“Try telling that story to a priest,” Gretchen said.
Montague laughed.
But that was the most challenging obstacle Montague faced. Everything he knew as fact about the world was thought of as fairy tales by the common man. A united community was stronger than one divided, his sensei had once said. How can I ever convince anyone of such allegations without any real proof? he thought. The majority of people labeled his beliefs, myth and legend—children’s stories from the ancient past. People thought there was no way monsters from the sky were real. They were not ready to accept the existence of life from other worlds.
“What’s the charcoal for?” Gretchen asked.
“It will help transport the copper safely through Alexandal’s digestive system without getting reabsorbed into his body. I also need it to look at old texts. Some of the writing is faded and charcoal can highlight the author’s pen’s imprint.”
Gretchen smiled. “Well, have fun with your readings. I need some sleep. Oh, and can I get something for a headache?”
“Of course,” Montague said. He took two brown pills out of a cup that sat on his desk. He poured her a mug of water. “Here, take these and drink up.”
Gretchen took a sip and swallowed the pills. When she began to lower the mug, Montague raised it again, making sure she drank the rest of the water. “The herbs will dry your body. You need it,” he said.
“Montague La-Rose, caretaker of the world!” said Gretchen. “Who cares for you when you get sick? Not me, I know.”
“I don’t have time to be sick.”
Gretchen tilted her head and glared. “Not too late tonight. You have an early morning. The king’s birthday is tomorrow,” she said, walking to the door.
“No. I won’t…. Thank you for everything. And feel better.”
“Goodnight,” said Gretchen.
Montague stood in the doorway and watched Gretchen walk over to the castle. It was only yards from the library, but he always made sure she made it back safely.
During a break from the rain, the four wandering stars were visible through small gaps in the clouds. It amazed Montague every time he saw those four lights. Burton once told him that they were actually portals to other planets. Those were the gates in which extradimensional beings used to travel in and out of worlds from the heavens above. In Gabriel’s Diary, Gabriel also claimed that he had to pass through a portal to get from Planet Enot to Naan. The other billions of fixed stars represented the souls of every living being on Naan, from the smallest parasite to the highest king. On clear nights, the stars and moons decorated the sky with a cosmic dance of beautiful light.
The cold, wet summer lasted longer than usual. But Montague could smell the coming change in the air.
Alongside the powder white moon was the home of the Nekrums. It was a ship or biosphere, equipped with weapons that were capable of splitting a world in half. But without the Volpi gene, Montague knew that destroying the planet was not an option for them, not yet.
The diary referred to the sphere as the Moon of Disorder, and its presence generated a negative influence on the inhabitants’ minds, causing emotional instability. When the Nekrum biosphere had arrived on Naan, adding a second giant mass to the planet, it scrambled the orbiting pattern of Naan’s natural moon. Even the climate altered due to the disruption, adding weeks or sometimes months to a season.
Clues to the Nekrums plan could only be found in The Book of Volpi. First, Montague turned to where he’d left off in the astronomy section and poured a small portion of the crushed charcoal onto the first page of chapter sixteen, verse thirty-four and brushed it across with his hand, highlighting what was washed-out.
Montague searched for any kind of upcoming planetary alignments that the Nekrums might be following, hoping to glean a pattern in their random timing of attacks. They would only be victim to time if they were using celestial influence to make their attacks more effective.
The black powder outlined a constellation chart. He immediately recognized the star alignments.
Tomorrow night, the stars will be positioned the same as they were when the king was born eight years ago. Montague feared another attack. But the Nekrums followed no ceremonial dates for war, Montague remembered Burton telling him. Could his teacher have missed this? There were thousands of pages of corrupt writing left unread and it would take years to read all of the material in their entirety. If only his sensei would return, Montague thought.
Studying the Nekrum’s writings in The Book of Volpi, Montague had nothing but his intuition to evaluate what was true and what was manipulated. Burton had said that there were truths within the lies. If something was completely false, people would know deep down in their hearts and never truly accept it. But if there were fragments of truth within a false story, it would be easier to believe. The manipulation was meant to limit people’s questions and keep them in the dark about the Nekrum’s invasion. But I have too many questions now, Montague thought; even ones that he never thought to ask his sensei when he had the chance. Maybe, Burton had left some helpful information behind.
In Gabriel’s Diary there were two sets of inscriptions: one written in ink explained Gabriel’s journey coming from a different world,
