The Divide: Luminescence

Chapter 7

I woke up Saturday morning excited to finally have a day all to myself. I got dressed and quietly stepped out of the room, not wanting to wake Eliza up. I had to go look for that book, and I didn’t want anyone tagging along.

I walked down into the courtyard, and as I went down the stone steps, I could feel my body buzz from the energy. It was weird that no one else had found this place, the old magic in it called to me like a moth to a flame. Since I knew I had all day, I took my time examining everything. The pearl markings I had seen last time had the faintest hints of gold in them, and they ran in a pattern down the corridor, working within each other, intertwining more and more as they reached the door.

This time when I reached the door, it was closed, and I couldn't see a knob to turn it. I cautiously reached my hand out and pushed my palm against the door. The humming in my body intensified when I came into contact with the door. I closed my eyes and concentrated, focusing on the magic pumping through my veins. I focused it to my palm, putting all of my energy there, and I could feel the door responding to the magic, the mechanics to the door moving beneath my palm. With a creak it opened, and I walked into the room.

I stepped in and once again was taken away by what lay in front of me.  The room had completely transformed under the light of day. The white marble fountain looked as if it were glowing, and I looked up to see rays of gold cascading through skylights on the ceiling. Behind the row of thrones were two massive doors. I had missed them last time I was here, because they were hiding in the shadows. I stepped into the light and hugged myself. I felt safe here, like nothing could get me. Like I was disconnected from everything else that was going on in my life. In this room it was just me, I was protected in the sunlight, and it made me stronger. At night I was protected by the shadows, concealed and hidden.

I went to the first door to the right, and the first thing I noticed was that the door had a massive sword and shield etched into it. I tried opening it but couldn't, so I moved to the other door. That one also had a symbol on it, but it was different. It was two arrows, crossed, in each of the four quadrants an element. Flame for fire, a droplet for water, a gust of air for wind, and a tree for earth.

The door had already been open, and I decided to take the opportunity to look inside, just in case it was shut the next time I came and I couldn't open it. A gasp escaped my lips as I looked around. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was a massive library, and there were enough books in there to last me much longer than a lifetime. I told myself not to get my hopes up as I walked further into it, but this must have been what my father was talking about. The book he wanted me to find had to be in here.

I walked through the shelves, fingers tracing the spines, seeing if I felt anything special on any of them. I didn't feel any different in this room, it didn't feel like anything was calling to me, didn't feel like anything was drawing me in. All I wanted to do was go back to the main room, back to the sun. I sighed and walked out, going back to the chairs. I had yet to inspect them in the light, and as I walked to them I noticed something I had completely missed last time. On the back of each chair was a symbol, etched into the marble. The first on the left had claw marks, and as I looked at the rest, everything started to piece together. Claw marks, for the shifters. I moved to the next chair, and saw a diamond, with four dots at each point. The diamond, for Readers. The middle chair had nothing on it, so I just assumed it was for whoever was the leader at that point, but as walked past it, I had a very distinct feeling that I was wrong, and that that chair was much more important than that. The chair next to it had a shield and a sword, and I knew it was for a warrior. Maybe whoever that chair was meant for could open that door. So I knew, without looking at the last chair what it was, and I knew who it had belonged to. Only Jasper and I knew about this place, and the door with the Elemental mark had been opened. Only he could open it. What I didn't expect, however, was that the etching would change colour. The symbol had turned a metallic blue colour, and my mind was running with possibilities.