A Merric's Tale

by Margs Murray

  Greer nodded. “She’s more than alive, and she’s trying to get the next prophecies to Waverly. Now can we make peace and discuss this?”

  We sat down and started a condensed version of a long story of my mission to find the necklace and the cure for Grandma.

  Chapter 34

  Find the Necklace

  “So Helena took the ring to her world and Lothaire kept the necklace.”

  Greer nodded. “For whatever reason, yes.”

  “Pythia hid many prophecies, and historians believed they found them all but no. That woman who spoke with your grandmother, she was no mere fortune teller but Pythia. The prophet.” The professor unfolded a pair of glasses from his pocket.

  Greer sat on the couch across from the professor. “It’s rumored that she predicted the end of the world.”

  “June 12th 15,082 will be a boiling day indeed,” the professor added.

  I rolled my eyes. I’d heard about the end of the world multiple times before. “Yeah, right! Psychics have predicted the end of our world in 1999, 2012, 2020 and guess what, still here… or there.”

  “Without revealing too much about myself, I am one of the world’s foremost experts on Pythian prophecies,” the professor said. He had warmed considerably and was no longer outwardly hostile. “I wrote my doctoral thesis on her prophecies. She’s no traveling market flimflam. She predicted a great deal more than a date in the far-off future; I can attest to that.”

  The professor flipped the ring over in his hand. “I feel like we’re missing something. Tell us again, what exactly did your grandmother say to you?”

  “She told me to find the necklace, find the words.”

  He examined the necklace. He shook his head and said to himself, “Why send a Merric to do this? This girl… finding a cure could mean no consequences for the Merrics. How can we be certain that this will not make the curse better for the Merrics and doom all of mankind?”

  “I have faith in Waverly,” Greer said. “I believe in her.”

  “Not that I don’t trust you,” the professor said to him, “but there’s more at work here than you’ve noticed. Pythia has brought the two of you together to my beach house. Think, Waverly, is there anything else? No matter how unimportant it may seem to you. It could make a huge difference.”

  I remembered Grandma in her rocking chair, her closet. Her prince on the Rhone.

  “The fortune teller said I’d understand, although I don’t,” I said.

  “Then you will. Not yet, but you will. Pythia only tells the truth, cryptic but true.”

  I remembered a detail I had forgotten. I hadn’t even told Greer this one. “There was one more thing, this phrase which I thought was odd and I still don’t entirely understand. She said, ‘Don’t make shadows and death will die again.’”

  The professor’s and Greer’s eyes went huge as the weight of the words processed through them. Both faces erupted into large, toothy smiles that reminded me of a person receiving a huge tax return or winning the lottery.

  “My, my. This would please Lothaire,” the professor said, and he slid his fingernail along the side of the necklace. “I’ve got it.”

  Greer rushed over quickly. “What?”

  “They found the prophecy of Oasis and Wonder by Shepard in the heart of a ruby. The prophecy was in the jewel’s center.” The professor held the necklace up with the tip of his fingernails. “There’s a secret compartment between the gem’s facets.”

  We waited, both of us holding our breath as he continued examining the emerald. He stopped and gave me the necklace. “Like I suspected. There is an inkwell.” He pointed to a faint, nearly impossible to see blue dot near the setting. With as much as I had played with and stared at the necklace, I couldn’t believe I had missed it.

  He continued, “Don’t force it open or the ink will cover the prophecy.”

  “So how do we open it?” I asked.

  “Of the few I’ve seen? Some are dependent on DNA. Others have an encoded word or set of words that will open them.”

  “What do you mean words?”

  “I mean those things you speak,” he said.

  “So are you telling me that in order for us to find the words, we will have to find more words?”

  “Yes. Exactly.”

  “Can you help me find the words to find the words?” Because, hello!

  “I cannot. She means for you to find it, Waverly, and for whatever reason...” The professor turned to Greer. “I believe she wants this young girl to be the instrument for this cure.”

