Carnelian (26 page)

I sat down on my bed and looked at the
framed box. The necklace was completely encased in the frame. I
turned it over and looked at the back. No luck. The entire frame
was sealed shut. I’d have to break it to get it out. My grandfather
would know one way or another after I broke the case. It wasn’t
like I had a choice, but I still felt bad. I wasn’t in a habit of
taking my grandfather’s possessions or breaking them
intentionally.

My heart was beating fast by now. I could
feel the stone pull at me. That stone was my chance to get Seth
back. No matter how scary it seemed to call upon the goddess alone,
I wanted Seth. I needed Seth. This was my chance.

I took the box and held it over my pink
garbage can. I smashed the glass case, being sure to drop the glass
in the trash. If I could have a heart attack, I felt like I’d have
one now. It was too late to go back.

I took out the necklace, and unlike Seth’s
neatly woven knot, this one I had to touch. Again the stone zapped
at my fingers, but at least I knew what to expect. I held the stone
between two fingers and the zings died down a bit. It was just an
initial shock. I held the stone in my hand and looked at the red
color. After finding the stone, I had no clue what I was meant to
do. Mr. Sangre hadn’t explained that to me.

“Goddess,” I said aloud, barely louder than
a whisper. I waited and looked around the room. There was nothing,
no glow, no wind, no glittery person showing up in my room.

I turned the stone over in
my hand. The etching was still very hard to picture, but I could
now read the writing.
Child of mine, your
blood will call me.
I dropped the stone on
the bed. I’m sure the etchings were not legible before. I was sure
this was not the same etching. Maybe it wasn’t the same stone. I
cautiously touched the stone and flipped it back over. I looked
closely to see that the front was exactly the same as I remembered.
I had stared at that stone for almost an hour when I found it in
Seth’s desk. I was sure it was his stone. I flipped to the back and
read the lines. They were growing easier to read. Around the main
writing was more writing. The print was too small for me to read.
The print began to grow a little, just the ending: blood will call
me.

“You want me to add blood?” I asked out loud
to no one since the house was completely empty. The writing changed
slightly more and the phrase blood will call me was all I could
make out between the etchings.

“Seriously? Blood?” I complained to the
empty room. Why did everything come down to blood? It wasn’t that
blood in general made me squeamish, just my own blood. I almost
felt like the goddess knew and was testing me. Of everything, blood
would have to be it for me. But even blood wouldn’t stop me from
seeing Seth.

Looking around my room, I found something
sharp enough. I grabbed a pin from my tack board and studied my
finger. This sucked. Not only did I need blood, but I had to get
the blood myself. I had to cause some pain in the process. Pain and
blood didn’t seem like a fair test, but I had to do it. Hopefully,
I could prick my finger and call upon the goddess before I passed
out. My blood just had that effect on me.

I pricked my finger and didn’t look as I
grabbed the stone again, wrapping my now bleeding finger around it.
I didn’t even speak any words when I felt wind move through my
room. I hoped it would be enough blood for the goddess. The
glittery dust followed and soon enough I was staring at the
goddess.

“Hello, child,” she said to me, reaching to
caress me with her ghostly hands. I felt a breeze on my cheek and
slight pressure, nothing like the hug I just got from my
mother.

“I want to go to Seth,” I blurted out. I had
a better speech planned to convince her to send me to him, but I
couldn’t help but just say what was right on the tip of my
tongue.

She laughed a twinkling sound and smiled at
me.

“That I can assume,” she replied after her
laugh was done. “I was not sure which path you’d choose. There are
many options for you, and your life will change greatly each time
you choose. Each decision is different and will lead you to a
different point. I look forward to seeing your adventure.”

“Is that a yes? You’ll take me to him?” I
asked, not quite sure what her answer meant.

“No, child.” My heart sank.
She actually said
no
after all I went through. I wanted Seth badly, so I just
assumed she would understand. I thought that all I had to do was
call her, but it seemed like that wouldn’t be the case.

