SWNOVELS Chapter Chapter Twenty-four
I have never wanted the weekend to arrive so badly in my life. The past three days were pure torture. I did everything humanly possible to make sure I avoided Blake. Lori stuck to my side like super glue when I wasn’t in my classes, and I desperately wanted to speak with Ash, but he has gone M.I.A. on me. I seriously want to scream!
“Earth to Sofie... Halloo,” I see Lori waving her hand in front of my face before I realize she had been talking to me this whole time. I hear her laugh, “dang girl, what’s on your mind? You look like you were a million miles away.”
I sigh... “I just wish I knew where Ash was. I mean, what in the world is he doing that he can’t even answer a text?” A growl of frustration escapes my lips. Lori is sitting in my car with me, listening to me vent (and I absolutely love her for this). She randomly decides to lean across the seat divider and hug me, taking me completely by surprise.
“I’m sure whatever he is doing is important or he wouldn’t have left you. Don’t stress yourself out. I’m sure he will be back before you know it.” I nod my head in agreement with her even though I don’t feel as positive as she sounds. “By the way, I have to work tonight, will you be alright?”
I wave her question away. “I will be just fine. Mom and dad will be home by five p.m. and besides, I can take care of myself. You and Ash are worrying over me like I’m a child. But to ease your mind, I promise I won’t leave my house and you can call me on your break to check in on me, okay?”
“All right, all right. I get it and I would be going crazy if I had someone watching my every movement too.” Lori grins as she says this last part, causing me to roll my eyes. “I will call you around seven and then I will come over tomorrow morning, okay?” She asks it in the form of a question but I know there is no negotiating her into not coming over tomorrow, so I just nod my head yes.
Lori leaves me sitting in my car and I watch as she sprints across the lightly snow-covered yard and over to her house. Releasing a heavy sigh, I finally get the motivation to get out of my car as well. I bump my car door with my butt trying to shut it because my arms hold my book bag, satchel, keys and phone; but as I go to do this, I apparently find the only patch of ice left in my driveway and I strategically place my foot just right that I end up slipping on the frozen puddle of water.
A screech of shock escapes me as I feel myself going down. Thank the stars there is no one around to see my butt land on the cold freaking cement drive. I sit for a moment trying to get my bearings and then I begin to laugh. I laugh so hard that it becomes nearly impossible to breathe and then I find myself crying. Uncontrollable sobs rack my body, causing my shoulders to shake making it even harder to breathe.
This is seriously what my life has come to! Who would have thought that at the age of 18 I would be having a mental breakdown? Not me... Closing my eyes, I attempt to take deep steady breaths, trying to calm myself. As I go to open my eyes, I notice that a shadow has fallen upon me. Tipping my head back to look at the sky, I see that very dark clouds have taken over the blue skies from minutes ago. I laugh out loud at the sudden change. Maybe the sky feels my pain... and is changing accordingly to my mood. I know that really isn’t how nature works, but the thought strikes me as funny, nonetheless. Making a sound somewhere in between a sigh and a growl, I finally pick myself up from off of the ground and head inside my house where I plan on changing into sweatpants, an over-sized tee shirt and binge watch Netflix until I fall asleep.
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As wise as Charlie is, I know the answers I am looking for will not be found within the Nest, an open community where all shifters live in ’harmony’. No, the items I am looking for are the ancient scrolls of the Time of the Shifters. Loosely translated means when shifters were accepted more openly among humans and there is only one place, I will be able to find these; locked away in the library of the Counsil of Shifter Nobles. Unfortunately, this will have me travelling to Austin, Texas, where the Counsil felt the history of shifters could be more secure, less likely destroyed by wars and what not.
Taking a deep breath, I release it slowly as I feel the tires of the plane touch ground and finally come to a stop by the exit gate so that I can get off of the retched flying machine, as a panther, I firmly believe that all four paws should stay on land. If we were meant to fly, we would have wings! The feline instincts within me felt trapped inside the small plane and I wanted nothing more than to let it free, however, I knew that would not be a wise idea, so I gripped the armrests as tight as I could for the entirety of the flight from Columbus, Ohio to Austin, Texas airport. If I would have chosen to drive, I would have been gone twice as long from Sofia and that is the only reason why I opted to fly instead of drive.
Hailing a taxi, I don’t even bother checking into the hotel I had reserved before going to sixth street. It amuses me watching as the streets fill up with tourist, college students and the regulars that mill around sixth street. Not but maybe a handful of people wandering about know of the hidden world so close to them. Shaking my head, I hand the driver the money that I owed and then closing the door to the taxi, I head straight to a night club called Mad-Dog! and then walking into the place, I bypass the bar and stage where bands can perform heading to the back of the building where what I am looking for is located.
Why would the Council of Shifters library be in the back of a night club one might ask or wonder, well, it is a simple answer, the club is a front so that no one questions why such a unique library would be in a place of so much foot traffic. Well, that and the fact that the library had been built first. No one knew that sixth street would eventually become such a popular hangout area and so the bar was built out in front of the library so that it would go unnoticed by people, especially humans but also from other ’Tenebrae’s’ as well.
Walking into the library, I look for the person in charge because the scrolls I am specifically looking for, are not ones that are readily available to the public. They are held in an airtight room and need special attention if to be viewed and they are locked up within a case on top of that so I will need a key to be able to read any of them.
Waiting a few moments, I realize no one is going to come to the desk and see a bell that says, ’ring me for assistance’. I roll my eyes for not having noticed it before and then tap it a couple of times before a very tall older lady who has the essence or rather appearance of a horse comes out of another room and glares at me for having disrupted her.
“Yes,” she has a haughty air about her, and I would like nothing more than to give her a piece of my mind on what I think about shifters and them thinking they are superior to any other. But I won’t because I desperately need to see the scrolls.
“Hi, yes. Sorry to bother you but I need to see the Golden Scrolls please.” I put a smile on my face and ask this as pleasantly as I can, in case she feels like denying me. I don’t want to play the superiority card, but I will if I have to. The panther shifters are considered superior to most other four-legged creatures in the World of Tenebrosity and the predator in me would love nothing more than to pounce upon the horse!