Author's Note: 

Yesterday something amazing happened. I surpassed the 30,000 read mark, and I never could have done it with out my many loyal readers. I can never begin to thank you enough for this. It has been my lifelong dream since I was a very young girl to write, but I lacked the faith in myself and the courage to put my wants and desires on the line, to lay myself bare and risk the criticism and censure of others. So I buried my passion under layers and layers of disappointment. On January first of 2017, I made a New Year's resolution. I would no longer be afraid to live my dream, and in doing so, I have awoken the authoress inside of me. Reaching this pinnacle has proven to me that my efforts have not been in vane. 

Thank you all for your wonderful support, especially  LuisPetrizzoRengel You have been here from the start. Hugs Brother.

I'm going for 50K reads before the end of the year. You could help me reach my goal by sharing this story with everyone you know. Much love and huggles to all my favorite muggles. 

When they arrived at school the sun had already gone down. Normally his crew wasn't welcome at the school after dark. It became the domain of the night students then, but it was the weekend so there were no students present. 

He'd learned after being Enlightened that the students that attended the night school weren't necessarily evil or wrong. They just excelled in the dark, and there were also a small minority that couldn't exist at all in the light of day, like the newly turned vampire. And others whose weaknesses were not the light of day but the dark of night -- like Werewolves who were expected to attend after dark classes because they turned with the full moon, which duh came out at night.

But since finding out that everyone of Liam's original crew had attended classes at Haven High after dark, he had to wonder if that was true. Could the night dwellers be inherently evil after all?

Only the library was open to any student on the weekend. He hoped Clio was in, because they could use the ancient Muse's expertise in research; if they hoped to figure out a solution to this impossible puzzle, they would need all the help they could get.

It was weird wandering the halls at night everything was quiet -- too quiet. The lights were dimly lit, and few and far between, which cast eerie shadows across the normally too familiar landscape of the school. The combination of sneakers and heels clicking and squeaking maddeningly on the old parquet floor while they made their way to the magical wing; put Kyle's nerves on edge.

When they made it to the barrier he remembered another thing was gladly missing from the school. The nearly constant presence of the council's guards over the last few months had not been a welcome one. But there was no need to guard the school any longer now that the Ankh had been moved to a much safer location. Good riddance. He could still recall the way they had treated Travis when they discovered his tracker.

When he suddenly remembered the tracker he smacked himself on the head so hard he lost count of the squares and as a result he had to go back to the first block to start again.

While he went through the jenky procedure all over again he wondered why no one thought to mentioned that at their little summit last night, no doubt it was attached to him for the express purpose of keeping an eye on Liam's little science experiment, but he should mention it tonight just in case. That and the riddle the Manticore had given him.

Kyle felt like such a fool. There were so many arrows pointing at Travis and he'd totally missed them all. By the time he broke through the defensive barrier of the magical wing he had a rip roaring tension headache that was trying to explode through the front of his head.

He couldn't wait for this strangely trying Saturday to come to an end and he prayed that it would come to it with some good news for a change.

The remained of his friends crossed over the barrier in groups of fours and fives. The stupid procedure only allowed enough room for that many to go at once. He was thinking FML when Lauren looked over with concern as he clutched his head trying desperately to keep his brain in his skull. It felt like it was going to pulse out his ears.

She came up to him to mutter an incantation and wave her arm above his head, he wanted to laugh at the fact that she had to force him to crouch down a little and she still had to stand on her tip toes to do it, but he wasn't laughing any more when he realized that at the end of her magical procedure his headache was gone. He let out a sigh of relief and gave her a grateful smile before she reached in her purse and handed him a small bottle of Excedrin.

"In case it comes back." She smiled sadly at him.

"Thanks," he muttered but the words he spoke felt strange on his lips. It was then that he realized aside from the conversation with his mentor Steinman, he had barely uttered a word all day. No wonder people kept looking over at him with concern. That was definitely not his default setting. Come to think of it, he'd barely eaten anything today either and that was for sure not his modus operandi.

