Page 62 of Forgotten Arcane

Raiden’s eyebrows draw down even more in confusion, “Well that’s not fiction. Not that we’re aware of anyway.”

I shake my head, “Nope. I guess we just wait to see if the Elders come through with those books that they promised they were going to try to find for me. Then we can verify the information using multiple sources. If it turns out to be true, then we can look into why I’m different.”

Raiden nods, “Yeah, I like that plan.”

Smiling, I turn back to the pile of books stacked next to me to try and see if I can find anything else that corroborates what the book is saying and confirms it to be true.

The sound of the library door opening shocks me. I have no idea how long we have been reading for, but my back hurts, and my eyes have started to go fuzzy, so it has to have been for quite a while.

“Hey guys,” Griff greets us with a smile, as he walks straight over to me and kisses me. When he pulls back, he asks, “Did you guys manage to find anything?”

I shake my head, “We didn’t really find much. We decided to look in the myths and legends section, so we’re not actually sure what is real and what is fiction.”

“We’ll find something, don’t worry,” Griff says.

“We did find out from the book that Winston translated for us that angels don’t shift, they use a glamour to hide their wings. We’re going to try to find some other evidence to back it up,” Raiden tells him.

Griff frowns, “That doesn’t make sense. Neith definitely shifts.”

I shrug, “Knowing me, I’m just weird. Maybe it’s got something to do with why it took so long for my angel to come out.”

“That’s true, we have no idea if that’s normal or not for angels,” Raiden replies thoughtfully.

“The Elders were right then, and there aren’t very many books on angels?” Griff asks.

“Well, I don’t have many, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t more out there,” Raiden replies, with a slight frown.

“You know, the Obsidian Market sells rare books. We might be able to find something there that would give us some more information?” I suggest, and I’m surprised when the Voices mutter in agreement.

“The Obsidian Market isn’t known for being safe,” Raiden says, his eyebrows rising slightly.

“And we’re SID agents, we would need to be incredibly careful if we went there. If someone found out that we were agents, or even recognized us, then it wouldn’t end very well for us,” Griff adds, looking worried.

I nod, “The market is dangerous, of course it is, they sell illegal and stolen stuff, but it’s also pretty fucking amazing if you know the right places to look, and the right people to talk to. I have contacts there that should hopefully be able to help us if we did decide to go there looking for information on angels.”

“It’s certainly an option, but I don’t think that it should be our first option,” Raiden replies.

I get where they’re both coming from. They’re coming from the right side of the law, a side that I didn’t really belong to for a long time, and if you look at the Obsidian Market from the point of the view of the law, then yeah, it’s not a great place and although I would agree that there are some horrific things that happen there that need to be ended, there’s another side of the Obsidian Market that is all about information and knowledge, and I like that side of it.

Especially since it’s not just information about people you’re looking for, or who stole something that you want. It's knowledge, real knowledge, about all sorts of things, and although the book part of the Obsidian Market is small,I can almost guarantee that there will be something there that will be able to help us.

It was merely an offhand suggestion when I first mentioned it, but the Voices agreed, and I trust them. I think that we’re eventually going to have to go to the Obsidian Market for that reason alone.

“Come on. It’s lunch, and then we’ve got to get to the compound. If we’re late, Calia is going to kill us,” Griff says with a smile.

Raiden winces, “Yeah, we definitely don’t want to be late.”

“I’m surprised she’s not insisting on feeding us lunch too,” I grin as we leave the books where they are so we can come back to them later and then head out of the library.

We’re almost to the stairs to the second floor when I remember that I’m not wearing any underwear and that we’re most likely going to be leaving straight after we’ve eaten, so I need to put underwear on now and not wait until after we’ve eaten, despite how hungry I am.

“I’ll meet you guys in the kitchen. I just need to grab something from upstairs,” I tell the guys.

“No problem,” Raiden smiles, as I jog up the stairs.

After I’ve put on new underwear, I also decide to arm myself with a few more weapons.

I’m not entirely sure why, but it’s pretty normal for me not to go anywhere without weapons on me somewhere. I can’t exactly walk around with Betty or Asael, they’re a little bit too conspicuous.

---