Izzy wondered what was the of "so far so good" was because she had no luck finding The Book.
To be fair, she wasn't completely focused on her mission one hundred percent, despite her best efforts.
She was distracted by all the art around her. Everything was different and new from the last time she was there. It was of mish-mosh of everything with no discernable theme. New paintings from abstract to surrealism to graffiti; paintings in watercolor and oil. New sculptors made of marble and glass.
The sculpture made of semiprecious stones wasn't anywhere to be seen. She was disappointed, but at the same, would seeing it dig up bad memories for her? She tried not to think about it too much.
Her favorite piece was an eight-foot-tall gold and faux ebony statue of an Egyptian goddess. It had the lovely facial features of Nefertiti and the long black braids and gold snake headpiece most artists give to Cleopatra. The arms were raised as if she were welcoming someone in for a hug. Attached to her arms were colorful feathered wings of blue, gold, and scarlet.
Around her neck was an amulet, the knot of Isis. Izzy remembered her mom telling her it was called a tyet.
Izzy gawked up at it, trying to determine if the gold was gold-plated or paint when ice crawled up her spine. She shuddered and looked around her.
On the other side of the room a man in a gray jumpsuit and a cap stood still as a statue instead of milling around the room like the other patrons. Izzy figured he might have been a janitor. His head was lowered so the bill of his cap covered his face, but she could see his right eye scan the room as if keeping an eye on everyone.
His right eye fixed on her for a moment and narrowed. Izzy froze under his cold glare. There was something… horribly familiar about his glower that made her skin crawl, but as soon as it happened, the man's look was directed somewhere else.
Izzy rubbed the goosebumps on her arm with her free hand.
"You cold?"
"Yah!" Izzy flinched. The ice cream sandwich jumped out of her hand.
Anna stood in front of her, laughing behind her hand. When did she get there?
"Sorry, sorry." Anna picked up the ice cream sandwich. "You should've seen your face."
Izzy rubbed the back of her head, her cheeks warm. "Anna! Hey! Have you, uh, found The Book yet?"
Anna handed her the sweating ice cream sandwich and sighed. "No, unfortunately. I checked the lost and found, the restrooms, even the men's one." As she spoke, she ticked off each place on a finger.
"Y-you went into the boys' bathroom?"
Anna waved away Izzy's concern. "Relax. It was empty. It's not like I was gonna barge in if some dude was in there."
Izzy just looked at her. Even if the restroom was empty, Izzy wouldn't risk getting odd looks from strangers or called out by someone who caught her sneaking in, but Anna didn't seem to care what strangers thought of her.
An awkward beat passed between them before Izzy cleared her throat and said, "Thanks again for the ice cream sandwich for my eye."
Anna played with the hem of her sweatshirt. Her playful smile turned embarrassed. "Well, it is kiiiiinda my fault Joe hit you in the face. I should've given The Book back to him, but I just wanted to stick it to him. He can be so… ugh! Y'know?"
"He doesn't mean to be. He, uh…" Izzy didn't know whether she should share what Joe shared with her in private. Would it help or make things worse? She already caused enough problems for them.
Anna huffed and crossed her arms. "Pfft. He's always like this. I know he doesn't want me around. I don't care." Her eyes were far away and sad. She blinked the look away. "I think he's just mad girls are better at using The Book than boys are."
"Yeah?" Izzy remembered Joe complaining how annoying it was how Anna was better with The Book in passing, but that didn't have anything to do with why he was upset.
"Yeah, all the woman in my family are better with it," Anna continued. "Magic, too, but for whatever reason, they don't want to show it off. I think it's because they don't want to hurt the men's egos but I think that's just stupid. If you're good at something why hide it?"
Izzy wanted to assure Anna that Joe didn't hate her. If he did, he wouldn't have tried to make amends with her (even if it did go up in smoke). She decided to bite her tongue for the moment and go along with where Anna sidetracked the conversation.
"I think you're right," she said. "Talent should be celebrated, not hidden."
