Arella's Ash

Chapter Seven

The next day was a day filled with more adventure. I awoke to the sun seeping into the window and the smell of food. Very delicious food. Outside where we ate last night, Lucius sat at the head of the table with Agnes to his right and Felix to his left. I took my seat at the opposite side of the table with Ray on my left and Leo on my right. Liana sat in between Ray and Agnes.

"Lucius, thank you for letting us stay. It's been a pleasure so far," Leo graciously said.

"You're absolutely welcome. I hope you'll excuse the fact that amica mea and I have to work and Agnes has school. So the four of you will be alone for the majority of the day."

"Oh, that's no problem at all!" Ray exclaimed, sounding almost too happy. I kicked her leg under the table. She shot me a look before returning to smiling.

That day we set off in search of whatever. Truely, I had no idea. I knew that we needed Jasper Winters, but that was about it. The four of us, plus King and Pom, wandered around aimlessly, earning many looks from our "funny clothes". Throughout the day, I tried to practice using magic in little ways. Moving leaves and causing shop items to roll mainly. I didn't want to risk doing anything too flashy that could result in my feeling overly tired or drawing the attention of people. That would all be bad.

After our third market that we visited, Ray started to get visibly frustrated.

"I'm tired! We've been to three of these and found nothing!" She kicked small pebbles around her feet.

"We'll find something soon. I know we will," Leo reassured her.

"Ray might have a point. We've practically walked in circles for the past hour. I'm starting to feel like this is a lost cause," Liana piped in with a little sigh.

Leo looked a little sad, but eventually said, "Okay, a small break, right Ash?" By that point I'd known I was spacing out, but I hadn't quite understood how much until Leo said my name and I took a second too long to respond.

"Sorry, only half paying attention. A break seems fine. We have all day to find what we need." I took a seat on a small step at the foot of a building. Liana and Ray followed suit when Leo gasped.

"Ash! You're a genius! Look above your head!" He exclaimed. I looked up and noticed a small sign that read something like Library. Of course it was backwards, but I got the general idea. We might be one small step closer to what we needed, all thanks to Rays complaining. I gave her a quick hug and she looked like I had just grown another head. I just shrugged the look off with a small smile and laugh.

After our little rest, Leo led us in a rush into the library. It was really different from the one back home. Instead of leather bound books, there were paper scrolls and stone tablets. Nothing was where it should be, I was so confused. Leo placed a hand on my arm to comfort me.

"We'll find what we need. Even if it takes all day," he stated with a new tone of determination. To save time, we split up into groups. Leo with Ray and Liana and I. Leo and Ray took Pom with them, while Liana and I took King. We investigated all the shelves, but nothing seemed to be what we needed. Nothing mentioned magic nor magic criminals. The only thing was books about Arella's royalty, which wouldn't help us. "Unless", a thought crossed my mind.

"Liana, can you get all the information on Arella's royal family for me? Thanks!" I dashed off to a nearby table where I took out some parchment, a quill, and an ink well.

Liana followed shortly after, carrying scrolls upon scrolls. She dropped them on the table and went back for a second round. I began to scour the scrolls, looking for anything that could prove that normal citizens had magic. I thought I was finally on to something, but the scrolls were ripped right where I might need them. Not just a few, but all of them. Completely ripped off. Leo would say it was a crime against knowledge. The only thing that we had to prove this theory was a possibly fake clue and a hunch. Not good odds. I began to feel upset at the fact that I may have doomed us all. That was until King pushed his head to my leg and dragged over my bag. I pulled out the book thatI had brought with us. I knew I was missing something. That's when things finally started to click. Jasper went around inspiring others that had magic. He knew where it sucked the most, so that's all we had to do.