Chapter Twenty

 

Koji started throwing up around noon. I was in my bedroom talking to Eve when I heard his heavy feet slapping the wood floor as he ran to the bathroom and slammed the door closed behind him. Even in my room, through two closed doors, we could hear him violently retching. Luckily, my parents were out.

"Gross," Eve said. She pressed her palms against her ears so she couldn't hear him. "I hate the sound of puking."

"I don't think anyone likes it." I got up off the bed and opened the bedroom door. "Are you okay?" I called. That was a stupid question. Of course he wasn't okay. But that's what you ask when you know someone isn't okay, isn't it?

I knocked on the bathroom door, but he didn't answer. "Koji?" I opened the door a crack and saw him leaning over the toilet straight armed, his hands resting on the seat.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and turned and looked at me with vacant eyes. Tiny beads of sweat formed on his forehead. He didn't seem like the Koji I'd known for all these years. He looked at me like he didn't know who I was. I wanted to slam the door closed in that instant, close it and walk away. I wanted to pretend that everything was fine. Instead, I opened the door wide and walked in.

"Koji?" I repeated.

He flushed the toilet and stood up straight. Still he said nothing.

As I walked toward him I could smell the sharp scent of vomit. "Koji?" My heart pounded.

He grabbed my wrist. His expressionless eyes looked deep into mine.

"What's going on?" Eve asked. She was standing in the doorway.

I pulled my arm from Koji's grip.

"It's time to go," he said. He pushed past me to leave the bathroom. Eve stepped out of his way.

"Aren't you going to brush your teeth or something?" Eve yelled after him as he left the house. "What's happened to him?"

"I don't know." I rubbed my wrist where he had grabbed me.

"Prophetess said he'd know when it was time," Eve said.

"Yeah, she did."

"So I guess it's time." Eve went to the bedroom to grab her purse. When she came out into the hall again, I was still standing in the same spot in the bathroom rubbing my arm. "Are you coming?"

"Yeah," I said, but I still didn't move. Rushing off like this seemed all wrong to me. Eve hadn't seen the look in his eyes. She didn't know.

"Come on then." Eve waved her arm at me before disappearing outside.

The toilet was still running. The rushing water filling up the tank was also filling up my thoughts. It hissed in my ears.

The front door opened again. "Indy, hurry up!" Eve shouted.

I gathered up my senses, my bag, my keys, and headed out the door.

Koji and Eve were waiting for me in driveway. Koji leaned against the side of the car looking into the distance at nothing in particular.

Eve sat on the porch steps with her bag in her lap. "Ready?" she said as I stepped out the door.

"Yeah," I said. I locked the front door. Eve got up. My heart was still beating a little too hard as I approached the car.

"I'll drive," Koji said. He held out his hand to take the keys from me. He looked normal again. The light had come back into his eyes.

"Nah. I think I should drive." I unlocked the driver's side door.

Koji mumbled something about needing a cigarette as he climbed into the back seat.

"I can't believe we're doing this," Eve said. "I'm scared, but I'm excited too, and it's all knotted up my stomach." She clicked on her seat belt and rolled down her window.

It felt good to have the wind whipping through the car. I watched Koji in the rearview mirror. He slouched in the back seat with his eyes closed. "Are you okay?" I asked.

He said something, but I couldn't hear him. Even though the drive was short, it seemed to drag on. Every traffic light was red.

"Come on," Koji said from the back seat, exasperated.

We were stopped at a very long red light. The sweat trickled down my back.

"Maybe we should turn on the air." Eve wiped the sweat from her forehead with the palm of her hand.

The light turned green and we were moving again. "We don't need air when we have wind," I said. At the red lights the car would heat up very quickly, but I still didn't want to turn on the air-conditioning. The sound of the wind helped distract me from my fears. It filled up my brain with white noise.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Eve smiled awkwardly. She wrapped her mass of curls into a twist and leaned her head against the headrest.

**

There were plenty of places to park on the street in the middle of the day. Eve hopped out of the car as soon as I turned off the engine. "Here we go," she said heading to Prophetess Jackson's front porch.

Koji and I were a bit slower getting out of the car. When I got out Koji was searching around on the floor for something. "What're you looking for?" I asked.

Eve was already standing on the porch. "Let's get this over with," she called.

Koji rolled his eyes. "I was hoping to find a cigarette."

