They had fled to an undiscovered hideout of the Minorus', one of two of the pride's hideouts that had not yet been discovered. Unlike some of the places that the Minorus had this one offered no illusions on the nature of its owners, it was expansive but majorly underground, made of some kind of rough, black stone it was furnished by an ominous looking collection of portraits and candlelight holders that still burned despite having been uninhabited for over a year, come to think of it there was no dust anywhere either. Creepy.
Nico walked the halls of her remaining inheritance, for that's what this place was; when the government seized her parents' assets they had taken all that had been meant for her, not that she blamed them but still, it sucked. Eger to see what tomes of magic were contained in this dark place she headed straight for the library as the others looked about the bedrooms in search of the one that they would claim for themselves, she was not concerned, this place was literally an underground castle, complete with a great hall, a giant kitchen that seemed to make as much food as it needed on its own – without ingredients – and a bedroom wing they could have fit the Steins' mansion in. It made her wonder what this place had been used for but there was nothing that could be done, the frog had informed them that it believed that the authorities were close to finding the other hideout and they had nowhere else to go. Besides Nico believed that this place was the best chance they had of saving chase as she had run out of healing spells. Not to mention that she could feel the defense spells keying into her will, nothing would enter or leave this place without her knowing and little could do so without her permission.
Taking a right turn she smiled as she entered the library and quickly headed for the section on healing spells before stopping and frowning in confusion – how had she known where the library was? For that matter how had she known where anything was? She should have gotten lost a thousand times over but instead she had known exactly where everything was, in fact now that she thought about it she realized that without even setting a foot in the bedroom wing she had already chosen a room, it was one of several that was grand even in comparison to the others and had pathways the library, great hall and several other useful places from a hidden doorway hidden behind a mirror in the back of the walk-in closet it had, it was also one of several rooms that would only be seen by the owner of the place and those allowed to see it. Nico frowned again and reached out with her mind, sensing the spells on this place, this was an ability that she had had since gaining the witchbreaker staff and had elected not to tell anyone. It would lead to some awkward questions about how fine-tuned her senses where to those around her and how she'd allowed Xavin to leave in Kar's place. She did not want to tell her teammates how she was always aware of where they were and how they were doing, that had been how she found Chase and the girl that looked so much like Gert, hell she even felt like Gert. Granted that Nico was less familiar as to how Gert felt as she had died before Nico had gained this power but whenever Nico reached out to this girl she felt as though she was in Gert's mind, not some random chick that lead Chase to his death. And she certainly did not want to explain how she had simply decided to let Xavin leave knowing that whoever left earth on that ship would die.
Using her senses Nico analyzed the spells around this place and found the one she was looking for, keyed to the Minoru bloodline the spell placed a perfect sense of the layout of this place and everything in it, it was most likely designed to prevent her parents from accidentally making a wrong turn and winding up in the wrong place while forcing everyone else to do so every so often. Nico smiled grimly, her parents always had a flare for the dramatics. Turning her attention back to the books Nico walked over and grabbed Sanare corpus, a promising looking spell book. Flipping through it she was pleased to see that another spell imprinted on this place was a perfect translation of any language into English, quickly selecting a promising spell that she believed would save Chase she put the book down when a mirror caught her eye, taking a close look at it she saw that it offered no reflection but instead showed the past, present and future, she peered closer in searching the mirror for a clear vision of time's secrets before stepping back in horror as she saw the death and destruction that future held.
That mirror is almost always correct, it was created by my parents based off their observations of the Yorkes's time traveling machine and sees beyond the effects that others may have on the paths of time. Most likely I am the only one who could change anything that it may have shown me. The knowledge came to Nico in the same way that she knew everything else about this house, shuddering she reached out and saw that Chase had about a week before he was beyond hope. Comforted in that knowledge she headed towards another part of the library, one that would tell her more about the powers of the Staff of One and how she could become powerful enough to stop what she had seen.
I will stop it, she thought whatever it takes.
I know there's not much disassembling in this or M stuff in this chapter but there will be in the second one! (or maybe the third, I did mean for it to be in this chapter but Nico decided to take her sweet time, sorry)
Anyways R&R please!