Nine in the morning already, and Machaela didn't want to get out of bed. Yesterday had been long, and she was comfortable. She and Jesse had tag-teamed Sofia to let them tour Rome, and wow, they'd walked far! It'd been worth it, though. To see the Coliseum, the Sistine Chapel, and the Forum! She was in Heaven. And she got to practice her Italian, too! Their server at lunch had been so surprised when she ordered in Italian, and Sofia had said she spoke well, especially for only having been learning it for a year.
She rolled over and fingered her locket. What a year it had been. She couldn't remember all the places they'd been, but they weren't nearly done yet. She was glad they weren't done travelling, and that Sofia had kept up their lessons, but what she didn't like was how hard it was now to remember her parents. She was continually looking at her locket to remember their faces, and their voices were getting fainter and fainter. She'd cried the day she realized she couldn't hear Daddy's laugh anymore.
Jesse said it was harder for him to remember. He barely remembered faces, and then only from the pictures in her locket. He always wore the Rockies hat, though. He watched the baseball games almost as much as they read their Bibles, and she knew he was trying to remember the games they'd gone to as a family.
They still had no leads on their parents.
Iskandar promised he was inquiring everywhere they went, and getting everyone stateside to help, but so far, they had gotten nowhere. The rest of her family had dropped off the planet, and by now even her enthusiastic, optimistic little brother had stopped asking for updates as much.
A knock sounded at her door, and Sofia poked her head in.
"Best get moving," she admonished, "or we won't have time to go to the Basilica today."
Jesse had asked to go to the Basilica. The Catholic Church had some amazing architecture, and even at almost-seven he had found a hobby in types of architecture. She didn't mind much. She'd dragged him around yesterday on her day to pick their activity, and today was his day. Besides, while she didn't agree with Catholicism, she couldn't deny their churches (had Sofia called it something else? Cadillac? No that's a car. Caddy—no. Cattiness—not it either. Cath—y? Nope. Oh, well) were cool to look at. Most buildings just weren't built like that.
She finally managed to roll herself out of bed and get ready.
As she left her room to go get breakfast, she heard a loud thump from next door. Peeking in, she had to laugh. Jesse was lying on the floor tangled in his covers, and Iskandar was standing over him, holding the mattress and chuckling.
Iskandar looked up at the noise, eyes twinkling with laughter. "I warned him," he said. "I told him if he did not get up we would do it the fun way." Jesse groaned from his spot on the floor, obviously debating whether to make a comeback or just go to sleep there. He chose a safer third option, opting to just get up.
They had warmed up quite a bit to Iskandar in the past year. Machaela was no longer afraid of the hieroglyphs around him, and Jesse's fear of them had been subsiding since Iskandar explained why they appear. Iskandar treated them like a grandparent should, Machaela thought. He was kind to them, and helped where he could, but left most of the parenting to Sofia. She thought that was what a grandpa was supposed to do, but didn't know for sure. They rarely visited her Papaw, and Granddad had died when she was two.
Iskandar had also proven to be mischievous, prone to playing pranks and expecting pranks in return. She never knew when she would wake up to find spiders hanging from the ceiling or open a door to have a bucket of water dump on her head. She and Jesse had had to work together to get him back for several pranks.
They hurried through breakfast, and a couple hours later, they walked into the Basilica and lost all track of time. The architecture was amazing! Soaring ceilings covered in frescoes of the early church, high columns, tilings of Biblical scenes, all on full display. They'd lost Sofia in the crowd a couple times, and Machaela was having trouble keeping up with her brother. They spent hours darting room to room and identifying scenes, then went outside to explore the gardens. While nothing was in bloom, it was a gorgeous day, and the leaves were beginning to change color.
Soon enough, though, it was time to go back to the Casa di Roma, or House of Rome and nome headquarters. Nobody wanted to leave, but they slowly made their way back through the Basilica and to the Piazza. It was there, though, Machaela felt something weird. The earth moved beneath her feet! She grabbed Jesse's hand and turned to ask if Sofia had felt it, but she didn't need to ask. Sofia's face showed worry, and she hurriedly glanced around before hurrying them back toward the center of the walled courtyard.
They only had a few seconds before the ground began moving again, much harder.
The first jolt knocked them all to the ground. Machaela immediately hugged Jesse close, thankful there was nothing nearby that could land on them. Sofia huddled over them, reassuring them as the shaking lasted well over a minute. Looking around, through the protective boundary Sofia had thrown up, they could almost see the vibrations in the ground, and the walls of the Basilica vibrated quickly. Jesse noticed a corner of the roof collapse on an outbuilding and cracks run up the courtyard walls.
All around them, people were panicking, running from buildings, falling, getting up, and running more. Sofia had to shove one lady to the side when the lady nearly ran over the small group huddled on the ground. The woman simply cast a dirty look, totally uncaring that she'd nearly run over two kids, and kept running and falling.
The shaking seemed to last forever. Cracks ran beneath their feet and dust filled the air around them. The cracks lengthened and widened, growing up the columns around the Piazza. A particularly strong jolt shook the area, and the press office just outside the courtyard collapsed, sending more dust into the air and making it difficult to see or breathe.
