Riordan said, "Let's go to the library and tell the other sorcerers what happened." They got on their horses and rode back to the secret entrance to the library that Safire used. Riordan knocked on the door. It opened, and an elderly gentleman with a long white beard stood in the door. "Oh, hello, Riordan!" he said as he opened the door.
Riordan threw his arms around him and sobbed. "Andrew, Frances, and Vincent are all dead! We came here because we had information that a warlock was going to come to the vault and steal the rings. When we got here, the rings were gone, and my friend's bodies lay on the ground, slashed to bits in Tristan's vault. Tristan is dead too! Even Safire was not able to prevent the break-in." Riordan sobbed into the man's robe.
"I know. She came and told us this morning," the man said as he patted Riordan's back.
Riordan dried his eyes and said, "Oh, and these are my friends Angelina, Willow, and Christabel." He pointed to each woman.
"It's nice to meet you all. My name is Melvil," the elderly man said. He narrowed his eyes. "Are you the sorceress who killed King Banderon?"
Y"es, that was me!" Willow said.
"Well, come on in," Melvil said.
He backed away from the doorway and gestured toward the interior of the room. Willow walked inside and was shocked by the number of books she saw. Thousands and thousands of them lined the shelves, and Willow estimated that the room stretched for at least a mile. Sorcerers and sorceresses were everywhere, reading and writing at tables. She felt rather ashamed that she thought the library back at Tareth's castle was a real Knowledge Sorcerers' library upon laying eyes on an actual Knowledge Sorcerers' library.
"This place is huge!" Willow gasped.
"It's the largest library in the entire world," Melvil replied.
They descended the steps and walked down to the floor of the library. "Well, Tareth is back in our world, but this time we have his journal and know what he is up to," Riordan said.
Melvil's eyes widened. "You have his journal?" He gasped. Willow reached into her bag and pulled out the journal. Melvil grinned happily. "How on earth did you get that?"
"I guess studying magic with an evil warlock by accident had its perks. After Riordan's grandparents rescued me, I turned into a cloud and floated back into the castle. I thought there might be some kind of clue about what his plans for Ethermoor are among his things. He wrote that he wanted to make Princess Desdemona and Princess Ambrosia immortal, along with the name of the book that had the immortality spell in it. I looked in the book and saw information on how to kill an immortal."
"And how is that?"
"By exposing an immortal to their greatest weakness."
"And what is his?"
"I don't know. But we will try to find out."
Melvil pointed to Angelina's ring and asked, "Young lady, what is that ring you are wearing?"
Angelina said, "Oh, it's just a family heirloom."
Melvil raised his eyebrows. "A family heirloom? That ring?" he asked. Angelina remembered that Knowledge Sorcerers could sense lies. It wasn't a lie, just only part of the truth about the ring.
"Well, it's a world turner ring. At least, that's what my father told me. I am . . . not from here. By that, I mean that I am from a country called the United States of America. I was living in the state of Florida. Riordan says that Tristan lived in Florida and used the state's name as the spell to melt the snow off the doors to the vault and the library. I was traveling on an airplane to move from Miami to Boston. All of a sudden, there was a burst of light, and everyone on the plane disappeared but me. Suddenly, I looked out the window and saw trees where there had previously been an ocean. I wondered if I had gone through some kind of inter-dimensional portal. I jumped out of the plane and into the woods. That's my story of how I came to Ethermoor," Angelina said.
To her surprise, Melvil did not appear in the least surprised by the story. "Could you hold your hand up so that I can see the ring?" Melvil asked. Angelina held her hand up, and he studied the ring very carefully. His face was grave. "It's apparent to me that you have never used this ring. If you had, you would not have been shocked by the experience of traveling to another world."
Angelina replied, "It has never worked for me, and it didn't work for any of my family members who owned it before I did."
"It probably isn't broken; it's just missing something. Come with me," Melvil said.
Was he finally going to get Angelina's centuries-old family heirloom to do its intended purpose? Angelina was elated at the idea, and nervous at the same time. They walked through the massive library and into a room. The floor space was taken up by a vast chemistry apparatus that sat in the middle of it. Angelina and Willow paused to look at it.
"Come here," Melvil said, calling them out of their amazement-induced haze. They walked around the apparatus and saw Melvil unlock a cabinet. There were all kinds of potions, herbs, and chemicals in a variety of bottles sitting inside. He reached in and pulled out a jar. "Take off your ring, please." Melvil's eyes sparkled as he spoke.
