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Chapter 1, late night

Leonardo Da Vinci died in 1519; he would have lived longer if I hadn’t disrupted his life. That incident will be told of later in our story. For now let’s start at the beginning.
My name is Zeke Emet and this whole mess started… I guess on November 10th, my birthday. Now when you think of birthdays you think of cakes, parties, and presents. That didn’t happen on my birthdays. No, on my birthdays it was always something… unusual.
Like the story my mom seldom told me about my birth, how when my father saw my birthmark, he ran out horrified. Sure it was an unusual birthmark, two Cs back to back with dashes at the end. It looked more like a tattoo than a birthmark.
There was also the weirdness on my tenth birthday, when I woke up I found a necklace on myself. It was an old brown piece of rope tied to a faded, almost grey, metal medallion. The medallion had my birthmark on it.
Those seemed like strange incidents but today I started to learn the truth.
It felt like an ordinary day, which was weird on my birthday. I survived the day until history class arrived. My teacher, Professor Videk, suddenly started a lecture on the Nazi symbol, what was it called? A swastika
“ … And that is the historical origin of the swastika. Any questions?”
That line took my from my state of boredom and confusion then replaced them with fear. I didn’t know why but Videk’s voice became darker, more malevolent, and the way he said “historical”, as if he despised the word, but why?
That aside what happens every day happened. What can I say? History repeats itself. Elie Prole had a question. She was a year younger than me but she advanced in placement testing. She looked normal, tall, long raven hair, deep brown eyes. Pretty nondescript red shirt, khaki pants, and sneakers.
She asked
“Why did Hitler choose this symbol? Why not another?”
Videk looked at her with an unusual expression, somewhere between a smile and a glare. He answered
“No one knows the exact reason, but asking questions is good, it is why your grades are higher than… others.”
I knew when he said “others” he meant me. He had hated me since the first day of the year. I looked at him and though he was a proud and pompous jerk. He dressed like one wearing a pinstripe suit to teach and carrying an ego to match. I could have popped him in the nose; I should have considering the mess I was about to get into.
Expulsion would have been nothing compared to it. Thank God the bell rang and I could get out A.S.A.P, but my plan was shattered.
“Hold on Mr. Emet, I have something to say to you” Videk declared grabbing my arm and holding me back.
Shoot, so closed to the door. I turned and heard a clang, turns out Elie was still in the room picking up her books.
“Now, you know that history is important, correct?” Videk asked in a much graver voice than he used in the lecture.
“Yes.” I responded
“But, do you know why?” he asked in mock anticipation
“Because it helps us learn not to repeat it.” I tried to answer proudly but my voice felt empty.
He looked disappointed but I thought I heard… laughter? Was that it? Why would he laugh? Videk quickly regained his serious demeanor.
“You will never accomplish anything Ezekiel, look at you. Overgrown blonde hair, a raggedy brown jacket, and old dusty boots. Your only redeeming quality is your misleadingly intelligent blue eyes.”
I was angry, he had insulted me and the only mementos I had form my dad. I turned to run and he grabbed my jacket, Weird moment number one. My jacket came off and Videk saw my birthmark, which freaked him out. Oddly enough it also scared Elie, she fled the classroom quickly. I followed her example I snatched my jacket from Videk and ran. The last thin I heard him say was extremely creepy.
“Could it be them? The Scribe and the Guard? He said it in a malicious excitement.
I just ran faster and farther form that classroom.
I found refuge later in the library. History was the last class of the day but my mom insisted on me studying after school because of my grade in history. All my other classes were fine but history was…weird. Every time I found the correct answer in a book or Videk lectured us a little voice inside me would whisper
“No, that’s not right. That’s not what happened”
No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t force my hand to write the correct answer. It’s always bothered me.
When I went to my locker to get my bag I was yanked away and interrogated by non other than Elie Prole.
“Okay, two questions. One, who are you? Two, where did you get that tattoo on your shoulder.” that was the beginning of the conversation.
I snapped back
“ Okay! First of all my name’s Zeke. Secondly, the mark’s not a tattoo, it’s a birthmark!”
As you can probably tell, I hated it when people thought my birthmark was a tattoo. They always thought that I was a gang member or something worse. When I glared back at her she looked astonished, her eyes wide with surprise and fear.
