Hello again! It's Tuesday and we have a new chapter, yay! I have some notes so please bear with me. First, I know that you want to know what the text says about the treasure and all, and I promise you will know, but for the sake of the story (and because it's important for upcoming chapters) for now you'll only get bits and pieces. In this chapter there's a whole paragraph and some hits about what the treasure is, but not all, so please have a little patience. Also, there are sentences in Latin and an Indonesian poem. I do not speak any of them so if there are any errors please forgive me. I used google translator ;) I found the poem on the Internet, but I changed it a bit to fit what I wanted, however, if you're curious you can message me and I'll give you the link.

Anyway, hope you like it! Thanks for reading and see you on Friday!

PS: Do you remember what I said about the romance? Well, we're starting, so buckle up because this is going to be a wild ride. ;)


Chapter 7

Magnus, Alec, Ragnor and Raphael had been locked in Magnus's Quarters for who knew how many hours. Since Magnus and Alec had returned from Cartagena, Raphael had been trying to translate lines of the ancient text, but it hadn't been as easy as they had thought it would be. It had turned out that what for years Magnus had thought was simple Latin had proved to be a very old version of it, and it was taking Raphael a lot of time to make sense of the sentences.

It was late and it had been a while since Ragnor and Alec had fallen asleep in their respective spots. Ragnor on the table where he had been sitting next to Raphael, and Alec on the floor, next to the stack of books he had been trying to read in an attempt to help Raphael.

Neither Ragnor nor Alec had intended to fall asleep, but it had happened after hours and hours of listening to nothing but each other's breaths. Raphael liked to work alone and although Magnus could help with the fragments that were in Spanish, the parts they were trying to translate were the ones no one else but him could understand, so they had been forced to wait for Raphael to share with them the lines of the text as he got them.

"I have the last line." Raphael said quietly, mainly not to disturb Ragnor's sleep. Magnus knew the young pirate wasn't very fond of Alec.

"What does it say?" Magnus asked curiously.

"Let the Star of Bethlehem to guide your path and you will find both ingress and egress." Raphael said, reading the line from the transcript that he had in his hands.

Magnus frowned. The story was as confusing as ever. He had thought that with the new fragments, he would be able to make sense of it, but so far nothing. The story was just getting more and more confusing with every line. The paragraph that Raphael had just translated was a riddle.

"What do we have so far?" Magnus asked.

"Hmmm, if we get rid of all the nonsense he wrote at the beginning about his many travels, we have the part in which he describes the story of the treasure, then the paragraph that I just finished, and then the part that we are going to pretend doesn't exist."

"How much are we missing?"

"Three full paragraphs and a few lines here and there to make sense of the other paragraphs." Raphael said.

Magnus sighed, taking the transcript from Raphael's hand. There were two copies of it, the edited version that Magnus had been writing while Alec was awake and the one Raphael had, which of course, contained the text in its entirety.

"This is such a mess," Magnus said, "all my life I thought the story was confusing because of the mixture between languages, but now I'm certain that it has nothing to do with that and all with the fact that this Jonathan was batshit crazy, mate. He lost his compass...that's for sure."

"Like Valentine…" Raphael said.

"Aye." Magnus agreed, quickly scanning the paper again, and adding the new line to his own version. "It's no wonder why the legends about this treasure are so strange." He added, handing the text back to Raphael. "Are you still very mad at me?"

"For dragging me and my love into our own graves for a stupid ship?"

Magnus nodded.

"I will forgive you eventually...it's not like you forced Ragnor to be here, he volunteered himself, so it's not your fault entirely."

"You know that when the time comes you and Ragnor will be fine. I won't let anything happen to either of you." Magnus said. After all Ragnor and Raphael were two of his best friends—and he didn't have many. Being immortal had its perks, but it was a lonely life. He saw people he loved age and die.

"And him?" Raphael asked, pointing to the man sleeping on the floor.

Magnus looked at Alec and sighed. "I want my ship back." He said in response.

"So you're going to sacrifice him for the Danube." Raphael stated.

Magnus, still with his eyes on Alec, nodded. "Do you see any other option?"

Raphael shook his head. "But maybe there's something here that can give you a different alternative."

"Maybe…" Magnus said, returning his attention to the last paragraph. In theory it described the location of the Island, but it didn't seem like that. "Fortified by nature and designed to curse anyone who dares to take possession of it, the treasure lies hidden within one of its very forces." Magnus read out loud. "Where do you think it is?"