Once again he wished for the kind of problems normal teen guys have: pimples, girls, bad grades, too little money, and too little time for fun.

It was a wonder that any of his friends tried to escape the notice of the trigger happy council. They should all be raising their hands like Hermione in a spellcasting class saying uh . . .uh pick me, pick me. What would it be like to be un-enlightened again? No powers and no knowledge of their fucked up world.

Well if they succeeded in getting the Ankh and were caught he wouldn't have to wonder.

When he felt his headache threatening to come back he popped the lid on the bottle and sucked down two extra strength capsules dry. He snorted out loud when he thought well you can't say I haven't eaten anything now as he entered the already crowded classroom.

Oh shit even Tuma was present. He began to worry right away that maybe they played this all wrong. Okay so none of his friends had directly told them what their interest was in the Mystical Library, but the teachers of their magical school weren't morons, they had to have put two and two together and they were for damn sure not going to come up with five.

Kyle prayed to the universe for a solution to circumvent the deadly library, but as he caught sight of an irritated Mr. Knight he knew his prayers hadn't been answered.

So instead, he took the seat next to a dejected looking Travis and rubbed his massive back. Travis sat slouching in his swivel chair behind the long desks of the alchemy lab with his hands in his lap under the table.

Knight was perched on a corner of his desk with his lean legs crossed over each other in his usual lecture stance. The rest of the adults sat in chairs at the front of the classroom looking out at him and his friends. There was a weighted silence while everyone present seemed to pounder where to begin or even who should start this little cluster fuck off, but in the end Knight's alpha male dominance won out and he cleared his throat to speak.

"Let me start by saying that we can't sanction anything you may be planning, "Knight waved his arm in front of him encompassing all the teachers, "nor can we even recommend that you go through with it."

When Zach went to speak up Knight said, "Don't even try to lie to me about it, especially you Mr. Reis."

Zach quickly closed his mouth and sat back in his swivel seat. Lauren rubbed his arm and looked up to give him an encouraging smile. Kyle could tell that Zach was worried too that they had made the wrong decision in including their magical elders in the dilemma of the century, but he was truly beginning to think they had no other choice. There was no doubt in his mind; they were way over their heads with this one.

Tuma spoke up then as he plucked lint off his dark slacks," And just like Alexander we've also heard the rumors about what may be in the Mystical Library. We cannot turn a blind eye to an attempt to steal something that in the hands of someone as nefarious as Mr. Nash could potentially destroy our way of life, whether we agree or not that the world we live in needs revision."

He was trying to seem less intimidating, by feigning distraction, but there was no mistaking the power that wafted off of him.

"Please understand that we care deeply for Travis, "Ms Murakami sweet melodic voice echoed across the crowded room, "I would never wish him unwell, but the library is terribly dangerous, especially to those who wish to gain entry through illicit means."

"I don't understand why a library needs to be so well protected. I mean shouldn't it be open to everyone?" Lauren interjected. Several of his friends nodded along in agreement.

"Was it the council who locked down the library, because as they say knowledge is power? Was it a case of them wanting to keep the knowledge for themselves?" Zach asked.

"I only wish it were that simple; Ms Long intoned in her richly accented Chinese dilect, "The library is a repository of all knowledge and therefore an extremely valuable commodity. As your young friend so aptly pointed out knowledge is power."

Conte interrupted his colleague, "we are not simply referring to powerful spells and conjurings. The library exists apart from time and contains everything that ever was or everything that ever will be, even your own story, but I wouldn't recommend reading it," he cautioned them with a knowing stare, "very few like the way their story ends."

When Kyle looked around the room he recognized that his classmates faces mirrored his own, which drove him to say, "I don't understand."

Erika took the lead, "Let me explain, "said the bold smithy of their school, "We don't know who created the library or even if an entity had. It has existed we believe since the beginning of time. It contains all the knowledge of the world, even of prehistory, and it also contains all knowledge until the end of time. And trust me when I say even if you live an immortal life you will never live long enough to read its many volumes. It exist in all times – meaning that no matter when you enter the library . . . oh dear not even I can explain it. I dare say Doctor Hawking's would find it difficult to wrap his head around this one."

