The Awakener

by Amanda Strong

Micah knew Trent was worried so he took a break from his research. After all, it was Friday night, Trent reminded him. It’d been a week since the woman in red had relayed her message. Micah wished she’d return; he never thought he’d miss her so much.

  They were meandering through the salas of the Museo Pio-Clementino, just one of the many museums within the Vatican. Trent had been anxious to see the Sistine Chapel, the most famous gallery of the museum. The tour group they joined had stopped at a single statue; the tour guide was rattling off an explanation in Italian. Micah glanced at Trent.

  He whispered, “She’s telling how the sculpture of Laocoon was the first purchase they made five-hundred years ago—it was the start of the museum. Pope Julius II had Michelangelo and Guiliano da Sangallo go and buy it in the vineyard of,” he paused, “do you want to know all the details?”

  Micah shook his head no. He had enough names, dates, and facts running through his head with reading the Book of Enoch. Trent shrugged and began listening to the tour guide again. Micah knew his cousin secretly loved the history lesson that came with each tour. He happily followed the group as they moved on.

  “We’re in the gallery of statues now,” Trent informed him, as they entered a tunnel-like hall with statues lining both sides of the walls. There were frescos painted on the walls, mosaic tiles patterning the floors, and several marble figures filling the hall. The guide was pointing to a marble bust of a man, probably giving the story behind it. When she moved on, her short heels clicking on the tiles, Micah stepped closer to admire the sculpture. He was drawn to the man’s face, the long, straight nose, semi-parted lips, wavy hair, and unseeing eyes all carved out of marble.

  “The guide said he was a Greek Dramatist born in 342 BC. He wrote hundreds of comedies. She said they used to think this was Marius, but now they think it’s really Menander. Poor Marius got the shaft,” Trent said, startling Micah. He had walked up behind him. Something was so familiar about this moment… the sensation of déjà vu prickled the hairs on Micah’s arms.

  This is my vision! This was what I’d been staring at when Trent walked up. So, now what?

  “Who was Marius?” he asked, hoping to glean the reason behind seeing this.

  Trent stared at him. “You’ve never heard of Marius? You need to get out more, or at least listen in World History class more. Marius was a stallion! He completely reformed the Roman military. He went about everything on his own terms, didn’t care for all the bureaucratic crap. Before he came along, you had to own land to be in the army. Marius formed his own army with anyone who wanted a job, a paycheck, and the promise of land once their service was over. And he was unbeatable. Those that didn’t like him tried to replace him, but when the Barbarians took over northern Rome, they called him back. And he saved Rome, again. His army was loyal to him. He was the beginning of ‘He who controls the army controls Rome’. He is legendary to Romans.”

  “I’m impressed. I had no idea you were so into this stuff.”

  Trent shrugged. “I don’t know why, but I love Italy. I’ve been studying the culture, language, and history for a while. So I guess,” Trent said slowly, “I can understand your obsession with the City of Enoch, in a way.”

  Startled, Micah replied, “I didn’t know you knew what we’re reading about.”

  “Micah, I see things you don’t see. I hear things you don’t hear,” he joked. His last words left them both silent.

  “Trent,” Micah began. This is what I’ve been dreading—how to tell Trent the truth? He was afraid if he told Trent about the Gennaros part in it, he would tell Micah’s parents and he’d be on the next flight to Virginia. The last thing his parents wanted was for their already-kooky son to be around two kooky old people.

  “About the other night, you did hear something that I didn’t hear,” Micah finished.

  Trent was sober. “I know. I’ve been stressing that I’m catching your Looney Tunes stuff.”

  Micah took a deep breath. Here goes nothing!

  The words tumbled out. “I have visions… dreams, at night, and sometimes during the day. I saw you and me here, in Rome, in this very room actually. There’s a reason I’m here. I need to learn from the Gennaros. I don’t expect you to believe me.”

  Trent listened and then asked, “What do you dream about?”

  The group they were with had begun walking to the next sala, and they followed, lagging behind.

  “I’ve seen one thing over and over.” And Caterina’s saw it too, he thought, but didn’t say. “It’s a fire that consumes everything. No one survives it.”

  Trent said nothing for a moment. “What else do you see?”

  This dream was much more pleasant to Micah, filling his mind for the past two nights.

  “I keep seeing a building. Well, more like a fortress. It’s huge, its brilliant, and it looks like it’s made out of gold or something. In my dream, I want to go in. I need to go in and there are tons of people entering large, tall doors. The line of people goes on and on. I don’t go in though. I hang back, although I’m not sure why. I feel like I’m searching for someone.”

  Expecting a smirk, or punch in the arm, Micah waited. Trent was staring at the ground.

  He glanced up and, with unfocused eyes, stated, “And you’ve been studying the City of Enoch.” He paused. “There is going to be a fire, like the one you saw, and it’ll cover everything, I mean everything, the whole world. But some people will survive. It’ll be those who are inside the city you saw, the golden city, the new City of Enoch. It’s sort of like the ark with Noah. Only those inside the ark were safe from the flood.” He locked eyes with Micah. “You have a part to play in building these cities, these modern arks.”

  Micah gawked at him, dumbstruck.

  Trent’s under some sort of spell; he never talks like this. He said cities, not city. I didn’t tell him I saw more than one. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

  Trent cleared his throat, shaking his head. “Man, you’ve been studying some heavy stuff, not sure I want to know anymore.”

  Micah grunted. “Tell me about it.”

  Trent’s cell phone chimed. Micah watched him dig it out of his jeans, shoot off a text, and then tuck it in his back pocket. “So… we probably can’t do too much more tonight, right?”

  Micah cocked an eyebrow at him.

  “Well, now that I single handedly solved the world’s problems, we have a little time for a date, right?”

  There was much Micah wanted to discuss with Trent, but he knew Trent had one thing on his mind now and it wasn’t visions of fire. It was a brunette with a tight, white T-shirt and brown leather jacket on, standing next to Viola, waiting for them in front of the cafe. Micah glanced at Trent, astonished he could brush such a serious discovery under the rug, like it was no big deal.

  It’s just the end of the world.

  Gianna smiled up at Trent, her lips a startling shade of red.

  I guess with Trent, sometimes hormones win out.

  He, on the other hand, was still dwelling on what he needed to do, as they were directed to a free table in the corner. The café was packed with couples, enjoying the mist from the gurgling fountain in the middle of the room, and the serenading violins playing in the background.

  I should try to have fun, Micah thought, glancing over at Viola. Her eyes sparkled back at him in the dimly lit room. But he couldn’t forget Trent’s previous statement. I don’t know about construction—how am I going to do this? Micah knew summers spent dry walling hardly qualified him to build a golden, fireproof city. He became aware of Viola’s eyes, staring at him. Did I just tune her out again? I’m a terrible date.