Anna beamed. "Exactly! Thank you! Jodie says that, too, but it's nice to hear someone else say it for a change."
Before Izzy could ask who Jodie was, Anna yelped and spun Izzy around so she was shielded from the approaching crowd.
A gaggle of middle schoolers passed by them. They chatted with their friends, laughing, and pushing each other around, not even looking Izzy's way. Izzy spotted Anna-from-the-past towards the back of the group engrossed in a conversation with a dark-haired boy she recognized as Matthew. He laughed at something she said as the two of them passed by her without a second glance.
When they were out of sight, Anna stepped from behind Izzy and sighed. "This is going to be sooooo annoying, having to avoid myself."
"I guess we better hurry up and find The Book then."
Izzy and Anna looked for The Book together for the next couple of minutes. For a moment, they thought they spotted The Book in the hands of a wooden statue, but upon closer inspection, it was a blue prop book.
Hunting down The Book was a chore to get through, but at least they were somewhere safe and weren't dealing with a power hungry, homicidal maniac again.
The two talked about books and their pets as they searched. Izzy didn't read any of the books Anna liked but they both had the same taste in comics. Anna had an old, fluffy Persian cat named Cleo, and Izzy told her about her two bunnies: her dwarf hotot, Dini and a Netherlands dwarf named Bess.
When Izzy mentioned her favorite band, Anna stopped dead her tracks and whirled to face her.
"Wait! You like Laced with Arsenic, too? I've never met another person who does. Well, except for Matthew, but he doesn't count. He likes everything."
"No one likes everything."
"Matty does. Think of the most obscure, random genre and I bet you he already has two CDs of it, at least."
Izzy rubbed her chin in thought before saying, "Neo-Caribbean crunkcore?"
"He loves it."
"How? I just made it up!"
"It's totally real, I can prove it! When we get back home, I'll let you borrow the CD Matthew gave me."
"Thanks. I can let you borrow my deluxe album of The Frills of Deathif you want?"
Anna grinned. "You're pretty cool, Izzy. Don't know why you're friends with Joe."
"Oh! Speaking of whom…"
She motioned behind Anna. Joe walked towards them from the other end of the room. Izzy waved to get his attention. "Guess we should start working together. Anna, do you—"
She turned to see Anna had completely disappeared, a blinking white outline of where she was a moment before. She vanished so suddenly, Izzy thought she had to be some sort of magician or some sort of Batman.
"What the wha?"
"You talking to yourself?"
Joe stood smiling behind her, eyebrows raised. "I'm guessing you didn't have any luck either?"
Izzy shook her head and jabbed a thumb at the stairs. "Second floor?"
Together, they ventured up the spiral plexiglass stairs. Along the steps and walls of the stairs, there were drawings done by visiting children; dozens and dozens of little marker doodles covered every inch.
A couple held the hands of their child in between them headed downstairs as a group of Anna's schoolmates passed Joe and Izzy on their way up.
Izzy lagged little behind Joe, trailing her hand along the smooth plastic railing. She thought about what Anna said earlier. Anna thought Joe hated her. She thought he didn't want her around. She tried to play it off but it was obvious it bothered her. Anna might not have cared what strangers thought of her but she cared what Joe thought. Izzy couldn't help but feel bad for her.
Izzy didn't know whether or not to tell Joe. Should she keep her mouth shut? The last time she tried to help, they ended up warping here and losing The Book. She probably shouldn't interfere again but this seemed too important to let go.
She sighed and took the melting ice cream sandwich off her face. She wished her dad was around so she could ask him what the right thing was to do. Of course, even if he hadn't left she couldn't exactly ask him now, but he was always her go-to when she didn't know how to handle a difficult problem, social or otherwise. Him and her mom her social butterflies. They knew how to handle people. Izzy wondered if the ability skipped a generation, like her mom's cat allergies.
Thinking of her parents made her remember how long her dad's been gone. He should've been back; it's been three weeks. Asking Joe to borrow The Book to find her dad crossed her mind again.
