by C. A. Pack
“I’m right here.” She struggled to sit up. “What happened? My chest aches. Did I get hit by a car?”
“No, no, you’re fine,” he answered, kissing her some more. “We’ll talk about your chest later.”
“We will not,” she said indignantly.
“You’re in trouble now, bro’,” Chris teased.
“Right.” Jackson kissed Johanna one more time. “We won’t discuss it at all. Ever.” He glared at his brother.
Chris and Ava laughed, while their mother cringed.
⌘Now that we’ve averted one crisis, there’s a second one to attend to.
“Which one is that?” Mal asked.
⌘The mystery of the missing child.
The overseer closed his eyes for a second and nodded. Then he got a peculiar look on his face. He walked over to Johanna’s closet and pulled the door open. He found Pru Tellerence sitting on the floor, asleep, holding Bel who was also asleep, their arms wrapped around a stuffed kitten.
The light from the doorway roused Pru Tellerence.
★You found us! Where are we?
⌘In Johanna Charette’s closet. What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be on Dramatica.
★I’ve already been to Dramatica. Furst has everything firmly in hand. So I decided to make sure Bel was all right.
Ryden Simmdry pulled the door closed and shielded their communication from the others. ⌘I can’t believe you defied my wishes and came here.
★I had to come. Bel is special.
⌘What’s so special about a child from Fantasia?
★She’s not from Fantasia. She was born on Romantica.
⌘And that makes her special?
★She’s my child. She looked at the other overseer defiantly. ★Our child!
LOI
CHAPTER 35
Ryden Simmdry looked at Pru Tellerence and the child she clutched with disbelief. That’s impossible. Overseers don’t have children. The Ultimium Codi bans it.
★That doesn’t mean we can’t have children. It means we’re forbidden to. It’s an ancient, outmoded law and it’s time it changed.
⌘I can’t be the one to change it. I’m the one who enacted it. It’s for our own good. He closed his eyes and recited the regulation. ⌘Deans must refrain from any liaisons that may limit their abilities to act on behalf of all residents of the Illumini System. This precludes any overseer from becoming involved in any familial or intimate relationship. Sentimentality can cloud the mind. Love can color our decision-making. Fear for the safety of our loved ones can immobilize us. We must be free to act in the best interests of the many, therefore, we are precluded from falling victim to the interests of the one. All dependent relationships are strictly forbidden and punishable by loss of position, and blessings. Be forewarned: once the majorious longevicus blessing is reversed, metamorphosis could cause your biology and physiognomy to reflect your true age, which in many cases, could result in instantaneous death due to old age.
★Maybe you should have thought about that before you told me that you loved me.
⌘This cannot be my child.
★Are you saying you think I became involved with someone else after pledging my love to you?
⌘That was ages ago—three or four millennia at the very least.
★I see. Your feelings have changed. It was okay to fill my head with romantic ideas while I was a young, vital, impressionable curator even though you broke your own law, but now that you realize there’s a consequence, I … she looked down at Bel, ★we do not merit your consideration.
⌘That is not what I said.
★It’s what you mean. She clutched the child to her breast and disappeared.
★
The Rodo twins picked up the grinding stones that had spilled and carried them into Berra’s workshop. The inventor provided individual corner workspaces for each of them because their spirit of competition proved to be too much of a distraction for them to work together. However, each worked well when they had different tasks. Roxo chiseled chunks of abrasive stone into wheels, so they could be mounted on an axle and used to polish zalor. Rilli polished the zalor chips for the weapons Berra built. It took them a while to settle into a routine, but once they did, they accomplished a lot.
★
Ryden Simmdry walked out of Johanna’s closet alone.
“Did I hear Pru Tellerence inside the closet?” Mal asked.
⌘She is no longer there.
“Oh.” Mrs. Roth sighed. I thought we’d finally found Bel.”
⌘The child was inside the closet. Pru Tellerence has taken her away.
“Is that safe?” Mal asked. “Or perhaps there’s been a change in the temporal rift?”
⌘Neither. I’m sure if anything happens to the child, we’ll hear from Pru Tellerence. He turned. Are you feeling like your old self, Johanna?
“Yes and no. I feel fine, and I know what day it is and all. And what you’re all doing here. But part of me is having a hard time believing the past three weeks have already taken place.
⌘Give it a day or so. Your second psyche will soon blend in.
“You have a second psyche. How cool is that?” Jackson exclaimed.
“Totally cool,” Chris confirmed.
Jackson looked at his mother, sister and brother. “I guess you can all go home now, considering Izabella’s not here.”
“What if she returns?” his mother asked.
“If she does, you’ll be the first to know. Well, maybe not the first, more like the fifth or sixth. I’ll call you.”
Mrs. Roth picked up her belongings. “I was actually looking forward to staying in that room with a view of Paris.”
Johanna lifted her head in surprise. “It has a view?”
“I walked out on the balcony and off in the distance I saw the Eiffel tower. I bet it looks stunning at night.” Mrs. Roth no longer seemed fazed by the oddity of a Parisian penthouse suite located on the first floor of the library.