  “Me? An instrument? I don’t understand.”

  “She sent you on this quest. Once you find it, please send word. I am sure you will need my help once more. This is sadly all I can tell you.”

  There had to be more. “But what do you think the words say? Do you think it is medicine?”

  “It won’t be a recipe of instructions, I can tell you that. It will be another prophecy. Cryptic. Revealed in time.”

  “I was hoping it might tell us how to find a cure.”

  “For the Tennabris? That should be simple enough. Just don’t—”

  Greer cleared his throat. “She doesn’t know the extent of her powers.”

  “Why not, man? If she is as noble as you say, she could truly help the cause. Her powers could change everything—no more of the tit for tat but real progress—and we would finally have a weapon to rival the Merrics.”

  “She hasn’t had her trial. If she dabbles in these powers, they won’t approve her.”

  “So? At least you should tell her. With your name and her abilities, you wouldn’t even have to run from the Merrics. They’d run from you.”

  “No,” Greer protested. “I won’t endanger her unnecessarily.”

  “Ah, so I see.”

  A door opened downstairs, and Greer and I jumped.

  “You must go. Take the outdoor stairs.”

  “Thank you.” Greer shook his hand.

  The professor gave me a side glance. “You know she’s ensnared you.”

  “What?” I asked, perplexed. “What did I do?”

  Greer nodded solemnly. “Worse.”

  The professor shook his head. “That’s what I was afraid of.”

  “Goodbye, Professor.”

  “Goodbye, Greer.”

  We hurried along the shoreline until we hit the wild beaches about three miles down the coast. We were quiet, even for us, as Greer set camp on the wild beach. We didn’t have a tent this time (Greer couldn’t risk having it in his bag) but rather a campfire, plenty of bug repellent, and four oversized beach towels.

  I picked up a small piece of driftwood. “So that was a disappointment.”

  “Not entirely.”

  “I guess it was fine if you weren’t looking for answers.”

  Greer put another log on the fire. “He confirmed the words are in the necklace. We didn’t know it for sure until today.”

  “Now we’ve got to find the words to find the words which will be a riddle, anyway.” I threw my driftwood in the fire. It sparked. “No problem, really. Where should we start? My name? Grandma’s? English or French?”

  Greer wiped his sandy hands on his pants. “The professor believes Pythia means for you to find it. If that is true, then you will find it.”

  He stood up, and I grabbed his hand. “She might have meant you too. We’re here together.”

  “But—” He looked down at me and quickly gave up the fight. He sat down on the sand. “Okay. You win. Let’s see what we can come up with.”

  I held the necklace up to my mouth. “Hello. Open up.”

  Nothing.

  “I doubt it’ll be a common phrase; otherwise, people would accidentally open it. No, the words will be something most people don’t say.”

  “Okay. Here.” I handed him the necklace. “You’re so smart. You try.”

  He held the necklace close to his face. “All right. Death will die again.” He remembered what I had said at the p
rofessor’s.

  Nothing.

  “Here, your turn.”

  I held the necklace to my lips. “Open sesame.”

  “Haha. Do you mean sesame seed? Where did you come up with that one?”

  “It’s from One Thousand and One Nights. You know, Ali Baba and The Forty Thieves.”

  He smiled and shrugged his shoulders. “No clue. Give it.”

  I handed the necklace back. “It’s a very famous book, you know.”

  “Well, not in this world.” He held the necklace again. “Shuttle down perrigoat.”

  I laughed. “What is that?”

  “It’s a famous line from the poem, ‘The Cornerstone’s Dilemma’.”

  “Oh, come on! What is a perrigoat?”

  “You don’t have perrigoats in your world?”

  “No.” I laughed again, and the idea of a famous poem with that line was so absurd, this time I snorted.

  Greer laughed. “You snort?”

  I held my hand in front of my face, embarrassed. “No.”

  “Okay. Whatever you say. Here.” He handed me back the necklace. “Your turn.”