Joe was meant to protect her. Despite their last warp, she was still alive, so he was doing his job whether he knew it or not. She was happy she not only found her protector but a friend as well. Still, she should have heard back from her dad by now.
She pushed the thought away. There was no use in asking now when they didn't even know where The Book was.
At this point, should she come out to her friends about the truth? She did trust them, and her father didn't tell her to not tell anyone in the letter he left. But at the same time, she hesitated. How would they react? Her situation wasn't exactly normal.
Another deep sigh as she peeled open the ice cream sandwich wrapper. She couldn't think about that now. It wouldn't help them find The Book.
Joe looked back at her, his brow furrowed in worry. He looked like he wanted to ask her what was wrong.
Izzy forced a smiled and held up the ice cream sandwich. "Wanna bite?"
"And risk catching your cooties?"
"I would've given you the other end, buuuuut now it's too late." She took a bite out of the ice cream sandwich and recoiled from the cold hitting her teeth. "Uhn!"
Joe laughed and Izzy grinned. She broke the ice cream sandwich in half and handed him the part still in the wrapping.
The second floor was smaller than the ground floor. A four-foot border wrapped around the floor so Izzy could look down and see the floor beneath her.
More school kids walked around. Some laughed at the nude paintings and snapped pictures on their phones, others dutifully filled out their worksheets and rolled their eyes at the kids goofing around. The juxtaposition reminded her of Fred and Sam.
There were more pieces Izzy recognized on this floor. Unlike the first floor where everything was on one spacious floor, this floor had entrances connecting off the main floor that went into separate rooms, their themes on a plaque above the threshold.
They checked behind podiums and benches, coming up empty. They garnered a few weird looks from patrons and security guards, but no one otherwise said anything.
Izzy didn't see the sculpture. Maybe it got moved to a different museum, or put in a private collection?
When they had no luck on the second floor they went to the third. It had a similar layout to the second floor, but with exhibits Izzy guessed she could describe as… "quirky." The stuff up here wasn't as appealing as the art on the other floors, which might explain why this floor wasn't as busy as the others.
There was a giant exhibit of a half-melted stick of butter in the wrapper, a huge fishbowl full of green marbles, a painting of ducks with giant kazoos for heads. Izzy could have spent sixty years staring at the last one if Joe wasn't there to drag her away.
"With our luck," Joe said, "The Book's gonna be tucked in the corner somewhere behind rope barriers because someone thought it was an art piece."
Izzy chuckled. "It is very pretty."
He grimaced at a painting of smoking chickens with human teeth. "This floor is… weird."
"It's not weird. It's interesting… Not the kind of thing I'd make but it's definitely intriguing."
"That's one word for it." Joe turned to her. "So what would youmake?"
She thought about it for a moment. There were a lot of different things she liked to make, several experimental things she wanted to try. It was hard to think of a straight answer to give Joe a without rambling his ear off.
"This place used to have a sculpture made of semiprecious gemstones. I don't remember what it was of, but I remember being completely awestruck with it. It was the prettiest thing I've seen at the time, all shiny and glimmery and colorful-y. I wanna make that."
"The sculpture?"
"No. The feeling." Izzy looked at the floor. "Is that dumb? I bet I sounded dumb there."
"That's not dumb. That's kind of how I feel about magic. That why I put in way too much thought into some stupid school talent show. I know it's pretty silly—"
"It's not silly at all! You put all this planning and time into making a good show, and I think that's really cool."
He smiled at her and warmth flooded Izzy's cheeks. Her eyes flickered away for a moment and did a double take when something caught her attention: a dark room across from them. She didn't need to read the plaque to recognize what was inside.
"Joe!" She grabbed his arm. "C'mon, I gotta show you something."
"Is it The Book?"
"Well, no… but this is cool. It'll be quick."
He relented and let Izzy drag him in into the dim room. When they entered, she clapped excitedly.
Joe was less than impressed. "You wanted to show me a dark room full of garbage?"
Izzy wanted to roll her eyes at him, but in all fairness, they were in a room full of garbage.
