The Guardians of the Relic

Emily lay on her side fast asleep. One leg was stretched out to the other end of her queen sized bed, and a large white blanket covered the top half of her body. Her alarm rang twice. Both times Emily reached over to her phone on the nightstand and pressed the snooze button. Just five more minutes, she thought in her dreamy state.

Outside her apartment the buzz of the morning traffic could be heard. It was a sunny day but a chill was still in the air. Winter was coming in Elgin. The town didn’t see many extreme weather conditions, but its winters were icy cold. A man yelled at a cab driver that didn’t stop for him. People shouted impatiently because the traffic moved too slowly. Despite all these noises, Emily slept soundly. She was in a deep sleep. The only sound she heard now was the sound of her mother’s voice.

“Emily sweetheart, why don’t you invite your friends over? We can have a small party,” said her mother. It was her sixteenth birthday. Emily felt the same excitement she felt that day. She was excited because it was one of the few times in the year that her mom and dad took off from work to spend time with them.

“That’s an awesome idea mom. I’ll go call Jessica now.” The image of her in her yellow summer dress was clear. After the party, her mom sat down with her and gave her a birthday present. She vaguely remembered the gift wrap. It was white with red ribbon bow on the top. She opened it. “Oh mom, it’s lovely,” she said.

It was a wooden jewelry box, and inside was a necklace with a heart shaped pendant. Her mother’s face was so clear in the dream. Beth smiled. She was beautiful.

“The box is an antique, many years old. I would like you to keep it very safe. It is a very special gift”. She didn’t really give much thought to what her mother said because she was too busy looking at her sparkling new necklace. She hugged her mom tightly and said, “Thank you mom, I love you. She heard a sound in the distance. But it was not a muffled sound. It was loud and right in her ear.

The phone continued ringing next to her. She opened her eyes halfway, realized her phone was ringing and quickly grabbed it. “Hello?” she answered, still very groggy.

“Hey Ems, I was just about to hang up. Thought you weren’t going to answer. How are you?” asked Jessica.

“Hey Jess. I’m ok, just sleeping. Why are you calling so early?” She yawned and rubbed her eyes.

“Early? It’s nine o’clock.”

Emily sat up instantly and checked her wristwatch. Oh gosh, she thought. She had overslept. She must have accidentally turned off her alarm the third time it rang. Daisy definitely wasn’t home, or she would have heard the thump of music. Maybe she stayed over at Michael’s place. Emily sighed; she was so late for work. It was all Jason’s fault, she thought. He showed up the previous night with a bottle of her favorite wine. They stayed up most of the night talking about all kinds of things, and he left just before one o’clock that morning.

“Oh Jess, I overslept. I have to call you back when I get to work.” She put on her robe, switching the phone between hands, and then walked over to her closet.

“You overslept? Since when does Emily Carson oversleep? Unless...” There was silence for a few seconds. “You got a boyfriend?” asked Jessica with a scream of excitement in her ear.

“Yes I do. I can’t give you all the juicy details now because I’ll be fired if I don’t get to work.” Technically, she figured she couldn’t really get fired since she was now dating the boss’s son, but it was still no reason to take advantage. As she tried to balance the phone between her shoulder and ear, she opened her closet and scanned through it for something to wear.

“Okay, then we can catch up this afternoon at lunch. That’s the reason I called. I was wondering if you’re free for lunch?” asked Jessica.

She moved the hangers on the rack one at a time as Jess spoke and stopped when she saw the little box at the back of her closet on the top shelve. She stood there staring at the box.

“Ems, are you there?”

Emily held the phone again and said, “Yeah sorry, multitasking here. That’s a wonderful idea. Let’s meet at the Lava Java at, say, one-thirty?”

“Great, see you then. Bye,” said Jessica.

“Bye.” She hung up and threw the phone on her bed. The box was the same one her mom gave her on her sixteenth birthday. She wondered why she dreamt of her after so long. Her parents appeared in some of her dreams now and then, but she usually never remembered much of the dream when she woke. This one she remembered clearly, her mom giving her this particular gift. Her mom was so clear in the dream, she thought. She sometimes hated to dream of them. It always felt so real and then suddenly she woke up to realize it wasn’t and they were really gone. A tear ran down her cheek. She wiped it away and thought it would be better if she never dreamt of them at all.

She contemplated whether she should take the box and open it, but decided against it. Emily hadn’t opened it since her mom and dad died. She wore the necklace every day, so she kept it in her other jewelry box with the other jewelry she woe. She preferred to keep her mom’s old jewelry in this box. Emily grabbed a dress and closed the closet quickly before she was tempted to take the box out. She’d rather open it another time. Besides, she was already late for work.

