Chrysocolla (31 page)

Notre Dame towered above me as I appeared in France. Now this was familiar; I had been there before. I looked around, and it was still open to visitors, so I made a run for the entrance. Blinking here and there was going to be tiring, but it didn’t take too long. I needed Logan to follow me on foot a bit to waste more time. As expected, Logan appeared just where I had been. He looked around the open square and quickly zeroed in on me going into the building. I wanted to run further, but worried he would appear next to me.

I faded out of France and ended up in front of another familiar building. This time, I was on Main Street in Disney World. People bustled around me as the theme park was in full session. No one seemed to notice me appear. Logan appeared not too far away, but with the crowd he couldn’t get near me. I began to walk through people and made sure he was close behind. When he got closer, I flashed away again.

This time I ended up in Washington DC, in front of the twenty-foot-tall statue of Mr. Abe Lincoln. I saw Logan coming in, and I hurried across the room, stepping behind one of the columns. Surprisingly the place was very slow and wasn’t at all crowded.

“Mari,” Logan called to me. He began walking to the other side of the memorial. “What game are you playing?”

I didn’t dare answer. It seemed he could sense me, but not as well as I expected.

“You know you can’t fight fate, right?” he called out as he shoes clicked on the marble floors. He was walking even further away from me.

Fate? Was he serious? Logan was doing everything he could to fight against fate.

“Or me,” Logan said from right next to me.

I faded out as quickly as I could. I didn’t have a clue how he got that close. As I began to fade back, I realized I was in the room that Logan was holding my grandfather in before. Kye was lying on the floor and immediately I felt the pain of being immobilized. I looked down. Logan had a grasp on my arm. He had forced me to come to that room.

“Kye, get up,” Logan growled at Kye.

It seemed I wasn’t the only one that was affected by the room. Logan was also frozen in place.

Kye pushed himself up on his knees for a moment and then after shaking his head, he stood up. He walked over to us, looking at us both.

“Take me out of here so I can move,” he told Kye. Kye didn’t move. “Did you hear me? Take me out of here.”

“Yeah, about that,” Kye replied. “I kind of like it better when you can’t move. I like it even better when you can’t time travel.” Kye bumped Logan’s hand, and a large brown stone fell to the ground.

Logan was pissed, but began to smile as he slowly started to move again.

“I’ll deal with you later,” he scolded Kye. Kye just stared back at him.

“Before I lose my chance, I wanted you to know you were a crappy father in this lifetime and all the others,” Kye said to Logan. Logan stared at him like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You never deserved Mom, and I’m glad that this is finally over.”

“This is only over when I say it’s over,” Logan growled. He moved to strike Kye, but his hand went right through him.

I looked at Kye. Was he disappearing? Logan reached to take my arm, and he went through me as well.

“What’s going on?” he said, concern now laced his voice as his anger was completely drained from him.

“Mari fixed everything, just like I knew she would.” Kye grinned at me. “You no longer can ruin this world or anyone’s world for that matter. You are now just a normal person. Goodbye, Dad.”

Logan faded with a shocked expression on his face. It would be the last time I ever saw him, and I wasn’t sad to see him leave. In only seconds, everything changed. Making his parents stay in the past had done it. Logan could no longer bug a single person or me in particular again. He was gone. It turned to Kye to smile and celebrate when it hit me. With Logan gone, Kye would be gone soon too.

“What about you?” I asked him. Without Logan, there would never be a Kye.

Kye took my hand and transported us back to Egypt. I knew the moment we crossed the border we were home. He let go of my hand, but not because he chose to. He was now fading also.

I looked up at Kye. He was no longer the twenty-year-old man that had become my best friend. He was younger now. Much younger. A thirteen-year-old boy looked back at me. He flashed a lopsided grin that reminded me so much of my father.

“Well this was grand fun,” he said, not at all worried about fading away.

I reached for him, but there was nothing to hold onto. Kye was leaving me. Tears began to fall down my face. I didn’t want that. Us winning meant him leaving. I understood that, but I didn’t want it to be that way. I hadn’t thought about the consequences when I was aiming to beat Logan.

