He quickly ducked out of the room, running from wall to wall down the hall. His back up against each, as he shimmied his way down the narrow corridor that led farthest away from the hospital sector. The late responding rescue team was now in, and Corinth, far out of the hospital and its nurse's office.

He then embarked on the lonely journey back to his dorm. The elevator was empty, because ministrants and students alike had cla.s.s. It was a good thing though. There was no one around to question why a soaking wet, weeping boy -sat curled up in the corner, looking like he'd been to h.e.l.l-and never came back.

Chapter 21:.

What's A Library?

May 22, 1002 ~ Midday Corinth sat on his bed alone for several hours, pondering all that he just learned. He threw Oliveto's green ball across the room and up against the big wooden door. He caught it like a pro every time it bounced back. He'd be a star on the Spheres team, if only he'd go to practice, but Walker was right about it being quite a dull game. He thought and thought some more. While thinking, he donned a grimace so grave that he could feel the muscles in his face growing stiff. They'd be stuck that way if something didn't give. And just like that, his thinking boy time was prematurely interrupted without proper notice. Anvard and the usual suspects opened the door without knocking, and then shuffled their way inside.

"So, we just heard that you were discharged -last night. Of course, before all the commotion this morning in the hospital. And yet, you didn't come see any of us?" Anvard smiled brightly and folded his arms across his broad chest like a lecturing father.

Corinth swiftly got up from his bed and started pacing in front of it. Displacing Claudia and the twins in the process. "I'm not in the mood for jokes!" he said it quickly, like his life depended on them understanding the point straight away.

Once again, Anvard felt Corinth pushing him away. They hadn't made any progress in their relationship since the day they met. "Cory-"

"Don't call me that. My mom and dad call me that. I don't like it, but they're my parents. And you're just you. So just stop it already!"

Anvard was the king of forgiveness. No matter what someone said or did, he always tried to look at it from their perspective. "So, it's that bad?" he said, while slowly sitting down on the edge of Corinth's bed.

Corinth stopped pacing and looked at him. "Yeah, it kind of is."

"Good thing you have friends then!" He smiled with genuine delight and Corinth sat down next to him with a sigh of relief steaming through his narrow nostrils.

"Well, I hope so, because I could use all of your help," Corinth admitted, with his eyes down.

"With what?" Emmy asked first.

He thought about it for a second. He didn't know if it was a good idea to get his friends involved in his dangerous plans. He reluctantly started speaking again. "We need to get a book. It's called The Fate Forgery."

They all exchanged awkward looks. "That doesn't sound that hard really." Anvard patted Corinth on the back, trying to seem supportive. Meanwhile, Emma pulled out her digital tablet.

"That's not the whole plan," Corinth said with his elbows anch.o.r.ed to his knees. He still felt weak, and didn't feel like re-explaining himself with every phrase.

"I can't find it anywhere. I looked in the schools database and the Hyperborean public library thingy too. Your book don't exist, sweetie," Emma said with her fingers gently caressing her chin like a sa.s.sy sleuth, but more so, an annoying know-it-all.

"That's because it's old. It's never been scanned into any database," he informed them.

"Well, how are we going to get it?" Emmy looked perplexed by Corinth's elusive explanations.

"Better yet, why do we need it?" Anvard threw into the pot.

"We need to find out about the Shattered Temple and that Creative Window thing too."

"Whoa!" Claudia exclaimed. "You're headed into some weird territory. Can you please just explain from the beginning?"

Corinth figured she was right, but he didn't want them knowing everything. He told them about his dreams and what he felt they meant. He told them that Walker may have poisoned him, and could be holding his uncle hostage for some reason. He didn't want them to know about his mental state. They already looked at him with rising suspicion. He didn't want them trying to commit him to an insane asylum, which they probably would do if they knew the whole story.

"Your dream seems curious," Claudia ma.s.saged her language to keep from sounding dismissive,"but we can't just go snooping that far from school grounds. They said at orientation how dangerous the Angora Mountains are. And all this for a dream," Claudia tried to be the voice of reason.

