Qolie Jacobsons

Chapter Two: Library of Secrets

    Tygren wasn't wrong when he called school boring. All they ever seemed to do was read. This time around, they instructed their kids to constantly read the Bible to 'stay in His good graces'. Qolie groaned at the thought. But when she looked over at Tygren, he surprisingly didn't seem as agonizingly bored as she did. When the teacher left to speak with the Headmistress about who knows what, Qolie approached Tygren. "Psst! Hey!" she whispered. Tygren looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Wanna skip?" Tygren's judgemental face returned. "What?" Qolie scoffed. "I dunno, I'm bored!" Tygren slightly shook his head. "All we ever do is read."
"Suprised you know how to read." even though this snarky comment was meant to humor himself, Tygren didn't smile. In the one day, they knew each other. Qolie never saw him smile. "Very funny, red boy."
"Where would we even go? To a place with more books?" that gave Qolie an idea. A place this weird surely had secrets. And what better place to find secrets than a library? Seeing the mischief on her face, Tygren spoke up. "No, absolutely not." he rejected. "Why not?" Qolie complained, already starting to leave. Frantic, Tygren followed Qolie to the Library door. The Library already stemmed like a dungeon. Both huge doors were padlocked. "Everyone's allowed in a library," Qolie said, grabbing a hairpin from her hair. "Not ones that are padlocked!" despite what Tygren warned, Qolie picked the lock and opened the door. "For the son of a murderer, you are very uptight." Tygren rolled his eyes.

The Library looked ethereal. The shelves were at least ten feet tall and filled with books from head to toe, the only light was a dark green fluorescent light on the roof and small candles, and it was completely empty. "Woah," Qolie breathed. Although Tygren wouldn't dare to display it on his face, he was as amazed as Qolie was. Just then, Qolie ran towards one of the shelves and used the ladder to get to the top. "Qolie!" Tygren whispered, afraid that someone would hear her. Qolie was amazed by how shiny the books were. Each one of their spines was dabbled with some jewel. Qolie was specifically awestruck by a book that was facing the front. It was tan, had a huge ruby in the center, and the name 'Adina' was written below the gem. When Qolie touched it, it opened up and flew towards her by itself. Startled, Qolie fell off the ladder and screamed but was fortunately caught by Tygren, bridal style. "Hey nice catch," Tygren rolled his eyes again and let her down. Qolie couldn't believe it. A book was flying. "What is that?" Tygren asked. The book, still floating, opened, and cursive golden letters appeared from nowhere. 'Mateo' it read. Tygren raised an eyebrow. Before he could say anything, the book dropped in his hands. When Tygren flipped through it, his eyebrows deepened. There were tons of sketches of plants, potions, and animals with paragraphs of a language written under them that Qolie didn't recognize. "What language is that?" she asked. "Voltarian." Qolie's eyes widened. "Really? What is it saying?"
    "Witches." Tygren breathed. "Witches!? It's a spell book!? Does that mean everything in here is?" Qolie exclaimed. The book flew back out of Tygren's hands. Suddenly, they heard the door slam behind them. They had been caught. "Tygren! Tomorrow's a big day for you! You shouldn't be following Qolie around all day." Mateo almost immediately flew behind Qolie's back. "I-"
    "This place is off limits, children. Leave. now." a bit shaken by the Headmistress' tone, Tygren, and Qolie scooted away without letting her see the book.

~...~

    The next day, before their class started, Tygren needed answers. He needed answers about Mateo, the Headmistress, and the magic patch. "Trinity?" who else would know about these things but Trinity? "Look who it is," she teased. "You told the headmistress," Tygren said, crossing his arms. "About our match? No. She just heard Qolie bragging about it." Tygren sighed. Typical Qolie. No matter how much he wanted to end the conversation right then and there, he had work to do. "I have something to ask you." Trinity raised an eyebrow. "Well?" she asked. "You're a witch, aren't you? Everyone here is." Trinity's eyes slightly widened. She expected it would take a longer time for him to realize. "Yes."
    "Then what are Qolie and I doing here?" Trinity scoffed with a smile. The thought of him being clever got thrown out of her mind quickly. "Being a witch is genetic, Tygren, why do you think you're here?" Tygren wanted it to be a lie. One of his parents was a witch? It couldn't be. "Then why aren't we allowed in the library?" Trinity shrugged. "There's probably something specific the Headmistress doesn't want you to see," she told him before walking away.

    ~...~

    Tygren found Qolie in the southern courtyard wearing a cream-colored dress with beige sleeves and collar, a soft pink waistband, and a lined collar, with soft pink 17th-century boots to match. She had stuck a shaded umbrella to the ground to shade herself and was reading Mateo. "Qolie," Tygren called out. Qolie turned around. "Hey! Come here," no matter how friendly Qolie could be, Tygren was used to being in a winter wasteland. And he did not like change. Tygren shook his head. "Come on!"
    "No," Qolie rolled her eyes, approached Tygren, and grabbed him by the wrist. "Don't be like that, the sun's good for you," she said, sitting him down near the shaded umbrella. "What are you doing?" Tygren asked, looking down at Mateo. "Trying to do some of these spells." Tygren scoffed. "You're not a witch, Qolie," Qolie gestured her hand at him as a way to brush him off. "Then why does Mateo love me?" Mateo arose and flipped his pages as a way to agree with Qolie. Tygren had no response. "Exactly." just then, the whistle blew. "Aaand mic drop. Good luck getting your ass kicked." before Tygren could walk away, he whipped back around. "You're not coming?" Qolie turned to him. "Do I have to?" Tygren nodded and pulled his judgmental face. "Yes!" Qolie groaned. "Fine! Can Mateo come?"
"No!"

~...~

    "It's beautiful to see the new kids participating in the same week!" Headmistress Sara beamed. "I think Tygren will be a challenge for you, darling," Trinity subtly rolled her eyes. "Well, let's not waste time." Headmistress Sara blew her whistle starting the match. It started as simple hand-to-hand combat. Tygren had the upper hand in terms of agility, but he quickly noticed that Trinity was disturbingly strong. No matter how fast the rabbit runs, it cannot fight a polar bear. Tygren grabbed Trinity's fist to disable her, but it ended up working to his disadvantage when she kicked him in the stomach and flipped him on his back.

    Tygren quickly came to from the whiplash. But his shocked face didn't leave him. He was a mixture of impressed and intrigued. She had beaten a boy who had killed hundreds of Ardoni. "Looks like you're tapped out, Red Boy." When Tygren looked up at Trinity, he froze. His stomach felt like all of his organs had moved out of place, his lungs felt like they were dying and his head wasn't much better. His entire body was in a kind of pain he couldn't recognize. By the time he could focus, Trinity had gotten off of him. "Will she ever wear out!?" The Headmistress clapped. Tygren got up and scurried out of that courtyard. Confused Qolie followed, but by the time she made it inside, he was gone.