by R G Peterson
“Nick stop that. You’re scaring me,” Grace said as she tugged on his arm.
He touched the bracelet again, heard AJ say, “Man, quit freaking….” He removed his hand and he missed the end of AJ’s thought.
He looked at Grace and started to nod. “Okay, I think it’s time we told them. I figured it out.”
It took a second for her to catch on, but when she did she nodded before leaning into him.
“What? What?” AJ asked eager to hear the latest revelation.
“Um, well, ah, don’t get weirded out, but I can kinda hear what you were all thinking. Actually, not right now, but I could if I wanted to. And not all at the same time.”
Everyone stared at him in shock and disbelief.
“You see, it started when those guys attacked me at my house. I swore I could hear them speaking, yet their lips never moved. That’s how I heard one of them say that it was Thomas Wade that was Thanatos’ informant.”
Nick stole a look at Terry and saw him flinch at Thomas’ name.
“Anyway,” Nick continued, “over the course of the next few weeks I could sometimes hear what people were saying, but not always. I told Grace ‘bout it, but the trouble was I didn’t know how to make it happen. Until now.”
He paused and scanned the room, “You see, I was playing with the bracelet all the time. Twisting it and stuff. Maddy insisted I take it off because it was driving her nuts. Me playing with it, that is. Anyway, from then on I tried hard not to play with it anymore, so I stopped touching it. But I just realized that’s how I can hear people’s thoughts.”
He knew not everyone comprehended what he had just stated by the blank looks on most of their faces, so he tried to explain it one more time. “Okay, I can hear what people are thinking, but only when I touch the bracelet with both hands or wrists at the same time. Go ahead AJ, think of something, but don’t say it out loud.”
Nick touched the bracelet and heard, “…dy’s really losing it here.”
Nick smiled and said, “I can see why you’d think that, but your buddy’s not really losing it here.”
AJ’s eyes and mouth flew wide open. Nick smiled wide when he heard AJ’s next thought and said, “You know I can’t repeat that in front of the girls. Grace’d tell you you’ve got a potty mouth.”
Nick took his hand off of the bracelet.
“That’s freaky,” Miriam said. “Would you mind taking it off?”
“Yeah, no problem.” Nick held out his arm to Grace who slid the bracelet off of Nick’s wrist.
AJ stared at her as if he was trying to send a telepathic message. She gave him a quizzical look and then shook her head, “Sorry, it doesn’t seem to work for me.”
Terry stood up and walked over to where they sat and held out his hand. She gave him the bracelet. He held it in his hand and scanned the others. He squinted at them willing to hear what they were thinking but heard nothing. He slipped the bracelet on his wrist and swept his eyes around his acquaintances once more. When he began to shake his head they knew he wasn’t able to hear their thoughts. He ripped the bracelet from his wrist and thrust it back at Grace. He gave Nick a contemptuous look and retreated to his place and sat down heavily.
“So when did it start?” Miriam asked to break the tension.
“Um, I’m not sure. Like I said, the first time I noticed it was when those guys attacked me at my house. I certainly don’t remember hearing anything the first time I put it on. And you’d think something like that would’ve jumped out at me.”
“So let’s think ‘bout what happened that might’ve changed ‘round then.” Maddy suggested.
“Well, they almost killed him, didn’t they?” AJ said.
Grace gave AJ a thoughtful look. “Yeah, that could be it. And maybe that’s why you can’t,” she directed her last words to Terry. It didn’t placate him though. He sat there brooding and sullen.
Maddy’s ire rose, “Hey, get over it. Yeh didn’t see Nick mopin’ ‘round. He accepted his fate when he thought it was yeh instead o’ him. Quit bein’ such o baby. Big deal. So yer father and Thanajerk thought it was yeh. But it’s not. Whadayeh gonna do the rest of yer life? Crawl inta o shell and never come out. Yeh’ve found somethin’ better than that anyway. Yeh’ve found yer real family and yeh’ve got new and better and more loyal friends than yeh’ve ever had. Quit thinkin’ ‘bout what yeh don’ have ‘n start thinkin’ ‘bout what yeh do.”
