The Seal of Oblivion (9 page)

“Sorry,”

“No apologies needed child.”

Nana paused and looked Laqiya in
the eye. “Now, when find last piece, careful you must be. Stay calm you must.
You get piece before Lady Sahajah do,” Nana said nodding her head. “She get
piece, she shatter the seal of oblivion. That
be
a sad
day on earth.”

“O… kay,” Laqiya responded. They
hadn’t even found the second piece yet.

“Now, you
The White Rose
?
Hai?”

“I’m trying not to be. But
Nightshield insists on proving otherwise.”

“Denial?”

“No. I don’t want—”

Nana cut Laqiya off. “You doubt
it.”

“Definitely.”

“What more proof you need?” Nana
asked, stirring her tea with her powers again and looked intently into the
swirling liquid until she looked back up at Laqiya.

Instead of answering the woman,
Laqiya silently wondered if she was indeed Sakura’s grandmother. Sakura was so…
outgoing and sassy when she wanted to be, but this woman in front of her was so
refined.

“Cherry Blossom
grow
into that when she older, more learned, patient and listen. Right now you not
worry about that. I tell you something, hai?”

Laqiya nodded.

“You can’t deny truth for long. It
slap
you in the face. And you can doubt truth and truth
still slap you in face. The truth always exist whether you want see it or not.
Have faith. No faith, powers not help with or without staff and someone else
come do the job,” Nana explained

“Wait? Someone else can do the
job?”

“Surely you not do this someone
else
come,
and they will.
You not
irreplaceable.”

“That’s great.
Perfect
in fact.
I’ll find someone else who can do the job,” Laqiya said. That
would show Nightshield.

“But you the best
candidate.
You have the heart of a warrior. You were chosen before you
were born.”

It made Laqiya go back to the
question she asked Nightshield about her past self, about whether she had seen
her coming and made it Laqiya’s destiny.

“Where are you going with all
this?” Laqiya asked. She didn’t need to get into another discussion about
destiny.

“You just listen. I see. I know.
Need guidance you do.
See further down the line.
I
help prepare you.”

“Prepare me for what?”

“To give your
life for this cause.”

“You mean I’ll have to die?” Laqiya
asked alarmed.

“Not way you think. You understand
down line. You make it through. Not worry. You be fine.”

Laqiya looked at Nana. Either the
woman was insane or she knew what she was talking about. Laqiya just hadn’t
decided which
was the case
yet.

“Now you need help with something?”

“It depends on what you’re saying I
need help with.” Laqiya asked thinking of all the things she could use help
with.

“You need help with a lot of
things.”

“You read my mind again.”

Nana smiled. “No. You like open
book sometimes. Cherry Blossom need learn to take after you. Learn much she
could.”

“If she’s hanging out with Isis,
trust me Isis will rub off on her. Then again, Sakura might rub off on Isis.”

Nana laughed. “True that may be,
but even Isis is not as… humble and quiet as you are.”

Laqiya had to blink at that one.
Her… quiet and humble?
Okay what piece of the puzzle was she
missing?

“What?”

“Not bad thing,” Nana replied.

“Isis is quiet in physical sense
and humble in physical sense. You,” Nana pause to take a sip of her cooled tea.
“You keep things to self. Don’t burden people with problems. Make you quiet type.
You rather not tell people what you do. Not want attention so you not tell
anyone make you humble.”

Laqiya open and closed her mouth
trying to find a response but could find no argument, for everything Nana said
was true, in a way.

“I watch you and friends every time
you come here giggling and laughing, talking about Tyrant…”

“You can hear us?” Laqiya asked.

“Powers make hearing keen.” Nana
then looked at the clock on the wall in the kitchen. “Time
go
by fast when not looking. Make realize that time for us short on this planet.
Look back and not believe you been here so long.
Must not
waste it as so many others have.”

Laqiya looked at the clock and her
jaw dropped. She was supposed to be home an hour ago. She didn’t know she had
been here that long. Her mother was going to kill her.

“Worry not child. Called mother,
told her you keep me company for afternoon. You not in trouble… Cousin though,
cannot say same.” Nana gave an amused smile, and Laqiya decided she didn’t want
to know what the woman was seeing right now or even how she knew Laqiya was
coming before she came, because that could be the only way Nana had called her
mother. Nana hadn’t used the phone while Laqiya was there. That was for sure.

