The Ring of Fire

Chapter 7

Alice ran towards her mother and knelt beside her. Catherine's skin was sickly pale and she was running a temperature. Alice checked for her pulse while Castor contacted the ambulance. The pulse was faint and erratic but present nevertheless. With Castor's help, she laid her mother on the couch and looked around. The first thought that struck her was that thieves had broken in but the plates and papers on the floor indicated that she had exhausted herself into unconsciousness. The ER came soon and rushed Catherine to the hospital. The siblings were nervous as they waited outside the emergency room. First their father had met with his untimely death and now their mother was admitted in the hospital. It scared them.

After half an hour a doctor came out holding some test reports in her hand. "Hi, I'm Dr.Lia Jacques but you can call me Lia. I'm one of the ER doctors here. Your mother was stressed and had overexerted herself. From the data that we gathered I believe it is because of the trauma from your father's demise. Though she is physically fine her mental health is deteriorating." Lia said.

Alice and Castor almost in tears asked in unison, "Can we go see her?"

"Yes of course you can but please be quiet as she is still resting. We have given her a strong dose of medication to make her fall asleep." Dr. Lia replied.

They entered the emergency room to see their mother lying there. There were many wires and tubes hooked to her and connected to the machines. Her puffy eyes indicated that she was crying a lot and that she didn't sleep well for the past few days. They realized that she had become quite frail and thin.

Alice sat on one side of the bed with Castor beside her. Castor held his mother's hand in a firm grip as if he was a free spirit and her hand was what kept him anchored. "What is it Mom? What happened to you? Talk to me. Tell me what is wrong. Let me help." Castor turned his head towards Alice who had spoken. She seemed to be staring off into the wall lost in her own thoughts. Castor's heart broke to see his mother and sister in such a dreadful condition.

It was midnight by now and Alice had fallen asleep on her mother's lap. Castor hadn't slept a bit till now. He heard his stomach grumble so he went to the hospital canteen to get something to eat. He came back into the room to see Alice still asleep. He woke her up and asked her to eat something as she was sitting beside her mother for a long time and hadn't eaten anything but she refused to do so. "Until Mom wakes up I don't want to eat anything.", Alice said and tears formed around her eyes. Castor tried to comfort her but she had already lost control and started crying. Catherine started mumbling something and Alice stopped crying and glimpsed towards the voice. Castor went close to her and asked, " Mom, are you okay? Do you need anything? Should we call the Doctor?"

"Castor wait, she is trying to say something", Alice whispered.

Catherine muttered something imperceptible. Alice leaned closer to her mother to listen to what she was saying. Castor had no idea what his mother said but among her muttering he caught snippets of two words that he understood perfectly, 'Albert's study'. Castor just looked at his mother wondering why in her weakened state, the first that came to her mind would be her husband's study.

"Could it be because of the ring?" Alice questioned. Castor just raised an eyebrow at her and questioned, "What ring?" 

"The one is Dad's office", Alice replied. Castor gave her a puzzled look. Alice caught on the expression and proceeded to explain how she discovered the ring.

Alice began " So remember the day when both of us got detention? The day when I forgot to grab my essay and I got late" Castor remembered it very well. "The day you were acting very distant?" he asked her with a teasing grin. "I was distracted. Besides, stop throwing me off track and just listen. So after Emma reminded me about it, I went home as fast as I could. So I thought I had kept my folder in one of my drawers but I couldn't find them there."

"And that is why you must keep track of your things and be responsible" Castor muttered just loud enough for Alice to hear. Alice however paid no heed and continued, " I couldn't find it anywhere so I asked Mom If she had seen my green folder. Mom said that Dad might have taken it to his study along with the other papers. I then ran up the stairs again and knocked on the door to Dad's study. There was no reply so I said, "Dad, I'm coming in and I walked in. I then hurried over to the drawers on the desk and one-by-one started searching through them. There were a lot of papers and sealed letters and a few stamps too but I couldn't find my green folder. It was as if it didn't want to come to me. So I opened the last drawer with hopes of finding my folder, but I could see nothing green. This drawer had a stack of paper in it. I was about to close the drawer when something caught my eyes." 

Alice waited for a dramatic effect while her brother impatiently made a gesture for her to continue. She rolled her eyes and continued, "So, there, pushed into the far end, lay a beautifully carved ring. I picked it up. The ring was warm to touch and seemed to give a light red glow. It was golden in color and in the center sat a small ruby carved to match the shape of flames and all around the ring, the gold had been twisted to form swirls. The ring had small engravings carved into it. It looked familiar and yet very distant, you know. Upon closer inspection I noticed that the ruby was different from all the other gems I had ever seen. It seemed to shift with light and shadows that were trapped inside the ring. At first I thought that the light from the window must be the reason for the change, but when I looked around, I noticed that I was covered by the bookshelf and that no light reached me. I was confused. I was staring intently at the ring, when I felt something shift. The plain and smooth surface now had an odd symbol carved into it. The carvings looked pretty but it was undecipherable. Then the clock chimed and I was startled. I had forgotten about my essay. So I quickly put the ring back, closed the drawer and nearly reached the doorknob, when the door opened and Dad walked in.

"Alice, shouldn't you be at school?" Dad asked and I said "Yes, Dad but I can't find my essay and it's due today." "Then what are you doing in my study? Shouldn't you be searching for it?" Dad questioned and I said "I couldn't find it in my room so I asked mum and she said that you might have it."

"Ah! I guess this is your essay then." Dad said then picked up my green folder from the top of the bookshelf. As you know that I was shorter than dad I could not see above the bookshelf. I took the folder, thanked Dad, and ran to school, but that didn't work as I was still late and got detention." Castor chuckled. Alice just frowned at him and asked her previous question "Did Mom mean the ring when she mentioned Dad's study?" Castor thought about it for a second. The study was usually a forbidden area and the siblings never ventured there. So when his Mom mentioned the study, he thought that they should check it out. After all, his Father's death was not considered natural. "We should look for clues in Dad's office." Castor voiced his opinion and Alice agreed.