Lumière (The Illumination Paradox)

by Garlick, Jacqueline E.

  “Inside a tortoise, wisdom waits,”

  “At the spin of a velocipede, or two.

  Heed the underpinning of the raven’s troubled wing,

  For beneath it hides the master key.

  Inside a spoked and circular tomb,

  You will find the treasure you seek.

  Tucked away beneath the stars, a moon,

  And a shimmering sun.

  But beware the knowledge that lies within,

  For once known,

  It can never be forgotten,

  Only unearth it,

  If prepared to protect it,

  For in so doing,

  You become the guardian of both hope,

  And doom…”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I glance at her nervously as the message turns to embers and sails off over my head.

  “I don’t know, exactly.” She stares, unblinking, then yanks up her skirt, exposing her white cotton petticoat below.

  “What are you doing?” I gasp and pull my eyes away.

  “Solving the riddle.” She tears off a piece and I finch at the sound, doing another check over my shoulder, terrified we’re going to be caught this way. Me stealing glances, and her with a torn petticoat and skirts about her neck. My face flushes twelve shades of red. I am hot and cold and a little shamelessly excited. I loosen the collar at my neck.

  “Heed the underpinning of the raven’s troubled wing.” She dabs her finger in the soot and records the riddle on the swatch of cloth. My eyes fall again to her snowflake white thigh.

  “ Perhaps he’s talking about your mother’s raven?” I swallow, tearing my eyes away again. I tug at my waistcoat and smooth back my hair.

  “No, not my mother’s.” She springs to her feet. “He means his own!”

  “He means what?”

  Her eyes shine. “Beneath its forever troubled wing. That’s it! Come on!” She grabs me by the hand.

  “Wait!” I shout, as she pulls me forward, the two of us lunging back up the hill, toward the gates, through the trees.

  “What about the Osha?” It’s as if she doesn’t hear me. I look back to see it blowing off in the wind.

  Thirty three

  Eyelet

  “There they are.” I point.

  Urlick staggers to a stop beside me, just shy of the Academy gates. He drops his head between his knees and gasps for air—a runner he is not. “There what are?” he says, glancing up at me. I clutch his sleeve and drag him in behind some bushes to hide.

  “My father’s birds,” I point again. Robotically the birds bow from their posts. “The one on the left has a bum wing,” I add.

  “How do you know that?” Urlick crinkles his brow.

  “I’ve always known it. I just never knew it was important until now.”

  He glares at me out of the corner of his eyes.

  “Beneath its forever troubled wing...hides the master key,” I say. “Near as I can figure, there it is,” I nod at the birds. “The forever troubled wing. If I’m right, under that wing we’ll find what we need to unlock my father’s treasure, which I’m hoping is his journals. But first, we need to get past them”—I point to the birds—“and through those gates. Or, should I say, you need to.” I turn to Urlick. “I won’t be recognized.”

  “I beg your pardon.” His brows dip. “Isn’t that the whole idea? Not to be recognized?”

  “You’d think so, but not in this case. According to ol’ Simon and Edgar over there”—I point to the mechanical ravens sitting atop either side of the entrance gates—“if they can’t register a solid identification for you, you’re not getting into the place. In fact, if they don’t recognize you, they’ll kick up a fuss and call Security in to have you arrested. But if you’re recognized, you can pass without incident. Therefore you must be recognized.” I give Urlick a shove.

  “Me? Why me?” He resists, falling against me.

  “Because my register has likely been stricken from their mental memory plates. Not to mention, I’m currently posing as a dead girl, who’s never even attended the school. At least you have a fighting chance.” I push him out and he balks again.

  “What do you mean ‘mental memory plates’?” he whispers.

  “Each raven has a permanent collection of memory recognition plates stored in its head. Tiny metal stamped images of every person who’s ever been permitted to pass through these gates. When someone stands before them, they scan them from head to toe, shuffling through the library of possibilities until they find a match.”

