11

by James Phelan

  Eva remained staring out the window as the view fogged over with dark cloud. Gabriella went into the small adjoining bathroom, and Eva heard the shower hissing moments later.

  ‘So you did not know that your parents weren’t your real parents?’ Gabriella asked as she emerged from the bathroom a long time later. She was dressed in an Academy uniform, a towel still wrapped around her wet hair. Gabriella pulled at the fabric as she looked at herself in the mirror. She sighed.

  ‘No,’ Eva said, sitting on her bed, leaning back.

  ‘And they were … these Enterprise people?’ Gabriella said.

  ‘Agents. Yep.’

  ‘And my parents?’ Gabriella replied. ‘I should call my father but I have no phone.’

  ‘I don’t know. Ask the Professor, he might know more, maybe you can call him,’ Eva said, checking her watch. She sighed deeply. ‘But the last 13 could be anyone.’

  ‘And they have dreams like my dream about the disc in the Pantheon?’ Gabriella asked.

  ‘Yeah, I think so.’ Eva looked at Gabriella. Even standing there in the same boring uniform as Eva, Gabriella still seemed to radiate an air of glamour and excitement. She had fitted into this new and unfamiliar world so immediately, a social chameleon adapting with ease.

  ‘Knock, knock,’ Lora interrupted, her head appearing around the door. ‘You two OK?’

  ‘Fine,’ Eva and Gabriella said at the same time.

  ‘Good. Still no word from Sam, but we know he’s alright, he’s outside Berlin now,’ Lora said, motioning for the girls to follow her. ‘And if you’ll come with me, there’s something you can help us with.’

  ‘Welcome back, Eva,’ the Professor said kindly, giving her shoulder a light squeeze. ‘And Gabriella, we meet at last. I’m a big fan.’

  Gabriella flashed her immense smile and shook his hand.

  ‘So glad you’re here. The accommodation is sufferable, I hope?’ the Professor added with a wry grin.

  Gabriella’s cheeks flushed a little and she nodded. It was the first time Eva had seen Gabriella looking somewhat self-conscious.

  Eva had expected to be meeting the Professor in his office, to go over all that had happened in Rome. Instead, they were in a room Eva had not seen before. A large table encircled by chairs filled the centre space and two large screens hung on the walls. Eva could see a video camera set up in the corner.

  The Professor indicated that they should sit at the table just as Lora and Jedi entered the room.

  ‘Now, Lora has given me a full run-down of everything that occurred in Rome,’ the Professor began. ‘We have managed to pinpoint where Sam is in Germany, and Jedi is currently looking into the best and safest way to make contact,’ the Professor continued. ‘He obviously wanted to fly solo for a while but I’m sure he’ll want to be in touch soon. When this happens, we will of course invite you to take part in the conversation. Now, Gabriella,’ the Professor looked at her directly, his tone serious. ‘There are a concerning number of theories circulating, growing by the minute, about your involvement in the incident in Rome and your whereabouts now. We feel we need to deal with this immediately and directly. You do understand why you need to stay here? I have no doubt that your role in the race as one of the last 13 will continue yet. You will not be safe in Rome.’

  ‘Si. Yes, I understand,’ Gabriella nodded again.

  ‘Lora and Jedi have organised for you to film a message for the media, so everyone knows you’re OK. If you agree, we think it best if you also announce that you will be taking a well-needed break from the music scene.’

  Gabriella thought for a long moment. ‘Yes, yes … I could say that what happened in Roma has affected me deeply … I am now too worried for my safety, and I need much time to think,’ she said. Then she added, ‘Perhaps I tell them I will be using my time away to work on my skills as an actress? I have always wanted to be in the movies.’

  Eva scoffed before she could stop herself. She imagined Gabriella’s over-the-top, teary farewell to the world’s waiting media.

  She’s a pretty good actress already.

  Eva caught Lora’s inquisitive look but pretended not to see it.

  ‘Wonderful suggestion,’ the Professor agreed. ‘Lora will help you with the broadcast and whatever preparations you need. And of course you will want to call your family, we can arrange that also.’ Gabriella beamed.

