Eternity (19 page)

“Hey Mike!” I
heard Jack say, and he sat down beside me. “I heard your band is
playing soon.”

“We are,” he
confirmed. “We’re playing on Friday.”

The two of them
ended up in an involved conversation about the bands they liked. I
liked some of the same ones, but I mostly just listened to them
talk. They ended up in an argument about which band was best, which
I found amusing. Jack tended to listen to older rock songs, and
Michael liked metal. When they brought me into the argument, I had
to side with Michael. At least he was actually a musician.

I spent some
time in the library that afternoon looking for books about the
god’s cities, mostly just out of curiosity. They sounded like
really interesting places, and they were supposed to be very
peaceful. I wondered how hard it would be to get to one of them. I
found a book that described Nevali in detail, and it even had a
drawing done by someone who had been there. It looked like
something out of a fairy tale. It was harder to find information
about Asantis. In a way it was more isolated than Nevali because it
was surrounded by water, although being surrounded by desert
sounded quite isolated as well. I wasn’t sure which place sounded
more interesting. I was sure that the castle on Asantis must be
magnificent.

The following
week went by slowly. I didn’t get to see Adrian again except in
class, but we made plans to meet in his room on Saturday. He said
he would leave the room at exactly seven o’clock to get food, and I
could sneak in then.

My teachers
were starting to treat me more normally, which was probably because
they were finally realizing that I was normal. It was a relief to
me because I didn’t feel like they were expecting as much from me,
and I felt more relaxed.

Chapter
24

By the time
Friday finally came around, it seemed like the whole school was
getting excited for the show, probably because so many people knew
Michael. There had only been two other shows in the ballroom
throughout the rest of the school year, and Light’s Kingdom seemed
to be the most highly anticipated. The previous shows had included
a dance recital and a play. I had gone to the dance recital, which
I liked, but I hadn’t bothered going to the play since none of my
friends were going either.

I peeked into
the ballroom early in the morning before I went to class, and I was
surprised by what had been done to the place. The band’s equipment
was already set up on the stage, and there were rows of chairs set
up for the audience. I could see a few posters on the walls, and
the windows had been covered by dark heavy curtains. All of the
lights in the chandeliers had been covered in a transparent red
material so that the light they cast on the room had a red glow.
The overall effect of the change was that the room looked darker
and more mysterious.

After exploring
the ballroom in more detail, I was almost late for History, but I
managed to make it in the classroom at the last minute. Ms. Coleman
was just about to start her lecture, which was about Isadora again.
This time she was discussing her time in England a couple hundred
years ago.

“She was born
the daughter of a respectable titled gentleman, who I believe was
an Earl,” Ms. Coleman told us. “She was the only child, and her
mother died when she was young, so she was brought up by a nurse
and then a governess. Her father remarried, but her stepmother had
no interest in Isadora, and she ended up with a child of her own.
When her father died, which was before she had come out in society,
all of his money went to his young son, who also received the
title. Because Isadora was a girl and because her stepmother was a
cruel woman, she was left with absolutely nothing.

“Luckily, she
was good friends with her housekeeper, who took her under her wing
and helped her learn how to take care of a household. After about a
year, Isadora managed to find employment of her own with a wealthy
Duke who owned a large property in the country, and who was
recently married.

“Isadora
quickly learned that their marriage was not a happy one, and it was
the Duke she felt sorry for. The Duchess was a frivolous and cold
sort of woman who wanted everything and gave nothing in return, and
she reminded Isadora of her stepmother. It was clear that she had
married for the title and the money, while the Duke likely married
for the sake of producing an heir, which was quite common in those
days among such people.

