Carnelian

by B. Kristin McMichael

  “Cars, for starters. Do you know how amazing it is that people can hop in a metal box on wheels and travel thousands of miles? How about the Internet? People from points all over the world connected to instant responses and news? Just the simple telephone, for that matter. Your world is amazing compared to where I came from.” Seth dropped the act and was serious. I never thought of it that way, but he was correct. This would have had to not just be foreign in location, but everything about it had to be strange.

  “Then why are you here—to see the amazing wonders?” While I was teasing him, it was still a legitimate question I needed to know the answer to. Why was Seth here?

  “I don’t know why I’m here. I asked the goddess to help my country, and she sent me here to you.” Seth shrugged. He obviously didn’t know any more than I did. It didn’t seem like he was leaving out any details.

  “Maybe she wanted you here to change the past somehow. You know, use all that technology to find out what you needed to know to change the fate of something important,” I suggested. If the technology was amazing, maybe he was meant to see something.

  “Like what?”

  “You said that you were in the military,” I started.

  “I haven’t mentioned that in our start-over session yet. I was just going to get to that,” he complained. I had jumped ahead. Ooops.

  I smiled at Seth. “Just let me cheat for a moment,” I begged. Seth nodded. “Maybe there’s some battle that you need to know the outcome of.” Seth nodded along. He liked the sound of that. “All I need to do is use that fancy Internet and find out who and where you come from. Then we can help your people.”

  I stood and walked over to his computer, turning it on as he walk over to join me.

  “I’ll warn you that I’ve tried many times to find out information this way, and it never worked.” Seth smiled from across the computer as he watched me.

  “You’re technologically challenged. That’s why I need to do it. Weren’t you sent here to find me? Maybe it is some rule that you are not allowed to look at your past, but someone else can,” I suggested as I opened the browser. “We need some search term to find your time period first. What is the name of your country?”

  “I don’t know,” Seth answered.

  “How about the name of the country you are fighting with?” I suggested. Not all histories were written down by the actual country, sometimes the only record came from other countries writing.

  “I don’t know those either,” Seth replied. “See the problem? I have a very selective memory and translation between the two worlds.”

  “Then what were you trying to find all the time when the computer wouldn’t work?” I’d have to try his search first.

  “I was looking for the king of my country,” Seth admitted with defeat in his voice.

  “Okay, let’s try that. What was his name?” I asked. At least it was a starting point. It would get us the time period, and we could go from there.

  “Horemheb,” Seth said, moving to stand beside me as I typed it into the historical search engine I had pulled up.

  A page flickered on the screen briefly before the power in the house flickered and the computer went dead. It was quick, but I had seen enough of which time period we needed to look to. It was going to be hard. It was a vast time period that lasted many centuries, and I wouldn’t be able to know exactly which one until I could read more.

  “You’re ancient Egyptian,” I said in awe, looking back at the dark red-haired man standing behind me. To me Egyptians were all an olive, dark-haired race, nothing like the man behind me. He stood silently looking at the computer screen. He had seen the flicker also.

  “That was him,” he whispered. He had likewise seen the picture before the computer shut down on us.

  I turned around and stood to face him. Seth’s face was a picture of awe and pain. He had been in my time for three years, and just got a glimpse of home. He had to miss it.

  “How long ago was this country, Egypt?” Seth didn’t look at me, but still stared at the blank computer screen.

  “Egypt still exists today, but the ones you are looking for with a Pharaoh as the ruler?” I added. Seth nodded. “Pharaohs rule from 2500 BC until almost the beginning of AD. The ancient Egyptians disappeared over 2,000 years ago.” Seth nodded, still staring at the blank computer screen.

  “I’m really from the past,” Seth said, moving back to his bed and sitting down.

  “What do you mean?” I asked as I stood and joined him. I took his hands in mine to get his attention as he was clearly somewhere else mentally.

