Chapter Thirteen

Everyone was tense as they drove into town and found Anastasius's house. They weren't sure what they would find, but a quiet and completely unassuming white cottage with a green door swinging in the wind was not it.

". . . So why did he leave his front door open?" Jimmy wondered in bewilderment.

"Is he even here?" Billy eyed the driveway. "There's nothing there unless he put it in the garage."

Radley swung his leg down from his motorcycle and headed for the walkway. "There's only one way to find out. But don't all of you follow me," he warned. "Just in case he is here and something goes wrong, somebody needs to be free to get help."

"I'm coming with you," Kalin said. "But it really looks like he's not here."

Several of the rest of the Bunch trailed after them up the walk and onto the porch. Radley peered into the living room with narrowed eyes and then gawked. ". . . What the . . ."

Kalin leaned in the other side of the door. "He really is obsessed."

Scotch bounced up and down behind them. "What is it?! Let me see!"

Radley stepped into the room, allowing Scotch to have the spot he had just vacated. "His decor is . . . something else."

Scotch's eyes went wide. Paintings and sculptures throughout the room depicted the princes. Some were reproductions of ones they had seen in California and there in Spain, while others were completely new. The masterpiece, a large painting going from the ceiling on the back wall to just above the top of the couch, depicted Prince Ramon on one knee, holding out a bouquet of yellow roses to a moved Prince Kalin, who was reaching for them.

". . . So is this a lost work of classical art or did he commission someone to do it?!" Scotch exclaimed. "It's so cool!"

Radley shook his head. "That's a really good question. I have no answer."

Kalin grunted. "It goes all-out with taking a romantic trope and inverting it to be something else." He walked further into the room, studying the painting. It was an intriguing idea, really. Somehow, seeing this painting drove home the uniqueness of the legend and its meaning. They were bound together just as deeply and just as powerfully as a romantic couple, and sometimes they even used symbols more typical of romance, even though that was not the nature of their love.

Scotch started taking pictures of everything in the room. "This is epic! How can this guy really be an enemy?! He must be a victim we need to help!"

"I kind of hope he is," Radley mused. "It's complicated either way, though." He wandered towards the hall. "I don't think he's here, but there must be a reason why his door's open."

Then he passed by another room and he paused, stopping to take a look. A custom-made calendar of paintings of the princes was hanging there, and that day's date was circled in red. Something had been scrawled in the circle in Spanish. Radley went closer to read it.

"What's that?" Kalin asked as he followed Radley to the doorway.

Radley was staring at it in disbelief. "It says 'Ramon villa, under the full moon tonight.'"

Billy snorted. "Oh, well, that's really helpful."

"It is in a way," Radley said. "I wonder if he went running off to the villa?!"

"We need to find out," Kalin said. "But what's important about the full moon?"

"Werewolves?" Scotch suggested.

"Besides that," Kalin deadpanned.

Radley sighed, looking around the room at the various folders and books. Several rolling chalkboards had been set up, each with a complex chart and assorted musings that seemed to make no sense. One depicted something resembling Stonehenge.

"Isn't that in England?" Virgil frowned at it. "What's it got to do with anything?"

"Hmm. I wonder," Radley mused. He went over to the board, translating the various notations in his mind. ". . . It almost sounds like he thinks there's something on the villa property that's like Stonehenge and he'll be able to activate it tonight under the full moon."

"Why tonight, specifically?" Kalin wondered. "If a full moon activates it, there's been plenty of those."

"I wonder if tonight is a special anniversary," Radley mused.

"Or maybe they had to build up a lot of power first somehow and they finally got enough!" Scotch offered.

"Who had to build up power?" Billy retorted. "Who's 'they'?"

"The bad guys!" Scotch said. "Whatever's controlling him, maybe!"

Radley read over the chalkboard another time and took a picture of it. "He wrote something about music," he said. "Could it be the music box? He was really interested in it."

"Do you think he might try to take the music box?" Kalin frowned.

"If he thought it would help him in whatever he's hoping to do, yeah," Radley said. "I'm going to call the villa and tell the servants to watch out for him. I think we'd better get over there right away."

"Should anyone stay here to watch for him coming back?" Billy asked.

"Yeah, I think we should still do that," Radley said. "But probably no more than a couple would need to stay back. I've got the feeling he's not coming back here, but is going to the villa."

Kalin was checking his phone. "The moon rises in the late afternoon today," he reported.

"Then we need to be ready," Radley said. "He might not wait for night."

After quickly placing a call to the villa, and arranging for a couple of the Bunch to stay back and watch for Anastasius's return, Radley led the others back to their motorcycles.

"We'll keep looking around and let you know if we find anything else important inside," Jimmy told Radley.