Five separate mounds of old shoes, toy blocks, rotary phones, Chinese takeout boxes, and anything else dug out of an abandoned dumpster was purposely stacked and arranged towards the walls. Despite the abundance of trash, the room smelt of flowery air freshener. A light source on the ground illuminated the rubbish and provide the rooms only light source.
"No! Well, yes. Just look."
She brought him over to a table covered in Lincoln logs, empty lighters, soda cans, and a whole bunch of other junk. A silhouette of a modern cityscape made up of recognizable landmarks such and the Empire State Building, the Sydney Opera House, and the Eiffel Tower blended into architecture of the past such as the Pyramids, the Taj Mahal, and Stonehenge was cast against the wall.
"Whoa! Nice." Joe admired the shadow on the wall. "Are they all like this?"
To their left on the same wall, there was the shadow of a ballet dancer in a dynamic pose made up of kitchen utensils, spare Barbie doll parts, old shoes, and other trash. Across from them were more shadow silhouettes.
They moved towards the wall furthest from the door— a profile silhouette of a man and a woman looking at each other with their arms around each other. Ratty old bras dangled above them from wires on the ceiling, forming doves and hearts.
The two of them wordlessly admired the piles and piles of trash around them, appreciating how the piles of garbage were recreated into something worthwhile and amazing.
"How'd they do this?" Joe asked.
"It's really, really hard," Izzy said. "I tried doing it once when I was twelve but my dad just about lost his head when he found I was hoarding garbage in my room."
Joe laughed. "How much do you wanna bet that if Anna were here she'd claim to be able to make this with all the junk that may or may not be under my bed?"
Izzy chuckled, but stopped, remembering why they were there to begin with. She rubbed her arm. "I know I've said this before, Joe, but I'm really sorry that I got us into this situation. It upset me to see you and Anna so mad at each other. I don't have siblings, so I guess that's normal, but still I wanted to help…"
She realized she was rambling, sighed, and continued. "Family is important. You never know when or how you'll lose someone. Sometimes there's no point in being angry."
Joe was silent for a moment. Izzy's eyes were diverted towards the ground instead of his face.
He inhaled, about to respond, when there was a chittering of voices near the entrance of the room. A small group of students streamed in followed by Anna and Matthew. Their eyes were on each other, so they didn't notice Izzy and, more importantly, Joe on the other side of the room.
Anna and Matthew headed down the center of the room, blocking a straight escape out for Joe and Izzy. They couldn't leave the room without risking being spotted.
Joe grabbed Izzy by the arm and pulled her back, whispering, "Hide!"
"Wha—"
He whipped the two of them behind the trash sculpture of the couple. Izzy understood his intentions. Joe hid behind the figure of the woman, draping his arms over her shoulder. She hid behind the man, placing her hands on his hips.
Izzy never noticed how much taller he was than her, not by a whole head, but she had to look up to look him in the eye.
Matthew and Anna's voices drew closer until they were right in front of their sculptures.
"Pretty cool." Matthew said. "What do you think?"
"Puh-lease. I could do this with all the junk under Joe's bed."
Izzy snickered. Joe shot her a look and she clamped her mouth shut.
Mathew laughed. "So… I've been thinking…"
"Yeah?"
"I, uh, do you, erm…" A sigh and a soft rustle. "Do you have today's date?"
A pause before Anna huffed, "January eleventh." A pause. "Was that really the kind of date you wanted to ask me about?"
An audible gulp from Matthew. "What kind of date are you talking about?"
"I dunno, you tell me."
"Any chance you're gonna make this easy for me?"
"Where's the fun in that?"
Joe gagged. It was Izzy's turn to shoot him a look.
Anna and Matthew moved their attention to the exhibit on the next wall as they continued their conversation. Joe and Izzy tiptoed behind them towards the exit.
"Okay," Matthew said, his voice growing quieter as the two of them made their way out. "Fine. I'll say it… Anna, would you like to go out with me?"
Anna's smile came through in her voice. "Thought you never ask."