The rest of them stared open mouthed at Maddy. When she finished they turned their attention to Terry thinking he would explode. Instead his face showed no reaction as he sat impassive and unresponsive. He slowly got to his feet and started walking across the room.
“You running away, again?” AJ asked.
Terry turned and smiled, “No, I’m getting more pizza and a soda. Anybody want anything while I’m up?”
No one said a thing as Terry walked over to the fridge, grabbed a can of Dr. Pepper, came over to the table and took three more slices of pizza, motioned to Anthony to ask if he wanted any and sat down after Anthony shook his head.
“So where were we?” he asked as he brought a folded slice of pizza up to his mouth.
“All righty, then…” Nick cautiously said. “Ah, well, we were talking ‘bout the pyramid prophecy. I think the ‘two’ means me. Second born. And the ‘one’ means you. First born. And the ‘know’ part – if it is indeed know, because it can be translated a couple of different ways – means I can hear what people are thinking, including you. When I’m touching the bracelet that is. So the apostrophe goes after the s in others not before.” To clarify he looked at AJ and said, “The prophecy didn’t refer to knowing one other person’s mind. It meant being able to read many people’s minds. Just one at a time.”
“What about, three rule four?” Terry asked.
“I was thinking,” Grace answered, “of course Nick thought of it first, but anyway, I was thinking that it could mean three of us would be in a position to…Oh this sounds so bad. Anyway, three of us would be in positions of power and the other four would not.”
When she saw how AJ, Maddy, Miriam and Anthony looked at her, she hastened to add, “I’m not saying it’s Nick and Terry and myself. It could be any three of us. Like Terry, Anthony and Nick, or Maddy, Terry and Nick. I think Terry and Nick are for sure. It’s just who the third person is, that’s all.””
“Why not me, Terry and Nick?” AJ asked, in a teasing manner.
“Sure. Why not? It doesn’t say anything about the three having to be Elements.”
AJ laughed, “Yeah, right.”
Grace realized Nick had gone quiet and nudged him. “What do you think?”
“Huh? Oh sorry. Drifted off there for a sec. Um, sure that’s sounds possible.” His tone suggested he wasn’t in total agreement.
“Okay, so…?”
“Um, if the first part is about people and not numbers, you know, me being two, Terry being one, why shouldn’t the rest of it mean people, too? Maybe three is not three people but a third person. And maybe four isn’t four…well you get the idea.”
“That doesn’t make sense because how can ‘two become four’ people? You guys gonna split yourself in two. Some magician is gonna saw you guys in half so there’s four of you?” AJ asked.
“That’d be a good trick, but no. It probably means something like two of us take on two more allies. Like if Terry and I convinced two others to join us.”
“You mean, like someone from Thanajerk’s team. That Leggy woman or one of his goons?” AJ hastened to ask.
“Sure, why not Ligeia and maybe Gabriella. Who knows? Hasn’t Ligeia been helpful in a lot of our successes? And she did help save my life. I can see her joining us over Thanatos. And I think that’s what’s meant by betray. I think she’s the one who’s going to betray Thanatos. It makes the most sense.”
When Nick stopped, he got a faraway look in his eyes.
“What is it, Nick?” Grace said tugging gently on his arm once more.
“Um, I dunno. I’m starting to feel a special…bond with her. Something that goes beyond…” He shook his head again and said, “I dunno.”
When he realized Nick wasn’t going to speak any more, Anthony asked, “So what about the ‘know all final enemy?’ ”
Nick shrugged. “I was thinking that the ‘know all’ might be what Thanatos told us before. That supposedly the person who has all four Elements would also somehow gain all of the knowledge of the ancient Minoan civilization.” Then almost to himself he mumbled, “Although that’s hard to wrap my head around.” Nick spoke up, “As AJ said, all that knowledge would make someone’s head explode. But it could mean that we have it already. We do have the only complete book of the Minoan civilization. So maybe that part’s come true already.”