Finally, the ground stopped shaking, and the trio got shakily to their feet.
Large cracks snaked over the brick, running up walls and through buildings without regard. The press office was the only collapse, but several of the outbuildings had minor roof damage, and the Basilica's dome had a crack in it.
Walking proved challenging. After letting the dust clear, the three of them started making their way toward the exit, but everybody who had been inside was now outside, and the area that was crowded before was downright packed now. And, of course, everyone packed into the courtyard wanted out of the courtyard, and the debris-clogged gateway was just too narrow to fit them all. Plus, even those who didn't know anything about architecture knew well enough not to touch the columns that were standing, which made the area people could walk through that much narrower.
Slowly moving with the crowd toward the exit, Machaela and Jesse had an extra problem. Several of the cracks snaking through the ground were easily wide enough to make an adult take a large step to clear, which meant any kids had to take a leap to clear it.
The widest of these cracks lay right before the only exit, and even some of the adults were having trouble. Machaela and Jesse stopped at the edge and just stared. The crack wasn't that deep, but deep enough to discourage trying to jump in and climb out the other side, and they knew there was no way Machaela was going to make it, much less Jesse. They started looking around for a way to jump the gap. None of the other people in the area were paying any attention, too focused on themselves, and Sofia was also trying to make sure none of the overenthusiastic tourists behind them shoved them down into the crack.
Finally, Machaela made up her mind and reached into her pocket, drawing out a small pocketknife.
"Heqat," she whispered. Her staff, the same one she had created a year before, expanded in her hand.
Both Jesse and Sofia looked over in surprise. "Why do you have that out?!" Sofia furiously whispered. "We're surrounded by witnesses!"
"You said magic is hard to see," Machaela pointed out. "Besides, how else are we going to get out of here?" She turned to face the large hole, and said a single word: "Drowah."
In the year they had been traveling, both Machaela and Jesse had been working on their magic. They hadn't decided on a specialty yet, but they were advancing faster than other initiates usually did, mainly because they were getting one on one training and had already shown their potential. Due to this, neither Sofia nor Jesse were particularly surprised when a shimmering blue boundary formed, bridging the gap. Knowing the boundary wouldn't last long, the three of them hurried across it, and as Sofia had taught them, nobody else noticed the bridge or their actions. The boundary dissolved once they were safely across.
With that problem taken care of, they squeezed out the gate and hurried toward the Casa di Roma. But even hurrying didn't move quickly. The Metro was closed due to tunnel collapses, and Sofia heard one group talking about a train (the one they would have taken had they been on time, coincidentally) trapped in a collapse. People crowded in the streets, gawking at collapsed and damaged buildings, and blocking any kind of motorized transportation.
They ended up squeezing through the crowd, trying not to lose one another, to walk the two miles or so back to the Casa di Roma. It should have only taken them about forty-five minutes, but due to the crowds and several blocked routes, the walk took nearly triple that. Throughout the walk, aftershocks rippled through the city, collapsing more buildings and panicking people anew.
They finally stumbled up to the house just before dark, exhausted and hungry, hoping they could just go raid the kitchen. Inside, though, they found mayhem. Absolute mayhem.
Magicians were running in circles, gathering spells and trying to see if anyone else had more information than they did. Some people were missing, and several small groups discussing search grids and rescue methods passed the trio on the way out. Others were patching up the house, as the roof was sagging slightly and the floor in the atrium had crumbled. Iskandar was pacing back and forth, refusing to listen to suggestions that he should avoid overdoing it, while others around him folded up a map that looked a lot like a most direct route to the Vatican.
Machaela and Jesse, not knowing what was going on and more concerned with food and sitting down, quickly left Sofia behind in a beeline for the kitchen. Sofia, though, let Iskandar see her. He immediately started rattling off questions in Greek, confirming her suspicions that he'd been worried about them.
"Ανακακμπτκας! 'Oθι 'ησθα? Αρα ακηρατος εις? 'Οθι εισι?" he rattled off.
Sofia wasn't the greatest at translating Greek, though she knew a few words, and ended up turning to one of the passing healers for a translation.
"You are back! Where were you? Are you alright? Where are they?" the healer translated before rushing off.
She assured him, "Yes, we're fine. Tired, but fine. All transportation is down. We've been walking since the quake. Machaela and Jesse ran towards the kitchen."
Iskandar visibly relaxed, sinking into a nearby couch as he called out to the group with the map to the Vatican. "Αναπαυε μαστευοντα! Ανακακμπτκασι!" Stop the search! They're back! He apparently still hadn't realized he was speaking in Greek, but even Sofia figured that phrase out.
Another aftershock, the strongest since the first quake, rumbled through right then, shaking the house and sending Machaela and Jesse scurrying out of the kitchen. They didn't want to be alone in the event of another large earthquake, so they ran to Sofia, who was closest. By the time they reach her, however, the rumbling had finished, so they settled onto the couch next to Iskandar.
