The Unclaimed Book

Daniel was the first person to see them as they descended the stairs, "where have you been, Seraphine?"

The other eyes turned to her, "I was enjoying the cool air upstairs, i'm sorry, I didn't know I had gone for so long+"

Xavier saw how she was running her palms on her dress, he listened in on her heart to hear it racing more than necessary, he could also sense her fear.

"Is everything ok, Miss Patrick?" Francis asked, perceiving the fear that oozed from her.

forcing out a smile, "I'm fine"

Feeling a pounding headache which had started forming at the left side of her head as she thought about the shocking things she discovered, she needed answers to what she saw and the Lord Knox had that creature in his house. Why is he targeting the werewolves?

"You've been quiet since you came back, are you sure you're all right?" Daniel spoke, the others also looked at her.

"perhaps you've not recovered from what you witnessed, seeing how pale you look, as if you saw a ghost" Stephen mocked.

With a pleading look to Diane, "I'm sorry but I'm still a little bit overwhelmed. I would like to retire for the night"

"I understand, you must have been really shocked with what you saw. I'm sorry you had to witness that" mistaking her pale face for something else, Diane hugged her friend.

"Xavier, I'm sorry to bother you again but could you drop Seraphine at The Pawn on your way home? The carriage we brought has been burrowed to drop of an acquaintance." 

Xavier would have gone before then if not for Seraphine that they were searching for. The only thing keeping his pain at bay was because of the high threshold he had, nevertheless, the time when he won't be able to endure it anymore would soon commence. With no time to waste any longer, he nodded quickly as he led the way.

Seraphine was so lost in her thoughts that she was amaze at how she didn't bump into anyone while she followed Xavier out the door.

"What did you see?" That was the first thing he asked, he knew she must have seen something that left her shaken. If she had been in the balcony as she claimed, she should've been more relaxed than she was.

"Did you stumbled upon what you shouldn't have?"

"I did not!" with a little too loud voice.

Xavier believed he must had guessed right by her sudden outburst.

"Why did you now look like someone who saw a ghost?" borrowing Stephen's line.

"Because I saw a life being taken by one of your kinds!" She retorted "and you all did like nothing happened"

"That could leave you shaken" nodding his head in understanding "but you're not saying the whole truth. While Diane was searching for you, I remembered checking the balcony but you were not there" putting his hands up to stop her from talking, "I checked all the rooms upstairs but you weren't in any. So where were you and what did you see?"

"I was upstairs, maybe you didn't check properly" she saw the way he was holding on to the seat, "are you in pain? You've been clenching your fist and slightly gritting your teeth all night" seeing the perfect escape to change the conversation.

Xavier had been trying everything he could to take in the pain, he needed to conserve the little energy he had left to disappear to his room, if he was to achieve that, he would need to be quite close to home so as to use his abilities for the rest of his journey.

"That is nothing of your concern" his jaw clenched in pain.

"The exact same response I was about to reply you for your questions, Mr. Orsini" Raising her dress to get down from the carriage as it stopped in front of 'The Pawn', "thank you for the ride, have a lovely evening, Mr. Orsini"

She looked up at the towering body of Xavier as it blocked the entrance, "the conversation is not over yet but we will continue later, I have a pressing issue to attend to, have a good night as well, Miss Patrick"

He moved out of the way to allow her passage, watching her through the carriage window as she entered the shop, he glanced at the plain cream handkerchief which obviously belonged to her. Shoving it in his pocket before another pounding headache hit him.

*******

"Cinderella is finally awake!"

Seraphine ignored the old man's remark as she descended the stairs, heading straight to the kitchenette to down the herbal tea which would clear her head and mind.

"now, what is the cause of your eye bag this time around?" Mr. Pawn asked while he moved to change the drawing of his sad face which he used to inform people that the shop had closed for the day to his 'happy face' drawing to let them know it was open.

Seraphine glanced at the small jotter in her hand, preoccupied with her discoveries at the Knox, she had written down some things about herself eyes which further bagged more questions. 

She had spent the larger part of the night to stare at her reflection, studying her eyes intently. She remembered how Lord Knox' companion complained about the dark, something she failed to notice. She had read the book titles perfectly well when she shouldn't have been able to. Recalling how one of the Lancaster children also commented about the dark some years ago and failed to see the fallen chair which she had seen without a hitch.

Perhaps there was more to her eyes than she was aware of. Taking her eyes off the mirror, she had switched off the light to confirm her suspicion, stifling a scream when her foot hit the stool nearby, made her think twice. Frustrated that the deeper her thought got, the more questions she had.

"Have you become a statue?" the snapping of the old man's finger pulled her to the present.

Giving the thought about her eyes a rest, she went to the shelf where unclaimed items are kept, "where is the book that was pawned during my absence?"

Days after Seraphine recovered from her neck injury, she had found a book on the counter which the old man couldn't remember how it got there, they had concluded to put it on the unclaimed item shelf, till the owner comes for it.

"it should be there" pointing at the same shelf, "unless you've changed it location."

Using her fingers to part each book to read the titles, she spotted the one which read, "The Creatures Of The Past", she slid it off the shelf and proceeded to the counter.

"Why do you need the book? Has the owner come for it?"

Not taking her eyes away from the book as she flipped the pages, "no, I saw something somewhere which looked like what I read here some days ago" she stopped abruptly when she found the drawing she was looking for.

It was exactly the same thing Lord Knox and his companion were looking at, the Chronophages – the insects which feed on memories.

Customers hardly come so early in the morning, their busiest time is in the mid afternoon and she needed to concentrate on the chapter, she glanced at the old man who seemed to be preparing to go out.

"where are you going?"

"not that I owe you an explanation but I'll tell you anyway, I need to collect my money from Mr. Cook the crook. I'll be back soon"

Good, she needed to be focused. She settled the book and her note on the table immediately when he left as she gave it her whole concentration.