  “Out, out, brief candle.”

  “Life’s but a walking shadow.”

  I couldn’t hide my surprise. “You know Shakespeare?”

  “We had him here. What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world. The paragon of animals. And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?”

  “Hamlet,” I said. “I read it in AP English.”

  “Yes. The best of the best. I would not wish any companion in the world but you.”

  That one made me look at him with warm hopefulness until he said, “The Tempest.”

  “Oh.” I had never read it. “So you know Shakespeare well.”

  “My father used to read me his plays to get me to fall asleep as a kid. Well, after he got sick of Where Aspens Fall and Other Tales of Woe. That one is a great book. It was my favorite when I was a kid.”

  “Really?” I thought of the book I’d read in the library and kind of wished I hadn’t given up on it so quickly.

  “Yeah. "Where Aspens Fall" is my all-time favorite story.”

  “I never read it.” I handed him the necklace back. “Here. Your turn.”

  “Okay. Where does happiness dwell?”

  “That one I know,” I told him.

  “How does a person so inexperienced with drinking know that one?”

  “I heard it in the kitchen.” That night came back to mind, and I shivered. Greer took a towel and wrapped it around my shoulders.

  “We should get to bed. I’m sorry we don’t have a tent. It will be a cool night,” he said.

  I sighed as Greer took his spot on the other side of the fire.

  “Are we safe sleeping out here like this?”

  “No. I have a perimeter set up, so we’ll have warning if anyone approaches.”

  “Wish we had our impenetrable tent.”

  “Only impenetrable for animals, but our technology is plenty good enough to handle two people sleeping in a tent.”

  Greer laid out two towels, each separated by a few inches of sand.

  I lay down on one towel and pulled another towel on top of me. The ocean’s high tide roiled to the shore. The stars were so close, so big and full, it was as if I could reach out and touch them. It was beautiful, but there was something I had to know. I turned toward Greer. “Greer, what’s your real name?”

  He didn’t answer; he was already asleep.

  ~*~

  I woke up to Greer lightly shaking my shoulder. “Waverly, it’s time to get up.”

  I sat, wiping sleepers from my eyes. “Morning already?”

  “Come on. Meet me by the water.”

  “Huh?”

  “Throw on something to swim in and meet me by the water.”

  Under my towel, I squirmed into my black bra and underwear, which I guessed worked for a bathing suit. The sun, bright in pinks and oranges, was barely breaking over the horizon. Greer stood in his boxers at the water’s edge, waiting for me.

  “What’s going on?”

  “We’re going for a swim. You can swim, can’t you?”

  I smiled. I’d wanted to swim the whole time. “Yes.”

  “I wasn’t so sure after the river.”

  With the sun this bright, I wondered if we even had time to waste on a swim. “Are you sure?”

  “It’s your first time at the beach. You’ve got to at least go in.”

  “And the Merrics haven’t released water lions that can breathe underwater and prowl the shore waiting for unlucky swimmers?”

  “Ha!” Greer ran into the water.

  The chilly water collided with my legs, and I stifled a scream. Greer dove under a rather rough looking wave about ten feet ahead. The same wave crashed, caught me, and I tripped, falling to my knees. The ocean spitted me back to shore. I caught myself in time to regain my footing.

  I stood up and righted myself, stepping slowly and methodically forward, only for the next wave to hit me.

  After another wave toppled me, Greer came back and took my hand and pulled me up. “Here, we’ve got to get you past the breaker.”

  He ran us through the break line and right to the calm middle.

  “Thank you.”

  He nodded and let go.

  “Wait down like this.” Greer crouched in the water. “You jump when the wave comes. You ready?”

  I watched him jump and then I leapt up, but it was a second too late and somehow, I got caught in the surf. It turned and yanked me upside down just to release me at the shoreline yet again.

  “You okay?” Greer yelled.

