Chapter 4 - You stole it!

Chapter 4. You stole it!

After dinner, it was Zachleya's turn to wash the dishes so the remaining five simply sat around the living room doing their own things.

Ariel was doing her homework on the couch , Reina was trying to decipher a coded puzzle that Dory had brought for her on the dinning table, Rodna was reading a huge book on gardening whilst seated on an armchair and Bellona was helping Ava to write up a descriptive essay on how the Una armour worked as they sat on the floor.

Sure, they've never fought real battles since the wall went up to protect them from the monsters outside but they needed to always be prepared for the day they do break through the wall.

The girls looked up as Zachleya finally finished her chore and came to sit beside Ava and Bellona,"How's it going?"

"Really well, I just need to conclude it," Ava replied as Bellona leaned back against Ariel's couch and sighed with relief. She had a bandage on her cheek to cover her cut so she was looking better. They were all dressed in their pajamas which consisted of a thigh length white sleeping dress, short white cotton pants and their Una armour bracelets.

"So.....explain to me again why you had to write an essay on our armour?" Ariel asked as she looked up from her exercise book.

Ava shrugged as she continued to write,"We had to a write an essay on something we've never been interested in."

Reina laughed out loud,"And you've never been interested in the one thing that helps us to defend ourselves?"

"Yeah, but now thanks to this essay I might be interested more....I mean, Bellona makes armour learning fun."

Bellona sighed dramatically and fanned her face," I know. It's a gift."

They all burst out laughing at her. Well ,almost of all of them.

Rodna had yet to join in the conversation or the laughter, it was like she was off in some other place in the Realm.

"OK girls, settle down.," Mary said as she came out of the laundry room,"We wouldn't want to upset the other sisters again."

The girls nodded and stopped laughing but still they continued to smile. Mary turned to see Dory come out of the bathroom, "Let's go."

Mary nodded and made her way to the front door,"Girls, lights out at nine and no later than nine. Bellona's in charge so we expect you all in bed by the time we get back."

"Your weekly reports?" Dory asked as she grabbed her satchel from the hook beside the bathroom door. Ariel sat up and held up the six papers containing their results for this week in every test, quiz and work.

Dory walked to her and took them before carefully putting them in her satchel.

"No reading in the dark or late night stories," Dory put in as Mary opened the door and stepped out,"Good night girls."

"Good night!" They all returned as Dory walked over to the door and out. The door closed quietly behind her as the girls looked to the huge clock above the door, it was seven thirty so they had some time to spare before bedtime.

Ava sighed tiredly as she finished her essay and got ready to put her stuff into her satchel. Bellona tapped her shoulder, causing her to stop and look at her with confusion. She pointed to Rodna who had yet to look up from her book. Ava nodded with a grin.

"What are you reading Rodna?" Reina asked as she put her puzzle down on the table and look at her.

So it wasn't only Ava and Bellona who had noticed Rodna's silence. The other girls were very much aware of their quiet sister.

"A book on gardening," Rodna answered bluntly.

Ava frowned, "But you hate gardening, it's Reina that likes to get her hands dirty."

Zachleya nodded in agreement.

Rodna shrugged nonchalantly, as if it wasn't weird that she was doing something out of character. Not once did she look up from her book.

Bellona jerked her head at Rodna as Ava stood with my assignment. She quietly moved to stand behind Rodna as Ava walked up to Rodna,"Could you check my work?"

Zachleya, Ariel and Reina watched with smirks as Rodna turned from her book to look at Ava's essay only to have Bellona grab a small book from inside her huge book.

Apparently she was covering up that small book so they wouldn't suspect her, unfortunately she forgot to grab a book that they all knew she would read.

"What's this?" Bellona asked as the girls laughed. Rodna shot up from her seat and tried to grab the book back from her. It was futile of course, Bellona was stronger and had advanced military training.

"It's nothing, give it back Bellona!" Rodna demanded as they watched with amusement. Ava put her essay away as well as the others putting their things away.

"If it was nothing, why were you trying to hide it from us?" Bellona asked as she jumped up on the dinning table to avoid Rodna,"Zac, Ava, hold her back."

"We don't keep secrets from each other, remember," Reina reminded her.

Zachleya gave a reluctant sigh before she and Ava quickly grabbed both of Rodna's arms to restraint her. Ariel simply shook her head while Reina laughed under her breath.

Rodna struggled against her two sisters as Bellona opened the book and read through quietly. After five minutes she closed the book with a snap,"Rodna? Where did you get this?"