"I have no idea." Raphael admitted. "We know that the forces are the-

"How's it going?" Ragnor asked. He was just waking up.

"I finished the paragraph." Raphael said.

"And?"

"It doesn't make sense." Raphael said. "I could try to move to the next paragraph to see if the description gets more specific, but I need to eat and sleep for a few hours. My brain is melting."

"Go." Magnus said. "You're right, we all need to rest. Get some sleep and we'll continue tomorrow. It's late anyway."

Raphael and Ragnor nodded. Raphael folded the complete transcript and put it safely inside his pocket. "We'll see you tomorrow." He said, taking Ragnor's hand and walking away.

Magnus took a deep breath and after stretching his back, walked over to where Alec was still asleep. He allowed himself a few seconds to just watch him. Alec looked so young when he was asleep, his face was completely relaxed and there was a trace of innocence that was completely mesmerizing. His long dark lashes were barely brushing his pale skin and-

Magnus sighed and shook his head. He knew he couldn't let his ship sail in that direction.

"Alexander, wake up." He whispered, poking him gently.

Alec stirred a bit and opened his eyes. "What happened?"

"You fell asleep," Magnus said, "Raphael and Ragnor went to rest for some hours. We have a whole paragraph, but it still doesn't make any sense."

"Let me see." Alec said, standing up quickly.

Magnus handed Alec his version of the text. "See? The last lines Raphael translated after you fell asleep are these ones."

"That who is worthy of the love of God is worthy of this treasure and must look inside his mouth to find its possession. Let the Star of Bethlehem to guide your path and you will find both ingress and egress." Alec read out loud. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know, but we will figure it out. Now go to your cabin and get some rest, we will continue tomorrow."

"Okay, yeah…" Alec nodded, "can I take this?"

"Sure," Magnus said, "but the original book stays here...it's safer here."

"Yeah...I can't read it anyway." Alec shrugged.

"Sleep tight, Alexander." Magnus said.

"You too."

o-o-o-o-o

Alec was in his cabin really trying to get some sleep, but his mind just wouldn't shut up. The long nap he had taken had left him with enough energy to keep going, and he had to keep going. He couldn't just sit still and do nothing. He had to help his brother and for that they had to find the island where the treasure and Valentine were. He took the transcript that Magnus had given him and reread for the millionth time what they had managed to translate so far.

The first part was just an account of Jonathan's travels, so he skipped it. The following paragraph described the story of the treasure and why Raziel had decided to hide it in the mortal world. If Alec was honest, the whole story sounded like a children's tale. Angels being cast out of heaven and powerful forces contained in inanimate objects? Yeah, it sounded too much like a story straight out of fiction, but Alec knew it was real—way too real. People had died for it. Besides, he couldn't put aside the fact that at some point, many years ago, his father had seen the treasure with his own eyes, so he continued reading.

"To his eternal relief, and after roaming the mortal world for years, Raziel finally stumbled across the rightful place to hide his secret. Fortified by nature and designed to curse anyone who dares to take possession of it, the treasure lies hidden within one of its very forces." He read out loud. "The combination of the other two are the key that the Angel gives to those whose intentions are noble."

This was, perhaps, the most important paragraph that they had managed to translate. According to what they knew, it was the one that described the location of the island. It wasn't written with exact words, but they knew they would have to find the answers within those lines.

"That who is worthy of the love of God is worthy of this treasure and must look inside his mouth to find its possession. Let the Star of Bethlehem to guide your path and you'll find both ingress and egress."

Alec took from inside his shirt a folded piece of parchment. He had hidden it there to keep it safe. When he and Magnus had returned from Cartagena, Alec had seized the few moments that he had had the book to himself—while Magnus gave the men a new course and called Ragnor and Raphael—to copy the original text and make his own research. He hadn't managed to copy it all, only the first few paragraphs, but at least it was something.

He put the two texts together and started to compare them, trying to understand how words work in those foreign languages that intrigued him so much, but it was impossible. The words were complex and very difficult to read, so he just sighed and made a mental note to try to learn them someday. His sister spoke Spanish, so maybe she could teach him when he got back.

"If I manage to get back." He whispered.

He knew that dying trying to help Jace was a huge possibility and that was why he had tried not to think too much about his family. They were always on his mind, that was inevitable, but he had tried not to let those thoughts to distract him from what he had to do.