  ‘Now, Eva,’ the Professor shifted his gaze to her, ‘we know you are deeply concerned about Sam, and keen to help in whatever way you can—’

  ‘Yes, absolutely!’ Eva cut in, eagerly. ‘I can have my stuff ready in five minutes and go wherever you need me to go.’

  ‘Well, that won’t be too far, as it happens,’ the Professor said. ‘Jedi needs your help in his office, investigating the pages in the journal and the gear piece that Gabriella and Sam located in Rome. Time is of the essence and we believe there is important information in that book that could help Sam.’

  ‘Oh, OK,’ Eva said quietly, trying to hide her disappointment from everyone, especially Jedi. She looked over and gave him a quick smile. ‘Whatever’s most helpful to Sam.’

  15

  SAM

  The black Mercedes roared its way along a birch-lined gravel driveway that led them through acres of lush pastures. Xavier had told his father of his concerns for Ahmed, and despite several phone calls trying to discover his whereabouts which led to no further answers, Dr Dark did not look too worried.

  ‘I’ve known Ahmed a long time, and he can be somewhat … unpredictable, so I shouldn’t worry too much,’ he said.

  ‘But he said he was trying to get a message to Sam and I swear I heard him say “they’re coming” just before the line dropped out,’ Xavier argued.

  ‘It could have been a taxi coming, or any number of other possibilities. You know your godfather, he loves to go adventuring in far-flung places, I suspect he’s just off on an archaeological adventure now,’ Dr Dark waved his hand at Xavier’s imminent protest. ‘I’m sure he’ll be back in touch soon.’

  Xavier fell silent as the road wound its way through manicured gardens.

  ‘Where are we?’ Sam asked.

  ‘This house belongs to an associate of mine,’ Dr Dark said.

  ‘This associate a king or something?’ Sam asked. ‘This is some house.’

  Sam craned his neck to see the full height of the building as they approached. It was long and square, made from sandstone, three stories tall, with a sloped slate roof and a tower at either end. ‘Do all you rich people just hang out together all the time?’

  Dr Dark smiled. ‘He’s from a long line of noble men who have helped our cause.’

  ‘Hans helps out Dreamers?’ Xavier said.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Well, I still don’t like him. There’s something off about that guy,’ Xavier said.

  ‘You’ll be polite while we are guests in his home,’ Dr Dark told his son, who rolled his eyes in reply.

  ‘Fine,’ Xavier said, then turned to Sam and whispered. ‘I’ve met him a few times, you’ll see.’

  ‘Well, whoever this Hans guy is, he sure is rich,’ Sam said as they passed a carved stone fountain the size of the grandest ones he’d seen in Italy.

  ‘Sam, you’ll find that those of us who true dream seem to do quite well, if we choose to,’ Dr Dark replied as they pulled up to the entry portico.

  ‘Because you can see into the future?’ Xavier asked.

  ‘Yes—but we don’t use it for pure economic gain, like playing the stock market or gambling,’ Dr Dark replied. ‘The Council looks very sternly upon that sort of thing.’

  ‘Does Hans know about what’s happening at the moment? With the prophecy and everything?’ Sam said.

  ‘No,’ he replied. ‘But he knows of my work with true dreams, and he’s been a very generous backer over the years, helping to fund the Council and the Academy.’

  A butler came out and Dr Dark greeted him warmly, ‘Otto! Good to see you again, a
nd so good of you to have us here at such short notice.’

  ‘So, why don’t you like Hans?’ Sam asked Xavier quietly as they got out of the car.

  ‘He’s just …’ Xavier whispered, ‘weird. Always acts like he’s better than everyone, talks over people. Laughs funny too, like a hyena. And his breath smells like bad cheese—you’d think he’d just thrown up in his own mouth.’

  ‘That’s a lovely image, thanks,’ Sam whispered back. ‘It’s making me think of our security guard buddy back in Cairo.’ Sam pulled a face and Xavier snorted with laughter.

  The butler turned to them abruptly and gave them a stony stare. He motioned them inside the house with a stiff wave of his gloved hand.

  ‘Our host is not here at the moment, but we can stay as long as we need to,’ Dr Dark said. They went inside, following the butler into a grand library with plush leather chairs. A songbird swinging in a gilt cage next to the fireplace let out an elegant trill as Sam came closer for a look.