"Stop it!" Anvard shouted. "Dreams are visions, you idiot. Any second-grader knows that. They don't always play out the way they do in your head, but they have a lot of meaning."

"There are no facts to support that!" Claudia countered viscously. "Just fanatics and their crazy renditions of events that they've misinterpreted!" She wanted Andy to know that she knew how to shout too.

"Both of you stop it!" Emmy yelled. She looked to Corinth seating next to Anvard on the edge of the bed. "Corinth, where's this book?"

Thank you, Emmy, said the whimpered in Corinth's lonely heart. The last thing he wanted to do was argue about facts. He was running on a little less than fumes at this point. His stomach was in knots as he tried to explain further. "It's in the library. Walker told me so," he announced without notable emotion.

"And you trust that it's not a trap?" Anvard questioned boldly. "Maybe he's been leading you there all along," he said protectively.

"It doesn't matter. Either way, we have to find my uncle, so we need to get the book from the library."

"Ew!" Emma grimaced at the thought. "I'm not really a book kind of girl." She had a look on her face that said she just smelled a fart. She despised even the thought of knowledge. "And I have pretty bad allergies, so those dusty things might close my throat up something fierce. So...." she was hoping they'd count her out.

"You're going!" Anvard said quickly, and her face dropped even faster than the words came out of his mouth.

"Wait, no. I need you to do something else Emma." She perked up at the sound of Corinth's voice.

"I don't want to be the odd ball out here," Claudia interrupted, "but can't we just get help from the ministrants. I mean, Sen. Huntzmen, he's an expert on mythology. And he's the Watchers teacher. He's trained in seeing the unseen."

"She has a point," Anvard admitted to everyone's surprise, except Corinth's. He'd been snooping around inside of their minds. He didn't like how it felt to be inside someone else's head, but he knew what was really at stake here. He needed to be able to trust them.

"No," Cory countered defiantly, "we have to do it ourselves. But you're right, Claudia, we do need something that can see what we can't. That's where Emma comes in," he said, pointing his finger directly at her. She was proud to be the center of attention within the group. Just like she always knew she would be.

When they closed the door behind them, Emma started to feel unsure. Standing in the Main hall, just outside Corinth's dorm door, she didn't know what to do. The four of them began walking away, rounding the stone corridor that is the Main hall. One of the torches flickered vigorously as a pa.s.sing breeze came in from one of the open windows up above.

She called out to them before they were out of sight. "Hey! You guys are going to leave me. Just like that. No pep talk, or anything." They all came back with slumped shoulders.

"You did it once. What's the problem now?" Corinth asked, looking fed up with her before the conversation even got underway.

"The difference is," Emma snapped, "last time I was sure he wasn't there. But he's there now. He hasn't left that room in weeks, because of what happened to him at the Pavilion."

Corinth needed her to go into Sen. Bernard's office, and again steal the digital map of the school and its outer perimeters. That map could tell you not only where everything was, but also what's happening there at that very moment. "Yeah," Cory started encouragingly, "but he's bedridden. His office is up front. Right when you walk through the door. But he'll be in the back. In his bedroom. Probably even asleep. This should be just as easy."

"I don't know?" She looked around at the windows up high. One of the mosaic-gla.s.s double doors kept flipping back and forth. She watched it like it was telling her what the best option was. "If I get caught, you have to use your magik with Bernard. All the ministrants are nice to you, maybe you can do something, if things get weird." Corinth and Emma pinky-swore to the agreement that he'd help her out if she was caught.

The two parties parted ways. As Corinth walked around the circular Main hall toward Oeste skywalk, he thought about Bernard catching Emma. He figured he could woo any teacher at Aurora Boreal. Possibly even Sena. Hendrix, but not that guy. He was a whitewash of emotion, in more ways than one. He couldn't tell Emma that though. He just hoped to high heaven she wouldn't let herself get caught.

