The Xidoran Prophecy

by Elaine Bassett

  He heard Margaret say, “Hi Al.” Then she said, “Honey, I am so glad you are spending the night with us tonight. Come on in Caroline. Charles is in the library. If you would like to visit with him you can. Maybe the two of you would like to play cards by yourselves. Bev has an extra deck in the kitchen. I’m sure Charles knows where they are. I’ll come with you.”

  Oh no! They are coming this way. He took his glasses off and put them in his shirt pocket. He looked around for cover. Then, before he could even get up from his chair, there she was. It was too late. There was no place to hide. As she stood in the doorway he thought she looked just as he remembered her from the last time. He just sat there and stared.

  Margaret said, “Charles, Caroline is here.”

  Her eyes looked right into his. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t say anything or do anything. He just stared… She looked down. Finally he said, “Hi, Caroline.” He made an attempt at smiling.

  “Hi Charles. Would you like to play a card game with me?” she asked still looking down.

  “I know where the cards are in the kitchen,” Charles said. Not believing he said that so calmly. He stood up and walked to the kitchen. That wasn’t so bad, he thought. He went into the kitchen and found the cards in the drawer. He turned around and she was already sitting at the table.

  Margaret smiled. “Well, I think it is my turn to deal in our card game. Come get me if you need something. Bye.” She left them.

  Charles sat on the chair opposite of Caroline. She smiled at him. He smiled back.

  “It is good to see you again,” she said.

  “It’s good to see you too,” Charles replied sitting down at the table with the cards.

  “Do you know how to play Rummy?” he asked.

  She said she knew how to play. Charles shuffled and dealt the cards. To his surprise she was good at the game and actually seemed to be enjoying playing.

  When it was Caroline’s turn to shuffle she tried to warn Charles she didn’t know how to shuffle, but he insisted by saying, “You can’t be that bad. Give it a try.”

  When she did the cards went flying across the table. The two of them couldn’t stop laughing. She said, “I tried to tell you! You didn’t believe me.”

  Charles said, “Why don’t we make a deal that this time I will do the shuffling. Then before we play cards again, you practice so next time you can shuffle.”

  She agreed and they shook on it.

  When they finished several games, he asked if she would like to sit on the front porch. She agreed. So they went to the front porch and sat on the chairs. They talked about their summer.

  Caroline said, “I haven’t done much this summer except read and go to the pool.”

  Charles talked about staying on the farm all summer and helping Paw Paw and Nana with chores. He told her about helping with the bees.

  “You must be fearless to go near bees!” she said smiling at him.

  “I think you are pretty fearless yourself for holding a worm. I don’t know many girls who would dig for worms.”

  “I remember that. We had fun, didn’t we? Grandma talks about it all the time.”

  He told her he would be getting up early to gather eggs with Nana in the morning.

  She said, “Now that might be fun to see.” They laughed.

  He was really enjoying her company when Bev came to the door and asked if they would like some dessert. They both said yes at the same time.

  Bev said, “Come inside and get your dessert. If you want you can bring it back outside to finish your conversation.” They decided to follow her suggestion. They returned to the front porch and talked about school.

  Caroline said, “You know we will be attending the same school this year.”

  “I know. It’s going to be a lot different from last year. I’m sure I will see you around in the halls.”

  She smiled. “I hope so. It will be nice to know someone in that big school. I’m worried about being able to find my way around.”

  “That’s why they have orientation. I’ll help you find your way around. We can meet before school. If you give me your schedule then we can walk together until you get used to finding your classes.”

  Margaret came out and said it was time for them to be going.

  Caroline looked at him and then looked down. “Thank you. That makes me feel better about my first day.” They stood up and carried their plates to the kitchen.

  “If you are going to visit your grandparents tomorrow, why don’t you come here for a few hours if it works out with your plans?” Caroline looked at her grandma.

  “That would be nice Charles, we’ll do that,” Margaret said. Al joined them at the back door with a flashlight.