“Take tea over there child,” Nana
said as she flipped a page through a large book on the table, a book Laqiya
hadn’t noticed sitting there before

Laqiya stood up got the tea and put
it in her bag.

“Thank you Nana,” Laqiya said out
of being polite, but she wasn’t quite sure what she was saying thank you for. She
just knew that it wasn’t all for the tea.

“No problem. Come back anytime. We
have more tea.”

Laqiya nodded. When she told
Nightshield about this she would flip and go into frenzy about how she
shouldn’t trust people like that whether related to a friend or not. She
unconsciously rolled her eyes as she thought about the lecture she might end up
with.

“You trust me hai?” Nana asked
wisely

“How can I trust my own judgment? I
could be wrong,” Laqiya said.

“You smart for girl your age. You
have good judge in character. Come to good use. What Nightshield say not matter
sometimes. Nightshield too protective,” Nana said rolling her eyes.

Laqiya now had the feeling that
Nana and Nightshield had met before. Only someone who met the woman would talk
about her in the kind of familiar tone Nana was.

“She’s always been protective of
me,” Laqiya said. “I’m mostly used to it.”

“Good,” Nana said as Laqiya turned
around to leave. “Wait, you take this book.” She handed it to Laqiya who
tentatively took it from her.

Laqiya looked at the title and
gasped in surprise. It was in the ancient Aramaic language like the books at
the palace.

“Where did you get this?”

“It’s been passed down,” Nana said
to her. “Never read it, but have feeling you might need it.”

“Thank you,” Laqiya said looking
over the front and back cover of the book which was black with purple and black
flames on the front with two scarily familiar red eyes on the front… Now where
did she remember that from…?

“Tell Cherry Blossom you came by.
Good evening you have.”

“You too Nana.”
 
Laqiya showed herself the way out and headed
back home with her mind settled for some reason.

******

“How is it that you didn’t get in
trouble from coming home late? It was almost dark by the time you came back.”
Isis asked

“I was doing some volunteer work,”
Laqiya said

Isis scowled in annoyance and
opened her mouth to preach about the injustice of it all when she spotted the
book in Laqiya’s hands.

“Where did you get that book?”

“The palace.”

“No you didn’t,” said Isis. “I dropped
by the palace earlier to talk to Plainshield. You were never there. And you’re
a horrible liar.”

Laqiya sighed. Stupid Isis…

“I got it from Sakura’s
grandmother. I was talking with her. She’s got powers too, mind. She says the
force—”

“The
force
?”
Isis asked smiling a
little.

Laqiya rolled her eyes and said,
“You know what I mean. Anyway, it runs in her family but tends to skip
generations.”

“What did she talk to you about?”

“Random stuff.
But she gave me this,” said Laqiya ask she set the book on her bed.

“What is that?” Isis asked running
her hands over the title.

“I don’t know. But I need your help
translating it.”

“This will take forever and we
don’t have that kind of time,” said Isis.

“Just the title,” Laqiya said to
her.

Isis sighed and slid the
translating book from under her bed and got to work translating the front
cover.

“What’s taking you so long?”

“I have to get the context that
makes sense Laqiya. You should know that,” Isis replied and then continued a
few moments later, “Myth
..
No Legend. Legend of…
Legend of Evil…
No that’s not it.
Legend
of the Tyrant?”

“That’s it?” Laqiya asked.

“No.
Something
about a dynasty or something.”

“Forget that.
Anything
else?”

Isis shook her head as she closed
the book. “Do you think we can trust her? Sakura’s grandmother I mean?”

“I think so, but…” Laqiya trailed
off.

“You don’t plan on telling anyone
else, do you?” Isis asked.

“Of course not.
Nana was never very specific about anything. For all we know, she could have
gotten this book from anywhere. It proves nothing.”

“Proves nothing about Nana knowing
too much or you actually being the White Rose because the book fell into your
lap?” Isis deadpanned.

“I think the Anaxars have been
watching us, and I think the
role
they play are in
this book,” Laqiya said. “We both sensed them earlier.”

“Don’t change the subject!”

“I’m not.”