Emma didn't hesitate. She turned her body around, flipped her brown hair behind her shoulders, and walked the opposite way down the hall. Bernard's room wasn't many doors down from Corinth's little hut of a dorm. Last time she'd been in there, he chewed her up and spit her back out. Detention and cleaning duties. Those words struck fear in the heart of a pampered girl like her.

When she reached the door, she almost knocked to see if anyone was home. She realized, in just the nick of time, how stupid that would have been. She reached down into her colossal purse and pulled out a toolkit, of sorts. Makeup accessories and whatnots. She rummaged through the junk and selected a bobby pin. She quickly jammed it into the rusty looking keyhole. She jimmied the pin, and voila! She busted the weak lock. She realized how under prepared this school was for her arrival. Placing the pin in her hair after twisting her brown locks back into a bun, she then turned the k.n.o.b, slowly easing her way inside.

"Ew!" She stepped on a wad of tissues surrounding a small waste bin at the door. She covered her mouth quickly, silently hoping he was asleep and wouldn't be awakened by the slight yelp. There was no one in sight. She swiftly walked over to the desk up against the far wall. The cream wallpaper on the wall looked old and dingy to her as she pa.s.sed by. Last time she came in, she figured that Bernard must be a smoker by the look and smell of things. She saw how right she was when she noticed a pack of cigarettes on top of some papers, once she reached his ma.s.sive cherry wood desk tightly pressed up against the wall opposite the door. The dark hardwood floors looked old and creaky, but they didn't squeak near a sound her whole way over. What luck, she figured.

She found the map on top of the desk the last time. She thought it looked interesting, so she took it and left immediately. She justified her actions by telling herself she wasn't stealing. She only came in to look around. To get to know the school and everything. The map... she was simply borrowing it. Now, she had to open every draw she saw, until she found it. It was dark in the room. On account that all the shades to the double door windows near the ceiling were closed up tight. But she'd recognize this gem in pitch-black darkness. It looked so ordinary from outside. Just a folded beige parchment with no identifiable markings beside a few water stains. However, there were marvelous wonders inside. She spotted it in a low drawer. She quickly stowed it away in her purse. Stood back up and turned around.

"What are you doing?" A man standing in the archway to left, holding a cup of what appeared to be tea, looked over to her with condemning eyes.

"Nothing you probably wouldn't expect from a girl like me." It was a bold move, but she was lost for words unless she used her c.o.c.ky att.i.tude to fuel each breath.

Soon after her retort, she was astonished to hear him ... laughing? "You'd be right, young lady. But this is the second time you've attempted to remove this particular item from my possession. Please, give me some reasonable explanation to why that is, my dear young pupil." Sen. Bernard leaned against the threshold and took a sip from his steaming brown mug.

He looked ratty with a thick beard that was completely unkept. He hadn't healed much from his stint as liberator of the people during the Pavilion raid. His white hair was everywhere, except where it should be. When she saw him last, he looked so put together. Now dressed down and sickly looking, he appeared awfully human. She was indeed afraid of him. His completely white eyes made him look soulless. From pupil to iris, just continuous white. Though intimidated, she tried to play it cool.

"Please, me and my friends need this map for a hiking trip we're taking. We'll bring it back, I promise," she sounded so convincing while holding the map tight against the lapel of her uniform. "If you just let us-"

"Take it, it's yours," he raised his mug as he said it.

She was stopped dead in her tracks. "Seriously?" She looked like she smelled another fart.

"Yes, I am rather -serious. As I'm sure most you vexatious students have yammered about several times before." His facial expression hinted that he was done with her. "You obviously have a certain affection for it, so take it. Keep it safe. It is no ordinary electronic map."

"Wait, you're totally serious about this! Are you sure?" She had gotten what she wanted so easily that she figured it unreal. She seemed like she was trying to talk him out of being so generous. If just to test his sincerity.