  “So what makes you think they’re going to recognize me? I’m borrowing the face of a dead man, too—”

  “Exactly. The face of a former Academy professor. See the difference? At least he should be somewhere in their memory banks.”

  “But he’s dead.” He lifts a cocky brow.

  “I know.” I lift one of my own. “The Academy has a strict policy about never deactivating the memory plates of one of their own. It’s considered shameful to cast out the memory of a serving professor. Therefore, their plates remain untouched, marking their existence, like tombstones in a graveyard. To remove them would be like spitting on the casket of the dead.”

  Urlick winces.

  “So you see, you have the better chance of the two of us at being recognized. Now, get out there.” I nudge him again.

  He licks his waxy lips and presses a hand to his mask. “Simon and Edgar, you say?”

  “That’s right.”

  He takes a step out and I catch his sleeve, yanking him back. “Oh, and one more thing. Act casual. The birds can sense if you’re nervous.”

  “Fantastic.”

  “I’ll stay here, out of range, until you’re recognized. And then I’ll make a run for it.” I wink.

  “Great plan.” He swallows.

  “Ready? One, two…”

  He springs from the hedge before the count of three and saunters toward the gates, whistling horribly off tune.

  “Good thing they’re deaf,” I hiss after him.

  He wags his head and shoos me away.

  Simon and Edgar ruffle on their posts, their heads tilting side to side. They nod, greeting him—so far, so good—their cathode-red lantern eyes spurred on by the hiss of methane, activating from lights to beams. My heart creeps to my throat as I watch them scan Urlick from his toes to his head, hesitating at his shoulders.

  Edgar lifts his wings. What’s wrong? What’s happening? I hold my breath. Come on, come on, put them down, keep going. Simon’s mouth falls open. My heart drops to my stomach like a stone.

  “No!” I stumble out of hiding, race at the gates, and tackle Urlick to the ground. Simon’s head jerks up. “Move!” I shove Urlick toward the hedge. “MOVE! MOVE! MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!” I crawl behind him as fast as I can, keeping my head low, out of the range of the Ray.

  “What are you doing?” Urlick shouts.

  “Just keep MOVING!” I slap down his head. “Go! There! Back behind the hedge!” I tuck and roll in behind one of the stone pillars at the base of the gate. Urlick scrambles for the hole in the hedge.

  The ravens keep searching, tracking our movements with their beams.

  “Why aren’t they giving up?” Urlick gasps.

  “Something’s wrong.” I swing my head out around the corner of the pillar. “They sense we’re still here.” If they don’t stop scanning soon, our plans of ever getting in the school are all but knackered. Somehow, I’ve got to get them to stop. “Wait here!” I scramble to my feet.

  “What?” Urlick shouts. “Where are you going? Eyelet!”

  I lunge from behind the pillar out into the center of the beams. “Simon, Edgar!” I wave my arms. Urlick gulps behind me. The ravens flap their wings, and their mouths fall open, prepared to shriek. “How much do you trust me?” I scream.

  Urlick gasps. My heart freezes. For a long, agonizing moment, nothing happens. Then, simultaneously, the birds’ beaks hammer shut. Their wings drop to their sides. Their red
-beam eyes fade from red to black. Behind them, the gate pops open as if nothing were awry, hinges sorely complaining.

  Urlick races from the hedge, joining me. “What just happened? How did you do that?” He stares at the birds.

  “I overrode their program.”

  “You did what?!”

  I stick a boot into the ivy latticework of the gate and pull myself to the top of the post. “My father”—I huff, lifting Simon’s bum wing—“he installed a safeguard sentence deep in their memories, in case I was ever denied entry to the Academy when I was small. They’re both trained to recognize me by voice when I say it.”

  “Then why did you send me up there?!”

  “’Cause I only remembered it, just now?” My voice lilts.

  Urlick claps a frustrated hand to his head.

  “Aha!” I shout, pulling a long, slotted pin from under Simon’s faulty wing. “No wonder it never retracted properly. “See this? ” I hold it up for Urlick. “ This is our key!”

