The Minoan Legacy

by R G Peterson

  Terry focused on the ground around his feet. His whole body relaxed as if the previous two minutes never existed. When he looked back up he said, “So what could be hidden with other things like it. It obviously would have to be something nobody would notice didn’t belong there.”

  “You mean like a junker in a salvage lot for old cars?” AJ asked.

  “Yeah, something like that, but I’d guess a lot smaller,” Terry said smiling at AJ’s analogy.

  “We found the diary, didn’ we?” Maddy offered. “And Gabriella did say she had the one complete copy o’ the Voynich manuscript, didn’ she? So, maybe that’s it. O’ do yeh think it’s ‘nother diary?”

  Nick shook his head, “There’d be no reason to have two diaries, would there?”

  Grace agreed, “Not with her writing it in the First Civilization script.”

  Terry got a thoughtful look, “How come only you and Ligeia seem to be able to read it?”

  Nick shrugged, “Dunno. Our mom could though.”

  “Maybe it’s one of those gene things?” AJ said.

  Nick slowly shook his head, “GG and Grandpa Henry can’t do it.”

  “How ‘bout yer great gran’parents?” Maddy asked.

  Terry stared hard at Nick, who abruptly answered, “Never knew ‘em. Any of them,” hoping to deflect Terry’s wrath.

  “Did you ever ask GG if her or Henry’s parents could?” Terry fired back.

  “Uh, no. Never even thought of it.” Nick answered as Terry’s glare became fiercer by the second. “Listen, I never gave any of it much thought. It’s just something that I’ve always been able to do. I don’t know why. Or how. It’s…it’s…it’s like breathing. As long as I can remember I was able to do it and I never thought about it until Grace mentioned it when I read her scroll.”

  That seemed to mollify Terry.

  Anthony spoke up, “Maybe you guys could ask her. GG I mean.”

  “Oh man,” Nick moaned. When everyone looked at him he added, “She’s not very keen about talking ‘bout this stuff. The last time I brought it up she got more upset the longer we talked.”

  “I’ll ask her,” Terry said.

  The next Sunday over brunch Terry turned to GG and asked, “You know how Nick can read that crazy writing? I know our mom could, too and Nick said neither of you can.” He paused to let GG acknowledge what he was saying to be true. “Could any of our great grandparents?”

  Henry sat up straighter and glared at Terry. “That’s hardly appropriate conversation for the dinner table.”

  Gayle reached over and gently placed her hand on Henry’s forearm. “That’s okay. The boys are just curious.”

  Henry moved his arm so GG’s hand slid off.

  She went on, “Yes, your mother could read it, but we never figured out how. No one we know of can do that. In all the years we’ve known other Elements not one person has ever talked about being able to do that.” She turned her attention toward Henry. “Your Grandfather believes it to be as much of a curse as a blessing of some kind. I seem to recall him referring to it as ‘unholy.’ ”

  Henry looked away.

  “But he seems to have no problem with the fact that he can turn into various water mammals.” And she began to chuckle. “You old fool.” She placed her hand back on his arm and he slid it so that he could take hold of her hand. He refused to look at her, but the boys noticed a small smile curl his lips.

  Terry, emboldened by GG answering his question, plunged on. “Do you know if our mom had some kind of second book or diary or something like that?”

  Henry once more shot him a disapproving look.

  GG said, “You have to understand, Grandpa Henry was very close to your mom until…Well, let’s just say, it still pains him to think about it. As for the diary, that, and the ring and bracelet we gave you, were the only things we had of hers. Red, I think, had some things, but not much. Some of your father’s things too, but we’ve never asked him. I guess it was way too painful for both of us.”

  Nick knew that was all they were going to get from the two of them so he redirected the conversation to their remaining conference hockey games and upcoming State Championships in early March in Madison. Besides it looked like the answers to their questions lay with Red.

  Chapter 35

  “Not something I’m prepared to share with you young ones”

  The following Saturday, Grace got an early morning phone call from Terry telling her that Red was back. He asked her to call the others and head on over to the mansion. The rest of the Clan arrived en mass and were escorted to Tristan Warrington’s study where Terry awaited them. He greeted everyone and led them down the hall to Red’s den.