"Yes! Now go before I change my mind!" He motioned to the door, silently bellowing her to leave. He turned back toward his bedchamber, stepped inside, ready to close the door. But an irritating thought lured him back to his office area. Back to Emma.

She walked as quickly as she could across the room and pulled the door open.

"Wait!" he shouted abruptly. She pushed the door back in, and squeezed her eyelids tight. She was ready for him to yell, surprise! It was a joke. You're actually going to be expelled instead, my dear "former" pupil. "Look at me when I speak to you." She turned to him. He was -pointing his mug at her like he'd throw it. Eyes red and tired, but he summoned a torrent of liveliness to imprint his next statement on the forefront of her brain. "If you ever waltz yourself into my quarters uninvited again, I'll have you on the first thing smoking back to Lirio!" His white eyes crackled with more red arcs that denoted the amount of force he conjured just to say this to her."Do you understand, young lady?"

"Yes, sir." She almost curtseyed, she was so scared by his hard tone.

He sounded like he had a combination of mucous and thoroughbred rage building up inside him. She walked out as he waved her on. Just after she closed the door tight behind her, Bernard took another sip from his mug. Then pulled it away from his face to reveal a subtle smile. He seemed amused by the feisty little troublemaker that roused him from bed for the first time since the attack on the Pavilion.

When Emma entered the library, Corinth immediately noticed her. She walked over the burgundy carpet with gold tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs, headed toward them at their rectangular marble table. When he saw her, he was surprised that she had changed out of her uniform into casual wear. He knew he shouldn't have been, but yet he was. Cla.s.s time wasn't yet over, but he figured none of them were going back to cla.s.s anyway. So why not go for it. She wore a jean skirt, black flats, and sky-blue t-shirt. Even he still partially wore his uniform. Sans the grey jackets. However, Emma decided to take her sweet time in getting the map to them. Probably due to her reluctance to step foot inside of a physical library. She figured her tablet could get the job done. No need to dirty her hands with dusty books.

She pa.s.sed the cherry wood bookshelves that stood high above their heads. Nearly touching the ceiling. There were mobile staircases everywhere, leaned up against the shelves. Various librarians traversed them retrieving books for students, doing some cataloging and whatnot. The gold plated signs on the mobile stairs clearly said for 'Librarian Use Only!' Each book was alphabetized and labeled by a golden plaque on the edge of the shelf beneath it. Well, almost every book.

Walker gave Corinth the numbers 1-05-8, back on the Olympus Grounds, but his father cut Walker off mid-sentence. Corinth wondered why Sena. Hendrix had done that spell in front of Walker in the first place. He received an answer when he connected with her mind. This made his trust issues with Walker even more complicated. Though Criston cut Walker off when telling the catalog number of the Fate Forgery, it was still easy to find with the numbers he managed to get out. They all searched the vicinity with those digits. They found it stuffed between two smaller books all the way in the back of the library on the last shelf.

"Got it!" Emma let the lightweight map flutter down onto the table as air currents carried it to its resting destination. The four of them looked to her with frowns. With her arms crossed, she twisted her mouth up with a self-satisfied ultra smug look.

"Okay." Corinth shrugged in his seat.

She unfolded her arms. "What do you mean, 'okay!' That took a lot of covert secret agent sleuthing to come across."

"Do you even know what 'sleuthing' means?" Anvard looked up from the ma.s.sive book he had his head buried in to ask her that all-important question. He loved the mystical aspects of magik. He could read about mythology till his eyes bleed tears of joy.

"I used it properly in the sentence, didn't I?" Another smug look coursed from cheek to cheek. Anvard didn't have anything else to say to her, so he stuck his bolt shaped head back into the book.

Corinth stood up and walked over to her. He put a hand on her shoulder. She looked over at his hand like he'd just come from the bathroom without washing it. "Thanks a lot for getting it. Really! But that's what you were supposed to do, after all. Just sit down and we can work all of this out... cool?"