However, late at night, when he found it impossible to fall asleep like at that very moment, he wondered what they were doing, how they had reacted after hearing that Alec had helped Magnus—a pirate—to get out of prison. He thought of his mother, Maryse, wondering if she knew who her husband really was or if she had been deceived all her life too. He thought about his sister, hoping that her fiance, Simon, was with her to keep her company. And he thought of his little brother Max. If he were there with him, he would be trying to help solve the riddle Alec had before him. Max was a very smart kid, skilled with books and very perceptive. He tended to see things others didn't and-

Alec looked at the two texts again. The copy of the original text that he had made was different from the transcript; in the penultimate sentence of the last paragraph that he had managed to copy, he had written a couple of words in capital letters. He didn't know if it was a mistake or part of the original text, so he compared it again with the translation that Magnus had given him.

According to Raphael, the line in Latin: 'Quod notatu dignum est dignus amore Dei respicere debent thesaurum invenire Ore Dei possidebunt.' was translated into: 'That who is worthy of the love of God is worthy of this treasure and must look inside his mouth to find its possession.'

It didn't make any sense unless-

"Unless…." He said out loud, quickly putting on his boots and running from his cabin with excitement.

He had a good feeling about that part, but he needed to see the original text before jumping into conclusions, so he knocked on Magnus's door although he knew that the pirate was asleep. He had left his quarters a couple of hours ago.

"Sorry to wake you." Alec said the minute Magnus opened the door. He was still half asleep and was looking at Alec with a disoriented expression on his face. "I found something strange about the treasure, but I need to see the original text before jumping to any conclusion. It's here, so…"

Magnus didn't say a word and just moved from the door letting him in.

"You should be sleeping." Magnus said, walking toward the desk and taking the book from the drawer.

"I couldn't." Alec said. "I tried, but I still had energy."

Magnus handed him the book. Alec immediately flipped through its pages to get to the part of the treasure. His eyes fixed on the part he had been looking for.

The words he had seen in his copy were in capital letters as well.

"I know what the name of the island is." He said.

"What!?" Magnus asked, fully awake this time.

"Look at this line." Alec pointed to the words. "'Quod notatu dignum est dignus amore Dei respicere debent thesaurum invenire Ore Dei possidebunt.' Dei is God, and Ore Dei it's written with capital letters, when Raphael translated it to English he omitted that detail that's why it didn't make sense, but if you read it with both words capitalized, then it could mean that the island's name is Ore Dei—God's Mouth...His Mouth."

"That who is worthy of the love of God is worthy of this treasure and must look inside His Mouth to find its possession." Magnus read out loud.

"I'm not crazy, am I?" Alec asked.

"No! You're brilliant!" Magnus exclaimed. He was looking back and forth between the transcript that Alec had in his hand and the original text. "And, how did you find that?"

"I-I...I copied the original text to see if I could help you all with something." Alec confessed, showing Magnus the few paragraphs that he had copied. "I actually just have what we have so far, that's why I was able to notice it. I was trying to understand the words and that's when I realized that I had copied those words differently, so…"

Magnus was looking at him with a weird expression on his face.

"What?"

"Nothing...well, this is great, Alexander. Now we just have to find where the bloody island is, but at least now we have a name."

"And maybe in some of the other notes in the book Jonathan says something about the island." Alec suggested

"That seems very likely."

"Then, let's wake the others!" Alec exclaimed excitedly. Every time they found something, he felt closer to finding his brother.

"Alexander…" Magnus said, "we need to rest, we all need to rest, including you."

"Magnus I can't go back to sleep now that we found something useful. I've been unable to help in anything since we left Cartagena, and I need to feel like I'm doing something." Alec said. He really wanted to keep looking, to see if something about the island appeared in any of the books they had at their disposal. "Would you mind if I stay here reading? I promise not to make any noise. You won't even notice I'm here. I just want to keep looking to see if I can find something in the books or on the map."

"Be my guest," Magnus pointed to the desk, "but I'm going back to sleep."

"Yes, go rest. I promise not to disturb you." Alec said, watching Magnus walk toward his bed.

The pirate was taking off his shirt and Alec felt as if suddenly the air in the room just wasn't enough. In the dim light provided only by two candles, he could see Magnus's well-toned abdomen. Alec had guessed that Magnus was in great shape since all his clothes were very...revealing, but seeing what was hidden under all those layers was another story. Alec could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks, so he turned around abruptly.

