The Scroll of Knowledge

Chapter 14

I woke up in a cold sweat. It took me a few moments to realize that I wasn't inside that frozen cage anymore.

I stumbled out of the bed. My mouth was completely dry. My stomach growled. I looked at the bracelet on my wrist. Information bombarded me. I tried to concentrate. I pressed a button and a menu opened up. There were some options that, if the manual I was seeing was right, shouldn't be there. One was Brennan's speed dial, another was an option to teleport to whatever location he was at and the third was a house map. I clicked on the map. There was a kitchen not too far from the room I was in.

I followed the map out of the room and down the hall. It was early in the morning and the sky was just starting to get brighter. The house was eerily quiet.

The door to the kitchen was open. I peeked in. Thomas was standing at the stove humming. My face heated up when I remembered how he'd helped me breathe the day before.

"Are you hungry?" he asked without turning around.

I stepped in. "How did you know I was there?" I was sure my footsteps had been almost silent. Mom had been a really light sleeper when she was sick.

"I heard when your door opened," he said. How did he hear that from all the way there? "You didn't answer my question."

"A little," I said. I looked around. The kitchen wasn't big and fancy but it was warm and smelt of cinnamon and breakfast.

"Sit," he said. He pointed to a chair at the counter. "Nightmares?" I nodded, feeling a little embarrassed. He placed a steaming cup of tea in front of me. "Drink that. It will help you relax. It was supposed to be for Brennan but I'll just make another."

I sipped it. "Wow. What is this?" I asked. There were so many flavors. It tasted amazing. I could feel all my muscles relaxing.

Thomas smiled. "My secret," he said. Ingredients began popping up before my eyes. He snapped his fingers in front of my face. "Hey. No looking. That's rude."

"Sorry," I said. "How's Shay?"

"She woke up but she's still tired so she went back to sleep. She'll be fine. There were no life-threatening injuries," he said. I wondered what their reunion was like. The heartbreak on his face when he thought she was dead and the way his voice cracked when he said her name and begged her to wake up almost made me cry even though I didn't know them well. He'd looked as if his entire world was falling apart right in front of him. He must be so relieved. Shay as well. She'd thought he was dead.

"Is that why you're up so early?"

He shook his head and turned the hashbrowns. My mouth watered. "I'm always up this early. It's the best time to pray and meditate."

"Oh right. I forgot you were Buddhist."
"It isn't only Buddhists that pray and meditate," he said. "Anything special you want to eat? Tell me and I'll make it."

"It's fine. I can make something myself."

He glanced at me. "It's probably best if you let me deal with the cooking. Your hands are shaking. Just tell me what you want. We have eggs, pancakes, sausages, porridge, congee, bread... There's some food from dinner yesterday in the fridge if you want something heavier."

"The hashbrowns smell nice."

He nodded and added some more to the pot.

"Um, Thomas. What happens now?" I ask after a while.

"What do you mean?"

"Will more people be coming after us? What will we do? Fiona said Ian is a keyholder and that he's hundreds of years old."

Thomas' hands froze for a moment. "So he's a keyholder. That would explain a lot," he muttered. That wasn't in English. How did I know what he was saying? Was it the Scroll?

"Don't worry about that," he said. "He won't be able to get to you again. When Brennan and Shay wake up, we'll leave this house, then we'll figure out a way to deal with him. Hopefully, you'll be able to go back home soon. I'm sure you miss sleeping in your own bed."

I sighed. "I was staying by a friend. The house felt too empty after Mom died."

"I... understand."

I saw a death certificate with the name Tania Kazmi written on it in Hebrew, yet somehow I knew what the words meant. The cause of death was suicide. It happened twenty-seven years before. It said she had a son named Junaid. He would have been less than five then.

"You saw something," he said.

"Your mother's death certificate." My face heated up and I was glad he couldn't see me blush. "Sorry. I didn't mean to pry."

He shook his head. "It's fine. It's not a secret."

"It must have been hard."

"I wouldn't know. I don't even remember what she looked like. I do remember Zahir destroying our house because he couldn't bear to see anything that reminded him of her. That was a little scary." He rested a plate in front of me with hashbrowns, eggs and sausages. "Moving might help."

"I don't want to move," I said. "That house has too many memories. I'll be fine."

"Did you at least get to say goodbye?"

I nodded. "We both knew time was running out."

Thomas nodded. "That's good."

I looked down at the plate. "Mom loved hashbrowns and I would make it for her even though the doctor said not to." I took a mouthful of it. My eyes burned. "She really loved hashbrowns." I couldn't see anything. The tears blurred my eyes. "She really, really loved them." I took another mouthful. Tears dripped onto the plate.

I heard the door to the kitchen close. Thomas must have found it uncomfortable with me crying like that. I held my face in my hands. To think hashbrowns could bring me to tears like that.

Something warm was rested on my shoulders. I wiped my eyes. Thomas tucked the large, fluffy blanket around me.

"I don't remember much of when my mother died, it was far too long ago, so I can't say I understand what your going through and I am no more than a stranger to you. However, I do understand a little about grief. If it's okay with you," he pulled the other stool next to mine and put his arm around my shoulders, "let me provide at least a warm shoulder for you to cry on."

I leaned my head against his chest and let him hug me. I didn't know why I felt so comfortable around him but he was warm and it felt like I was being hugged by someone who understood. Everyone else, including Paige and Derek kept saying how sorry they were and giving me advice on how to do things and telling me to move on. Around them I had to suck in my tears and put on a smile when all I wanted to do was curl up in a corner and cry.

The hug that Thomas was giving me was not one of a friend trying to comfort me, but someone who simply understood. Finally, all those tears I'd been holding back, even before she'd died, all the way back to when I first heard that she was sick, all of them came out right then. Thomas said nothing. He just sat there and held me while I cried into his chest.