She breathed a deep sigh before continuing, "It may suffice to simply say that you can occupy the library at the same time as Plato, Abraham Lincoln, and J.F.K. and bid them adieu in the corridors as you read a volume of text about the end days."

"Does that make any sense to you?" she asked the teenagers present.

"Mio Dios how is this possible?" Donnie's bewildered voice drifted from the back of the room.

The deep timber of Adrik's voice reverberated through the lab as he said, "No one knows, but you can imagine that the library is at once the most powerful weapon in existence and the most precious entity of our time. We could no more witness its destruction as we could allow it to be the means of ours."

"Well in that case how does anyone even get in, shouldn't it be closed to everyone?" Brenna asked.

Brenna's Grandfather, George addressed her question and replied with a loving tone, "I imagine, there are times such as this that it is necessary, my grandchild. For without the library there would have been no place to hide the item which the insurgents seek."

"Oookkaayy," Quinn began, "That still leaves the how does anyone even get in part?"

"They must be issued an invitation," Tuma answered.

"By who?" Ryan asked.

Erika informed them, "The librarian can issue an invitation, but if you want to gain access you have to petition the council and I can tell you right now that won't work out in your favor."

Kyle took one look at his ashen brother sitting next to him and growled in frustration," Look, can we just please stop talking about how it can't be done and start talking about how it can, because I am going regardless."

As everyone turned to him there was no mistaking the conviction in his voice or on his face.

Ms Murakami sighed and turned to look mournfully at Travis, "I'm sorry my child, we can't provide the information if it means you may succeed in your task. The Ankh cannot fall into Liam's hands."

When Kyle saw the look on Murakami's face he knew the answer to the question he was about to ask but he had to be certain," Does that mean there's no cure for my brother?"

"It's too soon to say I haven't gotten results on all my tests yet. This sort of thing takes time. Which I'm sorry to say I don't think we have, Mr. Stone if you please."

When Knight finished addressing the room he turned his eagle eyed stare on Travis; until he reluctantly removed his arms from under the alchemy table and rested them both on top of it with a thunk. They were both entirely made of stone up to the elbow.

Kyle gulped like a fish out of water as a wave of nausea and dizziness washed over him. He looked on in horror to see that it had spread so fast since this morning. How much would be gone tomorrow and the next day if there was a next day.

He leapt off his seat and started to pace the floor running a shaky hand through his hair then he turned to Knight to announce, "Keep doing everything you can here. I'm going after the Ankh."

Helsing shot out of his chair and went to Kyle to say, "Just practice your breathing like I taught you."

Erika jumped up to comfort him too and added, "I'm sorry Kyle, I wish there was some other way, but we can't let you get the Ankh."

"I might have another way, "Morgan le Fay's cold voiced drifted over from her perch on a chair tucked into the far corner of the class. I have a spell that can duplicate anything that I can see with my own eyes. You can bring the Ankh to me and we can hand over a fake to the conspirators."

"Will that really work Morgan?" Tuma asked incredulously.

"I can't see why not. The errant children get what they want and we will have the antidote for the poisoned halfbloods. Before they know they were duped, I'm sure Galahad will be able to synthesize a reasonable facsimile." She looked to her past nemesis and he inclined his head to indicate her plan could work.

"Great that just leaves one small problem: we don't know how to find it, we don't know how to get in, and we don't know where the Ankh is hidden once we are in?" Zach whined.

"Leave that to us," Tuma announced excitedly, his eyes alight with the possibilities, "I'm sure between the staff we can come up with possible solutions."

Kyle placed his hand on Travis' shoulder to give it a reassuring squeeze, but was shocked to feel that it felt stiffer than usual. They better move fast, he thought as he faked a confident smile, or there might not be enough left of his brother to save.

Oh snap the poison is working faster than anyone thought.

Who would have thought le Fay would come up with the solution to their dilemma. 

Are they going to be able to recover the Ankh in time?

Tune in tomorrow to find out.

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