“This place is so cool. Can’t we stay?” Ava asked. “Just one night.”
Jackson looked at Johanna and Johanna looked at Mal.
“I think it might be a good idea,” Mal answered, “in case you’re suddenly called away tonight. It will give you time to acquaint your family with some of the other fine points of the Library of Illumination and the importance of maintaining its secrecy.”
“You mean I can’t tell my friends?” Ava whined.
“No.” Mal shook his head. “If some of the world’s more unsavory characters learned about the charms of the Library of Illumination, it would no longer be a safe place for Johanna and Jackson. People would take advantage of the library’s assets and possibly try to drive Johanna and Jackson away. We’re facing a similar problem now on other realms and…”
“Realms?” Chris asked. “What does that mean?”
“Other cities,” Johanna said at the same moment Jackson replied, “Other countries,” and Mal answered, “Other libraries.”
Chris narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “You guys really need to work on getting your stories straight. Which one is it going to be?”
No one spoke until Mal said, “Other libraries in various cities and places.”
“If something like that had happened,” the younger Roth boy said, “I would have heard about it on CNN.”
“You don’t watch CNN,” Jackson replied.
“I would if I knew people were attacking realms.”
Jackson gave his brother a playful shove, but it appeared to be too rough for Mrs. Roth.
“Jackson, don’t attack your younger brother that way. You might hurt him.”
“Yeah, Jackson,” Chris taunted. “You might hurt me.”
Jackson gently brushed off his brother’s shoulder. “Aw, did my itty-bitty brother get a boo-boo,” he raised his voice, “because he’s such a baby?”
“Boys, enough,” their mother exclaimed. She grabbed her two younger children by the elbows and walked them to thei
r bags. “In your rooms, now. Grab your stuff.”
Jackson walked over and picked up his mother’s bag and Ava’s. He gazed at his brother. “Here.” He shoved the bags in Chris’s arms.
They were interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Illumination,” Jackson and Johanna said in unison.
A deliveryman handed Jackson a shipment of books and Johanna the paperwork.
“Can you check those in?” she asked him. “I need to look at something downstairs.”
“Sure.”
“Before you go, I want to say goodbye.” Mal shook hands with Jackson and his family and kissed Johanna on the cheek. “I’m hitching a ride with Ryden Simmdry. You know how to get in touch if you need me.”
★
The Terrorians literally buzzed about the fate of General Lethro 814. A lot of older citizens sided with Nero 51, claiming Lethro 814 cared more about his career than the citizens of Terroria. However, younger Terrorians looked up to the general as a gifted military leader and derided Nero 51 as a librarian and politician. They felt a great injustice had been done. There were whisperings among them about forming a coalition to oust the curator. They wanted Terroria to become the prime realm, but didn’t fully understand the importance of the Library of Illumination or what it meant to the realm, because everything about it was cloaked in secrecy.
The leader of one such faction, Kat 111, quickly gained popularity as a worthy opponent of Nero 51. Kat 111 was smart enough to never be heard in public talking about the curator’s ‘failings,’ but his views quickly gained momentum behind closed doors.
Meanwhile, Nero 51 internally debated having general Lethro 814 executed. Nero 51 believed it could force his detractors to band against him, and he didn’t want to give them that opportunity. The general had trained many soldiers and, in doing so, had forged a personal connection to many of them that Nero 51 did not have.
No, Nero 51 told himself. It is not in my best interests to publicly execute the general. I will pardon him, instead.
★
Rather than return to Lumina, Pru Tellerence materialized in the Library of Illumination on Romantica. She waited in the cupola until she knew the curator would be preoccupied with her midday meal and then headed to the residence where she exchanged her overseer’s robe for a Romantican gown. She hid her hat on a high shelf in the back of the closet and snuck out of the library with Bel. Her stomach churned with apprehension over leaving her miter in an accessible place, but she had little choice. Besides, if Ryden Simmdry remained true to his word, she wouldn’t need it much longer. Her primary mission was to find protection for Bel and then separate from the child. If Pru Tellerence lost her longevity blessing, so be it, but she couldn’t bear the thought that Bel might lose hers as well, and die in the process. The child of two overseers would most likely inherit their longevity blessings and age only one year for every thousand. So a three-year-old child would essentially be three thousand years old. Izabella did not appear to have the intellect and maturity of someone so old, but her brain would have only developed as much as any other toddler’s. Plus she had spent a good part of her life in an orphanage without the benefit of loving parents to stimulate her learning and developmental processes. Loving parents. It looked like Izabella would not be gaining that benefit any time soon.
Pru Tellerence carried the sleeping child through the bustling central market square and continued on to the Maroqi District on the far edge of Romantica’s capital. That’s where the realm’s most powerful white witches lived and worked. Josefina Charo, who originally promised to raise Pru Tellerence’s child, was long dead. But the overseer knew which cottage would now be inhabited by a witch with many of the same attributes as Josefina. Indeed, the cottages in the Maroqi District were bestowed more like political offices than personal property. She headed to the home of the most powerful white witch in the realm.
