“I’m sorry,” Billy said. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“It’s all right.” Rohan sighed in response. He took a long look at the lake, surrounded by red rocks. “Well, let’s get you home.” He turned around and started to walk.
“Where are we going?” Billy asked, catching up.
“We need to find Khamunaph’s panel to send you back.”
“I thought we had the hourglass.”
“The panel is better. I can send you back alone and then finish my business here,” Rohan explained.
“How are we going to find the panel?”
“By the footprints, of course.”
Billy looked down. The soldiers’ footprints were easy to spot on the dusty terrain. It was so obvious he felt embarrassed that he had asked.
Following the tracks, Rohan and Billy left the lake valley and stepped into a labyrinth of red rocks. Whenever they discovered another burned body on the way, Billy would turn his face away. The gruesome spectacle made his stomach churn. The longer they walked, the more clearly the extent of the tragedy that had happened here was unveiled in front of their eyes. Strong Egyptian soldiers were no strangers to the heat. They didn’t complain at the first sign of discomfort. By the time they realized that the sun wasn’t just unusually hot but deadly, it was too late to go back. This world had turned into a giant microwave for them, and the door back was out of reach. What a horrific trap.
Billy also felt sorry for Khamunaph, who, in trying to ensnare Rohan, fell victim to his own cunning.
He tried to push these thoughts away but they kept coming back, mingled with others: Anna-Maria, Rohan, home, school, another dead soldier . . . Intermittently, his body would shift from a hot sweat to a cold sweat, keeping the microcomputer on his belt constantly busy.
Billy was genuinely glad when after one of the turns they almost ran into the panel. The device was a small circular podium, rising slightly above the ground. Attached to its side was a control panel with three rings similar to those on the hourglass.
“Stand on top,” said Rohan. “I’ll set up the coordinates.”
“Wait,” pronounced Billy. “This is it?”
“Basically, yes. You just have to . . .”
“No, I mean is this the end?”
“I’m afraid so,” Rohan said softly.
“Will I remember anything of this?”
“If the merger is precise, I’m afraid not.”
“What about you? Where will you go?”
“I’d rather not discuss it now,” Rohan said.
“I know it won’t be the future,” Billy guessed. “I’ve seen it and I don’t like it very much.”
They both chuckled.
“My time is boring,” continued Billy. “Nothing happens there. So you’ll probably go to the past. I’ll look for you in history books.”
“I wouldn’t count on it,” Rohan said and smiled. “Besides, it’s a shame you feel that way about your time. You live in the most important period of human history.”
“That can’t be true,” Billy said doubtfully.” All the discoveries are done; all the inventions are invented.”
“Life is a wonderful thing regardless of whether you live in the first chapter or the last one. Every day you may discover something new for yourself.
“Your parents and grandparents did a great job, building the world you live in today. But in the rush of technological amusement they neglected to clean up after themselves. Now pollution suffocates the planet, causing a very bad chain of events. It is up to your generation to find a way to clean up the mess and keep the planet the way you know it or”—Rohan made a wide gesture—“end up with this.”
“If I forget everything that happened to me, how will I know what to do?” Billy asked.
“You have a good heart, Billy. When in doubt, listen to it.”
“But I don’t want to forget!”
At that moment a distinctive jingle of a chime sounded in the air.
“Did you hear that?” Rohan asked.
“I think it’s in your bag,” Billy said.
Rohan unzipped his bag and pulled out a satchel with a bomb—the clock was ticking.
“Oh boy,” Billy pronounced.
“Oh brother,” Rohan whispered.
Only now Billy remembered that the High Priest’s weakening hand was lying on Rohan’s bag when he was holding him. “Did he . . . “Billy started.
“. . . activate the bomb?” Rohan finished his question. “Yes. And the chime was the five-minute mark.”
“We have to go back to the lake!” Billy exclaimed.
“There is no time for that,” Rohan replied. “Step on the platform.”
“I can do this,” Billy insisted. “I’m the fastest runner in the class.”
Rohan hesitated for a moment, analyzing the situation. Then he made a decision. He grabbed Billy’s wrist and made a few clicks on his timer. “I set up the alarm for two minutes,” he said. “If you don’t make it to the lake before the alarm sounds, you must go back. Do you understand?”
Billy nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Now hurry. I’ll set up your coordinates.”
Billy ran. Then after a few steps he stopped and swirled around. “Rohan!” he shouted. “The hourglass!”
“What?”
“If you flip the hourglass over it would buy us some time!” A triumphant smile lit Billy’s face.
“If I flip the hourglass over you’ll be frozen. If you do, the clock would not stop. This is the only way. Now run!”
And Billy ran. He ran like never before in his life. The dead bodies on the way didn’t bother him anymore. On the contrary, he used them to guide himself back to the lake. He was on a mission now, and there was no time to get emotional. The heat inside his suit increased. That’s when he felt a light touch of cold air on his skin—the air conditioner kicked in at full power. It helped.
