The Year of the Great Seventh

by Orts, Teresa

  I ran into the bedroom, groaning, to find Nate standing next to the door.

  “What are you doing?” A faint smile spread across his lips. “The door was unlocked, by the way.”

  This was terrible. My bathrobe was soaked, my hair was stuck to my face, and the clothes from my suitcase were scattered on the sofa. Nate surely was thinking I didn’t belong here—and he was right.

  I didn’t know how to use smart panels that controlled appliances. I’d never stayed in a fancy hotel like this and probably never would again. The last notes of Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” came to an end.

  “Someone called from reception complaining about the noise. I thought you were having a party here and you hadn’t invited me.” Nate joked, trying really hard not to break into a laugh.

  Nate reached to a control panel next to the door that looked exactly like the one in the shower. He pressed the touchscreen, and at once, everything switched off and the normal lights went back on.

  “Please, stop it. This is too cutting edge for me. I couldn’t find the dammed switch to make the shower water run.”

  This wasn’t fair. Nate looked as stunning as always. That really short haircut accentuated his bad-boy smile. It was just cruel to have him in front of me, knowing he’d never be totally mine. His bare torso was unveiled through his unbuttoned shirt. I just wanted to scream. He had to stop doing that. He had to stop taking control over me.

  A puddle of water had formed under my feet. I stood there with my arms crossed over my drenched bathrobe and my hair plastered to my scalp, waiting for Nate to make another joke.

  “It’s okay. Don’t worry. It took me a while to learn how to use the smart panels at home. If you press the top right corner of the screen, you’ll see the names on the buttons,” Nate explained, trying to make it sound as if you didn’t need a PhD to maneuver those panels.

  Nate’s cell phone rang. He reached into his pocket and sighed while checking the caller ID.

  “I have to take this,” he said, shrugging at me.

  “Preston, can you hold on for a minute?” Nate whispered.

  Nate moved the phone away from his ear. “We’ll talk in the morning. Oh… one last thing.”

  “Yes?”

  “Make sure you always lock the door at night, and the most important thing, do not let anyone in.” A light crease appeared in Nate’s forehead. “Anyone.”

  “What? But…” I was unable to stop the words from tumbling out.

  “You’re going to have to simply trust me on this one,” Nate said, moving the phone back to his ear and closing the door behind him. “See you in the morning.”

  Once I locked the door, I heard Nate stepping down the corridor. He’d been waiting outside to check that I locked the door as he instructed.

  After finally managing to have a shower, I put on my old T-shirt and shorts and lay on the bed with my laptop. I logged into my email and the first five were from Dad.

  Don’t worry about Mom. She’s not as upset as I expected. Please call or email ASAP. We’re worried.

  I quickly typed an email, telling them I was okay and explaining how sorry I was to have acted behind their backs and that I was planning to be on my best behavior for the rest of the year. Dad especially must’ve been panicking as I’d promised to call him as soon as I landed in New York.

  There was another one from Megan.

  How’s the NYU tour going? Can’t wait to hear from you!

  Megan was about the sweetest, most down-to-earth person I’d ever met. If I remember correctly, she’d been to New York many times, doing press for her movies, and she’d never made a big deal out of it. Now that she knew I was here, she was trying to make me feel like this was the most exciting adventure that could ever happen to anyone. She had all the reasons to act like a celebrity, but all she wanted was to be normal.

  I really didn’t deserve a friend like Megan, even less so when I hadn’t told her the truth about what I was really doing here. Operation Calypso was doing fabulously at the box office, and the movie producers had decided to extend the promotional tour to Asia and Europe. Megan jetted off to Japan the day after the L.A. premiere. She was going to be in nine countries in the next three weeks. That’s what I call a packed schedule.

  It was just ironic. Megan was trotting the globe from red carpet to red carpet, but she seemed to be more interested in some trivial university tour than her celebrity life. Megan had confessed that she wanted to take a break from acting to go to college, but her agent told her that vanishing from the industry for four years would be committing career suicide. She kept saying she was still planning to go to college even if she had to put it off for a couple of years. Sadly, we both knew if her career continued escalating at this speed, college was never going to happen.

  With Emma, it was a different story. Since I’d known her, she’d been clear about not having any interest in college. She always said, after having been out there in the real world, school felt like going back to the playground. Emma wasn’t as successful as Megan, but she knew she could make a decent living out of acting.

  I scrolled down through my other emails, and I spotted an old one from Dad with the subject “Your school project” that I had previously missed.

  I quickly opened the email.

  Sophie, I found from where the prophecy that you were studying originated. Surprisingly, the prophecy from the papyrus was a copy of the engraving that appeared on top of the main entrance of the Caesareum—a temple that Cleopatra built for Mark Antony in Alexandria. Next to the entrance there were two obelisks known as Cleopatra’s needles. One of them happens to be in NYC. Maybe you have time to go take a look at it.

  The symbols were exactly like the ones in the papyrus, and the translation was totally accurate:

  “Ammateus, marked by the legend of Orion, will suffocate with his own hands the life that guides him. Then he will bring the sons of Satan back from death, marking the end of it all.

