The volumes speak of a settlement found in Trinidad. The settlement is long since gone but they speak of several cover stones that were found, only fragments of which had survived; it’s part of the exhibit. These stones were similar to Egyptian cartouches covered in pictographs.’
‘Pictographs?’ she repeated, ‘like hieroglyphs?’
‘Not quite that sophisticated,’ Roni answered, ‘more basic, like cave drawings.’
‘Wow,’ Olivia grinned, ‘that sounds so cool, have they been translated?’
‘Kind of,’ she replied, ‘that’s in part what the manuscripts are, they document the stones as they were found. It appears whoever the mysterious author of the manuscripts was, they made some effort to translate but it doesn't make much sense. In amongst the translations there is a mention of a sudden disease and some sort of green fire. I don’t know if it means anything but I figured it was worth a look.’
‘Do we know where the stones came from?’
‘Like I said they were found at the remains of a settlement in Trinidad. The earliest radiocarbon date is around 5230 BC. It is possible that a tribe of primitive people were responsible for creating the stones, but we don’t know for sure because none of them survived, well except for the fragment which is part of the exhibit. But as it is over seven thousand years old, it’s practically worn smooth and the markings can barely be seen now.’
‘That’s a shame,’ Olivia frowned.
‘It’s still pretty cool though,’ Roni grinned.
The three of them walked past the museum gift shop that had been expanded and refurbished. A quick peek revealed Mrs Bailey happily dusting and stocking shelves. She looked up, her usually harsh face now curiously softened and even older somehow. It seemed losing her husband had changed her considerably. Spotting Olivia she smiled, a genuine smile, one that reached her eyes as she held up her hand and gave a little wave. Smiling warmly, Olivia waved in return.
‘How’s Mrs Bailey doing?’ She asked Roni.
‘Good, all things considered,’ she answered easily. ‘Losing Mr Bailey really did a number on her, but she’s adjusting well. You heard she’s selling the store to Tommy?’
Olivia nodded.
‘Well given her extensive experience in retail I figured she’d be an excellent choice to run the gift shop. She’s in charge of the whole lot, managing the stock and the shop. She has two part time members of staff that she is responsible for and when we have evening events at the museum or the sleepovers with the kids, she comes along and helps out.’
‘Good,’ Olivia answered sincerely. ‘I’m glad she’s getting out and trying to make a new life for herself, instead of giving up and shutting herself away.’
‘Me too,’ Roni murmured. ‘Did you know Jake was the one who was with her when Mr Bailey passed away?’
‘No,’ Olivia frowned, ‘I didn’t know that.’
‘Well obviously Louisa was there too, after all she was the one working on him,’ Roni nodded, ‘but Jake was the one holding her when he died. I think both of them feel responsible for her as she had no other family. That’s how Tommy ended up running the store for her and how she initially ended up here. I didn’t really know her that well when Jake asked if there was anything I could give her to do, to distract her and get her out of her house. I was a bit dubious at first but to be honest she has been amazing. She’s really helped while I’ve been trying to get this place up and running.’
‘Wow,’ Olivia, stopped short as they entered a huge hexagonal room.
‘Welcome to the Hexagon,’ Roni smiled. ‘I mean you probably remember it from before. It has always housed some of the core exhibits, but what we’ve done is empty it out of any permanent displays and re-named it. You probably remember it as the Camber room, Jonathan Camber being the first ever mayor of Mercy. He now has a smaller research suite named after him. The Hexagon is purely to house touring exhibits, so we always have something new and fresh to offer tourists. In a couple of months we have a very exciting exhibit coming from England. It’s the skeletons under London tour.’
‘Skeletons?’ Theo spoke up curiously.
Roni nodded enthusiastically.
‘We’ll also have a guest speaker, his name’s Kelley O’Ryan; he’s a crime historian and an expert on Victorian London.’
‘That is interesting, I’ll have to stop by and see that one,’ Olivia told her as she stepped into the hexagonal room and looked around.
