The Seal of Oblivion (8 page)

“How much time does that woman have
on her hands,” Laqiya muttered as she stacked all the books in English they had
found so far in an area near the fireplace for easy access.

It would take months to completely
organize the library, but it wasn’t like they were in a rush. Finally though,
they all forgot about organizing and began to wander. Isis, Sakura, and Adria
finally found a book Plainshield had apparently put together to show how to
read the Aramaic language and translate it into English. They were now pouring
over it with paper having a laugh translating random lines from books.

“Hey Laqiya,” Sakura said grinning.
“We think your past self secretly liked reading risqué novels. I didn’t know
they had this stuff thousands of years ago!”

“That was her one guilty pleasure,”
Nightshield said cringing at a particular book she was flipping through.

“That hasn’t changed,” Isis said.
“Laqiya reads all kinds of manga.”

“Isis,” Laqiya warned absently as
she looked through all the books in English piled around her.

The other three girls fell out
laughing and normally Laqiya would have been compelled to join them, but
Plainshield had translated some interesting books.

“Was she a healer or something at
some point?” Laqiya asked Nightshield reading through a book of herbs, many she
had never heard of, and their uses.

“Not really. But when a person controls
nature, she can’t help but come across some things,” Nightshield said.

Laqiya set the book aside and
started to grab another book until the binding of the book she sat the herbal
encyclopedia on top of caught her eye. It was different than the rest of the
books because it had both the ancient Aramaic and English on it. She opened the
book and in front of her in bold fancy print were the words,
Book of Names.

On the first page was
The White Rose
in Ancient Aramaic
(Plainshield had written it in English above it) and next to it a name.
Plainshield had again translated the name above the original in English.

“Sayyida,” Laqiya said under her
breath. The name struck a chord in her before she even realized that this was
the name her other self had gone by.

Plainshield hadn’t bothered to
translate anything else on the page and neither did she bother to translate the
rest of what looked like lists of names on the pages. That was the first half
of the book. The first page of the next half had the same character she had
seen before with
The White Rose
scribbled in fancy letters next to it and a space under it. On the next page
was the title
Executives
in both
English and ancient Aramaic and
nine
spaces beneath it. Laqiya turned back to the page before it and scoffed.

“I suppose I’m supposed to sign my
name here.” Yeah right… She flipped the page and frowned. It was blank.

Laqiya continued to flip the pages
and finally just flipped to the end. They were all blank.

“What is this?” Laqiya asked
flipping it to the back cover. There was a picture of a rose with the nine
symbols of the forces of nature drawn around it in a circle. Laqiya raised an
eyebrow.

“Why are you so quiet?” Nightshield
asked.

Laqiya shook her head.
“Nothing.
Just a lot of old books.
That’s all.”

She left the book in her lap and
continued to look through the other books. Then she paused, glanced at the book
in her lap again and asked, “Do you think she knew?”

Nightshield raised her eyebrow,
head tilting to the left as she stuck her hands in her pocket and curled up
into a chair.

“Who knew what?”

“Me…
In the past.
Do you think she knew she had to come back?”

“Maybe… She always knew he’d come
back, always said she wouldn’t be able to defeat him for good in her lifetime.
Maybe she did see you, maybe she chose you for her soul to be reborn in,”
Nightshield said. “I don’t know. She was very intuitive when it came to the
future.”

“Like fate?” Laqiya asked.

“No. Fate can’t be avoided. She
made it your destiny,” Chasity Pearl said almost solemnly.

“Either way, she knew something,”
Nightshield replied.

The way Nightshield spoke made
Laqiya shiver, not only that, but something in both women’s demeanor bothered
her, the air in the atmosphere getting thicker and thicker. More and more,
Laqiya got the feeling that there was something they weren’t telling her about
the past.
About…
How did they know anyway?

“What is it with you two? How do
you know so much, as if you were there that many millennia ago?” Laqiya asked.

Nightshield purred and said, “Cats
have nine lives, but I don’t know birdie’s secret.”

Chasity Pearl didn’t answer and
pointed to a book in the middle of the floor asking, “What’s that?”

Laqiya looked at the book, bound by
gray black leather and on the front was a red rose choked in the thorny vines
wrapped around it. She picked it up and turned to the first page.
Unsurprisingly, it was all in the same ancient Aramaic as most of the other
books, and Laqiya didn’t understand a word of it, but she still paled and
dropped the book in shock.

“Laqiya?”
Chasity Pearl asked kneeling down to pick up the book.

“What’s that say?” Laqiya asked.
“What is that?”

Chasity shrugged and looked at the
characters at the top of the first page.

“The Tyrant.
Not shocking.”

“No. I know what that says, but
beneath it!”

Chasity Pearl looked again and
frowned. “The Anaxars and the Anaxaretes and then there’s just names, like
counterparts I guess.”

