by Curtis, Gene
As LeOmi turned the star shaped key, the hinges made a noise.
“Continue, Miss Jones.”
She turned the key until the bandings was completely separated from the other metal pieces. She tried to turn it farther and then she decided to turn it back the other way. When she did, the metal latches separated and the lock opened.
Mrs. Shadowitz left the room when the key turned, and now as the scientists took the unlocked journal from LeOmi and studied the open lock; Mrs. Shadowitz grabbed her arm and backed her away from the book.
“LeOmi, we have had a startling occurrence.”
“What?”
“We found the second thief. Would you like to come and see?”
“Well, I was hoping to see the Journal…”
“Oh, these scientists take a bit of time, every time you think they are close to giving you a conclusion, one thing reveals another thing and they go off in another direction. Believe me it is better to have them come to you than you waiting for them to come up with something that you can understand.”
They both looked back at the table that had people with white lab coats all around it, so much so that she couldn’t see the Journal any longer.
“Come.”
LeOmi remanifested with Mrs. Shadowitz. They were outside of the mountain, at Slone’s alcove. No one was there. They continued inside to the Council Chambers.
Her father arrived, “Well I believe that you three know each other. Meet the intruder in your room LeOmi, the slippery one who got away.”
Ruby was led into the chamber by two guards.
Mrs. Shadowitz turned and exited.
LeOmi said, “Ruby?”
Jacob Jones said, “Oh no.”
Ruby turned so that her back was to her family her long hair flowing down her back.
LeOmi heard Mrs. Shadowitz and the rest of the Council of Elders enter and take their seats.
“Ruby Jones, you stand before this assembly today, caught red handed in the act of committing a crime of theft within The Seventh Mountain. Have you any explanation for your activities?”
Ruby just stood there. It was obvious that she did not intend to say anything to anyone about anything.
LeOmi walked around the curving wall so that she could see Ruby’s face.
“Are you working for Julian Compton?”
Her face was without expression and her demeanor remained the same.
“Would you like to say anything on your own behalf?” She simply shook her head no.
It was hard to watch, and even harder to understand why Ruby would betray them just as their mother had done.
LeOmi and her father came out of the chambers dazed and tearful.
Ruby was taken to Mattaraw Prison.
LeOmi started singing, “I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses…”
Bekka laid one hand on her shoulder and in the other she held up LeOmi’s book bag, “Let’s go check on the coneys.”
* * *
When they reached the animal healers, the coney were up and running around. They had taken over the place just like they took over everywhere that they had ever been.
As soon as they saw LeOmi, they jumped on her and snuggled into her arms.
Kayleen was there, “He may show some signs of fatigue later on, but that is to be expected nothing to worry about.”
“Thank you.”
“My pleasure.”
Mrs. Shadowitz entered the animal healers. “I thought that I might find you here. We do need to talk.”
They followed Mrs. Shadowitz back to her small office, she offered a cup of tea, but they declined.
“Jacob, I am sorry about Ruby. There is always hope. She is young. We must pray that her heart will change.”
“Yes, there is always hope.”
“Mrs. Shadowitz, did she have something to do with Vincent DuBose death?”
“We only suspect, but she has said nothing.”
“I see.”
“In the mean time Jacob, I must insist that you stay close. You have been furnished a little house in Magi City for the time being, for your own protection.”
* * *
Bekka said, “This will be LeOmi’s first time to Magi City. I want to take her there on the subway, so she will know her way back.”
Bekka, LeOmi and Jacob Jones entered the subway corridor was on the west side of The Seventh Mountain.
“LeOmi, I lived in Magi City for a couple of years, working off my one year here. I worked at Prize Books down near the Orphanage.”
LeOmi was trying to take in all the new sights, but after the day she’d had, she felt like these were just duties she had to perform. “We do need to stop by there and tell Jesse.”
“Jesse already knows. I informed him when I went to get your father.”
The walk to the subway was a short one and they were seated in the same kind of subway cars that she had seen on television. Her book bag was on her lap and the coneys were snuggled together in the bottom. One of them was always awake, and it was the girl who would look up whenever there was a sway to the subway car.
LeOmi’s father said, “You’re right though, we should be there for him just now. It’s all right if we make an additional stop isn’t it?”
Bekka nodded, “Of course. You probably remember that the Orphanage access tunnel is joined with the subway exit.”
When they arrived at the end of the line and departed from the subway, there was another tunnel carved into the rock. Over the entrance, ORBUS SALUTARE, was carved into the stone.
“It’s Latin, it says…Orphans welcome.” She smiled at her dad, “Ancient Languages is one of my favorite classes.”
“This place has been here for a thousand years. It was carved out of solid rock and then there are another ten stories above, and a basement beneath. At present there are about seven thousand children here, from the age of newborn to twelve. They have been brought here from all over North and South America.”
“Jesse is a counselor here, what does he do?”
