Arriana's Return

Arriana's Return - Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"This locket, if it's what I think it is, but it can't be. It just can't be! Those were just old stories. Simple fairy tales, but how did Arianna end up with it?" He babbled excitedly.

"What John? What?" Danni asked her husband.

"Yes, boy, speak up. What do you think it is?" Scott said hoping it was good news.

"Well the locket is gold obviously. However, you see the engraving on the front?"

veryone looked at it, nodding.

"It's a family crest. At least I think it is. It must be Arianna's family crest. It's the only thing that makes sense. I have seen this once before, a long time ago. The strange thing is I saw it in a fairy tale book," John said.

"You saw it where?" Marianna asked stunned.

"So, it's a fake then?" Scott asked.

"Why would someone put a fake crest on such an expensive necklace?" Danni asked.

Everyone started to talk at once. Once the questions were out they sat there, thinking and contemplating what they were just told.

"Calm down. Let me explain. You see the engraving? Well it's a family crest like I was saying. This particular crest is supposedly that of the Bowers family of Coresova," John stated furrowing his eyebrows while staring in awe at the elaborate engraving. "This here is a gryphon and this creature is a sphinx. They are supposed to be the guardians of the royal family. For some reason they are guarding this tree. I'm not sure what the significance of the weeping willow is though."

"They're what?" Danni's head was spinning.

"A gryphon and a sphinx. They're mythological creatures and the guardians of the royal family. I'm just as confused as you are," He stated mystified.

"And this Coresova? Where is that?" Scott asked.

"Well that's the thing. It's a fairy tale land. Not real. I've read stories in books about it and nowhere does it mention a princess named Arianna. The ruling king and queen was a childless couple who had a reign of prosperity and peace. One of those happily ever after stories, John began to tell them.

"So how would Arianna get a locket with that crest on it?" Marianna asked him not wanting to hear what he was going to say.

"I'm not sure." John opened the locket and stared in disbelief, "These pictures, it's them, the king and queen. I'm sure of it. I'll be right back. I have to run to the book store."

"What? You have to go right now? Why?" Danni asked in disbelief.

"I'll show you when I get back," He said excitedly.

He kissed his wife and ran out the door letting it slam shut behind him.

Lying down next to Scott was Beau. He had been listening to everything that was going on trying to think of what he should do. It was time. He was sure of that.

Where is Barwick? They are figuring everything out much too quickly. What if they reveal these findings to Arianna? Shall I break my silence and warn them not to? Barwick needs to hurry up.

He decided to wait and listen. If they made any notions that they would tell the young girl the truth he would intervene. For now, though, he would let them continue.

Half an hour later the group sitting around the kitchen table heard the front door creak open and slam shut. Their breath was stuck in their throats until they saw John push the kitchen door open.

"Oh, thank god it's you. We thought you were Arianna for a minute." Danni motioned to the book tucked under John's arm. "What is that?"

"Look at this." John put the heavy book down on the table. The title on the cover said Coresova. He opened it and started flipping through until he found the page he wanted.

"So, it really is a story than? Not a real place?" Scott asked even more confused and unsure.

"Well according to my grandmother, it was one of those far, far away places. It was another world that ran parallel to ours. During the reign of King Charles and Queen Anne there was an ingression, which is a portal, between our worlds that was left open so that people, creatures and the mythics, as they were called in those days, could come and go as they pleased. Everybody coexisted peacefully. I had always assumed that it was just stories, just an old book but that locket and those pictures. Ah ha, here they are!"

He was on a page that had the heading, Royal Family. There were portraits of all of the royals, including the reigning king and queen. They were the same two people in Arianna's locket. They all sat and stared in shocked silence.

"B-but how? I mean did someone read this book and just dump Arianna off as some cruel joke? This cannot be real. There has to be another explanation!" Marianna blurted out.

"If this book is accurate that would make the king and queen over three hundred years old at the time of Arianna's birth. That is just not possible." Scott said.

"I don't have the answers for once. I don't think a lot of people have read this book. It's not as well known as other fairy tales. I do know that at the time this book was written King Charles was about one hundred and fifty years old," John said.

"How?" Scott asked again.

"I don't know, dad," John said, exasperated.

"Oh John, sweetheart, don't take things like that so seriously. It's like saying a fairy godmother will show up and grant my every wish." Danni patted the back of his hand sympathetically.

John pulled his hand out from under Danni's and slammed the book shut, frustrated. "Why is it so impossible for you all to believe? If it was so easy to believe in these sorts of things in the old days, why can't we believe now?"

"They were more gullible and that's all they had to believe in back then that's why," Scott replied.

"Gullible? Why does believing in something make a person gullible? Either way that is what the crest on the locket means and you saw the pictures for yourself. If you don't want to believe me, that's fine."

They just sat there, not knowing what to say. Scott was the first to get up from the table. He hugged his wife, kissed his daughter on the top of her head and shook John's hand. He headed out to his workshop in the backyard. Something he did when he wanted to be alone to think. Marianna and Danni started clearing dishes, not speaking, while John buried himself back in the book trying to find something to help everyone believe him. Was it such a farfetched idea? Yes, of course it was. Was it impossible? Who knows? Why would it be so impossible to believe in something that they could not see or touch? What if Arianna is the long-lost queen of this far away world? He just shook his head and kept reading. They had to believe because she would have to go back eventually. When though was the biggest question.