Laqiya grabbed a pencil and paper
out her bag.

“Translate them!”

Chasity Pearl gave her a dry, pointed
look, but started to translate the names anyway. When she was done, Laqiya held
a list in her hands nine pairs of names, eighteen people.

Amethyst, Zephyr

Beryl, Kailash

Esmeralda, Delsaream

Vesta, Vestan

Auria, Aurian

Hikari, Hikaru

Erebia, Erebus

Zoe, Zoticus

Desra, Desro

“The Anaxars and the Anaxaretes,”
Laqiya read aloud. “Do you know who they are?”

“Weren’t the Anaxars those guys
from Halloween?” Chasity Pearl asked. “The guys that have been stalking you
since you were seven.”

“You don’t know any more than
that?”

Chasity Pearl shook her head. “Not
off the top of my head. But I guess it’s not a good thing that there must be
more than the three we met.”

Laqiya groaned. Could this
situation get any worse?

“Laqiya,” Sakura said. “We have to
go. The storm’s getting worse.”

“And auntie will kill us if she
knows we got caught out in it,” Isis said closing the books they had been
translating.

“And my grandmother will talk all
night,” Sakura said rolling her eyes. “Come on!”

“Wait a minute,” Laqiya said before
as the other three began to leave. The books wouldn’t fit in her bag, so she
stacked them and held them. She turned to Nightshield who was starting to doze
off.

“You coming Night?” she asked.

Nightshield shook her head and
curled. “I have something to take care of with Plainshield. You go ahead.”

“Not playing the protective
guardian today then Nightshield?” Chasity Pearl asked.

“I’m guarding this child even when
I’m not around, just like I’ve been doing since she was seven. Besides, you’re
going with them, right?”

Chasity Pearl scowled. “I’m no—”

Laqiya grabbed Chasity Pearl’s arm.
“Come Chasity. See you later Nightshield.”

Laqiya waved at her guardian
pushing Chasity out the room with her. She supposed talking to Nightshield
about the Anaxaretes and the Anaxars could wait, but there was something about
them, something she couldn’t quite grasp that unnerved her.

Chapter
Six

Nana

Laqiya sat in her room before
school, looking through the two thick leather bound books for any more indication
on what the Anaxars and the Anaxaretes were. She wanted nothing to do with it.
But something nagged her, forced her to take the book to translate the Aramaic
from Isis and begin translating what turned out to be lists of names. She
sighed. There was just something about them. They were even listed before the
mistresses, not to mention they had been stalking her for six years.

Deciding to leave the house early
for once, Laqiya made her way downstairs. She figured she still had time to ask
Plainshield before school. The woman knew everything else, so she was bound to
know something about the Anaxars and Anaxaretes. She found Isis ready to go and
sitting at the breakfast table about to pour a bowl of cereal. Laqiya tapped
her shoulder.

“Hm?”

“We need to go Isis.”

“You want to ask Nightshield or
Plainshield who the Anaxars and the Anaxaretes are,” Isis said. “For someone
who doesn’t want anything to do with this stuff, you sure can’t leave it
alone.”

“I’m trying! But every time I try
to distance myself something comes up. I swear it’s like I’m living someone
else’s life again sometimes, like they’re compelling me to live for them,”
Laqiya said letting her head fall in her hands.

“Ever think that you really might
be?” Isis asked.

“What?”

“I don’t know for sure. But it
doesn’t seem too farfetched that souls have memories too,” Isis replied.

Laqiya snapped her head up to look
at Isis, a scowl coming upon her features. She grabbed her bag muttering to her
cousin that she’d be waiting outside. Isis came out after she finished her
breakfast, and they made their way to the palace. They would have waited for
Adria, but they got from Chasity Pearl that the girl wasn’t ready yet. When
they arrived at the palace, they headed to the second floor and into the library,
led by Isis’ ability to lock onto presences.

Sure enough, Plainshield was in the
library with her head behind a book. The white haired woman swished her tail
about as she looked up.

“Laqiya.
What are you doing here again?”

“You weren’t here yesterday. How
did you know we were here?” Laqiya asked.

“I’m always here actually, just not
in the library. And Nightshield told me after you left that you had been here,”
Plainshield purred grabbing another book and then shaking her head as she put
it back. “Any particular reason you came to see me before school?”

Laqiya nodded and sat down in a
chair. “Yeah, we took a book from here with a list of names. I guess they’re
the Tyrant’s helpers or something, and before even the mistresses, was the name
of a group I think.” Plainshield tilted her head to the side.
“The Anaxars and the Anaxaretes?”
Laqiya asked.

Plainshield lifted her head. “They
were a very secluded group, a special group of Akanthas that aided the
mistresses. I don’t know much besides that, though I see their names in some of
the texts.