  ‘We’ll be safe here for a while,’ Dr Dark said as he sat down and made himself comfortable. ‘Until I talk to the Professor and the Council and see what the current situation is, it’s best we stay hidden.’

  Otto came back in with a tray piled high with drinks and food.

  ‘So, why were you two at the museum archives?’ Dr Dark asked finally.

  ‘To find clues,’ Sam said.

  ‘Xavier?’ Dr Dark questioned.

  ‘He’s telling the truth, Dad,’ Xavier said. ‘We went to see what was there, what Ahmed had left behind.’

  ‘And this rubbing of the Stele was about the only thing there, apart from reams of field notes and recordings,’ Sam added, pulling the paper out of his backpack.

  ‘How did you know about it being stored there?’ Dr Dark asked.

  ‘Sam dreamed it,’ Xavier blurted out. He gave Sam a meaningful look.

  ‘Sam? Is this true?’

  Sam nodded. Why doesn’t he want his father to know he was the one who dreamed of it?

  Dr Dark stood up and went to the bar where he poured himself another coffee. ‘Show me,’ he said.

  Sam unrolled the tracing paper.

  ‘Incredible …’ Dr Dark said, taking in the sight of the rubbing laid out in full on a large table in the centre of the library. ‘For centuries people searched for this missing half of the Stele in Egypt and all along it was lying forgotten in Cyprus—and then suddenly it was gone. How marvellous we had a copy of it sitting in our archives.’

  ‘What’s the big deal?’ Xavier asked.

  ‘It holds the second half of the prophecy,’ Sam said. ‘The one about the last 13.’ He walked around the rubbing, taking photos with his phone. With the touch of a button, he emailed them to Jedi. Won’t they just lose their minds at the Academy when they see this?

  ‘This Dream Stele is more than a representation of a moment of Ramses’ time,’ Dr Dark was saying. ‘It’s part of something bigger.’

  ‘Part of …’ Sam began.

  Dr Dark looked up. ‘… the fate of the world.’

  16

  ALEX

  ‘Absolutely not,’ Stella said, not skipping a beat in her fast-paced stride as she walked into the hangar, the clicking of her shoes echoing loudly.

  ‘But Jack said that I—’

  Stella stopped abruptly and gave Alex a look that could kill. She came close to his face. ‘I have worked with some of the world’s top military teams,’ she said. ‘I’ve seen more combat and been shot at more times than you could ever dream of. I’m not about to jeopardise the success of my mission so a jumped-up teenager can tag along.’

  With that, she turned on her heel and walked away.

  Alex watched her toss her pack to the loadmaster and she climbed the stairs into the Enterprise’s jet, a compact airliner. About a dozen Agents had boarded, all of them in their trademark grey suits, white shirts and black ties. One guy was loading bags through the cargo doors underneath the windows while other logistics guys carted equipment to him. Alex pulled his backpack on and edged nearer. He noticed that there was quite a lot of room inside the cargo hold … enough space for a jumped-up teenager. He grinned.

  Alex made a bed out of soft duffel bags and braced himself for take-off. The bumpy taxiing bounced him around, his gut churning as he heard the engines powering up. His hands over his ears, he nearly let out a whoop of excitement when the aircraft left the tarmac and banked into the sky. Once the landing gear had been raised, it was surprisingly quiet in the cargo hold.

  He rummaged through a couple of bags and found a small torch and some magazines to read. Half an hour in and he’d turned every page of them and not taken in a word.

  Seeing as I’m going to be in here for a while, I may as well get my beauty sleep.

  Alex got comfortable and closed his eyes.

  He woke with a start and checked the time on his phone. A few hours had slipped by. He smiled at the thought of being asked to switch off electronic devices and phones by an air steward—not down here! Then he hurriedly switched his phone to airplane mode, just in case.

  Now he needed to dream up some brilliant scheme to give Stella the slip so he could secretly follow her team into the field …

  Dreaming …

  A dream! I’ll tell her that I was holding something back before—that I’d had a dream about being there, in Berlin with her, and that we found Sam together! Then she’ll have to take me along.

