Chapter 30: Deepest Desires
Sam deliberates for several moments before divulging the history of the two objects: the gold bracelet, and the square metal piece with the open center.
“You’re not going to like this.” Sam exhales morosely.
“I know you can’t see that far back, but you must have seen something?” I press.
“Just tell us, Sam,” Bishop prods.
“What I saw was—”
“Stuart Winston Murry, I know you’re in there!” Perpetua screams from outside Sam’s bedroom door. We all jump in our seats.
“What’s she doing here?” I can’t believe she has the nerve to traipse into our apartment, uninvited.
“Oh—it’s the other part of my punishment for my prank,” Stu explains. “I told you if we didn’t hurry, you’d find out soon.” He shrugs his shoulders.
“Perpetua is the other half of your punishment? I don’t understand.” I can’t risk her seeing me here.
“We’re supposed to be attached at the hip, never leave each other’s side, like glue, peas and carrots, or PB and J, for the rest of the school year,” Stu rambles. “Thanks to Terease, of course.” His lips fall at the corners. “And Perpetua’s driving me insane!”
Bang, bang, bang.
“Stu, if you don’t let me in, I’m gonna tell Terease!” Perpetua’s voice grows louder.
“What are we going to do?” I scramble to gather the relics. If necessary, I need to be ready to run again.
Before anyone can answer, the door falls off its hinges, landing with a loud thud on the floor. Perpetua squats in the doorway with her hands elevated in a karate chop position. She storms in. Her murderous eyes zero in on Stu. But she skids to a halt when she sees me.
“Oh, my—Seraphina, you’re in so much trouble. I hear Terease is looking for you. The question is…” she deliberates, “shall I run and tell her where you are?” She places a fingertip over her lips.
Bishop and Stu ambush her. Sam runs around the squabble and locks the front door.
Less than a minute later, we’re sitting back on the floor around the relics. Perpetua sits in a desk chair with a sheet tied around her body to restrain her and a dirty sock plugged into her mouth. The sock was my idea. I personally took it off my sweaty foot and shoved in her pouty mouth—inside out.
I’m thankful that Bishop took swift action, but I know I’d be ticked if my boyfriend had done the same to me. He, for some unknown reason, put me first, before Perpetua. For our team? Maybe. Even though I try not to, in my heart, I hope it’s for something more.
I analyze their body language, to see how they act around each other, but something’s off, and I can’t quite put my finger on what exactly it is. Perpetua squirms in her seat, giving me the evil eye.
“What about Jessica, your Seer? Won’t she know Perpetua’s tied up here?” I turn to Stu.
“Jessica went home. She doesn’t get back until tomorrow. She might call, if she’s watching, but I doubt she is. Her grandfather just died, so I think she’ll be distracted.”
“Let’s get a hustle on, just in case,” Bishop nudges.
“What I started to tell you all before we were so rudely interrupted,” Sam stops and gives Perpetua a sneer, “is that I couldn’t see anything. Not anything that makes sense, anyway. None of the scenes were in order, and I saw myself with the bracelet in scenarios I’m positive have never happened.
“What are you saying?” I ask.
“They’re broken, fragmented,” she says.
The Lady in Gold is right? I give Sam a look of confusion. My mind wanders back to the moment I first heard the term “fragmented.” I recite the explanation Mr. Matchimus gave us last week. “‘If you break them apart, they’d be broken, fragmented in time, creating travel roads that are warped and scrambled. We wouldn’t know where it would send you if you tried to use them. Very dangerous, indeed.’”
“Yes, exactly,” Sam says. “But, that’s what I expected since Bishop mentioned that the bracelet didn’t work in the relicutionist. Especially since we know that it’s already sent you back in time at the moment you thought of your mom. The bracelet and your mom must have crossed paths somewhere.”
“Right,” I agree. “But now what?”
“That’s why we brought in Stu,” Bishop adds, but he seems a little uncertain.
“I’ve done quite a bit of reading on fragmented items and other special relics. I had lots of time on my hands waiting for Perpet-a-thing to be harvested,” Stu explains, jerking his head toward Perpetua. “Who knew she would be so horrible when she got here.” He shoots her a hissy face. Perpetua jerks her chair angrily in his direction. He throws his hands in the air defensively and shrinks away as though she can still pound him while she’s tied up.