“You
will take you to Seth,” she told me. The roller coaster of
emotion I was going through went back up. I was going to get to see
Seth. I could go to him after all. I had to get me to him. My heart
sank. No way had I known how to get to Seth on my own. I didn’t
even really know how to get the goddess to me, let alone time
travel.

“I barely was able to call you now. I don’t
think I am what you think I am,” I replied, trying my best not to
look at her and see the look of disappointment that had to be
crossing her face.

She laughed again, and I couldn’t help but
look at up her. “I was here all along. I just needed to see that
you were serious about finding Seth. All you really ever need to do
is talk to me, and I know where you are,” the goddess replied,
floating before me still.

“Then I didn’t need to break the case around
the necklace?” I asked, disappointed that I wasted three weeks
looking for the chalcedony. If I didn’t really need the stone, why
had Mr. Sangre sent me on a wild goose chase?

The goddess sensed my thoughts. “You need
the stone to be one of us,” the goddess replied. “When time first
began, my essence was placed in one hundred of these stones. I
cannot send someone without a stone; it would be taxing on me to
the point where I would fail at my role. With a stone in hand and
part of my power, all I do is to give the person with the stone a
push in the right direction. The stone is your connection to
traveling. You needed the stone as much as the next person, but you
didn’t need it to talk to me. You are one of mine. I am always here
to talk to.”

That was as confusing as it could get. I
needed the stone, but I didn’t need the stone.

“Then I can go back to him?” I got back on
track with my original question.

“Yes, you have the power to do so,” she
answered, floating closer to me. “To keep you safe on your travels,
there’s one thing I need to do first.” The goddess held out her
semi-transparent hand. I looked at her, not knowing what she wanted
from me. “The stone and your arm.”

I took the stone and held it over her hand.
I pictured it would slip right through, but her hand was more solid
when I let go of the stone. She held it in her palm and squeezed
her hand shut. With her other hand she turned my arm over palm up.
Slowly, she sprinkled dust over my arm. After she finished the
dusting pattern, she let go of my arm. I realized then that she had
crushed the stone and the dust on my arm was that of the stone. I
definitely wouldn’t be returning it to grandfather. The goddess
pulled back from me, and I felt a slight burning on my arm running
from my elbow to my hand.

“All you need to do is call upon time to
move you to where you want to go,” the goddess explained as she
pulled further back. “You now have the power embedded in you to do
so. By having my power within you, you have the ability to now
travel whenever you need to. All you need to do is think about
where you are going, and you will be there.”

“That would be nice if I knew when Seth was
from,” I replied. I still didn’t have a clue to what time period in
ancient Egypt he was from.

The goddess smiled. “Time is a fluid motion
and can be described in many different ways. You don’t need to list
a year. Not everyone marks time the same way. You have the easiest
way to get back to him. Follow your heart, and you will go to him.”
I smiled and tried not to be as giddy as I felt. I could just
follow the tingles, and I would find him. This was more proof that
I was meant to be with Seth. “Just know that playing with time can
have consequences you can’t predict. Be careful, and know that by
going back you will inevitably change the future.”

I nodded, and she disappeared in a wisp of
air as easily as she appeared. Sparkling dust was on the floor as
it had been when I first met her. I felt her presence leave and
some of the magic of being around her disappeared. She was gone,
but I now knew how to find Seth.

I looked at my arm which had stopped
burning. A faint, reddish line, the same color as the stone had
been, was wrapped around my left arm. Upon closer inspection it
looked a bit like the henna designs Sim came back with one weekend
after heading home to go somewhere with her parents. In the dim
bedroom light you could barely make out the lines on my arm, which
I was sure would be more prominent in the sunlight. I turned my
hand over to see the end of the design on my palm. It was a darker
reddish-brown color there. I rubbed the lines a bit and found the
dust was not just on my skin. The design was permanent.

