Chapter eleven

(Squeals as she ducks several thrown fruits and Vegetables, and one brick) Okay, okay! I'm updating!

In a single, swift motion, Lina had yanked the tapestry off the wall. Zelgadis was about to protest, when he realized what she had meant for him to see. In the wall, previously hidden by the tapestry, was a picture of a rose. From floor up, it came to just above Lina's height, and the golden brown wood that surrounded it was a lighter shade and didn't match up with the rest.

Slowly, Lina tapped the rose, gently. It sounded as though it were made of glass. Carefully, Lina tapped the wood, and revealed it to be hollow. Slowly, she turned back to him.

"Okay, a stained glass rose on a door, hidden by a tapestry with a rose on it, appearing right when Sylphiel and I begin to smell roses. Is anything about this situation talking to you too?"

Zelgadis nodded and then shook his head. "I can't believe that was there the whole time…"

Lina nodded and motion to the door, "Well, a door is meant to be walked through…"

Zelgadis grumbled and came over to the door, placing a hand gently on the wooden structure. "Not all the time,"

"Oh, shut up and help me-WAHH!" Lina muttered back before she broke off, falling on to the tiled floor of a dark room. Zelgadis chuckled as she glared at him, dust that had settled long ago coming up into the air. Lina cough and stood. She slowly and calmly brushed herself off, mentally counting to ten.

She sighed, and glanced around. "Where are we?"

Zelgadis shook his head as he entered, ducking slightly to avoid the doorframe. "I'm not sure, I didn't even know this place existed…"

Lina slowly began to walk forward, her arms outstretch as she blindly stumbled around the room. Eventually, she found what felt like an old wooden desk. On it, aside from numerous scattered papers and books, she found an old candle. She slowly lifted it up and used a small Fireball to light it. Zelgadis walked over, a Light spell in hand.

"You could've just used Lightning," he muttered. "Unless it's-" he broke off as he felt a strong arm clunk him in the head. Lina cursed to herself as she cradled her injured hand, though she smirked as Zelgadis rubbed his head.

"No, it is not that time of the month!" she barked, and then sighed as Zelgadis took her hand in a healing spell. "I'm really exhausted right now. In the past three days I've managed to show off more emotions than I have in almost nine years. I don't want to waste whatever strength I have on small spells,"

Zelgadis nodded, and then glanced around the room. It was large, which on further surprised him, considering he had no idea that it existed. From the looks of it, it was a large, old library. Three large bookshelves were aligned perfectly in the center of the room, dust clinging to the air. The desk Lina had found the candle on was old and made of wood. Several papers and a book were scattered around its surface.

"Wow… so this is what I was supposed to find," Lina broke the silence, looking at the books on the shelves. Slowly, she turned to look at Zelgadis. "Well, whatever it is that wants to be found, it's obviously in this room…"

"Unless you can find another door behind a tapestry using your nose…" Zelgadis chuckled, but only for a moment as he had to duck from a flying book aimed at his head.

"Shut up and help me," she muttered as she pulled out a book and flipped through the pages. "Something's in here, and what ever it is, it's got to be the connection between everything. It just has to be!"

"Well, Lina, there are an awful lot of "Things" in here, it'll take us a while to go through them all…"

Lina glared at him and turned back to the book, "Then we need to get started, don't we?"

The two worked in silence for the next few hours. They went through hundreds of books, but none seemed useful. Aft what felt like the fifth hour, Zelgadis stood and turned to Lina, which wasn't easy considering that the two were both completely encased in book piles. It was odd, no matter how many books the two went through, two more always seemed to fill up the space.

"Lina, it's late, I'm going back to sleep. We can finish tomorrow,"

Lina nodded, her eyes not leaving the text. Zelgadis sighed and headed back out. He had never seen Lina so obsessed with something. In a way, it reminded him of how he had searched for his cure.

After he had left, Lina began to move quicker through the books. Though she had appreciated his help, he was way to thorough. Every page of the book didn't need to be examined in order to tell if it was the right book or not.

She sighed as she tossed aside another useless book. Letting out a stressed yawn, Lina leaned on her elbow and closed her eyes. Just a moment was all she needed. She wasn't going to fall asleep. She couldn't risk it, not when she was so close to finding the answers. This time, she might not wake up again.

Slowly, she sat up again, and let out a gasp. There standing before her, was the dark haired princess herself. Her skin was pale, almost the color of alabaster, and her eyes no longer shimmered as they used to. She looked sad to Lina, and almost near tears. Slowly, the girl turned and took away from Lina, towards a small corner. Uncertainly, Lina grabbed the candle, now almost a tiny stub, and headed towards it.

In the corner was a book, lying half open. She hadn't noticed it before. Slowly, Lina knelt down and lifted it up. Something small fell out of its pages, and Lina gently lifted it up. It was a small, pink, butterfly hair clip. Slowly, Lina closed the book and ran her fingers over the cover. On it was a picture of a rose.

Lina gasped as she nearly dropped the book.

Yes, yes, I know I'm evil!! But cliffhangers are SOOO Good. Please review!

Lina-Marie Metallium Hee hee, I hope this helped clear things up a bit.

Yun Fei (Laughs manically) Yes, I am evil! This is what happens next, Points above

Irusta Thanks a lot. This is really fun! I like keeping you guys on the edges of your seats!

Ysengrinn (Grins) Yes, I love my cliffies!

Jaretha (Ducks misc. Thrown objects) Sorry, sorry! But Cliffhangers are so much fun!

:) I know I am evil! It's just so much fun, though!