far out of reach
that I wondered if anyone ever read them. Each shelving unit
stretched from floor to ceiling in no apparent order. There was no
card catalogue or computer to look stuff up. I had to have a Martis
get me the things I needed. There was a lady assigned to me, Casey,
who seemed to live here. She never went home. I looked around the
room for her, assuming she was lost in the stacks somewhere. I
walked over to her desk, leaned on it and waited.
After a few minutes, I slid up onto
her desk to sat down. There were no cushy chairs up here to wait,
and if I wandered around without her, I got scolded. Despite the
fact that I loathed most of the Martis, Casey wasn’t so bad. I
dangled my legs off the side of her desk, wondering how long she
would be. The Martis had records, books, and texts going back to
the beginning of time. Or at least that was what Julia said. This
vault connected underground somewhere with the archives at the
Vatican—the place Julia worked when she wasn’t trying to kill me. I
was certain my trial dragged on because of her, although no one
would confirm it. That woman hated me from day one, and that was
when she thought I was a Martis.
The Martis Dyconisis knew how
everything was filed in this room and exactly where to find it. The
Martis were split into three groups based on their abilities and
powers. There were Seyers, Dyconisis, and Polomotis. The Dyconisis
were healers and handled the law. They also deciphered the Seyers’
visions for the Martis. Apparently, they were also hardwired to
retrieve books in a library that was the largest I’d ever seen. It
was weird. There was no computer, no file, no nothing that even had
a record of which books they owned.
The Dyconisis just knew.
I heard Casey approaching behind me
with her quiet librarian voice. That was something that transcended
cultures. I slid off her desk and turned around, shocked at who was
with her. Casey turned to a small desk across the room, holding
three small books. She placed the books on the little desk, and
turned up the flame of an overhead lamp. She gave directions to the
Martis, and as she spoke, he turned and looked up at me.
I started at him, saying nothing, not
revealing the betrayal I felt. When Shannon said they were to
summon Eric, I didn’t realize they already had. I felt my teeth
sink into my lip, as I bit down to try and remain stoic.
I don’t know why my anger with Eric
didn’t surface the last time I saw him. Maybe I was too shocked to
notice. Maybe I couldn’t feel the depth of his betrayal until now.
Life is like that sometimes. You sit there and stare, blank-faced
and horrified, but utterly unable to respond.
Eric turned back toward
Casey, nodding. He slid into the chair, and flipped open the book,
ignoring me. I don’t know what I wanted him to do, but that wasn’t
it. It confirmed the feeling that he used me, and betrayed
me. Dirty blood ,
he’d said. Abomination . I started to walk towards him with sharp words cascading
into a symphony of screams in my mind, but Casey approached me. Her
petite figure and perfectly cut blonde bob would toss me out if I
picked a fight. Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself. I needed my
books first. There would be time to scream at Eric
later.
“ Yes, Miss Taylor?” Casey
asked, always polite. She dressed in pastels, always
pastels.
“ I need books on the
catacombs,” I said. The movement was miniscule, but it was there.
She flinched. I looked at her round face and brown eyes. She never
responded like that before no matter what I asked for.
Her pretty pink smile faltered, “The
Roman catacombs? What specifically are you looking for? There are
hundreds of texts about them; everything from lineage to
architecture.”
Oh crap. I didn’t plan on telling her
anything. The more information I fed the Martis, the longer I made
my noose. There was no doubt in my mind that if the trial didn’t
turn out the way Julia wanted, then she would find something
that I wondered if anyone ever read them. Each shelving unit
stretched from floor to ceiling in no apparent order. There was no
card catalogue or computer to look stuff up. I had to have a Martis
get me the things I needed. There was a lady assigned to me, Casey,
who seemed to live here. She never went home. I looked around the
room for her, assuming she was lost in the stacks somewhere. I
walked over to her desk, leaned on it and waited.
After a few minutes, I slid up onto
her desk to sat down. There were no cushy chairs up here to wait,
and if I wandered around without her, I got scolded. Despite the
fact that I loathed most of the Martis, Casey wasn’t so bad. I
dangled my legs off the side of her desk, wondering how long she
would be. The Martis had records, books, and texts going back to
the beginning of time. Or at least that was what Julia said. This
vault connected underground somewhere with the archives at the
Vatican—the place Julia worked when she wasn’t trying to kill me. I
was certain my trial dragged on because of her, although no one
would confirm it. That woman hated me from day one, and that was
when she thought I was a Martis.
The Martis Dyconisis knew how
everything was filed in this room and exactly where to find it. The
Martis were split into three groups based on their abilities and
powers. There were Seyers, Dyconisis, and Polomotis. The Dyconisis
were healers and handled the law. They also deciphered the Seyers’
visions for the Martis. Apparently, they were also hardwired to
retrieve books in a library that was the largest I’d ever seen. It
was weird. There was no computer, no file, no nothing that even had
a record of which books they owned.
The Dyconisis just knew.
I heard Casey approaching behind me
with her quiet librarian voice. That was something that transcended
cultures. I slid off her desk and turned around, shocked at who was
with her. Casey turned to a small desk across the room, holding
three small books. She placed the books on the little desk, and
turned up the flame of an overhead lamp. She gave directions to the
Martis, and as she spoke, he turned and looked up at me.
I started at him, saying nothing, not
revealing the betrayal I felt. When Shannon said they were to
summon Eric, I didn’t realize they already had. I felt my teeth
sink into my lip, as I bit down to try and remain stoic.
I don’t know why my anger with Eric
didn’t surface the last time I saw him. Maybe I was too shocked to
notice. Maybe I couldn’t feel the depth of his betrayal until now.
Life is like that sometimes. You sit there and stare, blank-faced
and horrified, but utterly unable to respond.
Eric turned back toward
Casey, nodding. He slid into the chair, and flipped open the book,
ignoring me. I don’t know what I wanted him to do, but that wasn’t
it. It confirmed the feeling that he used me, and betrayed
me. Dirty blood ,
he’d said. Abomination . I started to walk towards him with sharp words cascading
into a symphony of screams in my mind, but Casey approached me. Her
petite figure and perfectly cut blonde bob would toss me out if I
picked a fight. Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself. I needed my
books first. There would be time to scream at Eric
later.
“ Yes, Miss Taylor?” Casey
asked, always polite. She dressed in pastels, always
pastels.
“ I need books on the
catacombs,” I said. The movement was miniscule, but it was there.
She flinched. I looked at her round face and brown eyes. She never
responded like that before no matter what I asked for.
Her pretty pink smile faltered, “The
Roman catacombs? What specifically are you looking for? There are
hundreds of texts about them; everything from lineage to
architecture.”
Oh crap. I didn’t plan on telling her
anything. The more information I fed the Martis, the longer I made
my noose. There was no doubt in my mind that if the trial didn’t
turn out the way Julia wanted, then she would find something
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