The Faerie Guardian

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

"Angelica!" I blurt out.

"What?" Nate's head snaps up.

"It's here. Her name. This was her book." I pass it to him, and a bookmark falls from between the pages. Retrieving it from the box of photos into which it fell, I see that it isn't a bookmark after all, but a thin metal disc, tarnished with age. A symbol of a griffin with a serpent for a tail is engraved into its surface. Something stirs in my memory.

"What's that?" asks Nate.

I shake my head, turning the disc over. The reverse of the same pattern is on the other side. "I don't know, but it's weird. I feel like I've seen this symbol before."

Nate takes the disc. "Haven't lots of people? I mean, it's a griffin, isn't it?"

"Yes, but griffins don't usually have serpent tails. They have a lion's body, which means they also have a lion's tail. But this one has an actual serpent where the tail should be. And see the way the serpent curls up, making a circle around the griffin?" Nate nods. "I'm pretty sure I've seen this exact one before. On a textbook maybe. Like on the spine."

"Your textbooks sound far more interesting than mine."

I take the metal disc from him and turn it over and over in my hands. If this disc belonged to Angelica then I can use it to find her. Nate is preoccupied, poring over the brittle pages of the book, so I close my eyes without saying anything to him. I run my fingers over the pattern and send my mind out, searching, probing, feeling for the person attached to this item.

Abruptly, I feel a rushing sensation. Something pulling at my mind, tugging irresistibly. I feel trapped. Smothered. Faces and colors swirl and flash, blinding me, dizzying me. I can't get out.

Vi! Violet!

My eyes spring open. I see clothes hanging above me, and Nate's anxious expression. "You just suddenly fell over," he says. "Are you okay?"

"Um, I don't know. That was weird." I push myself up into a sitting position. The bottom of a coat brushes my shoulder. "Well, this disc thing definitely doesn't belong to your mother."

"Wait, you were trying to find her? And you didn't tell me?"

I shrug. "You were busy looking at the book."

"Vi!" He tries to remain angry, but curiosity clearly gets the better of him. "Okay, so who does it belong to?"

"Too many people."

Nate frowns. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I saw lots and lots of faces, so I'm assuming the disc has belonged to many different people over the years."

Nate stares at me a moment before saying, "This ability of yours doesn't work very well, does it? I mean, what if someone else owned this book before my mother?"

"Well, let's hope she had it long enough to truly make it her own."

"Is that how your ability works? How long would she have—"

"Shh!" I reach across the boxes and clamp my hand over his mouth. "I heard something," I whisper.

I lower my hand, listening carefully. From the room below us comes a thump. My first thought is that Drake and Zell have come for Nate, but then I remember that Flint put protective spells around the house. Nate rises and goes to the door of the closet. I've just reached into the air and pulled out a knife when a voice calls, "Nate? I got your favorite for dinner."

Nate dashes back to the pile we've left on the floor. "Jeez, what is she doing home already?" He grabs Angelica's book, tucks it under his arm, and begins piling the boxes on top of each other. I discard my knife into the air and hastily send the boxes and files back to the top of the closet. I stuff the griffin disc in my pocket and run out of the room after Nate.