SO THEN, were you right or were you wrong?” Gabil asked, scanning the titles of Books on the library’s top shelf. “It really is a simple question with a simple . . .” He stopped short. “Ah! I’ve found it!”
He withdrew an old leather-bound book and swooped down toward Michal, who teetered on the edge of the desk, peering at another Book of History he’d withdrawn only minutes ago. A single candle lit the old pages. The Horde library lay in shadows, deserted at this late hour.
“None of this is simple,” Michal said. “Patience.”
“I thought you said you’d found it,” Gabil said, fluttering for a landing beside Michal. He set the Book he’d retrieved on the desk.
“I said I found the section that deals with the Great Deception, not the actual sentence that states the actual date.”
“You did tell Thomas of Hunter early in the twenty-first century. I remember that much.”
“And if I did, then you agreed,” Michal said, scanning the page.
“Did I? You’re positive?”
“Did you disagree? You’re far too interested in this minor point, Gabil. What difference does the date make in the end? This is a silly exercise.”
“I’m interested because the histories couldn’t have said early in the twenty-first century. Thomas changed history. The virus didn’t ravage the world. So the question is, when does the Great Deception take place? Or does it even?”
Gabil studied the cover of his Book, then opened it to the first page. This history was taken from the colored forest. He flipped toward the back of the Book.
“Of course the Great Deception takes place,” Michal said. “I’m reading the details now, as we speak. You see, right here . . .” The Roush stopped.
“What?” Gabil released the page in his fingers, hopped once, and leaned over to see.
“Give me some room,” Michal protested. “This . . . I don’t remember anything about . . .”
“I knew it!” Gabil chirped. “Yes, I did. I knew it. It’s changed, hasn’t it?”
“Well, it’s no longer early in the twenty-first century. But we could have been mistaken about that. But these other things . . .”
“Thomas changed history!”
Michal ran his finger down the page. “The Tribulation as recorded by John hasn’t changed, but the date . . . and the Great Deception . . .” He returned to where he’d started reading. “I do say, the events leading up to John’s prophecy have changed.”
“He did change history. He did, he did!” Gabil hopped again, twice, lost his footing, and toppled to the floor. He bounded to his feet and did a little jig of sorts. “Ha! It’s fascinating! It’s magnicalicious!”
“Please, settle down. That’s not even a word.”
“Why not?” Gabil said. “If Thomas can change history, I think I have the right to change a few words.”
He jumped back up on the desk and resumed his search in the Book that recorded the colored forest’s demise.
Michal looked at him, still gripping the page he’d been reading. “So you really think knowing how Thomas entered the black forest will shed any light on—”
“Here!”
Michal jumped. “What is it?”
“I think I’ve found it! This Book records his story.” He flipped forward to the very end, scanning anxiously. “Here, here, it has to be here in this volume.”
Michal looked over the pages with interest.
“Give me space,” Gabil said.
“Humph.” Michal took a tiny step to his right.
Gabil came to the last page and stopped cold. “What is this?”
“What?”
“It’s been . . .” He leaned forward. “It’s been changed. Erased and written over.”
Michal crowded Gabil again. “What’s it say?”
The smaller Roush ran his index finger under the words of the last paragraph, which were clearly written in handwriting different from those preceding.
He read aloud.
“Then the man named Thomas found himself in the black forest, where he fell and hit his head and lost his memory. Ha.”
Gabil looked up at Michal, taken aback.
“‘Ha’?” Michal asked, incredulous. “It says ‘ha’? That’s it?”
“That’s it. Then it’s signed.”
Gabil looked at the page. “Billy, Storyteller,” he read. “Someone named Billy who is a storyteller wrote this.”
They stared in silence for a few seconds.
Michal sighed and returned to his Book. “I have to admit, this is . . . fascinating.”
“It seems Thomas wasn’t the only one who changed history,” Gabil said. “Didn’t I tell you? Ha!”
“Ha?”
“Ha!” He closed his book and hopped on top of it. “So read. Read this new history that I told you we would find even though you doubted.” He lifted his chin and grinned.
Michal eyed his fuzzy friend. “Yes, I guess you did tell me.”
Then the Roush took a deep breath and began to read from the Book of Histories.
THE JOURNEY CONTINUES WITH GREEN . . .