She made a giant circle around lines one, two, and three. ‘I’m pretty sure the first three lines are supposed to be describing me. I’m from the city of brothers, and I’m a filly with no mother.
‘And the fourth line?’
Megan answered. ‘It’s
Payne nodded in agreement. ‘I think you’re right. The first three lines go together.’
‘If that’s the case,’ Jones concluded, ‘then there’s a good chance we’re missing something in the second line.’
‘Like a meaning?’
‘Well, yeah,’ Jones admitted as he removed the cap from his black marker. ‘A meaning would be nice, but I think the reason we don’t understand the line is because we’re missing a word trick. Remember what Petr told us? He felt the author of this piece was a brilliant puzzle maker, so it stands to reason the three lines that go together would utilize similar tactics.’
‘Oh,’ Payne said, ‘I see what you’re saying. Lines one and three used word tricks, so line two probably does as well.’
Jones nodded. ‘Let’s hope so, because I have no idea what it’s talking about.’
A lover from the lost line.
Megan scrunched her face as she focused on the words.
‘What’s wrong?’ Payne wondered.
‘Two things off the top of my head. I realize old guys like you haven’t been in school this millennium, but are you familiar with alliteration?’
‘Ouch! Why so mean?’ Jones demanded.
Payne ignored her jab. ‘Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of a word. In this case, lover, lost, and line. What’s your point?’
She answered. ‘For some reason, alliteration is used in this line but none of the others. That seems fishy to me.’
‘Bad fishy, or good fishy?’
‘What’s the difference?’
‘Wow,’ Payne said sarcastically, ‘I was beginning to think you knew everything. DJ, please tell her the difference.’
‘With pleasure,’ he said. ‘Bad fishy is when you get a girl naked and—’
Payne interrupted him. ‘On second thoughts,
She nodded in understanding. ‘In that case, I’m going to go with bad fishy.’
‘Why’s that?’
‘Because there’s something about the word lover that just seems off to me.’
‘Off in what way?’ Payne asked.
‘I don’t know. It’s just a gut feeling. I get those sometimes, and I’m normally right.’
Payne smiled at her comment. ‘Trust me, I know the feeling. No pun intended.’
Jones sighed. ‘Awwww, isn’t that sweet? You’re both psychic. In that case, why don’t you put your freak brains together and figure out how Petr screwed up his translation? Meanwhile, I’ll focus on the end of the verse. I think I might know what “the lost line” means.’
48
Payne pointed to the two chairs on the other side of the desk. Megan walked over first and sat in the far seat. He gave her his notebook as he joined her. ‘Take a look at my notes. On the left are the words in English. On the right are their original languages.’
WORDS
LANGUAGE
city
French
brothers
Greek
lover
Italian
lost
Hebrew
line
Latin
filly
Provencal
mother
French
choice
Hebrew
place
Provencal
time
Italian
Megan glanced at the two columns, amazed by the effort that everyone had put into this
‘Where should we start?’ she asked.
‘Let’s start with your gut feeling. You said something feels off about the word
‘Great. So how do we do that?’
He shrugged. ‘Actually, I have no idea.’
She laughed at his honesty. ‘A guy who isn’t afraid to admit how clueless he is. That’s a very attractive quality in a man.’
‘Really? Then you’ll
‘Keep in mind, I didn’t say stupidity was attractive. I simply said that…’
Payne stared at her, waiting for her to finish her thought, but she didn’t seem to notice. Instead, her gaze had shifted to the notebook she held in her hands. ‘What is it?’
‘What?’ she asked, not looking up at him.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing’s wrong. It was just something you said.’
She ran her finger down the left column. ‘You mentioned the word love.’
‘And?’
Megan glanced at him. ‘The list is wrong.’
Payne inched his chair closer. ‘How so?’
‘On your chart, you have the word
Payne nodded, then explained that Ulster was forced to change the form of certain words for the poem to
