by Melissa Kuch
One man in a hooded garment stepped forth and called out in a shaky voice, “Hello. I am Charlton, the Great Secretary of Plymouth Tartarus. I am here to relay a message that the High Magistrate is waiting for you in the chapel.”
Otus smiled and thanked the hooded man, who made a slight bow and then scampered off to another group who were huddled together and whispering and pointing at the giant. Mrs. Xiomy had woken up at this point and was in awe at the surroundings. Her mouth gaped open as Otus marched past people, and she pointed at one and said slowly, “I know that person. I know that person too. I thought they were both dead!”
She grabbed Aurora by the shirt collar and whispered excitedly, “Are we dead?”
Aurora stared down at the suspicious people gaping at them with books in hand. She then saw one girl about her own age, with red hair and bright green eyes. What caught her eye was not her appearance but the golden cross-shaped necklace draped around her neck. The cross was the symbol of Christianity, to remember the man Jesus and how he died. She had read about it but had never witnessed anyone wearing it before. The girl smiled up at her, and Aurora smiled back.
“I think we’re in heaven,” she replied.
Otus came to two large bronze doors with carvings etched into each of the squares.
“The Holy Door from St. Peter’s Basilica!” Mrs. Xiomy gasped, shifting in Otus’s palm to get a closer look as they passed. “Yes, it is! I saw it when I was a girl in Rome. This is impossible!”
They walked into a chamber even more exuberant and opulent compared to the room Aurora had witnessed before. This room had no open windows, but each corner of the ceiling and walls were covered with art, glorious paintings that Aurora had never seen before. At the center of the ceiling was an old man with a white beard, reaching out to touch the finger of a young nude man as if life was being ignited through their fingertips.
“The Sistine Chapel,” Mrs. Xiomy gasped in awe at the magnificent room they were walking into. Aurora thought she might faint again, but instead she was craning her neck as far back as it could go to take in this unbelievable image.
“Otus, where are we?” Aurora asked, seeing a small Asian woman standing on the altar, wearing a bright yellow dress and a headdress of shells that draped down over her long black hair. She had big oval eyes and an olive complexion, and she was smiling up at the visitors as they approached her altar. Otus gently placed Aurora and Mrs. Xiomy down in front of her, and they stared at this woman, not sure whether they should speak or wait to be spoken to. The woman looked familiar, but Aurora couldn’t place where she had met her before.
“Thank you Otus. So glad you all arrived safely.”
Mrs. Xiomy looked at the woman, and then her eyes opened wide in recognition. “Fawn, is it really you?”
“Surprised you still remember me, my old friend.”
“Remember you! Remember this!” She whirled around in circles at the Sistine Chapel. “This was destroyed. You all were destroyed.” Mrs. Xiomy then turned as if bitterly afraid and continued meekly, “And it was my fault.”
The woman named Fawn looked down at her with intense tenacity. “Of all the things I would love to say to you right now…but behold, we have company.”
She turned to Aurora, who was standing there holding onto Otus’s hand for protection.
“And who are you?”
Aurora let go of Otus and stepped forward. “My name is Aurora Alvarez. Please, I was told my friend was here. Boreas Stockington. Where is he?”
Fawn stepped back at the name but then quickly recovered. “Your friend is safe. We will take you to him shortly.”
“How was the reunion?” Mrs. Xiomy mumbled.
“Went as well as you’d expect after ten years.”
Aurora watched the two women who continued to stare each other down. She turned to Otus’s beaming green eyes for help, but he merely shrugged.
“Where are we?” she finally asked, not being able to take this secrecy any longer.
“Why, you are in Plymouth Tartarus, or the lowest region of the Underworld.”
“You came up with that all on your own?” Mrs. Xiomy heckled.
“We all came up with it.” Fawn ignored Mrs. Xiomy’s sarcasm. “Aurora, this place will not be found on any of your maps, and we intend to keep it that way. We are the new age puritans, come here to worship freely away from the United States of the Common Good. This is our new country.”
