The Secrets Of The Gordian Knot Book 1: Book Of Secrets

Chapter 12 - The Birth of The Voyageurs

Whoosh!

James, Melissa, and Emaline arrived at what appeared to be the highest floor of the Grand Gallery. Below them was the vast maze of the grand granite staircase. Thousands of ghosts floated and wandered about the Gallery while students were going about their business.
"Right this way, please," said Emaline. "Professor Fontaine will be waiting for you."
"Professor, am I in trouble?" James asked nervously. 
"No, James. You're not." She kneeled put her arm on his shoulder and smiled. "I promise."
They marched in silence around a corner and she stopped before an extremely large stone Horned Serpent.
"Lobster roll!" Emaline said as she raised her hands in the air. It was definitely a password because the Horned Serpent began to come alive, coiling upward. 
"Go on ahead. We're right behind you." Melissa said.
James walked up the staircase until he saw a door made of balsam fir ahead, with a brass knocker in the shape of a Thunderbird. This must be where Headmaster Fontaine lives. 
"...they're threatening to send a group of Aurors to Ilvermorny, for security," said a woman, appearing to be of Hispanic descent. "They think this might be related to Rale's attacks in L.A. Hopefully, this doesn't affect Harry Potter's visit to Ilvermorny." Most of the teachers were gathered inside the office and a group of men and women in jackets and fedoras.
"When's Potter coming?" asked Fontaine.
"I heard sometime before Halloween. He and his friends might be staying in Adams for a little while. I think he wants to get to know his American relatives a little better."
"He's going to be early. That should get the kids excited. But it's only a matter of time before Rale finds that necklace as well as Isolt's journals. Because, when combined, they contain the map to all four stones," said Fontaine, sitting at his desk looking at a newspaper.
"No one knows where they are," Professor Sayre said sharply. "No one has been able to find them in the past 300 years, not even Headmaster Arausio, who was killed by a Hidebehind. We need to find them before Rale and the NeoScourers do, Madam President."
"Those NeoScourers are terrorists, AIlis," said the President. "MACUSA doesn't deal with terrorists. We'll get Rale just like we did to his great-great-great-great-grandfather."
"Wait here," Emaline said as she entered the office just as they were talking. James handed the journals to her.
"Headmaster," she said quickly. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but this is absolutely critical."
Everyone looked at her. 
"You'd better have an excellent excuse to interrupt this meeting, Professor Goode," said Fontaine.
"Yes, sir. I do." She began to walk forward. "Four days ago, a first-year student wandered into the Entrance Hall and discovered these journals that once belonged to Isolt Sayre, as well as the Wampus stone and the necklace that belonged to her mother; these journals containing an encyclopedic collection of the various magical beasts and supernatural occurrences that occur on Mount Greylock." Everyone began to whisper. 
"A first-year?" said Professor Potter. "Who?"

"Come in, please." Emaline put her hand towards the front door and it opened. As they walked inside, James and Melissa looked around to see all of their teachers gathered in one place. They began to whisper among themselves. James was nervous once again. He immediately grasped his sister's hand. 
"James?" Luna said as if she could not believe her eyes.
"Hi, everyone," James said.
"Well, hello there," said the woman sweetly. "My name is Sophia Calderon-Boot. I'm the President of the Magical Congress of the United States of America. Professor Goode. Who are these two adorable children?" She shook both James and Melissa's hands.
"Everyone, this is James Evercreetch. He's the student that found the journals." The teachers and Aurors began to whisper to each other. "And this is his sister, Melissa." 
James and Melissa both bowed before the president.
"Evercreetch?" said one of the Aurors, a young woman. "As in Patricia Evercreetch, the Quidditch player and Potioneer?" 
"Yes," said Professor Mordecai. "These are her children. Their mother was one of my finest students and one of the best Quidditch players I've ever seen."
"Thank you, Professor Mordecai," Melissa said politely.
"I heard a rumor somewhere that the Evercreetch family are supposedly related to the Sayre family," said Professor Godwine.
"It's just a theory," said Professor Sayre. "If they were Isolt's last living descendants, then they would inherit her powers, like the ability to speak to snakes. They look so much like her. They have her eyes. But it could be possible."
"Uh...Did both of you find the journals or did just one find them?" Luna inquired.
"Umm...I did, Professor Lovegood," said James, who had the journals. 
"Young man," said Professor Fontaine. "Come here." Professor Goode brought James before Professor Fontaine. 
"Am I in trouble, sir?" he said worriedly.
"Not at all," Fontaine said assuringly. "You just did what no Ilvermorny Headmaster was able to do in the past 300 years. Even I was unable to find those journals for over 20 years that you now hold in your hands. One Headmaster was killed by a Hidebehind looking for it." 
"A Hidebehind?" James replied.
"Oh, yes. They are quite common here on Mount Greylock. Isolt killed one of them. He rescued Chadwick and Webster Boot from it. I'm sure she wrote about it in her journal."
"Are you going to take the journals away from me, sir?" James asked him.
"No. Mr. Evercreetch. I will not," he said with relief. "I would prefer it if you and your sister kept them. They're yours now." He took Journal #1, read through it, and finally handed it back. James smiled at him. 
"Agilbert, are you sure this is a good idea?" Professor Sayre asked with disbelief. "Entrusting my ancestor's journals to these two children?"
"Yes. There is no one I would trust more with these books than a child."
"But how on earth did you find them, Mr. Evercreetch?" Professor Kilpatrick asked him directly. 
James paused for a minute and he grinned. "I will show you." 
He and Melissa led everyone into the Entrance Hall and showed them the bust of Isolt Sayre behind the Wampus carving. As he explained it to all of his teachers, he took Isolt's necklace and placed it into the slot on the dial. He turned it until it clicked and then pressed it down. The vault door cracked open. Fontaine opened it and all of the teachers looked inside. Even the President of MACUSA and the Aurors. James explained to them how he also found Isolt's necklace, saying that he was able to "sense" where it was.
"How about that?!" Professor Medicine Crow said as he examined the vault next.
Professor Fontaine looked inside next for a few minutes and then he started laughing.
"Are you okay, Agilbert?" Professor Kilpatrick asked.
"Of all the places I did not care to look; I did not start at the beginning!" He continued laughing. "Only to be outwitted by a child!"
"James," Emaline said calmly as she put her hands on James's shoulders. "This is...huge; this is really huge; what you just did. You know that, right? No one has ever been able to find those journals for a very long time. For over 300 years and can you do me a favor?"
"Anything, Professor," James replied.
"Take very good care of those books. Do not let out of them out of your sight."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Ms. and Mr. Evercreetch," said Professor Fontaine as he walked towards them. "For your discovery, I shall see fit to award you both 25 points for Thunderbird each and put you both down for Special Awards for Services to the School." James and Melissa looked at each other and smiled. "Thank you, sir!" Melissa said excitedly. 
"You're welcome. This is an important and exciting day for the school. May these journals serve you both well. And be sure to update us on any discoveries you make. I will let the entire school know about this very exciting news immediately."
"Yes, sir. Let's get everyone together in The Sanctuary later tonight," James whispered to Melissa. "I have an idea."