“Face it. You may not want to be
The White Rose but you are. This is too many coincidences. Too many people who
know you,” Isis said. “Although that’s kind of strange in itself…”

“What do you mean?”

“The identity of the White Rose was
one of the world’s best kept secrets. Only her inner circle knew her identity
or saw her up close. Most people wondered if she was even real. She was an urban
legend. So how does anyone know you’re the White Rose?”

“They’re mistaken. I’m not the
White Rose. There’s someone else,” Laqiya said. “I’m doing Nightshield a favor
so she’ll leave me alone.”

Isis rolled her eyes snatching the
two books off the bed.
“Fine.
You keep telling
yourself that. But even you know you can’t fight destiny. You tried and failed
before and look where it got you?”

Laqiya groaned. “Don’t bring my dad
into this.”

“Fine.
But
the point is we will see.”

Chapter
Seven

Rocks,
Fossils and…
A Staff Piece?

 
“Aren’t we too old for this kind of thing? I
mean, we like did this in third grade. Why again, five years later when we’re
thirteen and fourteen and hate doing anything that has to do with getting
dirty?” Sakura whined as they began to board the bus. “Can’t we get a choice in
whether we go or not?”

Their new and now permanent science
teacher had decided to sign them all up for some kind of fossil dig much to the
class of the eighth grade’s annoyance. Now they suddenly cursed that Roselyn
stayed warm all year round. Even in January, the temperature never dropped
below fifty degrees. Anything below that was rare.

Lucky for them, the trip was on a
school day and not Saturday, so that not only meant no academic lessons, but
also no homework. Of course, Sakura was always complaining about something one
way or another. It wasn’t a surprise.

As they boarded, two very familiar
women sat at the back of the bus. One of whom had her legs propped up on the
seat in front and was saying something that was no doubt rude to the other.

“What are you two doing here?”
Sakura asked completely forgetting her complaints

Chasity Pearl stopped mid-insult
and Nightshield, who had her legs propped up still, looked at them.

“We got bored, needed something to
do and heard a chaperone was needed and decided to tag along,” Nightshield
explained.

“Tsh… What Nightshield means is
that she couldn’t let you go just about all the way out Roselyn City without
protection so she’s coming whether you like it or not,” Chasity Pearl said
ignoring the glare that Nightshield was sending her way. “
I
was bored.”

Laqiya shrugged. “I’m used to it.
She actually conned my mother into letting her be my nanny when she went
overseas for a few months when I was ten. She probably wouldn’t recognize her
now though. She had a blonde wig on and looked like she was a college student
or something…”

“You’ve know Nightshield that
long?” Sakura asked.

“Since I was
seven.
I’ve said that before,” Laqiya replied and then added, “But she
was Katherine then.”

“But we thought Nightshield got on
your nerve, at least before,” Adria said sitting next to Laqiya who took a
window seat.

“She was the crazy stalker lady,
not that I didn’t necessarily like her. I only didn’t like her when she started
talking about me controlling the forces of nature.”

“And then we fell out…” Nightshield
trailed off.

“About what?”
Chasity Pearl asked.

“This,” Laqiya and Nightshield said
together.

“So that’s why we get along so well,”
Chasity Pearl said to Laqiya. “You didn’t like Nightshield for some of the same
reasons I don’t.”

“If you’re going to be tagging
along it only make sense you become a guardian,” Nightshield purred closing her
eyes.

“I only tag along because I’m bored.
I could care less about protecting anyone. I could have just stayed in my tree
this morning.”

Nightshield started to reply until
Isis hit her on the leg and said, “The teacher’s coming!”

Nightshield took her feet down and
sat up straight, while Chasity Pearl crossed her arms.

“Try to behave,” Isis muttered

“Hi,” said the woman slowly.

“Hi,” the two said together, trying
and failing to sound cheerful.

Laqiya and Sakura snickered, while
Adria and Isis sighed.

“Who are you?”

“Well we thought you could use a
few more chaperones so we decided you wouldn’t mind if we tagged along,”
Nightshield replied. “I’m Katherine and she’s Dove.”

The teacher turned to Laqiya and
Isis. “And you know them?”

“Yeah… god-sisters,” said Isis.

“Oh… I guess it fine.
 
As long as you behave and set a good example
for the children by your actions.”

