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Toby and the Teacher walked into the dark dining area. Only a few late diners remained.
Toby was ravenous, but the pickings were slimmer than usual. The server filled his plate, and Toby joined Teacher at a table.
“The prophecy-”
“Eat,” Teacher said. “I know what the books say, but it’s not prophesy.”
“But-”
“Prophesy implies a supernatural source, but we have no evidence of that. And sometimes, the message is wrong.”
“How often?”
“I don’t know.”
Toby nodded and took another bite.
“Any word?” said a voice. Toby looked up and found Vaiden, the head of the Ruling Council.
Toby stood.
“Keep your seats. Any word on our Keeper?”
“None yet,” Teacher said.
“Any thoughts, Messenger?”
Toby took a second to swallow. “No, sir.”
“I want readiness report in an hour.”
Toby looked at Teacher, who said, “They want you to organize a search party outside the Barrier. I told them it will end badly.”
Toby looked at Vaiden and then back at Teacher.
Teacher shook his head. “Don’t even think about it. You are not ready.”
“It’s not your decision,” Vaiden said.
Teacher cut his eyes at Vaiden.
Toby watched the two men silently stare. What’s going on?
“But what about Lela?” Toby said.
“She does not want you dead either.”
“I’m not helpless.”
“You are not ready.”
“One hour,” Vaiden turned and left, his purple robe, with gold and silver stitching flowing behind.
“What’s going on?”
“He is Council Leader.”
“I know. What’s going on with you two?”
“Let’s just say he does not always agree with my decisions.”
“Like?”
“Like the order of testing.”
“He didn’t want me tested?”
“He wanted someone else tested first.”
“Who?”
“Tell me about the message.”
Speaking of changing the subject, Toby cleared his mind and recited the prophecy.
“What do you think?” Teacher asked.
“Friend and foe seem as one. It could mean I am confused about who is on my side.”
“Explain.”
“The One has visited me and said things that made sense. Raymond saved my life here, but on Earth, he and his gang beat me, robbed me and five of them could have killed me, except Hermes helped me.” He looked at Teacher but stopped.
“Lela’s decisions were confusing?”
He nodded.
“Finish it.”
“You tested me when you knew I wasn’t ready, just to get me out of the way.”
“I thought you wanted to go home.”
Which was true. “Why did Raymond do his bully routine at my school?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why not here?”
Teacher nodded. “I see.” He took a second. “There were — issues and I made the best decision I could.”
“Do other Candidates know the Tester is just doing his job?”
“We thought you knew what was happening and were playing along.”
“Someone attacked Mom, and the evidence points at Lela. Someone kidnapped Lela, and the evidence points to Raymond. Someone rigged two of my tests, and some evidence points at you.”
“What about the rest of the message?”
Unsure for a moment, he nodded. “The first three lines can mean too many things. I hope it’ll make sense when I need it.”
“And the fourth line?”
“What can’t be destroyed?”
“The Prime, for one.”
He tried to fathom some reason or meaning. “We can’t melt metal?”
“We don’t know.”
Toby pushed the food around on his plate. “Can’t destroy things in the past. How would I know to go back and destroy it?”
“A paradox.”
“You aren’t much help.”
“No, I’m not.”
Toby glimpsed something at the window. For a split second, his brain refused to acknowledge the reality of Hermes, perched at the window, with a coin in its beak.
The coin clattered on the floor, revealing that same fish-shaped rune.
For a full second, no one moved.
A woman screamed, and people scattered.
Hermes spread its wings and, after an emphatic, “Caw!” flew into the dark.
Teacher moved away, but he must have come to the same conclusion as Toby: there was no place to hide.
Toby stood up.
The cloud, black and dense, appeared above the amulet and the face formed.
“Greetings, Messenger.” The face turned toward Teacher. A broad genuine smile spread across the clouded features and said, “Sklavos, old friend, it has been so long.”
One hand-shaped cloud reached up toward its neck-shaped cloud and fiddled with a small glowing crystal.
“What do you want?” Toby said.
“To talk, my young friend. I heard you misplaced your Keeper. Again.”
“What do you want?”
“Tsk, tsk. Such a rude child.”
A scream pierced the distance; it was Lela.
Toby stood up. “Stop it!”
“After everything she did to you?”
Toby kept quiet.
Those shoulder shaped clouds shrugged. “If, for some ridiculous reason, you want her back, come to the cavern of the Ice Creatures.”
A hand-like cloud hand lifted a tiny glowing crystal amulet dangled from a silvery chain. “I invite you, too, Teacher.”
That handsome face smiled, but Toby felt anything but warmth.
The small crystal swung back and forth at a slow unnatural pace - as if it experienced different gravity.
At the end of each arc, the crystal winked at them with the same glow as that area on Hermes’s chest.
“Your Selah’s in here. I can hear her - taste her.” His lip-shaped cloud pulled into a grin, then an exaggerated pout. “She’s waiting for you. Wondering if you will ever come to her rescue?”
The One laughed.
“Don’t wait too long, Messenger.”
The cloud faded. Toby and Teacher walked toward the Amulet.
Toby leaned closer, and it evaporated.
Toby looked at Teacher. Teacher’s expression was as blank as Toby’s mind.
Toby said, “We have to-”
“No.” Teacher walked away.
“Wait.”
Teacher kept walking.
“We have to do something.”
Teacher stopped. He stared at the floor. “There’s nothing anyone can do.”
“I’m the Messenger.”
Teacher shook his head. “You aren’t ready.”
“We can’t let her die.”
He slammed his hand on the table. “You’ll both die and he’ll have the Prime.”
“But–”
“Stop it!” His voice echoed across the now empty dining hall. A tear rolled down his ruined, craggy face.
“What about the message?” Toby asked.
“What of it?”
“What else could it mean?”
Teacher opened his mouth and closed it again.
“What?” Toby said.
Finally, Teacher kept his gaze on the floor. “There will be a solar eclipse one hour after sunrise.”
Toby’s mind raced. Light and dark is the sun.
He had to plan.
He walked out of the dining room just as several people asked inconvenient questions.
He was in the Hall of Heroes before he realized he didn’t have a destination. He stood in front of the tapestry of his multi-great grandfather commemorating the day he created the Great Barrier and died.
Many questions flooded Toby’s mind. Was he ready?
He looked at the face in the tapestry; did his multi-great grandfather know he was going to die?
Would he have done it, anyway?