Chapter 20

     The girl was a girl no more. In her place, with the same silver hair and the same white sun dress and the same face was a young woman. Her silver eyes darted about as she searched the near area for her beloved twin.

     The boy in black also aged. He was a handsome young man. He grabbed her arm to stop her frantic search.

     “Myra, calm down,” he said. “Unra is fine as long as she is with Draco.”

     “No, Markus.” Myra shock her head violently. “This isn't right! Nothing was supposed to change! It was supposed to stay the way it was when we were children forever! I have to find her!”

      Markus nodded slowly. “I'll help you.”

 

* * *

 

     Markus and I stand outside with Vik, waiting with him for his cab. By the end of the day Vik would be with Lee in the Heart Mountains.

     When the yellow car pulls up in front of our house, I ask Markus to put Vik's bags in the trunk. He smiles and nods, knowing I want to say goodbye to my brother. As soon as he is out of ear shot I turn to Vik.

     “Be careful, Vik,” I say quietly. “I won't be able to save you if you get in a bind.”

     Vik smiles. “I know, milady. I will be careful.”

     I laugh softly and hug him. “I'll miss you,Vikirnoff.”

     “And I'll miss you, Mimerain.”

     “Vik,” I pull back a bit so I can look him in the eye, “did you say something to Markus? I think he is starting to get suspicious.”

     “He should be,” Vik tells me. “It'll make it easier for him to except if he already thinks something is up.”

     I nod slowly as I pull away. “I love you.”

     Vik kisses my cheek. “I love you, too, kiddo.”

     He walks to the cab and shakes Markus's hand. “Take care of my little sister, Dragon.”

     Markus grins. “I will, Adept.”

     Markus joins me and holds my hands as we watch the cab drive away. Markus follows Mim into the large, single story building a few blocks away from her house.

 

 

 

He had been to the Adept Meeting House for Mim's birthday party, but was still a little uncomfortable. This is the Adept's place and he is not an Adept.

     Mim seems to sense his unease. She stops him in the entry hall made of white marble and frames his face with her hands. The warmth of her hands seeps into his skin and the purity of her soul washes over him.

     “Its alright, honey,” she says sweetly. “The Adepts like you. Everyone at my party thought you were wonderful. They wouldn't mind a bit that you are here.”

     He tries to smile. “I just feel out of place.”

     She raises to her tiptoes and kisses him. He is instantly distracted by the feel of her soft lips against his own. His arms snake around her waist and she giggles as she pulls back.

     “That's why,” she says softly, “I am leaving you somewhere you are comfortable while I'm dealing with the Lords.”

     Markus frowns as he lets Mim slip out of his arms and take his hand. She leads him through the right hand doors and down a white marble hall. She opens a heavy oak door and leads him inside.

     The room is a small library. The walls are covered in shelves that look full to the bursting point. The bookshelves at the sides of the room are vertical, the ones in the middle horizontal, all looked about to blow. The shelves also were painted in three different colors. Markus spots the ends of table between shelves. There is no one here, but the place looks well kept.

     “Our library isn't as big as your's,” Mim told him as she leads him to one of the tables deep in the rows. “Only Earth Adepts really care about recording our history. The Water Adepts have a section where they record their visions, which is the whole back wall and a few back middle shelves. The blue shelves are visions, the purple are Balance Logs, and the blue-green teal colored ones are general histories.”

     “Color coded shelves?” Markus asks.

     Mim nods and smiles. “It was the Balance Eadith's idea. She built this place and designed all the rooms and stuff. The older documents are closer to the back and the new stuff is closer to the front. The oldest thing in here is Balance Eadith's blue prints for the Meeting House and my house.”

     “She made your house?”

     “Yup. Like, she actually made both herself. She was strong with Earth. That was at least a thousand years ago. I'm not too sure. It could have been two.”

     Markus finds himself stunned. One woman made buildings all by herself and it had been thousand of years ago. The first Light User record is about three thousand years old and written in the Old Language. Markus had a book that helps translate the Old Language to the one used today in his bag at Mim's house. His grandparents had given it to him for his twelfth birthday. He loves history.

     Markus pulls Mim into his arms and kisses her soundly. Several minutes later he lifts his head.

     Mim laughs. “I take it you feel better?”

     He smiles. “I do.” “Then I can go to my meeting now.”

     She slips out of his arms and walks to the door. “Have fun, honey. I'll come get you when the meeting is over.”

     Before he even hears the door close behind her Markus is browsing the shelves. He doesn't know where to begin. He doesn't have his translation book so he heads to the front of the library to the newer pieces of the collection. He turns down an aisle of purple shelves and sees a tall woman putting books away. He stops in his tracks and studies the woman.

     She is tall, a few inches taller than himself, he guesses. Her hair is a grass green he has never seen before and straight as a line. Her skin is dark as ebony and looks smooth. She wears a light brown blouse and dark green flowing skirt. Her feet are covered by leather, heeled boots. She turns toward him, a book still in her hands. Her light green eyes smile at him.

     “Lord Markus,” she says in a quiet, soft voice. “it is a pleasure to meet you. I am Lyrena.”

     Markus smiles politely at her. “The pleasure is mine, Lyrena. Are you the librarian?”

     Lyrena nods. “I look after these records when I can. I am normally very busy, but I spend my spare moments tending to my libraries.”

     “I'm very fond of libraries myself,” Markus tells her. “I love learning about the histories of our races.”

     Lyrena smile widens. “I do love someone who appreciates history. Feu and Wina don't care a wit about the past. Aqura is the only one that pays any attention to my efforts to put our past on paper.”

     “You know Feu and Wina?” Markus asks. “Do you know Mim, too?”

     “I do.” Lyrena nods. “She is very dear to the four of us. We do our best to take care of her.”

     “It's good to know Mim has friends who care. I was worried when I found out she has no friends at school.”

     “Mim is special,” Lyrena says. “She is meant for great things. I am so glad she has found someone to love and love her.”

     Markus smiles. “I'm glad, too. She deserves to be surrounded by people who love her. I want to give her that.”

     “And you may, one day,” the dark woman tells him. She walks down the aisle and holds the book in her hands out to him. “You like history. I have searched for years to find this and I want someone who will truly appreciate it to read it first.”

     Markus takes the book. It is small and made of black leather. A white ribbon holds it closed. It looks like a much-used diary.

     “It is at least four thousand years old,” Lyrena's words bring him back from his study. “It is written the Old Language. I do believe it is the diary of Myra, the first Balance.”

     Markus is amazed anew. “It is so well preserved.”

     “Lady Myra spelled it to last,” Lyrena says simply. “I can sense the power she put into it to make sure it didn't fade away.”

     “Thank you, Lyrena,” Markus says sincerely. “This could help my people understand the woman they have hated for so long.”

     “I hope you use it well.” Lyrena touched his shoulder lightly. Even that light touch revealed her soul to the Dragon.

     “Good day, Lord Markus.”

     Before Markus could say anything Lyrena was gone. The look into her soul confused Markus. The green, earthy quality that is Lyrena is thiner than it should be. Behind it was another soul he has felt before, but he couldn't remember where.

     Markus looks down at the book in his hands. He goes to a table and tries to translate as much of the first passage as he can with out his book.

Author's Note

I AM ON A ROLL, BABY!!! BOOM-SHOCK!!!!

Reviews

[Brie]

whoa. so many names! Myra and Markus in the first little thing... then Lyrena with Myra's diary...
continue with your roll!!