She slapped his hand away. "Work what out? You won't even tell us what's really going on." The others perked up, because they too agreed with Emma. She sat down in the chair in front of her. It was opposite the head of the table, where Andy sat with the book. "Like, what does the Shattered Temple have to do with helping your uncle?" she questioned him with a suspicious glint in her eyes. "It's not even real. It's a myth! A made up story by some bored guy with a pen."

"Guys..." he didn't know how to start this sentence. Being vague was one thing. But deliberately leading people on, that crossed a line he didn't want to walk over just yet. "If you trust me, then you'll just go along with it."

Emma threw her hands up. "I'm out!"

"Emma, where are you going?" Anvard shouted across the student-filled library.

"Shhhhh!" A woman with her silver hair pulled back in a bun motioned to their table to quiet down from her little booth against the wall. What lie behind her was a sea of more and more books. How entertaining, really. Special editions and things students were likely to take without intent to bring back. Well, at least the shut-in librarians thought so.

Anvard strangely bowed his head with his hands held together. She took it as a peace offering and left them alone. He got up from his seat and walked over to his younger sister. His broad shoulders were intimidating to her. Without his uniform jacket, his white-collar shirt revealed more of his imposing frame. She knew him all her life, and even she thought he was overly muscular for a fourteen-year-old schoolboy.

"You can't just go," he said, looking down to her.

"Uh, yeah I can. You can't boss me around, you know?" she tried to project her voice.

"Well, maybe I can because-"

"No, you can't," Emmy said calmly. "She's not coming from the wrong direction, you know? Do you really think we're all just going to go out into the freezing mountains in search of nothing?" She directed that question to Corinth.

"No, but I don't have a lot of options here," the feeble looking kid said.

"Neither do we, Corinth." It looked as if the ladies were banding together against the two lone boys. Claudia threw her hat into the girl rebellion. "We would love to help you, honestly. But in a way that doesn't get anybody hurt. And actually makes some sense."

"But his dream, you guys!" Anvard tried to make them see from Corinth's point of view. "This all centers on the dream. We have to take the Northern Coaster over to the North Lake. That's the high speed rail line that Corinth's been dreaming of."

Corinth had never heard of the Northern Coaster before now. He really hoped Anvard wouldn't change his mind about helping. He seemed to know so much more about the myths than Cory ever knew existed.

Call it a psychic kind of thing, but he already knew it was a done deal. "It's okay." Corinth walked in front of Anvard, grabbing the pointed fingers Andy used to accuse the girls of being disloyal. "You guys are fine. I really understand your reservations. I'm doing this for a reason. But I don't want your help anymore. I shouldn't have involved you three in the first place."

"Now don't go and say that," Emmy shuffled from side to side, "like we don't care about what's going on. A lot of this is really serious stuff. I mean, if Walker poisoned -you then-"

"Keep your voice down!" Anvard loudly cautioned Emmy. Drawing the attentions of the watchdog in the booth again. She had a strict noise level policy, and Anvard was about to be made an example out of. He waved toward her very graciously, and flashed that world-cla.s.s smile. He had a charm that couldn't be denied. Even by an old bird whose biggest task in life was to guard a couple of refined tree barks with ink splashed over them.

"Look," Cory started, "it's not as bad as it seems. We probably won't even venture out there anyway. I was just snooping around because it piqued my interest." He was trying to throw them off the trail now. And they fell for it. "I'm sure Sena. Hendrix can handle everything. Don't forget, I found out most of this from her." He didn't tell them exactly how he got that info from her when he explained himself back at his dorm though. He figured that was a conversation best held another time. "Me and Andy are going to look at some books, and just build a cautionary case. Nothing major, really." Anvard liked it when Corinth called him Andy. He was putty for Cory to mold from that point on.

The girls walked away, satisfied that Corinth wasn't charging into anything dangerous. But they were very wrong, and Corinth and Anvard were both well aware of that.

"So what's really going on here?" Andy asked.

"Can I tell you something that you promise to never repeat?" Corinth knew he didn't need to ask that question, but he had to start this awkward talk from somewhere.