Pandora's Academy

by Skye MacKinnon

  “We’re fine, thank you,” Seamus replied in Greek, his voice hoarse. The shuffling footsteps stopped just before the man was going to turn the corner and see us.

  “Alright then. I’ll be at my desk.”

  I smiled at Seamus as the man seemed to walk away, leaving us in peace. He grinned and took my hand. “So?”

  I gave him a quizzical look. “What?”

  “Did I behave like a teacher?”

  A snort escaped me. “No, definitely not. I’m so glad I’m no longer your student.”

  “As am I. It’s been torture, these past few months. Seeing you in class every day but never able to show my feelings.”

  I stared at him. “Months?”

  “You didn’t notice? Good. That means I managed to control myself.”

  “I… I don’t know what to say.”

  “With what I’m planning for us to do next, you don’t need to do a lot of talking.” His grin widened. “Although we should find a different place than the Library.”

  Was he talking about… sex? The heat already very present between my legs turned into a raging inferno. He wanted me. He’d been fancying me for months. This day was turning out to be not so bad after all.

  Seamus held up the papyrus. “Shall we finish this riddle, or should we leave and find a bed?”

  The desire pooling in his emerald eyes made me want to throw myself at him, but we were in the Great Library of Alexandria. I could control myself for a while longer.

  “Riddle,” I breathed, my voice shaking. I licked my swollen lips. “The guard said the zoo is closed today though.”

  Seamus shrugged. “Let’s see about that. We might be able to sneak in.” He lifted his arm and started typing something into the holographic display of his time bracer. “There we go. We now look like members of the Royal family. That should make them let us through.”

  I looked down at myself. My clothes had changed without me even noticing. This technology really was extraordinary. While my dress had been linen before, it was now made from a flowing fabric that seemed a lot more expensive. Several necklaces had appeared on my skin, together with bracelets and a bracer on my upper arm.

  “I’ve heard they’re planning to offer hoods in the future that will simulate matching hair and makeup,” Seamus said as he studied me. “But you will fit in with the way you carry your hair now. It would be a lot harder if we were in the Renaissance. Those women went a little overboard.”

  His chiton hadn’t changed much, except that the fabric was softer and lined with gold. A matching bracer had appeared on his arm.

  “They show that we’re of the same family,” he explained when he saw me looking at it. “Let’s try not to meet with other Royals, they might realise that we’re impostors.”

  My heart beat a little faster at the prospect of being caught and exposed. Luckily, if we were, we could just use our emergency buttons and be transported back to the present immediately. It was a painful way to travel, but faster than first putting in coordinates and giving the bracelets time to calibrate. I’d only had to use the emergency porting once, but my stomach clenched at the memory. That had been the only time I’d ever puked after travelling.

  We left the library, luckily not meeting anyone on the way out. Explaining why we’d changed clothes would have been a little hard. Back in the grand entrance hall, we turned left, and I let Seamus guide me. He seemed to know the way, walking confidently amongst the scholars and guards. Some of them bowed their heads as we passed. The royal disguise seemed to be working.

  He led me through wide, airy corridors until we reached a door leading outside. Two guards were stationed here, looking at us curiously.

  “The zoo is closed, my lord,” one of them said with a bow. “Apologies.”

  “I need to see the boa,” Seamus replied, undeterred. “I had a dream, a vision, and I need to make sure it’s still alive.”

  The guard’s eyes widened. “A dream? Of course, right away. The problem is with the lions anyway, so showing you the boa should be no issue.” He bowed again, deeper this time. Did he think Seamus was some sort of soothsayer?

  The other guard opened the doors for us, and a blast of fresh air tousled my hair. I hadn’t realised how stuffy it was inside the Library. Not that I minded. Even here, away from the bookshelves, I could still smell the soothing scent of papyrus and ink.

  We followed the guard into a large courtyard. Every inch of ground was taken up by a multitude of plants. Palm trees towered above shrubs and flowers; ferns grew side by side with cacti.

