“No need to cover that gorgeous physique, dear one,” Sophia said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had the divine pleasures of the body satisfied in these halls. I miss it.”
“All due respect, I will still put on my pants,” Argan said, already tying the drawstring.
“You both have done what no one has been able to do since the First Age,” Sophia said. “Because of your work, the Golden Age is assured. I thank you, and a celebration is in order.”
“Thank you,” Skylar said, humbled. “But Sophia, I can’t celebrate knowing so much of the world is in pieces. Back home, my country is literally torn in half. The sea is rising from melting ice caps, and even Atlantis will soon sink for the second time. I really don’t see much to celebrate.”
“Yes,” Sophia said serenely, “those are the experiences happening in the fallen world, but this celebration is for a different reason. It is your baptism, as the new queen.”
“I’m sorry?” Skylar asked.
“You said yourself, you are the new queen of the sea,” Sophia said.
Skylar studied her face, sure it was a joke. “I was kidding! We’re standing in a life-size sand castle, for goodness’ sake.”
“You returned the whole stone to the well, Skylar. The Underworld and the Atlantis representing the past are gone. That world you speak of is also gone.” She gestured to the sand chair. “That throne sat broken during the reign of the sun. Now the moon returns, and the Divine Feminine has arrived. You fixed all of this. This castle rebuilt itself for you, not me. You are the rightful heir. You must take my place.”
“Here?” Skylar’s eyes widened. “Take your place here?” She repeated the words, unsure they were the right ones. “No, that can’t be right.” She looked at Argan. “Did your mother tell you this would happen? Did you know about this?” Her voice squeaked higher.
“Can’t say I did,” he said.
“You were asking about your future,” Sophia said. “This is your future.”
Noah and Milicent found their way safely through the alchemical door but returned to a blaze in the Quine library. It would seem that despite her connection to the Great Mothers, Milicent’s library was fair game. Or perhaps it was because of it.
“My books!” Milicent screamed, stunned at the sight of the burning room. She tried to use what little she knew about sound technology to extinguish the flames, but she didn’t have the right materials, or enough time. She switched to an incantation and Noah grabbed her arm.
“Mil.” He pulled on her. “Let’s go!”
The flames loomed closer but she refused to move. “I can do this.” She whirred her hands and only flame came out.
“Mil!” Noah yelled over the noise. “You are literally fighting fire with fire, this isn’t going to work.” He grabbed her by her clothes and pulled her toward the door.
“Get your hands off of me!” she yelled as she grabbed an armful of manuscripts from the ancient Egyptian section.
“Leave them!” he yelled and pulled harder.
Her energy shifted away from fighting the fire and over to fighting him.
“These cannot be replaced! I am not leaving without them!” The flames grew brighter and all the oxygen in the room was swallowed up. Milicent gave one last effort to create an oxygen bubble, but nothing worked. Nothing in the room was meant to be saved.
As if she’d just snapped out of hysteria, she finally gained full awareness of what was happening. She stopped resisting and collapsed on the floor.
“Let me die here, Noah,” she said. “I’m supposed to die here. Like Diana. Like my books. Let me burn.” She slumped even farther to the floor.
“You listen to me!” He got in her face. “You get your ass up and we are walking out of here, do you understand? You’ve never been a wimp in the face of hardship, and you sure as hell aren’t starting now. Get up!” In a feat of strength, he hauled her to her feet and took her by the hand. “Let’s go!”
She reluctantly followed him out of the library but slumped again in the hall.
He flung his tie over his shoulder and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Mil, you’ve got to work with me here. I can’t drag you up the stairs.”
She let him lead her up the stairs and outside. The fire trucks were already on the scene.
“It will be no use,” she said. “Those books aren’t meant to survive.” She broke down and cried.
“Let these boys feel useful, Mil,” Noah said as they watched the team fight the blaze that had now completely engulfed the Quine.
Suki and Mica were watching emergency personnel battle a blaze on the White House lawn when the sky opened up and a deluge of water rained down from above. Within ten minutes, the fire was out. And the rain kept coming.
Wren approached. “Madam President, you’re not going to believe this.”
“If I had a nickel, Wren,” Mica said.
“It would seem to be raining,” Wren said.
Mica gave her a look that questioned her intellect.
“Everywhere, ma’am. It is raining on every continent of the globe … at the same time.”
“Even Africa?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Huh, okay … well, if it doesn’t stop, we’ll have another problem. But for now, let’s say this is a good thing.”
“Yes, ma’am. You’re due back in the press room to comment.” Wren ducked her head and left them.
Suki and Mica stood under a canopy and watched the smoke turn to mist.
“She did it,” Suki said.
“No,” Mica said. “We did it. This rain is the realization of all our hard work—the work of the collective. A nation is the reflection of its people. Those fires were its anger. This rain is its peace.”
With that, Mica left for the press room, and Suki returned to Operation Liberty Tree to think about next steps. A great part of the country needed rebuilding.
Suki had accomplished much in the short time she’d been in DC. She loved the pace of the city. A year’s worth of work was done in a week. At first she had been hesitant and stuck to what she was familiar with, reading and interpreting the antique texts. That, overlapped with the early colonial volumes she remembered from the Quine library, made for a re-creation of the original intent for America. It was fine, but she wanted to make it better. So she researched further.
In the new vision she’d constructed, she’d added back components from the Great Law of Peace that had been left out of the Constitution—one being a woman’s council, similar to the Supreme Court, but with more of a spiritual spin. Peace was the ultimate goal of this new plan, and all decisions would have that end result in mind, not the highly profitable war mindset that had ruled the country since its inception.
She picked up an antique parchment with hieroglyphics on it. The cracked globe, the rain, and sea creatures dotted the paper.
“Of course,” Suki said. “This has been written for thousands of years.” Down on the bottom of the page were drawings of six snakes; as they were drawn from left to right, they ate an Egyptian queen. “Huh.”