Changed by Time ✔

five.

Something Wadesburg was known for was its small businesses and local cafés. It was considered a very social media friendly area, especially since it was just a mere twenty minutes outside of New York City itself (not including traffic).

"Where were you thinking this source is?" Wendy asked as she adjusted her black pleated skirt, tucking in the remaining parts of her black long sleeve shirt. She crossed her legs, clicking her boot heel against the sidewalk as she and Nolan sat at one of the outside café tables. "I mean, you have to have some kind of idea."

"The technical term for it was actually the SuperSource."

Wendy snorted. "Seriously? The SuperSource?"

"Don't laugh, I didn't give it that name." Nolan rolled his eyes. "Anyways, I knew that the source of these myths and stories had to be in Europe due to the unmeasurable number of stories that were similar to the ones I heard about these superhumans," he explained, flipping through the book pages. He was now out of his cliché intruder attire and changed into a dark red long sleeve Henley with jeans and a pair of boots. "I figured it might've been in Greece or Italy since there are many myths relating to Greek and Roman gods and goddesses throughout time. But now I'm not so sure."

"What makes you say that?"

"Nothing in this story parallels to almost any of the myths. Maybe a similarity here or there, but nothing that could warrant a trip there," Nolan said, looking up from the book to her. "I think I might be looking in the wrong part of Europe."

"Well what about the other stories?" Wendy questioned, pointing to the pages. "Maybe The Gods Among Men isn't the only clue there. There could be another story that points us in the right direction."

Nolan began flipping through the pages again, looking back to the notepad he had set up beside it. He looked between the notes and back to the book multiple times. "Maybe..."

Wendy thought for a moment, picturing the pages back when she first skimmed through them. There weren't many stories that caught her eye, possibly the stories of the banshee, but nothing else...

The stories didn't seem to matter when it came to their situation, but where they were.

"Hang on a second." Wendy stopped him, taking the book and beginning to flip through them. "Every single one of these stories is based in some part of the U.K."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. I've heard some of these stories and recognize the places mentioned in them," she said as she read through the stories. "This first story is about banshees – so Ireland."

"Okay," he wrote down the location in his notebook, "what's next?"

"The second story is based off of the witches that were burned at the stake in Edinburgh," Wendy said as she read. "Women with mental illnesses and knowledge in science were claimed to be witches and murdered. There were between about 300 to 500 women killed from this."

"Okay," Nolan wrote the location down in his notebook, "so that's set in Scotland. What about the next story?"

The third story was once again set in Scotland – the Ghost of Lady Catherine Ramsey. The young Lady Catherine had fallen in love with a man but her parents had forbade her from being with him. As a response, she locked herself in her chamber and eventually starved to death. She continues to roam the corridors looking for her lost love.

The fourth story was set in England – The White Lady. A young woman was imprisoned by her sister at the base of St. Margaret's tower. There, she eventually starved to death.

"The fifth story is The Gods Among Men, right?" Nolan questioned as he wrote down 'England' on his notepad.

"Yes, a story describing how three people, two women and a man, entered a library that had recently been built and was still bringing in books for people to read," Wendy summarized. "The librarian was struggling as he realized that there weren't nearly enough books to fill the library, yet he still struggled to put away the ones that he did have.

"The man would fly around the place, placing books onto the shelves they needed. One of the women would look into the past, telling stories from then while the librarian wrote them down. The other women assisted with repairing any parts of the library that were damaged or finishing parts that were left unfinished.

"There aren't any markers that I can tell right now that shows us where this story is set."

"We'll figure it out once we have the other stories' locations," Nolan stated. "What's next?"

The sixth story was set in England again – the Coach Made from Bones. It described the story of how Lady Howard would travel in a coach made of the bones of her former husband. The coach itself was driven by a headless skeleton and skeletal hounds would always follow behind.

The seventh story was set in Scotland – Castle Fraser. The castle itself was filled with secret staircases, trapdoors, and even a spyhole. There were numerous sightings of a young woman who was murdered in the green room. Her body was dragged down the stairs and her blood stained it so deeply that it had to be covered with wood paneling.

The eighth story was set in England – the Haunted Library. The Felbrigs library had caught on fire at one point and the man who had inherited the library went back into the flames to save the precious books. He died about a week later due to his injuries.

"And the final story?" Nolan questioned as Wendy flipped to nearly the end of the book.

"It's set in Ireland a second time. It pretty much goes over the Ghost River," she stated. "It was where the first witch trial in Ireland was."

Wendy closed the book and set it down on the table. She leaned back in her chair as she asked, "So what's that put us at?"

"Nine stories with three locations," Nolan said, flipping through his notes. "Three stories were set in England, three in Scotland, and two in Ireland."

"The Gods Among Men has to be set in Ireland!" Wendy exclaimed, opening the book back up and flipping through the pages. "We'll have to find a library with books exclusive to that library and was built out in the middle of nowhere."

"Hey, it seems like you're doing my job for me," Nolan chuckled, writing down what she said.

Wendy returned the chuckle. "Yeah, I guess so." She watched as Nolan wrote on his notepad, chicken scratch to her but lifechanging work to him. Her eyes fell to his face, watching as his lips contorted as he wrote, occasionally mouthing the words as he wrote. "Why are you so interested in all this? What do you even do for a living other than break into people's apartments to steal library books?"

"Yeah, you're funny," Nolan chuckled dryly. "I'm working on my PhD at NYU in anthropology."

"Okay, but that doesn't really answer why you're into this. Why'd you chose to go after what would've most likely been just a story? How were you so sure that you'd truly find something?" Wendy further questioned.

"Because it's all I've ever thought about." Nolan closed his notepad and stood up from his chair. He threw a couple dollar bills on the table and began walking off. "Come on, we're got work to do."

Weird, weird man. Wendy added to the pile, grabbed her purse, and followed after him. But so incredibly attractive man.