  He was reading that day’s newspaper. When Red heard them enter he lifted his head and smiled, then held up his hand informing them all to wait before they said anything. Gabriella circled the room and disabled all video and audio devices. When finished she nodded and Red greeted them. “Wow, what a pleasant surprise. What brings all of you here?”

  AJ jumped in before anyone else could speak, “Where’ve you been?”

  Red guffawed. “I was on some special business for your parents. Kind of a reconnaissance mission. Did you ever read Sun Tzu’s Art of War?”

  Everyone shook their heads.

  “Yeah, I guess you wouldn’t. Anyway, when you’re at war, and we are, you need to know your enemy’s strength and weaknesses. Try to find out his plans. What he’ll do next. So, I was trying to find all of that stuff out.”

  “And?” Terry asked.

  “Not something I’m prepared to share with you young ones quite yet. I’m to meet with the grownups first. Then, if we think it’s appropriate, we’ll tell you.”

  Everything Terry had held inside exploded. “What? We’re the ones he’s after. Not you guys. We’re the ones who’ve fought him and his goons off before. We can handle ourselves. We’ve proved it time and time again. What’ve you guys done? One small measly fight. And you caught them by surprise. We fought our way out of places and situations where we were outnumbered. Where they surprised us.”

  Anthony reached out and gently touched Terry on the arm trying to get him to calm down, but Terry jerked his arm away and continued to yell at Red. “You treat us like children. But we’re the ones who’ve been up for anything that maniac has thrown at us.”

  Red sat calmly behind his desk, letting Terry’s anger burn itself out. When he ran out of steam, Red answered him. “You’ve all been marvelous. What you seven have done is to be commended. But let me say two things. As parents and grandparents it is our responsibility to try to keep you, as best we can, out of harms way.” When Terry stiffened, Red added. “When you’ve children of your own, you’ll understand this better. And second, knowing Thanatos as well as I do – and I don’t mean to make light of anything you seven have done – he’s fond of testing people. Don’t you think some of the things you’ve faced from skilled Elements, who’ve had years of training to perfect those skills, might’ve been a bit too easy?”

  He let the last thought hang in the air. The teens shared furtive glances recalling the shaman’s words from the previous year that things would be “too easy.”

  Red went on. “Up ‘til now, he wasn’t sure who to favor between the two of you. Now he’s convinced that Terry’s The One and that you all are a hindrance to his…growth.”

  He focused his attention on Nick. “There’ve been two attacks on you since your sixteenth birthday, alone. One of which you barely survived. And in that case he sent mere boys to do the job.” Red gazed at the others, then added, “He has an army of people ‘round the world ready to do what he tells them to do. Part of what I’ve been doing and where I’ve been is to try to convince people to join us when the time comes.”

  He saw the disillusionment in Terry’s eyes. “What’s going on Terry?”

  “Nothin’.” He answered sharply, but recovered to add, “But he’s after us, or them,” he swept his arm toward the oth
ers, his gaze lingering on Anthony the longest. “We’re just supposed to wait ‘til the grownups decide our fate?”

  “What would you like us to do?”

  “We need to be a part of all decisions. We wanna have a say.”

  Terry looked to the others for confirmation and saw them all nod in agreement.

  “He’s right,” Nick concurred. “We know you guys want to help and protect us. But, you know, it’s more about us then it’s about you guys. We should be able to say what we think. It may’ve been ‘too easy,’ but every time we’ve been thrown into the fire, we’ve done pretty well for teenagers, don’t you think?”

  Red smiled, “Yes, you’ve all been remarkable. The next time the Guardians meet, you will be included, and I’ll insist that we include all of you in our plans. Okay?”

  They nodded once more.

