Pandora's Box

Chapter twenty

"Sonii? Sol?" Voices call from afar, snapping the twins back to reality. Sonii rubs her eyes as if she's only woken up after a long nap. Sol follows the voices. They sound incredibly familiar and he can swear he can hear another one of June's remarks.

"Good luck." The old women says as the twins bid her goodbye and walk towards familiarity. The emerge at a point on a balcony overlooking the thousands of levels in the library. Their five foster siblings stand next to a man that neither of the twins recognize. He's dressed like a person that is highly respected. He wears glasses and a bored look on his face.

"Thank god! I thought we'd never find you." Toni exclaims and wraps the twins in his arms.
"Where were you two?" Lilli questions.
"Well, my door lead me here in this isle and I'm assuming the same with Sol because I ran into him here." Sonii explains and Sol nods in agreement.
"And you've just been browsing books? You never thought of looking for help?" The man finally speaks. He sounds amused and at the same time not at all surprised.

"Not exactly. We were listening to a women telling us an interesting legend." Sol adds, his voice seems to challenge that of the man.
"A women? Oh please, I would've known if there was someone else here." The man laughs. He can't believe what he's hearing.
"We're not lying. There was an old women in a grey dress. She had a dragonfly clip holding up her white hair." Sonii answers defensively. When she mentions the dragonfly clip, the man seems more alert and curious.
"You don't say. That was probably my mother." He answers after a short while as if the statement not at all surprises him. He doesn't sound the least bit upset.

"Didn't you just say that no one else was here." June exclaims, it already seems that she's quite irritated and only wants to go home.
"Technically. She's been dead for 15 years but her spirit has a tendency to pop up here every few years. I wish she would've paid me a visit though." He adds, almost sounding bored.

He continues to walk and everyone follows like animals because they're lost in this jungle of books. He seems as if he doesn't care whether or not they follow him.
"He's Aldwin by the way." Milo whispers towards the twins.
Kai catches the twins up on what the rest of the group has learned so far. Aldwin has told them that there is a mystery surrounding the star signs: that every 150 years, a generation is blessed with people who represent each sign. He told them that that is the reason why we were hidden. They are the signs.

"Hold on. How do you know this?" Sonii's curiosity sparks.
"I'm head of this library. I know everything but you need to ask the right question or else you won't get the answer you need." Aldwin answers from the front where he's playing the role of leader. They walk until they find a bay with couches and settle down whilst continuing to question the man.

"Okay fine, what sign am I?" Sonii seeks to challenge him because the attitude of an disinterested arrogant know-it-all he displays makes her blood boil.
"That knowledge is in the books, why do you think I brought everyone this side? You can look up your fate." Aldwin gestures towards the books.

Everyone charges towards a section and rummages through the pages. Lilli screams when she opens a book to find it talk back to her. After the initial shock, everyone becomes accustomed to talking pages.

"Wait a minute. You said we represent the signs right? Why are there only seven of us?" Milo looks up from his book and Toni proceeds to steal the book away from him.

"Ah ha! I was waiting for that. Every generation, one sign is killed at the ground. Their power is preserved in an item of their choice." Aldwin explains.
"And let me guess, we need to look for it before we can succeed." June isn't amused. She acts as if she's been hearing this all her life.

"Only when you get there. It's still early and you don't even know how you're going to start off." Aldwin says and moves towards the dark corner of books and pulls out one with a dusty of leather bound cover and slides it over the table.

"Jane left this here for me to give to you. Once you've figured out your stars, this will help you once you're home." He finally has kindness in his eyes, as if he knows how important Jane is to us.

"Aldwin, when you say represent a sign-" Toni starts off but gets interrupted as Aldwin answers the question like he knew it was coming.
"I'm mean your personality traits and the elements you are drawn to." His voice is of total boredom once again.

They spend hours looking through books. Each is completely engrossed in a certain section.
Sol can't stop reading about the elements.
Sonii and Milo are drawn towards the ideas surrounding the House of Cards and the Aura of Magic.
June and Toni become obsessed with the proceedings of the ritual.
Lilli wanders around towards different topics. From symbolism to fairytales.
Eventually they become exhausted beyond recognition. Aldwin fetches a set of books and dumps it in their arms.
"This will be very helpful when you have your energy back, trust me." He smiles then snaps his findings. The library around them fades out and slowly their surroundings become more familiar and they are left standing on the front steps of their house.

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