Page 48 of The 13th Daughter
"I'm telling you, Gregg, I haven't seen either of them this morning," Mrs. Guilford, the librarian, sounded flustered. "There's no way they could be up here."
The door opened and Mr. Parker strode in. He eyed us both with a calculating look.
"Dad?" Jeff looked up from his book. He looked way too nervous, like a kid who'd just got caught stealing his mom's fresh baked chocolate chip cookies.
"How long have you been here?" his dad asked him, frowning.
"I don't know," he shrugged. "A while."
"But I didn't see you come in," Mrs. Guilford looked puzzled. "How did you get up here?"
"You weren't at your desk, Mrs. Guilford," I smiled. "We didn't see the need to bother you and just came on up to the study area. Were we supposed to let you know?"
"No, no, dear, of course not. It must have been when I stepped away to get a cup of coffee," she shook her head.
"Jeff, there's a mandatory meeting at the Hall at nine," Mr. Parker told his son. "Don't be late."
"Meeting?" Jeff frowned. "This early?"
"Yes. Same for you, Betty," he told Mrs. Guilford. "CJ, you might want to get on home."
"Yes, sir," I nodded.
Jeff let out the biggest sigh I've ever heard and slumped in his chair when the door closed behind his father and Mrs. Guilford. "I thought we were so totally busted."
"Have a little faith, Neighbor Boy." I slumped down into my own chair. I'd thought there for a minute we were busted too.
"CJ, you know you're freakin scary, right?" He started shoving his stuff back into the bookbag. "The things you can do...it's just freaking unbelievable."
I felt like a freak, but didn't tell him that. It wasn't my fault the Elements responded to me. I didn't ask for it and I didn't want it, but I had to get up to speed and quick.
"Can you bring over some books tonight?" I asked. "Something on the Elements maybe?"
"Yeah," he nodded and stood. "I can do that. Just be careful okay?"
"Sure," I smiled. "You'd best get going before they come looking."
"I might not be able to tell you anything about the meeting," he said.
"I'm pretty sure you won't," I laughed. "That's alright. We'll figure this out."
"We will," he promised and left.
Alone, I started to shake. I wanted to throw up. I learned more than I wanted to.
Dad. They thought he took the Book because of what happened to Emily, or rather Kay's dad did. Mr. Martin knew what happened to Emily. I felt it in the very marrow of my bones. It was the way he'd said the word accident, like he knew it wasn't an accident. Had he caused her accident? If he had...there wouldn't be a place on this Earth he could hide from me.
I would get to the bottom of this no matter what I had to do.
There wasn't a lot I could learn without the Book...or was there? The Celtic symbol. I could do some research online. It was a huge part of our heritage, so it might be a good place to start. Just not here.
With a plan of action in mind, I left the library and headed home.
It was time to do some digging.
Chapter Sixteen
The internet isa vast and wonderful place. It's also the most frustrating thing ever created. I Googled Celtic symbols and literally a thousand pages popped back. I tried pagan symbols. Same thing. The morning passed slowly as I sorted through the junk, but by afternoon, I started to feel a bit of excitement. I came across a website listing Celtic gods and goddesses and the symbols associated with each one. While I didn't find an exact match, I did find two that would look like mine if they were combined. Jackpot.