  “The previous Ptolemy had an interest in botany,” Seamus explained quietly. “He had plants brought here from all over. Not many of them survived, but these are the ones that did.”

  The guard led us through an archway along a path lined with small marble columns. At the end of it, below a roof held by tall white columns, was a large cage. This definitely wasn’t like a modern zoo. The cage door, large enough for Seamus to walk through without crouching, was framed by two columns carved to look like snakes curled around a tree. They were so lifelike that it was clear they’d been modelled upon real snakes, probably the ones waiting for us in the cage.

  I stepped forward, but the guard held out a hand. “Let me check on the beast first, my lady. It can be a terrifying sight.”

  I rolled my eyes as soon as he’d turned away. I’d seen snakes before. Big ones, too. I didn’t like it when people mollycoddled me.

  Seamus winked at me and took my hand. “In case you get scared,” he said loudly, giving the guard an excuse for why we were holding hands. I grinned at him.

  “Oh yes, I get scared a lot.”

  The guard stepped back from the cage. “The boa is asleep. It is safe to approach.”

  “Give us some space,” Seamus commanded, using his most authoritative teacher voice. “I shall need silence.”

  The guard bowed and walked back along the path, stopping twenty metres away from us. Far enough to keep us in sigh but not hear what we said. Finally, we could switch back to English. Speaking so much Greek was giving me a headache, especially when having to stick to this ancient form and not the modern Greek. At least all my hard studying was coming in handy today.

  "Let's look at this snake," Seamus muttered and slowly approached the cage. I didn't hesitate in following him. We peered through the bars side by side, searching for the supposed monster inside.

  The snake was kind of disappointing. Yes, it was long, but it was also asleep and didn't look in the slightest as if it had ever killed a cow. There was also no sign of a jar, filled with hope or otherwise.

  "I expected more," I whispered in English. "Do they really think this is a special, fearsome snake?"

  Seamus shrugged. "Most myths are based on disappointing truths. I shouldn't have expected for this one to be any different. Can you see a jar anywhere?"

  "Nope. Maybe it's been removed? The note looks like it was written years ago. The jar may no longer exist."

  "No, it's the papyrus that was old. The ink wasn't faded a lot, so I doubt it was older than a couple of months, but then, I'm not an expert."

  "Should we go inside? Maybe it's behind the snake."

  It was curled up in a heap, its head lazily resting on its... hip, maybe? Somewhere around the lower half of the snake's body. The only other items in the cage were a couple of stones, a bowl of water and half a tree branch towards the back. Poor snake, it had to be a boring life in there.

  "I doubt it. Unless they're trying to provide the snake with fresh, living food, it wouldn't make sense for the riddle to be that dangerous."

  "Her hunt begins," I slowly repeated the words of the papyrus. "The jar is with the boa. That last sentence is the least cryptic one of them all. It gives us a location, unless there are several boa in this zoo?"

  "Not that I'm aware. I've only ever heard of this particular specimen. She must be quite old now. Poor thing, trapped here without a cow's teat to suckle on." He snorted. "That was alwa
ys my favourite bit of the myth. Did you know they still believe that in some parts of the present world? That snakes will drink a cow's milk? We always assume that superstitions were stronger back in the past, but that's not always true. They're simply less openly talked about nowadays. Or we laugh them off, even though we actually believe in them, deep inside."

  I stepped away from the cage to look at Seamus. I loved it when he got all passionate about a subject. "And do you believe in any superstitions?"

  He grinned. "I've always wanted a black cat."

  "Because they bring bad luck?"

  "No, because they're cute. And because my sister has a white cat, a terribly violent beast, so of course I want the opposite."

  "Of course."

  "I can't have pets though while I still live at the Academy. I've never had an issue with staying in the teacher's wing, being single and all that, but I was always planning to get my own place at some point. With someone else. And I don't mean a cat. Although that would be a nice bonus. And now I'm rambling again."

  Was he mentioning this because he might want us to move in together? Or was I overthinking things? We'd only kissed, that was as far as we'd come. No professions of undying love.

