GUARDIANS OF MAGIC: THE INVISIBLE CODED BOOK
CHAPTER FOUR

THE LIBRARY

Fina took off her sneakers and walked barefoot into the large training room. Fighting equipments decorated the wall. In the midst of the room was the ring where challenges takes place.

“This is cool” Shelly said beside her.

Their martial art teacher walked into the room wearing a plain white loose shirt with baggy pants.

“Sanders here” He said

Mr Sanders has short purplish hair with bangs and violet colored eyes. He was tall and muscular.

“I believe every one of you knows a bit about fighting. The real fight not cat fights you kids always do” Sanders said. “Well, choose a spot and follow my lead”

On the floor were rectangular shaped box and every one stepped into one. The distance from a student to another was a bit wild.

“Stand properly” Sanders said “Keep your weight on your back leg. Keep your hand in loose fist. Make a fist correctly. Gosh, is that a fist? You are not going to be wrestling with a chicken”

After teaching them a lot of self defence moves including fist punch and kicks, Mr Sanders gave a slight nod of his head and beamed at them.

“Now, it’s time for challenges!” He shouted

“What!” Half of the class screeched.

“And it will be bloody. You people beat the shit out of each other and let me see how weak you are”

Mr Sander would be the first teacher to use that word.

“I do like competitions. A lot! So, lemme choose!” Sanders shouted.

He picked Shelly Jefferson and a student from the Leos which Shelly practically knocked out in five seconds with a satisfied smirk.

“Wow, I wasn’t expecting that. Name?”

“Shelly Jefferson”

Mr Sanders nodded thrice.

Weird~ Fina thought.

He chose more students to compete and soon, there were blood filled noses, swollen eyes, knocked foreheads and Mr Sanders laughed through it all.

He looked at the students for another competitor and hummed under his breath as he did so. Fina avoided his gaze, looking at her bare feet which has suddenly became extremely beautiful in her eyes.

Mr Sanders walked over to the Capricorns and touched Nancy Miller. Fina released the breath she was holding until Mr Sanders touched her too.

“I will take care of your face, pretty girl” Nancy said

Not that she didn’t take lessons when she was little. Edward made certain all his kids went for martial arts class. And she did do ballet for some years so she was balanced.

When she got into the ring, Nancy lunged at her and she dodged her blow. Nancy lunged again.

Fina rummaged through all the tactics on the head. To her, fighting is more like playing chess or cards, you have to have hidden moves and you have to plan everything before hand. You do not have to be extremely good at throwing wide punches, a good tactic is all that is needed and right now, she is going to show Nancy just how to fight.

Nancy kept lunging at her and she kept dodging.

“Oh, poor Fina is afraid to get hit” She mocked.

Now was the right time to take her~ Fina thought.

As Nancy lunged at her again, Fina attacked her left feet and she fell hard on the floor. Fina pinned her down on the floor and raised her hand to hit her on the face. Nancy shut her eyes and waited.

“You are all mouth, Nancy Miller. I would have definitely hit you on your ugly face right now but I will leave with the fact that you looked stupid and more like a coward right now” Fina said

As she rose, Nancy attacked her again but Fina perfectly dodged it and hit her hard on the face, knocking her out completely.

“Well, that made my day” Talon said with a chuckle. “For a second there, I thought you would stupidly let her go, I was ready to kick you a million times to Mr Walker class”

Fina rolled her eyes at him and stood beside Zora who was nursing a bleeding nose. Her opponent had hit her squarely on the nose and she had gone bat shit crazy hitting her with multiple fists at a time. Mr Sanders had laughed like there was no tomorrow.

Nancy friends hurried to get her.

“By the way, Miss Anne is waiting for you all in the school hospital. I booked a full appointment with her. You are dismissed”

“I like that you hit her. I really like that you hit her!” Talon said for the umpteenth time when they got out of the class and sun light hit their faces.

“Oh, come on, Talon shitty Smith! Shut the hell up already!” Shelly shouted

“Language! No uh! Languages! Shelly Monkey Jesterson!”

Fina groaned out loud in frustration.

“What?! That is so so her name. She came from the City of love or what?” Talon asked

“Actually, Tae, it is the City of beauty” Shelly said

“You wish” Zora said

“Oh, miss nosy pants joined in” Shelly said

Fina left them all to their stupid bickering and walked to the back of the castle which was more closer to the library.

As she stepped into the lift, someone moved in with her. She turned to see Bryce Parker and blushed crimson.

Fina touched her cheeks to hide her embarrassment when Bryce pressed the button.

The lift shook and she surged forward but Bryce caught her before she could fell.

“It takes some getting used to” He said as he released her.

“Thanks. Tyrell said Ozias had it worse” Fina said

Bryce looked at her, his deep blue eyes focused on her and she quickly looked away.

“I didn’t mean to say that” Fina said as the door opened.

“No. I’m just surprised you …never mind”

Fina walked out first and came face to face with three girls. Bridget Faye, Kathleen Osborne and the last girl with dark brown hair which she doesn’t recognize. They all stared down at her making her feel extremely small.

Bryce was still on the lift watching them.

“You must be Fina Clark” Bridget said with a chilled smile.

“Yes” Fina said timidly, their intent gaze making her squirm.

These girls were the top in Elfina and by the way Mr Walker kept praising them….

“Oh, there you are!”

They all turned at the sound of Tyrell voice who had a wide smile on his face.

“Tyrell… I didn’t know you…” Bridget said but he cut her off.

“I was coming to drag you from Mr Sanders class” He said as he walked to them.

“How do you know..?” Fina asked, confused.

