The Three Enigmas: The Diamond of Strength

Chapter 11

Wordlessly and swiftly, Rupert swiped the bag out of Rebeckah’s arms before she had time to protest or even counteract his attack. He opened it up, and poured through the contents of it; he looked up and stared at them loathingly. “You were in the library, weren’t you?” he asked scornfully. Not one of the two answered, but only glared on with blank visions in their eyes, still trying to grasp the situation.

Rupert tossed her bag back to her and said, “Tell the truth!” Rebeckah gave in and nodded solemnly.

“No use to tell a lie,” he said distastefully, the words rolling off his tongue. “Not with me,” Rupert said, putting emphasis on the last word. “Why did you go in? Just tell me. I won’t yell, kick or bite. I just want to know.”

“We were curious,” whispered Rebeckah meekly.

“About what?”

“Everything.”

“Then just ask,” Rupert replied. They only shrugged, not wanting to admit to more than they were guilty of. “Follow me,” he said coldly, taking a wand out of his pocket, twirling it in his hand, as if he was trying to show Rebeckah and James just what he was capable of. On their silent walk, Rupert, as punishment, made them pick up every bit of paper they dropped.

“Why’d you rip them so small?” James asked Rebeckah angrily.

“So passerby won’t notice,” she answered.

“Well it’s working. I can’t see the damn things anywhere!”

And so when they arrived at the lounge, backs sore and faces contorted, Rupert was now pleased with the pain he had inflicted upon them, and ready to answer their questions. “You know, the next time you don’t want anyone to know where you’re headed, you might not want to leave a literal paper trail. It gives the enemy a sharper edge you know,” he said, smirking.

Rebeckah and James didn’t comment, but only kicked themselves mentally for not being smarter.  “Really, all I had to do was follow the trail. Trying to spot a rampaging dragon in the city streets would’ve been harder to do.” H cleared his throat and folded his arms on the table. “But now that we’ve all amassed together, what questions did you have?” Rupert inquired thoughtfully.

            “Well, we didn’t even have questions,” said Rebeckah. “We just wanted to find out more. That’s why we brought with us all these books.” Rebeckah shoved him her bag and he unloaded all the books, carefully reading the titles and flipping through the pages, almost like a concerned parent pondering whether to approve of their child’s readings. “That’s it,” he said, sounding somewhat disappointed.

            “What more were you hoping for?” asked Rebeckah.

            “Something with a little more edge. But, it is a comfort to know you’re not reading up about Vile and Unspeakable Magic," he shrugged, looking for the few boooks left. Whe he reached the last book, the one they had to pull out of the cabinet with no title, author or publisher, Rupert gsped loudly and nearly let it drop to the floor.

"What is something wrong?" asked rebeckah. "We thought that book was a little odd. with no ttle or author anywhere to be seen."

Ignoring this, rupert breathed, "How- how did you get this?"

"We had to use the Victorian combination lock to pull it out of the safe," shrugged James. "We didn;t know the combo, so we guessed, and we were right. Curiously, we just took it with us."

Rupert sat there, frozen solid with an expression of disbelief and astonisment on his face. In his stock still state, it was easy enough for Rebeckah to reach over and steal the book from his hand, which was hardly gripping it at all. Rupert didn;t try to protest, he just let her find out on her own. "It's blank." Rebeckah announced to the two boys.

"It is?" asked James, sonding genuinely appaled, snatching it out of Rebeckah's hand. "It is," he declared. "But why would you go to such lengthy measures to hide something that's blank."

"It's not blank," said Rupert. The twins both looked at him like he was crazy for disapproving the blantant. Rupert thieved the book back, and opened it up on the table. "There's a story to go a long with this book,"

"There's a story for everything here," said Rebeckah dully.

In contrast to Rebeckah's drear, James asked eagerly, "Is it an enigma?"

"no it's not. but it's sacredly vauable. This book gives you access to things you never would've dreamed. But it has to be kept in the right hands...Some call it the Book of Beginnings and Ends. others call it the Book of the Seers. But to everyone, it's envied."

"What's so great about a blank book?" asked James. Rebeckah nudged him as if to tell him shut up. "Can you write the furture in it or something?' he went on, disregarding Rebeckah.

"No, it doesn't do that. But it tells you everything," rupert said in a mystified tone. "Absolutely everything. All you have to do is ask."

He handed it to them gently, and they again flipped through the pages, only this time notcing on the second page of the book, written in cursive, curly words, was this: Ask me all and you shall recieve, the words that will make you beieve, that knowledge is power, and those who don't have it still cower. 

"What is this poem at the beginning?" asked Rebeckah.

"Just a little Regnumese proverb," shrugged Rupert. "Anyway, go on. ask it anyting, at you shall recieve."

Rebeckah and James looked at each other for a short moment, unsure of what to ask. Certainly, something they wouldn't be able to get out of Rupert, something they wanted to know desperately as well. "Tell us about Regnumese legends, myths and folklore."

The book shimmered a lively, and deep green color, as if it was trying to boast just how mch informtion it knew. After the glow died down, it did nothing, limp and motionless. "Open it," ordered Rupert.

Rebeckah did as she was told, and nearly dropped the book in amazement. the book was crammed full of words, pictures, videos, and clippets of small little memorabilia. "Oh my gosh," muttered James. Gingerly, he touched the page, and once he knew it was safe, turned it. Rebeckah was reading rapidly. "It says that the enigmas are only legends," she said to Rupert.

"No, absolutely not. I've seen them myself. Well, I've seen one. As far as I know no one has seen the third one," he explained.

"And we have to search for them?" asked James, as if he was only now getting the scheme of the idea.

"Yes," answered Rupert simply.

"When?"

"We begin preparation tomorrow."