Chapter 31: A Compromise
Stu holds the bracelet between two fingers. It dangles toward the floor. Filtered light catches the bracelet’s diamond chips and casts shimmering rainbows on the far wall. He sits in silence as though he’s allowing what he just explained to sink in. “The ultimate relic,” he called it. A straight road to whatever the possessor desires most.
“Explain,” Bishop says, skeptically.
Stu pulls out his notebook and flips it open to a loose sketch that looks exactly like the green gem. “This,” he points to the gem in the drawing and then to the bracelet, “is an emerald from Unika’s crown, the first Wanderer of Egypt.”
We’re all stunned into silence. Even Perpetua seems to perk up in her seat at the information.
I recall the story Mona told me about the Egyptian king and his quest for plentiful fields of grain. My memory lingers over the details of the matching oversized mural in the main atrium.
“Originally, Unika’s crown was symmetrical with two gold coiling scorpions, two seeing eyes, and in the middle, a winged scarab. A scarab that held this very gem.” Stu sketches the crown on an empty page. His lines are so fluid, they look as though he’s drawn them before, a thousand times. He holds up the book for us to see.
“Impossible. It’s only folklore.” Bishop scrutinizes the sketch.
“No. Very possible,” Stu says. “After Unika’s death, his wife, the Queen, dismantled the crown into four pieces. The scorpions went to Bomani, their eldest son, the eyes went to his middle daughter, Saqqara, and the winged scarab was willed to go to the youngest child, still unborn at the time.”
“A Protector, Seer, and Wanderer,” Sam says.
“Yes, that’s what the story suggests. But the gem, the fourth piece,” Stu holds up his finger, pointing to each of us, “it was special. The Queen kept it for herself. She believed that the gift, from Amun-Ra to Unika, contained special powers. Powers only possible from contact with the gods. And she was right, it did.
“The gem turned up again in the late fourteen hundreds or early fifteen hundreds, at which point, it must have been added to the sundial bracelet. Whoever made it knew its capabilities and documented them in the book that I found. Special relics like these have caused all kinds of wars.”
“Wars?” I gulp.
“Wars among Wanderers,” Bishop clarifies.
It’s something that hadn’t occurred to me. Wanderers have their own histories. Ones more in depth than the few murals and folklore I recently learned about. These are history lessons we wouldn’t learn in a Normal’s school. But that isn’t the most unfathomable part. The part that seems inconceivable is that all these items found their way through time, to me.
I look over at Sam. Her eyes sparkle for the relic. I can see she can’t wait to touch it again, to feel its energy.
“Why can’t I meditate on it? I want to learn more about it.” Sam reaches to grab it back, but Stu pulls it away.
“You can’t because it has no real life path. Whoever holds it creates the path to what they desire most. When you searched it, you saw yourself with it, didn’t you? What did you see?”
Sam squirms. “Um—that’s personal.” Her cheeks turn scarlet. Bishop instantly laughs. He’s read her thoughts, but even I can tell that she saw herself with Stu.
“It’s the same as Amun-Ra showing Unika what he wanted most, a fruitful harvest. And when Sera holds it, it will show her the way to her mom,” Stu continues, oblivious.
“It works the same as a relic? I mean, you just run with it and think of what you want most?” I can’t believe it can be that easy.
“Although, I’m not sure what will happen, since it does the thinking for you. So, no keyword is needed for this relic, and you don’t have to run. Legend says you need to walk into a sun pillar’s shadow, just like Unika,” Stu explains.
“A sun pillar?” I’ve never heard the term.
“An obelisk,” Bishop clarifies.
My eyes grow wide, and I jump up from the floor, tripping over Perpetua’s restrained feet on the way to Sam’s window. When I reach it, I press my forehead against the cold glass and look at the tall obelisk, standing in the Academy courtyard.
“When I originally wandered with the bracelet, it was fragmented. It could have taken me anywhere?” I exhale and the glass fogs up in front of my face, blocking my view.
