Bones of Salt

Jonathan

When we were finished telling Mira, Minx and Atticus everything, they were silent for a while.

"Well," Mira was the first to speak. "I would like nothing more than to go on this quest. To know that there is a way to seal off the Creatures, possibly forever..."

"I understand," Atticus said firmly. "But it isn't written anywhere that we should be the ones to do it. I think that, perhaps, we should alert the other members of the Court and tell them all of it."

"No, it's too risky," I suddenly felt very tired. "I know them well. Since my caretaker, Athanasios, was close to them, I basically grew up knowing the five of them like one might know aunts and uncles.  It would not be easy to turn them against Bertha --- she must have thought of it already, when she spilled the truth to us. And even if it works, who's to say it won't lead to a civil war inside the Court?"

"So, what do you suggest?" Atticus sounded just a little bit troubled, now. He never felt emotions fully, or completely. I wondered if this was some act he put on, some way to be his best warrior self.

"You know, I have an inkling as to what Jonathan might be about to say," Minx' eyes glittered. "And I do not disagree completely. This was not what my special project was about, but it's close to it. Taking things into our own hands without waiting for the Court? Sounds like a plan to me! But this is a quest, isn't it? The seals could be everywhere."

"From my studies, and the pages Roman helped me gather from Adina's study room, I came to the conclusion that just by closing one seal, we might already be able to heal Aurora," Mira said. "Not that I wouldn't suggest sealing them all, but at least we know where to start."

"What pages from Adina's study room?" Atticus inquired. "Brother, I would have pegged you for many things but not a thief."

"What makes you think I stole them?" Roman said caustically but one could see he looked disappointment in this judgement on his character.

"What I wanted to say before," Minx said. "Is that if it is some sort of quest, some people might be destined to go. We should visit the First Eve before we come to any conclusion."

"Does one of the First Eves live in Solima?" Roman asked. "Since there are only four prophets in this generation, one would think she could visit, sometimes."

"What for?" Atticus asked innocently.

Mira slung her backpack on her shoulders. "Let's leave right now," she said. "I want to talk to Evangeline as soon as possible."

The road that led from our abandoned warehouse to Evangeline's house almost skirted through the whole of New Solima. It took us on the famous streets of the centre of the city that I always loved, narrowed and brown, and then it led us to the outskirts of New Solima, not the Eastern ones that led to the old city, but the Western, where the houses of the rich were beautiful, colored and big. This was close to where Athanasios lived for the summer, and for a moment I feared I might run into him.

But then I recalled that it was already late September and Athanasios had come back to the house he lived the rest of the year, a huge mansion in Ichor, a little island off the coast of Meglenia. Athanasios' parents were from there, and while he always preferred the capital, his brother Jason had bought him the mansion.

"So," I tried to spark up a conversation with Roman while we were entering Evangeline's front porch. "You've never met the First Eve, I gather."

"Seemed kind of obvious," Roman stepped on a vine. "This almost feels like breaking and entering."

"So I gather you're not only not a thief, but also not a breaking and entering guy either?"

"I never said that," Roman smirked, almost to himself. He took out a knife and cut a big vine that was right in front of us.