Love lines (14 page)

“Yes,” I said, “it was Medellin.” Judging by the worried
expression on his face it seemed that Christian still hoped to hear a negative
response. Evan stood beside him. He was also looking at the portrait of his
distant relative.

“I look definitely like her,” smiling, he said. I was
still surprised at the ease with which Evan treated all the problems. Although,
I thought it was an imaginary peace. He just could hide his emotions better
than anyone of us.

“If she wasn’t such a
witch
in all senses of the
word, I would certainly be proud of my kinship with her,” he added. “So, now we
know that the woman in the lake was really Medellin. What shall we do next?”

“I think we should dig into those documents that Darcy
mentioned. Let’s go to Alexis,” Christian said, heading for the exit.

Chapter 15. Book
archives (
Christian)

All the way to the administration building, I was
watching Eileen. She seemed to be so immersed in her own thoughts, that didn’t
notice anything around her. And those thoughts didn’t leave her even for a
minute. Probably that was why she looked so tired. However it didn’t influence
her beauty, but the lack of usual glitter in her eyes was a bad sign. My own
appearance wasn’t any better.

For several nights I couldn’t sleep. I thought that if I
close my eyes something might happen to Eileen. Even while being in my room, I
was thinking about her all the time, constantly checking her emotions and
trying to send her my mental support. I couldn’t think of anything else. And
now, when we managed to find at least some part of a huge puzzle, I didn’t want
to leave her even for a second. I felt that we still had a lot to learn and go
through, so every peaceful moment next to her seemed to be a big success.

“No one is here,” said Evan, entering the reception room
of Alexis’ office.

“Maybe we should wait for someone to come?” I said.
“Beatrice usually doesn’t leave her place for a long time.”

“Okay. Maybe we’ll find something important in those
records,” Eileen said.

We sat on the couch in the waiting room.

A few minutes later we heard the voice of Alexis. She
was talking to someone on the phone.

“Yes, I know, but the time hasn’t come yet. Someone
might suspect. Don’t worry, Eric, she is under good supervision. Have a little
patience, wait a bit,” she said, opening the door to the waiting room. Seeing
us, she quickly said goodbye to her companion and turned off the phone. I
thought for a second that a flash of fear appeared in her eyes. Perhaps we
shouldn’t have witnessed her conversation, and now she was thinking about how
much we were able to hear.

“Glad to see you guys,” instantly becoming sweet and
charming again said Alexis. “How can I help you?”

“We would like to ask permission to look at historical
records, which were left since the time of the foundation of Dever,” said Evan.

“I need some information to prepare for my history
lesson,” I said. “So, I asked Eileen and Evan to help me.”

“Of course,” Alexis nodded. “Beatrice should be back in
a minute. Ask her to show you where to find the records.”

“Thank you, Alexis,” I said.

“Eileen, by the way, do you like your additional
training with Evan?” she asked.

“Sure,” awkwardly said Eileen. “Evan is an excellent
teacher.”

“It’s just one of my many talents,” my friend replied
with a grin.

“I heard that you have already shown the ability to
control fire and water.”

“Yeah, Eileen is one of a few possessors of the power of
two
elements,” Evan said, emphasizing the word
“two”.

“I'm happy for you Eileen. You should be proud of your
talents. I hope that you’ll learn to control them properly,” still smiling,
said Alexis. Was there a hidden meaning in her words?..

“And here's Beatrice,” she added, looking behind me.
“Could you show kids where our historical records are kept?”

“I’d be glad to help,” Beatrice said. “Come with me.”

We left the office and followed Beatrice to the opposite
door of the waiting room.

“I thought all of the records are kept in Alexis’
office,” said Evan.

“No. Since their number was significantly higher than
the very size of her office, it was decided to transfer all the records into
another room,” explained Beatrice. “Here we are,” she said, opening the door.
“Everything is stored in the alphabetical order, so find something that you
need won’t be that difficult. If you have any questions, I will help you,” she
said, leaving us alone among the endless shelves, with lots of books.

“Where do we start?” Evan asked.

“It’s a good question, I wish I knew what exactly we
need to look for,” Eileen said.

“Beatrice said that all books are in the alphabetical
order. Maybe we should start with
“W”
and see what there is about
Medellin?” I suggested.

“Okay,” agreed Evan.

We walked a few rows, looking for the right letter.

“There are hundreds of books here!” exclaimed Eileen.

“I think the books are also arranged in chronological
order. We must begin with the earliest, and then see what is written in the
more contemporary records,” Evan suggested.

He started with the original sources. I stopped at the
shelves with more recent editions, and Eileen was engaged by those which,
according to Evan, kept records of the modern period of Dever’s history.

“Don’t you think that Alexis’ conversation was rather
strange?” I asked quietly.

“As well as the way she reacted when she saw us,” Evan
added, taking the next stack of books off from the shelf.

“Who is Eric?” Eileen wondered.

“There could be anyone,” I said. “I am more interested
in someone who
is so well looked after
, and what
has not time come
for
yet.”

“Yes, you are right,” Evan agreed. “Her conversation
wasn’t intended to be heard by anyone. But apart from Alexis we have a lot of
things to do here, so let’s start.”

After a silent half an hour of research, I finally saw
something that caught my attention. The book was written in 1564.

“Hey, guys! I’ve found something,” I said.

Eileen and Evan came up to me.

“Look, it was written by Lillian Wizardy – Medellin’s
daughter.
“Moon Dreams.”

