It's Just Magic

Olly's Out Of The Loop

As New Year approached Edendir was still no closer to working out what the message meant. After a little persuasion he told the others and then retreated back to his room with the book. He'd sit and puzzle it out for hours until he either fell asleep or was bribed to get away with food. Towers made out of cards were piled around his room from when he'd got bored and doodles were scribbled on the walls. The floor was covered; he'd become obsessed with trying to work it out.

"Hey, Edendir," Vassago said, stepping over numerous piles of books to reach the elf. 

"What?" Edendir said, glancing around from where he was stood by the window, staring out.

"Two things." Vassago sat down on the bed. "One: Boyd has a visitor that keeps vanishing and I'm beginning to worry I'll walk into him, or he'll walk through a wall when I don't want him to."

"Paranoia," Edendir said dismissively. "Second thing?"

"Dylan's worked out what the message means."

At that Edendir's head shot up and he spun around. "What?"

"Dylan's worked out what the message means," Vassago repeated.

"Where is he?"

"In the lounge, I think..."

Immediately Edendir teleported, appearing in the lounge stood in front of a startled Dylan.

"You worked it out?" the elf said, eyes wide.

"I think so," Dylan said cautiously. "Do you have the book?"

"I've memorised it."

"I haven't though so go and get it," Dylan ordered. Edendir vanished and then reappeared, holding the dusty volume. He held it out and Dylan flicked through until he reached the note.

"YM," he said, pointing his finger at the letters. "We can assume these are initials for someone. But nobody mentioned in this book and nobody we know has those initials so we go to the next option; a nickname. 

'But it would be quite an unusual nickname to have. Not many names begin with the letter 'Y' so we can cross a nickname off the list. Maybe the meaning of a name, then? That idea opens us up to a lot of possibilities but think; who would be trying to contact you via a book about your own history?" Dylan raised his eyebrows and thumbed back a wad of pages until he found what he was looking for. 

"Edendir, your name means 'new young man', right?" Dylan asked. 

"Yes."

"Split it up for me."

"Eden means new, dir means young man," Edendir said, frowning in bewilderment. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Your real dad," Dylan said, eyes glittering. He pointed to the name. "Dir. Meaning young man. YM." 

There was silence as the other people in the room stopped to take that information in. Dylan's smile grew and Edendir mirrored it.

"We found the note-writer!" Dylan said in glee.

"And my dad's still alive!" Edendir yelled, grabbing his friend's forearms and jumping up and down excitedly. "This changes everything! There's still a chance to make things right!"

As they bounced around the room squealing, laughter echoing in their ears, there was a soft cough. Edendir managed to stop Dylan's hyperactivity and turned around, searching for the interrupter.

A boy of a little younger than them was stood next to Boyd. He wore smartly cut clothes, light brown hair slicked back. He had sharp eyes and kept on fading out of sight before reappearing again.