“What’s that—
”

“They will,” Isis said, cutting
Nightshield off.

The teacher nodded and then made
her way to the front of the bus.

“What did she mean by that,”
Nightshield snapped.

“Can you blame her? The least you
could have done was worn something that wasn’t all black,” Laqiya said dryly as
she took out the book Nana gave her and began to translate passages.

Nothing eventful happened during
the bus ride except a fight that broke out between two boys in the middle of
the ride, and Chasity Pearl having what she called a healing session with one
of their classmates for being a brat. After the hour long ride, they arrived at
the large building in the middle of nowhere surrounded by lots of forest.

“Where are we?” Sakura asked as
everyone got off the bus, their small group staying in the back.

“It’s a private fossil lab about
fifty to sixty miles outside of Roselyn,” Nightshield replied. “They do mostly
research here, according to Plainshield, but sometimes they give tours and let
you experience what it’s like to search for fossils and do research.”

“They couldn’t have taken us to the
science museum in Atlanta?” Sakura asked.

“Well at least they warned us to
dress down,” Adria said twirling her fingers through her braids.

“I hate when they do that,” Laqiya
said. “It’s already hard enough to pick something out in that massive closet of
mine, let alone finding something to get messy in.”

“You would have a hard time picking
out something to wear regardless of what you had to dress in,” Isis pointed
out.

“Isn’t that what always generally
happens when you have a fashion designer for a mother?” Adria asked not
expecting an answer as they headed into the facility.

They walked in groups of two as
they went inside the building. It was what Laqiya expected to see in this type
of place. Her mother had taken her and the twins to a place like this when she
was younger.
Nothing exciting.
This would probably be
a time for the eighth grade class to socialize.

The guide, an auburn haired man
named Valon, came out of a room in the back. He introduced himself, and Laqiya,
finding that there were things more interesting around her than the man’s
talking, tuned out everything he said. When he was done, she blinked and looked
at Isis.

“What did he say?” both she and
Sakura asked at the same time.

Isis sighed, “Something about
seeing a lab, what they do, and a mini movie on fossils.”

“Do we have a choice in whether we watch
that movie or not?” Sakura asked with a thoughtful look on her face.

“Doubt it Cherry,” Laqiya replied.

The movie was first, and they were
forced to sit down in the private theater of the research facility. It was one
of those movies with the boring narrator, who described everything with a flat
tone. Laqiya wondered if it would have killed them to talk with a little more
feeling and then sighed. It was going to be one long hour.

“Wake me when it’s over,” Chasity
Pearl whispered to Adria as she curled up and went to sleep.

A few of the other students had the
same idea and fell asleep as well. Twenty minutes later quiet conversations
broke out. Laqiya leaned her head on her hand. She never wanted to go on
another field trip again.

“They didn’t really expect a bunch
of thirteen and fourteen year olds to be that interested in a movie about
fossils did
they
?” Nightshield asked.

“Maybe they should have played half
of Jurassic Park for us instead,” Laqiya said shifting into a more comfortable
position so that she could go to sleep too.

“I can sneak into the projection
room and put it on for you if you want,” said Nightshield. “Plainshield showed
me.”

“Could you really?” Sakura asked
and Nightshield nodded.

“And she would get in big trouble
if she did that,” Isis replied.

Laqiya sighed and closed her eyes.
“Honestly Miss Fun Deficient, can’t we have a little fun without you talking
about how much trouble we’ll get into, or how immature, juvenile, childish, and
irresponsible the act might be?”

“Miss Carmel already thinks those
two are bad news,” said Isis.

“When did she say that?” Sakura
asked.

“She didn’t have to,” Isis said and
then mimicked their teacher’s voice, “As long as you behave and set a good
example for the children by your actions.”

The four girls laughed causing the
said teacher to look at them and make a soft hushing sound. They lowered their
voices and continued.

“As if she’d call the police or
something for me simply changing the film,” Nightshield muttered.

“It’s trespassing,” Isis said.

“We’re already in the building.”

“But I don’t think you’d have
permission to go in that room.”

“Can you all be quiet? I’m trying
to go to sleep,” said Laqiya.

Nightshield rolled her eyes.
“Really Isis.
It was a joke and you’re talking as though the
police could detain us.”