Willow took her ring off and handed it to him. He stuck a pin in a hole in the side of the ring, and an odd little compartment popped open.
"How do you know about this ring?" Angelina asked.
"We have information in the library on all the items that belonged to Tareth that were taken by the fairies when they left our world," Melvil replied.
He held up the bottle and said, "Observe, Angelina. This is real fairy dust that a sorceress donated to the library. The ring operates on fairy dust because fairy dust enables travel between worlds." He uncorked the bottle and poured a tiny bit of fairy dust into his hand. It glowed so brightly that it nearly blinded Angelina. Melvil put a pinch of fairy dust in the compartment and closed it. Nothing happened. "Now, each of the symbols on the ring represents a world that is known to fairies."
"I know," Angelina said.
"You know?"
"Yes." She pointed to each of the runes and said, "This one stands for Morvogoth, Tareth's realm. This one stands for Mandaria, the realm where Ethermoor is located. This one stands for Kalmovar, where I am from."
She proceeded to point at the runes for Danvorian, Halvaroth, Janiria, Zanzamoria, and Yanrith.
"You're from Florida in Kalmovar?" Melvil said, eyes wide with interest.
"Yes, I am," Angelina replied.
"Tristan lived there for a few years before he fell through the inter-dimensional crack 498 years ago."
"But Florida didn't exist 498 years ago."
"Remember that the fairies went to different worlds and different centuries within those worlds," Riordan said to Angelina.
Angelina asked Melvil, "Did Tristan ever say what year in the Kalmovarian world he lived in?"
"He said the year was 2016 in that world," Melvil replied.
"That's just a few years ago in my world!" Angelina gasped. He knew about modern life in America!
"Are you ready to try the fairy dust with your ring?" Melvil asked.
"Yes, sir!" Angelina said excitedly.
N"ow, put the ring on, spin the little dial on the top of it, and see if it works," Melvil said.
Angelina was very nervous about inter-dimensional travel. "What if I get stuck in some other world?" Angelina asked.
"Just spin the dial on top of the ring and say 'Ethermoor.' At least, that's what I've learned about it from books," Melvil replied.
Angelina was still very skeptical that the ring would work. She placed it on her finger and turned the little dial. A bright light illuminated the circle on top of the ring where all the runes were. The circle on top spun around violently. Suddenly, Angelina saw the world spinning around her in a white blur. She saw all kinds of strange scenes from places she had never been before, along with an image of her mother back in Boston. It made her feel homesick for her family. Angelina knew that she could not leave her new friends and return to her world when an evil warlock was pursuing them.
"Ethermoor!" she screamed. She was suddenly standing in the middle of the library again, and was dizzy from all the spinning.
"Well, how was it?" Christabel asked.
"It was definitely an adventure!" Angelina breathed as she tried to regain her balance.
Willow was curious about how Tareth had gotten to Ethermoor. "The stories say an evil fairy named Garavind traveled to another world to bring him here," Willow said. She had always heard that Tareth was brought to Ethermoor by an evil fairy.
"He did. Tareth only made the ring after he came here. He conspired with Garavind to destroy the other fairies and sorcerers. Garavind died for his crimes," Melvil replied.
Angelina said, "This ring was passed down through my family for generations. The oldest child got it on their eighteenth birthday. My father said my ancestor was Queen Zadelia of the Ethermoorian fairies, and she took Tareth's most powerful object with her to Earth when she left Ethermoor. It was the ring that allowed him to hop worlds."
She decided to confess her intention to stay in Ethermoor for the time being. "When I was in between worlds, I saw my mother in Boston. Even though I can now go home, I have decided to stay and help you defeat Tareth."
Willow threw her arms around Angelina and hugged her. "Oh, thank you!" she squealed.
"Now, that doesn't mean that I will try to run the country," Angelina said, wagging her forefinger at Willow.
Melvil blinked twice. "Pardon me, but . . . run the country?"
"We're trying to get her to help us set up a new government when we dispose of Tareth," Willow said. Angelina rolled her eyes.
Melvil asked, "Young lady, do you know anything about ruling a country?"
"Not really, but my mother was a politician in America, so Willow thinks I'd be the best one for the job. I have tried my whole life to stay out of politics."
"But, you can help us, right?" Willow asked.
"Yes, I can help you." Angelina sighed. She looked up and saw a bulletin board with all kinds of newspapers tacked onto it. The headlines were all stories about mysterious disappearances. There were papers about Banderon's assassination and the killer going missing.
