Chapter twenty-nine—Krokonomicon
I gazed dumbfound at her. “How?”
“Have you ever heard of the Krokonomicon, Mary?” Nikki asked, with a new kind of seriousness in her eyes.
The Krokonomicon sounded familiar to something. Perhaps Matt had explained it to me once, but I could not remember. “Vaguely.”
“It’s the one thing that keeps all the schools together, forever to make Balance. It’s the bridge between Death, Myth, Life and Storm, Ice, and Fire; which makes Balance possible.”
“Okay. What does this have to do with the Seraphina-Alleyen?” I questioned quietly.
Nikki sighed. “Lets just call it the S.A.”
“Alright, the S.A.
Nikki pulled her red, sweaty hair back, away from her face. “This has little to do with the S.A.
“No?” I scrunched up my eyebrows in curiosity. “Who is he? Or she, for that matter.”
“A power-hungry Krokotillian. She wants the Krokonomicon, and so does your father.” She nodded with concern. “She thinks that if she kidnaps one of us, then Malistaire will let her have the Krokonomicon for the S.A.”
“B-but, “I stuttered. “She doesn’t even know about the S.A. By the Fates, why does everybody have to be so power-hungry?”
“I have no idea, but its getting on my last nerves. Also, your right; she doesn’t know about us. However, what she does know is that Malistaire wants people who are different. Unfortunately, I believe that she has found one of the S.A.” Nikki explained.
I stared at an item of machinery in the far corner of the dim-lighted room. It looked like some kind of scale, and in its hands it held three, glowing blocks of some chemically strange substance. But I wasn’t thinking about that; I was thinking about the S.A.
Nikki rubbed the side of her head, near her temple in urgency. “I told you, the Fates have been sending me messages through dreams. I’m quite sure that you have been experiencing them, too.”
And I have. I told her about all the dreams that have occurred in the past, and even about my family’s death. She sat there quietly, with pursed lips and a blank expression. “That’s terrible.”
I ran my hands through my hair, stressed. “It’s more than that. The fact that he slit their throats and threw them into the fire on purpose… It’s hard to believe that he is my own father. The person whom everybody else gets to call “Daddy.” By the Fates, I’m never going to experience the position of “Daddy’s little girl.” I’m never going to have somebody to be proud of my grades, or worry about the boys I’m seeing, or give me the “Talk” ever again.”
Nikki watched me with strong sympathy, and twirled a piece of red hair with her fingers. “That’s very sad, Mary, and I wish we could talk more about it; but we need to figure out a plan.”
Embarrassed, my face reddened and I nodded in agreement. “Alright, where should we sta-“
“I heard you were awoken, but I didn’t believe it.” Alhazred stood at the door, with slight fascination and wonder.
Nikki stood up, and held a pillar for support. I noticed her legs wobble, and I realized that she probably hasn’t walked in a while. “Professor, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Whats your name, child?” Alhazred spoke gently, and they shook hands. Nikki grimaced at the touch of his rough, lizard skin and claws.
“Melissa Nicole, professor.” She replied kindly. Her eyes glowed with charm.
“Well, Melissa, we need to have a talk.” He looked at me, “You too, Mary.”
I noticed that Nikki didn’t contradict him at first to call her Nikki. Perhaps she didn’t want a professor calling her a nickname. However, Alhazred was the only teacher that I had ever met to not call me a “Ms. Ravengem”. Instead, he called us by our first names.
“What about?” Nikki asked, frowning. She glanced at me, questioning with her eyes. I shook my head to translate that he didn’t know about the S.A.
“About,” Alhazred took out a piece of parchment, and unraveled it. There, drawn with a unique kind of quill, was a large drawing of a book. On the book’s cover was an intricate symbol, strange and mysterious. It seemed to be some kind of spiral. “The Krokonomicon.”
“So,” I breathed out. “It’s a book.”
