The Ring of Fire

Chapter 6

Emma had been thinking about the rebellious Alice when she stumbled upon the memory of the museum trip that took place a few weeks before Alice's father's death. It was a trip to the same museum that Emma remembered Alice mentioning. 

Castor had desperately wanted to visit the museum as soon as he had heard that it had gone through a renovation. It had been years since they had last been there. His wish was fulfilled when the school announced a school trip to the museum. Alice still hated museums but she was forced to tag along. Castor was very excited to visit the museum after a long time. They reached the school bus and Alice grabbed a seat next to Emma while Castor set out to find Edin. There was not much traffic due to the rains and the roads were quite slippery as well but they reached the museum safely. The building was huge. The teachers ushered the students forward and they reached the museum door. The door was bigger than any they had seen. Even the school door couldn't compare to it. It was made of rosewood and had intricate carvings of the different time periods of history. A tall woman in her 30s came forward to greet them. "My name's Emily Smith. I work here as a tour guide. The First floor of the building is dedicated to the Jurassic era. The first part of the second floor is the time of the Pomerian conflict era whereas the second part is the Invatian time. The third floor is the medieval era dictating the 14 and 15ce and the fourth floor is the modern times with the artifacts that will hopefully enlighten you about life in the 18th, 19th and 20thce. And as I'm sure the manager must have told you that the 5th floor is under construction and therefore off limits" the woman said. Alice lit up at the mention of the words off limits. Emma guessing what was going on in Alice's mind gave an exasperated sigh. "The students who wish to roam around and explore the place yourself are free to do so. The rest are requested to follow me", said Emily. The teachers gave the students a strict warning to behave well or face severe consequences, and then the teachers followed the tour guide.

The tour guide had met them at the reception of the museum. The group rushed in to gape in wonder at the majestic statues of dinosaurs. Alice felt that perhaps for the first time in her life that museums weren't so bad and could actually be enjoyed. She turned around to see Emma looking at her with a kind smile "I knew you would like this place. Museums aren't as bad as you think they are", said Emma.

"Perhaps so", replied Alice.

"Anyways where are Edin and Caster?", Claire, Emma's classmate asked. She and her friend Skylar chose to the same direction as Alice and Emma had. "You guys are never  know where they are", Skylar stated. "They must be somewhere around here. Knowing Castor, he will probably be near the swords", Alice replied. Skylar hummed in response while Claire bid them goodbye as they took a turn to the Jurassic section. 

Emma and Alice went to the second floor to see Edin and Caster gape at a polished sword on display. Alice shot Emma a smug look and the corners of Emma's mouth twitched up in a small smile. "Stop drooling on the sword Edin", Alice teased.

"Do you have any idea about how many battles this sword must have gone through? This is the most beautiful weapon", stated Edin.

"Edin, you do know that weapons are a means of protection and not destruction, right?", Emma asked

"Yes, why do you ask?", questioned Edin.

"You look like you might just pick it up from its box and kill someone," Alice answered

"Hmm, I would like to try that on Raymond", Caster piped in. The four of them turned around to see if Raymond was watching them. A few years ago Castor had a run-in with one of his classmates Raymond. They had gotten into a fight and both had got detention. Since then Castor and Raymond had been termed as "School Nemesis" Fortunately, Raymond was nowhere in sight. This led Alice to the topic she had wanted to tell them about.