He smiled. "Cool. Just be careful, you guys. I don't trust Anastasius at all right now. He might be an innocent victim, but he might not be."

"We'll be careful," Virgil promised. "You guys are the ones going into the big danger. Just give us the word and we'll come out too."

Radley gave him a thumbs-up. "Right."

xxxx

When they arrived at the villa, the servants were confused and concerned, but Anastasius was nowhere in sight. Still on edge, Radley headed for the gallery and right to the music box. He lifted it, letting it play as he studied it with a frown.

"Just because it's still here doesn't mean Anastasius doesn't intend to take it," Kalin remarked.

"Yeah." Radley sighed. "But what could he want it for?"

"Didn't the graph give any indication?" Kalin asked.

"It said 'the music will set it free,'" Radley said. "Set what free? Surely not the monster."

Kalin pondered. "Apparently it was a family treasure of the Ramons," he said. "And Prince Ramon gave it to Prince Kalin for safekeeping. They had no idea about any evil force then. It probably controls something good."

Radley nodded. "We'd hope. And if it ties in with this bizarre thing about Stonehenge and the full moon, I wonder if the music is supposed to be played outside under the full moon to trigger whatever it is." He scowled. "Where, though? This place is huge!"

Valentina suddenly approached, her eyes flickering in concern. "What has happened?" she asked. "We were told you warned everyone that that horrible man might be coming back here and to protect the music box!"

"We just arrived back ourselves," Antonio added as he appeared.

"It's a long story," Radley said. "And we're not sure of the ending." Quickly they all explained, while his great-great-grandparents listened with furrowed brows.

"So do you know a place where we should set it up?" Scotch summed up at the end.

"Or what it might set free?" Radley added.

"We don't know the latter," Antonio said. "We've never heard such a thing."

"However, there is a strange clearing where the charge has been handed down through the centuries that we're supposed to leave it alone," Valentina offered. "No one knows why, if there was ever a reason. But we have never cultivated it or planted grapes there."

"I guess that's our best bet," Radley said.

"So we're just going out there and playing this music box under the moon to see what happens?!" Billy said in disbelief.

"I know it sounds crazy, but I don't know what else to do at this point," Radley said. "Anastasius sure acted like he'd figured out something important. We need to get to it first."

Valentina nodded. "We will take you all out there. Come."

Kalin pondered as they started to walk. ". . . Maybe the diary says something important about the music box on some of the pages we haven't read yet," he suggested.

"That could be, but unfortunately, it's in Spanish and I can't read while riding in a car," Radley said. "I don't know if we have time to sit and go through it right now. Anastasius could be on his way here."

"How about you send the pages you have to me and I'll sound out the words while we ride?" Kalin said. "You can translate."

Radley smiled at that. "Works for me. Let's go."

They were almost to the mysterious clearing when Kalin stumbled upon an important passage. "I know just enough Spanish to tell this is talking about music," he said excitedly before reading the words.

Radley perked up. "'You gave me an incredible gift today,'" he translated. "'The music box that protects the secret of your family. You wanted me to look after it in case of trouble. I am overwhelmed by the trust you have placed in me, a trust I'm sure your family does not share. I asked you what to do with it if trouble comes, and you told me it must be brought to a specific place in the kingdom and played under a full moon. The moon will give it power. I will know what to do from there if needed.'"

"So any full moon would work," Kalin mused. "It's not that this is a special anniversary."

"It's just that this is the first full moon when the music box's location is known!" Radley exclaimed. "Anastasius couldn't do anything without knowing where it was."

"There's a sketch here of a clearing," Kalin said. "It's drawn like a crescent moon."

"Ironic that a crescent is the symbol when it takes a full moon to work," Radley said. "But then a crescent is the most recognizable symbol of the moon."

"And we are definitely heading to a clearing shaped like a crescent!" Valentina said excitedly.

They pulled up just outside the clearing. By now the late afternoon was giving way to evening and twilight was coming on. The full moon above them was very bright.

Radley drew a deep breath. "Well, this is it then. I don't see Anastasius, so hopefully the coast is clear to do this. I guess the diary doesn't give any more details on what to do?"

"No," Kalin said. "What was written is apparently all Prince Kalin needed to know."

"Okay." Radley got out of the car and walked to the center of the crescent, carefully holding the music box. Kalin went with him and stood next to him while the Bunch fanned out around the area to watch for trouble. Valentina and Antonio stayed by the car.

"Are you ready?" Valentina asked Radley, who smirked a bit.

"Even if I say no, I still have to do this," Radley said. He started to open the box. "Let's go."

The haunting, sweet tune filled the air as night continued to descend. The full moon, directly overhead now, lit upon every part of the crescent clearing. And, as Radley held the box out, something underneath them began to rumble.

"What's that?!" Barney exclaimed.