  Then, all of a sudden Carson was also standing in the kitchen with a flashlight.

  “I thought Charles and I would take a night walk. Now is as good a time as any, if you want to Charles.”

  “Okay.”

  Bev said, “I’ll come too! It will be pleasant.” As everyone started to walk down the sidewalk, the adults started to talk about the other night when they were all out under the moon talking about the constellations.

  Funny, ha ha, Charles thought. He didn’t care at this point. It was too late to care. He was glad for the opportunity to walk Caroline to Margaret and Al’s home. He wasn’t quite ready for their time together to end. The grown-ups preceded Charles and Caroline.

  While they were walking she asked, “Do you know where the constellations are? I really don’t know much about them.

  “Sort of, Paw Paw pointed them out to us the other night.” They stopped in the middle of the street and he began pointing out the constellations, trying to explain where to find them.

  “I don’t know how to tell them apart.” Everyone else walked on.

  He stood behind her and pointed into the night sky. “Look over there. See the cluster of stars that form a box?”

  Once she was able to see the outlines the stars formed she said, “Oh, wow. I see them now. There are so many stars out tonight.”

  “Yes, there are a lot of stars tonight. With the moon shining on the road it’s a good night for us to be going for a walk. We’d better keep moving though. They are already way ahead of us.” Once they made it to Margaret and Al’s, he walked her to the door. Bev and Carson stayed in the driveway and waved goodbye.

  Bev called to Margaret, “I’ll call when we get home.”

  Margaret laughed. “I’ll be waiting.”

  Charles spoke to Caroline. “I’ll see you tomorrow, if you can come over.”

  She thanked him for joining them on the walk home. “You’re welcome.”

  Caroline stayed at the door and watched them walk away. She was looking forward to going to the Jones’ farm tomorrow to see Charles.

  As they were walking Bev asked Charles, “What was that earlier when you acted so strangely about Caroline coming to the picnic? Tonight you had fun didn’t you?”

  “Yes. I had fun. She is very nice. We had a good time. It’s just… Remember the spoon fiasco the last time I saw her? I was embarrassed and thought she wouldn’t want to see me again,” Charles replied.

  “Oh, if I remember correctly you tried to do a trick using a spoon. Is that right?”

  “That’s the one.”

  “Well, you showed her you could do it, right?” Charles nodded. “So, what was the problem?”

  “Cynthia was the problem. She made fun of me and said I was trying to impress Caroline.”

  “Were you?”

  “Yes, I guess.” Charles shrugged.

  “Well, I think that’s a nice compliment. I don’t think Caroline has ever mentioned it though. As a matter of fact she was the one who told Margaret that she’d like to see you again.”

  Charles felt better after hearing that. “Thank you Nana,” he said half smiling.

  He enjoyed the rest of the walk home and considered that maybe it wasn’t as bad as he had originally thought--the day of the spoo
n fiasco. When they returned home Charles said goodnight to his grandparents. He placed his glasses on the coffee table in the library, then made his way upstairs. Charles heard Bev calling Margaret as he walked up the steps.

  The next morning came too soon. Bev came to his door and knocked softly to wake him. It was time to gather the eggs from the hen house. He sat up in bed for a moment before he got dressed. He met Bev in the kitchen. She had baskets for both of them. They walked down to the big red barn. The hen house was right next to it. They went in and carefully collected the eggs. When their baskets were full they walked back to the house. She told Charles if he was still tired he should try to go back to sleep for a while. She thanked him and told him she enjoyed the company. “I don’t always like to go by myself. One time I came across a snake out there.”

  Charles made a face. “What did you do?”

  She shrugged, and said as if it didn’t bother her all that much, “I killed it with a shovel.”

  He shook his head. “I guess you have to do what you have to do sometimes…” He told her he was happy to help and he enjoyed her company too. Then, he went back upstairs to bed.