He nodded. “I couldn’t help to hear that you are now searching for Krokopatra. Unfortunately, I’m quite disappointed to tell you that the Krokonomicon is gone.”
“It’s what?” Nikki yelped, suddenly sitting straight up, her face was drawn to a complete desperate gaze. “Does she have it?”
“Indeed.”
“How could you let her get away with this?” I growled, glaring at him.
“I am an old Krok, and she is still young. I am wise, but I am not powerful. She obtained it right under my snout.” I saw a silver tear leak out of his golden eyes.
“Ugh, what are we to do now?” I groaned.
“Well,” Nikki suggested, “First, we have to find Krokopatra, take back the Krokonomicon, and save-“
“To get back the Krokonomicon.” I interrupted, as Nikki was just about to say what Alhazred couldn’t hear.
“I have a solution.” Alhazred decided. He turned, and took a glass vial out of a drawer from a cabinet. Inside it was a black piece of what looked like horse hair.
Nikki frowned. “Is that..?”
“Krokopatra’s lock of hair.” Alhazred answered, smiling, holding it up to the candle light. “It will lead us to a searching potion, and you shall be able to port to her.”
Nikki and I exchanged glances, and smiled. “Perfect.”
“When will the potion be due?” I asked, not quite pleased yet.
“A day, at the most.” He replied.
“Well.” I rubbed my hands together for the dirty work. “Let’s get started.”
Alhazred taught us the recipe, and left Nikki to correct my mistakes. She is the Angel of remembrance, after all.
We had one pot over boiling toad water, with a hint of mint. In the pot, bubbling and hot, was two raven feathers, dirt from the earth, salt water, a Krok’s skin, a Mander’s eye, two drops of blood, and finally of course: the hair of Krokopatra.
During the time to make the potion, we talked about our lives. Where and how we came to be, where we come from, and our family.
“My parents are strange. Like, mentally strange- I don’t even know how to explain it. Its not like they’re mentally-challenged or anything. It’s just that they are weird people.”
“How weird?” I asked.
“Like elderly obsessed and embarrassing weird. It’s not even normal.”
I laughed. “Any siblings?”
“Besides you guys, I have none.” She looked solemn about this.
“Oh.” I didn’t explain anything about my family. I’d rather not, and she had a good idea of what is not to talk about, and what is a good conversation.
She glanced and looked into my eyes. “We have the same eyes, don’t we?”
“Yes, we do.” I agreed, looking back. “Moonstone with a shimmer of rainbow.”
We chuckled. “Do you think that the other’s have the same eyes?”
“Most likely, if we do.” I thought, thinking on what the other’s looked like. I wondered if they would have blonde or red hair like we do.
“I hope they’re okay.” Nikki frowned, as she added a raven feather to the potion.
“Me too,” I replied with worry. “Who knows what the curse had done to them.”
We stayed in silence for a while. Suddenly, Nikki changed the subject. “Did you find that newspaper that I left for you?”
I almost dropped a glass vial I was holding out, while Nikki poured the potion. “That was you?”
She nodded. “I wanted to see how you would react. If you did anything that was connected to the S.A.
“I knew someone was watching; I just excused it as a passerby.” I added thoughtfully.
“But when I figured out that it was truly you, I got so excited; but scared at the same time. When you heard me, I ran.” Nikki continued. “Then the curse hit me, later that night when I was admiring the moon.”
I took the full glass of the finished potion, and held it to my chest. “I don’t get it. Why did you guys get the curse, but I didn’t?”
Nikki smirked, a hint of a laugh on her face. “That’s because you’re Prince Charming. Probably another reason you were able to awake me- Malistaire must have forgotten to change the spell.”
“I find that quite disturbing, Nikki.” I grimaced.
“Sisterly love is the greatest love of all.” Nikki smiled, and we linked arms. We glanced at each other, and nodded. I threw the potion on the ground, and it foamed around our feet.
Then, we ported.
Little did we know what lie upon us.
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