Stormwood: The Descendant (book 1)

Chapter 3- The First Letter (part 2)

"I- I don't-," Colia stutters. "It was right there, I swear. Did you see that?"

"See what?" Emi asks with a look of question in her eyes. She glances down at her empty hand.

"There was just a piece of paper, a letter." It sounds ridiculous, even to Colia, and Emi raises her eyebrows. The disk in Colia's pocket suddenly feels heavier. She grabs it and holds it out in front of her. "See? It came with this."

Emi takes it, interested. "What is this?"

"The letter says it's a novaly, whatever that is. It also said to go to the Eastern River bridge at eight."

"Sounds sketchy," Emi remarks, handing the novaly back. "You should go to the library to research it."

Colia notices a binder peeking from Emi's purse. "Where are you going now?"

"I have Stormwood history class soon, but I'll help you later."

"You take classes in summer?" The idea is absurd to Colia. In Wexton, summer is their only season off from school.

"Classes are year-round here. The year is divided into quarters, three months per quarter. Stormwood history is two-quarters long, but some are longer. You choose what classes you want to take at one time."

"Oh, that must be nice. When will I start?"

"Well, the third quarter has already started, so you can either start classes a little late or wait until October. It's up to you." Colia nods her head in consideration. "Anyway, I need to go."

"Okay, and before I forget, do you mind if I sleep in your room tonight? I haven't spoken to my father yet," Colia explains nervously. She and Emi were never exactly friends before, so Colia didn't want to seem weird by taking such a huge step. "It's fine if you don't want me to. I mean, I understand. Don't feel pressured in any way because I can just go find another room."

"No, no, it's fine," Emi assures her. "It will be fun!" She grabs her bag and farewells, leaving Colia by herself with a mysterious object in hand. Next, she'd need to find the library. If only the school had a map.

When she finally arrives at her destination, the library appears to be desolate. Shelves moving horizontally across the room from wall to wall and a small walkway through the center each shelf.  The ceiling is low and covered in dim, circular lights that make the room peaceful and relaxing as they glow on the beige walls. At the opposite side of the library from the door, comfortable chairs and bean bags await readers who seek to escape the world, like Colia.

 Of course, first, she needs to get to work on researching the disk. Colia gets started on the shelves, which seem to be organized differently than she's ever seen. Luckily, she spots another girl looking for books on the last shelf. 

"Hi," Colia says awkwardly.

The girl looks up through her square black glasses and extremely long brown hair, then looks down again. "Hello," she says quietly. "Do you need something?" 

"Yes, actually," Colia responds, relieved to have found assistance, "I'm trying to find a book for my research project."

"For which class?"

"Well, it's more of a personal project. Do you know where I can find a book about novalies?"

The brunette glances at the disk in Colia's hand, and her eyes widen considerably with surprise. "Where'd you get that?"

"I found it," Colia responds vaguely.

"Maybe, I'll help you if you tell me." Her voice remains soft and quiet.

Colia is torn on whether to tell her or not. She can't research on her own. But the letter obviously wasn't written for anyone else to see. It will have to stay between Colia, Emi, and whoever AB is. 

"I found it," Colia repeats after a moment.

"Where?"

"In the hallway."

The girl looks doubtful. "Can I see it?" she requests, but Colia shakes her head.

"Maybe, once you lead me to the books." The girl agrees. "What's your name?" Colia asks as they make their way around the library. 

"Adele Barnette." She flips her hair back over her face.

AB, Colia thinks, but it couldn't possibly be her. "I'm-"

"Colia Burn."

"Yes."

"Well, here they are, Colia," Adele barely whispers, pulling out a few volumes and hands them to Colia.

"Thank you. Where do I check them out?" Her eyes skim over the covers.

"You don't."

"What?"

"You don't need to check them out."

"Oh... okay, I guess," she frowns, glancing up from her books. But Adele is gone, vanished into thin air. Colia tries to shrug it off and find a seat in a beanbag, but the entire conversation unnerves Colia. Adele herself unnerves Colia. It is strange. Adele's voice is delicate and her appearance harmless, so why is Colia breathing so quickly?

Though it's hard to focus now, Colia opens the first of the texts. The top book is the Encyclopedia of Magical Objects. She opens it, turning to the "n" section. Finding the correct page, she begins to read.

"A novaly is an inanimate object created by shadow magicians. The main purpose of it is to direct its user to sibling novalies by its arrow shadow. It's most often used to track magicians."

Fear grows within Colia as she stops and slams the book shut. Am I being tracked?