“A what?” Erik asked.
Griffin addressed his remarks to the entire group. “An asterism is an arrangement of stars which form a pattern that is part of a larger constellation. Ursa Minor is positioned in such a way that the little bear appears to be standing on the back of Draco facing toward the dragon’s tail. In ancient times, it was considered part of Draco—the dragon’s wing.”
“So Polaris, which is the tail of the little bear, or the handle of the little dipper, would have been the tip of the dragon’s wing,” Cassie summarized.
“Yes, that’s correct. The Minoans, in their riddle, were telling us to use the golden bee to calculate the distance from Polaris to the horizon which would give us our latitude. Of course, it was necessary for us to construct the same contraption which they themselves would have used to measure latitude—two hinged sticks, one half-meter in length, and a plumb line.”
“Great, we figure out the clue to find our way here after we already found our way here.” The pythia groaned.
“Your work was not in vain.” Iker joined the conversation. “I understand now that when my ancestor said he would keep true to the dragon’s wing, he was giving you directions to the place where he would go in the New World.”
“That does narrow our search quite a bit,” the scrivener said with relief. “We just need to find out our current latitude in degrees.”
“Already on it,” said Erik as he entered the information into his phone. After checking the read-out, he said, “Forty-three degrees, twenty-eight minutes north. In the eastern U.S., the biggest towns that lie close to this line of latitude would be Manchester, New Hampshire or Syracuse, New York.”
“Well, guys, it’s like Dorothy always said. There’s no place like home.” Cassie clicked her heels three times. Looking down ruefully at her feet, she added, “Damn. I forgot to pack my ruby slippers!”
Chapter 35 – Sleeper
Zachary slipped through the garden gate into the backyard of the farmhouse. He could see Faye gazing out the kitchen window as he came around the side of the house.
The screen door creaked when he opened it. She turned at the sound. “Zachary, come in. Why on earth didn’t you use the front door?”
“I knocked, but nobody answered.”
“Oh, of course. I didn’t hear you and Hannah must have gone upstairs to take a nap. The poor thing is still weak after what happened.”
Zach lowered his voice. “Thanks for letting me know. It must be rough for her, losing the baby, I mean.”
“Yes, very rough.” A look of gloom crossed the old woman’s face, but she offered no further details.
“So you wanted me to come over anyway?” the boy’s voice held a note of disbelief.
“Yes, I thought you might spend an hour or so. It may help to take her mind off of recent events—cheer her up.”
“I’m not exactly Chuckles the Clown,” Zach said uncertainly. “But I’ll do what I can.”
Faye paused to stare in surprise at the top of her descendant’s head. “What happened to your hair?”
Zach reddened in embarrassment. “I combed it.”
“So that’s what it looks like when it’s been groomed,” Faye murmured. “Very becoming.”
“Jeez, Gamma, you don’t have to make a deal out of it.”
The old woman smiled perceptively. “I’ll just go and see if Hannah is up to receiving company.”
While she was gone, Zach opened the refrigerator and helped himself to an apple. Shortly, he heard the creaking sound of floorboards overhead and then the thump of footsteps on the stairs. He followed the sound into the living room.
“Hey, Hannah.” He tried to sound casual. “How’re you doing?”
The girl blinked a few times, still apparently groggy from her nap. She rubbed her eyes. “I’m better now, thank you. How are you?”
“OK, I guess.” He bit into the apple because he didn’t know what else to say.
“Your hair looks better,” she said diffidently.
Before Zach could mouth a protest about all the undue attention to his hairstyle, Faye intervened. “Why don’t the two of you sit down by the computer? Perhaps Zach can show you some things on the internet that we haven’t covered yet while I fix you both a snack.”
The two young people did as they were told and sat uneasily next to each other in front of the computer monitor.
As an afterthought, Zach called out, “Gamma, don’t forget I’m a vegan.”
Hannah peered at him. “What’s a vegan?”
Zach did a double-take. He’d temporarily forgotten just how out of the loop she was. “It’s somebody who doesn’t eat anything with a face.”
“You mean you’re not a cannibal?” Her eyes widened in shock.
He couldn’t help laughing. “That’s one way of looking at it, but mostly it means somebody who doesn’t eat animals, or birds, or fish, or insects. Also, no eggs or things made with milk.”
“Why not?” Hannah was clearly baffled by the concept.
“Because the human digestive system isn’t built to handle that stuff. We’re primates—plant eaters. Not to mention it’s a horrible thing to do to animals.” He could feel himself getting preachy. “Don’t get me started on factory farm gestation crates or battery cages or clubbing veal calves to death to keep the dairy industry going because I just might lose it completely.”
“Lose it?”
He waved his hand. “Never mind. No reason to go there right now.” He tried to smile brightly. “How about we surf the net?” She was about to open her mouth to ask a question, but he preempted her. “Before you even ask, that expression means to look up information on the internet. Gamma’s showed you the net, right?”
She nodded uncertainly. “Yes, we looked up different topics on something called a Google.”
Zach cracked his knuckles and limbered up his fingers before placing them on the keyboard. “Prepare to be amazed. It’s time to check out some videos. There are places you can watch home movies that people make and then they post
