Zarkaria

Chapter Six

Navaeh frantically wiped the pages with the cloth. She was upset that the book was wrecked. As she carefully wiped the pages she noticed that not only were some of the pages stuck together the words were wiping off the page which each pass.

"Why did he have to put it in the toilet?" She asked out loud. The book's pages crumbled and warped with the damage caused. After she carefully managed to dry the book, Navaeh headed back into the library. Heading towards a secluded part of the library Navaeh opened the book up carefully.

The words were blurred and some missing all together. Tears formed as she once again emerged herself in the story. Needing more than ever to escape the world around herself.

The woman walked away from the crack.... The words ended there. The next forty pages were so ruined that Navaeh had no idea what had happened. So carefully she went to the next page she was able to read.

Elder Quinton and the woman stood infront of the crack. A small gathering of people had joined them including Zeal and Casper.

"What happened to cause the crack?" Someone asked.

Elder Quinton shook his head. "I don't know." Was his simple answer.

"What do we do now?"

"What if this happens again?"

"What about the festival?"

"Well we clean up. The festival will have to be held at another time. As for if this will happen again I can't answer that question." Elder Quinton replied.

Navaeh placed the book down for a second. She needed to know what had happened. Why was the festival being cancelled? How did all those people get to the wall? Question after question formed with her mind  trying to answer them all. So she picked up the book and quickly flipped ahead a couple pages. There she read that Zarkaria had an earthquake, a flood and some type of strange heat wave. Then clouds had formed as the water rained upwards.

Setting the book in her lap Navaeh frowned. A flood? An earthquake and a heat wave? What caused these things?

Deciding she needed to read more she continued on. As she read slowly the town began to get back to normal. The guards worked all day cleaning and guarding. Even a guard was placed at the crack to ensure the safety of Zarkaria.

No one knew what evil's would happen next.  Priest's stood by the crack blessing the opening to ensure no evil would enter the sacred place. Elder Quinton helped in the cleaning.

The preparations for the festival continued on. The clean up hampered the decorations going up.

With a yawn Naveah continued reading. There was no way she was heading to her room until the librarian told her to head to bed.

Diving back into the book Naveah found herself getting lost in the words once again.

Sighing the woman wiped her sweaty forehead with the back of her hand. After the heat wave that strangely occurred the sudden cloudy period the sun hadn't stopped shining. The crews had switched to cleaning during the night when it was cooler.

The guards were still working double time with the cleaning and the patrols on the wall. The darkness remained surrounding Zarkaria.

"Naveah."

The poor girl jumped when she heard here name. Panic then flooded her system and she shot to her feet accidentally dropping the book in the process.

"I am so sorry for scaring you dear. It is time for bed now."

Navaeh covered her heart with her hand as she took deep breaths to calm herself. Her eyes focused on the woman in front of her. "Yes Sister Morgan."

Living in the orphanage run by nuns wasn't all that bad. It allowed her to find this secluded part of the library. Bending over to pick up the book she dropped "sister Morgan?" She asked as she stood up holding the book.

"Yes dear"

"May I take my book to bed?"

Sister Morgan smiled at the girl. She knew the girl loved to read and often found the girl in this spot. Deciding that the girl would take care of the book the librarian nodded her head.

"Thank you."

"Remember go to sleep Navaeh."

Nodding Navaeh headed off to bed. Carefully Navaeh walked the halls to her room. Every corner she stopped and peaked around. She didn't want the bullies to find her. Two hallways later, Navaeh reached her room. Closing the door behind herself Navaeh went to her dresser grabbed a flashlight and headed to her bed. If she kept her lights off and covered herself in the blanket she could continue reading her book without anyone knowing.

Smiling she covered herself and once again began reading.

Navaeh didn't know how long she had been reading for before she heard stealthy foot steps and giggling. Fear took over and Naveah ran. Her flashlight flickered out and she was surrounded in darkness. As she ran she realized she was in the halls. At the end of the hall was a light. So she ran faster, heading towards the light. The light grew brighter and brighter until Navaeh was bathed in a light so bright she had to shield her eyes with her hands.

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