After the tour she said, “Dimitrios didn’t leave any reading requirements for you at the front desk.”
Charles thanked her for the tour. “I thought I would come here on my own and see the amazing library I have heard so much about.”
Fiona out of curiosity asked, “Who recommended the library?”
“Beverly Jones is my grandma.”
Fiona’s face lit up. “I know Bev. It’s been years since I last saw her.”
Charles introduced Fiona to Carson. “This is Carson Jones, my grandfather.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Sir.” Then she asked, “Is there a book I could help you find since you are here? Would you like to look up anything in particular?”
Carson asked if she knew of a research manual explaining the use of crystals.
Her face lit up. “I wish more Sojourners would inquire about crystals and their user guidebooks. Please follow me.” They stepped off of their flying disks and placed them in their packs.
They followed Fiona through the library to the elevator. The three entered the elevator and rode to the second floor. They walked through the aisles of books. Occasionally they would come across someone who was peering at a book. In designated places the library had comfy chairs for people to sit and read. It was also equipped with wooden tables throughout for patrons’ usage. Fiona went right to a secluded section. She reached for a book that was at eye level and placed her slender finger on the spine of the book.
She turned and said, “This is an excellent manual on the origin and use of crystals. You will find several other exceptional books on this subject here. Let me know if I can be of any more assistance.” As she turned to leave, Charles and Carson thanked her for her help.
Charles and Carson began skimming through the books. It wasn’t long before Fiona returned with a very large ancient book. The yellowed pages were different lengths and the words were hand-written. Charles gave her a puzzled look.
She said to Charles, “My dear, this is from my personal collection. I’ve been waiting for someone all these years to inquire about crystals. I believe you are the one I have been waiting for. This book explicates almost every unusual use for crystals that you will not find in any of the books on the shelves before you. Would you like to read from this book?” Charles nodded, then looked at Carson who had already gently taken the book from Fiona’s hands and was studying it. Fiona continued, “I will bring it every day and you may read from it as long as you would like. You may if you’d like take notes from it.” Charles thanked her for sharing knowledge with him. She smiled and said, “That is my job.” Then she turned and was gone.
Carson was reading from the book and was enthralled by the crystal lore and knowledge it contained. Airabelle and Airasten were reading over his shoulder. Charles looked over Carson’s shoulder at the writing. Carson stopped reading and looked at him with awe. “In all my years I have never read anything like this before.”
Charles’ face lit up. “Should we make notes?”
Carson nodded. “Let’s take it to the table. Since we have permission, we can scan it with our crystals.” They sat down at an empty table. They began to choose important information and documented it.
Charles said, “We could copy the whole book, everything in this book is important.” Carson nodded and closed the book. He began searching for information on the author of the book. In the front of the book was an inscription that read, “This book is a compilation through the generations of the Badeau family on the discoveries and uses of crystals”.
Carson said, “That name sounds familiar.” He carefully opened the book back to where they stopped before. As they worked, he continued to try to place that name.
They spent the day making their notes. When it was lunch time they returned the book to Fiona and thanked her.
They went to The Coin Toss restaurant to eat lunch. They ate hamburgers with the trimmings and fries. The waitress recommended the cafe’s cream soda. Lunch was delicious. They sat and discussed what a find the Badeau manuscript was. Carson was ready to return to the library. Charles used his diner card to pay for lunch.
When they entered the library they retrieved the book once again from Fiona and resumed their note taking. By the time they finished they were very excited about their productive day. When it was time for the library to close they found Fiona to return and thank her for the use of the manuscript. Charles confirmed with her that they would return again to borrow the book in a couple of days. Carson complimented her and thanked her for sharing her treasured manuscript with them. They talked for a minute before they boarded the flying disks outside the library. Charles was looking forward to seeing Caroline. He wished he could share with her all the things they had learned.
CHAPTER 42
For an entire year Joseph went into work early and came home late, exhausted. It was now a month before their seventh anniversary. Dolores thought about the timing of past events and realized this was the only year in their entire marriage they actually got along. One night Joseph came home early. It was on a night Sterling had been invited to sleep over at a friend’s house. Joseph went to a lot of trouble to plan a romantic evening. He had three dozen roses on the dining room table and candles lit throughout the house. Softly in the background he played classical music. He’d had the evening catered by the best steakhouse around. They even had their own server. Dolores was amazed at the thought he’d put into everything. That night she actually looked at him differently and her heart softened. The conversation they had wasn’t laced with sarcasm and mockery. Instead it was as if he was treating her as an equal. She actually saw a glimpse of a different side of him that was charming and romantic. He spoke to her as if he loved her and she responded to his words of affection. After dinner he leaned over and kissed her.
He said, “I wanted to celebrate this special night with you and let you know how much I appreciate you.” He popped the cork on a special wine bottle and poured each of them a glass. He raised his glass in a toast. “To my beautiful bride that I have loved since the day we met. You have made me who I am today and I am thankful that you chose me. Here’s to a wonderful life together.” They drank to that. Then he said, “One more toast.” They raised their glasses. “Here’s to making partner.”