Otus turned around and his head nearly was able to reach the top of the Sistine Chapel. “Are each of these panels stories?” he asked bewildered, looking from panel to panel.
“Biblical stories,” Fawn responded. “They were created by a painter named Michelangelo in the Renaissance Era. When they destroyed the Vatican we had to risk our lives to save this. We took it down panel by panel and put it in our submarine, sonar protected, of course.”
“How did you get access?” Mrs. Xiomy asked. “I thought the guards were blocking anyone from entering or leaving.”
“Well, the pope and the priests covered for us. They joined our cause and allowed us to use the secret passage from the Vatican to the Castel Sant’Angelo. The Swiss guards swore an oath to protect the pope. We lost many a brave man during that night.”
“To preserve a story?” Aurora looked up both perplexed and mesmerized. “They are beautiful stories.”
“They are something we would want our children and grandchildren to see one day, right, Fawn?” Mrs. Xiomy chided.
Fawn didn’t answer and instead walked gracefully to a locked cabinet labeled “Church Tabernacle” and took out a long necklace made out of sea shells.
“Here, Otus.” He knelt down and bent his head so large in proportion to Fawn’s small frame. “I welcome you as our visitor to Plymouth Tartarus.”
She placed the sea shells around his neck, and the sea shells jangled as he rose to his full height. He admired each of the shells in his hands.
“They represent all faiths as one.” She smiled, and Aurora watched this commemoration with great apprehension. Did they know of Otus’s place in this puzzle, of his mission that Aurora and Boreas were on?
Fawn next led them through a long corridor, and everyone they passed stopped and looked up at the giant. Fawn and Mrs. Xiomy continued to give each other the cold shoulder; there was such friction between these two women. Aurora knew that she had to stay observant because this strange land was so foreign, yet illegal in so many ways. To speak the name of God so openly was a reason to be locked up for life, if not murdered for spreading the lies. She recalled the story of the author, Thomas Young, who had posted the story of Jesus over the Internet and how quickly he was made to suffer the consequences. What would happen to everyone down here if they were ever discovered? Aurora knew the answer, and she knew that they were all aware of it too.
They entered a large hall where the Bible, the Koran, and the Torah were all lined up side by side. All the original texts, Fawn explained as they walked past. People were on their knees praying to these books, and Aurora couldn’t help but watch the old and the young chanting and saying their prayers out loud in unison. What a strange world where people prayed to relics and books. But then she thought, didn’t they do the same thing but for the IDEAL? And they didn’t even know who the IDEAL was, just that to go against the IDEAL was wrong.
Beside the Torah was the symbol that Mary had made on Joshua’s Laundromat; the two triangles interwoven as one to make a star shape, or hexagram. Aurora turned to Fawn and asked, “What is that drawing? What does it mean?”
Fawn smiled and said, “That is the Star of David. Also known in Hebrew as the Shield of David. It is a symbol of Judaism.”
They continued past the prayer books and came across a platinum white door that bore the name “Sanctuary” in metallic print. But it was anything but a peaceful sanctuary because they heard a voice screaming at the top of its lungs within. Fawn opened the door and there, to Aurora’s relief, was Boreas yelling at two hooded m
en trying to serve him food.
“I swear I won’t eat until I find out that my friends are all right!”
As the door swung open, Aurora laughed as she watched Boreas knock a plate of food to the ground, and the hooded figures quickly picked up the scraps. Boreas’s eyes met Aurora’s, and he smiled wide, reassured that she was alive. His eyes then wandered to Aurora’s left, where Fawn stepped forward from behind her, and a scowl transformed over his features. Fawn’s placid voice rang out in the small chamber, “Your friends are here safely.”
She left before anyone could say another word. Boreas continued to stare menacingly as she left, and Aurora went to his side in a hurry. Because it was that moment she realized why Fawn looked so familiar. She was the spitting image of Boreas.
urora nearly tackled Boreas and both of them fell over in laughter. She threw her arms around him, so happy that he was all right.
“I thought that Otus wouldn’t have found you in time,” he said wearily.