Munching on the chicken Jesse had found in the fridge, Machaela watched Sofia hurry away in search of food before speaking up. "Why were you searching for us?"
Iskandar looked askance at her. "I was worried for you, of course! You told us you would be home hours ago! When the earthquake hit, you should have been on the Metro, so we were searching tunnels and planning where else you could be."
Machaela and Jesse both looked a bit sheepish. "We didn't want to leave, yet," Machaela answered, "so we were still in the Pi-az-za when the earthquake hit."
"The Cathedral is beautiful, isn't it?" Iskandar asked after a pause, apparently going to let the topic drop. "I remember when it was built. The world was in awe over Michelangelo's paintings." Jesse perked up and looked at him, recognizing an architecture lesson, but right then one of Iskandar's aides came over.
Glancing at the siblings, the aide said in Greek, "Everyone is accounted for. We have transitioned into looking for innocents."
"Thank you," Iskandar replied in kind. "See that healers are on standby to help any injured."
Unknowing of the change in language, Machaela was simply trying to figure out a word. Giving up, she whispered to Jesse, "Transitioned?"
"Changed," he whispered back. "You could understand him?"
Machaela looked at him weirdly, "You couldn't?"
"I caught some of it, but not all of that was English."
"You sure?"
Jesse turned to Iskandar instead of answering. "What language was that?"
Iskandar chuckled. "Alexandrian Greek. Mitchel remembers how much I enjoy speaking my native tongue."
"All of it?" Machaela clarified.
"Yes, of course," Iskandar told them. "Why do you ask?" The siblings had come to enjoy the acknowledgement of having a mind of their own. Iskandar never talked down to them because of their age, but this time they didn't want him to know what was on their mind.
"Just curious!" Machaela grinned, knowing Iskandar could probably see through it, but not giving him the chance to question. "Com'on, Jesse. Didn't you have something you wanted to show me?"
"N—" Jesse didn't even finish his word before Machaela was dragging him back towards their neighboring rooms, leaving Iskandar staring after them, wondering what they were up to.
"What was that?" Jesse asked from the safety of their room.
"You only understood a couple words of that?" Machaela asked instead.
"Well, yeah. I thought he was talking in a mixture of English and some other language."
"But I thought he was speaking English," Machaela countered. "He said he was speaking Greek, but I understood him. How is that possible?"
"You understood all of it?"
"Yeah. That guy, Mitchel, said that everyone was present and that they were now looking for non-magicians. Then Iskandar thanked him and asked for the healers to remain on standby. Mitchel agreed and left."
Jesse shook his head. "I only got the general idea: that everybody was counted, and that healers should do something."
By now, Machaela was pacing, much like she'd seen Sofia do in the past year, and any adult watching probably would have found the eight-year-old cute. "But how did I understand it? I know Spanish and Italian. Greek isn't even remotely similar."
Jesse looked at her, amused that she was acting like Sofia but also trying to figure this out. "But what about me, then? I could only understand part of it, but I'm also two years younger."
This made her pause. "Are you suggesting this is somehow gen-et-ic? Is that the word?" He nodded. "If you're right, that would mean in a couple years you'll be fluent."
Jesse grinned widely at this. "This could be fun, though." Machaela raised an eyebrow, suddenly reminding Jesse of his Mama. He blinked back the tears the memory gave and tried to hold on to the memory while continuing his thought. "Iskandar says anything he doesn't want us to know about in Greek."
"So if we don't tell him we understand it," Machaela finished, "we can get the backstory he might not want us to hear! Perfect! We just have to make sure never to speak Greek around anyone but each other." She paused. "One problem, though. I can't tell the difference between Greek and English. When I got to that point with Spanish, I had to be careful not to mix my languages up, and if someone spoke to me in Spanish, I would unknowingly answer in Spanish."
"That's easy to fix. Just make sure we don't say anything right after we hear something in Greek."
"But how will we know we just heard it in Greek?"
That gave Jesse pause. "I can still tell them apart," he finally answered, "and we're never separated. For now, I can be the judge of what language it's in, and you'll be in charge of translating and remembering. Maybe by the time I'm close to fluent you'll be able to tell them apart."
She thought about that. "Okay. I can sorta tell the difference with Spanish now, since I've kept studying. Maybe I'll soon get that with Greek. I just wish we knew how we know Greek. Neither of us have studied it."
"Well, if it's genetic…" Jesse trailed off.
"You don't know a language because your parents know it. Besides, I may not know who my birth Daddy is, but Mommy and Daddy are definitely your Mommy and Daddy. Mommy always said she had video, whatever that means."
"What if your birth Daddy is someone Greek, and he somehow managed to teach it to you without even being here?" Jesse asked, teasing. "And he's part of a big group of Greek people that all speak Greek without ever having heard it."
"And maybe there are other kids like us that know the language and consider everyone else who knows it family?" Machaela asked, trying to keep a straight face.
Jesse nodded, his face twisted as he tried not to laugh, but Machaela burst out laughing, and Jesse couldn't keep a straight face any longer.
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