《The 14th Zodiac》Chapter Ten
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Inside the heads' office, all head teachers were present. Four chairs were set in front of the large table. Cole pushed his chair away from the other three.
"Why on earth would you three want to be in observatory?" Bran asked.
"Surely there's enough of the celebration to entice you to go participate, right?" Evans asked.
"They're up to something!" Cole exclaimed.
The Cancer head shook her head. "You're also in trouble too, Cole. You were spying on other students enough to make one of them sick. It's invasion of privacy and just paranoia that you think these students are up to something sinister."
Cole's jaw dropped. He crossed his arms and slumped into the chair. Vincent almost wanted to laugh, but he knew it would be inappropriate.
"The observatory has a lot of research in it that students shouldn't be looking at yet," Lloyd added. "It ranges from theories to new stars being discovered that haven't been brought to light to the Signed or even the world."
All of the kids nodded. "We just wanted to look around. We didn't think about touching anything," Will explained.
"It was just so hard to not want to see what was in there, after seeing the observatory from the school grounds," Theresa said.
"Then why were one of you looking out for the others?" Cole asked.
"I wasn't looking out for them. I was coming to meet them!" Theresa lied.
Cole scoffed. The head teachers stared at them sternly. "I'm afraid we're going to have to ban you all from the rest of the celebration, as well as from exploring the grounds," Bran told them.
"What?!" Cole exclaimed.
"You will be allowed to use the commons and obviously continue to go to your combat training class, but the village is off limits. We don't want you all getting into more trouble."
Vincent tried his best to look upset. He could almost feel Evans staring right through their charade. He was waiting for the Sagittarius head to ask for the flash drives or question their motives for wanting to be in the observatory. Vincent wasn't sure, but he felt as if something was holding him back from doing so.
"You all are excused to go back to your dorms or the commons," Bran stated.
The four kids stood up and left. Cole marched off without any acknowledgement to them. Will made sure no heads were following them. "Let's meet in the commons. Bring your laptops if possible."
The three of them headed upstairs and split off into each respect hallway. Vincent passed by Cole's single room. He could hear him shouting to himself. He ignored it and went into his own room. Opening his door, he was greeted by Evans.
"How...?" Vincent questioned as he looked back towards the only hallway that led to the stairs.
"What did you see up there?" Evans asked as he leaned against the bed post.
"I..uh...didn't see anything?"
Evans chuckled. He motioned towards the closet. Vincent followed the movement and saw his luggage. "Sorry it took so long to find."
Vincent rushed over to it and began to open his stuff. "I had almost forgotten about it. Did you get it yourself?"
Evans shook his head. "I did see over the scouts and hunters who went to retrieve them."
"Well thanks. And if you could pass a thanks off to the scouts and hunters too."
Evans nodded and started to head out of the room. "Be careful, will you Vincent?" Evans said without looking away from the door.
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"Of course. Why though?" Vincent asked as he looked back towards the head.
"The information you are looking for might lead you to dangerous places. I can only do much in my position, but remember I'll try to be there for you and your friends."
"Thanks," Vincent replied, unsure of what Evans meant.
Evans looked to him and smiled and then took his leave. Vincent blinked a few times and then continued going through his luggage. He figured the most of it could wait, but he knew his parents would have packed his computer.
"Jackpot!" he exclaimed as he pulled out his laptop. He had almost expected it to be banged up or damaged from being lost, but it was in perfect condition. Vincent tucked the laptop under his arm and headed out of his dorm.
Will and Theresa were already in the commons area. They waved as Vincent jogged towards their table. "Sorry to keep you both waiting. They found my luggage so I was able to dig out my laptop," Vincent said as he pat the computer under his arm.
"No worries. We were just booting up ourselves."
Will pulled out his flash drives. He handed one to each Theresa and Vincent. After, he plugged two into his computer. "There were a lot of files to go through so hopefully it won't take too long. The night is still young."
Vincent plugged the USB into his laptop after setting it up. He was glad that there were public computers, so he was able to contact his parents if he wasn't able to call or text them. They were pretty confident that the scouts would find his belongings. He was glad they were right.
