Are we still destroying ourselves? she wondered. Are we still travelling the road of the Sinnissippi? She hadn’t thought about it for a long time, wrapped up in her own life, the events of five years earlier behind her, buried in a past she would rather forget. She had been only a girl of fourteen. Her world had been saved, and at the time she had been grateful enough to let it go at that.
But her world was expanding now, reaching out to places and people beyond Hopewell. What was happening in that larger world, the world into which her future would take her? What would become of it without John Ross?
Rain coated the windows in glistening sheets that turned everything beyond into a shimmering haze. The park and her backyard disappeared. The world beyond vanished.
She walked to the phone and dialed Robert Keppler. He answered on the fourth ring, sounding distracted. “Yeah, hello?”
“Back on the computer, Robert?” she asked teasingly.
“Nest?”
“Want to go out for a pizza later?”
“Well, yeah, of course.” He was alert and eager now, surprised. “When?”
“In an hour. I’ll pick you up. But there’s a small price for this.”
“What is it?”
“You have to drive me to O’Hare tomorrow morning. I can go whenever you want, and you can use my car. Just bring it back when you’re done and park it in the drive.”
She didn’t know how Ariel would get to Seattle, but she didn’t think it was something she needed to worry about. The Lady’s creatures seemed able to get around just fine without any help from humans.
She waited for Robert to say something. There was a long pause before he did.
“O’Hare Where are you going?”
“Seattle.”
“Seattle?”
“The Emerald City, Robert.”
“Yeah, I know what it’s called. Why are you going there?”
She sighed and stared off through the window into the rainy gloom. “I guess you could say I’m off to see the Wizard.” She paused for effect. “Bye, Robert.”
Then she hung up.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 29th
CHAPTER 6
John Ross finished the closing paragraph of Simon’s Seattle Art Museum speech, read it through a final time to make certain it all hung together, dropped his pen, and leaned back in his chair with a satisfied sigh. Not bad. He was getting pretty good at this speech-writing business. It wasn’t what Simon had hired him for, but it looked like it was a permanent part of his job description now. All those years he had spent knocking around in graduate English programs were serving a useful purpose after all. He grinned and glanced out the window of his tiny office. Morning rain was giving way to afternoon sun. Overhead, the drifting clouds were beginning to reveal small patches of blue. Just another typical Seattle day.
He glanced at the clack on his desk and saw that it was rearing three. He had been at this since late morning. Time for a break.
He pushed back his chair and levered himself to his feet. He was three years beyond forty, but when rested he could easily pass for ten years less. Lean and fit, he had the sun-browned, rawboned lank of an outdoorsman, his face weathered, yet still boyish. His long brown hair was tied back with a rolled bandanna, giving him the look of a man who might not be altogether comfortable with the idea of growing up. Pale green eyes looked out at the world as if still trying to decide what to make of it.
And, indeed, John Ross nod been working on deciphering the meaning of life for a long time.
He stood with his hand gripping the polished walnut staff that served as his crutch, wondering again what would happen if he simply cast it away, if he defied the warning that had accompanied its bestowal and cut loose his final tie to the Word. He had considered it often in the last few months, thinking there was no reason for further delay and he should simply make the decision and act on it. But he could never quite bring himself to carry through, even though he was no longer a Knight of the Word and the staff’s power was no longer a part of his life.