“We gathered that much,” Isis
replied. “Do you think Nightshield knows anything?”

Plainshield huffed. “My sister has
a worse memory than me. If I don’t know, I know she doesn’t.”

“There must be something in here,”
Laqiya said grabbing a random book. “See? Their name is right here in this
book.”

“You can read that?” Isis asked.

“I memorized the characters,”
Laqiya said. “We’re in a library. There must be something.”

“Drive
yourself
batty then,” Plainshield said. “But I’m telling you. You won’t find it.”

“Late, Late, Late,” Isis repeated
again as she and Laqiya ran to school.

“Well you don’t have to rub it in I
already know we’re late,” Laqiya replied as they crossed the street.

Laqiya slowed to a walk.

“Why are you slowing down?” Isis
asked.

“We’re already fifteen minutes late
as it is ten more minutes won’t hurt,” Laqiya finally said.

“But that means we just about miss
our whole first period doesn’t it?” Isis tilted her head a bit at the girl’s
logic.

“Do you want to sit through
history?” Laqiya asked.

Isis scowled but didn’t argue with
her cousin.

“Laqiya?”

“Yeah,”

“Couldn’t we have teleported from
the palace?”

Laqiya turned to look at Isis. “You
can teleport?”

Isis rolled her eyes. “Now we’ll be
late and have a detention too. You really do get on my nerve sometimes.”

“We’ll make something up, and it’s
not my fault you never told me you could teleport,” Laqiya snapped.

“You didn’t ask.”

“You could have said something!”

“Skipping school?”

Isis and Laqiya looked up to see
the bird woman sitting on a particularly strong branch of a tree with her legs
dangling off the edge wearing her usual bored expression.

“Skipping class,” Laqiya corrected.
“And not because we were trying to.”

“Only because we were already late
and missed most of the period,” Isis added.

Chasity Pearl smirked. “I don’t
think your bodyguard will be all too pleased.”

“She’s here?”

“Slinking around
somewhere.
Not sure where though,” the bird woman shrugged.

“Come on Laqiya, we have to go
before Nightshield notices we’re here. She can be just as bad as your mother.”

“Too late for that.” said
Nightshield as she towered over the two teens. “What are you doing here?
Skipping school.”

“Class,” they replied
simultaneously

Nightshield raised an eyebrow.

“It was Laqiya’s fault,” said Isis.

“My fault?”

“You held us up trying to find out
who the Anaxars and the Anaxaretes were.”

“You’re the one who forgot you knew
how to teleport!”

“You two need to head to school right
now,” said Nightshield.

“Relax,” Isis said. “We’re going.”

Laqiya and Isis didn’t talk to each
other the rest of the way, both doubtlessly still upset at each other. A few
minutes later, they stood in front of the school and Laqiya walked up the stairs
of the front entrance.

“Wait a minute.” Isis stopped and
grabbed Laqiya’s arm.

Laqiya looked at Isis. She stared
at her, her usually soft eyes were hard and alert all of a sudden.

“What?” Laqiya asked.

“Do you get the feeling we’re being
watched?” Isis asked

“I wouldn’t be surprised if it were
Nightshield.”

“This isn’t a joke Laqiya. I’m
serious,” Isis snapped.

Laqiya sighed. Even when they were
smaller Isis always had a sharp sense of her surroundings, and it was obvious
she didn’t like what she was feeling. Laqiya had to trust Isis on this one even
though she wasn’t quite sure what was happening.

“What is it?” Laqiya asked.

“Are you even trying to sense it?”
Isis asked and Laqiya sighed. She didn’t want to use her powers, but if Isis
insisted.

Laqiya opened her senses more,
focusing more on her surroundings. That tingling feeling came, like a small
electric shock in her spine, and her eyes darted to one of the windows of an
empty classroom.

“No one’s in there,” Isis said to
her.

“But they were. The Anaxars,”
Laqiya said.

“Maybe we should tell Nightshield,”
Isis said. “She’s your guardian. She should know.”

With much convincing that nearly
made them late for second period, Laqiya was able to make Isis forget about
telling Nightshield. Isis never mentioned it again, though the presence did
linger. By the time school was over, it was gone, and Laqiya was alone. Isis
had left without her, and Adria was off to go grocery shopping with her
brother. The only other person was Sakura, and Laqiya guessed that as impatient
as Sakura was, she had left as soon as the bell rung which meant she’d probably
be home by the time Laqiya made her way over.

When she
go
to the house a bus ride later, an elderly Japanese woman opened the door.

“Hi, Sakura here?” she asked.

The woman shook her head. “Not home
from school yet,” she replied with a thick Japanese accent. “Think out with
friend name….”

“Isis?” Laqiya asked.

“Hai.” the woman said nodding her
head. “Come in.”

