It took a few days but Nina was finally able to get out of the Academy long enough to get to the Central Library. Dr. Rothstein had been kind enough to let her start her assistant job after she came back from the semester break. That worked out well for her given that final exams and the studying that went with them were taking up a lot of her time. Plus, she was going home over the break; her father had insisted especially after what had happened. It was alright though since she wanted to talk to him and her mom about the weird change.
Nina hadn’t been able to get herself to transform again since that day either. She had no idea what had even triggered it. The only clue she had was the necklace which had been the only thing from that get up that remained when she changed back.
For now she figured she would concentrate on the transmutation circles, maybe they would give her some ideas on the rest.
When she climbed the stairs to the Third Branch of the Central Library, Adrienne was waiting for her outside the door.
“Sorry it took so long to get here,” she said as she walked up to him and gave him a hug. “I had to dodge the MPs to leave the school. I know they have to keep an eye on things but I swear, they could lighten up. I thought they weren’t supposed to be obvious anyway; at least that’s what Armstrong told me when we got here. I highly doubt anything else is going to happen this soon though.”
“It’s alright; I haven’t been here long anyway. Besides, be thankful that there are people looking out for you.”
Nina just shrugged. “I really don’t think I need it but I guess you’re right. Oh well, let’s get inside and get to work before they show up here and try to cause more of a headache.”
They pushed open the door and went inside. The place was huge and there were shelves of books everywhere. Nina and Adrienne walked up to the lady behind the desk to ask where they could find the books on alchemy.
“Well it depends on what exactly you’re looking for,” she said to them. “The basic books are on the shelves over there,” she continued, pointing to her left. “But if you want something more I’m afraid you have to be either a certified State Alchemist or have written permission from the Fuhrer’s office to access the room that contains those books.”
Nina just smiled and pulled the silver pocket watch out and showed it to the librarian. “Well it’s a good thing I’m certified isn’t it? I think this is enough to prove that. My name is Nina Elric, maybe you’ve heard of me?” Nina didn’t like using any sort of notoriety but she didn’t have a choice right now and she didn’t have time for questions.
The woman couldn’t believe what she was seeing. How did this girl have the silver watch? She had heard about a teen-age girl recently being certified so she wouldn’t say no. “Alright then, the books are through that door behind me. I’ll let you in but the young man has to stay here if he doesn’t have certification or permission.”
Nina and Adrienne nodded. They figured this might be the case. “I’ll see what I can find out here,” he said.
“Right and when I’m done in there we can compare notes,” Nina said as she went around the counter.
The librarian walked Nina over to the door and unlocked it to let her in. “If you need anything just let me know.”
“Thanks,” she said as she closed the door. “Now I think I need to start with the books on alchemic symbols.”
Nina walked through the shelves of books looking for anything that might have what she needed. She found two in the first row and sat down at the table and started reading through them. The first didn’t have anything useful but she hadn’t been reading the second one long before she came across a symbol that she recognized. Nina took a paper out of her notebook and compared it to what she saw in the book. Thankfully she had sat down after she’d gotten back to the dorm that night and sketched out what she remembered of the circles that had been on her hand. She knew it wasn’t complete and she wished she knew how to transform again so she could get the rest but at least she had something to go on.
“What?” she said to herself as she read about the symbol. “How can that be? Teleportation, that’s not possible.” Nina quickly wrote down all of the important things so she could look them over later then moved onto another book.
She had been in the room for just over an hour when she’d found as many of the symbols as she’d been able to remember and that didn’t include the alchehestry symbols. Nina hoped she might be able to get the meaning of those symbols from her aunt later. Grabbing her things she went back out into the main part of the library.
Adrienne was sitting at a table when she came back out. He looked up from the book he was reading and smiled at her. “Any luck?”
Nina sat down at the table and took out her notes. “You wouldn’t believe it,” she said positioning the pages of her notes so he could see them. “It seems the symbols and runes in those circles include everything from alchehestry to teleportation alchemy. I even found one that enables a shockwave of some kind too. I can’t help but wonder if I’ve come across some form of universal transmutation circle.”
Adrienne looked at her in disbelief. “That’s not possible.”
Nina sighed heavily. “I know but it’s the only thing that makes any sense given the wide variety in the symbols. I can’t know for sure though until I can look them all up. I have to find a way to transform like that again so I can get the symbols I don’t remember. That’s the only way I’ll be able to be sure.”
“You still haven’t been able to figure out how to do it again?”
Nina shook her head. “No but I have a feeling it has something to with this,” she said as she pulled the necklace out of her shirt. She’d kept it on since that day just in case. “It was the only part of the outfit that didn’t go away when I changed back. The semester break starts next week so I’m hoping I can ask my parents about it while I’m at home.”
“Do you really think they’ll know anything? I mean, this really is a strange one…”
“It wouldn’t hurt to ask them. I mean my dad was the youngest State Alchemist in history and he’d been seen a lot of stuff and from the stories my mom used to tell me about her younger days and how she has some talents too. I don’t know too much about them but then I never asked since I always thought she was just making it up to have a good bedtime story to tell me and Amy. Now though, well I think maybe her stories weren’t so crazy. Did you find anything?”
Adrienne closed the book he’d been reading and shook his head. “Not really, just the basic circles and symbols that’s about it,” he replied. His face turned a bit sad as well.
“What’s the matter?” Nina asked noticing the change in his expression.
“Nothing really, just thinking about not being able to see you during the semester break, that’s all.”
Nina smiled gently at him. “Aw, aren’t you just adorable? Don’t worry, it’s only for two weeks then I’ll be back here again.” She got up and went over so she was behind him. Gently she wrapped her arms around his shoulders had hugged him, resting her head against his. “Don’t worry; I’m going to miss you while I’m gone Adrienne.”
Adrienne put his hand on her arms and closed his eyes. “I’m going to miss you too…” he said softly feeling his chest get tight with heartache. She wasn’t gone yet but just the thought of her not being there was more than enough to bring it on.
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