Arias swung his legs in front of the chair his Nana sat him in. He watched as she prepared a bath for him. He usually took a bath when it was time to go to sleep but he wasn’t sleepy at all. He thought as he stretched and yawned.
“Look at you,” she said, taking a wet towel to clean his face. “Did she try to even aim for your mouth?” Arias pulled away from her assault on his face. “That mother of yours is going to turn me gray sooner rather than later,” Bella said, looking in the mirror. “Not like my daughter isn’t already doing that.”
She always talked when they were together, and Arias could never really grasp what she was saying. Instead, Arias would daydream about the sweets his Nana Z would make him and the ones he took from his Mommie’s bag. Now he knew his Mommie liked sweets just as much as he did. He wondered if she could eat as many cookies as he could.
“Zacharias.” A woman’s voice called out to him, breaking him out of his daydream. He looked at his Nana who was adding the bubbles he liked in his bath. She was humming and in her own world and still he could hear… “Zacharias.”
He looked in the direction of the voice leading out of the room. He was staring at a blank wall confused.
“Arias.” He turned to see his Nana looking at him, tapping her feet. “Well, I can’t wash you with your clothes still on, silly boy. Do you need me to help you?”
Arias shook his head. He enjoyed doing things like this by himself. His Nana told him big boys can do things by themselves and he wanted to be a big boy. He wanted to grow big and strong to protect everyone, especially his mother. She always needs protection. Arias took off his clothes piece by piece while his Nana left to get something in the other room. Again, a voice called to him.
“Zacharias, do you want to play a game?”
Arias nodded gleefully. He didn’t want to take a bath and he didn’t want to sleep.
“Let’s play ‘Find the treasure’. All you have to do is follow the treats.” A secret door opened in the wall and there was a wrapped piece of candy on the floor.
A treat?!?! Arias perked at the idea and quickly followed through the door which closed behind him. There was enough light for him to see in front of him and he could hear his Nana humming in the room.
“This way, Zacharias.”
Arias could see another piece of candy at the end of the walkway, and he followed. Many twists and turns and pieces of candy later, he happened upon another opening in the wall. It led out into what looked like a library. He walked about stuffing his mouth with the pile of candy he gathered until his eyes caught the biggest cookie he had ever seen.
Mommie would like that, he thought as he walked closer to the statue.
The statue was of a woman holding a book in one of her hands while the other was hovering above, pointing down to the book. The cookie was hanging from the hand pointing down. Though he was too small, Arias tried reaching up as high as he could to grab the cookie. He contemplated dropping the candies he had in his arm so he could climb the statue.
I can pick them up after I get the cookie, he thought to himself as he dropped the candies on the floor.
Slowly, he climbed the statue, only tripping once before regaining his balance. The closer he got to the cookie, the more determined he was to keep going.
The moment he touched the book, the crystal around his neck illuminated the entire room. Arias tried to cover his eyes from the light, which caused him to slip off the statue.
This wasn’t the first time he had fallen off something high up. So, when he didn’t feel the pain that came after, he opened his eyes. He noticed he was hovering a few feet off the floor. For a moment he thought he was flying, but soon he realized he couldn’t really move. He tried looking around, but he was upside down. Near the front door stood Lana with her hand outstretched towards him. She lowered her hand and, at the same time, Arias was lowered to the ground. Before he could say anything, a bookshelf moved from the wall and Percy walked through frantically.
“Oh, Lana! There you are.”
“Percy, why are you-”
“It happened again. They went cra-” Percy stopped and noticed Arias on the floor. “Wait, what’s going on here,” he asked, looking at Lana suspiciously.
“What? I found him here about to facepalm the floor. He was on the statue.”
Percy walked over and picked up Arias. “Hey buddy. You ok?”
“I want the cookie for Mommie,” Arias said, pointing at the statue.
Percy looked up and didn’t see the cookie Arias was talking about. Instead, he saw the Lefki Thea Lykos. It was glowing. “Lana, the book.”
“Percy, let me handle this. You need to go. No telling how long before his parents realize he’s gone.”
“We need to figure out what is going on with the werewolves,” Percy said. “Maybe he did something to them.”
As Percy helped Arias to his feet, Lana moved over to inspect the statue. She picked up the book and a shock went through her as the book flew into the middle of the room. The metal binding slowly dissolved into the air, the book stopped spinning and descended back onto the table. Lana and Percy moved towards it. She reached out a tentative hand, afraid it might do something else. Her fear won over as she pulled back, looking at Percy.
“Maybe we should have the child open it,” Lana suggested.
“Are you insane? What if it hurts him like it did you,” Percy frowned.
“Well, he…activated before we got here so…”
They both looked at Arias, who was running around searching for something. He searched the floor and looked at the statue before turning to them with tears in his eyes.
“My candy,” he said, pointing at a spot on the floor. Percy and Lana looked confused at one another as they didn’t see anything in the area he was pointing at.
“Yes,” Lana said, “you can get some candy if you can open this book.”