  “Anyway,” I muttered. “The jar. Is this where our quest ends?”

  “Maybe we need to think outside the box. Finding a jar in the cage would have been a little too easy.”

  “Not so easy if you consider climbing in a cage with snake. But yes. Let’s look around. Maybe we’ll find a clue. Something about a hunt, maybe? Are there any statues of a hunter here? Artemis?”

  Seamus nodded and turned away from the cage, only to chuckle and point at the columns in front of us. “Or we could look a little closer to home.”

  The stone snakes wrapping around the columns. Of course. There were two of them, but while the bodies of the snakes were identical, the heads weren’t. One snake was placid, lazily watching the world with marble eyes, the other poised to strike. A huntress.

  “The hunt begins,” I whispered.

  Seamus was taller than me, so I let him approach the column and search for the next clue. It would have been nice if there’d been a jar on top of the column, but no such luck. He stroked the snake’s smooth body, as if he was hoping for something to happen. Nothing.

  “Try the fangs,” I suggested after watching him for a while. “She uses those to hunt, after all.”

  “I know this is just a statue, but touching its fangs feels wrong. My survival instincts are fighting my rational mind.”

  Nonetheless, he ran a finger over the fangs, then pulled on one of them. With a crack, the fang broke off and slipped through Seamus’s fingers, falling to the ground.

  “Fuck,” he cursed, but I was already bending down to retrieve the tooth. It had landed on a stone tile, smooth except for a crack in the centre. But wait… there was a hole there. A hole shaped like the snake’s fang. Clever.

  I pushed the fang into the hole and was rewarded with the sound of a click, as if a mechanism had been triggered underneath the stone.

  “Well done,” Seamus said, his praise making me all fuzzy inside. “I’m starting to believe that this isn’t just a simple riddle set by one person. This is way too sophisticated. To install this in the Royal zoo would have required both access and money. I think we have stumbled upon something extraordinary.”

  I tended to agree. Excitement made my heart beat faster. This was like Indiana Jones come to life in a library. Not quite an ancient tomb, but maybe that was for the best. I wasn’t a fan of snakes and spiders.

  He helped me lift the stone tile, revealing a small hollow space underneath, containing the jar we’d been looking for. It was a simple clay urn without decoration or inscription. I opened it, almost expecting a scorpion inside. That would have been very Indiana Jones.

  Instead, there was a small roll of papyrus. I unrolled it and couldn’t suppress a gasp.

  “What it is?”

  I held it up and Seamus snatched it from my hand. “Wow. Of all the things I thought we’d find…”

  I got up and stood by his side, staring at the neat writing on the papyrus. It wasn’t all in Ancient Greek this time. The first line was in Greek, the second in hieroglyphs and the third in…

  “Is that Demotic script?”

  Seamus reverently ran a finger over the writing. “It is. Like the Rosetta stone. Three different scripts, but I wonder whether how many languages it is.”

  “For the Rosetta stone, it was one part in Ancient Greek and the other two in Ancient Egyptian, right?” I was trying to remember everything I’d ever read about the stone that enabled researchers to make sense of hieroglyphs. Having more or less the same text (with some differences) in all three sections was key in determining how both hieroglyphs and Demotic script worked.

  “Yes, but this may be different. The top bit is Ancient Greek, penned in the same hand as the other two scrolls,” Seamus muttered, deep in thought. “I’m not an expert in the other two, but I think they may be in Greek as well rather than Ancient Egyptian. I wish I had my books with me to help me read the text.” He sighed. “This is a true treasure. Researchers in the present would give their right arms to have this in their possession.”

  “But we can’t take it with us,” I completed his train of thought. “It’s against the rules.”

  He nodded. “The only thing we can do is file a report with where the jar is buried. Archaeologists have access to TTA reports and might act on it, starting an excavation in this place. But who knows if the papyrus will last the time? It might even be removed by someone else who follows the same riddle at some point.”

  I rubbed my hands excitedly. “We’re rather good at this. Let’s see where they want us to go next.”

