The Scroll of Knowledge

Chapter 2

My boss, Mr Clyde Vincent, had called me that afternoon. He said he needed me to come to a meeting. I had told him I couldn't but he said that he really needed me to come and that if I did, he would pay half of the funeral costs and give me an extra week off for bereavement. He and Mom had been friends. That was the only reason I'd gotten the job in the first place. He'd helped out a lot while she was sick and in the hospital. I felt guilty about taking more from him but I really didn't have the money.

My mother had been a college professor but it didn't pay as well as it used to and she didn't have much savings. I hadn't even graduated college yet and didn't have much of a savings either. I had been worrying about how I was going to pay for everything and this would be a big help so I agreed. Not even my pounding headache would let me miss out on that opportunity.

The strange thing was that he told me he didn't want me to take notes. I wasn't sure why I was even there.

Mr Vincent had me sit next to him in the conference room. It was almost eight o'clock. There was one other man in the room, Archie, Mr Vincent's head of security. I wondered who we were meeting but they wouldn't tell me. I was just about to leave when a ball of light appeared in one corner of a room. When it disappeared, there was a person there dressed completely in black, with the hood of their jacket over their head and a mask covered the lower portion of their face. I almost fell out of my chair.

"M-Mr Vincent. Did you just see that?" I asked. There was something strange about this person. I felt as if I was connected with her somehow, like seeing someone from your past and trying to remember who they were.

"What kind of foolish magic trick is that?" Mr Vincent boomed. "Archie! I thought I told you to check this room."

"It is not Archie's fault," the person said before Archie could speak. The voice sounded female. She raised her head. Her eyes were the bluest I'd ever seen. They almost looked fake. "You called me without doing your research?" The voice was muffled beneath a mask and I couldn't place the accent.

"No one said anything about magic tricks."

It wasn't a magic trick. It was technology. I don't know how I knew that.

The corners of her eyes crinkled. "I guess they didn't want to seem crazy then. I can assure you, that was no magic trick but I can understand the confusion." She walked to the other end of the table, cool, slow and sure, as if they were in her office and not Mr Vincent's conference room. She sat in the chair but didn't say anything.

"I need to know if--" Mr Vincent started.

The woman held up her hand, silencing him. We waited in silence for a few more minutes.

Another ball of light appeared. This time it left a man. I could tell by the height and the way he walked to stand next to the woman's chair. He was wearing full black and a mask as well. When he looked at us, I saw his eyes. One was bright orange and the other bright purple. I sunk further into my chair. Those were the eyes of someone with abilities: orange for fire, purple for electricity, blue for ice.

What was I even thinking about? What was going on?

"You took your time," the woman said.

The man shrugged. "I wanted to have some fun."

The woman looked at Mr Vincent. "The condition was, no one except you and your secretary." She tapped the man's arm. "Remove Archie from the room."

The man seemed to materialize next to Archie. He pushed him out of the room and locked the door before Archie even had time to react.

"Now we can begin," the woman said. "Let me start by introducing myself. I am known as the Consultant." She placed her elbows on the table. "Here's how this goes. You tell me what you want and I will decide whether to help you or not. If I help you, you pay me. If not, then you keep your money. Your fee has just increased because you broke the conditions of this visit. That fee you will pay, whether or not I decide to help you." She leaned back. "Go on. Why did you contact me?"