"What are all these papers here?" Angelina asked.
"Our sorcerers who are working as newspaper reporters have informed us that these papers are full of lies. They sent us copies of them so that we can have records of the moves that Tareth and his students are making. Tareth's name started showing up in the papers after the king's assassination," Melvil said. He pulled open a drawer and pulled a newspaper out. "This is one that your sister, Piper, sent us from Seaside, Riordan."
Melvil put the paper on the table with the apparatus on it. He opened another drawer and took out a canister. Once he opened the canister, a terrible whiff came from inside it. He stuck his hand inside and pulled out a handful of black dust. He blew the dust on the paper, and all of a sudden, the letters began rearranging themselves.
"What is that dust?" Angelina asked, wrinkling her nose in disgust.
Melvil replied, "These are the ashes of pants that were set on fire and burned. We say a spell as we are burning the pants so that the ashes can help us when we sense a lie in print form."
Angelina burst out laughing. "As in, 'liar, liar, pants on fire'?" The others just looked at her. "It's a saying we have back in my world."
"I guess so!" Melvil chuckled. The letters rearranged themselves into the words. The message that spoke the truth the lie was hiding came through on the paper.
"Cool!" Angelina gasped.
The words "Sorcereress Killed in Seaside. Faeblood Wraiths Suspected" appeared on the headline. All of a sudden, Willow heard the sound of the ocean coming from her bag. She pulled out her shell cauldron, and sure enough, she could hear the sound of the ocean coming from it. It was as if it was telling her that it had belonged to that sorceress.
Stolen story; please report.
"I believe her cauldron came to me after she died," Willow said.
"That is what happens after a sorcerer or sorceress dies—their most prized magical object falls into the hands of the next most qualified sorcerer or sorceress if the previous owner had not already chosen someone to take care of it. It chooses them," Melvil said.
Christabel asked, "Um, do you have a newspaper article that details why Prince Gregory's men attacked my carriage? Do you have any papers from two mornings ago?" Christabel asked.
"I think there are two of them here," Melvil said. He opened a drawer and pulled out two newspapers. He put the newspapers on the counter, opened them up, and took them apart, placing each page of the paper on the counter.
Melvil dumped the firepants soot on the papers. Nothing happened. He turned each of the pages to the other sides and dumped the soot on the other sides of the paper. Again, nothing happened.
"There must be something written about a noblewoman getting attacked by soldiers in the middle of a forest!" Christabel squealed.
Melvil blinked and said, "A noblewoman?" He was surprised that Riordan had brought a noblewoman to the library.
"She's on our side. She is one of the lunatics who has strange experiences the night of the full moon," Riordan said.
"Well, no. We haven't seen any stories about a noblewoman getting attacked by soldiers," Melvil replied to Christabel.
"But my mother saw the carriage! She screamed! I heard her! Certainly a noblewoman's daughter's death would have made the news!" Christabel whimpered.
"But you aren't dead!" Melvil replied.
"When the attackers came, I faked my death to get out of marrying a man I've never met!" Christabel said.
Melvil eyed her sternly and said, "There are a great many things that are being kept secret since Tareth's return. Your faked death is probably among them."
"What kinds of things are being kept secret?" Willow asked.
"Things like the disappearances and deaths, mostly," Melvil replied. Willow opened the journal to the entry Tareth wrote about the man who brought magic back to Ethermoor.
"Also, there is something written about that terrible explosion that happened several months ago. Here it is," Willow said as she handed the journal to Melvil. He flipped through the pages and read the entries with great interest.
"Well, I'll be! A non-magical human taught himself how to read fairy runes and found his way to Zadelia's castle," he said. He closed the book. "There's only one way to find out what happened to the professor and the fairy he summoned, and that's to go to the University of Aralin and ask the police about his murder and the people he knew. Or perhaps you should try to find the fairy first."
"Ask the police? When two of us are wanted by the law and one is trying to hide from her noble family members?" Angelina asked, wide-eyed.
"Well, that's true. You can't go to the police," Melvil mumbled.
"Well, I guess we'd better get going. Let's form the line," Willow said. Riordan, Christabel, Angelina, and Willow stood in a line and held hands. An alarmed expression came over Melvil's face, which Willow found odd.
"Line? What kind of sorcerer needs a line of other people to perform a spell?" He gasped.
