“Before they left the magical object behind?” I asked.
“We’ll find out.”
Twenty minutes and several flights of stairs later, we arrived at a vast, gloomy chamber. Nichole and LeAna entered first, and we followed them across a stone bridge lined with tall, intricately carved elven statues. Every elf held a different type of weapon, guarding a large metal door.
“That’s not creepy at all,” Katie whispered, as she locked her arm with mine. I could feel their cold stares on me as we passed each one, and I could swear their eyes trailed us.
LeAna stopped in front of the door. “Before we open the door, I want to know, what’s this information worth to you?”
“What do you mean, what is it worth?” I noted that Nichole stood resting her hand on the hilt of a knife.
“The deal with Katie was to secure you an invitation to solstice and to find out if I had any information about the Danu. Which of course I have.” LeAna stated. “So technically, I have fulfilled my end of the bargain.”
Of course. Why would this be simple? I knew what would come next.
“What do you offer me, in return for letting you have this information.”
Great. Now, instead of people handing me loads of steaming cryptic bullshit, I was expected to buy my own bull. “What do you want?”
“I doubt you have anything physical I want.” I could almost see the wheels start to turn in her head. “I want a favor.”
“A favor? Okay. What’s the favor?”
“A time will come, someday, when I will require something of you. When I call in the debt, you must answer, and do what I ask.”
Seeing how things stood, I decided to add some fine print of my own. “You will show me the book, AND you will help me figure out anything I need to find this magical object. Right?”
“Ah, so we have a shrewd one.” She smiled at Katie now. “Agreed. Do we have a deal?” LeAna asked, and extended her hand.
“Deal” I said. The instant my hand touched LeAna’s, Nichole was at work, unlocking all the magical locks on the door.
LeAna wasn’t kidding about the knowledge and priceless artifacts. These items were worth more than any amount of gold or jewels in the world. No wonder they gave the fairies their power. It looked like a museum, filled with items from every realm. Including rows and rows of books. LeAna and Nichole began to search for the Book of Origins, while Katie and I just gawked at the amassed treasures in awe.
Priceless artwork lined the walls; Rembrandt, Monet, Van Goh, and Botticelli, Grand Ma Moses, even Andy Warhol. Weapons and jewels stuffed glass display cases. Statues from Leonardo to Henry Moore sat on illuminated pedestals. Mannequins clad in armor from all corners of the globe, from here to Japan. I found myself staring at a mighty broadsword laid upon a red velvet pillow, above a plaque:
‘Excalibur, a gift from the Lady in the Lake.’
“No way,” I whispered, as Katie walked up to me.
“I could have told you that was real,” she mused. “She was a water fairy you know, and a very very very distant relative of mine.”
“But I thought she… wasn’t she a fictional character?”
“Oh, the story of King Arthur is very true. So are the legends about Thor’s Hammer, Poseidon’s trident. Oh, and the Vorpal blade in Alice Wonderland.”
“Wait. You’re telling me there really is a ‘Wonderland’?”
“Yes. It’s not far from ‘Neverland’, as a matter of fact, but it’s not a place you’d want to go. You’d go mad,” said Katie, with a wink.
“Too fucking late for that,” I muttered. I’m bat shit crazy already. I couldn’t get any worse. I continued past the row of weapons (David’s slingshot, the staff of Moses, John Wilkes Booth’s pistol, even Harry fucking Potter’s wand) until I reached Nichole. She was searching meticulously through a section of books. “Can I help?”
“Sure. It’s an old brown book written in ancient Irish.”
Right, cause I’m totally fluent in ancient languages. I nodded and began searching. We went over every book on that entire wall, but had no luck finding it. The one thing that kept bothering me was a small space on the top shelf. It looked like a book belonged, but was simply missing.
“I’m sorry, it doesn’t seem to be here,” Nichole moved over to the next row of shelves, still searching. “What’s going on, Keira? Help me understand why this is so important to you?”
I moved over to a small brown desk, heaped with books. I pushed several to the side, and plopped my ass on the Louis the XIV. “Do you know about the curse on my family?” I asked Nichole.
“Refresh me,” she said. I launched into the spiel. The Morrigan, Carman’s three deranged sons and their mission to wipe out my family’s bloodline. World conquest, annihilation, an eternal reign of Darkness, Violence, and Evil. All that shit.
“But I thought the Morrigan banished them?”
“She did, but over the centuries, my family’s power has weakened. Dub, Dothur, and Dian broke through the spell, and have been killing off my family ever since.”
“If that’s true, I don’t see how you can hope to stand up to three immortals,” LeAna clucked.
“The goddess has blessed Keira with her power,” Katie said.
“What? This ordinary… person?” It was simply more than LeAna could countenance. “That can’t be Why would she do that?”
“I’m literally her last hope.” I could see LeAna didn’t give much for our chances. Frankly, she looked insulted by the very notion.
Katie walked over, and pushed some more books aside to make room for her to join me, sitting on the desk. As she did, a few of them fell to the floor. “Whoops,” she said (unconvincingly), as we bent down to pick them up.
I lifted up three books— and noticed one. A small brown book, with gold lettering, in a language that I didn’t recognize. “Is this… ?”
Katie glanced over. “Yeah, the Ancient Tongue.” It
