Shadows of Ash and Gold

Chapter fourteen

"I found something!" shouted Everson for the second time, we all jolted our heads toward him. "Oh, never mind."

I sighed and turned back to the book that was in my hands. We were currently in the Crestwood library after hours trying to find anything about 'The Vad'. The thing Aradia told Bash to find. We've been here searching for hours and we've had no such luck.

"How come Aradia told you inside your head? Why not out loud?" asked Nyan who stared at Bash as she shut her book and picked up another one. She was sitting on the floor across from me.

I assumed The library was pretty old and had not been redecorated since the eighteen hundreds. The worn designed carpet scratched against my legs and the atmosphere smelt like old paper and leather.

"Because she obviously didn't want Enyo to know, duh," said Mara from the windowsill.

"I found something!" shouted from Ever once again.

Octavious groaned from his sitting place on one of the wooden banisters. "Ever, I swear to God-"

"No, I mean it, look!" Ever threw the book to Octavious.

"This book is ancient," Octavious started, then opened the book to the page Ever had been and read it out loud, "The Vad; It is a weapon, that, if ever used, can destroy anything within its radius. It's a weapon with both light and dark quantities. It is an instrument of unparalleled destructive power that no single man should ever wield."

I roll my eyes at the use of man. Why not women? I mean we're we not good enough to hold such power? We're we- I shook the thought from my head. That is totally not the point Ryn.

"Oh! I call dibs!" shouted Everson from across the room.

"Shut up, Ever," everyone said at the same time. Ever flipped us all off and slid down one of the banisters to reach the rest of us.

"Can you not act like a child?" Nyan growled at him.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I tore my gaze away from them and dug it out, seeing a text message from Finn.

Mom wants you to text her back. Why aren't you answering? What's going on between the two of you?

I felt my chest squeeze at my little brother's words. Did he truly not know? Had mom lied to him too? Did Ace know? Mom had been texting and calling me non stop for the past week, i've felt guilty for ignoring her but what could i possibly say to her? I wasn't ready to speak to her. I breathed in slowly and shoved my phone back into my pocket. I couldn't think of that right now.

"Let me see that," said Mara who snatched the book from Octavious. "Both light and dark? Does that mean it has magic?"

"The weapon?" asked Nyan.

Bash shrugged and stood up. "It's not unheard of. But I don't like the 'it is an instrument of unparalleled destructive power that no single man should yield' tid bit."

"That's totally sexist," I chimed in and Nyan agreed with me, nodding her head.

"Stop being a feminist," said Ever. I stuck my tongue out at him and he laughed. I knew his words were not serious. Most of the time they weren't.

     "Is that all it says about it?" asked Kaida who spoke for the first time. She was sitting in one of the corners pretending not to be interested in our hunt for information.

Mara squinted down at the book. "Wait," she leaned forward. "There's some type of poem but the font is so small." Mara growled out of frustration as she struggled to read the small print. She had a determined look on her face, her eyes squinted and her her lips pursed.