Chapter Two
Scarlet Stone
Ed and Al followed Rhea wondering if their long journey to seek out the Philosopher's Stone would soon come to an end with the help of their new friend. They trudged along quietly after Rhea down the beaten path that weaved in and out of the woods.
After about a good twenty minutes Rhea stopped at a mansion like house with a big black iron gate in the front. "Afternoon Ms. Rhea." The man at the guard station replied as Rhea dug her card out of her pocket inside her jacket. "Hello." Rhea replied cheerfully. "They're with me." Rhea said in a hopeful tone. The man unlocked the looming gates and pushed them open. "Thank you." Rhea said leading Ed and Al toward the front door.
Rhea grabbed the brass knocker and gave it two loud clanks against the door. They swung open and a man in a black tuxedo appeared. "Afternoon Ms. Soto, Master Walden is in the library." He replied in a level tone peering down on her and her two friends. Rhea nodded and quickly dismissed herself and her two friends from the doorway. "This way." Rhea said turning back to make sure they were still following her, it would be terrible to get lost in such a large house.
Rhea walked in the open doors of the library, shelves that touched the looming ceilings filled the large room from wall to wall. The room was lit by many open windows, one on the wall between each set of shelves. "Good afternoon Rhea." A man with white hair said cheerfully. He was short, not more then an inch or two taller then Rhea. He wore a white lab coat and a pair of glasses were stashed in his front right hand pocket. "Afternoon Sir. My friends and I would like to see some of your research on the Philosopher's. Could we?" Rhea asked with a slight bow of respect. "Oh of course, you know where they are, use whatever you like." He replied with a wide smile. "Thank you." Rhea said leading Ed and Al to an area of books separate from the rest. Three large shelves of books created a little corner among the other rows of shelves. There was a table in the center with books piled on it. "Anything on these shelves will have information on the Stone, but one that really caught my eye was a little brown one…ahh here it is." Rhea said pulling the small brown book from one of the stacks piled on the table. The gold lettering on the cover read "The Scarlet Stone: A Guide to the Philosopher's Stone." Rhea pulled some of the towers of books off the table and set them on the floor to make room on the table. She pulled a few more books from the piles that she had found rather interesting and set them on the table and pulled one from the stack for herself, a black book about an inch thick. She sat on the floor with a pencil tucked behind her ear and a notebook next to her. It looked like it had been open and shut many times and was used twice as much, a red ribbon marked a clean page among the many ones already filled with notes and words. She glanced through the pages and pulled the pencil from behind her ear. She marked the book's title and page number in her reference book before jotting down some notes on the paper. The quite scratching of the pen on paper and turning of the pages were the only sounds Rhea made after that.
Ed soon found himself dozing off to the quite turns of pages and smell of dusty books. The tickle of soft, dusty fur against his nose made him sneeze. He rubbed his tired eyes and blinked at a calico cat, mostly gray with patches soft orange-ginger. She had emerald green eyes that starred at him with a flicker of good temperament and friendliness. Rhea looked up from her books when she heard Ed sneeze. "Cameo." Rhea said patting the spot next to her on the floor. The cat jumped from the table and padded over to Rhea and curled up next to her. Rhea gave Cameo a scratch behind the ears and on her forehead. A content purr rumbled in the cat's throat. Rhea went back to reading her book. Ed noticed in the short amount of time he had been asleep Rhea had gotten about half way through the book. He saw that Rhea was totally focused on her work, and snapped his fingers, but Rhea only responded with a quick blink.
Soon Rhea had finished with the book and closed its heavy hard cover and set it down on the floor. Rhea stretched her arms high above her head, her body beginning to feel tired cooped up in the corner of the quiet library. Next to her Cameo opened her mouth into a yawn and gave a content flick of her tail, sweeping it behind her. "Let's go, if I stay cooped up in here any longer I may just fall asleep." Rhea said getting up to her feet. "Alright." Ed sighed getting up from his chair. Cameo stretched as she stood up, a good long one starting from front paws down to her hind legs. She shook her calico fur and gave her paw a quick lick and swiped it over her ear. Cameo followed the three to the door and gave a quite mew as they left.