“But, that’s statistically impossible. Two people having the exact same…” she trailed off.
I was curious and nervous; I cleared my throat and asked.
“What’s the exact same? What’s statistically impossible? What’s the exact same?”
My questions seemed to have snatched Elie from her pensive trance. She looked at me, a flicker of terror in her eyes, and announced gravely
“The same birthmark.”
I was shocked stiff with confusion.
“What? Don’t believe me? Well here!”
She spun around and lifted her hair up slowly, as if giving me time to prepare. Then I saw it. On her upper neck, just below her hairline I saw the same mark that I carried on my right shoulder. Two Cs back to back with dashes at the end. I was dumbfounded.
“Well? What’s going on? This mark has been haunting me since I was born. What is it?” she sounded scared.
I tried to reassure her.
“Look it’s probably just a coincidence.” she glared back at me, attempt failed.
Then she told me some thing that didn’t scare me, it horrified me.
She twisted her mouth and her eyes narrowed in anger
“So, it’s just a “coincidence” that my mom left when she saw this mark? A coincidence that this stupid necklace matches it?”
I only had one thought, necklace?
“You didn’t mention a necklace before.”
She looked embarrassed I think, it was hard to tell with the look of panic drowning it out. She swiftly reached by her neck and grabbed the necklace and presented it. It was almost an exact replica of mine, except it was a bit longer and thinner. The mark was still there though.
“Do you know what it is?” Elie snapped me out of a daze.
“Not really but…”
“Yes?”
“When did you get this necklace?”
“When I was nine, why are you-”
“When’s your birthday?”
“Today, but why does that matter?”
There it was a perfect match. Our lives mirrored each others. I was almost sure of it but I needed to ask one more question.
“Let me guess, you found that around your neck when you woke up on your birthday. Right?”
Her jaw dropped to the floor.
Once she scooped it up she continued
“How did you know that?”
I showed her my medallion.
She couldn’t speak, she just examined my necklace. I glanced at my watch; it was almost 10:10, time to get home.
A very loud crash came from the auditorium. It sounded like a thunderstorm was forming in there. Elie and I spun around and looked down the hall, all clear
“What was that?!” Elie gasped
“I don’t know but I am going to find out.”
I dashed down the hallway, Elie was following close behind. 10:10, I would soon come to respect times like that.

Chapter 2, Shrieks
The closer we got to the auditorium, the louder the sound got. It was extremely powerful lockers flapped open and shut like a crazy bird, the paint was beginning to peel off the wall, and I’m not sure if there was a window that wasn’t shattered.
Somehow the door to the auditorium was still intact, but the sound was deafening. It sounded horrifying, a rolling thunderstorm with ghostly shrieks crying, as if the storm was an inescapable torment.
“What is that?” Elie screamed, clasping her hands over her ears.
“I don’t know!” I yelled as loud as I could but the storm stole my voice.
I may have not known what it was but I wanted to find out. Now I know your thinking “Are you insane? Get out of there!” I was perfectly sane, but this was too weird to be a coincidence.
I opened the door, big mistake number one. Okay, how do I describe what I was seeing? Do you know how a roller coaster looks, one of the ones with twists and turns and loops. Imagine that, in a cloud of ominous black smoke, have weird red lightning shoot from it, have it move like some kind of giant snake and you’ll have a pretty good idea of what we were looking at.
In the middle of it all stood a person on a giant symbol. I’m not sure what was creepier, that I had seen the symbol so much it was getting old, or that the person on it was Videk.
He looked different to say the least. He was wearing a black trench coat and small, round sunglasses. I could almost have sworn he had just stepped out of the movie The Matrix. That wasn’t the creepiest part though. It was his expression, a malicious grin, like he had just finished something he started years ago.
Here where I started getting really freaked out, the mark on my arm, and I am not joking, started to glow and gave me a stinging pain.
“Ah! What the…” exclaimed Elie, her voice was quiet in the storm but somehow I heard it, I almost forgot she was there.
“What is it?” I shouted over the screech of the storm.
She said something I couldn’t hear. When she saw my confused look she turned around and exposed her mark. It was glowing too! As if it was resonating to something.