I don’t know how much longer I sat there,
but I did just that. I sat on my bed and waited. I had too many
questions I hadn’t asked, and she hasn’t answered many. How could I
be sure where I was going? Would it hurt? Would I make it back?
Could I take Seth back with me? Was I strong enough to do this?
More questions filtered through my brain, but one visual answer
kept coming to mind. It was Seth’s face. It didn’t matter if I was
strong enough or had the answers; for him I would be strong. I
didn’t want a future if it didn’t include him. Slowly, my arm with
the new writing on it began to tingle. I looked down in time to see
my hand disappearing. I was fading just like Mr. Sangre. I was
going back in time.

Chapter 13

Finding Life
Together

I held my
breath as I waited to open my eyes. I could tell
I was already somewhere else by the heat that pounded down on me.
The dry, blistering breeze blew by me, and thankfully I was still
dressed. Time travel didn’t make clothing disappear. I could feel
the heat even in the shade I was in. I opened my eyes slowly to the
silence that was only interrupted by the wind. I was standing
somewhere in the middle of untrimmed palm trees and other small
brush like trees that I had no idea what they were. A few feet away
I saw an old well with a bucket. I pushed through the lush
vegetation to the closest opening to find a small lake, not more
than ten feet across. The other side of the lake was as densely
forested, and I couldn’t make out a single thing beyond trees. I
walked back toward the well.

I was dressed in odd clothing that covered
most of my body. Fabric was draped on me in some sort of dress
fashion, but I had no idea how you’d get it on or off. Slowly, I
pulled up the sleeve on my left hand to see how noticeable the
lines were from the carnelian. There were light brown lines that
even in the sunlight didn’t look darker than my best tan. I
followed the lines down to my hand and noticed how they darkened as
they traced patterns on the back of my hand until they ended around
my fingers. If someone was not looking closely, I might have been
able to pass off the lines as jewelry or a bad tan. It wasn’t as
bad as I thought it would be in sunlight.

I looked through the trees providing my
shade. There was desert as far as I could see. I scrambled to the
other side of the well to look out another direction. There was
desert there also. I was in the little circle of trees surrounded
by desert. There wasn’t a soul around. This didn’t bode well for
me.

It was quiet. Quieter than I could have ever
imagined. In that instant I knew that I had never truly been alone
before until now. Not a sound beyond the wind. How I ended up here
was beyond me. I was alone at some desert oasis in a time period of
who knows when. There was water, but no food. I wouldn’t last
long.

I walked back to the well. At least I had
water. I had tried to go to Seth. I had followed the tingles in my
arm and expected to arrive in front of him. I hoped he was around
somewhere, but I couldn’t even go looking for him. Even I knew it
was stupid to go wandering in some unknown desert without water. If
the goddess was right, I should have found Seth. I began to have
some doubts about us truly being together since he was not
around.

I sat down in the shade and waited. It
couldn’t be too long past sunrise, but it was scorching already.
The bulky cotton clothing that covered me would be enough to keep
the sun from burning me, but the sun was still hot. Hotter than I
had ever felt. I was missing the cold Minnesota weather right about
now and I found myself fantasizing about the snow I left
behind.

I could hear the animals approaching before
I saw them, and I soon realized a group of travelers were heading
straight toward where I was. I glanced around. I needed somewhere
to hide. I didn’t know who these people were, and I doubted they
would be friendly and show me my way to Seth. I had no idea what
these travelers would do to an unaccompanied women standing at a
well. I should have regretted coming here, but somehow I trusted
the goddess would get me back to Seth. I closed my eyes and tried
to figure out how I got here in the first place. I needed to find a
way back home now, before I was seen.

The group was getting closer and I had
nowhere to hide. This was worse than when the two men had tried to
grab me only months before. At least then I had a plan. Here I
could formulate no plan. I couldn’t hide my gender, and I could
find nowhere to hide period in this sparse oasis. Even the well
wouldn’t be enough to cover me, especially since they were probably
heading this way for the exact purpose of using the well.