Because she was so late, there was no traffic. She got to work in less than fifteen minutes. As soon as she opened the doors, people started to walk in. The regulars must have thought the library was closed today because she didn’t see any of them. Emily didn’t have much to do around the library today, which was good given her late start. She was usually a very punctual person. She had a system and liked to stick to it. Recently she found herself doing things she never did before. It wasn’t a bad thing. Change was good, now and then.

Jason sure added to this new trend. Out of all the changes, he was one of the biggest. He was a change she loved. As soon as she thought it, a new sensation swept over her. Did she just think about him and love in the same frame? That was new. She would definitely have to keep that thought to herself. It was way too early for her to be thinking about being in love with Jason Calhoun.

Just before lunch, Emily decided she would go look for more books similar to Alkron of Moray. She couldn’t fight the urge any longer and it was always best to just satisfy her curiosity. She wasn’t sure what she was hoping to find, but that didn’t stop her. She went to the far end of the library. As she walked, she saw a little girl with her mom. The mother was helping the girl read. Emily got a glimpse of the cover. It was the first book in one of those children’s wizarding books. The book was the illustrated edition and the girl enjoyed it as her mother pointed to the pictures. She smiled. That was one of her favorites.

She browsed through the books, but she could find nothing similar to the book about Alkron. Some books had historical references but none seemed to pick up or expound on the story. She heard the door to her section open. She stopped and peeked through the two book shelves to see who had entered.

It was Ethan Cunningham. He seemed to be of the very reserved type, she thought. He rarely ever spoke to anyone. She remembered what Jason had said about him. Maybe they just didn’t know him that well. Emily always liked to give people the benefit of the doubt. There could be lots of things people didn’t know about him. Either way, the guy was a mystery, and she loved mysteries.

Ethan always went to the same section of the library. He placed his backpack on the chair and sat down in front of the computer. He had been coming here for about a month and still had no luck finding what he needed. It was frustrating. He had a genius IQ, so this shouldn’t be so difficult, right? Except this particular subject wasn’t ordinary. It was unsolved, which was ridiculous to him because everything in life had an explanation. It was simply how the world worked. Well, at least that’s how his world worked.

Ethan usually didn’t believe in things that couldn’t be solved with math or physics. But that belief was slowly beginning to change. He logged in the Elgin Library database and clicked on his list of archived books. He had gone through a considerable amount of these books, found some useful information, but it wasn’t what he was searching for.

As Ethan scrolled down the list, he noticed in his peripheral vision that someone was staring at him. He knew it was Emily Carson because he had seen her watching him from behind the bookshelves as he walked in. He couldn’t understand why she was staring. He was aware that some women found him appealing, although he always felt women were just a big distraction that he didn’t need. It’s not that he didn’t find them attractive – he did – and Emily was certainly beautiful, but Ethan was quite sure she was smitten with that ‘pretty boy’ Calhoun. He forgot his first name, but it wasn’t important. He didn’t bother remembering things that did not affect his life in any way. Emily Carson, on the other hand, she was very important. She was a part of the puzzle. So, since it definitely wasn’t a romantic interest she had in him, he wondered what she was thinking.

Emily heard the door again and saw her brother walk in. She had been lost in thought for a moment wondering if Ethan could help her find some more information on the Alkron of Moray. He seemed the nerdy type, after all. She was thinking it was a good idea until her brother had interrupted her thought. “Hey Mike,” she said.

“Hey Ems?” Michael was smartly dressed in a grey sports coat and black formal pants. Emily wondered if Daisy had anything to do with his appearance.

“Looking good bro, where are you coming from?” She reached over and gave him a peck on the cheek.

“Thanks,” he said with a spin as he showed off his outfit. “And actually ‘heading to.’ I’ve got a meeting this afternoon. A business proposal.” He said it with pride.

“Wow, that’s great Mike. I heard some people talking about your work after the show. All good things, of course. Coffee?” she asked as she walked to her office in the back.

“Sure.” Michael followed and pulled a chair in front of her desk. He unbuttoned his coat, took it off, and left it on the chair. “Yeah, well one person in particular is very interested in my work. Alexander Graham.”

Emily didn’t recall hearing the name before. She walked over to the water dispenser to refill her bottle and put on the kettle. Her head was throbbing. The after effects of a late night with Jason, she thought. She placed her fingers to her temple and drank some water.

Michael sat back in his chair and studied her. She knew what he was going to ask. He had a smirk on his face.

“Are you getting enough sleep? You look spent?” he said.

“Yes, I’m fine. It was just a late night. I can’t say I’ve heard of this Alexander guy. Is he like a millionaire?”

