The Old Mine

Chapter 16: Winthrop

      Cal's head was reeling. She and Giana slept in the guest room next to the library. Alfred, Midnight and Recke were in the room across the hall from them. Winthrop brothers were pacing the halls all night, while Zachary trusted them not all of the Winthrop's did. Dinner had been filled with the friendly beauty queen style conversation and the conversation that took place afterward wasn't much better. Nobody was willing to give and be a bit honest with each other. True the Winthrop's were very sociable and welcoming and the food was five star at least. But there was something that they weren't telling.

      The evening had been wonderful, so Cal was confused as to why she couldn't sleep. She quietly got out of bed and headed across the hallway to try and translate that book herself. As she entered the library, she could feel eyes watching her. Cal sat the book down on the table, pulled out her cube and sat it down too. "I wonder if this could translate the book." She opened the book and turned on the cube. Carefully she scanned the book into the cube, when she was done she told the cube to translate it. While that worked she stood up and started to look around the room for others, "he said Garran Cosanta, that means protected grove." She looked up and down the bookshelves for any family history records about a grove. She found a couple of books that looked promising so she brought them over and sat them down. The library door creaked startling her "Who's there."

      "Zachary," He entered the room still arguing with his brother. Zachary pushed him back and gestured with his head to go "Sorry," he entered and closed the door. "What are you up too?"

      "My guess is that since Zen and Irene were back in time, they must have been present during the past of someone in your family line. Zen said Garran Cosanta to help me see where." Cal sighed "I just need to know how he knew we would be here to find the information." The cube dinged, Cal glanced over at it "Maybe he looked it up?" Cal wondered if he had a cube with him. 

      Zachary shrugged "I have no idea." Cal rolled her eyes "You are a lot like Brick, He sees through the lies too." Zachary sighed "I understand that it is hard to trust when you know someone isn't being honest but..."

      "I was raised by the tribe that now resides at the base, believe me when I say this; I understand there are things... customs and..." She shrugged "Sacred things, that you just don't talk about. It's like showing respect to those who came before, to keep it quiet."

      He smiled "So what does the cube say?" He put his hands behind his back and gripped his hands. "What did you find?" he gestured at the other books with his head.

      "I found a few that look like they may have geographical information on this grove. I wonder if they have pictures or...." She laughed.

      "There are, and there are a couple more books" He walked over to one of the shelves and pulled some books down. "These speak on the geographical information of the area in question and the communities as well." he sat the books down by her stack "I will go get us some snacks." he left closing the door behind him. Cal could hear him arguing with his brothers as soon as the door closed.

      Cal pulled up the translation and skimmed through it. "Oh, that's what they are hiding." Cal put the translated book into a locked folder and set the cube to scanning in the stack of books. When the cube finished she added the books to the locked folder and put the books all away. As she was headed back to the table, she saw a couple books that made her interested. She set the cube to scan them in as well and thought about the situation they were in. Just as the cube finished the door opened again but this time there was no one there. Cal sat the books in the center of the table and tucked her cube away into a pocket that zipped and locked. She tapped her comm "Alert, Alert..."