  Only the divine stone found where heaven meets earth will save her. The salvation to both lies beneath.”

  Hope this is of any help for your school project.

  Love,

  Dad

  How could I have missed this? I knew that the divine stone must refer to Syenite, and Cleopatra was obsessed with these two obelisks made from Syenite, but I hadn’t realized that the prophecy had been engraved at the entrance of the Caesareum. It was as if Cleopatra had tried to leave a hidden message on the obelisks. If she’d gone through the trouble of moving those two Obelisks from Heliopolis to Alexandria and writing this message next to them, it must’ve been for a reason. The prophecy had stood carved in stone alongside Cleopatra’s needles for almost a thousand years.

  We’d been on the right track after all. The obelisks seemed to be the answer. Now that I read it again, all the pieces fit perfectly. Ammateus, the word Nate repeated each time he’d gone into a trance. The legend of Orion was the constellation-shaped freckles on his back. The divine stone was the Syenite. There was no more doubt; the text referred to him.

  CHAPTER XIII

  THE SIREN OF A fire truck woke me up early in the morning, and after that, I hadn’t been able to go back to sleep.

  A strong scent of recently baked croissants filled my nostrils. The smell was coming from the corridor, making me wonder whether there was a café somewhere on the fiftieth floor. With five-star hotels, you never knew. They seemed to be designed to make your life as easy as possible.

  Driven by curiosity and my rumbling stomach, I peeked outside the door to see where the smell was coming from and to my surprise, I found a silver trolley with breakfast right outside my door.

  It wasn’t taking me very long to get used to the royal treatment. Breakfast delivered to your room—what else could you ask for? I suspected Nate had ordered breakfast for me, but I didn’t really care who’d been behind it.

  The sky was completely overcast, and by the look of it, another snowstorm could be on its wa
y.

  Just gazing around the beautiful hotel suite made the adrenaline pump through my body. I felt like a princess in her enchanted castle. However, unlike in the fairy tales, I wasn’t sure if my prince and I could ever be together for good.

  I searched through my clothes, still where I’d left them the previous night, in a pile on the sofa. After much hesitation, I decided to go for a long woolly sweater and a pair of skinny jeans. This probably wasn’t warm enough, but I didn’t have a lot of choices. There was no need for snow clothes in southern California.

  After combing straight my long hair, I grabbed my jacket, gloves, and a scarf, and with a glance back at the beautiful view of New York City, I left the room. I couldn’t silence that voice in my mind saying that maybe Nate wasn’t telling me the whole truth. Maybe he just wasn’t that into me.

  I had to stop being paranoid. We had bigger things to worry about.

  Even though it was still eight in the morning, and I hadn’t agreed to meet Nate until nine o’clock, I was eager to get going. As I suspected Nate was probably already awake, I decided to stop by his room to check on him. When I was about to knock on his door, I pushed the handle down and the door clicked open.

  I should be the one reminding Nate to lock the door at night.

  Nate’s room was similar to mine. It was surrounded by huge widows, and you could see right into Central Park. The distribution was slightly different. There was a bar with three stools and a fireplace in this room. Right at the end, there was a half-opened double door that I guessed led into the bedroom.

  The room was in total silence. I suspected Nate had already gone out. As I had no clue where he could be, I decided to go to the lobby on the thirtieth floor and wait for him as agreed. I didn’t want to seem intrusive. When I was about to turn around, I heard a noise through the double wooden doors. I hesitated for a moment and, without thinking much, went to check where it came from.

  I peered through the semi-opened door to find Nate standing in front of a full-size mirror. He was wearing only a pair of jeans, which were down on his hips. His underwear elastic popped over his jeans.

  I stood there behind the door, staring at him.

  Nate was utterly unaware of my presence.

  As Nate turned, I saw a black stain that covered most of his back as if he’d spilt ink over it. White lines spread over the stain like a spider web. White veins throbbed vividly under his skin as if they had a life of their own. Nate looked over his shoulder, surveying carefully the stain in the mirror.

  “What are you doing there?” he said, alarmed, as he saw me in the reflection.

  Nate grabbed his shirt from the floor and rapidly put it on.

  “What was that?” I murmured, confused.

  “I told you to meet me in the lobby. What are you doing here?” Nate paced across the room, grabbing his shoes and his jacket, trying to put them all on at the same time. He rifled through his suitcase, looking for something.

  “Let’s go. I’ll call a taxi.” Nate stuffed his wallet in the pocket of his jeans and stormed past me, brushing his shoulder against mine.

  I was still next to the door, trying to come to terms with what I witnessed.I wasn’t sure what shocked me the most. The stain or Nate’s attitude, pretending I hadn’t seen it.

  He walked through the living area to the door of the suite as I stared at him, unable to react. When he realized I wasn’t following behind, he came to a sudden halt.

  “Come on! Let’s go!” he said without turning to face me.

  “What was that on your back?” I mumbled blankly.

  The hypotheses inside my mind swirled out of control. I’d never in my life seen anything like it.

  “Nothing,” Nate said cuttingly as he glanced at me over his shoulder.

  I nodded, folding my arms across my chest. Nate wasn’t going to get away with it.