“Yes,” Stu answers. “But in your case, I think it was trying to point you in the right direction, a starting point in front of an obelisk. Because of the fragmentation, the trip could have been random. And it was, for the most part. Like I told you last week, it’s unheard of for someone as young as you to wander back twenty-some years. You’re lucky you made it back alive!”
“Now what?” Sam joins me at the window.
“You and I need to get outside without Terease seeing you,” Bishop adds, pointing at me.
Perpetua jerks around in her chair to get our attention. Stu rips out her sock plug.
“I’m coming with you!” she yells.
“The hell you are!” I retort.
“If I’m getting in trouble for being a part of this, I want to see what that relic does for myself.”
We all look at each other, considering her words.
“Besides,” she adds, in her gooey, sweet, evil voice, “if you don’t take me, I’ll tell Jess to call Terease, and she’ll come and take the bracelet, and then you’ll never find your mom.” She smirks. She knows she has me in a corner.
“And if I’m coming with you—” Stu starts.
“Whoa—wait, Stu.” Bishop holds up his palms. “You’ve already been in enough trouble this week. I think you should stay,” he says. “Sera and I can go. Sam will be watching.”
“Fine!” Stu yells. “I’ll just untie Perpetua now, and we’ll see what she does.”
Bishop stiffens. I gawk at Stu and Perpetua. Why is Stu turning into such a little rat now? It just doesn’t make sense.
“I’ll need my Protector when we go. Besides, if Sera’s mom is alive and happens to be this CeCe thing that Terease is so scared of,” Stu insists, “I’m gonna need her.”
The blood drains from my face and my body turns cold with chills. Mona’s conversation on the phone plays in my head. She said, “I think, eventually, it will be our best defense against CeCe.” The words hint that CeCe is something to be dealt with. Something or someone Terease is afraid of. That image horrifies me. Because until now, Terease is the thing I’m most scared of. I hope, for the first time, that Mom and CeCe are not the same person. I’d be happy enough to find her in the past, just like I originally hoped. It will be enough to see her again, to talk to her, no matter what part of history she exists in.
“Fine!” I yell at Stu and Perpetua. “Just don’t blame me when Terease finds out you were involved.” I’m completely annoyed. Maybe Stu’s team loyalty is overriding his common sense. I realize I’d do the same for Bishop, but still.
My brain switches tracks. I turn back to the window. Ideas for sneaking into the courtyard, unnoticed, churn in my mind. Quickly, a solution presents itself.
I spin to face them. “I’ve got an idea.”
•
Getting into the courtyard unseen turns out to be easy—too easy. In doing so, I’ve proven to myself that every problem doesn’t need to be solved like a time-traveling freak. In this case, doing something normal, something a mischievous, Normal student would do, grants me exactly what I want.
But I don’t stand here alone, every student in the east building mills around the Academy yard in the snow. Students from the sophomore class, still dressed in their eighteenth-century costumes, give the pedestrians of Chicago a reason to stop and stare. Older students hang around in circles, gossiping about the cause of them being here.
All together, the group creates quite a scene. Every student in the west Academy building presses their nose up against their classroom windows, looking out at the circus before them. If they didn’
t wonder about the east boarding school before, they do now.
I laugh to myself. Terease, Mr. Evanston, Ms. Midgenet, and every other teacher at the Academy are distracted by my stroke of genius—pulling the fire alarm. The alarm served two carefully planned purposes. One: getting me to the courtyard. Two: saving the old me, the one hidden on top of a dusty shelf in the Relic Archives, from Terease.
Gabe flutters around the yard, asking each sophomore to make sure their costumes don’t get wet from the snow. He pushes them back onto the cleared walkways, horrified at the possibility of water-damaged costumes. The chaos leaves him just as distracted as the faculty. And that’s exactly what I need.
Red and white lights flash repeatedly from several emergency vehicles. Terease stands across the yard arguing with the fire chief. How can she possibly let firefighters into the school when the Society has so much to hide?