  I slip it down the side my stockings until it reaches the heel of my boot, hitch up my skirts, and jump down. Simon shifts on top of the gatepost, his wing settling into place for the first time in his life. I grab Urlick by the hand and tug him through the gate.

  “Any other magical surprises you’d like to share with me, before, oh...I don’t know...we get caught and hauled off to jail?”

  “No,” I grin, stuffing him through the side door of the Academy. “Not yet anyway.”

  Thirty four

  Eyelet

  Urlick follows close behind me as I drop down the first flight of stairs then make a sharp right turn. Entering the grand hall I lunge forward, scurrying across the open floor, heading for the professor’s west wing.

  “What are we doing out here in the open like this?” Urlick hisses over my shoulder, his gaze swinging this way and that. His boots slap hollowly against the crisp alabaster floors. A master sleuth he is not.

  “Making our way to my father’s old office. Now will you please shut up before you give us away?”

  “Do you think this wise?” He catches me by the shoulder.

  “Do you know a better way? Now come on.” I shrug his hand from my shoulder and he reins me back by the sleeve. “But why your father’s office? Why not somewhere else?”

  “Because that’s where the professors keep the shimmering sun.”

  He squirrels up his face. “What are you talking about?”

  “’Tucked away beneath the stars and a moon, and a shimmering sun, you will find the treasure you seek.’ The riddle, remember? Each of the professor’s offices at the Academy features a different astrological oracle embedded in its floor. My father’s happened to feature the sun. I used to sit on it and play as a child while I waited for him to finish his work. My guess is ‘the treasure we seek’ is beneath it.”

  “And if you’re wrong?” Urlick’s voice ripples throughout the room, bouncing off the alabaster walls.

  “Have you a better idea?” I glare at him.

  He cowers, lowering his head.

  “Now come on, before we get caught and thrown in jail for trespassing, will you?” I tiptoe on through the next doorway, the sculpted plaster ceiling pressing down on our heads. Clearing the next flight of stairs, I push on through the ballroom and up the corridor, where I’m frozen, mid-step, by the sound of hard-soled shoes clattering over granite.

  My heart thunders in my chest. I reach out and throw a hand over Urlick, slapping his back up against the wall. “Shhhhh…” I bring a finger to my mouth. “Academy brass.” The cluck of dark voices creeps up the hall toward us. “We’ve got to find somewhere to hide, and quick,” I say.

  Urlick’s Adam’s apple jumps. His eyes scan the premises. “Over here.” He lunges, yanking me across the hall, pulling me in behind a huge marble statue of Aphrodite, just as the Academy brass round the corner. The ancient stone chafes my shoulders as he pulls me close, wrapping his arms around my middle. His heart drums at my spine. It’s all I can do to keep my mind on the moment, the warmth of his body an utter distraction, his hot breath falling at my neck.

  “Sir!” I gasp at the sound of the lone voice hustling up to join the rest.

  “This better be important, Radcliffe.” Shoes shuffle to a stop in front of us. “I’ve an important meeting to attend.”

  “This won’t take but a minute of your time, sir. I promise you.”

  “Go on.”

  “I may have just witnessed a breach in security. The ravens at the gate, they were about to summon the guards, when suddenly they gave up and stood down.”

  “You’ve stopped me to report a false recognition by a pair of mechanical gatekeepers?” The man’s voice is annoyed, heavy.

  “No, sir, I’ve stopped you to report a potential break-in.”

  My heart jerks in my chest. Urlick stirs behind me. His hands grow sweaty. Or are those mine? I swallow. He couldn’t have seen us; could he? If so, why didn’t he come for us immediately? How could we have gotten this far?

  “A potential break-in? Or a successful one?” the man barks.

  “Well, that’s just it, sir. I’m not sure,” the second man says. ”When I first looked and the ravens were prepared to call in the guards, a strange-looking man stood before them. Then a drape of fog passed over, and when it cleared, a young woman stood in the man’s place.”

