Magnoliophyta

8. I TOLD YOU SO!

The sun was't even out when I stirred into consciousness. Even though my room was dimly lit, my eyes took time to adjust to the light after coming out of the darkness of deep slumber. I slowly managed to flutter open my eyes and sat up on my bed with my mind going blank. I wasn't sure what time it was or whether anyone was up yet. I tried going back to sleep, but somehow my mind drifted back into consciousness every time I lay my head on the pillow. My mind was being extremely stubborn and unreasonable, giving up I sat up after fifteen minutes or so. 

I quickly slipped into a pair of denim shorts, a sleeveless hoodie and my trainers, drank my morning dose of caffeine and made my way down the stairs and into the street. Almost everything was shrouded in an unnatural looking mist. The mist was ghastly white and did not feel like a normal mist, nevertheless I  put on my hoodie and my headphones, playing a catchy tune and started walking which slowly became jogging and then turned into running. As I made my way around the town, my head seemed to get clearer, my eyesight sharpened , my mind felt rested and I felt lively and spirited. While the sun was still rising and spreading it's warmth across the land, I had already finished my morning run and was sitting at home with a cup of hot cocoa with whipped cream. I still had my headphones on and I was just cutting up some kiwi to eat when something banged behind me.

" GOOD MORNING JADE!!!", Lil screamed.

"Good morning Lil, why did you smash that poor book against that even poorer table?"

"You were so into that music that you didn't even notice me slip into your room, so I banged it just to grab your attention that's all! And it seemed to have worked huh?" She grinned, showing her pearly white teeth.

I chuckled "Yeah, whatever!"

"We have a big day ahead, ready to go scroll hunting?, even if you're not, LET'S GO. Jared is waiting for us at library. HURRY UP!"

" Could you just chill, I am ready to go. Come on"

We sprinted up to the library and met Jared just as he was making his way across the street.

" Good morning girls!"

"Good morning!" Lil and I replied in unison.

We entered the library, chatting nineteen to the dozen about where the scroll might be hidden or what dangers might be lurking in the shadows. We were a happy bunch!

Jared started searching the section marked as the alphabet 'S'. "What in the world are you doing" I asked. "Scroll starts with 'S' so I thought we might start looking from here" he said in a 'matter of fact' kinda tone. 

" What angle of 'hidden' and 'not found for centuries' do you not understand, smart guy" Lil and I burst out laughing.

Jared turned red and pouted . "Well, then do you have some suggestions or ideas where we could start looking from, since you are the 'Marie Curie' of the place!"

" Yeah, as a matter of fact I do know where we could start our search"

"And where might that be?" Jared said in a mocking tone.

" Each of us could take a section of the wall and look for any niche or some kind of lever or a loose brick or anything that might help."

" Is this your imagination or some fantasy in your mind?" Jared mocked.

" No, I actually saw this in a movie. A very famous detective movie"

"How realistic!" Jared stuck his tongue out and started wiggling it like jelly.

"Let's get to work shall we?" I said in a dangerously quiet voice. Jared took the cue and conveniently shut up.

I took the wall facing the counter and Lil and Jared just chose between the other two. While we all examined the fourth wall together, since it was the largest and the most ancient looking one. In other words: The bricks were crumbling, the paint was chipping and the overall maintenance of the wall was zero.

After breaking sweat and energy for more than three hours, none of us found anything interesting at all. All our efforts were in vain and my mood was irritable, unhappy and defeated. To cheer things up a bit we all decided to grab a flake, which was my new favourite snack. We grabbed a corner table and flopped ourselves on the seats in complete exhaustion. 

"What a goose chase that was, I can't believe that we searched and searched for three hours and found nothing, NOTHING!" half screamed Jared.

We all murmured in agreement and ate our flakes with no particular interest. After spending some time at the bistro, we felt a little better and made our way back to the library like defeated soldiers reentering battle, ready to defeat the enemy. In our case the enemy was an ancient scroll that refused to be found. 

" I think we should search the book racks, hopefully things will turn out better than last time!"

We slid our hands over the mahogany wood of the racks, hoping to find a certain something that would reveal itself but we had no such luck. After what seemed like hours, we all huddled in for our next plan, that was checking the chandelier. The chandelier was an antique one and had quite a lot of hollow spaces, that were perfect for hiding a scroll. We dragged in the ladder that was kept out in the alley and stationed it right below the chandelier. Jared climbed it and we realised that the ladder wasn't long enough, so I had to climb on top of Jared and look for the scroll since I was lighter than Lil. I steadily reached Jared and put my feet on his shoulders, he grabbed my legs to keep me steady while I scanned the chandelier for the scroll. 

Having been put up on the ceiling for so long, the chandelier had collected a whole stash of dust and when some that dust went into my nose, I started sneezing and as I put my hand to my mouth the chandelier slipped from my grasp and swayed the other way. With nothing to hold on to I plummeted to my death, or so I thought. I pulled Jared after me too and we both fell hard on the stoned floor. Jared got off easily landing on the floor but I had to go and land on the hard Mahogany book rack. I came crashing down, dragging the rack along with me. 

Lil and Jared rushed to my aid and as I got up and rubbed my sore back, I saw it. I saw the scroll. It was just lying there like none of this had ever happened. I shouted in excitement which my friends took to be pain and started searching for where I had gotten hurt.

"I am fine guys, seriously, there is something more important in this room, the scroll is right there. Let's go!"

" Hey wait up, You are way more important than a stupid scroll, whether it is important or ancient. So sit down and RELAX!" Jared said sternly but at the same time he had a twinkle in his eye.

"Yeah, losing that scroll doesn't mean anything, but losing you would be a price too heavy. We care about you okay!" Lil added.

" Aw... thanks guys, I didn't realise you care so much"

" We will always care about, we are you FRIENDS!" Lil and Jared said unanimously.

At that moment I felt that I had found a home at last and this was better than any foster home I had ever been to. I had friends that could look out for me, we were like family in such short time and I couldn't imagine how our bond would strengthen  over time. I had found my heart's desire in Magnoliophyta. I had found a family.

I conformed that I was alright and then we made our way to where the scroll had fallen. It was this yellow, old and wrinkly sheet of parchment that smelt of neglected laundry. It had fallen from the rack marked 'S'.

" Look who was right! I TOLD YOU SO!" said Jared smiling.

We all started laughing and and thumped each others back. Inside the scroll were written the words :

' Land of burning stones '

We had gotten our clue, now we just had to see where it would take us! That is... after deciphering it!