Vincent opened up the USB files and began to look through anything that would stick out to him. Almost all of them had Aspected as key words.
"No way!" Will exclaimed. Theresa and Vincent leaned over to look at his screen. "This is why Evans' name sounded so familiar. Vincent, he was the one who discovered your Zodiac 13 years ago!"
Vincent blinked a few times at the article that Will had on his screen. It showed a detailed sketch on what Celestic's constellation looked like as well as featuring a photo of a young Evans Litwin. He had to have been about their age in the picture.
"Says here that he was a new student here at Apsis when he discovered it. I must have read this article ages ago," Will explained.
"That's incredible," Theresa stated.
"It explains a lot," Vincent added. He understood Evans interest. If Evans discovered Celestic, than it was probably a goal of his to find a Signed under it. He couldn't help but smile. He was living proof that the child in the picture had discovered a new Zodiac. No wonder Evans seemed to care about him.
Vincent explained his thought process to the others. "That explains why he was eager to jump on the job to investigate you as a Signed," Will explained.
"That's what I thought," Vincent agreed.
"Still it makes me wonder why they still don't acknowledge your Zodiac completely," Theresa said as she began to go through some of the files on the flash drive.
"It might have something to do with his research. His telescope was pointed at the forest for some reason."
"Was there anything in the forest that it was looking at?" Will asked.
"There was a light. Don't know what it was coming from though."
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Will scrolled through the files on his computer. "There's probably something in these. Set a filter to look for anything with Evans Litwin in them."
Vincent and Theresa set the filter. It reduced the amount of files by a massive number.
"Wow," Theresa stated, "I have a few personal notes from Evans. This feels wrong to read these."
Will and Vincent both nodded. "We just need to get a lead, and we can stop. Maybe Evans wouldn't mind?" Will asked looking to Vincent for confirmation. Vincent nodded.
"I do think Evans is happy someone is doing something," Vincent replied.
Theresa looked back to her screen. "I suppose." She clicked the note and began to read it. After a few moments, she gasped. "They think he's making Celestic up!"
"Really?" both Vincent and Will asked.
"It says here in this note that he has been trying to get enough proof to prove it is a Zodiac, and even with finding a Signed for it, they still don't believe him!"
Vincent frowned. "How can my powers and what I did to that Aspected all be fake?"
Theresa shrugged and said, "It says that they think he's got several people involved to make it as realistic as possible."
Will facepalmed and shook his head. "That's ridiculous!"
"Are any of the heads on his side?" Vincent asked.
"Says a few are, but they are small in numbers. I believe there's something about all heads coming to agreement on certain Astrologian things to add them to what we know today," Theresa replied.
"That and scholars also have to agree. It's like pitching an idea or invention to a college of professors to get support and money to research further," Will explained. "It's a tough job to do something like that, especially because he's so young. It usually takes another decade or two for any scholar or teacher to even dream about becoming a head!"
Vincent couldn't believe the odds stacked against Evans. Evans always seemed so happy regardless. He must have loved his job a lot to put up with not being believed. Vincent knew he had to help Evans find the best evidence out there. He turned to his computer and began to scan the filtered files. Nothing really stood out that seemed helpful. He decided to change the filter to Celestic and see what would come up. One file remained after the filter.
Vincent opened the file and began to look over the contents. It seemed to be a theory that Evans had about the Aspected and their connection to the area and the Zodiacs. Evans believed that there was a point in the forest that the Aspected gather to that was their direct link to the Zodiacs themselves.
"This must be it, the light in the forest. Evans says here that Aspected are drawn to a point in the forest that links to the Zodiacs. He told me before that Aspected usually come to the forest from all over," Vincent told the other two.
Will and Theresa looked at each other and then back to Vincent. "So with this information, why haven't scouts or hunters been able to see it before?" Will asked. Theresa stood up and looked at Vincent's laptop.
"Because they weren't born under Celestic. My powers seem to be to sense and see anything Signed and celestial. Evans probably couldn't find it either," Vincent replied.
