Falling For His Charms

CHAPTER 32

Sophie and Fitz, panting, sped off down the corridors, their shoes hitting the marble floors loudly, but she didn't care. All she cared about right now is finding out why the Black Swan had such an impact on her, when she had believed to have never heard of them before.

Finally, after running a long while, she made it to the sixth floor, and saw the library doors. Fitz, who had been slightly behind her, stopped next to her, wheezing.

"We ran all this way for a library?" He asked in disbelief, however when Sophie sent him a look he shut up.

"Libraries hold secrets that nothing else can hold," She breathed, her eyes twinkling at the thought of having so many books just on the other side of the doors facing her. Sophie had always been someone who saw a special kind of magic in books, and seeing as she didn't own many in her past, she held on to them dearly.

Slowly, she turned the golden handles of the tall double doors and opened them. She hadn't expected them to open, as it was the middle of the night, and usually public places were locked for after-hours. However, the huge wooden doors opened without any sound at all, and stayed open as Sophie walked into the grand library full of hundreds of books.

The girl walked over to the section that was made of strictly scrolls, and the parchment here was full of historical events that happened mainly in the kingdom of Everglen. Fortunately, Sophie found the era that she was looking for quite quickly: the years around the time that she was born. She slammed the scroll onto a table, and lit a candle that stood no too far away. As quickly as she could, Sophie ripped open the old parchment, and looked for the time that she was searching for.

"Black Swan, Silver era... Black Swan, Silver era..." Sophie muttered, swiping her finger down the lines of writing, her eyes darting past every word, looking for the words repeating themselves in her mind. "There!" She cheered to herself, an excited feeling blooming in her chest.

The Black Swan

The Black Swan was and still is a rebel group most commonly known as the arch nemesis of the infamous group, the Neverseen. The group is to be thought to have started during the Hazel era, while King Rayon ruled Everglen and started the Fire War. The Black Swan's current and past members are unknown, for the fact that the group tends to go with the mysterious way of function. During the Silver era, King Alden of Everglen allied with the group, and is still allied to this day...

Sophie felt a small ting of recollection buzz in her mind, but not enough to give her answers. Wanting to know more, she skipped the rest of the paragraph, and went to the part of the Silver era.

The Black Swan during the Silver era

The Black Swan does not return into known history since the middle of the most recent era, the Bronze era. The only recent known information up to date is that the rebel band is still presently allied to the Kingdom of Everglen.

Sophie swore under her breath, angered by the lack of information. Her eyes sweeped over the other parts of the scroll, but it only infuriated her more when she couldn't find any more useful knowledge.

"Hey Soph, you alright? What are you looking for?" She heard the accented voice ask, and she turned her head to see Fitz leaning against a tall bookshelf a few meters away. In response, she sighed and sunk down into her chair. This concerned the older boy, and he sat down in the chair next to her. "Do you want me to help you find something?"

"I... I don't know if you can help. I'm trying to find something that's linked to me."

"Why would you do that? "

"Because when Alden said the word 'Black Swan', I felt all these memories rushing back into my brain, filling up blank spaces that I've always wondered about, and new ones that I've never seen. I want to know why. I've never heard about the Black Swan before this; at least I think so..."

Fitz sighed, and ran a hand through his chocolate coloured locks, distracting Sophie for a minute before she focused on the problem again.

"I don't have any ideas right now..." He started, meeting his eyes with hers. "But it's also late. You've had a long night, so why don't we continue this tomorrow?"

Sophie was reluctant to agree. Sure, he was right; it had been a night full of stress, sadness and worry. Definitely not the type of night to do research. However, she felt this need to find out why just hearing the word Black Swan would trigger her so, even if it took her the rest of the evening. As if Fitz could sense her reluctance - which he probably could - he set his hand on her shoulder again.

"Please, Soph. Seeing you this tired and stressed really worries me. Can you maybe just rest for a while?"

Sophie smiled weakly and stood up. "I think you're right. I'll do more searching tomorrow, when I've rested."

"Thank you. I'll walk you back to your room," Fitz insisted. As the two walked hand in hand towards the exit of the library, Sophie felt a familiar sensation of reluctance to leave. What if she was close to finding the answer? Did she really want to wait all the way until the morning?

She shook those thoughts away, and let Fitz walk her back to her room for the night.