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“Yes?”
“Thank you for looking out for her.”
“You’re welcome.”
As the telephone call ended, I knew exactly where to go next. With Fernando on my shoulders, I walked to Edwina Aldea’s home.
No cars were parked outside the cottage this time. Would Ms. Aldea be more forthcoming without Silas here? I hoped so. I also hoped she wouldn’t hold the same grudge against Fernando.
I knocked on the door. There were no sounds from within the cottage. No one answered.
“Ms. Aldea, it’s Lily Fernsby,” I said loudly, hoping if she was inside that she would hear me. “I was hoping to speak with you.”
Still nothing. Perhaps she was out back.
I circled around the building to the back yard. There was no sign of Ms. Aldea. If she wasn’t home, it was the perfect time to take a quick look around. Fernando hopped down and rolled off to do some exploring of his own.
At the back of the yard, behind garden boxes filled with thistles, stood a small building. It appeared to be the size of a greenhouse, with nearly as much glass for walls. But it had a shingled roof, and inside instead of plants were shelves upon shelves of books.
I tried the door. It was unlocked.
“Ms. Aldea?” I called, though there didn’t appear to be anywhere for her to hide. There was a comfortable looking chair, a small table, and books for days.
Titles spanned the spectrum ofPoisons for DummiestoHow to Kill a Man Without Lifting a Finger.Most of the books appeared to do with fighting, self-defense, cooking, and poisoning.
A particularly interesting shelf held three large tomes without labeled spines. The weathered binding and yellowed pages suggested they were at least a hundred years old. I gently lifted the first from the shelf and flipped through a few of the pages.
They were journals.
Every single entry had to do with the Trai Amulet.
CHAPTER 23
In the earliest passages of the first book, written in particularly slanted handwriting, the prose was so purple and poetic that it was difficult to decipher meaning. One passage in particular appeared to mark when the family was first entrusted with the amulet.
Beryl bounds,to the sky, to the grounds.
Trai assured.
Bequeathed from supremacy onto the town.
Obliged, Trai eternally bound.
The wordtraiwas Romanian for livelihood or existence. Had the amulet been named when it was given to the Aldeas? Who exactly had entrusted them with its care? Had it been created by a witch? One connected to life magic, like my mother?
A notable shift in penmanship likely indicated the handing over of duty from mother to daughter. A number of entries implied extended life and a transformation of features. Most interestingly, they seemed to imply the Aldea women were not in fact some breed of demons or elves, but humans, morphedby their possession of the amulet. A few lamented their disfigurement. I couldn’t blame them.
The third Aldea woman’s handwriting was as sharp as her words were blunt. It was in one of her entries that I found possibly the most important tidbit yet.
My mother gaveme the Trai Amulet to guard with my life. This is not the life I would choose for myself, but it is what I must do.
There is no greater calling than to protect a goddess.
Wasthe amulet the key to something that made a goddess vulnerable? As in…goddesses were real? If this bit had been written by the first author, I would assume goddess meant a powerful woman or even a beautiful woman. But the third author’s entries were so short and to the point that I had to take her word as it was.
I wished I could call Silas to tell him what I’d found. I wished I could reach Imogen to share my victory. Neither option was possible, so I bounced on my toes and kept scanning the text for more information.
A tap on the window startled me. The image of a scowling Edwina Aldea popped into my head. I whipped around, hiding the book behind my back on the table.