I’m now wearing a Venetian mask and cape I borrowed from Bishop. My team, unfortunately including Stu and Perpetua, crowds around me, hiding me from view.
Not far away, Macey stands awkwardly between Xavier and Quinn. Even from this distance, it’s obvious their love triangle still exists. Her eyes scan the crowd. When she spots Bishop, she walks over. Her Venetian hoop skirt and brown curls bounce with each stride. Xavier and Quinn follow like puppies.
“Heya,” she says in her cheery voice. “Have you seen Sera?” she asks Bishop.
“In a way—I guess,” he says. His eyes dart around, avoiding her. His expression turns uncomfortable.
Macey towers so high over everyone else, she simply peers down and sees me.
“Hey, lady. Where have you been?” Her gaze bounces around our group, assessing the situation. “You’re hiding—what’s going on?” Her Protector instincts kick in, and she inches closer to Xavier. Quinn takes notice of the change, probably reading her mind and scans the crowd, looking for trouble.
I shrug in response. She surveys the entire courtyard again. Her focus circles back. “You did this, didn’t you?” she says, then laughs so loudly that Terease turns to look at us.
I duck, grab Macey’s arm, and yank her close. “Macey—shh! You’re gonna ruin everything!”
“You bad girl! What in the world are you up to?” She leans forward, smiling impishly, waiting for the gossip.
“Sera, if you intend to do this, let’s do this now,” Bishop pushes.
“Seraphina Parrish, what have you done?” Macey asks for the second time.
“I’m in a little bit of trouble.” I peek around her toward Terease, who has zeroed in on our group. I can read her face; I’m familiar with that look. Terease’s pitch-black eyes are searching the brains of my group, hoping to find me. I’ll be the one she can’t get a vibe on. Her body tenses when she locks eyes with me. I gasp and turn away. When I glance back, Terease excuses herself from the fire chief and stalks in our direction.
Macey measures the fear in my eyes and doesn’t push any further. She just looks back at Terease’s face and understands. Macey turns without saying another word and races straight toward Terease to head her off.
“Now, Sera! Let’s do this now!” Stu yells at me. I open the face of the bracelet. Bishop, Stu, Perpetua, and I lock hands. Sam, Xavier, and Quinn take two steps back.
Terease and Macey collide. Macey’s arms flail around. I lift my wrist to the light from the blustery winter sun so it catches the emerald’s face. As I do, Terease reacts, but not with anger. “No!” she screams. Her hand reaches out as though she wants to grab and stop me.
A blast, golden and hot, shoots from the green gem and touches everything within sight. I shield my eyes and lean away from the blinding light. Slowly, the light softens, and I peek back to see the result. Every person and every single thing has frozen solid, except Bishop, Stu, Perpetua, and me. The now silent world hangs stuck in a real life photograph.
A pigeon hangs in midair, a few feet above me. Its wings are spread wide, gliding toward the ground, perhaps to scoop up a scarce piece of winter food.
Shocked, Bishop, Stu, Perpetua, and I all rotate in our spots to observe city life at a complete standstill. My attention falls to Sam. Her lifeless blue eyes gaze off into space, and her mouth hangs open in the shape of an O. Her flat hair, previously flying in the freezing wind, now hovers in the air, weightless. Stu waves his free hand in front of her vacant eyes, but she doesn’t react.
The hot blast melted all the snow. Now, only large pools of water cover the sidewalks as proof that it ever existed.
Above us, agitated clouds lash around, swirling restlessly. Their wicked teal-green colors move independently from the frozen city. The sun appears from behind the clouds and slides across the sky. It rounds the atmosphere as though time continues to move forward, but nothing else does.
The sun’s rays cast quick, angular shadows across the buildings, like video from a time-lapse camera. I notice the ground in front of us. The obelisk’s shadow, like a watch hand, creeps from the twelve thirty position to approximately the two thirty position.
Then it halts.
We all look at each other. This is it. In the front, I pull Bishop’s hand. Our group progresses single file, hands linked. We advance into the shadow of the obelisk, just like Unika did thousands of years before us.