Zhihao opened his eyes after sleeping soundly for the first time in…as long as he could remember. He got out of bed and poured a pitcher of water into a bowl to wash with, then he dressed quickly. Jiayi was staying in one of the guest rooms, and he was anxious to see her. He didn’t know when she was leaving, so he wanted to spend as much time with her as he could.
As he left the room, one of the maids stopped him. “There is a man to see you, sir,” she said.
Zhihao groaned. Probably that obnoxious investigator. Or someone from the university. He then felt his heart hitch at the possibility it was someone from the palace wanting to talk about Jiayi’s “death.”
“Who…who is it?” he stuttered.
The maid shook her head. “I am sorry, I could not understand him.”
“Why not?” Zhihao asked with an annoyed sigh.
“He’s a foreigner,” the maid replied.
Zhihao grunted. It had to be Chancellor Bennet. “I’ll be right there.” The maid dipped her head and then bustled out of the room. Zhihao followed barely a moment later, walking out into the courtyard.
“Sorry to keep you wai—”
When Eli turned around, a carefree smile on his face, the words in Zhihao’s voice died away. His head began to spin and he fell to the ground. Visions, memories, emotions, all familiar and new, contradicted one another.
Eli ran to Zhihao’s side, but Zhihao couldn’t see him.
He saw his friend, trapped under the rock, the anguish on his face.
Then he saw Eli standing next to him as the tunnel under the pyramid collapsed.
He saw himself ripping up his graduation announcement, unable to attend the ceremonies without his friend.
Then he saw Eli walking across the platform, receiving his diploma.
He saw Rebecca as her heart broke when he told her he was returning to China.
Then he saw her heart break again when he told her his mother had forbidden their marriage.
It was as though his mind contained two different sets of each memory, and he could not tell which ones were real.
“Theodore!” Eli said, shaking Zhihao’s arm. “Are you all right? What’s wrong? Should I send for a doctor?”
Slowly, Zhihao’s vision cleared and he looked up at his friend. “You…died,” he said. “I thought…you died…”
“What?” Eli asked. “Did you hit your head or something?”
“In the pyramid…What…what year is it?”
Eli took Zhihao’s face in his head, tilting it up to the light. “Well, your eyes seem normal. But maybe I should send for a doctor just the same.”
Zhihao rubbed his face and tried to remember, trying to sort out when the memories changed. His childhood, his youth, his years in England all seemed the same. But then…the pyramid. The sun. The heat. Rebecca. She had finally arrived after a long delay. But she was acting strangely. Not letting them go into the pyramid. She said it was going to collapse. Somehow, she knew…She said she saw it in the dream…
“Jiayi!” Zhihao said, leaping to his feet. “It wasn’t Rebecca! It was Jiayi! She…By God, she did it!”
Eli stood up, his face even more etched with concern. “What about Julia?” Eli asked, and Zhihao suddenly remembered that Eli had met Jiayi before and had given her the English name Julia.
Zhihao shook his head. How could he possibly explain what had happened? He gripped his friend by the shoulders and squeezed, just to make sure one more time that he was real, and that he was here.
“Just…don’t go anywhere, okay?”
“O…kay,” Eli said. “I was here to talk to you anyway. Where are you going?”
“Just…wait there,” Zhihao said, and he rushed over to the guest quarters where Jiayi was staying. He pounded on the door and then threw it open, not waiting to be admitted.
Jiayi gasped as she grabbed an outer robe and pulled it up to cover herself.
“Master!” a maid exclaimed. “The mistress is not ready!”
But Zhihao did not stop. He rushed forward, pushing the maid out of the way and taking Jiayi’s face in his hands. He kissed her more passionately than he had ever kissed anyone. He tasted her lips, her tongue. He smelled her skin and pulled a pin from her hair so he could run his fingers through it.
“Master!” the maid screamed.
“Get out!” he told the girl. She scrunched up her nose, but then she nodded and left quickly, closing the door behind her.
“What has gotten into you?” Jiayi asked him.
“You…you brilliant, incredible, amazing girl,” he said. “You did it. You did it!”
“What?” she asked.
“You saved him,” he said. “Eli. You went back in time, into Rebecca’s body, and you saved him. You did it.”
Jiayi gasped and her hand flew to her mouth. “I…I almost forgot,” she said. “Yes, I did it last night. I know you told me not to, but I had to. I did it for you.”
Zhihao cut her off with more kisses. Then he held her tight and wept tears of joy into her hair.
“I love you,” he said. “I love you. I love you. I could say it a million times and it still would not express the depth of my love for you.”
“I know,” Jiayi said, reaching up and wiping the tears from his cheeks. “You have already told me that many times.”
Zhihao combed through his memories, trying to remember how his relationship with Jiayi had changed since Eli hadn’t died. His head was spinning again, so Jiayi led him to her bed to sit down. She poured him a cup of water, and he drank it eagerly.
“Rebecca and I still parted ways,” he finally said as the memories cleared. “I wanted to marry her. I wrote to my mother, telling her of my intentions. But she forbade the union. She said if I married Rebecca that I could not come home. I chose my mother over the woman I loved.”
