They met at the park, where they wondered around for a while as Rowan recounted what had happened in the past 24 hours. Her friends listened carefully and offered some commentary and after Rowan had finished they spent a moment in silence, absorbing everything she'd told them.
"That's pretty heavy," Aksa said.
"I wonder what she was hiding," Siina said, voicing everyone's thoughts as per usual. "You know, aside from her magic and twin sister. Or maybe, why was she hiding those things."
Another silence.
"I was thinking of going through some of her stuff today," Rowan said after a moment. "She had a bunch of boxes in the attic and me and dad haven't had time to go through them all yet."
"Do you want help?" Aksa asked.
"Oh, you don't have to—"
"We know we don't 'have to'," Kelly cut Rowan off, "but we want to be there for you. I know this whole thing must be hard for you."
Rowan nodded. Kelly had lost her father when she'd been 8, so she knew at least a bit shat Rowan was going through.
"Thanks," she said, managing a smile that, albeit small, was truly grateful.
~x~
They got back to Rowan's place. No one else was there. Arthur and Letitia had probably gone somewhere to sort out things or do some other important grownup... stuff. Rowan wasn't too interested in seeing either of them at the moment though, so she ignored the empty house and lead the other three girls up the stairs and into the attic.
It was dusty. It was always dusty in the attic, and as far as Rowan knew, "dusty" was the standard state of all attics. At the moment it was slightly less dusty than it usually was, since they had had to move around boxes and other things recently. Still, there was a pretty thick layer of dust on most things.
Rowan pointed out all the things that had belonged to her mother, and all the girls started to go through different boxes and cupboard et cetera. The attic was quiet except for the shuffling of paper and the occasional sneeze.
The box Rowan was going through was filled with photographs. Old ones, but not old enough to feature her mom's family. Most of them were of Rowan's parents, and they had descriptions written on the backs with a handwriting Rowan recognized as being her mother's. There was a group photo where the both of them were, sitting on opposite sides of a long table. "First meeting", it said. Rowan knew they'd met through friends, but she'd never seen pictures of them. They looked like nice people. Most of them had attended the funeral, too.
There was a bunch of photos from when they had just started to date, she noticed. She wondered who'd taken them all, there were some that were of very intimate moments. Maybe they'd had a really close friend who sometimes liked to drop in on their dates? She'd have to ask her dad later.
She also found baby pictures of herself, as she dug through the box. At first she was horrified to discover that, but it turned out they were actually pretty cute. She had been an adorable baby. Those pictures were clearly taken by Felicia, most of them featuring just Rowan or both her and her dad, but there were a few with all three of them together.
Rowan swallowed down a lump in her throat as she looked down at the photos in her lap.
"Found something."
She blinked rapidly, yanked back into the present. A single, small teardrop spilled over her eyelid, but she swiped it away with the sleeve of her shirt as she stood up. Everyone had gathered to the old trunk Siina had been going through.
"What is it?" Rowan asked.
"I think it's a diary," Siina said, grinning. She waved a simple looking book in her hand.
"Really?" Aksa asked, squinting, and snatched the book. "It looks like a box to me." She turned it around and pointed at the sides. "See, it doesn't have pages."
"It is a diary, look at that," Siina said, sounding a bit annoyed to be questioned. She pointed at a metallic clasp that went around from one cover to the other. It did look like something you'd use to keep your diary locked, but...
"It doesn't have a keyhole," Rowan said.
"How are you supposed to open a diary lock without a keyhole?" Aksa said, shoving the supposed diary at Siina.
"Magic?" suggested Kelly. They all turned to look at her. She shrugged.
"Magic," confirmed Siina. She offered the book to Rowan. "Here, try to open it!"
Rowan looked down at the book, a bit hesitant. Sure, she'd hoped she might find something like this, but this seemed almost too good to be true. Although, she supposed, if you had to keep a super big secret, writing about it might help, and if the lock was magic it would be an easy way to keep prying eyes out. But still...
"Rowan?" Aksa's voice was gentle, as was the had she placed on Rowan's shoulder. "You okay?"
"If this is too much, we can not look at it," Kelly said.
"No, no I'm fine," Rowan assured them. "I'm just nervous... and kinda scared."
"Don't worry, girl, we're here for you," Siina said and winked. She offered the book again.
Rowan took a deep breath and accepted it. A power surged through her, leaving a soft tingling sensation after it. There was a glow on the metal clasp that could have been in the shape of a keyhole, but she wasn't sure until it faded again. Everyone held their breath in anticipation.
Then there was a "click" and the front cover flew open.
_____________________________________________________________
Yay, cliffhanger! Your next topic is "Easel".
Bye.
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