“As a counselor, he has children assigned to him.”
Bekka directed LeOmi up the ramp that substituted for stairs.
“After a child or student reaches the age of about six, they have their Day at the Stables, which is similar to the Day of Choosing. Once their motivation is discovered they are put with a counselor.”
“What happens when they are twelve and they are not accepted into The Seventh Mountain?”
“You are asking in regard to Albert?”
“Yes.”
“Well, Albert is a special case, and we always…always try to do the right thing.”
As they turned the corner, the ramp ceiling opened into a huge expanse of stone, pillars, intricate woodwork and people.
LeOmi said, “Wow.”
“It appears that today is a hands-on day.” Jacob Jones observed.
Bekka said, “Yes, they have weekly projects scheduled to test and apply work ethic and self-motivation. We can walk around a bit until we spot him.”
Large tables had been set-up from one side of the room to the other. This floor of the building seemed as big as a football field and the lighting came from floor to ceiling windows that lined both sides of the large room. A reflector system furnished sunlight from the windows to the center of the room.
There were all sorts of different projects going on all over. There was one child trying to duplicate a birds nest that she remembered, another building a pull cart, a group working on constructing a door, children carving hand sized objects, others making small boxes, and large boxes, anything that could be made with wood.
Jesse’s group was on the far side, under a window. Bekka went over and spoke to him. He introduced her and then he left her and motioned LeOmi and their dad to a small room, not far from his group.
He left the door ajar and took them both into his arms for a family hug, minus two. They hadn’t been together for her mom’s, or Grand-Père�
�s death, but they could be together for Ruby. Tears fell from all three.
* * *
LeOmi and Bekka visited the small guest house with her father. It was set-up for visitors to the mountain, all that was necessary, but not a home. Bekka had gone to his office in Virginia and picked out several bags of papers and study materials that he had laid out on his desk. “This should keep you busy for some time. If you need more, let me know.”
They said their goodnights; LeOmi and Bekka made their way to the Olive Tree.
LeOmi knew something was wrong the moment she approached. The coneys started hissing.
There was a big branch on the ground and Ralph Lawrence and Rickey Barnes were sitting on the barricade that kept the good rich soil around the tree.
“What have you done?”
They were pretending to pick olives off the broken branch and collecting them into a fold of Rickey’s tunic.
Ralph said, “Rickey tried to climb the tree and a branch broke.”
Rickey stood and let the few olives in his tunic tumble to the ground.
Bekka said, “This tree has been here for over three centuries. Its linage can be traced back to the time of Moses, and you have, have… ”
Ralph said, “It is just a tree.”
The coneys were hissing.
Ralph and Rickey stood, “We didn’t want to be here anyway. We have been sent to tell you to come to the meeting place.”
“To come.”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
“I’m not going with you.”
“What? Because of the tree?”
“Not completely.” A deep growl came from the book bag.
“No one tells me to go anywhere, especially Slone.”
“He will not be happy.”
LeOmi set her book bag on the roots of the Olive Tree. The male coney perched on one and hissed, growled and showed his teeth.
Ralph and Rickey started jogging towards the school.
Chapter 17
Take Advantage of the Enemy’s Unpreparedness and Strike
The next day, LeOmi went to the alcove. She grabbed sandwich fixings and sat in her corner near the exit. Slone followed her to her seat, “I told you to come to me.”
LeOmi took another bite and swallowed before she said, “You sent your goons.” LeOmi gestured to Ralph and Rickey.
“I understand that you were mad about the tree?”
“Of course.”
“But you should have come. If you are going to be part of the front row, then you have to be responsible for certain things. You have to be loyal.”
He pulled a chair over to her and leaned in close. He grabbed her free hand and said, “I have to know if you are loyal.”
“Are you getting ready to puncture my lung again?”
Slone dropped her hand and stood.
“We had a little training mission, and we will have another one tomorrow, after classes. Meet us at the wall near the orchard.”
He handed her a card with numbers printed on it. “Study this.”
2 – 6 = 1
7 – 9 = 0
10 – Ace = -1
“And what if I can’t make it to your training mission?”
“Loyalty LeOmi. If you don’t get there on time, I’ll send someone to get you.”
LeOmi stood.
The pointers Lydia had given ran through her mind.
Act like you belong, but be cautious, don’t let your guard down. Kindness for kindness, aggression use aggression. If it calls for walking away—do it. If all else fails and you feel yourself getting frustrated, pick a song that you can just kind-of get stuck into.
She sat again.
I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses…
Slone smiled and walked away.
* * *
Just after classes, Bekka met LeOmi, “Mrs. Shadowitz and Mr. Sieggler are eager to see you. They have found out something very interesting about the Journal. They are waiting at the lab.”
Mr. Sieggler began speaking as soon as LeOmi and Bekka walked into the lab, “Much of the Journal is in palindrome form. That is where a word, phrase, number or other sequence of units can be read the same way in either direction.”