  Grace looked around at her friends and decided to take the lead with what they had actually come there to ask Red. “We’ve got a couple of questions regarding Val.” She looked at Nick then Terry to see how they were reacting to her bluntness. When neither seemed to mind, she went on. “We have her diary and the manuscript Slate stole from her and gave to Warrington, but we were wondering…you know…” She flicked her gaze toward Gabriella and immediately regretted it. “Ah, well, we were wondering if she had any other kind of diary or folder or something that she had with her all the time?”

  Red shook his head, “Uh, not that I recall. Those were the only two things I ever remember seeing her studying or writing in. Why’d you ask?”

  “We kind of found this other puzzle she left. It says that she hid something with other things like it. But we don’t have the first clue as to what or where.”

  Red steepled his fingers and thought. He once more started to shake his head. “Sorry, I…wait. She used to have this old bookstore she loved to go to. She said it had something to do with research on their, her and Andy’s, bipolar disorder.” His thoughts drifted for a second before he remarked, “I wonder if it’s even still open? Anyway, there was this old bookstore on Main Street called, ‘Scott Land’s Books.’ She said she loved looking at his collection of rare books. But that’s the only thing I can recall her doing with stuff like that.”

  “Thanks, Red,” Grace said and the Clan turned and marched out of the room.

  Chapter 36

  “We heard she used ta come here a lot”

  “It’s still there. The bookstore,” Nick exclaimed when they left the mansion.

  “How do you know?” AJ asked.

  “ ‘Cuz that’s the place I jumped my bike onto the ledge to get away from Slate when he was trying to run me over with his car a couple of years ago. And every time I go down Main Street I can’t help but look at it.”

  “Wow, that’s the place? Cool!”

  Nick shook his head. “Let’s go. Who’s driving?”

  They jumped into two cars, AJ’s and Miriam’s, and headed downtown. They wound their way through town until they came to Main Street. They found a couple of parking spots less than a block from the bookstore. They regrouped and walked down the street together, Nick led the way. He pulled open the door and instead of holding it for the others, as he normally would, continued to march in ahead of the rest.

  There was a gentleman in his late seventies sitting behind the counter perusing a very old book. Nick read the binding, Tom Sawyer, and smiled. He knew it wasn’t an original, but it appeared to be one printed in the earlier part of the twentieth century. The old man looked up when he heard the door’s chime announce he had another customer.

  “Hi, how may I help you young people?”

  “Yeah, hi,” said Nick. “Um, we were wondering…um…”

  Maddy moved Nick out of the way, giving him an I’ll-handle-this look. “This here is Terry Warrington and Nick Jensen. They’re Val Jensen’s sons.”

  The man sat a little straighter.

  “We heard she used ta come here o lot. Did she ever…”

  Before she could finish he held up his hand. “She said one day one of her sons might come here asking that question.” He nodded at Terry and Nick.

  When he didn’t go on they asked in unison, “And?”

  “And she also told me to make sure they were actually her sons.”

  He looked at Nick, “You look so much like her, it’s uncanny. And although I only saw him a couple of times, you look just like your dad.” He turned to Terry as he made his last statement. “I guess there’s no mistaking you’re them. Anyway, wait here a second.”

  He ambled into a back room and returned a minute later struggling to carry a large package wrapped in oilcloth and tied with coarse wrapping string. He placed it on the table in front of where he had been sitting and pushed it toward the twins. They stepped forward and hesitated, offering each other the chance to unwrap it.

  AJ stepped forward and said, “Here let me…”

  But Maddy pulled him back and said, “They’ll be needin’ ta do this.” AJ stepped back.

  Eventually Nick grabbed the string and pulled it apart. Terry grabbed the wrappings and uncovered the package. They stared at what lay there. It was the largest book any of them had ever seen. The leather bound book was close to two feet wide and three feet tall. It was at least a foot thick with over six hundred velum pages. The cover had the First Civilization markings on it. Everyone turned to Nick in expectation.

  He looked up at Terry and then shifted his gaze to Grace, “It says, ‘Our Knowledge.’”