“Please don’t cry mom,” Kye said. He was now transparent. “I’m just one person. Me leaving means you saved the whole world.”

“But I didn’t save you.”

Seth ran into the room we had appeared in.

“Hey, Dad,” Kye said, looking at Seth now. “Meet you in a little less than a year, but too bad I won’t remember any of this.” Kye shrugged. He turned back to me. “I knew you could do it, Mom. You just had to believe you could.” What was he talking about?

“We will meet again one day, and you will get to have all those memories you missed,” Kye reassured me.

Kye reached forward to hug me, and I stood frozen in shock. I looked to see that his deep purple eyes were now brown. He wasn’t Logan’s son anymore; he was Seth’s. The Kye I knew was gone, but part of him was still around. His hands passed through me, but he leaned his head near me. I could feel the same warm hum when I had gone through time looking for him. It brushed against my skin.

“Please save Miller. He doesn’t deserve the fate grandfather has planned for him. He’s innocent,” Kye’s words faded as he did so.

“I will,” I replied to the empty air around me.

Kye was gone. Just like that. The tears kept coming, and I didn’t have the energy to make them stop.

Seth moved over and took me into his arms. He brushed away the tears that were falling. I would meet Kye again someday, but he was gone now. We had won, and he got exactly what he had wanted.

“Our son?” Seth asked. He was in awe of what he had seen.

“Our son,” I replied. It was strange to already know what kind of man my child would be when he grew up.

I let out a sigh of relief. We had come far since I went off to college. All I wanted was a little adventure, a little freedom, a little fun. Needless to say, I never expected what I had found at college. My life had changed, and all for the better. I was exactly where I was meant to be. Egypt, the past, my parents together, and Seth were all blessings I would have never even known to ask for. It was much more than I ever wanted. All I could do was thank fate and the goddess for letting me have all that I did. I didn’t expect life to be easy, and I didn’t know what my future was going to bring, but I was ready for it. At least after I talked to the goddess and gave her back her powers. I didn’t want to be a goddess. I didn’t want to time travel anymore. I just wanted to stay with Seth and have the future we were always meant to have.

“We did it,” I said into Seth’s chest as he hugged me tight. It was strange to know it was all over.

“We didn’t,” Seth replied. “You did.”

Epilogue

The goddess watched Charles Kester walk slowly through the museum. It wasn’t like it was his first, or would be his last time there. They’d been there not even a week ago, but he just couldn’t keep his grandchild away. His adopted daughter and grandchild were his life. He couldn’t help but spoil them both. The ancient history section called to the kid each time. Charles hurried to catch up as the youth turned the corner and headed toward the traveling exhibit. It would never get old to the child.

“Wait for me,” Charles called out.

There was no waiting. That youthful energy didn’t wait.

Charles hobbled along as quickly as he could. He didn’t worry too much. It wasn’t like the child was going to disappear. Charles knew his grandchild would be sitting in front of the museum associate, listening to the same story the curator told, no matter who was working today. They all told the same stories, but the youngster didn’t care. His grandchild was more like him than he ever would have guessed, particularly since they didn’t share the same blood.

“Grandfather, hurry up,” the child called to him.

Charles shuffled down the line of waiting people that the kid had already passed. Old, young, American and foreign, the mixed crowd was different every day they came to see it. The pharaohs, no matter how long they had been gone, were always an attraction for people. The child didn’t want to see the exhibit, just to hear the stories. Charles stopped behind and placed his hands on his grandchild’s shoulders.

“Welcome back, Mr. Kester,” the curator said. It was the young female. Charles liked this one. She tended to get off track and tell them interesting tidbits when she was reciting the speech she was made to memorize.

“And here we have displayed artifacts from the tomb of Ramses the Second, better known as Ramses the Great. He’s one of the most well-known and prolific builders of the New Kingdom. This is a rare chance to see these since they rarely leave Egypt.”

Charles coughed. It wasn’t a rare sight for him. They had seen them four times already, and his grandchild was begging to visit the next museum they were off to.