“And ‘final enemy?’ ” Miriam asked.
Nick shrugged once more. “ ‘Final’ might be part of the last part. Like in the end that person will gain all knowledge. The only enemy I can think of is Thanatos, so it’s probably ‘bout him. And maybe ‘betray final enemy’ is the way it’s supposed to be read. After all of these years of fighting different people it probably means he’s the last person we have to defeat and that Ligeia will be the person who helps us.”
They all nodded in agreement.
“Which brings us to the last one. I’ve been struggling a lot with it. The only thing I have is the person who controls Aether cannot be beaten by the other four Elements. The rest of the prophecy speaks ‘bout the person or thing that can.”
“Yeh mean like Gabriella?”
“Yeah, like her or something like her or again, maybe Ligeia. But I’m not completely sure who or what.”
“But what do yeh think ‘solve hole bow and arrow tale archer path’ means. And how ‘bout, ‘lose in order ta win?’ ”
Grace spoke up. “I know this is going to sound strange but I did some research…”
“Yeah, that’s really strange. You doing research.” AJ chided.
“No not that. The tale archer part. The Mayans were great archers. So I looked to see if anyone stood out above the rest. But there’s no mention of it. So then I looked at the Minoans and Greeks.” She hesitated and took a deep breath. “You know, with all of the Greek mythology there would be a great archer there. And there are a lot of them. Anyway, when I Googled it I accidently typed in a second r, it brought up the name Arrhichion. Out of curiosity I clicked on it.”
She stopped once more and looked around. “It seems it was the name of some guy who took part in the Olympics in a sport called pankration. It’s sort of like mixed martial arts. Part boxing, part wrestling. You know? Anyway, he was in a match with some guy and the guy put him in a chokehold. To get out of it he reached down and broke the guys toes. The guy let go and screamed out in pain.”
“So this guy, Archie, cheated?” AJ asked.
“No, you were allowed to do that. Just no eye gouging or biting were allowed. Anyway, when the referee came over to declare Arrhichion the winner he was dead, but was declared the winner anyway. So he lost his life but still won.”
Chapter 54
“Grown a conscience?”
Three Sundays later, the 16th of April, after brunch, Terry made his way through the Minoan passageways back to Greece. He flew up to the main entry as the sun began to set and announced to the manservant who opened the door that he was there to see Thanatos. He was ushered in and asked to wait in the downstairs library. Five minutes later Thanatos entered the room accompanied by four of his bodyguards along with Ligeia.
“To what do I owe this pleasure?”
Terry gave Thanatos a rueful smile and said, “I have a deal to offer you.”
“And that would be…?”
“I join forces with you, even after everything you’ve done. But you’ve got to be the one to vanquish Nick, not me.”
“Grown a conscience?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“And how do you propose I do this? Word has come back to me that all of you, and in particular you two, are being watched constantly by the – I believe they call themselves – the Guardians. In such a small town as Manitowoc any attack would hardly go unnoticed, or dare say, have much chance of succeeding.”
Terry suppressed his surprise at Thanatos’ revelation that the adults had been watching over the Clan. He calmly suggested, “Yeah, that’s why I think it would be best to get him here somehow. You know, make up some sorta story so that he’s the one who suggests we come here.”
“Have you thought of something that may lure him here?”
“Nah, not yet, but I’m working on it.”
“And how do you propose I…vanquish him?”
“I don’t really care. Do whatever you want. Just leave me outta it. Okay?”
“Certainly. As you wish.”
Terry nodded and began to leave.
As Terry reached the doorway, Thanatos said, “How many do you have left?”
“Whadya mean?” Terry answered without looking around.
“Let us not be duplicitous. I could tell when I restrained you that day that you no longer had all four elements. So how many do you have left?”
Terry turned back to him, “One. I’ve still got Earth.”
“And how many does your twin have?”
“Three. He’s got the other three.”
