Griffin Rock's Secret: A Cody Burns Fanfiction

Chapter 15

Frankie stood in front of the rows and rows of books in the Griffin Rock Library. There were way more books than she realized in the Mythology section. Then again, when had she really ever gone into the library other than to find books about dinosaurs and biology?

She prowled along the shelves, muttering the words "fire" and "creature" to herself. She really wished she had more information to go off of, but her friend was most likely sleeping, and he needed that. She started to pull books off the selves that she thought would be relevant to large creatures and fire entities. After obtaining about three large volumes, she made a mental note on where she found them, then proceeded to find a small table to sit at.

"Okay," Frankie sighed, setting down the books and opening the first one. "Just think of this as a school project, and you'll be through these in no time." Even as she said this, she couldn't help but look back at all the other books on the shelves and internally groan. Pulling her focus back to the book in front of her she started to read. And read. And read some more.

Book after book she pulled from the shelves, read through, then returned them to repeat the cycle. By late afternoon, she still had no leads on what Cody could have seen in the forest. She had gone through about fifty books, and lots of them were large volumes with few pictures and lots of big words.

She was starting to lose motivation as she scoured through another row of mythology books. She was about to move to the next row when she looked up and saw a thin volume sitting at the top of the shelf. As the kind librarian helped bring it down, Frankie couldn't help but notice how dusty the book was. As she sat down, she ran her fingers over the cover, which was faded leather, and slightly rough to the touch.

"You look promising," Frankie whispered as she opened the book. "But that's what I said about the other fifty books I read." The faded yellow pages were crinkled here and there, but the writing was still quite legible. In fact, the book didn't even look like it belonged in the library, but at a museum. Turning to the first few pages, Frankie's eyes widened as she read, her focus rekindled as she turned through the book.

Before there were even humans in Griffin Rock, a bright star fell from the sky, shining like fire against the night's blackness. It was said to have landed in the forest, below the mountain where the Griffin¹ now sleeps. And then, where the star landed, the night turned to day for only a few moments. The island was illuminated, and in that moment, as the star flared its brightest, something was born.
Its eyes were the fire from the star, its heart the molten core. Horns of the densest material, and fur of the silver mist that enveloped the island. The Aed Mau² was born in a firey birth, and to announce its arrival, gave a roar that shook the island.
Then, as the day arose, the Aed Mau, entered a deep slumber, inside the forest. The mist protected the creature, but as humans began to arrive, the mists were destroyed, and the Aed Mau's existence was threatened.
However, it was foretold that one day, in some unknown future, the Aed Mau would awaken in another firey explosion, and the island would be bathed in light. And once it was awake, it would seek to find a worthy island, and rule over its land until the end of time.
(¹Griffin: also known as Gryphon; large creature that is said to be part eagle, part lion; flies and is ruler over sky; See page 82 for more information.
²Aed Mau: Aed derived from Greek tales as the name of one of the gods, literally means 'fire', Mau derived from the Egyptian word for 'cat'; uncommonly known as The Fire Cat. See page 47 for more information.)

Frankie closed the book for a moment, trying to gather all of her thoughts. There was much more to the book, she had only read the first few pages, which had many side notes and little writings and other small details about other things. She was sure that this was the book she needed, but she didn't feel right about just borrowing the book. She didn't want to just leave it at the library either.

Frankie walked up to the counter, where the librarian was shelving some returned books. Setting the old looking book down, she quietly cleared her throat. The librarian turned, seeing Frankie with a book, and smiled politely while coming over to check out the book.

"I was wondering when I should bring it back," Frankie asked as the librarian went to scan the book. A confused look covered the lady's face as she tried to find the code to scan the book into the database.

"I'm sorry, but this book doesn't seem to have a code for checkout," the lady explained, turning to Frankie. "It doesn't seem to be in the database anywhere."

"What can I do to borrow it then?" Frankie asked, wanting to make sure that she could have a way to show the book to Cody. She kept getting a weird prickle on the back of her neck, like she was being watched. The librarian thought for a moment, then pressed the book into Frankie's hands.

"Keep it," the lady said, smiling at the girl. "I trust you'll take better care of the book than some other people. It looks quite old, and we probably would give it out anyway sooner or later."

"Thank you!" Frankie couldn't believe her luck as she walked out of the library, clutching the book that had answers to a lot of her questions. As soon as the library was out of sight, she started running for the firehouse.