When Billy made it to the lake, heavily panting, he glanced at his timer—there were thirty seconds left before the alarm. Perfect. The water seemed even darker than before, as if the lake could read his mind, sense his intentions. Billy got closer to the edge, swung his hand and tossed the satchel as far as he could. The bomb landed in the water with a muffled splash. The boy spun around and ran back—there was not a moment to waste.
Billy was the fastest in his class—that was true. He could easily sprint but only for seconds, not minutes. With every step his body was getting heavier. His bulky and oversized suit wasn’t much help either. Sweat dripped down his forehead into his eyes despite the air conditioner humming at full power. A few times Billy instinctively tried to wipe the sweat off his face, but his hand only hit the plastic of his helmet. Seconds turned into minutes, minutes felt like hours. Suffocating in his suit and utterly exhausted, Billy was about to open the visor of his helmet with the hope of filling his lungs with fresh air. The sight of a charred body of another Egyptian soldier stopped him. I have to move fast, Billy thought. If I don’t make it in time, we’ll be stuck here forever. Without the lake even Rohan won’t be able to change anything. This thought gave him strength, and he doubled his effort.
When Billy finally saw Rohan frantically waving his arms, his heart was pounding so hard it felt as if it was about to jump out of his body.
“Good boy, Billy. You made it!” Rohan grabbed him by the waist and helped him up onto the round platform. Then he went back to the control panel.
“Wait!” Billy shouted. His voice sounded hoarse as he was trying to catch his breath.
“What?”
“I don’t want to forget you. I don’t want to forget any of this!”
There was a tone of desperation in Billy’s voice. Rohan paused for a second. “I’ll see what I can do,” he promised. Then he gave the boy a final look and activated the panel.
Things started losing their shape. At that moment a flash of bright light illuminated the lake valley. The light was so intense that Billy had to duck and
cover his face with his hand. The next moment everything turned dark.
* * *
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Just Another Chapter
Water was pouring on Billy’s face. He gasped for air and opened his eyes. The heavy dark clouds hung so low he could almost feel their pressure. Billy rose on his elbows and looked around. He was lying in the mud, his clothes soaking wet. He must’ve tripped and fallen off the road. Billy stood up, picked up his schoolbag, and climbed up the hill.
“Guys!” he shouted. “Wait up! Wait for me, guys!”
He came to what was left of the gate to the castle and hailed again. There was no response.
Billy felt cold. His body was shivering. He checked his mud-covered clothes.
My parents are going to kill me!
He turned around and walked away. Going alone into Gothingham Castle was totally out of question.
Billy didn’t remember how he got home. As quietly as possible, he slipped through the front door and headed to his room.
“Billy, is that you?” his mother’s voice sounded from the kitchen.
“Yes, Mom!”
“How was school?”
“Fine!”
“How is your homework?” asked Billy’s dad without taking his eyes from the TV.
The question brought Billy back to reality.
“Almost done!” he answered. “I started at school.”
It was partly true. He did start his homework at school, except it was far from finished.
“Hurry up!” said his mom, “Dinner is almost ready!”
“Okay!”
Billy changed from his wet clothes into dry ones. Then he went to the bathroom and put his hands under the warm water. He stood there for quite some time until his body stopped shivering and he felt warm again.
He went back to his room and pulled out some textbooks and notebooks from his schoolbag and put them on his desk.
“First things first,” muttered Billy, opening the first book.
After the homework was done, Billy had dinner with his mom and dad. It was the usual daily routine except for one thing—that day the soup was exceptionally delicious.
The next morning Billy had cereal with milk for breakfast, packed his backpack, and left for school.
When he stepped into the busy schoolyard, someone called him.
“Hey Billy! Did you hear the news?”
It was Trent, Billy’s old buddy. They had gone to kindergarten together.
“What news?”
“Division four had a surprise math quiz yesterday. We might have one today.”
“Thanks for the intel, bro.”
“They won’t get us that easy.” The friends laughed and went inside the building.
As the teacher entered the classroom, she shocked the students with the news: today there was a math quiz.
The class exploded.
“What? We never knew!”
“You never told us!”
“We are not ready!”
Billy and Trent exchanged conspiratorial looks.
The teacher stood there quietly waiting for the first wave of fury to calm down.
“I deliberately chose not to announce the quiz. It is easy to pass a test when you study the night before. However, usually the next day after the test you don’t remember half of it.” She paused to make sure she had everyone’s attention. “Therefore,” she continued, “only good marks will be counted. Bad marks, on the other hand, will indicate areas that need to be improved. After all, this is for your own good.”
Realizing they didn’t have much of a choice, everyone started to pull out their papers and pencils.
“If you ask me,” muttered Billy’s friend, Mike, who sat in front of him, “an unannounced math quiz is like a knife in your back—‘for your own good.’”
Billy couldn’t hold back a smile. Then he opened his bag and reached for the paper.
“What the heck?”
