The Greek Gods and the Apocalypse

Chapter 13 (Edited)

I must have walked practically in circles in front of the library for about an hour when I saw Shimmer coming up the path. I stopped my aimless roaming and waited for her at the library's main entrance.

"Hello Aurora," she called to me from down the path.

I gave a slight wave in her direction and called back, "hello".

I must have looked frazzled because she immediately asked me if I was feeling okay.

"Overwhelmed," I replied. "Absolutely not okay." as we stepped inside the library and shut the door.

"So, what have you figured out this morning Aurora?"

In a fairly sarcastic manner, I reply. "Apparently, I can read ancient Greek, who knew."

"Ah," she replies. "So, it isn't just me the book transforms for."

At her response, I just stare at her. I am unsure how to respond. She knew what she saw but she did not share it with me this morning. Why not?

"About now you are probably wondering why I did not mention it to you this morning, right?"

"Yes."

"Let me tell you why then. I did not mention it because it was so odd and alarming that at first, I thought I was too tired and just seeing things. Then I was shocked and had no reasonable explanation. I decided it was best to see if the same thing would happen to others that read the books in the back room. Clearly it does so now I can rest assured that I am not crazy and so can you. If going mad is the answer then we are both afflicted." With that last line, she looked straight into my face and smirked just a little.

Shimmer continued after a moment for us both to just breathe and think about the situation in silence.

"Now that we are on the same page any explanation for why we can read ancient Greek or why our books can transform like magic?"

"I have no idea Shimmer" I replied with a shrug of my shoulders.

"Well, that is our task today. We need to figure this out."

"Did you speak with Einstein this morning?" I blurted out changing the subject.

"I did but that proved to be almost as confusing as this so we can figure this out first and maybe what he shared will make more sense."

"No pressure" I replied.

"None at all. It's not like everyone's lives depend on us getting the answers to our questions."

Shimmer and I make our way through the door into the locked room once again. We both begin reading the text printed on the ends of the books. It is all still written in ancient Greek. We let out a collective sigh as if to signal we are not crazy. We did see what we thought we would see. Both of us then walked back to the table with the open symbols book.

Shimmer and I sat on the same side of the table so we could both read simultaneously. Sure enough, the book is in Greek and we can both read it.

"Aurora I do not think at this stage of discovery that we can determine why all of the books in this room have magically transformed languages or why we can read said language seamlessly. Therefore, I believe the best course of action is to continue researching the symbols from the chains we discovered with the note. Maybe through that research, we can figure everything else out. They appear to be the key.

In light of recent events, I think making a list of facts about each symbol as it pertains to the ancient Greeks is most appropriate. Clearly, if all of the books are in Greek that is a clue to the mystery. Let's start by researching the remaining symbols and then add the ones we already know to the list." I just nodded. I definitely did not have a better idea.