The Scroll of Knowledge

Chapter 1

It still hadn't sunken in that she was gone. My mother couldn't be dead. This had to be some sort of prank.

I played with her golden bracelet in my hand, the one I'd never seen her take off. I wanted to bury her with it but the last thing she told me was that she wanted me to wear it. I couldn't disappoint her.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Amber," Paige said. She was helping me to plan the funeral. I didn't know what I would do without her. The past few days had been a blur.

"Thanks Paige," I said.

She hugged me. "Don't worry about it and don't forget, if this house gets too quiet at night, you're welcome to stay at my place for a few days."

"John won't mind?" I asked. John was her boyfriend.

She shook her head. "No. He was the one who suggested it actually. He said he remembers what it was like when his mother died, and he could stay by his brother's house while you're there if that would make you feel more comfortable."

"Thanks for the offer. I'll think about it."

"Later, Amber."

I heard when her car started up and she drove off. I hadn't gotten up from mother's arm chair yet, the one she never used to let me sit in and the one she spent most of her last days in.

I looked down at the bracelet. Not once in all my life had I ever seen her without it. Now she wanted me to wear it. Not that she made it easy to find. She hadn't been wearing it when she died. I had found it while cleaning her room a few hours before. I hadn't even called Derek, my boyfriend, to tell him yet. He'd been helping me search.

I snapped it on my right wrist since I wore my watch on my left. The second it was on, I felt a searing pain in my forearm. I pulled the sleeve up. On the inside of my forearm was an tattoo of a scroll, just like the one my mother had had. I'd never got a tattoo before. Where did this come from?

I tried to take the bracelet off but it was joined to my skin and wouldn't budge even a little.

It felt like someone whacked my head with a sledgehammer. I had to find it. I wasn't sure what I had to find, but something was telling me I had to find it.

My head was pounding. Suddenly, I wasn't in my living room anymore. I was in a library bigger than I'd ever seen, filled from floor to ceiling with books. There were piles of books on the floor. In the center of the room was a glass case with a large scroll in it. Where was I?

I reached out and touched the spine of the nearest book. I could feel it in my hand. I took it out and flipped through the pages. It was about underwater oil mining. I reached for the book next to it. Everything disappeared in a puff of smoke.

I looked around. I was back in my living room. My skin crawled. I went to the window and looked outside. The street was empty but I could feel someone watching me.

I pulled out my phone and called Paige.

"Can I take you up on that offer?" I asked. "I think the silence is driving me crazy."

******

Shay was lying on him with her head on his chest. He had one foot on the ground so he could rock the hammock they were lying in. The afternoon breeze was cool and from where he was, he had perfect view of the ocean. Thomas didn't think there could be a better way to spend an afternoon.

His phone rang. Shay stirred. He hung up. It rang again.

"Just answer it," Shay mumbled.

He sighed. Next time he was leaving his phone in the basement. "What Brennan?" Thomas asked.

"Another request for the Consultant," Brennan said. He paused. "Wait. Were you two doing something I shouldn't know about? Give me details. I'm already eighteen."

"If we were, I wouldn't have answered your call in the first place and I don't care about your age. You're not getting details about anything," Thomas said. He closed his eyes and took a breath. He was going to bury the phone in the sand. "Who's the guy?"

"I'm sending you his picture."

"Someone wants to see me?" Shay asked, still half asleep. Thomas showed her the picture. She lifted her head and rubbed her eyes. "Hm. Interesting." She put her head back down and yawned. "Tell Brennan I'll see him at eight tonight our time... and tell him to stop stealing my exotic teas when I'm not around."

"You should know better than to steal her tea," Thomas said into the phone.

"Well, if you'd bring some back for me then I wouldn't have to steal it," Brennan said.

"I brought an assorted box for you and one for Zahir last time I visited," Shay said. She was silent for a few seconds. "Zahir took yours."

"What?" Brennan asked. "I'm gonna kill that old man."

"Set up the meeting then kill him," Thomas said. He hung up the phone. "Should we go get ready?"

"In a minute," Shay muttered.

It had already been three years since they'd gone in search for the Book of Time. They'd stayed at one of Zahir's houses for a while, since they hadn't had anywhere else to go. Not that Zahir had minded. He and Shay liked to spend afternoons talking over tea.

It had taken a while before Thomas and Shay had figured out what to do about money. Thomas didn't want any from Zahir but neither one of them had very marketable skills. Assassinations were out and Shay didn't have to go anywhere to get information because of her connection to the Book. Brennan was the one who suggested she use the Book to make money by telling people what to do. She could see their past and future so she would know who to choose as a client. It was mainly rich business men that hired her but occasionally, some country's law enforcement agency would call. It didn't take long for that to become a steady income stream and they were able to get a house in Hawaii, away from Thomas' family.

"What are we going to do next month?" Thomas asked. It was coming up on their second anniversary.

"Do you want to plan or shall I? I want to know if I should avoid thinking about it as much as possible," Shay said. "I don't want to spoil things."

"What kind of question is that? I told you before we were married that I was going to plan all the anniversaries. I have a list for the next twenty years. I just wanted to know which to do this year."

Shay laughed. "I'm sure I'll enjoy whichever one you--" She groaned.

"Shay, what's wrong?" he asked.

She tried to get out of the hammock and fell onto the floor. She held her head and groaned. Thomas knelt beside her.

"Shay--"

"Tell Brennan to tell our client that I refuse to see him unless he brings his secretary," she said. She stood and staggered inside.

Thomas took out the phone and was about to type in Brennan's number when he spotted a drop of blood on the tile. He rushed inside. Shay was in the bathroom. She opened the medicine cabinet and took out the red bottle with painkillers. She hadn't used them in years and they only keep them around for emergencies.

She drank the entire bottle in one gulp.

"Shay. What happened?" he asked. He spun her around. Blood was flowing from her nose. She fell onto the toilet and pinched the bridge of her nose. Thomas used some tissue to wipe the blood from her face. "What's going on?"

"I don't know. I saw too many things at once," Shay said. She held his hand steady and looked him directly in the eye. "There is only one thing I'm certain of though... The Book of Time wasn't the only artifact. Someone just got a key and became the guardian to something called, the Scroll of Knowledge, and she's in danger."

A/N: Thank you for checking out my new book. If you like it, don't forget to comment and vote.