“I could just see the headlines
now. Live Cat woman escapes police. Half bird companion in custody,” Adria said
trying to quiet her laughter.

Laqiya laughed a little before
settling down again. She was finally starting to feel sleepy when something,
like a feather tickling the back of her neck disturbed her. She tried to ignore
it and rolled her shoulders to get rid of the feeling. When it persisted she
groaned and turned around.

“Are one of you poking me in the
back or something?” she asked.

“No,” Adria said after exchanging a
look with Sakura and Isis.

“Then what?”
Laqiya rolled hers shoulders again as the feeling persisted.

“What’s wrong?” Nightshield asked
seeing that Laqiya continued to shift in her seat.

“What is that?” Laqiya asked.

“What?” asked
Adria.

By the time it happened again,
Laqiya seemed to realize it wasn’t coming from outside of her. It wasn’t even
from inside her. It was something else, a sixth sense.

“Something’s here,” Laqiya decided.
“It’s making my senses go off or something.”

“Like a spider sense or something?”
Sakura asked.

Laqiya shot her a dry look but
said, “If you want to put it that way.”

“When did it start?” Nightshield
asked.

“A few minutes ago why?” Laqiya
asked, her senses again tingling, for lack of a better way to describe it.

Nightshield shrugged, though she
apparently suspected something.

Sakura was curious too now and
said, “No.
Seriously.
Why?”

Nightshield wouldn’t answer, but
Chasity Pearl said, “Cats are peculiar beings. They do things and you don’t know
why until the outcome. Likewise Plainshield and Nightshield are the same way
since they’re half cat.”

“She has a point for once,”
Nightshield agreed as the lights flipped back on.

Laqiya began to roll her shoulders
again as the tingling returned resulting in her being the last one out the
theater since she kept stopping to look around. Whatever was causing her senses
to react was close. Then she stopped for a moment, realizing why this feeling,
though foreign, was so familiar. This was the feeling she had when she was
seven, right before she met Nightshield. Laqiya could never quite recall that
night. A painful headache was usually the result of trying to remember it. She
shook her head and rolled her shoulders again.

“Something’s here,” Laqiya said to everyone
again.

“Something?”
Isis asked.

“Something
important.
I don’t know what though. Just keep an eye out for me,”
Laqiya said as the tingling went away for the moment.

“I don’t know who you’re bossing,”
Chasity Pearl began, “But I’m not—”

Laqiya cut the woman off.
“Chasity, please!”

Chasity Pearl narrowed her eyes at
Laqiya and opened her mouth to make a very cutthroat remark. Laqiya readied
herself to argue, but Isis nudged them both on the arm and nodded to the rest
of their class.

“I think I’ll meet you guys when
you get back,” Chasity Pearl said as their class headed outside.

“That’s no fair! I don’t want to go
in a forest, where there is dirt, bugs, and all kinds of creepy crawly things,”
Sakura whined, staring at Chasity Pearl who was remaining in the building. “If
we have to suffer through this so do you.”

“I’m not one of the students here,
remember?” she asked and turned to leave.

“That’s not fair,” Sakura whined
and turned to Adria, the only one who seemed to get along with Chasity Pearl
relatively well other than Laqiya. “You’ve known her the longest. Tell her!
She’s your guardian!”

“Birdie’s not a guardian,” said
Nightshield.

“Really?”
Sakura asked.

“Chasity Pearl’s always had a mind
of her own,” Adria admitted. “This is probably the most I’ve seen her and I’ve
known her for years, as a dove at least.”

“Then why…”

“We knew her when we were younger,”
Nightshield replied and from the look in her eyes, Laqiya knew there was more
to the story than Nightshield was willing to tell. She may not have liked
Chasity Pearl, but Nightshield had never one to indulge information that wasn’t
hers to give out.

Sakura opened her mouth to
question, but Laqiya stomped her foot. It wasn’t just her. Adria had hit the
girl in the arm.

“What?” Sakura asked rubbing her
arm and shuffling her foot.

“We’ll figure out what happened
later. Right now I need to figure out what’s going on,” Laqiya whispered, and
it dawned on Sakura that they were steering her away from what might be a
touchy subject.

“What do you think?” Sakura asked
instead.

Laqiya shrugged and looked back at
Chasity Pearl who was watching the class exit.