“I am fine.” Aurora smiled. “And Mrs. Xiomy now believes in giants.”
“As well as a few other things,” Mrs. Xiomy replied hastily. “I am glad you are all right.”
Aurora turned to Boreas flabbergasted and exclaimed, “But how did you escape? How did you find the cave and warn Otus?”
Boreas took a deep breath and then relayed the story from the beginning.
The guards had led both Boreas and Mrs. Xiomy back to the prison cell when they were intercepted by the First Lieutenant. He demanded custody once again of the prisoners, and they overheard him tell the Common Good officers that he wasn’t convinced that Aurora would do as she promised and provide the whereabouts of the giant. He growled at the prisoners to accompany him into an adjacent room to await word from the Inspector’s penthouse office. They walked in, but the First Lieutenant closed the door abruptly behind him. Sitting at the desk, disguised as a Common Good officer, was Mr. Alvarez, Aurora’s father. The First Lieutenant quickly whispered something into Mr. Alvarez’s ear and then exited the room without any explanation. Boreas had tried to interject, but Mr. Alvarez said that there wasn’t any time to explain.
Mr. Alvarez instructed Mrs. Xiomy to wait in the interrogation room, to stall for time, and then he methodically hit two panels in the white wall, which was not a wall at all but a secret door that lead into a hidden chamber. Boreas was ordered to follow Mr. Alvarez into the hollow chamber that turned into a dank and dark tunnel. They cautiously meandered their way down the long, narrow tunnel and Boreas could hear cars overhead but couldn’t decipher which road they were under. His shoes started to splash into puddles, which was when he noticed that the tunnel was leading them to the Candlewick Brook that emptied out next to the graveyard. There, before his eyes, was Mrs. Xiomy’s Fiat, waiting for him; All their stuff still in the trunk. Mr. Alvarez ordered Boreas to drive and find the giant. He said that once he found the giant, they were to come back and rescue Mrs. Xiomy, who would be waiting for them in the graveyard near David Xiomy’s gravesite.
Boreas sped off to the Candlewick Park cave, but when he got there Otus had disappeared. Frantically he ran to the back of the cave, following Otus’s footprints until he discovered that they ended at a dead end of solid rock. He traced his hand over the drawings and discovered the trigger that initiated the hidden glass elevator. He travelled through the ocean in the glass contraption until he found himself in Plymouth Tartarus.
“That is when I found Otus and told him to hurry and rescue you both.”
Mrs. Xiomy cleared her throat, wanting to continue the story at this point. Boreas relented, grateful to catch his breath.
She licked her lips and continued the tale. “While Boreas went to get to Otus, I was stuck stalling for time. Officer Woolchuck got suspicious and came into the interrogation room, catching Mr. Alvarez coming back through the hidden chamber. He was about to warn the other guards when I hit him square across the jaw and he went down.”
She showed off her right knuckles, which were slightly bruised from the hit. Boreas rolled his eyes at his teacher bragging about her violent tendencies.
“I then fled with Mr. Alvarez down the secret corridor; by this time the alarm had sounded. Mr. Alvarez told me to run to the gate, and he stayed behind to barricade the door and prevent anyone from coming through. I ran through the sewer, which emptied out into the brook near the graveyard. Then it looked as if all the lights had gone out, so I looked up, fearful it was the Inspector’s planes coming to swoop in and grab me, but it wasn’t a plane but a large hand reaching out for me. I screamed and…”
“Passed out,” Aurora chimed in.
“I prefer ‘gracefully fell,’” Mrs. Xiomy said unabashedly.
“And then after I found Mrs. Xiomy, I found you.” Otus smiled triumphantly. “Exactly where Boreas told me you would be.”
Aurora was wide-eyed in amazement. “I can’t believe my father did all that. He risked everything to help us escape!”
Mrs. Xiomy nodded. “And he probably would be very upset if we all died of hunger.”
Otus took that as a cue to eat and plopped down, the floor shaking beneath his weight. Aurora and Boreas, both not having eaten in three days, started picking at the buffet spread before them. They heartily chewed down the mussels, prawns, salmon, bread, and water.