"You don't need them." I frowned.

"I know, but it would sure help my nerves." He opened the door and got out. He stood next to me for a few seconds, neither of us moving. "You ready?"

"Yeah," I said and he grabbed my hand. We walked slowly toward the porch together.

The house looked different to me in the daylight. It was less foreboding. The porch was no longer a dark shadowy place where any kind of goblin or ghoul could reach out and get us. The concrete lions that stood on either side of the steps looked less creepy and more ridiculous. Their manes were riddled with cracks. Their snarling faces seemed insincere, like someone had told them to act ferocious.

Before we knocked on the door, Prophetess opened it. "You're late," she said.

"Sorry," Eve replied.

Prophetess whacked Eve's shoulder. "I'm just messing with you, girl. You're right on time. Come on in." She turned and entered the bright-white living room. Even though it was daylight out, every rectangular florescent light in the place was on. "Come on into the dining room. We can all sit down in there." We followed her. Her dress had a zebra print. It wasn't so much a dress as it was a large rectangle of fabric sewn together on either side with spaces left for the arms and a neck hole cut in the middle. She was barefoot, and as we followed her I noticed that her heels seemed to jut out in the back more than most people's. I wondered if that made it hard for her to find shoes that fit.

There was a mousy-looking white man sitting at the head of the dining table. He smiled and stood up as we entered. "Good afternoon," he said. He had a slight accent. I'd never been good with accents, so I couldn't place it. He was short man and in his late-sixties. His salt-and-pepper hair was parted on the side and slicked down. He wore a pair of crinkled khaki pants, a white shirt with a blue tie, and a brown sports coat. Why anyone would wear such an outfit in this weather was beyond me. A pair of round oversized glasses sat on his nose.

"Ed Natardly," Prophetess said. It was not really an introduction. She was still walking at the time she said it and she looked neither in our direction nor his. Instead, she kept her eyes focused on the chair she planned to sit in. The chair squeaked as she sat down.

"Nice to meet you, Ned. I'm Eve. This is Indira, Indy for short, and Koji." Eve motioned to each of us as she said our names.

"It's Ed with an E," he said. He adjusted his glasses and sat down again.

There were already tall glasses of lemonade on the table, one for each of us. Ed had drunk half of his. A glass pitcher of lemonade, with ice and wedges of lemon floating in it, sat in the middle of the table. Next to it was the box. It was still unopened, the packing tape completely intact. No one had touched it since the previous evening.

"Have a seat," Prophetess said. She took a sip of lemonade.

Eve sat down next to Prophetess. She grabbed a glass of lemonade from the center of the table and took a swig. "This is great. We rode here without the air on and I was burning up." She took another sip.

Koji and I were more cautious. We sat next to each other on the opposite side of the table from Prophetess and Eve. Koji pulled out a chair for me to sit down in like we were in a fancy restaurant or something. "Thanks," I said.

"Don't be scared, children." Prophetess set her glass on the table.

Koji put his hand on my leg under the table and gave my knee a reassuring squeeze.

"Isn't young love grand?" Prophetess folded her hands on the table in front of her. "I remember when I was young and in love. It didn't last long but, trust me, it was long enough." Her hoarse voice cracked when she said enough. The flesh of her cheeks piled up high on her cheekbones when she smiled, almost completely covering her eyes. "How about you, Ed?"

"Oh, Prophetess. For me, young love never went away. It just kept getting better over the years until my Margaret passed."

Eve got that mushy, sweet look on her face. I'd often seen her with that look watching a romantic comedy or seeing a cute puppy. Her face went all soft and her eyes opened wide. "I'm so sorry," she said to Ed.

"That was years ago now."

"But still. I mean you must've really been in love."

"Since high school."

"Isn't that the sweetest thing, Indy?" Eve turned her attention to me.

Everyone at the table turned and looked at me, waiting for me to respond. "Yeah." That was all I could think of to say. Koji squeezed my leg again under the table.

"You should relax and drink some lemonade," Prophetess said.

"Thanks." Koji grabbed the last two glasses from the middle of the table. He placed a glass in front of me and then tipped his glass slightly and looked into it.

"If you don't like lemonade, I can get you something else," Prophetess said.

"Don't bother. Lemonade is fine." Koji sat his glass on the table again.

"Everyone likes lemonade." Eve took another sip.