Willow replied, "Tareth taught me a traveling spell, and we have been using it to get from one place to another. The trips would otherwise take weeks."
Melvil's face suddenly turned bright red. "No, young lady! You must NEVER perform any of his spells, ever!"
"It's just a traveling spell!" Willow said, confused.
Melvil lowered his voice. "It's one of Tareth's spells and is most likely full of dark magic!" he hissed.
Willow knew it would take them weeks to get to Aralin from the Celexia Mountain Range without the spell. "Nothing has happened to me yet," she said.
"You don't know what will happen! Maybe nothing has happened yet, but something terrible might happen!" Melvil begged.
"It will take us weeks to get to Aralin if we don't use the spell, and who knows what kind of damage Tareth can do in that amount of time!" Riordan said. Melvil closed his mouth.
"Well then, very well, do what you like since that's what you are going to do anyway! Just be careful! And don't cast that spell in here!" Melvil said.
Angelina stifled a laugh since that statement reminded her of her parents lecturing her when she was younger.
"I thank you very much for all that you have done for us," Willow said. She shook hands with Melvil, and he walked with them to the secret entrance. The horses had been tied up outside and were waiting for them.
Willow opened the door to the outside. A massive blast of freezing wind hit them. Willow wished that Melvil would have allowed them to recite the spell in the library, but she knew that they would only be standing in the snow for a short amount of time.
"Maybe we should try to find the fairy helper Dr. Smith summoned first. Her name is Aslin," Willow said.
They all stood in a line and held hands. Willow waved her wand over her head three times and recited the transporter spell. She said, "Fairy Aslin," at the end of it in hopes the spell would transport them to wherever she was. Nothing happened.
"Uh-huh! He was right! We shouldn't be reciting such spells!" Christabel squealed.
"No, we didn't go anywhere because I don't know where she is. You have to say the name of the place you want to go to for the spell to work," Willow replied.
Willow knew the university was in a town called Shimmerwater. She said, "All right, we will go to Aralin University in the town of Shimmerwater."
Willow waved her wand above her head and recited the spell again.
Everything around them turned white. The scenery began to grow clearer, and Willow saw they were in the middle of a bustling city. She turned around and saw a young college student sitting on the side of a fountain and staring at them with her mouth hanging open. A book sat open in her lap, and she was writing a paper. Judging from the position of her hand, she had stopped writing mid-sentence when they just appeared out of nowhere right in front of her.
P"retend you didn't see that!" Willow said, remembering that she should have recited the spell so that they landed outside Shimmerwater and no one would see how they arrived there. The student shut her mouth and continued writing her paper. Willow had never seen such large buildings. She knew the University of Aralin was reputed to be huge, but she didn't imagine that it was this big.
Magical remedies were not a part of formal education and were passed down through families. Since Willow wanted to go into the family business, she didn't go to college. "Riordan, did you go to college?" she asked.
"Yes. I went to Havorgrind University for Investigative Science."
"What's that?"
"Being a newspaper reporter."
"How in the world do we find out where this guy worked in here?" Christabel asked.
"Certainly there must be an admissions office. They exist at universities in America." Angelina replied.
"Did you go to college?" Willow asked.
"Yes, but my school wasn't as big as this one," Angelina replied.
"So did I! I went to college to be a criminal investigator!" Christabel said.
"As a princess?" Riordan asked, raising his eyebrow.
"Yes! I went because I am good at finding out the truth about strange incidents. I have solved cold cases and caught several criminals by using my intuition!" Christabel said.
"Uh-huh . . ." Riordan mumbled.
"Okay, so who will do the talking here?" Willow asked.
Riordan said, "I will."
"No, I will. You can't lie, remember?" Christabel asked.
"Oh, yeah . . ." Riordan said, remembering that his truth-sensing abilities might hinder their task.
Angelina turned around and saw a large building that had the words "College of Music" written on the sign outside of it. "Perhaps we don't have to go very far to ask someone for information about him. Let's go inside here."
They walked into the music building and heard the sounds of several instrumental ensembles practicing inside the locked rooms. They walked through the halls, searching for someone who looked as if they might be a professor.
They finally came upon an office. A young man was sitting at a desk. He was either a student who held a job at the school or a young professor. Christabel asked, "Excuse me?" The young man looked up. "Could you tell me where Doctor Edward Smith lived?"
The young man looked at her as if she were crazy. "He died three months ago. I never had him as a professor."
