How I Found You by Gabriella Lepore Page B

drive it.”
    The thought of getting into a car with Caicus Valero was positively nauseating. 
    “No, thanks,” I replied. “Actually, I was wondering, do you have an internet connection here?”
    “Umm…” Mary mulled it over. I knew technology wasn’t her forte. “Yes, I believe Roger has the interweb.”
    The interweb ? Okay, technology really wasn’t her forte.
                  She went on, “It’s on his laptop, though. Is that any good?”
    “Yes,” I nodded my head eagerly, now using my palm to conceal the bump in an I’m-so-laid-back-I-can’t-even-hold-my-own-head-up kind of way. “Could I use it for a minute?”
    “Sure, honey. It’s in the study. I could show you where, but don’t ask me how it works. I’m hopeless with computers!”
    “No problem,” I smiled. “I should be able to figure it out.”
    Mary picked up her book from the coffee table. “I’ll leave you to it then, shall I?”
    “Yes. Enjoy your book.” I gave her a quick wave and then closed the conservatory door.
    Right then. I was off to Roger’s study. It was a room at the back of the house—one of the ones I rarely went into; I’d never had much reason to in the past.
    Rather tentatively, I twisted the door handle and peeked inside. The walls were mahogany panelled and the carpet was a rich brown. There was only one small window, which didn’t appear to allow much light in, so the room seemed drab. In fact, I suspected that the study was pretty much a forgotten room. Roger was inclined to do the majority of his work at the office of his accountancy firm, and the chunky black laptop sitting atop the desk was coated with a fine layer of dust. One potted dracaena plant stood tall in the corner, its leaves drooping ever so slightly. I made a mental note to come back and water it when I had more time.
    Pushing the thought aside for the time being, I approached the desk and brushed the dust from the laptop. The internet connection cable was already hooked into the port, so all I needed to do was switch it on at the mains. After that, things were relatively straightforward. There was a fast connection, too, which almost seemed wasted on people who didn’t use it—especially since my connection at home was so poor that it was hardly worth the bother.
    While the search engine loaded, I took a seat in Roger’s office chair.
    It was only when I started typing that I noticed my palms were clammy. Apparently, what I was about to do was affecting me far more than I cared to admit. The truth was that whatever secret I unearthed, it would change things forever. Would change Oscar forever. There would be no turning back.
    Swallowing nervously, I tapped my index finger on the keys.
    Translations.
    I clicked ‘Search’ and watched as a long list of results appeared on the screen. I scrolled down until I found what looked like a good link and clicked on it. As the webpage materialised before me, I unfolded the notebook paper and re-read the scrawled words.
    “Bellator Tenebris. Mortifer Veneficus,” I spoke them quietly before typing them into the translation box.
    Below the text box were the final two steps required for the translation process.
    ‘Choose language to translate from’ and ‘Choose language to translate to’.
    The latter option was simple, so I began with that first. I highlighted ‘English’ on the selection of language choices.
    The top option, ‘Choose language to translate from,’ was much trickier to complete.
    I wasn’t familiar with any of the words on the coin, so that narrowed my search down to not English .
    What language is it likely to be? my brain churned. Well, Valero sounded Italian. I started with that.
    I highlighted ‘Italian’ and clicked on ‘Translate.’
    It took a few seconds, but the results were inconclusive. Annoyingly, the text box was wiped clear.
    Okay, so it was not Italian. I retyped the words into the space provided.
    Think logically . I stared at the lettering.