"A Professor gave it to me," Rodna answered as she looked down to study the floor. Ava groaned with frustration as everyone else scoffed, she really should know that after all this time,they could all tell when she was lying.

"Don't lie to me," Bellona said quietly as she jumped down and walked to her. Zachleya and Ava released Rodna as she continued to look down."I am going to ask again and this time I want nothing but the truth.... where did you get this book Rodna Grace?"

A moment of silence passed as they all watched. What was in the book that upset Bellona that much for her to demand answers?

Rodna sighed,"I-I.....may have stolen it from...from the Great Library. "

"You stole it!" Ariel exclaimed with shock.

"From the Great library!!" Ava yelled as Zachleya slapped Rodna's head.

"Rodna!? How could you??!!" Reina yelled.

"Start. Talking," Bellona bit out as Ava rubbed my forehead. A headache was already brewing in her head and Rodna was making it very hard for all of them not to hit, no, kill her is more like it, as she stood there innocently.

"Alright...........," Rodna sighed qwith defeat,"It started last week when I may have,sort of, accidentally taken the book from the Great Library during an excursion."

All their jaws dropped. Rodna didn't notice though because all her attention was on the book.

"Now, girls, I have read a lot of books before but I had never seen one like that . What was strange was that, the book was hidden under a Statue of the Goddess Paige. My books had fallen and as I was picking them up, I noticed it inside a secret pocket at the base of the statue. The book was sort like a diary, it spoke of a world war against something called Man."

"What's 'man'?" Ariel asked as Ava shrugged. She was smart but even she had my limits.

"Listen!" Rodna exclaimed, " The author was describing the War the Goddess Paige and her generals fought against the Monsters of the Outside but then I got thinking as why it never spoke about the creation of us so I kept reading but the diary stopped at the end of the fighting. Then things got weirder...."

Zachleya scoffed,"How weird?"

Rodna looked right at Bellona as she spoke, "I noticed that some pages were missing so I snuck back into the Library today and found something. There were schematics of the City and the front page of the diary. It belonged to a woman called............Paige Bellona Jones. She was a rebel fighter in the Great War and Leader of a coup."

Wow. Now, they had officially stepped into crazy town.

"Why does the Goddesse Paige have your name Bell?" Reina asked as Ava nodded.

This was just too weird.

Everyone knew of the great Goddess Paige and her Generals Braven,Irina, Gwendolyn, Melisa and Sira, women who fought against the Monsters of the Outside before defeating them. Legends told to them by their Supervisors says that after the war,Paige created the Dame Relam for women, her greatest creation, right before she disappeared for the Heavens.

But this was now putting their belief to the test.

"I don't know," Bellona replied as Rodna carefully took the book from her and opened it at the front page to reveal her name.

"Wait a minute,this doesn't make any sense..." Ava started only to have Rodna cut in.

"There's also something else that I have realised, of all the stories of the war,there isn't one painting or even a picture of the Monsters. Not one shred of proof of the things that are supposedly on the other side of the wall."

"So?" Zachleya asked with a raised brow. Rodna quickly went into their room and came out wearing a light blue trench coat over her PJs plus a pair of running shoes.

"So I've made a decision,"Rodna said with a smile," I am going to be the first girl in centuries to go and see a monster. "

"Are you mental? Demented??Reina asked angrily.

" Even so, how are you going to see one? If you hadn't noticed there is a wall that surrounds the Realm," Ariel stated as Ava nodded.

"You're going to use the schematics in the book," Bellona answered for Rodna as she looked up from the book.

Rodna nodded,"Apparently, Paige had secretly built in mechanical routes on two sides of the city,one for getting in and one for getting out."

"OK but you're not going to leave because without the book,you can't find the exits," Ava said as Bellona in turn, nodded and held the book safely behind her.

They all expected Rodna to admit defeat but instead she went for the front door and opened it, instantly they shivered as a gust of the cool night air came in,"I have photographic memory, I studied the schematics on the way home so really, I got no problems."

With that, she ran out the door. The girls all yelled for her but really they knew that there would be no stopping her. Once she got an idea in her head,she won't stop until she's done it.

"We have to go after her, she could get into trouble," Ava exclaimed as Zachleya and Ariel exchanged horror stricken glances. Reina just slapped her forehead.

Bellona simply moved to stand in front of the door and look up at the clock,"It's nearly eight but even then we would have an hour before lights out so if we can come back before the Mary and Dory then no one would know that we had left."

"So?" Zachleya probed as Bellona sighed.

"Just grab your trench coats and running shoes....we're going after Rodna."

Reina muttered,"Good cause when we catch her, I am going to kill her."