  Chapter 37

  “Just wondering where the moon was”

  As Nick and AJ drove to their Monday morning practice in AJ’s car, Nick was overcome with a feeling of deja vu. As AJ rambled on about the rest of the season, Nick leaned forward and scanned the gradually brightening morning sky. He turned around in his seat and glanced out the back window. He peered out his window and tried to look up before he leaned down and stared out AJ’s side.

  AJ took notice and asked, “What’s up, buddy. You see something?”

  “Ah, nah. Just wondering where the moon was, that’s all.”

  “So?”

  “There doesn’t seem to be any.”

  “It’s right above us. I noticed it when we got in the car.”

  Nick lowered his window and stuck his head out so he could see it. “It looks like a full moon.”

  “Yeah, so what’s the big deal? They happen ‘bout every twenty-nine and a half days. Remember?”

  Nick smiled and said, “Nothing, really. It’s just since we’ve heard the riddle I’ve been paying more attention to it. That’s all.”

  They arrived at the arena, headed to the locker room and changed into their gear. At 6:00 a.m. they skated out onto the ice along with the rest of their teammates. Nick moved to the crease and slid back and forth trying to smooth out the surface around the net, while the rest of his teammates loosened up and traded friendly banter.

  Nick had placed his goalie mask and water bottle on top of the net and rested his goalie stick against the side of the goal. As he tugged on his goalie mitt he received a vision. He could see a puck coming straight at his head as his teammates screamed at him to look out.

  He raised his head to see Derek Jarvis talking to Jim George – the two of them laughing as they practiced imaginary slap shots. He saw a puck drift into their area. The puck slid into Derek’s line of fire and, without even seeing it there, he sent it screaming at Nick’s unprotected head. Without giving it any thought, Nick blew a small breath toward the puck as a few of his teammates began to yell at him to duck. Three feet from Nick’s face the puck made a forty-five degree turn and missed Nick by a foot. Nick pretended he hadn’t seen the puck and went back to clearing the area around his skates.

  When he heard the ‘wows’ and ‘whoas’ from his teammates he lifted his head and gave them an uncomprehending look. “What?” he said as he saw a number of them staring at him.

  “Man, didn’t you see that?” and “Boy, that was close,” calls
rained down on him. Nick shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t have a clue as to what had just happened. He scanned the area to see if Terry had somehow been involved, but he seemed to be as mystified as everyone else.

  “Sorry, sorry,” everyone heard the team manager, Troy McCann, say. “The bag slipped out of my hands and all the pucks went everywhere. Sorry.” He looked sheepishly at Nick and made an I’m-really-sorry face.

  Minutes later Coach Johnson gave them their pre-practice speech and the various position players broke into their different drills.

  When they had a chance, Terry and AJ skated over to Nick, “What happened?” Terry asked.

  “I was cleaning the goal area and got this vision. I’m pretty sure it was an accident because I saw Derek swing his stick, you know, like he was hitting slap shots. He was talking to Jim and wasn’t paying attention. He hit one of the loose pucks and it came flying at me.”

  “Yeah, but…it moved.” Terry said a bit unnerved.

  “Yeah, I kind of blew on it and it changed directions.”

  “Incredible,” Terry said more disturbed then impressed.

  AJ was slow to catch on. “What?”

  Terry gave him a look of disbelief. He didn’t try to disguise his disappointment. “He’s got wind back.”

  “Cool!”

  “Hey, you guys, coffee clutch time is over,” Coach Johnson yelled and brought them back to the moment.

  After practice, Terry rushed to shower and dress. He hurried out of the locker room, saying a brief goodbye to Nick and AJ. “I’ll catch you guys later. I gotta run.”

  He drove to a secluded spot, opened his door and tried to morph into a bird. Nothing. No matter how hard he tried it wouldn’t come. He got out of the car and tried Nick’s trick, blowing a tiny puff of air out of his mouth toward a cluster of small, brittle leaves that had worked their way through the diminishing snow. They didn’t stir. He blew harder. Still nothing. In his frustration he got down on his knees and positioned his mouth inches from the ground. He exhaled a blast of air the big bad wolf would have been proud of, but barely moved the leaves. He placed his hands over his face and began to cry.