Ed took a sip from his glass. "That's right," he agreed. He set the glass down a little too hard and it made a loud thud.

"Careful now. Don't break my glass," Prophetess said. Though her voice was stern her eyes were jovial.

"Let's get down to the business at hand," Ed said.

"What business is that?" Koji hardened his voice to try to establish his place among these strangers. I had heard him use this voice on the phone before. It was a little too loud and backed most people into a corner. It wasn't going to back Ed and Prophetess into a corner though, because they were a different kind of people. Even I could sense that.

Ed kept a smile on his face as he talked. "The business that brought you here. You know more about it than the two of them." He looked at me, then Eve, then back at Koji. "You've had the most interaction with it, haven't you?"

Koji let go of my leg.

"That doesn't matter now." Prophetess leaned forward and grabbed the box.

"You're going to open it now?" Eve asked.

Prophetess turned the box over. "Now is as good a time as any. Now might even be the right time." She turned the box over again. "I'll need to get a knife."

"No need. I have a Swiss Army knife on my key ring." Ed took his keys out of his pocket and slid them across the table to her.

"Look at you! Always prepared." She pulled the blade out and used the knife to cut through the tape.

I put my arms at my side and gripped the seat of my chair like I was preparing to take off. I didn't want to be there. I didn't know what would happen. Maybe it was a bomb that would explode!

The knife ripped through the tape quickly. Koji nonchalantly tapped the table with his thumb. Eve looked at the box with expectant eyes. Ed scanned the faces in the room like he was trying to read our minds.

When she opened the box I expected to see a burst of light shoot up to the ceiling, but there was no light. Instead, there was a wadded-up piece of newspaper sitting there on the top. Prophetess took it out and placed it carefully on the table beside her. She pulled out four more pieces of newspaper; each of which had been crumpled into long cylindrical shapes.

No one said a word. The room was completely silent. There was no noise from outside: no birds chirping, no cars passing, no water dripping in the sink, no ticking of the clock. The newspaper didn't even seem to make a crinkling sound. It was like all sound was being sucked into a void.

Prophetess tilted the box toward her and reached in.

"Careful," Ed said.

She shot him a look. "Doesn't it look like I'm being careful?" She eased a spherical object wrapped in bubble wrap and clear tape out of the box.

"There it is," Ed said. He leaned forward and grinned. Creases formed at the corner of his eyes.

"What is it?" Eve asked.

"You'll see." Prophetess Jackson started methodically unwrapping the object from its layers of plastic protection.

Koji stopped tapping the table. He watched the layers of bubble wrap come off as intensely as the rest of us.

When Prophetess started peeling back the last layer of bubble wrap, we all got our first glimpse of it. It was a silver sphere about the size of a grapefruit, perfectly round and shiny. She rotated it in her hand, looking at all its sides. There seemed to be a ring of carved characters, possibly hieroglyphics of some kind, around it.

Ed stood up from his chair and rushed over to Prophetess. "Let me hold it," he demanded.

Prophetess rolled her eyes and passed it off to him causally with one hand. "Don't get all worked up."

"Get all worked up? How could I not get worked up? We finally have it!" Ed held the ball close to his face like he was trying to read the characters.

"What is it?" Eve asked again.

"Yeah," Koji said. "What exactly is it?"

I was wondering the same thing but didn't dare ask. I couldn't. My lungs constricted. Each breath I took was tighter and shallower. My heart felt like it was being squeezed by a fist in my chest. I tried to cry out but couldn't. The table, then floor rushed up toward me.

**

When I woke up, I was lying next to the table on the white shaggy rug. The chairs had been pushed out of the way to give me room to spread out. Koji sat on the floor next to me holding my hand. Prophetess and Eve stood over me.

"If anyone was going to react that strongly to it, I thought it would be him." Prophetess nodded in Koji's direction. "He's got the energy coming out of him. You do too. You all do, but he's got it stronger."

The side of my head hurt. I reached up and rubbed it.

"You knocked it pretty hard on the table," Koji said.

"How long have I been out?"

"Just a minute or so," he said.

"Did you find out what it was?"

"No, we were too busy taking care of you," Koji answered.

"You think you can sit up?" Eve asked.

"I think so." I eased myself up. "All of a sudden I couldn't breathe."

"Sometimes that happens." Prophetess reached her hand down to me. "I'll pull you up."