  After checking to make sure my makeshift bathing suit was still in place, I raised my hands like a champ and gave him a hoot in time for the next wave to knock me straight on my butt. Greer caught the next wave in. He stood laughing. “Come on.”

  He recaptured my hand as we rushed the water and made it to the calm.

  The water receded, and we crouched down. He pulled my back to him so he could help me, hands on my hips. “Jump when I jump.” The trunk of the wave pulled us up, and we jumped. My stomach flipped like I was in a car going over a bump. Our feet landed on the soft sand.

  We let out a whoop as the water rolled to shore. Then a huge wave with boiling white water rose like a wall. “Dive!”

  We both dove, the water pushing me back but not churning me with it. I landed on my feet only a little way back from where we had started. Greer was there too, and we were both laughing. I took his hand, and we ran forward, waiting for the next wave to hit.

  About an hour later, we caught a wave back to the sand. I collapsed on the beach. Greer dropped beside me.

  “God, that was fun.” He rolled over to use my legs for a pillow.

  I lounged on my elbows. “I can’t remember the last time I had fun like that. What made you want to do that?”

  “I wanted one fun morning with you.” Greer rolled off my legs and moved to sit down next to me. “We’ve got a train to catch. We have to meet up with the Galvantry. I called them and moved the meeting at Merrimac up two days.”

  “The Galvantry?”

  He shrugged his shoulders. “We need them.”

  My mood plummeted. “We don’t need them. We can keep going together and figure out the necklace.”

  “You don’t need me to figure out the necklace. Pythia meant for you to figure it out, not me, and when you do, it will be enough to ensure a fair trial.”

  “And you?”

  Greer faced the ocean and wouldn’t look at me. “I’ll go back to my old life.”

  I was hollow. “You’re leaving me.”

  He didn’t deny it.

  “But last night—you don’t know that you aren’t supposed to figure this out with me. We’re together. We went to the professor together
. What if we’re supposed to figure this out together? We can do this, just the two of us.” I was on my knees, practically begging him.

  He faced me on his knees too. “We can’t. We need them. We’ve been lucky so far but for how long without help?” He pushed my hair back from my face.

  “But you are so good. You can keep me safe, I know you can.”

  “You are far too trusting in me and my abilities. We can’t move forward without them. We need them.”

  Tears were welling up in my eyes. “Please, Greer.”

  I don’t know if he hugged me or if I hugged him, but we clung to each other. “I can’t keep this up, Waverly. I can’t keep staying with you night after night in a tent. I know it’s not fair, but it’s too hard on me.”

  “I’ll change, I’ll be better. I’ll never take the sunglasses off. I won’t ask you questions. You won’t even know I’m there.”

  He kissed my forehead and wiggled out of my arms. He searched my face and shook his head. He wanted to say something, to tell me something, but he couldn’t. Greer backed away, grabbed his clothes, and went behind the dune to get dressed.

  We pretended to be a couple not speaking to each other on the train ride. No one joined us this time, which was good because I couldn’t stand Greer acting like everything was fine. It wasn’t. I wasn’t.

  I’d had so much fun last night and then that morning, but I could barely look at him the whole ride without tearing up.

  At the cabin, we retrieved the hiking equipment, tent, bags, and food.

  I put on the old, washed and repaired hiking clothes and tossed the contacts. I left my pretty dress and suitcase in the laundry room. Greer’s contact could take care of it.

  We were only fifteen miles to Merrimack. We’d make it there in two days, no problem.

  No problem.

  This time I was the person not talking.

  We stopped to camp. Greer put up the tent, and I sat, leaning my back against a log.

  “This was the plan all along. It was my job to get you out of Boston, to get you safely to the Galvantry.”

  I nodded and kept telling myself not to react because if I saw Greer’s face, I’d cry, and what good was that now? I’d cry, and he’d make a phone call and so what? He was leaving me. What did I expect? We couldn’t walk the wilderness forever. It wasn’t like I could bring Greer home with me, either. There had to be an end date.