“I really should be going,” the
teen said taking a step back.

“No, no,” the woman insisted. “You
stay for tea.”

Laqiya sighed. She wasn’t a tea
person but she wouldn’t just outright refuse the woman. That would be rude, and
her mother had taught her better than that in that respect.

“Sure,” she said accepting the invitation
to come in. The elder woman led her to the kitchen and sat Laqiya at the table
while going to prepare the tea.

“You Laqiya, yes?” she asked.

Laqiya nodded.

“But you have another name?”

Laqiya shook her head. “Not that I
know of, unless you count my middle name.”

“No,” she said bringing the tea to
the table. “You the White Rose.”

Laqiya was too surprised she knew
to deny the claim like she usually did. Instead she said, “How did you—”

The woman cut her off by asking,
“Honey or Sugar?”

“Sugar…”

“Be calm child.
Sakura
grandmother, Nana.
Her mother, my daughter.”
Nana rolled her eyes. “Never listen child does, not patient. Apple not
roll
far from tree.”

Laqiya laughed.
“Definitely
not.”

“Always been that way, even when
bought this house.
Paid nothing at all if she listened.”
Nana shook her head. “Impatience and no listening not make good combination.”

“Sakura’s not hardheaded though,
just a bit impatient,” Laqiya said as Nana poured two cups of tea from the
kettle.

“She
have
patience,” Nana grumbled. “Just choose not to be or forget what patience
mean
.”

Laqiya held back a snicker at the
annoyed tone Nana spoke in as she stirred her tea but then noticed that Nana
wasn’t stirring her tea… at least not with her hands. The spoon was going in a
circular clockwise direction by itself.

Nana seemed to notice her startled
gaze.
“Power of mind run in family.
Skip generation or
two sometimes. Sakura inherit it, yes?” she asked calmly.

“Yeah, but she can barely use it,
only when she’s in real trouble,” Laqiya said as the spoon stopped and lifted
from the cup onto a plate next to it.

“Hai,” she said. “Control and less
concentration come in time.
This help
her learn
patience. Control not
come
overnight.”

“Well I’ve had my powers since
before I can remember and still can’t control them,” said Laqiya sipping her
hot tea.

“Not see all the way to the bottom
of the lake.”

Laqiya gave Nana a confused look.
“What?”

Nana smiled.
“Things
deeper than they really look.
 
Reason you can’t control powers there is,” she replied.
“Your cousin, Isis?”

Laqiya nodded. “Yes that’s her.”

“She
have
powers similar to mine and grandchild’s?” she asked referring to herself and
Sakura.

Laqiya looked at the woman. How did
she know all this?

“Are you reading my mind or
something?” she asked the woman, and Nana laughed.

“Have mastered
power.
Flow freely in me. When want to do something or know powers come
without thinking,” Nana explained “So cousin has same powers?”

“Yes,” Laqiya responded as she
sipped her tea.

Nana nodded. “I thought so.” She eyed
Laqiya who was sipping her tea slowly.
“Tea relaxing, yes?
Help clear and ease mind every sip. Try
tell
Cherry
Blossom this but she no listen like her mother. She wants juice and soda. You
listen, hai?”

“Yes,” Laqiya replied.

“Take tea home with you. Need
think,
help clear mind, body, and soul.” Nana nodded her
head towards the tea.

“Okay,” Laqiya said not thinking it
wise to argue. Nana was soft-spoken like Isis but something about her tone left
no room for argument, so when she asked something, it sounded more like a
command. “I will.”

“Your other friend, she have wind
right?” Nana asked.

“Who?
Adria?”

“Hm.
She
have wind right?”

“Yes.”

“She’s very loyal. She admires
you,” Nana said absently.

Laqiya blinked confused.
“Adria?”

“Trust and loyalty like hers hard
to come by, but easy to break,” Nana replied.

Laqiya opened and closed her mouth
in effort to say something, something meaningful, but it was hard to do so when
she wasn’t sure what Nana was saying.

Finally, she asked, “What?”

What was Nana talking about? She
didn’t understand why she was saying all these things about her friends. She
couldn’t just forget about it though. There had to be something to the woman’s
words.

“Keep friends close and enemies
closer.
Your friends your greatest opponents.
Remember
that.”

At this point, Laqiya was
completely dumbfounded. Her friends were her enemies?

“What does all this mean?”

Nana smiled. “You listen
good
, yes?”

“I guess…”

“Then you listen. Cousin more tuned
with powers than you. Cousin sense danger, you take heed warning.
 
Found staff yet?”

“One piece but not—Wait a minute.
How do you know all this?”

“Told you, when want to do
something or know powers come without thinking. Now not get excited. Drink tea.
Keep calm. Get excited, you not listen properly.” Nana nodded.