"Thanks." I put my hand in hers. She pulled me so hard I didn't have to make any effort at all to stand.

I gripped the table and looked around the room to get my bearings. Ed was sitting at the table, now in the chair that Eve had been sitting in before, still looking at the sphere.

"Sit down." Koji pushed a chair under me. The edge of it hitting the back of my knees forced me to sit. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think I'll be fine." I rubbed the side of my head again. I could feel a knot forming. "What is that thing?" I called over to Ed.

"This is one of the most amazing discoveries in archaeological history. Do you see it?" He held his arm extended with the globe sitting in his palm.

"Yeah, I see it. Apparently, it made me pass out." I laughed nervously.

"This sphere was used by the Olmecs. But it is older than them. Older than the Olmecs. No one knows where it originated from," he said.

"Who are the Olmecs?" Eve asked.

"They're one of the oldest Mesoamerican civilization that we know of," Ed said.

"How old?" I asked.

"Their artifacts date back to as early as 1500 BCE." Ed seemed delighted to share his knowledge with us.

"This thing is older than that?" Koji said.

"Yes. Much older." Ed replied.

"Shouldn't it be in a museum then?" Eve asked.

"What good would it do anyone gathering dust in a museum?" Ed asked.

"What good are you going to do with it?" Koji said.

"A lot of good. Good to everyone who comes into contact with it." Prophetess pulled up a chair and sat down next to me. "You see, that sphere can open your eyes."

"What's that mean? My eyes are open right now." Koji stood behind me and placed his hands on my shoulders.

"That they are," Prophetess said. "But not everyone is as lucky as you. Not everyone has had the experience yet."

"What experience?" Eve asked.

"This sphere seems like nothing special, right?" Prophetess reached out her hand to get Ed to give it to her.

"It seems very special to me." Ed reluctantly passed it to her.

Prophetess continued to talk. "Just a metal ball with some writing on it. But this metal ball has a very special power. It can reveal to you your true self, your true potential, everything that it is possible for you to become. It will show to whoever holds it all the truly good and great things he can do."

"It will also show the dark side," Ed interrupted. "It can show you your potential to do wrong--all of your base desires. The true motivations behind your actions."

"So this thing is good, right?" Eve asked.

Ed and Prophetess nodded.

"Then why has all this creepy stuff been happening to us ever since we got it? It hasn't felt like it was very good to me. Has it felt like it was good to you?" Eve looked at Koji.

"Sometimes, I guess," Koji said.

Ed and Prophetess looked at each other. "Tell them," she said to him.

Ed began to speak. "There are forces in this world that are part of everything. Prophetess likes to refer to them as healing and destructive forces, but I simply say good and bad. Anyway, we all have the ability to be good or bad." He looked at Prophetess. "Healing or destructive. This sphere has that same potential. What it chooses to show you is partly dependent on how prepared you are to receive it? If you don't know the power it possesses, you are unprepared and whether or not it shows you the good or the bad is all well ..." Ed shrugged his shoulders. "It's all a crapshoot really."

We all nodded because we'd experienced that crapshoot firsthand.

"Prophetess is uniquely gifted. We also have a women we're working with in Philadelphia who has similar abilities," Ed said.

"Olivia's abilities are even more powerful than mine," Prophetess said.

"Yes." Ed's eyes sparkled. "Olivia is something. I can't describe her as anything less than remarkable. We believe that with the influence of both Prophetess and Olivia the sphere will show people the good side of themselves most of the time." Ed beamed in Prophetess's direction.

"Not all of the time?" Eve asked.

Ed sighed. "Not yet."

"That will take time, but I'll get it with practice." Prophetess passed me the globe. "With this you can accurately evaluate yourself."

"And others?" I asked. I took the sphere in my hand. It was light, weighing almost nothing. It must've been hollow. The metal was comfortably warm against my skin. It seemed to be vibrating ever so slightly.

"No. You can only see yourself with it. But once we clearly see ourselves, we can more clearly see others." Her eyes were bright and clear. Her smile was calm and peaceful. I couldn't doubt that her intentions were good.

I closed my eyes and let the warmth from the sphere run up my arm. It felt like warm water moving up me. I let it into my head. I didn't resist it this time. I wasn't afraid. The warmth calmed me. This time I could let the sphere do its job because I knew what it would do. I didn't need any more explanations. I knew. There was no need for fear here. They could all be trusted.