“Let me have a look,” asked Evan. “It's a kind of dream
interpretations, and degrees of probability, whether they are true. Here it is:
“
The dreams we see in a growing Moon, are called “the filling dreams”. They
show us the events that will happen to us in the future. Those dreams are also
called prophetic.
”

Evan looked at Eileen and me.

“But now the moon is really growing and you Eileen,
began to dream just recently...”

“I don’t know how you can believe that, Evan,” Eileen
said. “The book was written several centuries ago!”

“And I think he's right,” I said. “Lillian was one of
us, she wasn’t just
any
woman. It speaks for itself.”

“So you're saying that I will meet Medellin soon, and
say goodbye to my life in the Devil's Lake?” said Eileen indignantly, looking
darkly at Evan and me.

“
The Black Lake
,” corrected her Evan. “Okay,
okay, don’t look at me like this,” he said, catching a serious look from
Eileen.

“I just want to say that your dreams can mean a warning.
It is clear that meeting with an old witch is impossible, but still worth
trying to understand the meaning of these dreams. There are many interesting
things in this book, we must take it if possible.”

“Okay, let's look for something else,” Eileen gave up
without meaning it.

 “I have already found something else,” Evan said,
handing me a book.

“
A solis ortu usque ad occasum
,” I read the name
in Latin.

“What does this mean?” Eileen asked.

“
From sunrise to sunset,”
said Evan. “This book
tells how the sun and its energy impact on the strength of our ability to
manage the elements. Perhaps there is something about why Christian can no
longer possess his power as he used to, and why you, Eileen, know how share
yours.”

“Let’s take this too,” I said, putting the book to the
one that I had found myself. A few minutes later, Eileen came up to us.

“Who is Camilla Steward?” she asked frowning.

“Camilla was one of the most famous historians of
Dever,” Evan said. “She is Darcy's grandmother.”

“You said she
was
?” I asked.

“Yes. Haven’t you heard? She died a few years ago, when
I was a second year student. They say she died accidentally, drinking charmed
water.”

“
Accidentally
? You must be kidding, Evan. She was
Feta! How could she not recognize a spell?”

“So people say. If you're so interested, just ask Darcy
about it. And what is this book about, Eileen?”

“It's not really a book, more like a diary. It is
written by hand and in a very illegible writing. Here's what caught my
attention,” she said, turning the book so that we could read what she was
talking about.

“Today Eric visited me again. And again he was angry
at Frederic. He said that he had chosen the wrong way. He said that he
shouldn’t keep her alive, because it’s very dangerous,”
I read. “So Eric again. Maybe he's the same one that talked to
Alexis?”

“Camilla was about sixty when she died, and the entry
was made several years before her death. This Eric may still be alive. The
question is, who is
Frederic
and who is
she
?” Evan said.

“Unlike many Erics, I know only one Frederic. Frederic
Fairey, to be exact - my distant relative and one of the Supreme Keepers of
Dever,” I said.

“Why do you think we are talking about one and the same
person?” Evan asked.

“I don’t know, it’s just my assumption. First, he is
directly connected to Dever, and second, as far as I can understand that if
Camilla was a local historian, she lived in campus, therefore, Frederic visited
her here. And, if you remember, the entrance is closed for strangers. And this
also means that he was one of us. And as I’ve already said, I don’t know anyone
else with such a name in our world.”

“Probably you are right,” Evan agreed. “Let's say, we're
talking about the same person. What else do you know about him? Maybe there was
some kind of a story with a woman involved? Because this record clearly shows
that the case involved some woman.”

“I once heard from my father that he had an illegitimate
child, whom he had left because he wanted to hide the fact of infidelity from
his wife.”

“You don’t think that Camilla was speaking about his
wife, as the one who
should not be left alive
, do you?” Eileen said.

“I don’t know.”

“Anything is possible. Anyway, I think this diary should
be studied carefully,” said Eileen. “But we didn’t find anything about
Medellin.”

“There’s one book,” said Evan. “I just remember seeing
it once in our library. It tells the legends of Dever. Perhaps it was the same
one Darcy was talking about.”

“So, we are done here,” I said. “Now let’s ask Beatrice
if we can borrow the books we’ve found and go to the library.”

And so we did. However, luck didn’t seem to smile to us
for the rest of the day. As it turned out, the necessary book was already taken
by someone and we could only wait for its return. We went to one of the Embry
gardens, to read what was already found. Eileen sat at one of the benches and
Evan and I sat down on the grass.

“Look!” called Eileen. “The record after the meeting
with Eric is missing. And it's not a coincidence, the page was torn out,” she
said, pointing at the shreds. “And it seems as not the only page is missing,
but at least, ten pages, in different places.”

“It looks like someone has already studied this diary,
and took a part of it,” Evan said thoughtfully.

“Or got rid of the evidence,” said Eileen, reading my
mind.

“I think so too,” I said. “Why would someone just pull
the pages out from the diary covered with layers of dust? This was clearly done
on purpose.”

“It's a pity we can’t know what was there in these
pages,” while continuing to look through the diary, said Eileen.

“Now that's interesting,” said Evan. “This book says
that there are people connected by
“protective bond”
, when one of them
becomes a keeper to another one, who in his turn, can control the powers of the
first one. It also means that these people can’t live apart, because the power
user will remain unprotected, and the curator will lose his own force.”

Evan finished reading and looked at us.

“Hey, both of you look speechless. Does what I’ve just
said ring a bell?”