Chapter 15

The rest of the week was spent in research. Once Emma even noticed a familiar book title. She picked it up only to see the same cover she had seen in her town library. It said “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen. Not so different.

The kids mostly stayed inside the palace, except for random walks around the palace grounds. Neither Emma nor Mercury went to the village again. Though Emma asked them to tell her more about the fests on this Earth. And later on she became so fascinated by this planet’s traditions that she asked Mercury to teach her some of the history of the country.

And apparently Mercury really loved the war of 1066.

“But why?”

“Don’t get me wrong, I really like learning all history but I guess every historian needs the date they love most. And isn’t this one fascinating. If only the war ended differently it could affect all of us,” at that point he got up and went to fetch a book.

Sandy rolled her eyes: “He’s really crazy about this stuff”.

Emma laughed at her expression as Mercury came back.

“Go ahead, laugh all you want, but look here. The Battle of Hastings,” he pointed at the picture in the book where there was a photo of a tapestry. “There were three kings who was aiming to rule England: William, the Duke of Normandy, Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, who was just named king shortly before and Norwegian King Harald Hardrada. Now, Harald Hardrada died in the battle a few days before the Battle of Hastings. So the battle was between the Duke and the King of England”.

“I think I remember now,” said Emma. “Right, William the Conquer won the battle. I thought his name was familiar”.

“No,” said Mercury confused. “That’s not what happened at all”.

“Really?”

“Yes, see, the two of them were killed on the battlefield. It was a real bloodbath. And that’s when the Earls of England remembered that they had another successor Edgar. And that part is really fascinating to me. The problem before was that he was just a child, but now with nobody to conquer England he was the only one to be crowned”.

“God, I’m pretty sure it’s not what happened in our world”.

“But we would have different languages then, wouldn’t we? I mean with the William winning the battle, you’d have a lot more French words,” asked Sandy.

“But,” said Mercury holding up a finger. “In ten years Normandy had a new leader, son of William - Robert Curthose. And with him the army regained its power. Wanting to avenge his father he led the Norman army across the English channel to England. This time they came to Sevenoaks. The battle was won by Robert. Which is why, answering your question, our languages are pretty much the same”.

“The names,” said Emma, thinking. “The town names, they sound very familiar. And you said England?”

“That’s because the only two towns that weren’t renamed were those two, where the big battles changing the course of history took place. And, yes, you’ve heard it right. You see, the one who renamed the whole map of England and the name of the country was none other than Robert”.

“But why?” asked Emma. “Didn’t he have anything better to do? Like rule?”

“And he did just that. But he couldn’t let his rage go. Killing his father as we see was not the smartest move”.

“Man,” said Emma, paralyzed. “You were right. This is just fascinating”.

Mercury smirked.

The week was slowly coming to an end and they still didn’t find any information on portals. They tried looking through maps and guessing where and when the next portal might be opened. But they didn’t even really had any theories to base their research on. They couldn’t even find a remotely close topic to this one. Mostly it was just tales or novels that didn’t even tell about travelling to another Earth.

When Emma didn’t look through books she was drawing and painting. It calmed her like nothing else. She couldn’t help but to think of her Earth.

On Wednesday they had a little more luck. Sandy found a fiction book. Iit seemed to describe the process of travelling as close to the truth as Emma could confirm.

“But there isn’t anything about how to find a portal,” said Mercury after they finished reading the book.

“Do you think this guy,” said Emma, looking at the cover of the book. “Laup Snemis knows what he’s talking about? What a weird name by the way”.

Sandy said: “You think he travelled?”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Emma shrugged. “But he seems to know quite a lot. What if it’s not his only book? What if he did the research?”

Sandy and Mercury exchanged looks.

“If he did,” said Mercury. “We have to find all the books by what was it again? Laup Snemis”.

Emma nodded. And so they stopped looking through random books and instead they searched for Laup Snemis’s books. After about four hours of search it became obvious that there wasn’t any more of his books in the library.

“We could go to the village library,” suggested Mercury. But Sandy was stubborn about not getting out again.

“Let’s just look through other books,” she concluded returning to one of the piles they put together earlier. Emma didn’t feel as sure about the plan, but she didn’t find anything to contradict. So they returned to the books.