"Is it up to us to go and see what this gathering point is then?" Theresa asked as she looked at Vincent's computer.
"That could be dangerous," Will mentioned.
"I think it's what we have to do for the sake of my Sign and for Evans' career," Vincent told the two.
They all agreed. Their only trouble was going to be getting outside to the forest without getting in trouble.
"Shouldn't we wait for the daylight?" Theresa asked.
Vincent shook his head. "When Evans and I ended up in the forest when we came, there was so much to the top of the trees that you couldn't even tell what time of the day it was."
Will closed his laptop and stood up with a stretch. "The Aspected probably prefer the darkness anyways," the Cancer Signed told them. "It could be that they want it to always be night for seeking whatever it is they are looking for in the forest."
"True. So when would we try?"
The three all looked at each other. They didn't want to get in any more trouble than they were already in. Vincent shrugged and said, "We do have time. Perhaps we can wait until they lift the ban. Until then we can look out while we go to combat training. We should focus our studies, because that could lead to the answer." He looked to Will for confirmation. He nodded in return.
"You two are a lot different than I had initially thought," Theresa chuckled. "But it's a good thing. I thought we'd be breaking the rules all the time, and here we are talking about going to class." They all laughed together.
"That makes us different from others in our situation," Will replied with a smirk.
Vincent laughed more. He wasn't exactly sure if anyone else would ever get to there conclusions. Cole crossed his mind, but he knew Cole would have to be a different person for that to happen. He made a note to try and talk to Cole when he saw him next. Perhaps now that they were all in the same boat, he could be approached.
The three decided to call it for the night. They planned to spend their Saturdays while under the restriction in the commons studying together, so that's where they would meet tomorrow. Vincent said his goodbyes and headed back to his dorm.
Before entering his single dorm room Vincent took time to look at the door. The pointed star shined in the hallway light. The entire doorway seemed to glisten with the usual celestial stardust.
"Are there going to be more someday?" he asked out loud. He wondered if Celestic could hear him. He wasn't sure what the Zodiacs were to the Signed. Were they gods or deities of some sort? Signeds' powers were magical. Vincent figured there was some sort of connection to the celestial bodies that granted them the powers.
Vincent shook his head. If anyone saw him, he probably would look stupid. He pressed his hand on the door as he hoped that there would be more than one Celestic student someday, for his and Evans' sake.
He turned on the lights as he entered the dorm room. Star globes began to project what looked like a nightscape onto the ceiling. Vincent did feel tired because it had felt like such a long day. He decided to unpack all his belongings. His parents had apparently also sent along shirts with the color of his Zodiac. They must have been added when Evans discussed his Zodiac with his parents. They acted fast.
Soon all his clothes were put away and his laptop was set up on the desk. Vincent got ready for bed and started to climb in bed. Before he got into it completely, he noticed a strange object sitting on top of a letter. He hopped off the bed and grabbed the object. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was a watch. Not just any watch. It was a calendar.
Vincent grabbed the letter to see why he had one. The note read,
*Dear Vincent,
I'm gifting you this rather important tool for you journey. I don't quite know where your journey is to, but I can tell that you and your friends are going to do a lot of good by it. Just about any journey as a Signed is dangerous, so I believed you needed something to help protect you and your friends. I'm giving you my calendar. Only faculty usually have these, so I've included instructions on how to make it look like a normal watch. I never liked that setting, but I'd rather not you get caught with it.
Calendars work just about the same way for every Zodiac, but we have no idea how it works with Celestic. Please remember to tell me if you get around to needing it and tell me what happens.
Best of luck, and see you in class,
Evans Litwin*
Vincent looked back to the watch. He flipped the letter over and saw the instructions to turn it into a normal watch. Evans was smart. Vincent wondered if any of the other Heads noticed or were too busy with their plan to hush Vincent's Zodiac. He shook the idea away. He wasn't sure of all of the heads' opinions or motives. Vincent was sure that wherever he was going in the near future, he would find out.
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