  Later he woke up to the familiar scent of fresh coffee brewing downstairs. He got out of bed, made his way to the bathroom to finish getting ready and went downstairs for breakfast. It was still early. Carson had brought the paper into the kitchen and Bev was helping him work the crossword puzzle. He was clearly engrossed by this puzzle. He had his glasses on and a serious face. Charles thought: It must be a hard puzzle to solve. Charles poured a glass of orange juice and fixed a blueberry bagel with cream cheese. Bev made scrambled eggs. Fresh fruit was on the table. After breakfast Carson put his paper down and took his glasses off.

  “This puzzle is all yours, Love. Good luck. We are going to the office. Please let us know when our company arrives.”

  “I will.”

  He kissed her on her cheek. Charles thanked her and walked to the library to pick up his things.

  Once they stepped out onto the front porch Carson picked up a small paper bag that was sitting by the door. They walked in silence to the office. Carson said as they entered the door, “I called the pet shop in town and asked about our friend the frog, and his diet.” He held up the paper bag and gently shook it. “They like crickets; three to four live crickets a day. You can find them in Nana’s garden. I collected them this morning.”

  Charles shook his head at the thought of Carson in the garden finding crickets. He set his things on the conversation table. He then went over to free Airabelle and the frog. He turned his attention to the aquarium that needed to be cleaned. He cleaned it and added fresh water. Airabelle was happy to be playing around with her new friend. It was interesting to see a bird and a frog becoming friends. If nothing else they were company for each other. They played for a while before he decided to put the frog back in the aquarium. It was feeding time so he added the three crickets and replaced the top quickly.

  Charles sat down on the chair, put his glasses on and picked up the journal. He opened it to the blue bookmark and resumed reading where he had left off. The reading seemed mundane until he came to a section titled, “The Dangers Lurking Within the Hub”. That title tweaked his curiosity. He instantly began daydreaming of the mysterious perils in the “Unknown” Sector.

  Phil began this section with the explanation that his intended purpose was to help his own Sojourner family, and generations to come, to avoid being entrapped in the snares that other unfortunate Sojourners had fallen victim to in the past. Phil’s basic advice for ensuring a Sojourner’s safety was to be very careful about telling or showing anyone where your primary Passageway is located. The information should be kept within your own family. Sojourners are secretive for a reason; keeping the secrets of Sojourning guarded has kept many Sojourners protected throughout history and it bears repeating: be prudent in whom you trust. The devastation that theft can cause to a Sojourner’s estate is too great a risk to take a chance on being naïve and trusting. The only way to secure your estate is through secrecy and to educate yourself.

  He also cautioned that a Sojourner should not go through another family’s Passageway under any circumstances because of the dangers involved, for instance: you wouldn’t know where the Passageway ended and could find yourself stepping into a dangerous place (it wouldn’t be the first time a Sojourner lied about where their Passageway originated from or led to); or you wouldn’t be able to say for sure who could be waiting on the other side (traps have been set to kidnap and hold Sojourners for ransom); there is also the possibility you might become lost in a wormhole or they may not let you out once you reach the Passageway’s exit causing you to be trapped in the realm between two dimensions (if left in limbo for any length of time you would go mad). Phil warned the reader to keep in mind that these were only a few examples; there are many other unforeseen dangers not mentioned, having to do with the hazards of “Unknown” Passageways.

  Phil had researched articles of real life incidents of the above scenarios and included them in this section. Charles perused through the Hub newspapers. All of the articles had to do with innocent Sojourners who had been tricked into traveling through someone else’s Passageway and had horrifying experiences. One of the articles that received Charles’ attention was about the large number of reported cases documented in the Hub News, spanning for decades, of people who had disappeared from the Hub. Throughout time it had been a suspicion of the Authorities that Shadow Seekers had been abducting the missing Sojourners. Of the numerous cases that journalists had written about, only four victims had been extracted from or escaped from the “Unknown” Sector. All four of those individuals when interviewed confirmed that Shadow Seekers had kidnapped them. They had escaped through their sheer will to survive the odds against them. Each one of the documented survivors told their personal account of the events that took place (prior, during and after their kidnapping) and what they witnessed on the “other side in the ‘Unknown’ Sector”.

