The Seasons

Chapter 28

“Sir,” Cairo said, bowing his head a little. “May I ask why you are so interested in learning of the blessing?” He needed answers,

“No. Go to the second-floor library and bring me the books on Blessings. I’ll be underground. Leave them on my desk.” Underground meant the secret room Rex had created almost ten years ago. No one knew what he kept there, just that he liked spending much of his time inside. Simon had once tried to see what was held in that room, and well, now he was one of many case files.

Cairo gritted his teeth but nodded. Rex Superno dismissed him, and he bowed before leaving the meeting room. He did despite his gut screaming at him not to go where he planned to go. He went into the king’s library. It wasn’t that he wasn’t allowed access to the room itself; no, everyone was. The king was big on everyone learning just how much of a pedestal Entia were on. It was more so the books he wasn’t allowed access to.

He walked in to see the lines of shelves full of books, old and new, in a variety of languages and all different genres. The seating area on the ground floor was packed with people, all with their heads in books. He stared up at the second floor, which overlooked the bottom, where the needed books were. He stared at the two guards near the circle stairs and ran his tongue over his teeth. He could do this.

He ignored the few looks he got as he walked over to them. They both turned to stare at him, and he stared back. They had to be at least a foot taller than him, which Cairo found bizarre as he was no short man. They must have been ogres disguised as humans, so he looked up at them, smiling. “Rex needs to get a few books for him.”

“He would have come himself,” one of the men said. He was bald, with thick eyebrows and dark green eyes, wearing a tight suit.

Cairo stared at him drolly. “Don’t you think the King has better things than coming to get some books?”

The ogres stared blankly at him, and he stared back. The bald one scowled and finally moved out of the way.

Cairo spent almost five minutes looking for the books, and when he did, one particular book caught his interest, and curiosity got the best of him. He opened the thin black leatherbound book and struggled to read the cursive writing. It appeared to be a journal; the brown stained pages were crumpled, the ink had smudged, stains of what appeared to be blood, and some pages were burnt at the sides, but he couldn’t understand the language.

When his eyes landed on a particular page with what appeared to be a recipe, his mouth fell open as he continued scanning the pages. He was going to take his phone out to take a picture but then cursed when he realised he had left it dead in his room. He slammed the book shut, trying to understand what he had just seen, but he didn’t understand it. But that sense of dread had crept up, and he knew whatever he held was dangerous.

He decided to risk it. He went to his room, thankful no one had run into him. He plugged his phone on charge, and while it turned on, he continued flipping through. However, after the first few pages, the book was blank. When his phone turned on, he took a picture of all the pages and sent them to Blue before taking his phone off charge and letting it die again.

He stood up, grabbed all the books and ran. He used his speed to get through the wings of the large buildings and found himself in front of Rex Superno’s door. He knocked in case he was in, but when there was no reply, he entered and put the heavy leatherbound books on the desk, with the black one underneath the pile.

He ignored how his hands were shaking as he stared at the pile. And then, around the room, Rex’s office was large; it had its seating area and a small kitchen pushed into one of the corners. However, he didn’t stick around long enough to look at anything else.

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