TELL ME THE TRUTH

Chapter Six

Chapter Six 

Jeanne Saunier - 2013

Tearing my gaze away from the paper, I looked up at Ryan. He was sitting at the table watching me closely.

"This can't be real," I whispered, scanning the pages once again.

"You saw what happened back at the Square, Jeanne. If that doesn't convince you, I don't know what will."

"This is all so confusing."

"I know. It was like that for me too, babe."

"Don't call me that," I muttered.

He held up his hands in surrender.

"What now?"

"Now, we need to find your mom's Liber ex Inferis."

At that, I arched a brow. "My mom's what?"

"It's Latin. It means 'free from hell.' I don't know why that's what it's called, but it's a really old book about the Underworld meant for the Consulere. Each family in the Consulere has one that's passed down along with the family amulet and talisman."

"The whats?"

Ryan chuckled softly. "The family amulet is a necklace that's passed down. It's unique to each family." He pulled a thin leather strap from underneath his shirt. The amulet itself was about the size of a silver dollar, but thicker. In the very center was a sapphire. Wrapping around the sapphire, engraved in the metal of the amulet, were lightning and electric tendrils. On the other side was the symbol on the inside of Ryan's wrist, and arcing above that was the name DuChên. "Everyone in the Underworld has an amulet with their family name and species, but ours are special. See, another pythonissa might have water instead of lightning. All pythonisse have the electricity, but the other -- where I have lightning -- is unique to their type of magic. Same with our marks. I have lightning because we have what's called storm magic."

"Storm magic?"

"Our powers are fuelled by storms."

"Oh."

"See your mark?" He waited for me to nod before continuing. "Those vines mean you have elemental magic. The thorns represent the amount of power you have at your disposal. The flowers represent the beauty of it. Elemental magic is really strong, it's all of the magic of the elements. So you have storm, sun, wind, water, earth, and fire magic in you. The ash and the smoke with the tendrils means that you also have ancestral magic, which is something that all ostensors have but few pythonisse have."

"Strange, but okay."

"And only the Consulere have marks as big as ours." He held out his arm and pointed to his wrist. "Everyone else just has the symbol and the part that goes around their wrist. The words that go up our forearms are only for Consulere."

I nodded. "What about the sapphire?"

"Sapphire is the gem of pythonisse. Yours is emerald."

"What about talismans?"

"Talismans are charms that have been passed down through families. They've been enchanted and each one has a specific use. The family talisman usually amplifies your power. So for pythonisse and ostensors, we'd be even more powerful. Similar with the other species."

I let my breath out slowly. "This is a lot to take in."

"I know, Jeanne."

"Where do I even start?"