  Phil learned about criminal Seekers who operated from a network of Passageways linked to the “Unknown” Sector. He identified these criminal gangs as Labyrinth Seekers. Charles learned that Phil was able to observe, because of his credentials and the friendships he had developed through the years, the investigations taking place of the thefts. He was privy to information not released to the general community of Sojourners. Phil, with his keen insight into the information that was provided by the investigations, was able to piece together his own theory of who the criminals were and how the intricate thefts transpired. The practice of being a Labyrinth Seeker is illegal to the Sojourners’ Council and the penalties received if they are captured are substantial.

  A Shadow Seeker is equivalent to a General in their military. A Shadow Seeker may be the missing link to the Master Mind himself. This Seeker hides in the shadows and avoids any kind of known identity or recognition. They are blamed for the abduction of victims and holding them for ransom. It appeared they occasionally work with Rogue Seekers.

  A Rogue Seeker is someone who has abandoned their primary Passageway and chooses to use other Sojourners’ primary Passageways to conduct their illegal activity as Underground Passageways. Usually they are trying to steal other Sojourners’ valuables, travel coins or private collections to auction on the Stygian market for monetary purposes. Most of them do not care if they ever return to their own original era in time. A Rogue Seeker usually does not want to steal your primary Passageway. They just desire the use of primary Passageways belonging to others. This allows them to cover their tracks from a recent theft by casting suspicion onto others, or because they used their primary Passageway to escape after a theft (it’s a cat and mouse game). The only way to prevent a Rogue Seeker from following you into your primary Passageway is to make sure once you enter your corridor the safety door closes and seals behind you. There have been reports of people in the Hub News who have been caught by surprise by a Rogue who had waylaid the Sojourner and
robbed them.

  Another predator, the Passage Seeker, has only the intent of stealing your primary and secondary Passageways. No one has been able to figure out how this is accomplished. Phil believed the Rogue Seeker carefully watched and followed Sojourners who are in a hurry, are distracted or otherwise impaired. Once this Sojourner enters his Passageway, the Rogue Seeker follows behind before the door closes. The Rogue Seeker then waits for the moment to attack the unsuspecting Sojourner. Then he restrains the Sojourner, plants a homing device, collects the valuables and escapes back through the primary Passageway. On the other end simultaneously the Passage Seeker receives the signal from the homing device. This Seeker would already be stationed, waiting in the Time Warp Tunnel allowing them to choose the exact moment they exit in time. A gang member awaits their arrival and transports them to where the homing device is located. This allows them to essentially show up at the exact moment the Rogue Seeker sets the homing device. They work together to locate the Red Book Operation Manual and Passage Code in order to dismantle the Sojourner’s primary and secondary Passageways. Before the job is completed they allow the Rogue Seeker with the valuables to travel back through the primary Passageway and into the Hub where he makes his way to the Stygian Market. Once the Rogue Seeker is out of the Passageway, the Passage Seeker completely dismantles and makes their escape with the primary and secondary Passageways to a safe location. From there they use the Stygian Passageway back to the “Unknown” Sector.

  Phil added several other types of criminals found in the “Unknown” Sector:

  A Gangster Seeker is one of many within a group of thugs that cause fear. They move around and keep the criminal groups in line using violent tactics.

  The Grunt Seeker does the transporting of stolen goods for the criminals to a destination. They do the heavy lifting. When a job is done they are the get away drivers. If something goes wrong with a heist they are the fall guy taking the blame and are considered ultimately expendable.

  The Informant Seeker goes around the Hub and the “Unknown” Sector gossiping; trying to spread propaganda and rumors. This person reports their findings back to the Shadow Seeker. They work together to refine the propaganda being spread.