“He was an interesting pharaoh. If you look back at the line of succession, you will find he’s one of the few pharaohs that came from a common line. His father and his grandfather were not born pharaoh. His father was the pharaoh Seti, the son of the great military leader, General Paramessu, better known as Pharaoh Rameses the First. When the Pharaoh Horemheb grew older without an heir, he named his general next in line, and hence the great Ramses family came to rule Egypt. They brought a new life to Egypt after years of internal turmoil, and led the country to decades of prosperity in commerce and military.” The curator smiled at the young kid in front of her.

“Did you know that Rameses the Great was a military expert that campaigned endlessly to expand and rule the lands around Egypt? When they looked at his mummy just a few years ago, they were unsure what his cause of death was, but they were certain he wasn’t a leader that watched his military from the sidelines. He had healed bones from multiple breaks and probably survived more than a few skirmishes with the enemy.”

The child’s eyes went wide at the suggestion of war. Charles patted his grandchild’s head.

“Ramses the Great was also probably one of Egypt’s most well-known builders. He went on to build the most extensive list of buildings since the great pyramids fifteen hundred years before him. The Ramesseum, the Great Temple at Abu Simbel, Pi-Ramesses—where his home was housed—and monuments throughout Egypt and Nubia. He had the largest tomb in the Valley of the Kings with an estimated two hundred rooms. Can you imagine how much he took with him to the afterlife?”

Charles chuckled. No one could imagine that much stuff. He had read extensively on this pharaoh and knew that it wasn’t just stuff in the tomb. The Great Pharaoh had an extensive family to go with everything he built.

“Due to looting, he was transferred multiple times, but as you can see today, he was never lost,” the curator continued.

Many people began to gather behind Charles and his grandchild as the woman talked.

“He has been kept in Egypt in the Cairo Museum, but once took a trip once to France. There was a fungal infection that was destroying his mummy, and he was moved to Paris to be cleaned and preserved. While there I can tell you about a little-known fact they found. There they examined the hair of Rameses I and found that his hair was naturally red. Yes, you heard me correctly. Red.” She paused to the gasps of her audience.

“It turns out that there’s a culture of naturally occurring redheads in North Africa that rival the number of redheads in Ireland in occurrence in their population. In reality, it makes even more sense since they’ve found that his father, Seti the first, had red hair also. Red-headed Egyptian pharaohs… now that’s a book someone should write.” The guide chuckled to herself. “Any questions?”

The young child moved away to look at the artifacts, eyes scanning over each item. The young child stopped to look at the picture on display of the pharaoh’s mummy.

“Grandfather, why does it always seem like I know him?” the child asked.

Charles looked at the pictures hanging behind the display. There was the mummified face of one of the most famous pharaohs, but what got to him were the artistic renditions of him. He did seem familiar.

Charles looked up to the young woman waving to him from the exit of the line. The child looked to Charles first, and then ran to his mother. Charles smiled as she scooped the child up into her arms. It had only been seven short years since he had had found the girl huddled on his boat, but he didn’t regret bringing her home for a day. She and her child were family to Charles now.

Charles went to leave, but stopped to look at the painted faces again. The great Ramses looked familiar, but even more so were his father and mother. Charles stared at the face of the young woman. He didn’t feel connected to the great pharaoh like his grandchild did, but he was drawn to the great pharaoh’s mother. Her name was labeled as Tuya, but that didn’t seem right to him. The guide never spoke of her, but only of the great pharaoh’s father, Pharaoh Seti I. Her hair seemed off. He could imagine her more as a vibrant redhead than the depiction with the dark black wig the queen wore. He stared at her face and got stuck on her eyes. Whoever the artist was, he captured her eyes perfectly, just like Charles saw in his dreams at night. She was always there. She was happy and that made him happy. He didn’t know why he felt it, but he did.

“Grandpa, hurry up,” his grandchild called to him.

Charles broke his gaze from the face of the queen that fascinated him. The exhibit was leaving in days, but that didn’t matter. He didn’t need to see the picture to remember the queen mother. He would see her in his dreams.