Boreas reached into his pocket and retrieved a handkerchief that Aurora immediately recognized as her father’s. His initials were embroidered on the far right corner. Boreas said in mid-bite, “Your father wanted you to have this.”
Aurora grabbed it out of his hand. It read:
My dear Aurora,
If you are reading this, then I know you are safe. No one could have predicted that you and Boreas are the answers to the prophecy, but if it is so, I could not be prouder of you. I know that you will be able to help fulfill this mission and bring peace to this country and to the people once again. Do not worry about me or your mother. We will find a way through this. You need to take care of yourself, and I hope that we will see your beautiful face again when this is over. Know that we love you very much, and remember to look to the stars and trust in your heart. Te quiero mi hermosa hija.
Aurora wiped a tear from her eye and put the handkerchief safely into her pocket. She then relayed her encounter with the Inspector. Both Otus and Boreas looked at each other dumbfounded, especially after Aurora described in detail the Inspector’s desire for the Geometric Storm to hit. Mrs. Xiomy was not surprised. She shook her head at the amateurs before her.
“Like I told you both, you cannot trust anyone, especially not the Inspector.”
Boreas’s eyes darted toward the closed door where Fawn, the High Magistrate, had exited. “You’re right. Not anyone.”
Aurora took this as her cue to ask the question she was dreading. “Boreas, is the High Magistrate your mother?”
“Your mom?” Otus nearly choked on the water he was gulping down. “But I thought she was killed ten years ago?”
“So did I!” Boreas slammed his fork down onto the glass plate and stood up, facing the opposite end of the room.
The room went silent, and no one dared to take a bite or even swallow. Boreas continued staring out through the glass porthole and took a deep breath, “When I came out of the glass elevator, the Great Secretary wouldn’t let Otus leave and come rescue you, Aurora, until I met with the High Magistrate. They didn’t trust any outsiders and needed to be sure that it wasn’t a trap. So I ran into the Sistine Chapel, pushing people out of the way and screaming that this High Magistrate had to let Otus go, that he had to rescue my friends. And there she was, standing there with that stupid shell headdress. She stared at me as if I was a ghost. I thought she was for an instant. My mother, who I thought was dead, has been here all this time!” He kicked the table with all his strength, and a plate of food crashed to the floor. “She still is dead to me!”
He charged toward the door and slammed it shut behind him. Aurora got up to run after him, but Otus
put his foot up, blocking the exit.
“Leave him be, Aurora,” he said.
Mrs. Xiomy took a giant bite out of her bread and then gargled some water in her throat. “She’s an idiot for leaving him to begin with. Continuing on with her rebellion. There is no rebellion anymore. The cause is dead. Died with my husband.”
Aurora resumed her place at the table. “Why does the High Magistrate hate you so much?”
Mrs. Xiomy turned bright red. “Is it that obvious? Well, I guess it must be. I mean, if fifteen years can’t heal past wounds than nothing will, huh?” She took a deep breath. “We used to be best friends. I mean, growing up on the same block and everything. She was Buddhist; I was Muslim. But that never mattered to us, even when there was all the fighting and the religious war broke out over the world. We were there for each other. We joined the revolution together. And then we fell in love with the same man—David Xiomy, who ended up falling in love with me. Fawn didn’t take the news lightly. We got into a huge fight, and she left the rebellion. Later I found out that she had married Henry Stockington from Wishbone Avenue. They had two sons, one being your friend Boreas. Five years after his birth there was that terrible fire at the Candlewick prison where she was assisting the Professor with experimental work for the government. They never found her body, but it was assumed that she had died, along with some of my other friends from the rebellion. But somehow I always knew she didn’t die. She was too much of a fighter, that one. That’s why she always insisted that David made the wrong decision. She said that if it was her, she never would have given up the rebellion for a man. Maybe I am weak. I don’t know. But when you’re in love, you do some things that go against your nature. Against nature itself.”