“You told me”

Huh?

“Hey there Bryce.”

“Is Ozias at the library?” He asked

“What business does choking red scarf has with the library? I doubt he even know the color of the wall” Tyrell said

“Tyrell” Kathleen called

“Oh, hey” He said as if he was just noticing them for the first time.

“You ready?” He asked Fina, taking her hand in his and dragging her along with him.

“See you later, guys. I’ve got important business to do” Tyrell said

Fina glanced back at the girls and looked back to the front at once. They were all glaring at her except for the last girl with the amused and surprised look on her face.

Tyrell walked her to the library and they took a seat next to the huge glass window.

“I’ve finally got you alone. You know I have been wondering if you would help me with some spells”

“I don’t know any spells” Fina said, looking at him as if he was stupid.

“Yes, you do” Tyrell said “And I also want to ask you about the special students thing”

Fina glanced at the book in front of him.

“What about it?”

“I’ve been to the palace a lot and I heard that the Queen decided to add three more special students to the list and held off all activities for the juniors until they are back”

“Oh” Fina said

“I think the Queen chose you for a reason. Do you have any idea why? You can tell me anything, Fina. You can trust me. I have been a friend of Xavier for a long time. Do you know why she might have chosen you? I am just surprised since that has never happened before”

“I have no idea…It came with a letter. She said she had a dream about three girls and names were given, that’s all” Fina said and suddenly regretted she had said that.

Tyrell nodded and smiled at her.

“I do love the Guardian Queen, she is always right about everything and I believe if she says you are special, you must really be”

Fina blushed and cleared her throat.

“So, with the spells, I can teach you strong spells if you want. I really like strong spells and knows quite a lot”

*******

Tyrell left after a few hours. Zo and Shelly returned thirty minutes after they started and joined in the lesson.

“You know, I really like him, unlike the other snobby seniors, he is more bearable. A little” Shelly said

Zo rolled her eyes at her.

“Only you, Shelly Jefferson. Only you” Zo said

Fina smiled at them, thankful that they were getting along even if it meant bickering every time.

“What are you smiling about? You looked so much like a fool in love right now” Shelly said

Fina glared at her.

Shelly and Zo burst out in laughter.

“Whoever taught you how to glare should be punished. You look like a monkey who haven’t eaten for years.” Shelly said

They all burst out in laughter.

It was already late and no one except them was in the library.

“Tyrell said they are letting us go easily. He also said that as we become seniors, our classes will multiply” Fina said

“Talk about a bad news bearer” Shelly said

Fina stood up and went to the shelves she extracted the diary from.

“What is it?” Zo asked

“Just wondering why no one ever saw the diary” She replied

“Yes. Someone must have seen the diary before” Shelly said “But they didn’t hide it” Zo said

“They must have but they couldn’t have been able to decode it” Fina said as she turned to look at them.

“You know as much as I don’t like Zedler, I think she’s better than Walker” Zo said

“Whatever brought that on?” Shelly asked

Zo shrugged and then glared at Shelly.

“I am definitely not talking to you” Zo said

Fina tuned them out after that and began to explore the big library. It was warm and cozy with the fireplace running and the light emitting from the glass has dimmed to fit the eye.

She roamed from shelves to shelves fingering the books. All covers were new and smelled of leather.

As she turned a corridor to more spirals of books, something caught her eye.

The ghostly form appeared before her from a distance, stayed for twelve seconds and disappeared. It was definitely a female ghost, Fina thought as she began to walk down the corridor.

The form appeared again from a distance and disappeared. This continued until she was standing face to face with a large shelf different from the others.

The form had stopped there and Fina was now wondering if all of it was just a trick of the eye until she felt a chilled presence at her back and the hairs at the back of her neck stood up.

She swallowed loud and turned but the form wasn’t there anymore.

She felt the presence again behind her and swiftly turned to see the ghost entering the large shelf with her back to Fina. All Fina could see was her white long hair and then nothing.

She stood in front of the shelf, staring at it for a long time.

“Hey, we almost lost you there. Time to go back before they thought we are stealing books at the library” Shelly said

Zo slapped her palm on her forehead.

“There are lots of books here. They wouldn’t even notice if we steal anything”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Einstein. Like this isn’t Elfina and why are you staring at the shelf? Don’t tell me you want to …

“Shel” Fina said

“Hmm?”

“Shut up” Fina said quietly.

Fina moved closer to the shelf and touched it. Nothing happened.

She stood at the middle of the shelf and pushed again.

“You know there are lots of ways to exercise. Just saying” Shelly said

“Help me push at the middle” Fina said

Shelly stood at her right and Zo at the left and they all pushed at once.

The shelf began to slide to the left and they quickly took a step back.

It slid completely to the left to reveal an hidden room.

No. Not an hidden room. Fina thought. A secret library.

“OMG” Shelly said “This is weird.”

They all stepped into the library. It was dark except for the fireplace running.

The girls gave themselves confused looks. The shelf slid back into place when they took another step and they all gave themselves panicked looks.

There were paintings on the wall. Old paintings. The room was covered with cobwebs. In the middle of the library was a little fountain pouring out blood instead of water.

“I…thin..nk…we …we …we should…go now” Zo said shakily.

“I’ve seen this before….In my dream. One of them” Fina said as she moved closer to the wall, searching for writings. Her eyes suddenly landed on the old painting and she stared at it.

There was the diagram of the book in front of her again but this time, it looked very big.

“It’s the same book.” Zo said “Fin?” Zo said with a panicked voice. “It says~

“July” Fina completed “July 12 2018”

Three months ago….