  “I have all these memories of growing up, but it feels more like a dream. The present right now feels more real than what I remember. I was beginning to think maybe it was all a dream. What I remember just seems impossible compared to now. Every time I tried to find out about the past, I never got a detail. I just thought…” Seth paused. “Maybe it wasn’t real.”

  “I can understand that. I think I might have done the same. Three years is a long time. How did it work?” I asked curiously. He needed a distraction, and I needed some answers. “Did you show up here and have to learn English?”

  “No, we already knew the language and even some things like reading, writing, and math. Everything we needed to get on in our place as high school and college students. We knew it automatically.” Seth fell back into his pillows and threw his arms over his head. “This is real, isn’t it?”

  I lay down beside him and watched him as he wrestled with his denial.

  “Horemheb was real,” I said quietly. “I don’t know how or why, but I think the goddess is real too.”

  “And you’re real,” Seth added just as softly, turning to face me and touching my cheek. “Is the tingly feeling real?” I nodded at his touch. “You feel it, too?” he asked, surprised by my admission.

  “Yes,” I whispered. As unbelievable as it all was, it was real. Time travel was real. Seth was real.

  “And I’ll have to leave you some day?” Seth asked the question that stung badly now. I didn’t want to like Seth in the first place. I truly didn’t want to like him now that he would break my heart, but it seemed like I couldn’t stop liking him even if I wanted to.

  “What if I don’t want to find out why I need to know you? What if I don’t want to go back? What if I just want to stay like this?” Seth wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer. “What if I want to stay with you?”

  My heart melted. Seth wanted the same future as me. I smiled sadly at him. There was no answer to his questions, but the goddess had been sure to mention that Seth had to go home. I had no clue what was supposed to happen, but I knew what I wanted to happen right at that moment. I tipped my head up to meet his lips with mine. The future was not really the future now, and I planned to live in the present. Seth sighed as he ended the kiss and pulled me into a hug. I fit perfectly in his arms right under his chin.

  “Why would the goddess want me to meet you if she planned to send me away?” I tipped back to look at his face. His eyes were closed as he talked, but his confusion perfectly evident on his face. I had no answer to that question either. I didn’t want him to go anywhere.

  My phone, finally charged, rang and I looked across the room to my stuff. Much had changed in twenty-four hours, and I wouldn’t even know what to say to whoever was on the other end of the line. Reluctantly, I sat up and walked over to look at the phone. It was Sim. She probably wondered where I went off to. I sat down and put my shoes on. I needed to go back and reassure her that I was fine. I didn’t answer, and it kept ringing. I had no clue what I’d even say if I answered the phone.

  Seth stood and took my phone from me. He somehow knew that I wasn’t sure what to say, even to Sim.

  “Hey, Sim,” Seth said cheerfully. He had three years to adjust to the new reality even if he hoped it was a dream. “Yeah, Mari is with me. We kind of ran into a problem last night, and she stayed the night.” Seth paused and listened to Sim talk. Se
th held my hand and played with my fingers as he half listened. He smiled and let her finish.

  “Stay tonight?” Seth asked, covering the phone for Sim to not hear him ask. I nodded. I didn’t really want to leave and go back to Sim. The questions alone would drive me nuts, but really I wanted to stay with Seth. Even if our relationship was going to end with him going home, I wanted to spend as much time with him as I could before he left, whenever that might come.

  “I’m going to keep her another night if you don’t mind. It’s getting late, and I think we’re both tired,” Seth smiled as he talked. Sim squealed on the other end of the phone. “I promise to return her tomorrow, and you can get a full update of everything you missed. She won’t be late to CRUSH.” Seth paused one last time. “Yep, goodbye.”

  Seth set my phone down before pulling me back to the bed.

  “As you probably already know, we have a guest room you can stay in, but I’d prefer you stay here in my bed.” Seth pulled off his shoes first and then his shirt, leaving him only in his shorts.

  I smiled and pretended to walk to the door teasingly, but I didn’t get too far before he was in front of me.