The storm suddenly stopped and a deathly silence encompassed the room. Videk turned toward us with his devilish smile and commented in.
“Ah, the mighty Guard and the clever scribe. We can finally begin the ceremony! Please prepare to die.”

Chapter 3, Airtime
Okay, now I was officially lost. What was he babbling on about? The Guard? The Scribe? What and who were they? I would acquire that knowledge way too soon.
Elie was the first of us to speak up.
“Mr. Videk, I’m sorry to be rude, but what the heck are you doing?!” Who are the Guard and the Scribe?”
Videk responded with a sinister grin and an icy tone.
“Why, my dear, you are.”
It was strange; he had put together trivial word with such an evil sound. I had the feeling Elie and I shared the same sensation, a piercing chill in our spines.
“As for what I am doing the answer is simple. I am resurrecting Kam’Den.” Videk continued in the same level, but cold, voice.
I finally started talking around then. I had some questions that demanded answers.
“Who in the world is Kam’Den?”
Videk glanced at me as if I was an annoying bug. A bug he wanted to squash.
“Precisely the problem Mr. Emet, Kam’Den is not in this in the world. Well, not this one anyways” he explained in a terrifying sense of glee.
“Wha… what?!?” I stuttered, my brain was trying to process so fast it felt I like I was going to crash.
Videk wore an expression I was all too familiar with, him rolling his eyes.
“I see I will have to explain” he said smugly, I wanted to kick his smirk clean off, but he kept talking.
“Understand that, ever since the new millennia I have been trying to bring back Kam’Den at the auspicious moments when the ritual is possible. However I have had some… complications.”
“What are these “auspicious moments” and what are the “complications”?” I was about to barrage him with more questions.
Videk smiled wide, which was extremely unsettling for some reason.
“Ah, Finally, An intelligent question. I will tell you Guard Ezekiel Emet. I believe it is time you learned.” he said in a snake like hiss.
“As far as the requirements of the ritual it is when all the numbers are nearly identical, such as now.” he continued.
“Identical?” I asked, desperate to understand.
Videk was starting to become aggravated, but quickly composed himself.
“Yes, at this moment it is the tenth minute of the tenth hour of the tenth day of the tenth month. A very auspicious moment indeed.” he explained without any emotion at all.
“Then what are the…complications?” I asked nervously, afraid of the answer.
“Oh, just a few thousand denizens of this world perishing, that is all.” He told me as if people’s lives were worth less than a speck of dust.
“How do they, perish?” I braced myself for the answer as if I was about to be hit by a bus.
“Hmm…” he began to ponder the question and stated as told us.
“Mostly natural disasters, but occasional humans are the instruments of the chaos. Recently Haiti, Japan, and the southern United States have been afflicted. Although humans such as Jack the Ripper and Ted Bundy spread this chaos well.”
Elie and I were dumbstruck. We knew exactly the horrible events he was talking about. I was the first to respond, albeit I was quite shaken from that news.
“You…were the one…who caused…ALL THOSE HORRIBLE DISASTERS!?!”
My shock suddenly turned into a blazing, unbridled rage. Some of my closest friends had died in those nightmares! I charged at him and tried to nail him with a right hook, he dodged swiftly.
“My, temper Mr. Emet, temper.” He taunted slyly.
To my chagrin he had quickly retaliated with a sharp elbow to my shoulder blade.
“Aghhh” I grunted, coughing up blood.
I didn’t know why his elbow felt sharp, sharp as a knife.
“Zeke! What are you doing?! Get out of there!” Elie commanded in a worried voice.
Great I had a maniacal teacher trying to kill me and a girl bossing me around. Just my luck. I picked myself up and focused on Videk with an angry eye.
“My, my, up already? We cannot allow that.” He stated mockingly.
I predicted what he was going to do and, for once, I was right. Videk charged at me but something happened. Time seemed to slow down. I noticed that Videk actually did have a knife! The dirty rat, the tip was still painted crimson with my blood. I may have known what he was going to do but he was so fast I couldn’t do anything. I instinctively held up my arms and closed my eyes, praying that I would live through this.
