The Black and White

The last thing I wanted to do was involve Nick, but it didn't look like I had much of a choice in the matter. I decided to wait a day, and make sure I had the right guy. I went and pulled up his files, reading all of them.

When I eventually finished around 10 pm, I was about to go to bed when I heard a knock on my door. I stopped mid stretch, and turned to look at the door. The person knocked on my door again, this time more insistently. I looked out the door hole, saw who it was, and quickly opened the door.

“Nick? What on earth are you doing here?” I exclaimed. He turned around and when I saw the look on his face, I quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him in.

After I locked the door I started asking questions. “Nick. What are you doing here, and why do you look like you're running?”

His hair was disheveled, his eyes looked wild, and his clothes were filthy. “Rose.” he whispered, then pulled me into a hug.

“Yes, it's me Nick, but why are you here?” I said, hugging him for a moment then pushing him off.

“Rose, don't you know? They said you went to Elsewhere. That when you crossed the boundaries, you decided to go to Elsewhere. And when I found out you were still here, I had to come see you.”

“Nick, you're not making any sense. Why did you have to come see me?” I asked.

He fidgeted. “I've been seeing things. Thing I can't explain. I went to the library to look some of it up, and couldn't find anything. So I used the computers and hacked into the data-base, and realized I was having flashbacks of Greek times.”

My heart stopped. “Greek times.” I said softly, as if in a trance.

“Yeah, Greek.” he said, looking at me weird.

I walked away from him and into my library. I climbed up the ladder and grabbed a certain book. I handed it to him and he inspected the green cover. “Here. This will tell you about what it was like before Sameness. Before the war. Where people like us came from.”

He gave me a quizzical look, as he looked at the front page. “Rose, its says it's fictional.”

“Trust me.” I said walking out the door. “It's anything but fiction.” and I left him to his reading. About ten minutes later, I heard a pounding at my door. This time, I had a feeling who it was.

When I opened the door, the Head Keeper was standing directly in front of me. “A runaway was seen running in this area. Have you seen him?” he asked.

“As a matter of fact yes. He's inside at the moment.” He opened his mouth to speak but I interrupted him. “But you've saved me the trouble of having to take my candidate. Nick was the one I was going to choose to give my memories too. And no, I'm not just saying that to keep him safe. I honestly was going to choose him.”

He stared at me for a moment, then put his fist up to signal his men. “Fine. But if we catch him sneaking information without permission again,” he said.

“Ah ah. Wait.” I interrupted again. “Now that he's my candidate, he is allowed to do that. It would probably be best if your men installed one of the computers in my house so people don't find out what he is doing and get worried.”

The Keeper sighed, “We've decided to have a ceremony celebrating a new job.” He said, and walked away, his mini army in tow. I shut the door and locked it again, and went back into the library. Nick was sitting in the plush yellow chair, his shoes off, his legs crossed, reading intently.

“How is it?” I asked. He jumped slightly, and craned his neck to look at me.

“It's like pieces of a puzzle are finally coming together.” he said, closing the book but kept his finger marking his page. He turned around and sat in his seat. “What was it like for you? I mean, when you finally figured it out? All the lies we've been told.”

I sat down in a chair in front of his. “I didn't find out like you did. I had, glimpses, of the past in my dreams. When I would share my dreams, my parents would become frightened. I assume they told the Keepers, because I heard rumors that they were going to send me to Elsewhere. So I ran. I ran in the middle of the day to the edge, and jumped. I crossed the boundary of memory.”

He stared at me intently as if wanting me to go on. “Is that it? How did you feel when you crossed?”

I thought for a moment. “You don't understand the true meaning of feel. Feeling is hard to explain. It's joy, happiness, pain and loss. It felt like a truck had hit me.”

He looked at me funny. “A, a truck? What's a truck?”

I laughed. “I guess I need to show you first.” I stood up, grabbed a book off the shelf, and tossed it to him. He awkwardly caught it, and started reading again. “Hey. Nick.”

He looked up. “Yes?”

“Only read the green ones at first. If you wanna stay up and read, just the green ones.”

He nodded. “Okay. Are you going to bed?”

“It is past the time everyone is supposed to.” I said, walking away to my bedroom.

I hate dreams. I hate sleeping because it means dreams. Tonight, I dreamt about the Olympians again. They were all there, sitting in a circle, each in his or her own throne. There were three half-bloods standing in the middle of the giant thrones, along with a satyr and a cow-fish in a ball of water.

“You won't take it under the sea!” The man in the middle stood up. “I won't have that kind of bargaining chip in your possession.”

Then man next to him sighed. “Brother please.”

Zeus' lightning bolt appeared in his hand.

“Fine. I will build an aquarium for the creature here. Hephaestus can help me. The creature will be safe. We shall protect it with all our powers. The boy will not betray us. I vouch for this on my honor.”

Zeus thought a moment, then said, “All in favor?”

All but four hands went up. “We have a majority.” Zeus said. Then the scene changed again.

I was sliding down a hill on a shield, silver knife in one hand, and a bronze sword in the other. A wolf lunged at me, and I instinctively swiped at it with the knife. It evaporated, and disappeared. I felt incredible pain on my back, and quickly turned around and swiped with the sword this time, decapitating what looked like a snake lady. I couldn't place the name. I could feel the warm blood dripping down my back.

The shield hit a rock, and sent me flying. I tumbled down the hill, and laid there at the bottom for a minute, catching my breath. I slowly got up, and turned to face the ten dracaene and wolves coming down the hill.

The wolves arrived first. The bronze sword only injured them, the silver knife killed them. The surrounded me, growling, and swiping at me with their paws. I took a deep breath, and threw the knife at one, and swung my sword in a wide arc. I rolled in the grass and picked up my knife.

One at a time. The wolves all lunged at me at one. I ran back, but almost into the draceane. So I ran right, killing a wolf that flew at me. The wolves were fast, and one jumped on me. My knife was stuck in between my chest and its torso. I pushed it off, and swiped at its nose.

The slightest cut killed it. I swiped, threw, rolled, and swung, over and over until the wolves were nothing but a breeze. Then, the draceane.

Before I could swing, an arrow pierced my shoulder. I cried out in pain, and fell to my knees. Breathing heavily, I stood back up to face them, trying to ignore the pain. I picked up my sword, and waited. One lunged at me with a spear. I stepped to the side and swung up.

She turned to yellow dust. Next, a net. I ran to the side, ignoring it, and killing the one who threw it. I stabbed another in the chest, and swung out, slicing the neck of the other. I looked around for the last one, but couldn't find it. I suddenly felt cold. I saw the tip of a spear protruding from my stomach, right above my belly button.

I fell to my knees again, this time, I didn't get up.

I woke up with a gasp. Nick, was on the ground, looking like he was in shock. “Nick! What, are you okay?” I said.

He looked at his hand, then his abdomen. “I was trying to wake you up. You were thrashing around and crying, and, I think I saw your dream.”

I got out of bed and hugged him. His eyes were watering. “Nick, I'm so sorry. I didn't want you to see that. Not for a long while.” His body shook.

I tried to think happy thoughts. Running in the grass, the warmth of the sun on my back, wildflowers all around the field. The memory started to fade, but Nick seemed to calm down. I let go, and looked at my hands.

“What was that? It felt like I was there. That is was my memory.” he said.

I stood up, and grabbed my tunic and pants. “Wait. Answer my question. What was that?”

I stopped, my hand on the door nob, afraid of what I knew it was. “That, was me giving you a memory.”

Notes