“A lot of Sumerian Sanskrit was written as palindromes.”
“Yes LeOmi, that is true and there is nothing remarkable there, but the curious thing is that the Journal gives a location of Tell or Artificial Hill that was supposedly the location of a temple.”
“A temple?”
Mrs. Shadowitz said, “Not just any temple, one that was thought to be the location of the Ziggurat otherwise known as the Tower of Babel. As God said, ‘Behold, the people are one and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.’”
“This is the information that you feel they were after?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have any idea why they want that?”
Mr. Sieggler asked LeOmi, “Do you know the history of the Tower of Babel?”
“A descendant of Noah, Nimrod built a kingdom in what is now modern Iraq. He and his people began building the Tower of Babel.”
“A tower to heaven, in rebellion to God,” said Mrs. Shadowitz. “The descendant was Cush and he was married to what the Journal refers to as the most beautiful woman in the world. Her name was Semiramis. She was called the original mother of all the fertility goddesses. Their son was Nimrod.”
“Well, the Journal claims to be a work on the history of the Tower of Babel and the precise measurements and location.”
“Of course, since the time of the Tower or Tell, homes and towns have been built over the ruins, layer by layer.”
“You said there was history?”
“Yes, as I said, it began with Noah and the great flood, then the Tower of Babel and Semiramis, then Ashtoreth, wife of Baal. Ancient Hebrews worshipped her. An eight-rayed Rosette, a star, was her symbol, the same shape as the key.”
“In Nimrod’s time they worshiped four main gods: The GOD of heaven, the air-god, Enlil, the water-god, Enki, and the mother goddess, Ninhursag.
In addition to these there were three astral gods, mood-god, Nanna, also called Sin, the sun god, Utu, and Inanna, known to the Semites as Ishtar or Ashtoreth.”
“Interactions between Earth, Wood, Fire, Metal and Water.”
“Ashtoreth followers used human sacrifices and they were very fond of snakes as a tool for assassinations or as a calling card. Just as some religious practices use today.”
“After the Tower of Babel, GOD confused their language and scattered them all over the face of the earth. But the Neo-Phylum or New Order wants to rebuild the Tower of Babel in the guise of global unity.”
“Well, what does all this have to do with Ruby?”
“LeOmi, it would seem that Ruby was a member of the Neo-Phylum, along with your grandfather Vincent DuBose, and also your mother.”
* * *
LeOmi and Bekka were the only ones in The Quarters, it was so late.
“It has been a rough day, and I have a feeling that this may only make it rougher.”
Hannah’s broach was actually pinned to the letter.
LeOmi,
I am banished because we refuse to fulfill the cruelty that had been arranged for you, my petit Yvonne.
What does power bring you but bitter lonely tears?
What does having more fulfill, except for the desire of more?
What is the cost of greed–the wisdom of lost love?
As Yeats says, Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.
Why would your mother have left her native New Orleans and marry your father. I had given her everything, yet she left me. She left me alone. Do you blame me? Do you think that it is my fault that your mother left me as she left you? Do you blame me for her death…? When she resisted this life that we have led, she was pursued and the guilt almost destroyed her.
He
knew that your mother was trying to break away, at the very end. Compton even called me searching for her—he said he felt something was wrong. He said she was crazy—But I didn’t believe it.
A few days later I received a message from her that she needed to get in touch with me. By the time I could get to her, it was too late. That is something that I will have to deal with for the rest of my life, however long or short that may be.
Beware of:
always desiring what others have, in your loneliness, you will find no happiness.
always wanting more, more, more, and more, making the wrong seem right and the right seemingly wrong.
exaggerated self worthwhile true worth of abilities is absent.
the person who craves stardom–and think they deserve it.
personal destruction and the loss of all.
Weigh these answers, then as you must, search for the real questions.
I see what I have done to my husband, my daughter and to my grandchildren. My confession doesn’t relieve the cruelty that I have arranged for people. LeOmi, please forgive an old women her many sins.
Of course they will not let me live now, but it is my hope that this letter reaches you and that you can somehow understand what is in my heart.
You have asked of your family history. The house is yours if you want it. Its secrets may persuade you of the contents of this letter, and give you the answers that you so recklessly seek.
As you know, your Grand-Père was imprisoned for many years. He was exiled for his family loyalty- to your mother. Ruby will pay for her disloyalty to the family with whatever gain she has accumulated.
I do feel that your mother loved you and your family, and you know that I loved your mother and you.
Remember…
Grand-Mère
“Bekka, we must go to New Orleans.”
LeOmi handed Bekka the letter so she could read as they walked.
More things to pile in Henry’s painful disappointments basket.
* * *
“She can’t have just left. What will happen to her?”
Bekka put her hand on LeOmi’s shoulder, “We should go.”