What I heard next shocked me back into the fight, the clang of steel against steel. I found that somehow I had a knife in my grip! My jaw dropped, I was paralyzed by surprise.
“Huh? What the-” I started to wonder.
Videk regained his bearings a lot quicker than I did. He continued his relentless assault with the speed and vigor of a cheetah. He added the malice and precision of a cobra.
“Will you just stop already?!” I panted exhausted from trying to block his slashes.
It felt like his hands were the bullets of a machine gun. I was soaked in my own blood. .
“I will not, for it is by your blood that Kam’Den will rise.” he stated with the crazed eyes of a fanatic.
“You’re insane!” I screamed fearfully.
That’s when he got me. I blocked a high blow from his knife and locked the blades together. In a flash he had a knife in his spare hand. Such a coward. I couldn’t do anything, all my strength was concentrated on the knife I had. He smirked at me, a grin that wouldn’t look out of place in a painting of the devil. A cut clean up my chest and his fist impacted my chin. The knife stopped just short of my neck.
Next thing I knew I was rocketing skyward, a bloody mist raining from my body. Unfortunately we were inside and I hit the wall with so much force that it cracked and I stuck in the crater. I was unconscious for a few minutes, but when I looked down Videk was calmly advancing towards Elie, who was shaking uncontrollably.
“No.” I whispered to myself
“No, I won’t, I can’t let this happen” I told myself
What could I do? I was stuck in a ceiling bleeding to death and my evil history teacher was going to kill somebody I now considered a friend.
I found myself studying the symbol on the floor, such a simple marking. Why was it appearing everywhere? It started getting larger and a strong breeze rushed into my face. I thought breeze? There were no windows in here, I was falling.
I read somewhere that a fall from fifty feet is deadly in for people. This room had to be at least twice that height.
I kept accelerating going faster and faster. The floor looked deadly solid.
Then I saw something I had never seen before. On Videk’s face was an emotion I had never seen him with, fear.
“No!” he yelled in a frenzied panic and rushed towards me.
But it was too late. I hit the floor and all hell broke loose.
I had no idea of what was happening. I was in a vortex that emanated a menacing black aura, and I was in excruciating pain. I am alive? My left eye had been swollen shut by one of Videk’s blows; my remaining eye saw everything through a blur. A black parasite seemed to be crawling into my vision. Videk stepped in the vortex with a look of pure hate and loathing. He peered out above his black sunglasses and yelled at me.
“Fool! Do you realize what you have done?”
I squinted and focused on him, the parasite was encompassing most of my sight but I saw what was happening. Videk was being overcome by the storms might. I tried to get up but I felt clamped to the ground. Elie arrived in the carnage.
“What is going on?!” She screamed in a terrified voice.
“I…don’t …know.” I managed to struggle the words out between coughs of blood.
Videk was still there but everything but his face was behind a blue wall of sinister wind. He gave us a warning in his demonic tone.
“I will find you”
He was swept away by the vortex.
The last thing I remember was hearing a loud explosion, as if someone detonated three nuclear missiles and threw in some grenades for good measure. I felt the sensation of falling and blacked out
Chapter 4, not so little Italy
I woke up to the sound of rain on stone. A soft rhythmic taping sound. I was in a dark alley between two buildings. How did I get here? I asked myself I thought about it for a minute and looked around. There was another person in the alley, a girl. She was so familiar, I almost woke her up when the memory soared back nearly toppling me.
Videk, that symbol. What did it all mean? Rage and questions flew through my mind, I took a deep breath. The rain stopped and the sun came out from behind the clouds. How long was I out? Where did my wounds go? I looked at my clothes; my jacket wasn’t soaked so I couldn’t have been her long. I realized that the girl in the alley was Elie. I decided not to wake her up; I already had one person trying to kill me.
People started yelling. It hurt my ears. Where were we? It sounded like a bad day at the New York stock exchange or a Little Italy street market. It seemed to be the latter, I smelled cooking spices.
Elie got up, stretched her arms, and let out a yawn fit for an insomniac.
“Well look who’s up” I commented, I just couldn’t resist.
She didn’t say anything, no snappy comeback, and no sly quip. Her eyes shot awake when she glanced at me and she let out a gasp.
