Isle of Sanctum | The Aya Thrasher Chronicles | Book 1 |[Editing]

Chapter Forty-Two

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

AYA

Fox had gone to take care of some personal business, so we were left with Sadie. Beedle had sent a message to the hotel telling us he had cracked the page. Sadie intercepted the message before we got it. I was expecting her to be mad that we had gone behind her back but, to my surprise, she wasn't. She had told us that we could pursue the lead tonight after she left. Fox was supposed to be back after her shift was over. During that time, she would not be held responsible if something happened to us.

We did as we were told and waited till Sadie had left. The anticipation was killing me. Brennan too. We both needed to learn what was on that secret page. Especially Brennan, since he had put his blood, sweat, and tears into it trying to crack it.

There was a slight delay between the change of supervision. Fox wasn't back yet, so we realized it was safe to leave. If he caught us, that would have been a different story.

When we met with Beedle again, he wore a look of surprise. "I've found out a lot," he mentioned.

"Like what?" Brennan asked. "I still can't believe you solved it.

"And much to my surprise. We weren't the first ones. It was accessed two months ago," he said. "By someone in this city."

"Wow," I said. "That's some big news." I didn't understand. "If it was so difficult to crack, how could someone have accessed it?" I asked.

"That's a good question." He nodded and adjusted his glasses. "Okay now for the meat of it. The page is supposedly a prophecy. The last emperor's bloodline is a key to a poison or a virus of sorts that will wipe out the human and Sciusian races if gotten into the hands of an enemy. It took me a little while to figure out what this meant, but I think I got it."

"Okay, please explain," I said.

"The emperor had four kids – two girls and a boy. The Wyres wanted to pass a virus through the emperor's family and friends. A virus that is like acid through the skin. Their plan was to spread it through a pearl pill. They wanted to start with Serina because she was the youngest." He paused before continuing. "At a restaurant when her mother was in the bathroom, they slipped it into her food. She had spotted it and pretended to swallow it. When the Wyres realized she didn't take it, they needed to come up with a secondary plan. They knew Serina was tougher to get, so they tried a different approach. They kidnapped Serina's older sister as she was leaving school. Then they sent Serina and her brother a message, because she was always so protective of her siblings."

"Then what happened?" I asked my mouth agape. This story sounded ludicrous, yet somehow I believed it. So far, I trusted Beedle, so I knew he had no reason to be making this up. I was just wondering why Serina hadn't told us about it before. Maybe she thought her personal tragedy would interfere with our purpose here.

"Serina fell into their trap before she had a chance to tell her parents or the authorities. They took them to an abandoned mall that was scheduled to be knocked down. At some point, Serina was able to send a message to the police. Before she got get a response, her tablet had fallen down the escalator, cracking the screen beyond visibility," Beedle said. "The brother had been gridlocked and never arrived to the mall."

"Did the police reach them?" Brennan asked engrossed like he was watching a movie.

"They did, but there was enough time to pass by to cause a significant amount of damage, I'm afraid. One of the Wyres had force fed the pill to the eldest daughter. She was a tough one, so they had given her a sedative. By the time the police reached them, the virus had eaten through her right side of her face, taking her eye and damaging half of her brain. They took her to the best hospital and doctors they could find, but it still wasn't enough. Her death broke up the entire family. Serina's mother was so mad at her husband for not executing the Wyres that caused her daughter's death before when he had the chance to. She blamed him for her death. Serina's mother started having an affair and left him. When the Serina came of age, her father killed himself," Beedle continued.