Thanatos nodded thoughtfully. “So why should I jeopardize the future if he could be The One?”
“Because of a prophecy that we’ve discovered.”
“Which is?”
“It says, ‘You must lose to win.’ The others think it means that to defeat you someone must sacrifice themself to make you powerless.”
“And you? What do you believe it means?”
“I don’t believe. I know. It means, in order for me to get my powers back and become the One Spoken of in the Prophecy, my brother needs to lose his life. He has to be vanquished in order for me to get all four powers. It’s the only way it fits with the original Mayan prophecy. And when that happens – as both you and my father have said – I can take my rightful place as the most powerful person in the world. Assisted by you, of course.”
“Of course. Let me know when you have come up with a way to lure Master Nicholas here.”
Terry nodded, spun on his heels and left.
Chapter 55
Wednesday, the 20th, they gathered at lunch to see if anything new had been revealed to either Nick or Terry. Very little had been said or discussed over the last twenty days because the Clan had grown to believe that it would be a waste of time and that whatever was significant would be revealed on the sixth uinal. As the days grew closer to the final revelation, Nick and Grace became more and more anxious, while the others, especially Terry, seemed unconcerned.
As Nick sat down, Maddy asked, “So, whadayeh have?”
He shook his head, as Grace and AJ looked on with heightened expectations.
When she asked Terry the same question, he said, “Huh? Whadya talkin’ about?”
“The uinal. This be the last one.”
He gave a noncommittal shrug and looked away.
“Come on, man. What does that mean?”
Terry glared at AJ and said, “It means just what I said.”
“You didn’t say anything.”
“Yeah, and that’s what I got. Nothing.” Terry stared at AJ daring him to contradict or question him.
Everyone grew uncomfortable as the two refused to break eye contact.
“Come on, you two. I know we’re all tense, but we can’t be doing this now,” Mariam said.
Terry looked away and Grace said, “I think it’s got to be about the last prophecy. We pretty much have the others figured out, don’t you think? So anyone have any ideas as to how we can defeat Aether?”
Nick, with not much certainty, said, “It’s gotta be about Ligeia and her betraying Thanatos. Him being taken by surprise by someone he trusts seems like the best chance. You know, catch
him off guard.”
As Nick expressed his theory, he watched Terry to see what his reaction might be. He had worn the bracelet and touched it with both hands so he could “hear” what Terry truly thought.
AJ spoke up, “I think it’s Gabriella that’s supposed to be the traitor. After all, isn’t she supposed to be like your guardian angle?”
“Terry’s too,” Grace quickly added.
“Yeah, that, too,” AJ added as if it didn’t need to be said.
Nick kept his eyes on Terry and heard him say, Man, I can’t stand you, Janikowski. You’re such a jerk. And you’re completely useless.
Nick focused on Terry and thought, That’s not cool. He’s been a good and loyal friend even though you’ve treated him like garbage. You need to apologize.
Terry had been watching Nick’s face and shifted uncomfortably in his seat and said to AJ, “Hey man, I’m sorry. You’ve always, well since I’ve joined you guys, you’ve always been decent to me and I haven’t always returned it. So let me say I’m sorry. Okay?”
Everyone stared at Terry amazed at his admission. Nick most of all.
“Um, hey no problemo, mon ami,” AJ said. “We’re all in this together. Right?”
“Yeah, right,” Terry said as Nick waited to see if he thought of some hidden dig. But all he heard Terry say was, Cool.
Nick turned his attention to AJ and thought, stand up and go to the bathroom.
A moment later AJ stood up and said, “All of a sudden I’ve gotta go. Be back in a minute.” He turned and hustled toward the restroom.
Nick smiled. He turned his focus on Grace and suggested to her that she wanted to kiss him right here and now. Grace swung her attention to him and stared. He could see it in her eyes. She had this strong desire to lean over and kiss him in front of the whole school. When she saw him return her gaze, she said, “Whatever you’re doing, stop it right now.”