  “I don’t think I can let you out of my sight right now. After everything you’ve heard and seen, you might just run away and never come back,” Seth replied, pulling me close to him to not let me get by. “The guest room really wasn’t an offer.”

  I smiled up at him. “Well, duh,” I teased, reaching behind him to the shirt hanging on his door that I wore last night to bed. “I just needed a shirt.” Seth laughed. It was good to hear him laugh after everything. “And I’m not running anywhere. We were to meet for a reason, and until we find that reason, we probably should stick together a bit.” I hurriedly pulled his shirt on and got ready for bed myself.

  Seth waited until I was in his bed to turn off the lights. He joined me and wrapped me in his arms. We didn’t kiss or go any further. I think we were both too stunned by the afternoon, and lost in our own thoughts. Seth just held me as I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep. The last twenty-four hours were one gigantic blur, but as I cuddled into his arms, it felt right. I was beginning to have the feeling with Seth that life was always one big adventure.

  Chapter 10

  Capturing Him

  Waking up a second time in Seth’s bed was actually more comfortable than I wanted to admit. The bed was nice and soft with warm, fluffy blankets and the noise was absolutely not there. In the dorms you get used to the noise, but Seth’s house was completely silent. You could even hear the water as it lapped on the shore outside his window. Seth must have chosen the room to remind him of home. It was peaceful in Seth’s room. I lifted my head and looked around. It was actually quieter than the night before since I woke up alone in his bed. It was strange that Seth was up since it couldn’t be much past seven in the morning with the sun just rising.

  Slowly, I stood and stretched before walking to the window. Seth was outside in the crisp fall air stretching with his brothers. They actually looked like they just finished their run. All three Sangre boys were early risers.

  As Seth bent down, Ty’s voice carried over him while he talked.

  “Then she knows the truth now?” Ty asked.

  Seth nodded his head as he replied. I couldn’t hear him as he had his back to the window. He was speaking as the other two guys watched him.

  “We can finally go home?” Dee asked. Seth said something that Dee wasn’t happy with.

  “Then we just take her with us,” Dee replied. Dee pointed up to the house, but not at me hiding just inside the window.

  Seth turned a bit and I could finally hear him also.

  “We can’t take her back with us to our time without knowing what she’s supposed to do,” Seth answered.

  “We take her back and figure it out,” Dee added. “We go home.”

  “No. We have no idea what her connection is to the past. What if it was something from our enemies? You know my father wouldn’t hesitate to kill her or send body parts back to their king.” Seth replied. Seth never said he was worried I’d be an enemy. And his father didn’t sound like a nice person.

  “If she’s from the goddess, as you say, then the goddess just whisks her back here if she gets in danger. It isn’t a problem.” Dee sat down to finish stretching. “Why are you hesitating to bring her back with us?”

  I never considered that going back with Seth was an option. Here I was all worried about keeping Seth here, but Dee was right. I should be able to go back with them.

  “She’s never traveled in time before, and I won’t take that risk with her. She stays here, and we find out how she can help us. Stop asking to go home until we figure this out,” Seth ordered Dee like a general would, before turning to come inside. His military upbringing seeped through when he scolded Dee.

  “You know, since she knows nothing about our time, and can’t look it up either, and you refuse to let her go to the past with us, isn’t this an easy case to figure out what needs to be done?” Dee called to Seth. Clearly, he had an opinion, but I didn’t know what he was talking about. “Have you ever thought about that?”

  I ducked back from my shadow as Seth looked up to his room window. I doubt he could see me anyway from where I was standing, but I didn’t want to get caught listening in. I sat back down on the bed and waited as the door shut and Seth climbed the stairs. Seth stopped in front of the room and cracked the door open silently, thinking I was still asleep.

  “You’re up,” he said as he stopped just inside the doorway, realizing that I was awake.

  “Who are Dee and Ty?” I asked. He had mentioned his story yesterday, but he didn’t include them. Seeing them all together made me realize they didn’t have a past in my tutoring files, either.