"I don't mind if you look." Magnus said from his bed.

"I wasn't." Alec said, trying not to think too much about how he had sounded, because even his voice was affected by Magnus's half nakedness.

Fortunately Magnus didn't say anything else and just went to sleep. Alec took a very deep breath and trying to erase the image of a shirtless Magnus from his head, he started to work. After all, he had a unfindable island to find.

o-o-o-o-o

Magnus tried to go back to sleep, but he couldn't. He was rolling to both sides of the bed trying to find a comfortable position, but it was as if suddenly his bed were made of stone. He turned and turned and turned and couldn't sleep. His body was tired but his mind refused to shut down; his eyes—the ones he had forced himself to close—kept betraying him, opening occasionally just to look into Alec's direction.

The boy was completely focused opening books, looking at the map and writing things down. He looked so concentrated that Magnus couldn't help but smile. Alec was a man with the drive of a whole crew. He was determined, brave and as Magnus had stated before, very, very intelligent.

The minutes passed, and Magnus, still from his position in bed, couldn't help but notice little things that Alec did when he was so engrossed in something. Like how he scrunched his nose when he found something he didn't understand, or how he constantly had to brush his hair away from his face because it got in the way between his eyes and the books he was trying to devour.

Magnus exhaled. How was he going to exchange him for the Danube? He knew that if he left Alec with Valentine, the pirate would kill him eventually, but he had no choice. He had to do it if he wanted his ship back, it was the only way.

"Maybe Raphael is right." Magnus thought. "And there's something in the parts we have yet to translate that can help me-"

"No, what are you doing!?" He berated himself in the back of his mind. "You're caring about the boy and you can't! You can't!" He told to himself, trying to close his eyes and go back to sleep.

But his mind kept taking him back to the first time he had seen Alec in the square in Alicante, to the day the boy had helped him out of prison, to the day when in an attempt to protect his father's honor he had tried to kill him; to their time in the Spiral, to their little stroll in Cadiz, to their perfect adventure in Cartagena. There was a memory of Alec in every day since they had met and Magnus hated that.

He hated it because he was starting to feel guilty, something that had not happened before. Every time he recalled one of those moments all he could see in Alec's eyes was trust, and Magnus knew he was not worthy of such thing. Alec didn't do it on purpose, of course, it was in his nature. Alec was one of those men who had a blind faith in humanity—and that was either a blessing or a curse.

"A blessing for him and a curse for me." Magnus thought, because that was the crux of the matter. He didn't want to lose his ship, but he also didn't want to betray Alec, so to achieve both he would have to find a way to trick Valentine into some sort of trap and get his ship and the infamous brother back, and all without Alec finding out the truth.

"What a mess!" He thought, sighing and standing up from bed.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you?" Alec asked.

"No, I can't sleep." Magnus said, putting back his shirt. "Apparently, your insomnia is contagious. You mind if I help you?"

Alec shook his head.

"What do you have so far?"

"Not much." Alec said. "I thought it would be useful to narrow the islands on the map. The book was written a long time ago, so the name has probably changed. We have to look in poems, songs...that sort of thing to see if we can find some reference of the island."

"Clever." Magnus pointed out. "What do you want me to do?"

"Maybe help me with this?" Alec said, getting closer to Magnus. "I was trying to read this poem, but I don't even know what language it is."

Magnus stared at the words and his heart made a flip. "It's Indonesian."

"Oh."

"Here…" Magnus said, pointing to the first line. "Bunga, malam, dan kota-kota tersisip antara yang sengaja dikenang. It would translate into something like, flowers, night, towns and cities slip in between things one wishes to remember. Then, merata, seperti kata-kata di hari senja meskisemakin menjurang ruang antara uscapan yang bertumbukan, would be, spread out, like words at dusk, a deepening gulf between conflicting utterances."

Magnus continued with the poem, translating as best as he could the lines that this unknown author had so beautifully written, but he stopped when he noticed how Alec was looking at him.

"What?" He asked curiously.

"Hmmm, nothing...hmmm, just continue." Alec said, fidgeting with his hair.

Magnus smiled to himself and read the last lines of the poem. "Yang tidak terucapkan, lebih berarti. We remain silent. There has always been more meaning in what's left unspoken. Aku cinta kamu." He finished.

"What does that last part mean?"

"I love you."