“Oh, come on, I can’t look that bad.” was the only thing I thought to say.
“Your face. Your hair.” she stated in bated breaths.
“You’re joking, right? Fashion at a time like this?”
She rolled her eyes and started rummaging through her bag. Leave it to a girl to be able to hold on to a bag while being sucked into a vortex.
Anyways, she grabbed a pocket mirror and showed me my reflection. I was unsettled to say the least, I looked pretty different.
“Who’s obsessed with vanity now?” Elie couldn’t lose the chance to get me back.
I did look a lot weirder than normal. My blonde hair had grown down and over my right eye, so I looked like one of those kids who complained about “conforming”. Great, just great, will my luck never stop getting worse? That wasn’t the only part that morphed. My left eye, which was somehow healed already, was a bit off the usual deep blue. It was shifting to a slightly different color every few seconds, from blue to green and back again. The true shock came when I lifted up the new hair on my right eye. I was so surprised I flinched.
“What the heck?!” I blurted, more fear than curiosity.
“What happened to your eye?” Elie asked calmly
“How am I supposed to know?”
My eye, as you probably guessed, was changed. It wasn’t a small change like the other eye; it was a very drastic difference. Where my pupil should have been was a softly glowing white circle. Around it, where the whites of my eyes should have been, was only a corrupting black color. I remembered the thing I saw cross my eye when I last saw Videk. Was it still there? I decided to keep it a secret for now.
I quickly dropped the hair back. I tried to figure out what happened, the last thing I could remember was seeing Videk being blown away by the storm. I was concentrating and forgot Elie was there.
“We should probably find some shelter.” she suggested attempting to conceal her worry.
“Yeah” I agreed, the sun was beginning to be eclipsed by a building.
We walked out of the alleyway and for the first time saw the road, or lack of road as it was. It was a cobblestone path; blue, black, and grey stones dotted the street. The buildings were brown and faded yet scaffolding hanged on a few to build them higher. There were people in brown rags on either side of the street trying to sell their goods. It reeked to high heaven. The smells of rats, body odor, and something I’d rather not mention. The smell attacked my nose like a drunken soldier. I saw a few people who were wearing very old garments. The kind that looked stuffy and uncomfortable with powdered wigs to top it off. It looked like the town was in the middle of a Shakespeare play.
This place looked familiar; I had seen pictures of it before. What was this town called?
“Are you having the same thought I am?” Elie asked and I realized the pictures were from history class.
“Unfortunately, I think so.” We were in Florence, Italy.
How was that possible? Last time I checked we were in the middle of Ohio. How did we end up on the other side of the world? And why was everyone dressed so weirdly?
We started walking down the street, but it was uncomforting. Everyone I looked out shrank away or hid from us. I heard some random conversation that I was pretty sure was directed towards us. Some people were talking about our clothes like they were the strangest things they had ever seen. There were some other people yelling at us, “Heretics” and “Witches” were a few choice words.
Wait a minute, witches? Heretics? I was asking myself. Who used those as insults anymore? Unless…
My thoughts were interrupted when I saw two men in full armor approach us. Oh great now were getting arrested by Tweetledee and Tweetledumb. The one on the left, apparently the senior guard, started the doomed conversation
“What is it that you two are doing?” he asked with a monotone voice through a dirty brown beard.
“Just walking.” I answered and glanced at Elie, who was staring at me like I had just pushed the button to launch a missile.
“You both are coming with us.” Guard 2 stuttered nervously, first day I guess.
There was something darker though, their eyes were a bit like the one I had hidden, dark around the outside and the pupil a bit darker. A chill ran down my spine.
That’s when something happened inside me, some weird instinct kicked in and the world seemed to stop. Before I could even realize what I was doing my hand shot out and grabbed the bearded guard’s sword. I unsheathed it and rapidly attacked. I hit the newer guard with the flat of the blade, making him cross eyed. I struck the other with the end of the hilt, knocking him out cold.
They began to moan, shocked that a simple teenager could beat them. It was a bit gratifying to be honest. They almost got back up in time but we had already fled.
We dashed over bridges, ducked through markets, and sped through back alleys. Trying to keep a low profile is difficult to do while running through a city. We finally had a stroke of luck and found an abandon cart.