  Seth walked to the bathroom door and paused. “Ty was a slave my father brought home from war when I was a kid, and Dee was my chariot driver. We grew up together as kids, all three of us. I’m going to get a quick shower in before we get you back to the dorms and have to meet up for CRUSH. Your CRUSH team might not be too happy if you arrive to CRUSH with me.” He was right. They’d probably see me as conspiring with the enemy. Seth disappeared into the bathroom, and I got dressed before turning on his computer.

  I looked up Egyptian chariots first, then I tried to find Horemheb. The first articles were fine. I got a background on how the chariots were made and used. Also how they were essential for war. It seemed if I was looking for general Egyptian knowledge I’d be fine. The second search ended up in the internet being disconnected. I tried a second time, and it disconnected again. It seemed I wouldn’t be able to look for someone specific. I would have been more disappointed in not getting more specific answers and the darn internet that kept turning off, but Seth returned to the room. He walked in with just a towel wrapped around his waist, and I couldn’t help but steal glances around the computer. He was built like a swimmer with a large upper half and skinny waist. His shoulders were wide and his arms well formed. It made sense now that if Dee was the chariot driver, then Seth was the one shooting the bow off the moving chariot. I tried my best to pretend the computer was working when it shut off again because of my specific searches, but I didn’t need to. Seth was far away in his thoughts. I could gaze at him as much as I wanted. He turned and walked back into the bathroom with his clothes in his hand and didn’t see me staring. I was a bit disappointed. After calling him underwear model for the first week, I was hoping to catch a glimpse of him actually modeling underwear.

  Seth came back out only moments later, and I was still waiting for the computer to start.

  “I take it you were looking stuff up again,” he assessed the start-up screen.

  “Yeah, it lets me look up general facts but nothing specific,” I complained as I stood to join him. Research would have to wait as Seth was correct. My CRUSH team would be more than annoyed if I showed up with him. I grabbed my backpack by the door and followed him through the house, stopping to grab b
reakfast on the way through the kitchen.

  “Mari,” Dee elongated my name, leaning over the counter to talk to me as I stood beside Seth. “Do you find Seth attractive, like physically?”

  My mouth dropped at the question. Dee never said more than needed to answer a question during our tutoring sessions. I don’t think he had ever purposely started a conversation with me. And of all conversations to have, he was now acting like I’d be willing to tell him personal information. My momentary stunning was easily stopped when I saw Seth fuming. He grabbed Dee by the shirt and dragged him to the other room while I stood there with Ty. I heard their muffled arguing through the closed door.

  “Now that was strange,” I said to Ty. He smiled and laughed at my shock while shaking his head.

  “Is your team ready for CRUSH today?” Ty asked, changing the subject before I could ask what was going on. He certainly knew more about what was going on and wasn’t about to tell me.

  “You mean can the smart students actually play a game of capture the flag?” I replied. I really wanted to ask him what Seth and Dee were yelling about, but I liked Ty too much as a friend to drag him into what was beginning to sound like World War Three.

  Ty grinned at my reply. He seemed to already be filled in on Murdley Hall’s past failures. A bunch of smart people should be able to outwit the jocks at a game that involved as much planning as it did playing, but again, Murdley never won. I knew first hand why through our planning sessions the previous week. They were a complete waste of my time. Everyone thought their idea was the best one, and no one could agree to one plan.

  “Well, I was going to ask if they planned to forfeit again this year,” Ty laughed. He had been filled in really well. Murdley had never won the capture the flag game played during CRUSH, and last year the two leaders were too different on their tactics, their team forfeited rather than try to play the game with two different plans.

  “You’d think a bunch of smart people could sit together and come up with something, but you’d be completely wrong. All they want to do is prove which brain is bigger and better.” I took a bite of a butter croissant I had grabbed. “I went to two meetings this week alone and didn’t get anything from either of them. No one has a way to win that everyone else likes. You have it easier. I hear Seth makes a plan and everyone else follows.” The yelling continued in the next room.