pte

hrough the arched doorway into the section of the house she thought of as her parent's domain. Here, was their bedroom suite that looked and felt more like a high end

rived, to the library and leave them on the table in the center of the room to await their return. Once in a while she would walk around looking at the small decorative objects. On display were coins so old they

mes. None of them were things Cassie found as interesting as the coins. The bulk of the room was taken up by the bookshelves. The shelves lined every wall and each shelf had a glass fronted do

behind one of the book cases and to reach it, Cassie needed the extra length of the extension cord. She crouched in front of one of the book cases a

uld be shining on the book, perhaps catching metal lettering or gold leaf decorations, but saw no extra light. She did however see

y charts and used to help teach the reader how to navigate using only the constellations as guides. Cassie managed to find an e-

y in addition to the images of the snakes and what she thought might be descriptions of either the snake or its environs, there were things

no title that Cassie could see written on the spine of the book. She reached out a hand tentatively, wondering if the glow would make the book warm. The glo

ntion?" She wondered as she tried to pu

days. The corners were banged up from years of use, the leather-like covering worn off in places to expose the cardboard underneath. There was a ring from a glass showing that someone u

o leap out of the slim volume. Nothing did, but wha

as she stared at the flyleaf. "Like

his was. Cassie stared at the book. While she ignored this space for the bulk of her life, recently she visited the library with increasing frequency. After finding the

e, held in her hands. "But it wasn't there before. I know it wasn't. There is no way I'd miss a

ll they stop glowing?" she asked herself. Cassie frowned. "Were they glowing when I entered the room?" Cassie couldn't recall. She looked at the table but di

ume sandwiched between two larger ones. When she pulled it free, the glow faded and the book looked cheap and worn. She set it on the table with the other and continued around the room until all of the g

as still on the shelf and for the moment, Cassie decided to leave it there. She unplugged her power cord and bundled it up with her lap top. She picked up the computer and the stack of books and decided to work in her bedroom instead of the library.

r about trusting my ins

. She wasn't certain the advice was supposed to continue to affect her behavio

ed in the hallway, Cassie used her foot to nudge the door closed and to wipe away the scuff marks her feet left when s

ike advertising her actions. While life seemed to be providing her with a multitude of teachers, they didn't seem to like or trust each other very much. She wasn't certain if it w

she sat down cross legged in the center of her bed. She picked up the f

ecided. She slid off the bed and walked towards the door. After unlocking it and moving to the kitchen, she continued to thi

he appreciated it being written in modern English, it was English geared to those reading at a much younger l

assie said as she took her bowl

se was giving her. There were a few new twists. The book claimed that all of the others or as the book called the

claimed that the first Walkers brought those like Enki here when they opened new gates. "Admittedly they aren't telling anyone that they are from here and no one else men

onable to assume that the Walker who wrote the book didn't know the secret.' The timer

as she sorted through what she saw and could reasonably confirm. Oliver told her that he and those like him couldn't open the ga

placemat on the breakfast bar. She added a linen napkin and poured some minted lemonade into one of her parent's w

uded' who sent offerings to cajole the others and convince them to bestow their blessings. As the author wrote of the

l of stew, blew on it to cool it down and then ate. As with most stews, this was actu

he ate. She couldn't quite remember the exact wording he used, but the cinnamon stuck in her m

ion lamentable and the fact that it allowed some of the others to learn some of the Walker's secrets as they pretended friendship treasonous. After reading through several pages worth of his co

when they attempted to profess ancient kinship with the Walkers. At this po

, even though that was not implicitly stated. The author's extra harsh criticism for

ion. While Cassie was kept out of most of the drama of her school because most people didn't even realize she was there, Cassie saw plenty of

a moment of thought. She smiled and drank the last of her drink before sliding off of the stool to take her dirty dishware to the sink to wash. She d

n napkin off with the other laundry and sighed. "I guess that means I have to fini

settled herself on the bed. "One more hour, t