Jiayi nodded as she sat on the bed next to Zhihao, rubbing his back to soothe him as the memories came flooding back as though they had happened only yesterday.
“I came back to China bitter and heartbroken,” he said. “Everything else seems to be the same. The inability to get a position at court. Prince Gong. Hu Xiaosheng and the library. It’s all the same. Even the day I met you.”
He looked up at Jiayi and she smiled, but there was a sadness in her eyes.
“I never loved another until I met you,” he said. “But…you still don’t love me.”
Jiayi opened her mouth as if to protest, but then she stopped and sighed. “Not in the same way that you love me.”
Zhihao felt some of the excitement rush out of him as everything about Prince Junjie came back to him. That was all the same.
“I suppose I should apologize for that kiss, then,” Zhihao said, but Jiayi laughed. “Why do we remember everything if you changed the past?”
Jiayi shrugged. “Who knows? I will never pretend to fully understand my abilities. Maybe the original ones will fade with time. Or not.”
“Eli!” he said, jumping up. “He’s here! I left him in the courtyard.”
“Then go see him!” Jiayi said, shoving him out the door. “Let me finish dressing.”
Zhihao laughed and backed away, not wanting to take his eyes off of her. The maid he had dismissed had been waiting nearby, and she went back into the room, slamming the door behind her with a huff.
Zhihao went back to the courtyard and had to shake his head in disbelief once again when he saw Eli still there waiting for him.
“Is everything all right?” Eli asked him. Zhihao walked up to his friend and embraced him. Eli patted him on the back. “Theodore?”
Zhihao finally pulled away. “Everything is fine. Just a…a terrible dream.”
“Must have been quite realistic,” Eli said.
“You have no idea,” Zhihao said. “So, what brings you by this morning?”
“I have a proposition for you,” Eli said as Zhihao led him to a long dining table and the kitchen maids brought out plates of breakfast foods. “I know Rebecca wrote to you to tell you about the amazing positions she and I were offered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”
Zhihao nodded as he took a large bite of food, waiting for his memories to catch up with him. “Yes,” he finally said. “Quite an opportunity for both of you, but especially her.”
“London is too old fashioned for an educated, well-traveled woman like her,” Eli said. “But America. New York City! Rebecca will be able to do anything she wants there. Marry who she wants—if she marries at all.”
Zhihao recalled how even though he broke Rebecca’s heart, she understood his reasons. Over time, her heart healed, and she and Eli and Zhihao remained good friends, staying in contact through letters. Zhihao had invited them both to visit him in Peking before their great American adventure was to begin.
“I hope she will be happy there,” Zhihao said. “Both of you.”
“I am certain we will be,” Eli said, “as long as you come with us.”
Zhihao nearly choked on the noodles he had been slurping. “Excuse me?” he finally sputtered.
“Well, Rebecca and I told the museum directors that the best person to be the head of the new Chinese art wing would be a Chinese person,” Eli said. “Rebecca and I will still work there, but only under your skillful direction.”
“What?” Zhihao asked, unsure if he understood Eli correctly. “The Metropolitan Museum of Art wants me to direct its new Chinese art department?”
“You seem to have gotten the gist of it,” Eli said. “The job is yours if you want it.”
“Yes!” Zhihao said without thinking, but then he remembered why he didn’t stay overseas in the first place. “But…my mother. And Jiayi. Julia. I can’t leave them.”
“It’s all sorted,” Eli said. “This is a real job. A very high caliber one, I might add. The museum is willing to sponsor visas for you and your mother…and your wife, if you have one.”
He tried to recall just how much Eli knew about his relationship with Jiayi. He seemed to know that Zhihao loved her, but that she was in love with someone else. He hadn’t gone into details in his letters, though.
“So, if I marry Julia,” Zhihao said, “I can take her with me.”
“I know things are complicated between you two,” Eli said, “but would she really turn you down if you offered her the chance to go to America?”
“I would hate to think she only married me for a visa,” Zhihao said.
Eli shrugged. “People have married for worse reasons. And you love her. Over time, who knows what might grow between you two.”
According to Zhihao’s new memories, Zhihao had been able to free Jiayi from the empress by an offer of marriage. The empress had consented to the union after Jiayi passed out from being forced to have too many visions. He had told Jiayi that she did not need to really marry him. He was only making the offer to set her free. But now, he had to wonder…
“I will speak to her,” Zhihao said. “And I’ll have to talk to Mother.” He knew that his mother had offered to leave China if it meant saving his life. But would she be willing to move for a life-changing career? He wasn’t sure, but he had to hope she would.
“Brilliant!” Eli said as he finished his meal and stood. “Well, Rebecca and I are off to do some exploring. Come to the hotel later and we will celebrate whatever you both decide over dinner.”
“I look forward to it,” Zhihao said.
As Eli walked away, Zhihao’s eyes watered. Part of him was terrified that Eli’s return had been nothing but a dream. Everything was so wonderful. So perfect. And it was all thanks to Jiayi.
Zhihao cleared his throat and went to Jiayi’s room to propose marriage properly.