Set in Stone: The Rose Secret

Chapter 22: Spell 📜

"This is the original copy of the spells Edith used. I was able to "borrow" it from the museum.", Marla scrolled through the pages. She then stopped on one mid way through the book. She showed me a page in the book. It was in a foreign language, but underneath in pen was its translation to English.

"You must complete the spell. I am afraid I can't, Mr. Arnoldo already knows I am on to him!", she said. I held the book in my hands. "How will I know when the spell works?", I added. "When Blue is free!", Eddie grinned.

We exited the cavern. I was dazed, I felt like I had just received a quest, like one from an arcade game. "Magic", Antonia muttered under her breath.

We all went back to Antonia's house and into her room. "Marla was lying, right?", I said. "Mr. Arnoldo was there Friday and I doubt he is mobile enough to have been motorcycle man", I yelled. "Yes why would Marla lie?", they said. I shook my head. "Why was she with Eddie?", Sasha questioned. "So if it isn't Mr. Arnoldo, then who is it?", Lianetta asked. I shook my head, "we don't know yet, we should just try to find Blue". "How do we do that? She could be anywhere in Bluntwood, if she is in Bluntwood.", Antonia frowned.

"I have a feeling the map that Dominic found may lead to her.", I stated. "That seems too easy, doesn't it? Finding a map to Blue?", Sasha said in a worried tone. "It may be easy, but it's all we have.", I said sternly.

I pulled out the map and placed in on the floor in the centre of the huddle. We all studied it for a moment, until Antonia went downstairs to look for a town map and tea. "How will we know what symbol represents Blue's location?", Lianetta asked. "Symbol? What symbol?", I questioned. "Right here...", she said as her finger traced near the top left corner.

"I see nothing"' Sasha sighed. "How can you see it?", I asked. I turned to look at Lianetta. Her hair was pinned in a bun, she had red lipstick and a designer pair of sunglasses on. "Why are you wearing sunglasses? Inside?", Sasha questioned. "It helps me see, it is polaroid, so I catch more details", she responded as she took of here sunglasses and gave them a clean on her shirt. "Could your glasses make you see something we can't?", I said. "Possibly!", she shrieked excitedly.

Antonia walked up the stairs with a long map and a tray of tea. "What is all the excitement about?", she smiled. Lianetta passed her the sunglasses. She placed them on her nose. "What?", she giggled. I held up the map. She looked and jumped slightly when she saw what I assumed were symbols. "Let me see!", I smiled. She passed me the glasses and I put them on.

The map now had swirls and dots and patterns drawn in different areas across the map. There were about five of them. I pulled a notepad out of my bag and tried to recreate the symbols on the page. The first one looked like a basic swirl with the letter k in the middle. The second one looked like a rhombus with four lines down the middle. The third looked like a x but with several dots around it. The fourth one had a dot with several dots orbiting around it. The last one was a square with zigzags in it.

"What do they mean?", Sasha said raising an eyebrow. Suddenly someone knocked on Antonia's bedroom door. "Hello?", Antonia asked. The door slowly opened. It was Mike, her brother. He was in a housecoat. "Oh sorry guys, I didn't know there were guests", he shyly smiled. He then looked curiously at the map. "What is that?", he said in awe. "A map", Lianetta answered. "Wow, of what?", he smiled. "The town", we said. He nodded. I handed him the glasses. "Know what they mean", I said as he looked closer.

"Yeah, they are town symbols", he mentioned. "What do you mean? How do you know?", Antonia said. "Well in history class we are learning about the towns history and those are ancient town symbols", he told. "Can you read them?", we asked. He shook his head, "but I can get my school notes", he rushed out of the room.

"Soon the whole town will know about this", Sasha said rolling her eyes. I picked up the pen and was ready to jot down notes. Mike came back into the room with a binder. "Ah, here it is!", he exclaimed pulling out a workbook. "We did this last week!", he said passing me the sheet. "Thanks Mike", I said. I looked at the sheet. There were fifty symbols with descriptions. I found one that looked familiar and matched it to the map symbols. The first one meant... cave, the second home, third train, fourth river and fifth meant blue.

"The color blue or like your sister?", Antonia asked. "Most likely my sister", I nodded. Mike gathered his papers and left. "I won't ask you what your doing, but I hope you're saving the world and I can get some credit", Mike said as he walked away.