"Where is the archaeology department located?"
"In the humanities building," the young man replied.
H"ow can we get to the humanities building?" Christabel asked.
The young man handed her a map. "Here's a map of the campus," he said. They looked at the map and took mental notes of all the names of streets and buildings.
"Thank you," Christabel said to the young man.
They walked outside and saddled their horses. They rode past beautiful large stone buildings as they rode through the city. Willow had never seen such beautiful architecture before.
"Man, this place sure is nicer looking than the capitol!" Angelina said.
Christabel laughed. "Well, just about anywhere is nicer than the capitol."
"I wonder what humanities is," Willow wondered aloud.
"I took a humanities class in college back home. It is about history and art, music, archaeology, and things like that," Angelina replied.
"What is archaeology?" Willow asked.
"Archaeologists are people who study ancient cultures and search for ancient relics. Which seems to be what Dr. Smith was doing," Angelina replied.
They finally came to a building with a sign that read "Humanities" hanging over the doors. They tied their horses to posts outside the building and walked inside. Willow, Christabel, Angelina, and Riordan walked around until they found an office. A woman sat behind a desk.
"Hello! I am looking for Doctor Edward Smith," Christabel said.
"You didn't hear? He died three months ago," the woman said.
Christabel feigned sadness. "I am so sorry to hear that! I am a former student, and I was in town and wanted to see him in between his classes."
"He was murdered by his girlfriend. At least, that's what the police think. The investigation is ongoing. They had been dating for a week when it happened," the woman said.
"What was his girlfriend's name?" Angelina asked.
Girlfriend? After just a week? Willow wondered.
"Her name was Aslin Thornflower. He was so excited when he introduced her to us after he met her," the woman said sadly.
"Do you know anything else about her?" Riordan asked.
"Well, no. Not really. I only know that he went on a camping trip and returned with her. She fled the city immediately after his murder."
"Do you know where he lived?"
"No, I do not, and we don't give information on professors' addresses, anyway."
Willow said, "Well, thank you very much. We are sorry to hear about Doctor Smith's passing."
They walked out of the building. "Don't you want to get more information from that lady?" Christabel asked.
"I have an idea. Something that I didn't think about when we got here," Willow said. She showed them her dragonfly bracelet. "This is a pendant I use to help me find things and people. I cast a locator spell on it to help me find something or someone I am looking for. We can use it to find Dr. Smith's house." She pinched the pendant and said, "Earth and wind, come together to guide this little dragonfly pendant to the former residence of Doctor Edward Smith." The pendant jolted forward. "Follow me. This pendant will lead us to where the professor lived." They all saddled their horses again and followed Willow.
They rounded corners and walked through the city before they came upon a plain small house on the outskirts of the city. There was a For Sale sign placed in the front yard. Willow remembered that they needed a small pin to unlock the door. As far as she knew, neither Riordan nor Christabel had the power to turn into a cloud or a firefly.
"Does anyone have a straight pin?" she asked. She remembered the unlocking locks spell that she learned when studying with Tareth, but she didn't want to use any of his spells any more than was absolutely necessary.
Angelina rummaged around in her bag and pulled out a needle. She always kept a small sewing kit with her. "Thank you!" Willow said as Angelina handed her the needle. Willow stuck it in the lock and wiggled it.
The lock popped open. Willow opened the door, and the musty smell of a house that had been closed up for months hit Willow in the face. They walked inside, and the house was very dark. Willow followed where the pendant was leading her.
She walked down a hallway and into a room that might have been a library at one point. It was a vast room, and empty bookcases lined the walls. She remembered a journal entry she had read about Tareth taking everything from the man to stock his library back on Enchantica Island. She decided to ask Riordan a question that had been bothering her for several days. "Riordan?"
"Yes?" Riordan replied.
"Do you think Dr. Smith was up to something evil, trying to bring magic back to Ethermoor?" she asked.
Riordan ran his hands over the shelf and said, "I don't think so. I can sense if someone did something purposely dishonest, but I'm not getting that vibe here. I think he was a hobbyist magician."
"What's a hobbyist magician?" Willow asked.
"A person who loves to study magic to learn about its history and significance in Ethermoor."
"But there is a reason it is now illegal for a human to practice magic, isn't there?"
Riordan sighed. "Yes. Too many wicked people used it solely for power."