As they escaped, Izzy looked behind her into the room they left and caught a final glimpse of Matthew and Anna smiling at each other. "They're so cute."
Joe scoffed. "Yeah, if by 'cute' you mean 'nauseating' then they're downright adorable."
"No, I meant like—" Izzy detected his sarcasm and rolled her eyes. "They are cute. Why would you wanna break them up?"
Joe stopped at the railing. He rested his elbows on it and cast his eyes on the floors below. "I didn't— I don't. It's just… Anna's my baby sister, I'm worried about her."
"Have you ever told her that?"
"What? No. I wouldn't know what to say."
"How about," Izzy cleared her voice and did her best Joe impression, "'You're my baby sister. I'm worried about you.'"
Joe pouted. "I do not sound like that! Be serious."
"You totally do and I am. Just tell her. She'll appreciate it, believe me."
"Maybe you're right. I kinda feel like a jerk. Anna might have to break up with him when they barely got to be together."
Izzy smiled softly at him. "It still never hurts to apologize, you jerk."
Joe chuckled, the tension in his shoulders lessening. "Thanks, Iz."
Before she got the chance reply, a brilliant flash of golden light flared from beneath them followed by abrupt silence. Joe backed away from the railing, eyes wide in confusion and fear.
"What's wrong?" Izzy looked over the railing and gasped.
Everyone beneath them on the first floor was frozen, transfixed in place as if they'd all paused mid-action. They were all far too still to have simply stopped moving. Something made them freeze in place.
No one on the second or third even noticed yet; they went about their business as if everything was normal. The ice in Izzy's spine return. Dozens of questions came to mind but none escaped her mouth.
"Anna," Joe muttered, then said louder, "I gotta find Anna."
He took off, but Izzy didn't see where. She was blinded by a second flash of bright gold light. The people on the second story were all motionless.
All except one.
The janitor she saw earlier stomped up the stairs, slow but purposeful. He pulled a small square out of his pocket. It shone like metal but was as thin and flimsy as paper. He flicked his wrist a couple times like he was doing some practice throws. He turned his head and Izzy saw his face clearly for the first time; a young-looking man with a handlebar mustache and—
Izzy stumbled backwards and clamped her hands over her mouth to keep from shrieking. Her heart hammered against her ribcage.
She dared to take another glance at his face to make sure she wasn't having a nightmare. She wasn't. There was no mistaking the monocle over his left eye. Izzy had no doubt he was the one who was freezing time for whatever reason.
And he was coming up the stairs.
She had to find Joe and Anna. She had to keep them away from him.
Izzy bolted from the railing, scanning the room for any sign of Joe and Anna. She called their names as she scanned the rooms for them. By some miracle, she spotted the two of them together towards the end of the room.
Izzy glanced over her shoulder. The Monocle Man appeared at the top of the stairs. He flicked the square disk in the air. It glowed gold.
She sprinted towards them, desperate to get to them before hecould. Desperate to protect them.
"Ieldshay! Ieldshay!"
She flung her hand out at them. A green wave shot from her hand, encasing her friends as the golden light hit her like a blast of desert air.
Joe dragged Anna away to the closest room, not even bothering to let his eyes adjust from the blinding light.
"What—" Anna began.
"Shh!" Joe palmed his eyes and blinked a couple times. He tried to make sense out of what happened. A janitor tossed a metal napkin in the air and now everyone in the room froze in place like they were playing red light, green light.
Well, everyone except him and Anna. That shield spell or whatever Izzy did protected them from the Janitor's spell. Unfortunately, she couldn't save herself from becoming a human statue.
Anna peered out into the main room.
"Anna—"
"Relax. He's leaving."
Joe tentatively looked out of the room. Anna was right. The janitor took one last look at his handiwork before he trudged down the stairs, a grimace on his oddly familiar face. Thankfully, he didn't notice them.
"What's going on?" Anna asked.
"I don't know."
"What should we do?"