Soft Caribbean music played over the speakers. Something upbeat and complicated being played on steel drums, overlaid sounds of the ocean. Each of the six sides of the room housed a huge brightly lit display cabinet and in the center of the room was a larger piece of antiquity, carefully surrounded by soft velvet ropes. In this case it was a huge carved wooden statue of a stunning woman. She knelt naked on a dais of rocks, her wild curly hair spread out as if caught by a violent wind and in her outstretched hands sat a huge bird, with an enormous wingspan.
It was a bird she recognized, as did Theo, given the frown creasing his forehead. It was the Magnificent Frigate bird they had both seen circling, first over Salem, then Mercy.
Theo leaned down to read the small plaque in front of the statue.
‘Calypso,’ he read out loud, ‘from Greek mythology. Said to be the daughter of the titan Atlas who dwelt on the island Ogygia.’
He turned to Roni questioningly, ‘Ogygia?’
‘No one knows for certain, which island they were referring to,’ Roni began. ‘There has been some speculation that it was the island of Atlantis, but it seems unlikely. Someartifacts pertaining to her have been found scattered across the Caribbean islands, but no one seems to be able to pinpoint this fabled island of hers. Homer was the one to name it as Ogygia in his Odyssey book V.
In his Odyssey he tells of how Calypso lured the Greek hero Odysseus to her island and attempted to keep him there as her immortal husband. Odysseus however, although becoming her lover willingly enough, does not wish to stay and in time desires to return to his home of Ithaca and his wife Penelope. Calypso doesn’t want to let him go until Zeus steps in and forces her hand.
After that it is said she took the form of a great sea bird and when any ship sailed too close, she drove them onto the rocks to drown, in rage over her lost lover.’
‘That’s why she’s depicted with the bird,’ Olivia murmured thoughtfully as she studied the incredible craftsmanship of the carving.
‘Yes,’ Roni nodded, indicating for them to follow her to a nearby display case. ‘Here’s the stone I was telling you about.’
Olivia glanced down into the brightly lit case to see a grey stone. It would have originally been a flat rectangular shape, but it had clearly been snapped in two diagonally from the top left hand corner to the bottom right, leaving only the bottom part remaining. She could only just make out shallow grooves in the surface of the stone, which once would have been some sort of pictures, or maybe symbols, it was hard to tell. Roni was right, after thousands of years the etchings had worn almost smooth, practically eradicating the ancient markings.
Olivia moved on slowly with Theo following behind. They both examined the displays with interest, starting with the introduction of Obeah a religion and practice of magic brought to the West Indies by the West African slaves. Then they moved onto Voodoo and Hoodoo, black magic, and Caribbean witchcraft. There seemed to be a huge concentration of folk magic of African descent, which wasn’t surprising. Where ever the slaves went they took their religions with them, spreading the practices to all the other Caribbean nations.
‘I don’t know where Callie has gotten to,’ Roni said after a while, frowning.
‘Callie?’
‘Callie Atlass,’ she replied in frustration. ‘She’s the professor from Barbados in charge of the exhibit, the one I wanted to introduce you to the night of the reception. I’d love for you to meet her but every time I turn around she’s disappeared somewhere.’
&
nbsp; ‘Never mind,’ Olivia smiled. ‘I’m sure I’ll get to meet her sooner or later, but right now I’m really eager to get a look at the manuscripts.’
‘Are you sure you’re done looking around here?’
Olivia nodded.
‘Alright then, follow me up. I’ve put you in one of the private rooms upstairs, security is nearby and they’re under strict instructions not to let anyone but me in to see you.’
‘Jake?’
Roni laughed in amusement, ‘I know it’s annoying for you but we really are just trying to look out for you.’
‘I know,’ she sighed, looking up as she felt Theo squeeze her hand reassuringly.
They followed Roni up several small flights of stairs to the top level, past a security guard who nodded in acknowledgment, and through a single door. It opened up into a cozy and pleasant working space. A large square table sat in the center of the room surrounded by metal framed cushioned chairs. On the table was a small stack of leather bound volumes at one working space and at another were two thick tomes upon which were laid a pair of cotton gloves.
