The Seal of Oblivion by Holly Dae Page B

fine.”
    Laqiya looked at Nana. Either the
woman was insane or she knew what she was talking about. Laqiya just hadn’t
decided which was the case yet.
    “Now you need help with something?”
    “It depends on what you’re saying I
need help with.” Laqiya asked thinking of all the things she could use help
with.
    “You need help with a lot of
things.”
    “You read my mind again.”
    Nana smiled. “No. You like open
book sometimes. Cherry Blossom need learn to take after you. Learn much she
could.”
    “If she’s hanging out with Isis,
trust me Isis will rub off on her. Then again, Sakura might rub off on Isis.”
    Nana laughed. “True that may be,
but even Isis is not as… humble and quiet as you are.”
    Laqiya had to blink at that one. Her… quiet and humble? Okay what piece of the puzzle was she
missing?
    “What?”
    “Not bad thing,” Nana replied.
    “Isis is quiet in physical sense
and humble in physical sense. You,” Nana pause to take a sip of her cooled tea.
“You keep things to self. Don’t burden people with problems. Make you quiet type.
You rather not tell people what you do. Not want attention so you not tell
anyone make you humble.”
    Laqiya open and closed her mouth
trying to find a response but could find no argument, for everything Nana said
was true, in a way.
    “I watch you and friends every time
you come here giggling and laughing, talking about Tyrant…”
    “You can hear us?” Laqiya asked.
    “Powers make hearing keen.” Nana
then looked at the clock on the wall in the kitchen. “Time go by fast when not looking. Make realize that time for us short on this planet.
Look back and not believe you been here so long. Must not
waste it as so many others have.”
    Laqiya looked at the clock and her
jaw dropped. She was supposed to be home an hour ago. She didn’t know she had
been here that long. Her mother was going to kill her.
    “Worry not child. Called mother,
told her you keep me company for afternoon. You not in trouble… Cousin though,
cannot say same.” Nana gave an amused smile, and Laqiya decided she didn’t want
to know what the woman was seeing right now or even how she knew Laqiya was
coming before she came, because that could be the only way Nana had called her
mother. Nana hadn’t used the phone while Laqiya was there. That was for sure.
    “Take tea over there child,” Nana
said as she flipped a page through a large book on the table, a book Laqiya
hadn’t noticed sitting there before
    Laqiya stood up got the tea and put
it in her bag.
    “Thank you Nana,” Laqiya said out
of being polite, but she wasn’t quite sure what she was saying thank you for. She
just knew that it wasn’t all for the tea.
    “No problem. Come back anytime. We
have more tea.”
    Laqiya nodded. When she told
Nightshield about this she would flip and go into frenzy about how she
shouldn’t trust people like that whether related to a friend or not. She
unconsciously rolled her eyes as she thought about the lecture she might end up
with.
    “You trust me hai?” Nana asked
wisely
    “How can I trust my own judgment? I
could be wrong,” Laqiya said.
    “You smart for girl your age. You
have good judge in character. Come to good use. What Nightshield say not matter
sometimes. Nightshield too protective,” Nana said rolling her eyes.
    Laqiya now had the feeling that
Nana and Nightshield had met before. Only someone who met the woman would talk
about her in the kind of familiar tone Nana was.
    “She’s always been protective of
me,” Laqiya said. “I’m mostly used to it.”
    “Good,” Nana said as Laqiya turned
around to leave. “Wait, you take this book.” She handed it to Laqiya who
tentatively took it from her.
    Laqiya looked at the title and
gasped in surprise. It was in the ancient Aramaic language like the books at
the palace.
    “Where did you get this?”
    “It’s been passed down,” Nana said
to her. “Never read it, but have feeling you might need it.”
    “Thank