  Seamus frowned as he tried to read the papyrus. “The hunt continues. Pandora lies deep below… no, beneath the treasure.” He cleared his throat. “That’s Ancient Greek, that was easy. From now, better don’t quote me on what I’m deciphering because I’m rubbish at this.”

  “You’re the best teacher I’ve ever had. You can do this.”

  He grinned at me. “Do I need to remind you again that I’m no longer your teacher?”

  I returned his smile. “Maybe later. Definitely later. You may have to prove it to me again and again. But let’s finish this quest first.”

  He turned back to the piece of papyrus, his forehead in furrows. “Danger… something about deadly monsters… beware… men with clown masks…”

  “You’re making this up, right?”

  Seamus laughed. “Yup. I have no idea what any of this says. We could ask one of the scholars but I’m not sure we should even be doing this. Besides, we’re in an area that’s out of bounds, in theory. I’m not sure the Greek sentence will help us though. Beneath the treasure. The only treasure I’m aware of would be the Royal Treasury somewhere in this district.”

  “Unless you think outside the jar. Books are treasure. This entire Library is one big treasure hoard.”

  His eyes widened slightly. “You may be right about that. For the Ptolemy, the Library is indeed more valuable than most other things he owns. I’ve never heard of a cellar or basement beneath the Library, but that’s not to say there isn’t one.” He held out his hand. “Would you like to explore with me?”

  I grinned and took his hand. “Always.”

  We joined the guard and let him guide us back into the Library.

  “Please accompany us downstairs,” Seamus commanded as soon as we’d stepped inside.

  The guard stared at us. “I’m not sure if…”

  Seamus’s smile disappeared. “Do you know who we are? Do you know what happens if you displease a distinguished member of the Royal family?”

  The poor guard blanched. “Of course, of course. Please, follow me.”

  He led us into the big entrance hall, still as busy as before, but then turned right into a small room filled with wooden crates, half-finished stone statues, and stacks of p
apyrus and parchment. A storage room that seemed to be used for whatever people needed to find a space for. There was no door leading away from here, nor stairs, and only a small window letting in a trace of sunlight, but the guard walked undeterred to the other end of the room.

  Exchanging a confused look, we followed him, pretending we knew exactly where we were going. Only when we stepped around a pile of crates did I see what we were doing in this room. The back wall was an illusion. There was an opening on the right, just wide enough to let a man squeeze through. The wall behind it was painted slightly brighter than the main wall, but with the shadows falling upon it, it seemed like part of the main wall. Clever.

  The guard motioned for me to go first. I squared my shoulders, pretending I’d been here many times before. It was a tight squeeze and I didn’t envy Seamus. He wasn’t a big guy, but his shoulders were definitely much broader than my own. A narrow space between the two walls led to another opening to my right, revealing a steep staircase disappearing into darkness.

  We didn’t have a torch and there was no window in this tiny room, so I kept one hand on the wall and slowly made my way down, hoping that the stairs were all about the same size. I really didn’t want to fall and break a limb. Time travel while injured hurt. A lot.

  The two men followed behind, both of them descending just as carefully.

  At the end of the stairs, a large wooden door awaited us. The guard pulled a key from his pocket and opened it for us.

  “I’ll wait here,” he muttered and stood straight, as if he was guarding us from whoever might follow.

  Exchanging another look, Seamus and I stepped through the door and into a dimly lit corridor. The walls were rough, nowhere near as smooth and polished as the ones above. The air was thick with the scent of dust and earth. A torch halfway along the passageway illuminated the uneven floor just enough to let us walk without stumbling.

  Who’d even lit this torch? No sounds could be heard down here, but that didn’t mean we were alone. What would they do if they caught us down here and realised we weren’t actually Royals? As long as they didn’t force us to take off our cuffs, we’d be fine. Emergency jumps were painful but effective. The guards might put it down to magic, but I’d been told that most people throughout history never reported time agents disappearing into thin air in front of them, afraid they might be taken for crazy.