“But, there are several copies of the book, no?” Mina asked, sure of what she was saying.
“There were, but they got lost over time. Many were burned. We know of only one copy in existence. The one that has disappeared.”
Mina wanted to tell her that she knew exactly what was going on, and that she was doing her best to get the book back and keep it safe, but something held her back. She still wasn’t sure that she could trust Reeba. After all, Reeba was half vampire. That part hated what Mina was. It was a difference they could probably never get over, on a path to true friendship.
“That sounds horrible,” Mina said, deciding to stay on neutral ground. “So, you arranged that meeting to try to find something out?”
“Yes,” Reeba nodded, “but, unfortunately, we couldn’t find anything out. Our ancestors are asleep. They only wake up during the important dates for a witches’ Sabbath, like Halloween. We all agreed to have a meeting then and hopefully we’ll know more about what happened.”
“Do you think I might be able to attend the meeting?” Mina suddenly asked, a crazy idea starting to form inside her mind but she didn’t want to mention anything at the moment.
“You?” Reeba frowned. “That’s highly irregular.”
“I know,” Mina nodded,” I would just like to see the whole process. I’ve always been interested in witches and their history. Please? It would really mean a lot.”
“I don’t know,” Reeba was still frowning.
“Pretty please?”
“I can talk to the other girls, but I can’t promise anything,” that was all Reeba could say. “It doesn’t depend on me, really.”
“I understand. Just try, okay?”
“Sure,” Reeba eyed her weirdly, as if she didn’t fully believe her. “Well, I guess you could just spend the night here. It’s too late for you to go back to your room, someone might see you and tomorrow is Saturday anyway.”
Mina didn’t need a second thought to realize Reeba was right. Someone might see her trying to sneak back into her room and, then, she’d have a lot of explaining to do. It was best just to stay here and go back in the morning.
“I guess you’re right,” Mina nodded.
“You can sleep on my roommate’s bed. She won’t be returning ’til the morning anyway,” Reeba sneered. “She never does.”
“Are you sure she won’t mind?”
“Relax,” Reeba smiled. “Now, let’s go to sleep.”
Ten minutes later, both girls were tucked in their beds and the lights were off but Mina still wasn’t able to fall asleep. Now, sleep seemed even more out of reach than before. She couldn’t stop thinking about the possibility of her mother being a witch and not just any witch but the witch responsible for the safe keeping of the most important book. There was no other explanation.
Mina closed her eyes tight but that didn’t help. No amount of sheep helped either. So finally, she accepted the fact that tonight was not a good night for sleep. She could just lie down and rest, with her eyes closed and her mind racing. But, the moment she relaxed, her mind did, too. A blissful wave of serenity washed over her, and exhaustion took over, finally sending her body to slumber land.
Chapter 8
The weekend passed by uneventfully. Mina managed to rest and she actually focused on her school work. The last thing she wanted to happen was for them to expel her because she was a bad student or unable to catch up to the others. Zeadore Academy had very high standards and it already happened that students were expelled due to their inability to keep up. This meant that they weren’t worthy of the attention the Academy awarded to only the best.
On Monday morning, Mina finally felt like she was ready. It’d been a week since she’d been there and even though she didn’t manage to obtain any information regarding her brother or the book, she was hopeful that by attending the Witches’ Sabbath on Halloween, she might learn something new, something which might show her the way.
Her Monday classes were easy and she was extremely attentive during every single one of them, answering the questions her teachers asked with elaborate explanations, which left quite an impression on them. She was surprised to realize how much she’d missed this aspect of her life, just going to school, like every other kid, not thinking whether she needed to be somewhere else, saving helpless humans from vampire attacks. She enjoyed learning more about the things she liked, such as literature, geography and history, as well as the things she knew less about. Kellam had been doing a great job home schooling her but the experience simply couldn’t be substituted with anything other than the real thing. She was just like everyone else here. Not better, not worse. They were all the same and this feeling, even though it was a fleeting one, felt soothing.
By the end of the day, Mina didn’t really feel all that tired. She was thinking of maybe going to the botanical garden, hoping to stumble into Thorne again. She’d enjoyed talking to him, even more than she should have.
As she slammed her locker door soundly, a familiar face popped up.
“Hey you!” Reeba chirped with a sweet voice. “You up for a walk around the lake?”
“Actually, I’ve been thinking of going to the botanical garden.”
“Botanical garden? Why?” Reeba asked.
“I like it there,” Mina shrugged her shoulders. It was true. “And besides…”