  “Why are you so stubborn? Why won’t you trust me?” Nate turned around to face me, his hand still on the door handle and his eyes hardening in frustration.

  “Because I know you’re hiding something from me. We’re in this together, remember?”

  We stood there staring at each other.

  Nate knew he was going to get nowhere. Eventually, he brought his gaze down and, taking a step away from the suite door, he reluctantly took his jacket off and started to unbutton his shirt. He dropped the shirt on the floor and spoke without looking at me.

  “It started the night at the premiere. I don’t know what it is.”

  I walked over to him and stared at the stain with astonishment. It also covered part of his shoulder. The white flaws flickered rapidly beneath his skin. Nate ducked his head down, seemingly embarrassed. I couldn’t hide the appalled look on my face.

  I wasn’t sure if I should touch the stain, but plucking up the courage, I slowly moved my hand to Nate’s shoulder. As soon as my hand made contact with his skin, he stiffened. Dragging my finger along his collarbone, I traced the edge of the stain.

  Nate finally looked up at me. He carefully observed my reaction.

  “It’s really… warm. It’s like it’s boiling…” My voice trailed, unsure of itself.

  “Yeah, it’s only where my skin’s black.”

  The temperature contrast between his natural skin and the black stain was shocking. Nate slowly brought up his hand, removed my hand from his shoulder, and tucked his fingers around mine.

  “It’s been… it’s been growing since the premiere.” Nate’s voice quavered in fear as if by saying it out loud, the stain growing in his body had become a fact.

  Nate’s eyes locked on mine as if he hoped I had an explanation.

  Questions raced through my mind. What was that horrible thing spreading along Nate’s back? Was it related to his episodes? Was it going to hurt him? What were we going to do?

  All of a sudden, one question blotted out the rest. What was going to happen when the mark covered his entire body?

  Maybe Nate had been right. Maybe it was best he’d kept it from me. I thought I was about to have a nervous breakdown.

  As the days had gone by, I became more certain that we were caught up in something bigger than we could ever have imagined. And I was sure there was no way back. We had to get to the end of it as soon as possible. The pressure was mounting. What if I couldn’t help him?

  Shivers ran down my spine when I glanced at his face. I wasn’t the only one filled with nervous fear. Forcing myself to put to use my almost nonexistent acting skills, I composed myself, pretending fear wasn’t taking hold of me. I had to do it for Nate. I was his only chance to get to the bottom of this. I had to stay strong.

  I grabbed the shirt from the floor and hurled it at Nate. “Let’s go. We need to get to that obelisk as soon as possible.”

  “Thanks, Sophie. I knew you wouldn’t fail me.” Catching me off guard, Nate slipped his arms over my shoulders and gave me a long, tight hug.

  The sense of our bodies pressed against each other just made me realize how much I’d missed him the previous night, how much I wanted to be with him for real. I was never going to let anything happen to him. Just the thought of the possibility of losing him made my knees weak.

  I’d never been so scared in my entire life. I realized the pressure was on. And by the look of Nate’s back, we didn’t have much time to get to the bottom of this. I needed all my energy to help him, and for that I needed to keep him out of my head.

  The image of that horrible black stain invaded my mind. What was happening to Nate? What was taking hold of him?

  *

  After careering across Central Park South in a taxi, we drove north along Madison Avenue. The taxi dropped us off at the corner of 81st Street and 5th Avenue, right in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The obelisk was right behind it.

  We ran along the south edge of the Met until we spotted the top of the obelisk appearing in the distance behind the trees. I couldn’t keep up with Nate’s speed. He held my hand, almost dragging me along.


  My ears burned from the blistering cold. With my free hand, I slid my scarf up so it covered my ears, but it kept on sliding down.

  “Take this.” Nate took off his gray beanie and passed it to me.

  There was a lot of snow left from the previous storm, mostly below the trees, and some of it was melting into the concrete path. I tried to dodge around the puddles, but Nate was running through them. His shoes splashed in the water. There weren’t many people in the park. Probably, no one was insane enough to go out in the freezing weather.

  With heightened anticipation, we stopped in front of the obelisk. I looked for the symbols I knew were carved in it. All of the obelisks from Ancient Egypt had the exact same shape, so if there was anything special about this one, it had to be the symbols on it.

  I wiped the tears from the cold out of my eyes. Then I realized that it wasn’t that I couldn’t see them; it was just that they weren’t there. The symbols carved on the different faces had almost disappeared.

  The obelisk had been made to endure the dry heat of the arid desert. It seemed exposure to the elements, wind and water, and the temperature extremes of New York perhaps had a significant effect. The stone was heavily eroded.

  As we got to the obelisk, we both stared up in confusion. The remains of the symbols were mere scratches on the surface.

  Nate’s eyes were fixed upon the obelisk. He was expressionless.

  I walked around the obelisk and he followed behind. He was staring at me as if he was trying to read whether this was as serious as it looked. Trying to keep my poker face, I came to a halt in front of the south face. There was almost nothing left of the symbols on this face. It was probably the one that had more exposure to the wind. I didn’t want to tell Nate, but with no symbols, we were certainly not going to get very far.