‘Theo,’ Roni indicated the stack of books, ‘I’ve set out the books you requested, but some of them are in Latin.’
‘That’s okay,’ he answered, ‘I’ve been learning. I may not be able to speak it to clearly but I know enough now to be able to read it reasonably accurately.’
‘Really?’ Roni replied in surprise, ‘when did you start learning?’
‘About two weeks ago,’ he shrugged.
‘Two weeks?’ she blinked.
‘Theo has an eidetic memory,’ Olivia replied absently, as her gaze fixed on the two huge manuscripts on the table and her fingers twitched. ‘I thought I told you that?’
‘No,’ Roni replied.
‘Roni,’ Olivia tugged on her hand pleadingly as she glanced across at the manuscripts. ‘Please.’
Shaking her head lightly in amusement she led Olivia over to the table as Theo settled in with his own books.
‘There are a few things you should know,’ Roni began as Olivia took a seat and Roni handed her the cotton gloves. ‘Only use the gloves to handle the manuscript. It’s very old, it’s been dated back to the 11th century. The manuscripts are written in a very early form of Spanish, their translations are to your right.’
Olivia looked down to find a neat stack of printed notes.
‘Like I said we don’t know for definite who wrote them but Callie has a working theory. She believes that the author of the manuscript may have been a man of religion, perhaps a priest or a monk, particularly as several paragraphs of the manuscript are written in Latin as fluently as the Spanish. We’re not sure why he would have been in the Caribbean at that time as the first Spanish colonists didn’t appear until four hundred years later.
However, it’s really just conjecture, there’s no evidence to support the theory, but back then it really was only the clergy who were literate. But feel free to have a look at it, I’d be interested to hear your take on it.’
‘I’m looking forward to it,’ Olivia smiled widely as she slipped her hands into the soft smooth cotton, her historians heart giving a helpless little thud as she opened the first page, and breathed in the musty scent of the aged paper.
She barely registered Roni leaving the room as she poured over page after page of the ancient document. The hours ticked slowly by, to the sound of pages turning, soft breaths of concentration and the occasional sigh of confusion or frustration. She read through page after page of translation, comparing it with the original. Finally she came to the illustrations; whoever the author was had obviously been in the presence of the completed stones and copied them meticulously.
Most of them were pretty basic and didn’t mean much. It wasn’t until she got several pages into the illustrations that she paused, her eyes narrowing. One of them was primitive, not very well drawn but familiar enough to have her heart thud dully in her chest. She turned it clockwise ninety degrees and it became even clearer.
She slumped back in her chair letting out a deep breath as she stared at the page.
‘What is it Livy?’ Theo looked up from his own book.
‘It seems Roni was right,’ she replied thoughtfully.
‘About?’
‘The manuscript describes two men who came to the islands, brothers. It is said they brought with them green fire, and that death and disease followed in their wake.’
‘Demon fire?’ Theo frowned.
‘It doesn’t mention demons by name but look at this…’
She turned the book around so he could see the illustration she’d been looking at.
Theo’s eyes narrowed as he studied the small symbol. It was crude and roughly drawn but it looked like the serpent seal, the personal symbol of Nathaniel and his brother Seth.
‘You think they are talking about Nathaniel and Seth?’ Theo asked.
‘If they are, this is the earliest record of the demons walking the Earth. The stones themselves pre-date the manuscripts by several thousand years, which means Nathaniel and Seth were here long before we possibly could have imagined.’
‘What’s this though?’ he nodded toward the manuscript, ‘the seal looks like it has been drawn over the top of something else.’
He was right, the circular seal with the interlocking serpents was laid over another symbol. It looked like a curved ‘H’ and was really familiar. She knew that symbol, what the hell was it? It was right at the edge of her mind, but frustratingly wouldn’t surface.
‘It looks familiar, but... I don’t know,’ she rubbed her face tiredly. ‘What about you? Have you found anything?’
‘Origins,’ he told her.
‘What?’