"I wish there was something that could give us a clue as to what happened to this man," Willow said. She felt the pendant turn her in another direction. Willow followed the pendant into the living room and felt it pull her to a place behind the sofa. She got behind the sofa and began pushing it. "I need help moving the sofa!"
Angelina got on one side of the sofa, and Riordan got in the front. "Now, on the count of three, I'll pull while you push," Riordan said. "One, two, three!" He pulled on the sofa while the others pushed.
The sofa made a screeching sound as it slid across the wooden floor. There was a rotten place in the floorboards and a large hole in three of the floorboards. Willow made her hands glow so that she could see what was inside the hole. She stuck her hand inside and saw a small fairy trinket lying in the dirt. She tried to grab it with her hand but discovered that the floor was about six feet above the dirt.
"Angelina, could you use your magic to bring that fairy figurine to us?" Willow asked.
Angelina stuck her hand out, and a small vine came out of her palm. She wrapped the vine around the small trinket and pulled it up to her hands. Willow was a bit confused. What did the trinket mean? Was it a gift or a reminder of something?
"Is there something significant about this?" Angelina asked.
Christabel said, "Hand it to me. I can sense things about items that belonged to murder victims." Riordan thought this was an odd statement. Willow handed the fairy to Christabel, and she studied it closely.
"He just collected fairy art, all things fairy, to be exact. He collected books, trinkets, and all kinds of things having to do with them. This thing just fell out of his pocket as he was sitting here the day he bought it. It fell between the cushions on the sofa, and eventually onto the floor." She lifted the cushions and saw that there were large spaces in between the planks that made up the seat of the sofa.
"Yup. It fell through the planks," she said.
Riordan said, "Hand it to me. I want to see if there is any dark magic associated with it." Christabel handed the object to Riordan, who coated it with the fire-pants soot. Nothing happened. "There is no kind of dark magic attached to it."
"Well, there wouldn't be! He bought it at a flea market! He stuck it in his pocket and promptly forgot it when he got home. It fell through the cushions of the sofa," Christabel said.
"How do you know this stuff?" Angelina asked.
"I had a vision when I held it," Christabel replied.
"What else did you see?" Riordan asked.
"Nothing. The vision just showed me how he got it."
Willow sat on the sofa, totally stumped. She heard the sound of an owl hooting outside. Angelina looked up and saw a large eagle owl perched on the ledge of an open window, carrying a leather-bound book in one of its talons. The owl hooted, and Angelina understood every word it said.
"Are you a fairy?" the owl hooted.
"No, I am a sorceress. How did you know I am one of the magical people?" Angelina asked.
"I was hunting for my breakfast outside this house, and I saw you shoot a vine out of your hand. You also look like a human and can talk to me, so that is proof that you are," the owl hooted.
He let go of the book with his talon. "This is for you. The fairy who lived here for a little while told me to give this to someone who possesses fairy magic. It's the professor's notes. She said someone murdered him, and she instructed me to hide his most prized book in my hole so that the evil man who killed him wouldn't find it."
Angelina's heart throbbed with excitement. "Do you know what the murderer's name was or what he looked like?"
"He had brown fur, and like all humans, his fur was only on top of his head," the owl replied.
"Is that all you can tell me?" Angelina asked.
"Yes. I do not know his name. I was perched on a branch to sleep one day, and I saw this hideous human with brown fur on its head run by my tree. That night, the fairy who lived here told me that she was leaving and that I was to guard this book. So, I put it in my hole where no other human would ever think to look for it. She told me to only give it to a magical person," the owl said.
Angelina excitedly flipped through the pages, but since she was not very familiar with Ethermoorian magic, she was not familiar with most of the terms and places in the book. She recognized the legends about fairy rings that were written there because the fairy ring stories were similar to the ones she had heard back in America. She was shocked to learn about the fairy rings in Ethermoor. According to the notes, fairy rings were gateways to both the world of the fairies and the Afterlife. She had previously only known about fairy godmothers, the tooth fairy, and her ancestor Queen Zadelia.
She handed the book to Willow, whose mouth dropped open in shock at the contents of the book. "This contains the locations of rock rings as well as the forests where the disappearing rings appear and what time of the year they occur!" She gasped.
Riordan interrupted, "Are we forgetting that time is of the essence here with Tareth having conquered Ethermoor?" He sounded irritated.
"Oh, right. No, we haven't forgotten," Willow said.
"I mean, yes, it's important that we found this notebook, but we kind of need to get back to Ethermoor City. We can work on solving the rest of the murder later."