Instead of a blank sheet he held a poster with his picture in the middle and big letters underneath, that stated: “Missing.” Billy skimmed the poster “. . . last seen in October . . .”
“Very funny,” he muttered and looked around. To his surprise, no one pointed finger at him and no one laughed.
Billy angrily shoved the poster back into his bag. At the bottom of the bag his fingers ran into something strange. He pulled out a small rubber balloon filed with sand.
Stress reliever? he thought. Where did this come from? Who’s messing with my stuff? Billy gazed around again. Everyone was busy with the quiz.
He decided to do the same and get to the bottom of the mystery later.
After class, Billy strolled throughout the school, holding the stress reliever and hoping that whoever planted it in his bag would notice it and start talking. Unfortunately, it didn’t work.
He didn’t yet want to show the “Missing” poster to anyone, in order to avoid potential mockery, so he left this puzzle for tomorrow.
When Billy got home, he tripped over a garbage bag that his mom had put outside for him to take out. Its contents got scattered all over the porch. It seemed like it wasn’t his day after all.
“Mom!” Billy shouted, gathering juice boxes. “This is recycling! You can’t put this together with the garbage!”
“Sorry,” Billy’s mom replied from inside the house. “I forgot.”
Billy grunted and threw the recycling into a separate bag.
The evening went as usual: homework, dinner . . .
After dinner Billy asked his father if he would like to play chess with him. Dad looked at Mom, obviously baffled.
She shrugged. “The boy is growing up.”
Billy won this game. Although he suspected that his dad didn’t play his strongest against him, there were a few moments when Billy made him sweat. In his heart Billy knew that today’s game was different from any other; instead of simply moving the pieces like he usually did, this time he really tried to think three steps ahead. His dad seemed genuinely surprised and proud of him.
That day was no different from any other day, yet Billy couldn’t get rid of a strong feeling that something was missing. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t find a way to fill the void. With this mood he went to bed. He put the stress reliever on the night stand beside him, closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
He had a dream . . .
He was in the park. Kids’ voices lingered over the playground. Billy used to play there when he was little. Two people were sitting on a bench nearby. They saw Billy and rose—a man in his fifties with short white hair and a girl about Billy’s age. Billy walked towards them. He couldn’t take his eyes away from the girl’s face. Her hair, her eyes, her nose, her lips—every line on her face was in the right place. She was simply perfect. She stretched out her arm. “Hello, Billy.”
She knew his name, but it didn’t surprise him. “Hi,” he answered and shook her hand.
Her skin felt so warm and soft. A big smile grew from ear to ear on Billy’s face and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He tried to speak through it instead: “I’ve never seen you before, but it feels like I’ve known you forever.”
“Maybe from a previous life?” She smiled.
“Maybe.”
The man stepped forward. He put his hand on Billy’s shoulder. “How are you, kid?”
“I’m fine,” Billy answered, still smiling.
“Good.” The man nodded. His eyes locked onto Billy’s as if he was trying to see what was behind them. “Good,” he said again. Then he turned to the girl. “I think that’s enough for the first time.”
“Yes, Uncle,” she replied.
They started walking away. The images began to fade.
“By the way”—the girl stopped and turned to Billy—“I liked that kiss.”
Billy opened his eyes, fully awake. There he lay in his bed, peering through the darkness of the night. But only moments ago he was in a park far away f
rom here. The experience felt so real that for some time he couldn’t tell which one was a dream—the park or his bedroom.
The images of that girl were still fresh in his memory—her face, her eyes . . . There was something magical about her green eyes. Then, from somewhere at the deepest corners of his subconscious, other images emerged: a desert, a palace, slaves . . .
“Agh!” Billy sat up, breathing heavily. “Anna-Maria . . .” A nearly silent whisper rolled off his lips.
He slowly lay back on his pillow and pulled up his sheets. He wasn’t sure whether whatever he saw that night was a dream, a premonition, or a fragment from his previous life, which he didn’t believe in anyway. Of one thing he was certain: that girl was real and sooner or later they would meet again. He didn’t yet know how or when, but that didn’t bother him. He just knew.
###
Facts
1. Raindrops are indeed shaped like spheres.
2. Nostradamus (1503–1566) wrote a book, The Prophecies, predicting major historical events, such as the French Revolution, rise of Napoleon, both World Wars, et cetera.
3. There is evidence that the earliest, most primitive forms of bowling were played in Ancient Egypt.
4. Egypt, China, and Florida are situated on the same latitude.
5. Florida was ruled by the Kingdom of Great Britain from 1763 to 1783.
6. A powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.3 on the Richter scale shook the city of Haicheng, Liaoning, China, on February 4, 1975, at 7:36 p.m., local time. The early evacuation saved many lives. That was the only successful evacuation before a devastating earthquake in history.
7. The ozone layer that protects Earth from solar radiation is being depleted by the use of ODS (ozone depleting substances) found in many applications including refrigeration, foam blowing, air conditioning, solvents, etc.
8. Recycling helps to slow down global warming.
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