Dolores was so happy for him and she’d never been prouder of him than at that moment. That special memory in time Dolores kept in her heart second only to the day Sterling had been born.
CHAPTER 43
They returned to their Passageway and entered the office. After they changed clothes, they put their glasses away. Charles helped return their paperwork and crystals back to the vault. He returned his travel pass to his satchel. When everything was put away and the office secured they went to the house. It was late and the ladies had already eaten dinner. Bev warmed up dinner for them. They sat down at the kitchen table and ate. Caroline sat next to Charles and they talked.
When Carson was finished he went back to the office to work. Charles stayed with Caroline. They helped clean up. Margaret helped put the dishes away. They visited for a while longer before it was time for Margaret and Caroline to go.
After they left Charles hurried to the office. He and Carson reviewed what they had learned at the library. Carson had already tried out a few of the instructions for the experiments they had found in the Badeau manuscript, with Airabelle and Airasten watching. He was getting the results the manual claimed but he suspected better results would occur if the crystal he was using was stronger.
Charles said, “Paw Paw, try the experiments using my crystal.”
“Charles, I think it would be better if you tried the experiments working with your own crystal. Every crystal owner needs to spend time training their crystal so it will respond better to its owner’s commands. The more you work with a crystal the more powerful its follow through will be. It is important for a crystal to be used by one owner.”
Charles agreed. “Okay, I’m ready to get star
ted.”
Carson entered the vault to get Charles’ crystal. After Charles’ worked with his crystal Carson realized he was correct. The experiments were more accurate using a stronger crystal. Which led him to believe that Fiona herself must own an extremely powerful crystal if the experiments worked for someone in her family. Carson was still trying to place her last name. It sounded very familiar to him.
When they finished, Charles put his crystal away. He went to get his glasses. He put his glasses on to continue reading the manuals. He wanted to read as much as he could since he had a meeting with Dimitrios the next day. He wasn’t sure what to expect, but was looking forward to their meeting. He already had several questions to ask. Airabelle sat behind him. They went through the manual together. Charles wrote down more questions for Dimitrios, as he and Airabelle weren’t clear on some of the details in the manual.
Airasten sat still perched on the lectern watching Carson continuing to practice with his crystal using the instructions from the manual. He was successfully levitating multiple objects around the room. He was up to three objects suspended in air. At midnight when the clock struck, they cleaned up and secured everything before returning to the house.
Carson and Charles entered the kitchen and saw Bev. They sat at the table and talked to her about their day at the library. Charles told her about meeting Fiona the librarian. Carson said he had heard her last name, Badeau, before but couldn’t place it.
Bev said, “I’ve known Fiona for years. She comes from an extremely wealthy Sojourner family. She’s been the librarian in the Hub for a long time and is extremely knowledgeable about the library.”
Carson told Bev about Fiona’s personal crystal manual she shared with them. Bev was impressed by the experiments that Carson said he was able to perform with his crystal.
She said, “I hope when I go to the library with you I will be able to visit with her. I’d like to thank her for sharing something so valuable with us. Fiona will be a good resource for you, Charles. Since she has worked at the library for so many years I’m certain she has a lot of knowledge about not only books but Sojourner tools as well. Knowing her might be a very useful thing in your future.”
Charles found himself yawning. It had been such a busy day and he was fighting to stay awake. He said goodnight to both of them and went upstairs to get ready for bed. Once he crawled under the warm quilt on his bed he immediately fell asleep.
CHAPTER 44
Charles didn’t even remember his dreams he slept so hard. When he woke up he remembered his scheduled meeting with Dimitrios. He rolled out of bed and started his morning routine, but today he decided to do things a little different. Once he was dressed and ready, he made his way downstairs. Bev was in the library with Carson working her crossword puzzle. Carson was pretending to be agitated with her asking him to solve some of the questions from the puzzle. In fact, he really liked her to ask; it gave him a chance to show off his large vocabulary. Bev knew this and thought his display of annoyance was quite funny.
As Charles walked in, she turned to Carson and said, “Saved by Charles. How about that?”
Carson put down his paper and told Charles good morning. He then turned to Bev and said, “Another name for an indoor swimming pool is a natatorium. Check that and see if it fits.” He winked at Charles.
Bev picked up her pen, counted the spaces and smiled. She turned to Charles and said, “Good morning Charles.” She mouthed a quick thank you.
Charles laughed and went to the kitchen. He picked up the bagel sitting on the counter. He sat down at the table and spread the butter and honey on it. Bev had a bowl of fresh fruit on the table for him. She came into the room, fixed him a glass of tea and sat at the table with him. They talked as he ate. She asked him if he was prepared for the meeting with Dimitrios.