Arias walked to Lana, who picked him up and placed him on the table. He walked over and squatted next to the book. Lana and Percy waited with bated breath as they watched him touch the cover without anything happening to him. He struggled for a moment before he flopped down on the table and started crying. He couldn’t open the book. Lana took this chance to pick the book up and try to open it. Percy also gave it a go.
“This is stupid. What’s the point of that little display if it won’t open,” Lana said with a frustrated sigh.
“What are we going to do now,” Percy asked. “We were banking on getting information from this book.”
Lana didn’t know at the moment. There has to be something we’re missing, she thought as she looked between the book and Arias. She noticed the crystal and remembered the symbol found on the werewolves in the lab.
“Maybe we need that second crystal,” she said to Percy. “Arias touched the book while wearing the crystal and the metal locks disappeared. Maybe the other crystal opens it, right?”
“I guess that would make sense but-”
“Arias!”
“Bugga, where are you?”
Lana could hear people calling out for Arias, which seemed to only make him cry louder. Lana rushed Percy back towards the secret tunnel behind the bookcase.
“Remember. No one sees you,” she said while closing the bookcase.
Not a second later, Zira and Zed came through the doors, throwing them open. Zira caught a familiar scent in the air but the sight of Arias crying got her attention. As she went to pick him up, she glanced at Lana leaning casually against a bookshelf.
Too casual, Zira noted. “Hey Bugga, what’s wrong,” she asked Arias, who buried his face in her shoulder. She turned to Lana. “What’s going on here?”
“I actually found him here looking for candy,” Lana said, walking over to them. “Then the book reacted to him.”
Zira glared at her, not believing anything she said as she looked over at the book on the table. For a moment, it felt like something called out to her. She shook her head and glared at Lana. “You expect me to believe my son just left his grandma's room to come here in search of candy? In this room of all places?”
“Don’t believe me if you want t-”
“I don’t,” Zira interjected.
“Well, it’s the truth,” Lana snapped back at her.
Zira growled as Arias tightened his hold around her neck. She had to control herself from shifting. Nina wanted to come and have her own conversation with Lana. Lana slowly walked towards Zira, her heels making a distinct clicking sound on the floor until they were no more than a few feet apart. Zira handed Arias to Zed, preparing herself for anything. Lana smirked, looking down at Zira.
“You really think I would hurt your son,” Lana asked. “Seriously?”
“Honestly, I don’t know you from Adam,” Zira said, closing the distance so they were no more than a foot apart. “So, I’ll ask nicely this time. Did you do something to make my son cry?”
Lana didn’t give up an inch. “No. I told you. He was looking for candy and didn’t find any. Choose what you want to believe.”
Zira laughed harshly in her face. “Really? Because I choose to believe you’re lying and ripping your tongue from your mouth as punishment.”
Lana’s eyes started to shimmer, and objects began to float around the room. “I might be a gracious host, Zira, but even I have my limits when it comes to threats.”
“Zira,” Zed warned.
Zira knew what he was saying. Don’t start this fight, especially with Arias right there.
“Take Arias to Isaiah, Zed. This is just going to be a talk between two women.”
“Zira!”
She turned at her name and saw Isaiah standing in the doorway with Bella, Malachi, and Councilman Faulkner. Isaiah and Bella made their way to Zira as Malachi stood next to Lana.
“What is going on here,” Councilman Faulkner asked.
No one said anything as Zira and Lana glared at each other. Lana let out an exaggerated sigh and went to the table to pick up the book.
“I saw a light coming from this room and since I keep this room locked with the only key, I came to investigate. That’s when I saw Arias standing on the statue before he fell and I caught him, you’re welcome by the way,” she said to Zira. “Anyway, I think he touched the book and the bindings just disappeared.”
“So, the book is open now,” Councilman Faulkner asked.
“No,” Lana said, showing that it was still locked somehow. She handed it to Councilman Faulkner, who tried and failed.
“What does that mean for Arias,” Isaiah asked.
“We could speak to Mother Essie,” Malachi offered. “She is the matriarch of this group. She’s a bit off-hinge sometimes, but she is wise.”
“Good idea, Malachi,” Lana said. “She would enjoy the company and we can all learn something together. It is late so I can set up some time with her tomorrow.”
“Excellent,” Councilman Faulkner said with a bit more enthusiasm than expected. “I hope you don’t mind if I stay the night.”
Lana threw up her hands. “Why not? It seems everyone wants to invite themselves here anyway.”
Somehow, Zira knew she was the target for that little comment, but she couldn’t care less. All she wanted to do was find a way to make Arias feel better and leave this pack. She would do whatever it took to make those things come true. Everyone followed Lana out the door, but Zira hung back for a moment. A scent was tickling her nose and she couldn’t quite place it. She looked around the bookcase, thinking something or someone was still present.
She surveyed the room until she heard Lana clear her throat. Zira only glared at her as she left and watched Lana lock the door. She didn’t believe Lana one bit. If the door was locked, then how in the hell did Arias get in there, Zira wondered. Something wasn’t right and Zira was going to find out. Tonight.