“After spending
a couple of months in the household, Isadora made the worst mistake
she could possibly have made under the circumstances. She fell in
love with the Duke, who had been pursuing her for quite some time.
She had resisted his advances because he was married and he was
well above her station in life, and she didn’t think that such a
relationship would be proper. She didn’t want to become his
mistress. When she learned that she loved him, she knew she
couldn’t stay there and be happy. She left in the middle of the
night without telling anyone where she had gone, which was back to
London to seek new employment, which she found after a few days.
Her new employer was an older woman with grown children who lived
alone, since her husband, who had been a Duke, had passed away.

“Meanwhile, in
the country, the Duchess became ill quite suddenly and died shortly
after. The Duke was left alone, and he missed Isadora greatly and
he felt guilty about the loss of his wife, whom he had never cared
for. One day a mysterious visitor arrived who was looking for
Isadora. He wouldn’t say why, but he said it was important. The
Duke didn’t know where she was, but he agreed to help the man look
because he wanted to find her as well.

“After a few
months of searching, the Duke had to give up. He felt as if he had
searched the entire country. The other man wanted to go back to
London to meet with his employer, and the Duke decided to go there
as well to visit his sister, who had recently had a baby.

“Isadora had
grown quite accustomed to her employer by that time, and she was a
kind lady. She received news one day that her daughter would be
visiting soon, and her son was likely to come as well. Isadora
prepared the household for the visitors. The daughter arrived a few
days later with her husband and baby girl. The child took to
Isadora quite quickly, so she was charged with looking after the
girl when her mother needed a break during her stay.

“One day, when
she was looking after the girl, Isadora heard a carriage arrive.
She stayed out of the way, but she could hear a new arrival
downstairs and figured it was the son. After a short time another
servant came up the stairs to tell Isadora to bring the baby down,
since the man wanted to see his niece.

“Isadora and
the Duke were both quite shocked to see each other, especially
under the circumstances. He had been searching for her for months,
and she had been working in his mother’s home the entire time. The
older woman was surprised that her son knew her employee, but she
liked Isadora, so she didn’t protest when her son drew her aside to
speak to her. He told her of what had happened to his wife, and he
asked her to marry him. Even though she had never stopped thinking
about him, she refused. She didn’t believe her circumstances were
respectable enough for his title, and the death of his wife was
still too recent.

“The Duke
brought the man who had been looking for Isadora to the house the
next day. He informed her that her stepmother had had an affair,
and her child was not actually the Earl’s son. The incident came to
light when the child’s real father admitted what had happened. The
boy had no real claim to the title or the fortune, which then
passed to a more distant relative who was generous enough to give
Isadora a large portion of the fortune that should have gone to her
in the first place.

“As you can
imagine, this came as quite a surprise, but it gave Isadora the
respectability she needed to be able to marry the Duke with the
approval of society. I could say that they lived happily ever
after, though that wouldn’t be accurate. They did live happily
together for a few years, but the Duke ended up being killed in a
fight with the son of Isadora’s stepmother, and Isadora, even
though she was a woman, fought the man after he killed her husband.
She didn’t survive the fight either. Of course, she actually did
live ever after, though perhaps not happily.”

Ms. Coleman
paused at the end of the story.

“That sounds
like a romance novel,” someone said, and a few people laughed.

“Actually, it
was written as one,” Ms. Coleman said. “Isadora wrote the true
story herself so that others could read it, though the ending was
left out. There’s probably a copy in the library, but I don’t
remember what it’s called. It’s a very good book, and much more in
depth than the little summary I’ve given you.”

“Why isn’t a
famous book?” Melissa asked.

“It was never
printed in great numbers, and it isn’t a genre that is particularly
popular. It certainly isn’t the only book she’s written. I believe
she is the author of a few popular books that came out about twenty
years ago. Amun also has written many books, though he tends to
write more non-fiction than Isadora. There are many books in the
library here written by either of them. All of them are written
under pseudonyms, but the librarian has a list of the names they’ve
used if you’re ever curious.”

“What were the
books Isadora wrote twenty years ago?” someone wanted to know.