When he feels safe, Stu relaxes his guarded stance and pulls his notebook from his back pocket. The one I often see him scribbling in, the one Macey called “secret.”
“I have a sketch in here from an old book I found in the library, and I want to look at it again.” He flips to the correct page and nods his head, saying, “Ah-huh, ah-huh. It’s exactly the way I remember.” Then he slips the book into his back pocket and picks up each relic, inspecting them closer. He seems especially interested in the flat, square piece. He holds it up to the light.
When he does, I see the piece in the new way, and something clicks. “Oh—wait!” I unfasten the necklace Mona gave me and remove it from my neck. Then I slide the medallion off the chain and into my hand. I hold the pendant up, right next to the bronze piece.
We all gasp at the same time, realizing the two pieces are the same exact size and material. I lean into Stu to hold the two objects flat against each other. When they touch, they’re not only identical in size and shape, but they unexpectedly click together at a hinge point on the top. They become one piece, like a locket.
“Oh!” I grab it back, now as a unified piece. I open and close the locket in disbelief. The piece Mona gave me sits on the front—the obelisk, the sunrays radiating in the background, the rope-braided, raised edge. When I opened it, the flat piece, related to CeCe, sits on the back. At closer inspection, the piece has raised edges. Inscribed Roman numerals encircle the hole.
“It’s like a watch without hands,” I say.
Stu takes it back and inspects it. “Sort of. It’s a sundial, but not a normal one.”
“Uh, yeah, that’s what I meant.” Of course, I’ve seen enough of those to know what one is. I feel a little stupid when Bishop steals a glance at me.
Stu isn’t done fiddling with the items. He picks up the bracelet for a closer look. He places the locket face up over the square emerald on the bracelet. Again, unbelievably, it latches solidly into place.
This time, Sam grabs it before I have a chance. She opens the locket, now attached to the bracelet, and looks inside. In the hole surrounded by Roman numerals sits the emerald. The three pieces have become one, all related.
My heart leaps when I realize that Francis might be right. The CeCe relic and Mom’s bracelet fit together. They belong together. Are Mom and CeCe really the same person?
I replay again what Mona said on the phone with Terease. “It will be our best defense against CeCe.” She was speaking as though CeCe is alive. That’s confusing. If CeCe and Mom are one and the same, does that mean she’s still alive in true time?
I gasp, placing my hand over my mouth. I think about the possibilities. This opens up so many unsettling questions.
“What is it, Sera?” Bishop puts his hand on my arm. Perpetua grunts behind us.
“I’m not sure, but I think this might mean that my mom is still alive.”
They look unsure until I explain my reasoning. I tell them everything from the beginning: my meeting with Francis, the phone call between Mona and Terease, and finding the CeCe relic in the Relic Archives. When I finish, they seem as puzzled as I am.
“Wow! I should meditate on this again. Maybe it’ll be cl
earer this time.” Sam lays the newly constructed sundial bracelet on the floor, but Stu interrupts before she begins.
“No need, pretty lady, it still won’t work.”
Sam appears stunned into silence. Instead of arguing her point of view, she just sits there, turning bright red, probably because Stu just called her pretty.
“What do you mean?” I ask him. I’m getting impatient, especially with my new hypothesis.
“Okay, just bear with me. I’m going somewhere with this,” he insists. “Who reads Latin?” he asks, gesturing toward the bracelet.
I wait for someone to answer, but instead, Sam hands the sundial bracelet to Bishop.
Bishop holds it up, rolling it around in his hands. “Where? Where’s the bit in Latin?”
“It’s right here.” I point to the front of the locket, Mona’s piece. “It says Tempus Rerum Imperator. Just like on the front of the Academy building.”
Bishop translates, “Times—rules—all.”
“Close enough. The exact translation is ‘time commands all things,’” Stu says as though the words mean something. We just look at him, waiting.
“So?” I press.
“So, Miss Sera, what you have here is the ultimate relic. In this case, time commands all desires, because this relic will take you or anyone else to their most desired location in time—but in your case, straight to your mom.”