The Forbidden Drink II: Return of the Titans

Ch. 24: Visit Your Local Library

After meeting up at the entrance of the mansion, Eda and Raine were about to make their way back to the owl house.

"So what do we tell Skara?" Raine asked.

"Nothing, not until we figure out what this stuff is." Eda said, before thinking about something." The only thing I can think of is that the person and Skara's dad were... they might be trying to start a war or something. Why else would they have weapons, maps, speaking in some kind of... code."

Raine put their hands on Eda's shoulders and gently massaged her.

"Everything will be okay." Raine said softly.

Eda relaxed a bit while Raine stuffed everything they found inside of her Eda's mane of hair for safe keeping.

"We'll figure this out and when the time is right, we'll tell Skara as delicately as we can." Raine said to her.

"Maybe Lilith knows something." Eda said, "She's pretty good with books and history."

"And that has nothing to do with the fact she's still working at the library?" Raine asked.

"That too." Eda said with a nod. "It's our best bet, we should go check with her."

Raine pulled away from Eda's shoulders and let her summon her staff.

'Hmmm, maybe I should get a new palisman.' Raine thought.

With Owlbert summoned, the two flew to Bonesborough. From the sky, they could see that Bonesborough was still recovering but repairs were nearly complete. A sense of normalcy was almost back, and hopefully nothing too bad wouldn't shake it any time soon.

Thankfully, Luz doesn't plan on being involved in another Titan fight, since she is the only Titan that can become that, thankfully, King is still young and has a LONG time before he gets that big.

Camila on the other hand, was developing her magic slightly faster than Luz but wasn't on her level just yet. But it did scare just about everyone that there could be a full grown Titan walking in the human realm.

'I'll have to talk to Luz about checking in on her mom later.' Eda thought.

Soon, they landed at the library where Lilith was m working ever since "quitting" the Emperor's Coven.

They walked into the building and saw her at the front desk, organizing returned books with a grin on her face.

"Hmm mmm mmmm! Hmm hm hmmm hmmm." Lilith hummed happily.

"Having a good day, Lily?" Eda asked, drawing her sister's attention.

"Edalyn, and here I thought you would be celebrating your marriage by having intercourse." Lilith said, pushing her glasses up.

"Nah, the day's still young." Eda said, nudging Raine a bit. "Besides, we have a kid in the house and Raine's a screamer."

"EDA!" Raine yelped with a blush.

"See?" Eda asked, gesturing to Raine. "But cute tendencies aside, we're here on serious business. We found something, and since you know a lot about history, maybe you could help us out."

"What did you find?" Lilith asked, putting the returned book aside.

Eda reached into her hair and pulled out all of the documents, notes, and strange language papers they got from Melody Manor.

"I've... never seen a language like this before." Lilith said, looking over some documents. "Maybe Malphas knows something, he has documents from near the beginning of the Isles."

"Even before THAT man?" Raine asked.

It had pretty much become an unspoken law that no one can or should talk about Emperor Belos/Philip Wittebane.

"Especially before that man. Despite what people think, knowledge is the ultimate form of power and every head of the library has made it their sworn duty to preserve it for future generations." Lilith said before picking up all the papers. "Follow me."

Eda and Raine followed Lilith as she went through the library to the doors of the Forbidden Stacks and knocked on it. They waited a few seconds before Malphas opened it.

"Hello, Malphas, I have some things that require your assistance." Lilith said.

"Really? Well then let's have a look, Lilybug." Malphas said as he opened the doors to let them in.

"Lilybug?" Eda whispered.

"Don't start. We're just friends." Lilith whispered back.

'Sure. And Maybe Hooty won't be jealous if I told him.' Eda thought.

Malphas led them into the Stacks, towards a library table and began looking at the papers.

"Mmmm. Haven't seen things like these in several centuries." Malphas said, adjusting his glasses.

"So you are familiar with this language?" Raine asked him.

"I am." Malphas said, moving his hand over one of the documents. "This is a language from one of the earliest groups of witches to evolve natural magic. Legend says that there was a war between these witches and the ones that we know of today. History says they died in the war, but this proves differently."

He then walked over to a nearby shelf and pulled out a map, a map showing another Titan.

"Hmm... if this is what I think it is, then they must've left the Isles and settled on this Titan." He said, bringing it back to the trio.

"Another Titan?" Eda asked as she, Raine, and Lilith looked at the map. "But Luz told me about another Titan corpse and it did NOT end well."

"How so?" Lilith asked.

"She told me it was a home to a tribe of fanatics that worshiped the Collector and trapped titans in their name. They even tried sacrificing King!" Eda shouted, still upset from that day.

"Okay, let's not jump to conclusions." Raine said, grabbing her arms to calm her. "This Titan appears to be farther away than any titan Luz could've gone too."

"They are right. This map contains the known locations of all the Titan corpses in our world and the one from the documents you brought seemed to be located in the north." Malphas said, pointing to the map. "The one Ms. Luz must've been sent to was somewhere in the south."

"That doesn't calm my nerves, because that just confirms that we're are not alone in this world, and the person we ran into immediately resorted to violence." Eda said, looking serious.

"That is concerning." Lilith said, looking at the documents before looking to her sister. "And is there any reason that they would be in the Melody house?"

"I don't want to say it but maybe Skara's family could have ties with this." Raine said, gesturing to the documents and ancient language.

"Oh, I have no doubt." Malphas said, pointing to one of the words. "I recognize this word... Itoch... it's the last name of the royal family for this clan, has been since the old days. If this letter is telling the truth... I'd say that the person that attacked you... is Mr. Melody's uncle."