Life Of Hera

Part 21 - Portraits On The Wall

Hera walked towards Isabel, who was reading the book. She showed Hera the page.

She read aloud, "Harper's mother passed the power of the crystal ball to Harper which made her the new keeper of the crystal ball. Not long after, Harper and her husband, Eden fled as a blonde-haired woman who is believed to be the grandchild of the Malevolent Sisters was tracking them down. This blonde-haired woman is ruthless and powerful. It is believed that Harper and Eden gave birth to a child at the time they were being chased. Some believe the blonde-haired woman had killed the child after the parents. Until this very day, people still believed that this blonde-haired woman is still searching for the keeper of the crystal ball. Many people said that it's better if the keeper wasn't found because the world will be in grave danger if the power was taken by the woman."
Hera and Isabel looked at each other. Isabel said, "I didn't know there's so much story behind this keeper! It's so exciting!"
"But I don't think we should go around telling anyone because this part of the library is prohibited so maybe the things here are too," said Hera.
"Then after we leave this place, we must promise not to tell anyone about our encounter here, except for our family," said Isabel, smiling widely.
"Ok, fine. But we still haven't found that book."
"Or did we?" said Isabel while holding the book of The Tale Of Harper to her face.
Hera looked at her, clueless. A book about a lady and a sphere? Harper, lady. Crystal ball, sphere. Her eyes slowly widened with understanding. She grabbed Isabel's hand excitedly and said," You're a genius!"
"See, I told you we had to read the contents," said Isabel.

Both of them quickly walked towards the entrance with the book in hand. They passed by the hallway they came from and the portraits on the wall caught Hera's attention. She stopped her footsteps and looked at them. Isabel caught her looking at the portraits on the wall. So, she looked at them too. Hera looked carefully at one of the portraits. She looked at the name.

"Leonora?" Hera read.
"Isn't Leonora Jovie's mother?" asked Isabel.
"Yes, but what's her portrait doing here? She looks really young, like a teenager."
"Look at this," Isabel pointed at the words carved on the frame of the portrait. "Best Sorcery Student Of The Year."
"Best Sorcery Student? But she said she was really weak at sorcery back in her school days," said Hera.
"Maybe you could ask her about it when you return home?"
Hera nodded.
"Look at this portrait. She looks like an older version of you," said Isabel while pointing at one of the portraits. Hera looked at the portrait closely, it did look like her. Isabel brushed the frame with her hands but the carvings on it was damaged. They couldn't see the name clearly. Below the name were words, also saying, Best Sorcery Student Of The Year.
"Oh look, there's Miss Anemone's portrait. I guess everyone here was the Best Sorcery Students of their year," said Isabel while looking at the brown-haired teacher.

At that moment, a particular portrait caught Hera's interest. It was a portrait of a blonde-haired teenage girl. The woman in the portrait looked familiar but she can't remember who was it. She looked at the name, Jemisha. The name was raw, she had never heard of it before. Suddenly, she heard Isabel calling her from one end of the hallway, signaling her to leave.

After they exited the hallway, they entered the library. It was dark, the lights were out. There was no one in the library. Hera and Isabel hurried out of the library and out of the school. Outside, night had already fallen. They saw Mateo and Jovie poking around.

"What are the both of you doing here?" asked Hera.
"That's a question we should be asking you," Mateo snapped.
"The punishment isn't until night fall when even the librarian had left," said Jovie.
"Where were the both of you?" asked Mateo.
Hera and Isabel looked at each other and said together, "Long story."
After that, they headed home. As Hera and Jovie entered the house, they saw light coming from the basement.
"That's weird mom never switches on the basement light," said Jovie.
Suddenly, they heard a meow coming from the basement. They went to the basement and saw the door, widely opened. The door Leonora prohibited them from entering. There were potions, magical ingredients, cauldron, magical items and many more on the table. What caught their attention was an opened book on the table with a drawing of Claire's bracelet. They also saw a glass globe or, the Globe Of Light. It was shining really brightly. After that, their eyes moved to Leonora and Teapea who was on the table looking at them shockingly.

Hera recalled blonde-haired woman who killed Harper and Eden and, the portrait of Leonora, Best Sorcery Student Of The Year. Hera and Jovie looked at each other, shocked.