Fugitives of Chaos

Colin turned to the rest of us. 'What's that you've got in your hand?' (Let's see a show of hands.) This comment was also hard for Amelia to translate because, at that moment, she had pulled the lump of fabric out from her skirt pocket. She was staring at it in confusion, utterly confounded.

It was a knot. A knot with no beginning and no end. It looked like it was made out of an apron sash.

Amelia looked up to see that everyone else was voting.

Vanity was usually impatient with Yellow Alert restrictions. She held out her mittened fist, thumbs-down.

Colin said, 'Caesar says, 'Kill the Christians!'' and showed his thumbs-down.

Quentin and Victor both gave a thumbs-up. Quentin said softly, 'Spare the gladiator, who fought well, and the plebes will thank you next games, despite that they presently howl and yell.'

A tie. Everyone turned and looked at Amelia.

She was staring at the impossible knot of fabric in her hands. She looked up, tears in her eyes. She raised her hand, thumb up. She whispered, 'Vanity, what's your favorite color?'

Vanity raised an uncertain hand to stroke her red hair.

Colin made an impatient noise. 'Oh, you are kidding. If things are that bad, what about plan C?'

(Plan C was 'Call the cops')

Amelia shook her head. 'The sun has come out.' (It was getting a lot warmer; danger was growing.) Colin said, 'Plan C is a great plan.'

Victor said, 'What do we say? That they overmedicate us here? I understand that happens in a lot of schools.'

Colin snorted. 'We'll think of something. We'll say Vanity is being sexually molested by the teachers.

Heck,

I'll sexually molest her my own self. At least I'll get put in a nice prison colony, and I won't be here any longer!'

Vanity smirked at him, saying, 'Why don't you go sexually molest yourself, Colin? Oh, wait! You might catch a social disease from yourself! You don't know where you've been. Bleh!'

Vanity stuck out her tongue, and Colin smiled and pantomimed pulling down his zipper, with exaggerated welcoming gestures toward her tongue.

Amelia looked back and forth at this. Childish. So childish. But we are not children anymore. We cannot afford to be.

Quentin said to Amelia, 'How hot do you think the weather will turn? Like spring?'

Amelia shook her head.

'Like summer? Tropic summer?'

Amelia shook her head.

'How hot?'

She whispered, 'Do you remember the myth of Phaethon?'

Victor passed the notebook to her.

I wrote quickly:

They erased our brains, all of us. Me, they slipped. There is a creature in my bloodstream.

Sympathetic. This knot reminded me that I had amnesia. I tried to remember. Creature felt, wants to help. The creature is an amnesia-inducing drug. Knows how brain works. Helped. Starting to open brain block.

I know who we are. I know who they are. They can hear whatever we say; listen on the wind. No talking!

Victor leaned over and pointed to the sentence, 'I know who they are.' I wrote: Boggin=Boreas, North Wind; Fell=Telemus, a Cyclopes; Wren=Erichtho, witch; Glum=Grendel, sea monster; Daw=Thelxiepia, siren. Drinkwater from Atlantis.

Vanity, giving Victor a look of impatience, leaned in with her pink pen, and circled one sentence over and over. 'I know who we are.' She started sketching big question marks and exclamation points. I wrote: I am a Greek goddess from hyperspace. Quentin from underworld; Colin from dreamland; Victor from outer space; Vanity is from Homer We all have magic powers.

Names: Phaethusa; Eidotheia; Phobetor;

Damnameneus; Nausicaa

And, because I did not know whether I would have the chance, I wrote the secret out quickly: Victor has power over Wren; Quentin over Glum; me, Fell; Colin, Daw.

Boggin unkn ???? V Dangerous! Flies! Bends space! Curses! Spanks!

Also reverse. Watch out!!! Glum stops me; Wren stops C; Daw stops Vic; Fell stops Q. Boggin (?) stops Vanity?

If catch us, erase memory for good, no slip-ups.

Victor looked around at the others. He said, 'Vanity's favorite color.'

No one doubted me. No one called me crazy. It was the proudest moment of my life. All my friends trusted