“Now, what was that?”Elie began her line of questioning.
“What was what?” I already knew what she meant but didn’t want to talk about it.
She rolled her eyes and opened her mouth a bit, you know that are you honestly that stupid look.
“That incident with the guards, how did you move that fast? And when did you learn to speak Latin?”
“Latin? I was speaking Latin?”
“Yes, you were.”
“I don’t know”
“What about that thing you did with the guard’s sword?”
“I don’t know!”I protested the questioning.
“Why were they interrogating us?” Elie wondered
“I’m not sure but they seemed like…” I searched for the right word to use.
“Puppets” I concluded.
Elie howled in amusement “What? Like puppets on a string?”
“No! Like… like they were being controlled.”
“By whom?” she asked sarcastically.
“I don’t know!” I screamed at her.
She took a step back, I guess I frightened her.
“Look…” I began to apologize.
At that moment I heard the sound of marching and I man (I think the one I knocked out) barking orders “Find them now!”
“We have to hide, quickly” I told Elie
“Huh?”She was a bit confused
“Now!”I grabbed her arm
We ran desperately searching for a sanctuary. The guards must have spotted us because arrows began zipping past my head. I turned a corner and ducked through an alley. Miraculously I found an unlocked door. I got inside as quick as I could and ducked from the windows.
Once we found safety I heard Elie groan in agony. I looked at her and found she’d been grazed by an arrow!
“Crap!” I panicked
Her shoulder had taken a pretty deep slice from a guard’s arrow. Her blood oozed into her pink shirt making a dark, sickly, shade of color. Her face was starting to lose its color and her eyes drifted as if she would faint. I tried to remember something, anything I had learned about medicine.
But I only managed to stop the bleeding by tying my jacket around her shoulder. I found some beds and managed to get her to an open one. The other bed residents creped me out, I doubt that’s surprising considering that they were all corpses.
While Elie was resting I decided to search for help, I doubted I could find any given the circumstances. The place was an absolute mess. Papers were scattered all over the floor, half-built machines lied on shelves, and weapons from daggers to rifles lined the walls. I finally found a sign that told me what the building was called, the Verrocchio. The name was so familiar that it annoyed me. Where had I heard it before?
I heard the door open. My heart skipped a beat. I grabbed a sword off the wall preparing to defend myself.
“Ughh…so much work, so little time” The man commented to himself, his voice was deep like a trombone.
He eventually walked in the room I was hiding in and saw me holding the blade. He looked astonished and enraged at the same time.
“What are you doing here?”He asked with more anger than curiosity.
I didn’t feel like I had a choice, I charged him. Unfortunately this guy was fast; he sidestepped and conked me on the head with a swift punch. I went out like a light.
I woke up later. I must have slept for hours because it was pitch black out when I awoke. A candle burned next to my bed, casting light on all the human corpses, creepy. I grabbed a brazier and took the candle, and then I started to look around. Elie was still asleep recovering from her wound. I found someone replaced my jacket with actual bandages.
I remembered the man that came in. I wondered why he would help me. Why not kill me? There were too many questions, I had to find him and figure out who he was.
There was a light at the end of the hallway. I blew out my candle and started to approach silently. Te man from earlier was at a desk sketching some plans. He had a black beret, and a small beard. He looked a bit taller than me and wore simple green clothing. He had a red cape draped over his left shoulder.
“Yes, this here and the wheel on a crank” he spoke with a distinctly Italian accent.
He noticed me.
“Ah, good you’re awake. Now tell me why you are here please.”
My heart began to pound, I began to ask
“How did you…” my voice trailed off.
“I’m used to dealing with stealthier people” the man replied
“I mean no harm but please don’t hide in my home” he assured me.
Relief flooded over me. I thought he would harm us but he had only been helpful.
“Just one question, who are you?” I had to ask.
“My young friend I am but a simple artist.”
This guy was actually starting to be annoying, with his green shirt, red cape and small grin. He looked like a bearded Christmas elf.
“I meant your name.” I asked in a sharper tone.
He seemed to notice my aggravation and smiled smugly. “My name is Leonardo Da Vinci.”