The rumbling increased, nearly knocking several of the group off their feet. Kalin held on to both Radley and the music box to steady them.

". . . I hope we haven't made a mistake," Radley groaned.

The ground around them lifted, some of the grass and dirt falling away to reveal a beautiful white marble floor. To their shock, thick pillars and walls emerged from various spots in the floor and rose high above their heads. A ceiling, open in the middle, came together and banged shut.

"What is this place?!" Radley gasped.

Kalin looked around in disbelief. ". . . It looks like something out of ancient Greece or Rome," he said, "but we know it's not."

Radley reached out, gingerly touching the nearest stone pillar. "It's amazing. . . . All of this was hidden under the ground. This place is the secret of the Ramon family. But why? What else is in here?"

Kalin wandered ahead, his shoes echoing eerily off the marble floor and walls. He soon stopped at the sight of a sword laying on an altar under a large mirror. He stared at it, studying his reflection in the blade. Something about it called to him, compelled him to touch it. He reached for the hilt.

Radley wandered over at the same moment. Another mirror was directly next to Kalin's, its altar empty. But when Radley looked in the mirror, he almost dropped the music box.

He definitely saw himself in the glass. But the image shimmered, as if the surface of water, and suddenly the reflection was dressed as Prince Ramon. The other him looked at him and smiled. "Hi."

Radley had to set the box on the altar. "What . . . how?!"

"The mirrors reflect one's true self, or a part of oneself that's been forgotten and thought lost," was the reply. "I'm you and you're me. We used to come here for confidence and encouragement. It's the Hall of Memories, a sacred treasure of our family."

In the background, Radley was conscious that Kalin was having a similar conversation with the other mirror's reflection. His was dressed as Prince Kalin.

". . . I don't remember being you, or this place, or anything about this," Radley frowned.

"You will," his reflection replied. "When you need that information, it will all come back to you."

"I need it now!" Radley said in frustration. "What about Anastasius? Did he want to find this place? Why? Who is he?!"

"Anastasius . . . the missing part of the legend," his reflection said softly. "Think. You remember him."

"No, I don't!" Radley leaned forward, placing his hands on the altar. "Tell me about him!"

The reflection brought his hands up, placing them on the rippling surface of the mirror. "Remember."

Radley reached up to touch the other him's hands. The surface rippled again and Radley's eyes widened.

Next to him, Kalin's heart was gathering speed as he stared at his princely reflection. So noble . . . so unlike how he had thought of himself ever since becoming a Dark Signer. . . .

"This is impossible," he said at last. "How could I really have been this?"

"You still are," his reflection replied. "Take this sword. You'll need it."

Kalin's hand curled around the blade. "But isn't this a Ramon family sword?"

"It's our sword," his reflection said. "The families stored it here for safe-keeping . . . and for the day you would need it again. They placed it here in the Hall of Memories before retracting the Hall into the ground for safety's sake as well."

". . . How do you—I—know this, when this happened after our death?" Kalin frowned.

"Ramon and I were allowed to see it," said his reflection. "Go on, raise our sword."

Kalin slowly lifted it. It was heavy . . . unfamiliar . . . and yet it wasn't. He did remember something of it. He raised it in front of him, pointed towards the sky, the moonbeams shining in between the pillars and giving it light.

His reflection smiled and nodded at him. "We trained with it every day. We were the kingdom's best."

"But what do I do with it?" Kalin frowned. "Are we going to get into a swordfight with Anastasius? Will I have to cut him down?"

"The sword has mystical properties, the same as the pendant," his reflection said. "You will know what to do when the time comes."

"What?!" Kalin stared. "Why wasn't that written in the diary?!"

"It's written," was the reply. "But I didn't spend much time on that. I wanted to talk about Ramon."

Kalin grunted. "I guess you never had any thought that maybe you'd need the information about the sword at some future date."

"No, not really," said his reflection.

Kalin frowned, pondering all of this new information. ". . . Is this sword and these mirrors really all that's here? It sounded from the diary like there was more to it."

"There is," said his reflection in a vague sort of voice.

"Is Anastasius after the sword or this something else?" Kalin's voice was gaining a definite edge.

"Both," his reflection answered. "In the past, the Ramon family was distrusted by our family because they had been entrusted with the power of the pendant and of this Hall. They worried the Ramons would abuse their power. Of course, they never did."

"We knew all the secrets here, didn't we?" Kalin asked. "Ramon must have told us."

"He did. You still have that knowledge locked inside."

Kalin slowly ran his hand across the altar and the bottom of the mirror. ". . . I remember being brought here," he said. "I was . . . fascinated. Moved. Honored that Ramon had entrusted me, his family's enemy, with something so important."

His reflection smiled and nodded.