★
Dramaticans guarding the portals found themselves getting bored and took it upon themselves to divide into two groups, so half could watch over the portals while the other half played Zedax, a centuries old game challenging two players to capture the other’s pieces while vying for control of a grid. Playing Zedax could be called the Dramatican national pastime. Teams of onlookers would often bet on players and call out what moves they would make.
Downstairs, Furst walked around his near empty library, creating a list of the supplies needed to rebuild the interior. He propped the library doors open because the weather was perfect and he wanted to feel connected to what was going on in the community.
Outside, a company of soldiers drilled in the square, while Dramaticans with storefronts and business dealings carried on as usual. Their commands and ripostes sounded distant, like the cries of youngsters playing in a park.
Until they didn’t.
Furst looked toward the door when he sensed the silence and reached it just in time to see the soldiers break into shouts and applause as Berra walked across the square with a new weapon in his arms and the Rodo twins trailing behind. Furst walked down the steps of the library and met him at the edge of the square.
The inventor held out the weapon. “A new one for you to test, I have. A polished chip, it has. Test it, will you?”
Furst took the gun. “Yes.” He waved away everyone standing near a pile of rocks. When the area cleared, Furst took aim and fired.
The stones exploded, but disintegrated in mid air before the debris could rain down on spectators.
“Close, it is.”
“Make adjustments, we will.” Berra took the weapon and spoke to Rilli. “Finer, we must make the chip.”
“Not as good as mine, your work is,” his twin retorted.
“Not perfectly round, your sanding stones are.”
“Are too.”
“Are not.”
“Stop!” Berra walked back to his workshop. The twins followed, nudging each other out of the way, until they got jammed trying to enter the front door at the same time. Finally they both fell into the workshop and each scrambled off to his own corner.
★
Johanna went down to the vault to look at Myrddin’s memoir. She opened the book, but Myrddin didn’t appear until she stroked the plate with his picture.
“What have you found?” he asked.
“Not much. I don’t think Cathasach and Beck trust us very much, especially after the temporal rift.”
Worry etched its way across Myrddin’s face. “There has been a temporal rift?”
“Yes. Some Terrorians—beings from another realm—have stolen a time machine and are wreaking havoc across all the realms.”
“Terrorians.” He nodded. “The Two Millennia War. I’m not surprised they’re causing trouble.” He closed his eyes and remained quiet for more than a minute.
Johanna grew impatient. “I have nothing more to tell you.”
“It does not appear the threat to my work is coming from outside the realm.”
“From whom then?” she asked.
He took a deep breath. “I fear it is coming from within—a member of the Eahta Frean fram Drycræft.”
“One of the eight masters of wizardry?”
“You must find out which one.”
“How am I supposed to do that?”
“You are the curator of the Library of Illumination. I do not doubt that you will determine who the suspicious party is and stop him. It’s what curators do.”
“I don’t even know who the eight wizards are. I only know of Beck and Cathasach.”
“There is a book that magically updates whenever one of the eight is replaced. It is the Master Compendia of Sorcery. It’s either on sub-level 1,311 or in your vault. I’m not sure which.”
“Is it written in English?”
“Of course.”
“Modern English.”
He closed his eyes for another minute. She yelped when he unexpectedly grabbed her hand before his eyes sprang open. He chanted something in a foreign la
nguage, touched his forehead to her hand, and then dropped it. “You will be able to read it.”
“Thanks,” she murmured, and unobtrusively wiped her hand on her pants.
“Whoever he is, use whatever means you have in your power to stop him,” he commanded, “even if it requires ultimate force.”
“Define ‘ultimate force.’”
“Kill him.”
LOI
CHAPTER 36
The Roth family couldn’t stop marveling over all the amenities and eccentricities of the hotel room. From the view of Paris to the artwork hanging in the toilets, it all seemed like a wild dream.
Jackson understood why his family was impressed. The Roths had always been poor, scraping together what little money they could to get by. It’s the reason why Jackson’s school recommended him for the job at the Library of Illumination. School officials knew his family was in need and offered him the job so he could help out at home. As co-curator, Jackson had just started pulling in a decent wage, but for too short a time to make a real difference, so the poshness of this hotel suite absolutely astonished his family.
“Mom, can we eat dinner on the balcony?” Ava asked.
“Dinner? In all the commotion, I hadn’t even thought about it.”
“Call room service,” Jackson said.
His brother chided him. “Very funny.”
“No. I mean it. Call room service.”
Chris eyed Jackson warily as he picked up the phone. A look of surprise crossed his face when they asked him what he wanted to order. He asked for a hamburger and french fries and hung up. “They’re not really going to deliver food here, are they?”
“Time will tell,” Jackson answered.
“Time will tell what, Jackson?” their mother asked.
“Whether Chris’s room service order will actually be delivered.”
A half hour later, there was a knock at the door.
Jackson waved at his sister. “Open the door, Ava. It’s probably Johanna.”
“Bonjour, Mademoiselle.”
“Uh … hi. Jackson!”
Jackson got up and nodded at the waiter.