Charles said, “Yes. I’m ready to meet with him. I have a lot of questions to ask him. I am going to check my appointment book first thing to figure out where to meet him. I hope Cassia has included more information this morning.” When Charles finished he stood up and set his plate and glass on the counter. He went to find Carson who had apparently heard him coming. Together they walked into the kitchen to tell Bev they were headed to the office.
Carson took the keys from the desk. He opened the vault and then turned the bookshelves around. Charles went to his satchel, took out his appointment book and looked to see what Cassia had planned for today. Charles showed the schedule to Carson. It read: Meet Dimitrios at the Hub Library at 11:00 a.m.
Carson said, “I had better go and tell Nana. She may want to go.” He left the office.
While Carson was gone Charles retrieved his glasses from Carson’s desk. He picked up a pad of paper and pen then sat down to read from his manual. Airabelle was perched on one side and Airasten on the other. Airabelle interjected often while they read together, but Airasten was quiet and rarely said much. Charles continued to take notes as he read.
Carson had come back to the office and was busy working on paperwork. Finally the clock chimed 9:00 a.m. Charles put the manual and notes back in his satchel. Carson put his paperwork away and began gathering items they needed to take with them from the vault.
Charles was already on his way to the clothes library. He was almost dressed when he heard Carson come down the stairs. Bev was ready and waiting when they returned to the office area. They secured the office and waited for the Passageway to open. Carson did his usual double-check to make sure they had everything. He handed out the Sojourner glasses for everyone to put on.
Carson opened the Passageway for them to walk through. Once in the Hub they each spun their flying disk and headed toward The Hub Library. Airabelle rode with Charles and Airasten rode with Carson. For some reason Bev was flying faster than everyone.
Carson called to her, “Slow down lead foot.”
Charles teased her saying, “Wow, that must have been some kind of spin you gave that thing.”
“Yeah, I don’t know my own strength.” Bev laughed. “Just taking it for a test drive to see what she can do.”
They arrived ahead of time and checked in. Charles showed his badge to the security guard. He asked them to wait for Dimitrios in the room to the left. He walked them over, opened the door and let them enter the room to wait.
Dimitrios came around the corner with Fiona. They paused briefly to finish their conversation outside the door before entering the room. Fiona walked in first and greeted Bev. “I met your grandson the other day.”
“I heard. How have you been?”
“I’ve been doing fine. We added a new section to the library since you were here last.”
Bev said, “I’d like to see that.”
Dimitrios was pleased that Charles had already visited the library and met with Fiona. Prior to the meeting Dimitrios had been talking to her about the restricted sections of the library. The Prime Minister had granted Charles access to those areas. Dimitrios and Fiona were going to give them a tour. Fiona led the way. They followed her to the guard at the back of the library. He opened the double doors as she approached. They proceeded to the elevator that went down to the next level. Once the elevator stopped they exited and walked into the lobby. Standing in the lobby Charles could see several doors opening into different areas. One door opened into a movie theatre. He could see a soda fountain.
Fiona said, “If you purchase something to eat or drink it stays in this area. We do not allow food or drinks anywhere else in the library.”
They looked in the movie theater and toured the quaint art gallery across from the theatre before they proceeded to the Grand Library. The security guard pushed a button to open the oversized silver doors. Once the doors opened they walked inside and stood, taking in the opulence of the room. Marble statues of readers were placed throughout the room. Colorful paintings of the Natural Hub were on the walls. The room had a balcony overlooking it decorated by a wall of ivy wrought ironwork. The walls were lined with bookshelves. Each section
had a chair next to a table with a lamp on it.
On the main floor where they stood, were large ornately carved black wooden tables with black leather chairs in designated areas for the library members to sit and read. The ceiling was a multi-tiered mural depicting the Hub sky. The first tier was the day sky. The second tier was of the night sky. It had soft lights to accent the stars. Fiona gave them a tour of the different sections. She explained to them that the Grand Library was so immense that they actually had to utilize two of the Hub buildings to complete it. They were now under the second building. In this section was housed the most valuable books in the library. The Grand Library had its own personal librarian to assist the library members. Fiona introduced the librarian to them. Fiona showed them a couple of examples of the work that was kept there.
When they finished the tour of the Grand Library they ended up outside the movie theatre. Dimitrios had a private showing planned for them of the sections of the Hub. After the movie they went back upstairs to the meeting room. Fiona offered to take Carson and Bev for a private tour of the Hub Library. Dimitrios and Charles went in the meeting room and sat down at a table. Charles thanked Dimitrios for the tour of the library and for the extraordinary gifts that he had given him. Dimitrios said he was welcome, and that it was his pleasure.
Charles said, “I do have a lot of questions.”
“I expected that you would.”
Charles took his notes from his satchel. They read through the notes and questions together. Dimitrios was impressed with Charles’ questions over what he had read in the manual. He answered each of the questions in depth. Charles added to his notes.
The Xidoran Prophecy Page 49