  I suck in a breath and hold it. Behind me, Urlick’s breath grows ragged. In the window on the other side of the hall, a small flicker of diamond-like light glints at the edge of the beveled pane of glass.

  “It was because of her the ravens stood down, sir,” the man continues. “Yet I did not recognize her face.”

  “And you profess to know everyone at this school, do you?”

  “I am the record-keeper. It is my job to recognize the entire student population. And I can assure you, the girl I saw does not attend this school.”

  “I see.” The second man pulls at his chin. I cringe at the sound of his beard beneath his fingers. “The man? Did you recognize him?”

  Urlick squeezes my hand, crushing my knuckles inside his grip. The light in the window fades.

  “I believe this to be him, sir.” The sound of a metal plate passes hands. Fingers trace over the etching. “Though the ravens stopped short of recognizing him, by my own eye, I believe he was once a business partner of yours?”

  The professor hesitates, his breath sharp as he returns the plate.

  Urlick’s heart pounds at my back. I gasp.

  “Initiate full lockdown. Search every hallway, every room, every nook and cranny of the Academy from top to bottom; place a guard at every gate. See to it this intruder does not leave the premises. Do you understand me?”

  “Yes, sir. And when we catch him?”

  “Bring him to me.”

  Thirty five

  Urlick

  When I’m sure the hallway is clear, I spin Eyelet around to face me. “What do we now?” I say, my hands clamped to her arms.

  “What we came here to do,” she says. “Nothing’s changed.”

  Though she appears unaffected, I know it’s not true by the distinct quiver in her lip.

  “Nothing’s changed?” I hiss. “Did you hear what they said? Don’t you know what that means?”

  “Of course I do, I’m not stupid.” Her brow furrows.

  She pulls her arms loose from my grip. “What would you have us do, hmmm?” She pinches her hips. “Turn around now, after we've come this far, we’re this close?”

  “Of course not, no—”

  “Well then?”

  I pull a worried hand through my hair.

  “There, you see, we’ve no other choice but to go on with the plan.” She turns and flits away.

  “You don’t even know if what we’re after is where you think it is!” I hiss after her.

  “Then there’s only one way to find out if I’m right, isn’t there?” She hesitates. “Are you in?”

  I stare into her less-
than-confident eyes. “I’m in,” I say, grabbing her by the hand.

  We speed off down the hallway together, treading softly to silence our steps. “What did he mean by ‘business partner,’ do you think?” She turns to me on the run.

  “Your guess is as good as mine.”

  At the end of the hallway, she hangs a sharp left, then another right at the end of that hall. Zigzagging our way past another stand of statues, she leads us down a dark, narrow corridor, and then off into separate wing. Her shoes skid to a stop outside an office door second from the end of an abandoned hallway. “This is it,” she says. “My father’s old office.”

  I lurch to a stop beside her, waving dust motes away from my nose. Everything smells of mildew and mothballs. “Are you sure this is it?” I look around. “It doesn’t look like anyone’s been down this hall in years.”

  “They haven’t,” she says, fussing with her skirts. “They abandoned the entire corridor after my father’s death. Headmaster’s orders. His office has been kept like a shrine. That’s why I’ve never been able to get near it.”

  “Why is that, do you figure?”

  “My guess is, the headmaster feels guilty about betraying my father.”

  “Either that, or about what’s hidden behind these doors.”

  She flips up her skirt, exposing her entire thigh, and I nearly faint at the sight.

  “What?” She pulls the notched pin from the raven’s wing out of the top of her stocking.

  “Nothing.” I choke on my breath. Hot roses bloom in my cheeks. I shuffle in place, trying to compose myself. I swear if she doesn’t stop with these drapery antics it’ll be the end of me.

  “Brace yourself.” She pushes me aside, threading the notched pin slowly into the lock on the door. She thrusts it heartily in and out of the hole and the lock pops opens, gasping as if relieved. The door creaks open wide.

  “How did you know to do that?”

  “I didn’t.” She flits in past me. “But it worked, didn’t it?”