"I don't—"
He was about to say he didn't know again, but he saw the fear and panic in Anna's eyes and stopped himself. She was scared and was looking to him for answers.
"Our best bet is to find The Book," Joe said as he paced back and forth, "but we should find out what that guy is up to. Whatever he's doing, it can't good. If he comes across The Book before we do then we're in big trouble, but if we find it before him maybe we can unfreeze time."
Anna nodded, her panicky look replaced with cautious determination. "Right, then we can contact the time agents."
Joe wrinkled his brow, confused. "There are time agents?"
"Of course, it's in The Book. Didn't you know that?"
"I-I knew that. Of course I did."
Anna shook her head. "I'll roll eyes at you later, but if we're going to spy on him, then follow my lead."
Joe did without a word. He didn't question or argue her abilities; Anna could spy on people in her sleep from a different room. He followed her out of the room in silence.
As they made their way towards the stairs, Joe had one last look at Izzy. Her face was contorted in a silent still shot of terror. Joe thought to move her someplace safer, but he knew she was probably safer here like this than where they were going.
When they got to the railing, Anna told Joe to hide behind it while she peeked over and watched him. After a moment, Joe whispered, "What's he doing?"
Anna squatted next to him. "Nothing. He's just standing around, tapping his foot."
"What's he waiting for?"
"How should I know?"
"It was rhetorical."
"Oh. Right."
They crept down the stairs on their hands and knees. When they got to the second floor, there was another flash of gold light, but this time it didn't last as long and wasn't nearly as bright as the others.
"You are late."
Joe stopped. The voice—which he assumed came from the janitor—sounded vaguely familiar.
"I'm the boss." A new voice, lower than the janitor's. "I'm never late."
The janitor grumble about his boss's lack of timeliness as Joe made his way to join Anna to the wall and peered down at the scene beneath them. The janitor crossed his arms as he nagged at his boss: a portly man with a shiny pompadour and a purple button-up shirt with buttons he was severely underutilizing.
Anna stifled a gasped and hid back down with Joe. She whispered-yelled, "I found The Book."
"Where?"
"The statue's head."
Right below them on the head of an Egyptian statue was The Book. The statue was in the corner of the room and would've been in their blind spots if they looked down from the stairs. Getting it might almost be too easy.
"Good eye, Anna. Now all I grab do is get it."
"How? Did you want me to lower you down by your ankles? The statue is too far down, anything we do would get us noticed."
Joe nearly forgot, for all he bragged about his new ability around his friends, he never shared it with Anna. He had to brush his guilt aside. Right now he had a job to do.
"I have a plan," he said. "Just don't freak out when you see it."
Anna looked confused but nodded.
Joe looked over the railing and cautiously raised his hand at The Book. Thankfully, the two men were still bickering as he muttered magic words under his breath and The Book rose.
Anna's jaw dropped in silent amazement.
The boss cut the janitor off with a small wave of his hand. "That's enough squabbling. Just remind me again why you insisted we come to this rinky-dink, twenty-first-century museum."
"I told you, sir," the janitor said through gritted teeth. "I have intel that there is an art piece here that will one day be priceless."
"And how would stealing it before that can happen would benefit us exactly?"
The Book was already halfway up, just a couple more feet…
"If it were to go missing now," the janitor explained, "it would be worth even more in the future."
"And you're sure we're in the right year?" The boss looked around the room with a sour expression. "Nothing here seems worth much more than my left sock."
"OF COURSE I'M SURE YOU NIT—"
"Relax, it was a simple question. Is this that stellar attitude I've heard about? The one that got you kicked out of the Warp Academy, Jackie boy?"
At the mention of the janitor's nickname, Joe had put two and two together. He could kick himself for not recognizing him sooner. The realization made Joe lose focus on his spell and The Book fell, sailing towards the floor.
"Do. Not. Call. Me. Jackie. B—"
WHAM!
Joe hid and prayed they didn't notice him.
Anna crawled over to him, eyes wide in shock. "Did he just say—"
"He did," Joe said. "I just dropped The Book right into Mad Jack's lap."