Thursday morning didn’t bring any more luck. Emma was eating her breakfast while flipping through one of the books and thinking how used she got to seeing Sandy and Mercury every day. Still she was longing to go home and see her mother and she really missed her sister. On the other hand on her Earth the problems were just waiting for her to return. If she stayed she would never have to deal with those. But no, Emma learned to deal with her problems the hard way. She just can’t run from them anymore. But what if she wouldn’t even get a choice?

After some time in the morning Sandy had decided to go for a walk, leaving Mercury and Emma alone in the library.

“Do you think,” started Emma after a few minutes of reading. “I would be able to make a life here? You know, in case … in case we fail”.

Mercury looked up at her. He studied her eyes for a moment and then said: “We won’t fail”. We simply can’t fail.

They didn’t say anything for a few moments. Then Mercury put his book aside and said with a sigh: “For a time, after my father died, I was blaming everyone and everything around me for his death. But especially I was blaming myself. I know it sounds stupid and there is nothing a kid could do to help. When the police said he died because an old tree branch fell on him, I was devastated. And for a time I thought I might not be able to move on. I didn’t want to move on”. Mercury stopped and breathed in abruptly.

“What changed?” Emma asked quietly.

“Sebastian,” said Mercury. And for the first time he talked about him not as if he is a real person but as if he was a hero Mercury made up as kid. “He came and picked me up and gave me a life. A chance to move on. A chance to grow up”.

“He sounds like a great guy,” Emma noticed.

“He was”.

Emma noticed how Mercury said “was” like Sebastian wasn’t alive anymore. She frowned but didn’t say anything.

“Anyway,” said Mercury shaking his head as if he was shaking his thoughts away. “Before anything I promise you we’ll do everything to get you home. But if anything should happen we’ll help you. You have my word”.

Emma nodded. “Thank you”.

Later that evening Emma became especially desperate. She felt as though she’s trapped. And a realization came to her mind that she could be stuck here forever. Not that she never thought of this before, but now she could really physically feel the possibility.

After long hours of reading Emma felt as if there were no lesser books and not much progress. And she started to feel that she could sit there no longer.

“I’m going to take a walk,” she said out loud, getting up from the spot she’s been sitting in for hours without moving.

Mercury and Sandy looked up from their books.

“Should I come with you?” Sandy suggested.

“No,” Emma shook her head. “I just need some fresh air”.

“Ok, then,” Sandy nodded. “Just be careful”.

Emma smiled and nodded back. She hurriedly left the library and went through the long corridors to the front door and then outside.

Her legs ached from sitting for far too long, and she was glad she decided to have a walk. She needed that. To clear her head. And also she didn’t want to vent her frustration on Sandy and Mercury. She could not bear a thought of losing them right now. They’ve been most helpful and dedicated people.

The weather was quite nice with the clear sky and only a slight wind. The leaves were almost all on the ground, except for a few trees that for some reason decided they can win the weather over. Emma was wearing her coat from when she got in this world and a scarf, Sandy had given her, because she had left her own back in the palace.

Emma walked thinking and didn’t even notice when she came to the spot she found Mercury a few days back. She stood next to the tree they had been sitting under and looked at the forest. Memories of her and Mercury in the village came back to her and she fondly smiled.

“Would it be all that bad if I stayed here?” Emma asked out loud.

What if they didn’t find anything? What if that was just once in a lifetime thing? One way ticket?

Maybe Emma would be able to adopt. She certainly had more friends here than she ever had back home. Home. What is home? And how does one decide where home is? She could just say this planet was her home and be happy here. But there was something definite in her mind that screamed at her it’s not your home. Maybe she just needed an adjustment period.

Emma looked up to get distracted from her thoughts. She saw that the sun was beginning to set, though it wasn’t nearly dark yet. The scenery reminded her of another good memory with Mercury. Then she remembered his strange behavior at the fest and earlier today. There definitely was something about that guy. She knew he had a secret he didn’t want anybody to know.

At that very moment Emma heard an almost soundless crack somewhere not far from her. If it wasn’t as still a day she might have not even heard it. Emma turned abruptly to see what made the sound. But she felt sharp pain at the back of her head, the hit blinded her and she fell to the ground. The last thing she saw before the darkness swallowed her was piercing green eyes.