“I think so. He bought all my most expensive pieces.”

Emily’s eyes widened. He must be quite rich then, since they usually sold between fifty to hundred thousand pounds each.

“So what does he do for a living?” she said as she stirred the coffee.

“Apparently he owns some buildings in Elgin Central. He is in Property Investment.”

Emily thought of Jessica. “Okay, does he have any apartments available?” she asked and handed him the coffee.

“Not that I’m aware of, but I’ll find out for you. Who’s looking?” He asked and took a sip

“Jessica. She’s back in town and needs an apartment.”

Michael sat up in surprise. “Oh right, Jessica Ainsley. You bumped into her the other day, right?” She nodded. “Gosh, I haven’t seen her in ages. Nearly ten years I think”

“I know. I was so happy to see her the other day. Unfortunately, I had to tell her about mom and dad. She was devastated. Shocked.” She stared into her coffee. The atmosphere in the room suddenly became dismal.

“You chose not to call her when it happened,” he said. He gulped down the coffee like it was a shot of tequila.

She could see he still found it hard to speak about their parents. She couldn’t blame him. It was the hardest thing they had both endured in their lives. The pain of that kind of loss never really goes away, it just gets buried in everyday life only to resurface when you least expect it. Like the dream she had that morning. The image of her mom still lingered in her mind.

“Yes, I thought it was best at the time.” She sighed. “I really miss them Mike.”

Michael got up and walked to her.

“I know Ems, me too.” He hugged her tightly.

She needed to change the topic. “So what kind of business proposal is Alexander offering you?”

“I’m not sure exactly, but from what he said that night at the exhibition, I think he wants to invest in the gallery.”

Emily thought about it for a minute. She didn’t really like the idea. Her brother had worked hard to open that gallery. She didn’t want some tycoon with a load of cash to trick him into anything. Besides, her brother was new to the business world.

“Sounds lucrative. Just be careful, okay? You don’t know this guy very well or his reputation. Do some research before you agree to anything, or ask around town about him.”

He smiled at her then. “Will do Ems. Enough about me, though, how’s your paper coming along?”

She thought about her morning and how she couldn’t find any information for her paper. Well, the information she was looking for was more out of curiosity than for her paper. “Slow, but I will get there. My time is limited these days.”

Michael put on his coat. “I can imagine it is, now that you’re dating Jason,” he grinned and she laughed.

“Yeah he is great. Speaking of relationships, how’s Daisy?”

Michael face turned red at the cheeks. “She is amazing. I should thank you hooking us up,” he said.

“Oh I didn’t do much. She already liked you. I just encouraged her.” Daisy would be good for him, she thought. He looked even happier now than when he first opened the gallery.

“Well thanks. I need to get going before I’m late. Thanks for the coffee.” He hugged her again.

“Anytime. Good luck!” she said.

After Michael left, it was almost one-thirty and Emily grabbed her bag and headed over to Lava Java. Jessica was already waiting for her and had gotten them a table. She waved at her as she approached the table.

“Hey Jess.” She sat down and placed her black leather bag at the side of her chair.

“Hey Ems, it’s so good to see you again.” A waitress came from behind her and handed them both menus.

“You too,” said Emily.

Jessica seemed to be bursting with excitement. “So...tell me everything.”

They ordered and Emily told her everything about Jason, how they first met, the exhibition, and all the events that occurred in the last few days. She told her about the possibility of an apartment being available in Elgin Central.

“Oh that’s wonderful, I hope I can get one soon. I’m staying at my parents for now. They don’t mind, of course, but I prefer my own place.” She had obviously become accustomed to living alone in London, thought Emily.

Jessica popped a French fry in her mouth. She had ordered a traditional beef burger with a side of French fries and a Coke. Emily wasn’t so hungry so she ordered a grilled cheese sandwich with a cup of tea.

“I am sure you will find something soon,” she said.

“Well my dad did say that his friend’s son might have a place available soon.”

Emily lifted an eyebrow. “Oh okay...what’s his name?” She took a bite of her sandwich.

“Maybe you’ve heard of him. James Cunningham...?” She paused. “Well his son owns a building not far from here.”

She almost choked on her sandwich. “Ethan Cunningham?” she asked, and Jessica nodded.

As Jess told her all the things her dad said about Ethan, Emily found it hard to focus. Everything seemed to be falling into place. Of all the buildings in Elgin, Jess might be moving into the one Ethan owned. She didn’t know much about him, but she could always befriend him. He was probably the only one that could help her with her research. Although Jason did say he was strange and didn’t make friends easily, that didn’t matter to her. She had always had a way with people. She was going to unravel the mystery behind Ethan Cunningham.