The Find

Darla was just pulling on her jeans when her phone's ringtone started chiming. Dammit I'm always late! Reaching over her bed, she slid the lock and hit the button for speakerphone.

"Hello?"

"Did you leave yet?" Alora had called an hour earlier and woke Darla up, saying they were due for their weekly Barnes and Noble trip. Not a problem for Darla – having worked in a library for seven years, books were kind of her thing.

"I'm pulling my shirt on and I'll be out the door. See you in 10!"

"Good! Love ya babe."

"Always."

As Darla grabbed her keys and purse and closed the door behind her, she thought about the word always. She couldn't remember when they started to use it, but now barely a single conversation passed where they didn't end it with that word. Like a reminder and a promise, it summed up everything for them perfectly.

I don't know how I got so lucky, but man am I glad I did.

As she backed out of her driveway, Darla lit a cigarette and cranked the music up enough that everyone turned heads as she rolled by. A singer by training, music was as good as gold to her. Tuning to a random station out of sheer desperation to avoid commercials, You Raise Me Up came on, and she knew it would be a good day.

Ten minutes later, as promised, she rolled to a stop in front of Alora's driveway and hopped out, grinding out her cigarette with her heel. She bounced up the front steps and went right through the door – Darla hadn't knocked in years.

"Mom! I'm home!" Alora's mom was in the kitchen, and on the phone as usual. She put it down and went over to hug the girl she thought of as a second daughter.

"Hey babe! Where you guys off to today?"

"Barnes and Noble, surprise surprise! Then probably Applebees since we aren't exactly original."

"Cool. Be safe alright?"

Darla promised as her best friend's mom picked up the phone again, and she turned and ran up the stairs to fling herself on Alora's bed.

"Whaddup?" Despite having studied English in college, Darla's favorite words were either fake, not English, or comprised of four letters. Luckily, Alora was on the same page.

"Nada. Ready to go?" Alora reached for Darla's hand and dragged her off the bed, and soon they were speeding down the highway as fast as Darla dared on a Jersey highway. Which was probably fast enough to lose her license but hey, who's really counting?

Darla reached down into her cupholder, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it all without taking her eyes off the road. Alora sighed and tugged at a lock of her honey-brown hair.

"You know that's gonna kill you, right?"

Darla sighed and shifted the cig to the hand the held the steering wheel. The other hand she used to rake back through her own golden mane. She never did remember to put it up when she had the window down. "Yeah, I know. And it'll screw my vocal chords, which is worse than dying. I promise I'm gonna quite, and you know I will. I just have to make the decision, and I haven't done that yet."

Instead of replying, Alora turned to gaze out the window. She knew her friend would quit, but she wished she would hurry up and "make the decision" already.

Barely fifteen minutes later, the girls were walking through the doors of Barnes and Noble. They'd been coming here since they began high school, and being 20 and 22 now, that was a long time to them. The area was called The Commons, and in addition to the bookstore it held an Applebees and a movie theater, among other stores. But those three were a regular tradition for the girls and their friends. Many a dollar had been spent here, but not a single one wasted thanks to the memories.

"So, any specific books we're looking for?"

Alora nodded. "Yeah, you know the author of the Immortal Chemistry books? She just came out with a new one, and I need it. You need anything?"

"After yesterday's trip to the mall? I think I need to put a padlock on my wallet. Wanna spin the combination for me?"

Laughing, Alora led the way up the escalator to the Young Adult section.

The two had a tendency to spend hours here and leave with nothing, so when they had a mission, they generally tried to stick to it. Often, the plain failed. Darla wandered around, reading titles and pulling books off the shelves, only to roll her eyes at the descriptions. Everything was the same storyline, and frankly she was starting to get sick of it. Romeo and Juliet and the star-crossed lovers bit can only have so many 'different' adaptations. And the ending is always the same, so really, why do people even bother?

As Darla began to turn away to find Alora again, a red book with no jacket caught her eye. She pulled it from the shelf, and her next thought barely registered before she heard Alora calling. This book definitely isn't new…

At the counter, Alora pointed to the book in Darla's hands. "What's that?"

Darla shrugged and handed it to the clerk to check her out next. "Don't know. Looks interesting" she said, even though she barely glanced at it. The clerk looked all over the book before handing it back to Darla.

"That's not one of ours. Someone must have left it here" she said, and promptly dismissed the pair to check out the man standing behind Alora with an arm full of maps.

"Are you gonna keep it?" Alora asked. "I would keep it. Who just leaves books lying around?"

Darla nodded. "Well, yeah. I mean, it was on the shelf and everything. Guess it must be free book day!" With a laugh, the girls ran across the highway to Dunkin Donuts.

Sinking into a padded booth with their twins pieces of frozen caramel Heaven, Alora nudged Darla with her foot. "So what's the book about?"

The blonde shrugged and pulled it out of the bag they had shared. "Don't know, I just kinda grabbed it." She laid the book on the table and went to open it when the front cover began to shimmer in a soft golden light. Instinctively, Darla snatched the book off the table and slid into Alora's booth, hiding the light from any prying eyes. In awe, they watched as letters scrawled of seemingly their own accord across the cover.

Alora dropped her drink.

Darla stopped breathing.

Etched out in silver script, finally stopping at the last letter, was the title.

The Universe of the Four Gods.