‘You once told me that sometimes you had to go right back to the beginning to find what you were dealing with,’ he explained. ‘I came to a dead end with the name Nathaniel, I couldn’t find anything. So I went back to basics, to the demons themselves to find out where they originally came from.’
‘Clever,’ she murmured, ‘what did you find?’
‘Not much to be honest, it seems the Latin scholars either didn’t know where demons came from or they were forbidden by the church to speak of it. But what I have discovered is that the modern word demon as we know it, comes from the Latin word Daemon which in turn is a derivation of the Greek word Daimon, meaning ‘God’ or ‘God-like.’
‘Greek?’ Olivia repeated blinking. She looked down at the book, at the symbol which was hidden beneath the serpent seal. ‘Greek,’ she murmured again thoughtfully.
She pulled out her phone, wishing she’d bought her iPad with her. She searched for a few moments, before looking up at Theo.
‘I knew that I recognized that symbol, it’s the third symbol on the wheel of the zodiac. It represents the constellation Gemini and the constellation Gemini is named for the twins Castor and Pollux, who are also known as the Dioscuri.’
‘Who are Castor and Pollux?’
‘Twin brothers born to the human Leda. The story goes that they had two different fathers. Castor was the son of Leda’s human husband, but Pollux was the son of Zeus himself. Zeus became enamored of Leda and disguised himself as a swan to seduce her.’
‘A swan?’ Theo replied dubiously.
‘Greek mythology,’ she shook her head, ‘just go with it.’
‘Anyway, because they had different fathers, Castor was human but his brother was an immortal. From what I understand when Castor inevitably died, Pollux begged his father to allow him to share his immortality with his brother so they could remain together. There are many different versions of the stories. Homer and Hesiod both had their own versions of what happened to the brothers. Some believe that they were transformed into the constellation Gemini, but no one knows for certain.’
Theo’s eyes widened.
‘You don’t actually think that Nathaniel and Seth are Castor and Pollux?’
‘I don’t
know,’ she frowned, ‘ I think it’s possible. There may be a connection there somewhere, but I don’t know what it is yet. I hope I’m wrong,’ she shook her head, ‘because if we are dealing with Castor and Pollux, that would mean…’
‘That would mean,’ Theo’s replied slowly, ‘that one of them is the son of the God Zeus.’
13.
Olivia blew out a frustrated breath and opened her eyes. She sat cross legged on the floor of her library, surrounded by a circle of candles, the scent of herbs filling the air. Beau sat opposite her, inside the circle she’d cast, his beautiful liquid eyes watching her and his head tilted slightly as if he couldn’t quite figure out what his human was doing. Rubbing her swollen belly soothingly, she drew in another deep breath and tried to center herself, but it just wasn’t working. She couldn’t seem to clear her mind.
Theo had finally left her alone at the house. It had taken a great deal of convincing and eventually some half-hearted threats, but he’d gone to help Tommy at the Bailey’s store. With Louisa so close to her due date, Tommy was struggling to find a balance between work and the pressures of impending fatherhood.
Olivia didn’t mind though, as much as she loved Theo his hovering over her worriedly every five seconds was starting to grate on her. She knew he was only doing it out of concern and love, but still…she needed some breathing room.
Her mind felt as if it were stuffed to bursting point. There was so much going on around her that she was beginning to feel a little lost and a whole lot suffocated. Her life used to be so simple. Okay, so at the time she’d believed her mother was dead and her father was a murderer, but she’d also had so many good things in her life.
She’d had Mags, who’d been her rock, her confidant, her closest friend, but lately, despite trying to salvage their relationship, every conversation between them, which had once flowed so effortlessly, was now stilted and awkward.
Her relationship with Mags was not the only thing that had changed. Her work had suffered lately too. Where she had been a foremost up and coming young historian, an expert on Salem and New England witchcraft and general history, she now found she had no confidence in her ability at all. After all she didn’t know what history had been changed when they’d been thrown back in time to Salem. How could she be considered an expert on anything, when she wasn’t even sure what her history was anymore?
The Guardians Complete Series 1 Box Set: Contains Mercy, The Ferryman, Crossroads, Witchfinder, Infernum Page 172