  His stomach growled and Alex was instantly reminded that he’d forgotten to pack any food when he’d ‘borrowed’ supplies from the Enterprise storerooms. He rummaged through the closest bags and got lucky with some sports drinks and snacks. He ate a chocolate bar and scrolled to his favourite band on his phone while he pictured how he could stay one step ahead of Stella.

  Alex knew they were coming in to land when he heard the flaps engage for descent, and soon the landing gear came down. He pocketed his phone and braced for the landing as well as he could, tucked in-between a stack of suitcases and bags.

  With no visual clues to gauge their approach, the landing was a sudden and abrupt impact, followed by the deafening sound of the reverse thrusters of the engines.

  Alex swore and then clamped his hands over his mouth, panicking that he could have been loud enough to be heard through the floor of the passenger compartment above. He calmed his breathing and heart rate, and then sent a text message through to Phoebe just so that she knew what he’d done … and in case Stella actually kills me for turning up unannounced.

  Within a few minutes he felt the aircraft come to a stop, and heard the built-in stairs fold out. Another minute and the cargo doors were opened. The two Agents unloading the bags and cases were quick and efficient, putting the bags into the rear of a couple of vans parked in a private hangar.

  Alex slid out when they both had their backs to him, and he walked up to Stella, who was on the phone. When she hung up the call and turned to face him she didn’t seem surprised.

  ‘So,’ she said, looking at him through squinting eyes. ‘I’m told you had a dream that you had to be here.’

  ‘Yes, I was going to—’

  She held up her hand for him to stop and he didn’t need to be told twice.

  ‘Get in, we’ll talk later.’

  She walked away, and Alex headed for the closest van, but it was already full of unfriendly Agents, all looking at him like he was an unwelcome deadweight. He found a small space, albeit equally hostile, in the other van. They rolled out of the airport and headed towards Berlin city in the darkness of the night.

  After a short ride, they pulled up to a small business hotel and Alex found Stella in the lobby.

  ‘What are we doing here?’ Alex asked her.

  She looked at him.

  ‘Shouldn’t we be out there,’ Alex said, ‘looking for Sam?’

  She pointed to the doors of the hotel that led back out to the street. ‘Be my guest,’ Stella said. ‘Berlin’s a big city though, and you wouldn’t h
ave to be one of the last 13 to attract attention out there all alone in the middle of the night.’

  Alex’s gaze fell from the dark empty street outside to the carpeted floor at his feet.

  ‘I thought so,’ Stella said, then barked orders to the Agents who split up to go to their rooms. Alex caught her at the elevators.

  ‘Wait,’ he said, ‘are we here to work, or just to sleep?’

  The elevator pinged its arrival.

  ‘I’m here to work, and I’ll do that as I best know how.’ Stella walked into the lift. She turned and looked at him, and before the doors closed, she put out her arm to delay it. Her eyes were steel-blue and unflinching. ‘Did you have a dream that was relevant to my mission?’

  Alex was cornered in that stare.

  ‘Yes,’ he lied. He knew he hadn’t fooled her but she simply nodded and stepped back into the lift. ‘Wait—what do I do?’ he called.

  ‘Your roommate’s behind you,’ Stella said as the lift doors closed.

  Slowly, Alex turned around.

  A mountain of a man stood there, looking at him. His head was as large as a kitchen pot, his ape-like arms hanging down his sides, his knuckles nearly at his knees. This guy’s bigger than the drinks machine at school.

  ‘Hey,’ Alex said by way of greeting.

  The Agent grunted a reply, hefted his bag over his shoulder, and pressed the lift call button.

  ‘My name’s Alex,’ Alex said, offering his hand but it was left dangling. Alex swallowed hard.

  ‘I know who you are,’ the guy replied, getting into the lift. ‘You drank my sports drinks.’

  17

  SAM

  ‘So,’ Dr Dark said. ‘Why don’t we settle in and the two of you can tell me about your most recent dreams?’

  Xavier seemed to have finally given up all hope of hiding anything from his father, so Sam and he recounted their dreams, demolishing a plate of cakes in the process. Sam sat on the floor, stretching out, while Xavier sat opposite his dad by the fire and looked nervous, as if he might be laughed at or told off.