Page 19 of Threads of Fate

“Do you want to make dinner at my house or would you like to see if mom and dad have left overs? I know they want to see you but it can wait till morning.”

“Let’s see them tomorrow. After I get off work we can go over and visit or maybe have dinner with them? I want to go through those books.” He nods and passes his parents house following the road out to his. He parks the truck in front of the porch and turns the truck off. He leans his head against the headrest staring at the ceiling, probably contemplating his whole life right now. Or just life in general. I grab his hand and he turns his head to me.

“If…if this is to much I will understand if you don't-”

“Don’t even finish that sentence.” He says, squeezing my hand and leaning over to peck my lips. He smiles softly. “I’m happy about this. Well, not the ghosts but about us and I will always be here for you. This will be an adventure if anything. Dubious shadows and all.”

“Dubious?” I bark a laugh.

Noah raises an eyebrow, ignoring me and continuing on. “Hopefully, those books will at least give us one answer.” He sits up and grabs some of the books that were thrown haphazardly onto the seat and floor. “Let’s get inside and do some reading.” I nod and grab some of the books at my feet. I climb out of the truck and head for the porch, opening the door. I let the door swing open before I peek in looking for shadows, ghosts, maybe aliens at this point. I reach for the light and glance around one more time before deeming it safe. I set the books on the kitchen counter and head back to the truck to help grab the armor out of the truck bed.

Noah and I finish grabbing things out of the truck bed. We set the armor in the living room and the rest of the books on the counter.

“So, would you like to look through the books and I’ll make dinner. You probably know what you’re looking for more than me.”

“Yes, I’ll do the brain work and I want you barefoot in the kitchen.” I say with a sly smile. I start to head over and grab the books but don’t get far when Noah grabs my hand and roughly pulls me back to him.

“Hmm, is that so?” He runs the back of his knuckles along my jawline, sending shivers down my neck. He lowers his head until his mouth is next to my ear. “I think you’ll need to be bare for me later…in the kitchen” Then he just lets me go, walking towards the fridge while I stand there adrift for a moment. Thinking about what kinds of things he’ll be doing to me in this kitchen. I shake my head and grab the books, heading to the dining table. I need to research. Not get laid. Well, not right now anyways.

I sit at the table placing the books to the side and pick up the first book on top. I opened it up, shocked at the detailed artwork of the animals portrayed on the pages. This whole book looks like a really eccentric work of fiction. Giant spider creatures and cute little rabbits. Beasts that look like large cats, teeth like razors, but have horns like goats. I stop to look at the notes scribbled in the margins.

‘Looks like a lion or tiger of earth but agility is unmatched’

‘Run in packs, hunt in packs’

‘Incredibly intelligent’

‘Top of the food chain in Varella’

I shiver just thinking about having to live with animals like this. How did the people of Varella live? Where would it be safe? I look through some more of the book and see pictures of treehouses. But large tree houses. The trees themselves also look like they are absolutely enormous. I study the picture a little longer before I close the book and grab the next one.

I can hear Noah moving around the kitchen cutting something up and turning the sink on as I look at the cover of the book. I run my hand down it. It’s the first book I picked up in the basement; with the smokey circle and glyphs. I open it, the spine crackling like an ominous warning. I flip through it page by page taking in the artwork and penmanship that it took to create this book. It is beautiful. I haven't come across any notes scribbled in the margins but it would ruin this beautifully handwritten book. I find pictures of different people but they have whisps surrounding them and I also see pictures of what looks like a ball of smoke. I can’t understand any of this book but I set it aside because it's the closest thing that depicts what I have seen. I start to rummage through more books when some papers slide out of the one I'm holding. I open up the folded papers and see a bunch of glyphs and English letters. A cipher. My heart races as I reach for the book I was just going through. I flip the flip through the pages and land on the picture with the ball of smoke. I start glancing back and forth between the glyphs trying to find matches between the book and the symbols on the paper.

“YES!” I scream jumping up. The chair scraping across the wood floor. Noah turns around holding his chest.

“Jesus and his Disciples Dana. What the hell! You scared the shit out of me.” I just hold the cipher up and shake it around.

“I found a cipher, Noah!

Chapter 9

Noah

I start making dinner as Dana sits at the table. Laser focused on the books in front of her. I can't wait to sit and take a closer look at the armor I grabbed. And look through the books she grabbed. As I'm frying up the chicken and sauteing the vegetables, I become so focused on cooking and thinking about what we found in the basement Dana shrieks.

“YES!” I startle and jump. Spinning around at the sudden squeal of her voice. Her chair obnoxiously scrapes across the floor.

“Jesus and his Disciples Dana. What the hell! You scared the shit out of me.” My heart starts settling to a steady rhythm. She has this uncanny ability to scare me and with all the chaos lately I’m more on edge. Definitely made me more jumpy and I’m already a jumpy person by nature.

“I found a cipher, Noah!” She’s got a huge smile and eyes glittering with relief and hope. This is amazing, we might be able to find some answers. I smile at her as I walk over to see what she found.

“That’s great sunshine.” She wrinkles her nose at the nickname, I’ll find one. “Maybe we will find something that will make this shit make sense.” I kiss her temple and walk back over to the stove. I look back at her and she has her nose buried deep into the code and one of the books. I turn back to the chicken, flipping it. “Dinner is almost done. Do you want something to drink?” When I don’t hear anything I look at her and she still has her nose buried deep in the book, I don't think she even heard me. “Dana?” Still nothing. I laugh and pull some plates down to plate the food and pour her some ice tea. When I bring the plates over she looks up at me.

“What? Sorry. I heard you but it just went in one ear and out the other.”

“It’s fine. I chose a drink for you.” I smile down at her and go back for the tea. I take a seat and start digging into the food. I’m halfway through when I notice that she still hasn't even touched it except to grab a green bean to munch on. I quickly finish my food and push my plate away. “Let me help you. Show me where you're at and I will do this while you eat.” I start pulling the book over to me.

“Okay, right now I'm just making sure these glyphs match what's on the code key. I haven't found a whole lot. Hopefully there's more in the basement because this looks incomplete.” She holds up the cipher and sighs. She pushed the cipher in front of me and grabbed her plate. She starts eating and I look over the glyphs. “I have work tomorrow, if you can take me to Oleanders around ten tomorrow morning would be great.” She finishes her bite, “Mmm, maybe just take me home so I can grab my car would be easiest. Then, we don't have to worry about chauffeuring. I may have some walk-ins.” Dana loves her job as a barber, and she’s really good at it. She had some long weeks in the city but she made it through and got the job at Oleanders. She has a few customers who are very loyal but her reputation, I think puts a damper on her clientele list. I can say I haven’t had my hair cut by anyone else in years, even before she went to school for it.

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