“Again, I don’t
know what they’re called,” Ms. Coleman answered. “The most popular
was a work of fiction about a group of tourists who find the
fountain of youth in Africa. It’s a very good book, and I’ve even
heard rumours that it’s a real place, but that hasn’t been proven.
It’s apparently a difficult and dangerous place to get to.”

“You’d think
someone would have found it by now if it was real,” someone else
said. “They’d have that water bottled up and shipped out in no
time.”

Ms. Coleman
laughed. “Nothing magic is ever that simple,” she said. “There are
always rules and restrictions.”

Later, in
Calculus, I got to talk to Adrian, who was in a good mood. He told
me that he should be out of isolation in a week if his therapist
gave the okay. He was looking forward to being able to go outside
again.

“Are you going
to the show tonight?” he asked me as we worked on some
questions.

“Yeah,” I
answered. “I know the members of the band fairly well. Well, I’ve
never met the keyboard player, and I barely know the bass player,
but I know the others. I hope they play better now than they did
the last time I heard them practice.”

“I hope I can’t
hear them from my room then,” Adrian joked.

“Would you go
if you could?” I asked, curious.

“I would go
with you, but I wouldn’t go otherwise. Too many people.”

I smiled. “You
know, you’re going to have to get over your fear of crowds
eventually. You’ll have a hard time doing anything in life if
you’re always isolated.”

“It’s not a
fear, it’s a dislike. It’s a noise thing anyway, not really a
people thing. Of course, there are a lot of crazy people I’d love
to avoid, but I can’t have everything I want in life, can I?”
Adrian said, smiling back.

“I hope you’re
not calling me crazy,” I joked. “I’ve worked very hard to stay
sane.”

“Sorry Jules, I
think you failed,” Adrian said, trying to keep a straight face, but
we both started laughing. Mr. Dawes had to tell us to be quiet.

Chapter
25

When I went
back to my room after eating supper, Melissa and Heather were
already in there and were trying to decide what to wear. I was
planning on going in my school uniform since I didn’t have any
decent clothes anyway, but they were making a big deal about what
to wear. It might have had something to do with Melissa’s crush on
Michael. She definitely cared more than Heather did, though Heather
told me she was going with Jack.

“I hope you
don’t mind,” she said to me. “He just asked me yesterday, and I
said yes. I’ve always thought he was really sweet, and it’s the
first time he’s ever asked me to do something with him. I know
you’re his best friend though, so if you have a problem I won’t
go.”

“Don’t worry
about it at all,” I reassured her. I was actually really happy that
they were going together. “You two make a cute couple,” I said, and
she blushed.

“What looks
better, this shirt or that shirt?” Melissa asked us. She was
starting to get flustered. The first shirt was black with sequins
around the low neckline, and the second was silky and dark purple.
We both pointed to the second. She held it up to her body, then
threw it away and started putting on the black shirt.

“She really
appreciates our sense of style, doesn’t she?” Heather joked.

When the girls
were finally ready, we made our way to the ballroom, which was
filling up. We still managed to get seats in the front row though
because Jack was saving them for us.

“What took you
so long?” he asked us.

“Don’t ask,” I
said. “Is the show starting soon?”

“Not for
another ten minutes, I think. There are still a few empty
seats.”

Twenty minutes
later the place was packed, and the show still hadn’t started. The
band wasn’t even on the stage, and people were starting to get
impatient. I started to worry that something was wrong.

Michael
appeared on the stage suddenly by himself, and he went to the
microphone. “Sorry folks,” he said. “We’ll just be a few
minutes.”

Instead of
going back behind the stage, he hopped off of it and came over to
me. He looked pretty stressed out.

“Juliet, I need
to talk to you,” he said, and he actually grabbed my hand and
started pulling me toward the door before I could even respond. He
didn’t speak until we got to the room beside the stage, where the
other band members were sitting around and not doing anything,
which seemed a little odd to me. I had thought they would all be
scrambling to correct whatever was wrong, since there was obviously
a problem.