Heather's Adventures: The Search for Maxamus

Chapter 50. Rheannah

The four of us just sat around sifting through paper records, searching for a record trail that may or may not exist on the attack of Issola. Sheria was diligently checking over all the records while Dawnlight quickly glanced at others. I sat shifting through the box of records of all children who lived in Issola. The UWO workers had pulled all the files on the citizens in Issola to already identify if the attack was from within. We had the joy of searching through them now to find anything that was worthwhile. Meanwhile we still were denied access through the electronic records that existed. Josh was attempting to get the UWO's council to allow him access to the electronic records; however, there were always strings attached, and thus he couldn't get us the access.

"Hey, I found your records," I turned to look at Sheria while I held up the file folder labeled Mellissa, Sheria. She didn't even turn to look at me; she was so consumed in her own folder she was reading.

I sighed and looked to the next folders. There was one for Jen, Frank, and an Artemis and Heather Mellissa. I was quick to open Heather's file and read it. I was intrigued by this girl. She claimed to be the triplet of Sheria and Jen but wasn't identical to the other two. It was easily noticeable. Jen and Sheria had bright green eyes; Heather had lavender eyes that stung a deep vibrant fiery orange. This wasn't normal. Heather's hair was also shades darker than Sheria's and Jen's hair was. How was this possible? Why did no one notice they looked so different? They couldn't possibly be related.

It didn't take me long to start scanning Heather's file. Normal stuff filled up the first page, or it at least appeared normal, just with some vital information missing.

Her parents were not listed.

I quickly opened Sheria's file. Her parents were listed. Same with Jen and Frank's files.

Just not Heather's file.

So I went to this Artemis's file.

"Hey Sheria, do you know an Artemis Mellissa?" I asked.

Sheria closed her file, "huh?"

"Do you know an Artemis Mellissa?" I repeated.

She shook her head, "no, I don't. Unless that's my Aunt Cassie's real name. Dad doesn't like to talk about her that much. I honestly don't know much about her."

I continued to open the file. No parents were listed there. I opened the drawer again, and pulled out a file listed as Cassandra Mellissa. When I opened that file, there was nothing but a scrap of a cloth with the letters TAPE on it. I recognized that cloak, the color, the feel of the cloth. I knew exactly what this was.

That was the same cloak that my father had.

"I-I need to see my father's file. Now." I demanded, "He's not of Issola, he's from the Moonlight Caverns. I need to see this file now." I turned to Dawnlight.

Dawnlight gave me a wild look, "why is that?"

I held up the cloth, "this is why. That man had the exact same cloak as this was carved out of."

"Someone must have just put it there. What file was that in?" Dawnlight asked of me while she came over to my pile of folders.

"It was in a Cassandra's, and..." I picked up Heather's file as the same piece of cloth fell out, "it's in Heather's too." I picked up the cloth in Heather's file. The cloth wasn't torn at all like the one in Cassandra's file was. Heather's was fresh, new, in perfect condition.

Dawnlight called one of the file room workers over, "Hi, I need the files of the Merrywell Family from the Moonlight Caverns, and I need the files of the NuBlanc family, thanks." She then quickly turned to face us, "someone has tampered with the files, those cloths aren't good news."

Josh finally came back in the room, "hey what's going on?"

Dawnlight held up the cloth, "there was one in Heather's folder and her aunts."

"Get Max, Rheannah, and our files. I want to make sure they don't have them in them. Did Sheria, Jen or Frank's files have them in them?"

"No just Heather's and Cassandra's had them in them."

Josh nodded, "so that's why their aunt Cassie didn't stick around. Forget we've ever seen these cloths. They're bad news. They were planning on recruiting Heather."

"Recruiting her for what? Josh?" Sheria questioned with genuine concern.

He shook his head, "It's an underground group of people that do underground work for the Lords. They don't go by the rules of the UWO although the UWO thinks they are in charge of them. While they do follow the same principals of the UWO for the most part, they do differ in many categories in principals.

"Man, this is bad, we don't need them meddling in our business," Dawnlight sighed to herself.

"What business is that?" Sheria questioned her.

Dawnlight sprang up in surprise, apparently she didn't know she spoke that aloud, "meddling in our business tracking Jen and Frank, they'd most likely try to take them out before we can even attempt to change them back."

Josh and Dawnlight continued to read the rest of our files while I continued to read Heather's file. There was more missing information than anything. Parents not listed. Power limit unconfirmed. It didn't even list she held onto two of Thalia's artifacts.

So I went to this Artemis's file.

Her parents weren't listed, and just as much stuff was missing from her file as was from Heather's file. Only she had green eyes listed, just like Sheria and Jen.

Huh.

It didn't even have her current residence or any residence on file. Something for sure was going on here. How could we possibly be honest if our world around us wasn't honest? At this point, I honestly didn't know if I was living a lie or not. It seemed like everyone was hiding something.

And it was up to us to find out what.

"Both Max and Rheannah have one too...what now?" Josh asked Dawnlight.

My eyes widened, "what does this mean?"

"They weren't here when we searched this place earlier." Sheria stated.

"Someone is working on something. It's probably for the best that we get out of here and disappear. Train more. Wherever we go it has to be far away and somewhere we can train without being disturbed or disturbing anyone."

I nodded, "so where to now?"

"The sea coastal town of Flinnington or Abbington in the mountains." Josh shrugged, "both would work. I'll let Heather decide for sure to make sure that she can utilize an area for her ranged practice."

"You think Nellie is going to separate us from them?" Sheria finally asked while she let tears fall down her face.

"We won't let them do that, trust me." Dawnlight smiled at her. "We need to protect them."

"I'll make sure nothing separates me and Max. I've gotta look out for him, and I have to look out for you too. You're a sister to me and I won't let anyone hurt you." I told Sheria. She smiled and hugged me.

"Thank you."

If only the rest of the world was like that.