by Tim Mettey
**
“No way, Nicholas. It’s not smart to go check out the records at the Thusian Vault by yourself,” Riley said, pacing back and forth in our kitchen. “I know Bryce is a Thusian. We can all see that. And from what I can tell, he is more the 4th than anyone else we have seen so far. His talents have been growing over the year.”
How could he be so sure? I thought. My doubts had grown into an impassable obstacle.
“I definitely agree he’s a Thusian. But is he the 4th? I can’t be sure. We need to know 100-percent, not 99-percent, because if we are wrong, the consequences could be devastating. You know I’m right, Riley.”
“But how are you going to know what to look for? Only a Keeper would know what to look for in those records. Keepers are the key to all of those books in the vault. That’s why the Council needs someone to track the Thusians’ lineage—because they can’t figure out the books,” Genevieve said.
“A Keeper wouldn’t have to look in there. They would already know who the 4th was. And since we don’t have a Keeper, this is the next best thing,” I said.
“Ester told Cora and me last year that all of the records are kept in that room, and hopefully the lineage book of Thusians that Michelle Lightfoot keeps will be there. I even know what the book looks like. That book will give me a chance to check out Bryce’s lineage and then let me see if there are any other Thusians we have missed.”
“You expect to find that in just your first day of going through there? Even if you knew where to look, it would take you a couple of days to get through it. It’s going to take you months if not longer to find anything starting from scratch. And we don’t have that kind of time,” Riley said impatiently.
He was right, but I had to try.
“Okay, but at least give me a couple of tries to find the information we need. I will look before my first Council meeting and then I will go back two more times. If I don’t find anything, then we can move forward with me challenging Bryce and testing him at the quarry party.”
Cora was not taking part in the conversation, but then she spoke. “Nicholas is right. We need to exhaust all avenues before we jump to any conclusions. Bryce is the best candidate, but we must give Nicholas a chance to make sure he is the right choice.”
Riley didn’t need any more convincing. He still thought it was a waste of time, but he really didn’t have a choice. Disagreeing with Cora was pointless, and we had over two months until the next quarry party anyway.