’s not that complicated.” I smiled, thinking myself a genius as I explained it to him. “Usually you ask someone and they go with you. Plus not everyone is going, I’m not.”
“Yeah, right.” He let out a long sigh and started picking at the wood table with his nails.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I closed my book and flicked at his hand.
“You and Slade are going together; I heard him talking about it in class.”
My breath caught in my chest. Slade hadn’t said anything to me about the dance; I had assumed he knew that I didn’t want to go. But since he was going around talking to people about it, apparently he didn’t get the memo.
“Oh no.” I bit my lip as Edgar looked up to see the horrified expression on my face.
“See you’re going and you don’t even want too,” —Edgar shook his head—“me? I can’t ask just anyone.”
It finally dawned on me why this was such a problem for Edgar. It was a school dance so that meant everyone there was a member of the Old Kind. No normal people were allowed to attend, which meant if you wanted to ask a normal girl to the dance you couldn’t no matter what. And Edgar obviously wanted to ask Val.
“Sorry, Edgar.” I forgot my own worries for a moment and patted his hand, which was about the extent of how good I was at giving friends advice when it came to relationship issues. That was way out of my league.
“No problem, I just don’t want a certain someone thinking I wasn’t inviting her on purpose. You know what I mean?”
I knew exactly what he meant but I doubted that Val would really understand. She still wasn’t happy about the fact that we were all in Paladin Academy and she wasn’t.
“I could talk to her if you want?” I offered, a bad idea, but it was out of my mouth before I could stop it.
“Maybe.” Edgar scratched at his head and adjusted his goggles.
“Hi guys.” Faith walked up to the table, a tray, with what passed for food on it, in her hands and sat down beside Edgar.
She had been around more lately much to Jess’ annoyance but since she was on my defense team I couldn’t just tell her to get lost, as much as Jess would have liked me too.
“Hi, Faith.” Edgar didn’t even look at her instead he played with his goggles. I think he might have been hoping that he’d find the answers to all his problems in them.
“What’s up?” Faith asked.
“Edgar has some concerns about the dance,” I said and wished we could discuss any topic but the dance. I was already trying to figure out how I was going to get out of going with Slade. Give me a battle with t
he First Kind any day.
“I know, right? With finals coming up I haven’t even thought about the dance. I guess you and Slade will have a good time though?” She picked at her lunch taking small bites from a roll.
“I’m not sure we’re going.”
“Really? I heard him mention it in Quantum Physics, he seemed pretty excited.”
This was turning into a problem. It appeared that everyone in the school was aware that I was going to the dance... except me.
“Did he now?” I asked.
“Yes, Slade was talking to some of the Impossible Engineers about who you’d be sitting with, though he said that he didn’t know and he’d have to talk with you about it. I thought maybe you would be sitting by Nightshade and his date.” Faith kept picking at her food but I could see where this was going.
I hadn’t seen much of Nightshade, though Jess had brought up the dance to me. She kept hoping that he was going to ask her to go. I didn’t really see Nightshade as the type to do a school dance but I hadn’t wanted to burst her bubble.
“My date to what?” Nightshade leaned over Faith and snatched part of the roll from her tray. He was without his leather jacket, wearing a fitted black tee and jeans that looked about a hundred years old. He stuffed the bread into his mouth as he rounded the table and sat down beside me.
“Nothing,” Faith said, her face turning so many different shades of pink that I almost felt sorry for her.
“The dance,” Edgar chimed in finally done playing with his goggles.
“Don’t have one, unlike Master’s.” Nightshade bumped his shoulder into mine and I sighed knowing what was coming next.
“What did Slade say?” I dreaded the response but had to know.
“He couldn’t stop talking about it this morning, how you guys are going to the dance. It was just so cute.” Nightshade rolled his eyes and laughed.
“It isn’t official yet,” I snapped annoyed.
