Adrift → Ace; Nancy Drew [2]

vi. the book of lost souls

THE BOOK OF LOST SOULS
CHAPTER SIX

Sunlight filled the archives through the cracks in the blinds. Olivia had set them low, finding that it was easier for her to focus in dimmer lighting. Maybe that also had something to do with her potentially no longer having a soul. Maybe it explained why she found so much comfort and homeliness in the darkness. Being alone in the absence of light in a way separated her from reality. It put her in a place in which there was not much to see or pay attention to, and in a position where she didn't feel everyone's expectation for her to be more like "the real Olivia". What if the real Olivia was gone? For good. What if this was the real Olivia and she had just been locked away all this time? Would her friends and family accept it?

With the tip of her index finger, she followed a sentence in the middle of a page in the book she had been reading. So far, it carried the best information on souls, what they were believed to be made from, and how they existed within living beings.

Olivia pursed her lips as she took in the words from the page. She reached for the ledger that was at the top of the pile of books she had collected from the shelf on souls. It was in alphabetical order, easy. She flicked through the first page and trailed through the list of A's until she found Anubis Abacus - locker 4D.

Using the keys that Bess had been looking after for Hannah, Olivia unlocked the drawer in the large shelf of stowed-away antiques. Olivia was just lucky enough that at least one of the many things she had found in her research that may help her was available at the Historical Society. So far, she hadn't been so lucky. That was until the Anubis Abacus, of course.

With steady hands, she reached inside to pick up the relic. It was heavy, a mixture of metal and wood and magic and power. With 90 beads– 45 white and 45 black– and the wave of her hand over it, she could potentially find out where her soul was. It was everything she needed to figure herself out.

Carrying it back to the desk she had been working at, she placed it next to the book carefully. "So if the white outweighs the black, that means my soul is in... Heaven?" she mumbled to herself, though it was more of a question as she scanned through the book. She wasn't sure what she would do with the information once she found out if her soul was in Heaven or Hell, but she thought that it would at least help point her to where her soul was. All she had to do was swipe her hand above the abacus.

She followed the instructions as written, and with wide, anticipating eyes, she waited. And waited. And waited.

Nothing happened.

She swiped her hand over it again, but the beads didn't move around like the book said they would.

Knock, knock.

Olivia snapped her head up from the abacus toward the doorframe. "Oh, hi," she greeted Ace as he stepped into the room.

"I, uh, just came by to say thanks for saving me us from the Sandman last night." His lips carried a smile but his slumped shoulders told Olivia that the upward curving of his lips was just a facade over what he was truly feeling. "Bess told me you'd be here."