Radley pulled his hands away from his own reflection, breathing heavily. "Kalin . . ." He looked over at his friend. "I remember about Anastasius. . . ."

Kalin came to attention. He would have to worry about the secrets of this place a little later. "What about him?"

"He was a pageboy," Radley said. "He was frustrated by the people's distrust and he wanted the kingdoms to be united. When the evil force was created, it tricked him. It said if he let it in, he would have the power to unite the kingdoms. It just didn't bother to tell him it planned to 'unite' the kingdoms by bathing them in darkness and killing the Princes."

Suddenly Kalin felt weak. The sword clattered to the floor. "The darkness tricked him. . . ."

"Like it did you," Radley said quietly. "He really was a victim."

Kalin brought a shaking hand to his forehead. "Did he ever realize?"

"He did, and he begged for death," Radley said. "Prince Ramon tried to spare his life, but the evil force took his life out of revenge when it was pulled out of him and banished. Because the evil that killed the Princes used his body as a vessel, the families didn't want to preserve that part of the story. They thought it was kinder to him and his family to have it be forgotten."

Kalin ran his hand down his face. "How are we going to stop that from happening again?"

"I don't know," Radley fretted. Instead of answers that helped, they had been left with more questions. This was an agonizing problem.

Kalin looked to the sword at his feet. "And I'm apparently a magical swordmaster. I have no idea what to do with that or how that's going to help us."

Radley slumped back, overwhelmed. "Prince Ramon said we'll have the knowledge when we need it, but we need it right now!" He blinked, looking back at the mirror. "He also said the mirrors show our true selves or things we've forgot. What if we have the Bunch come up and look in them? Maybe their past lives will have some clues."

"It can't hurt," Kalin said. "I still need to look more myself. I was starting to remember coming here, but nothing else just yet."

Radley nodded and started to move forward, then paused. ". . . Scotch doesn't remember the first four years of his life," he said. "What if when he looks, he sees something traumatizing from that instead of the more distant past?"

"Warn him that might happen," Kalin said. "I'm sure he'll choose to look anyway if he thinks it might help us."

Radley smiled a bit. "I'm sure too."

He walked over to the pillars and the steps leading down. Only now did he realize there was a soundproof barrier around the structure. The Bunch was all on the other side, yelling and banging on it to be heard. Radley couldn't hear a thing.

"Hang on, guys," he tried to call back, hoping they could at least read his lips. "I'll have to figure out how to get rid of this thing."

To his relief, the pillar nearest him had two buttons on it. When he pressed the bottom one, the barrier vanished and his eardrums were suddenly assaulted by many distressed voices.

"Radley!"

"What is this thing?!"

"What happened?!"

"What's going on in there?!"

Radley held up his hands for silence. "We're still pretty confused too, but I'll try to explain."

The Bunch listened carefully to his explanation. When he suggested they come look in the mirrors too, they readily agreed. Despite the possible heartache that Scotch especially might encounter, he didn't hesitate to join the others.

As they all hurried over to the mirrors, Radley sighed and slumped against the pillar. Valentina and Antonio approached the steps in concern.

"Are you alright, Radley?" Valentina asked.

He weakly smiled. "Yeah. Just overwhelmed right now. I can't deny part of me still wishes none of this was true and that we only had one life to figure out . . . especially since this other life keeps intruding on the one we know. Things just keep getting more and more complicated."

Kalin approached with the sword. "I thought of something else, too. . . . Doesn't this mean we were really supposed to have lived back then instead of now? That if none of the mess had happened, we would have lived out our lives back then and never known this modern era?"

Radley groaned at that thought. ". . . You believe in Fate," he said at last. "What if everything was supposed to happen the way it did? What if we were supposed to come to this day and time and not to just have lived in the past? I don't wanna think we were supposed to die back then, but . . . this is me." He tapped his chest. "And you're you. We love the time we were born in. We belong in this time. I have no longing to have lived back whenever the Princes did. I don't wanna think we weren't really supposed to be here."

"Since God granted your families' longing for you to continue your lives in this time and place, you are both definitely supposed to be here," Valentina insisted. "Think about it! You could have been sent to any time at all or even brought back to life in your original time period. Instead, God chose to send you here. He knew this is where you both belong." She smiled.

Radley finally smiled too. "Yeah. . . . That makes sense," he admitted.

". . . It does," Kalin said. He relaxed, slightly.

His phone dinged and he looked down at it. "Yusei and the others are here," he announced. "They just landed at the airport. The Big Five are just getting in too and have met them."

"Wonderful!" Valentina beamed. "Tell them we will send a car for all of them to bring them here."

"You might need to make that a couple of cars," Radley said. "We've got a lot of friends."

Kalin looked to where the Bunch were still crowding around the mirrors. "A lot," he agreed.