Chapter 5 P.T.D.S (post temporal displacement stress)
If you read the last part there’s no need to say that I almost leaped out of my chair.
“You’re Leonardo Da Vinci?! But, that’s impossible he died like 500 years ago!”I yelled in disbelief.
My adrenaline started pumping so fast I thought I would explode.
“I assure you I am Leonardo and, as you can see, I am alive and well” He said in a calm comforting hum.
This was impossible, I told myself. There’s no way this guy was THE Leonardo Da Vinci, was there? There were only two ways this could happen. Someone’s pulling the best, most elaborate, prank ever or…
“Leonardo…” I began fearfully “What year is it?”
He responded with a look of worry on his brow “It is the year 1476 in Florence of Italy”
It hit me like a sack of bricks but it was true.
“So it’s true, I was hoping I was wrong” I began to tremble.
“This means that Elie and I, we, we”
“Traveled through time”
Another voice entered the room and finished my sentence. The voice was Elie’s.
“How long have you been there? When did you wake up?”
“I woke up ten minutes ago, and I’ve been here for about three, enough time for me to figure out your conversation from my basic Latin”
“I was speaking Latin again?” It felt so natural to talk.
“Yes, honestly it’s a bit aggravating to figure it out.”
“Excuse me” Leonardo interceded
We were so engrossed in our own conversation we completely forgot about him. He continued his train of thought.
“I may be able to help, provided some… information”
“What type of information?” I retorted sourly, I had been asked way too many questions lately.
“First of all, what are those markings on your shoulder and her neck?”
“Birthmarks” I replied in a bitter tone.
“Ah, then I have some answers for you two. Please wait a moment” he sounded like a phone operator
He walked down a hallway and stomped down an old wooden staircase before he was out of sight. Hopefully he was out of earshot too because that’s when Elie and I began our worried discussion.
“You don’t think this is real do you? I mean it’s obviously a prank” Elie quickly stated in desperation for a simple solution.
“I don’t know but it’s certainly weird that we’re here”
“You actually believe that we’re in the 15th century? You think that’s actually Leonardo Da Vinci?” She began to lecture me.
“That’s the problem, I don’t think were in the 1400’s”
Elie started to let out a sigh of relief when I finished my thought.
“I know we are”
She looked at me like I had just told her I had forgotten how to sit down.
“That is so, so…ridiculous!” She yelled at me
“Wait a second” I instructed her
“What!?”
“Think for a second and look around” I told her like I was teaching a survival class.
I think she got the message because she started to look around and slowly her eyes popped open.
“Oh God, you’re right! We actually”
“Here it is!”
Elie’s epiphany was interrupted by an excited Leonardo when he emerged from the basement. Then he started to look confused, probably because Elie was staring daggers at me.
“Oh sorry, did I interrupt something?” He asked defensively.
“No” I answered “What is it Leonardo?” I asked trying to hide my frustration.
He breathed a sigh of relief, and then regained his excitement.
“Well, I believe I have found some worthwhile information on your predicament” He declared.
“What?” Elie and I asked in unison”
I realized what had just happened; Elie was speaking Latin as proficiently as I was.
“When did you become fluent in Latin?” I asked her
She shifted uncomfortably and replied.
“I don’t know, I’m a fast learner I guess”
“As I said” Leonardo continued, I almost forgot him again, I needed to work on my memory.
“Sorry, what were we discussing?” Elie asked
“This tome may contain some answers” he laid out an old, dusty, leather bound book on the table. It looked like it hadn’t been touched since the earth cooled.
“What’s it called?” I asked
“Not called, is’ Leo corrected.
“Okay, what is it?” I asked a little ticked off.
Leonardo put on a proud smile and chuckled triumphantly.
“It is legendary, The Codex of the Makoden”

Chapter 6 (in) famous

I’m not going to lie and say that I wasn’t extremely interested in the book, but something about it scared me. As if it held some terrible revelation. Moments ago I’d thought nothing of the dusty old novel but now it seemed to be pulsing with knowledge and understanding.
The book was very strange but the look Leonardo was giving me was stranger. He analyzed me like I was a blueprint.
“What is it Leonardo?” I asked and he put on a curios expression.
I didn’t think my question registered until he responded.
“Please, Zeke, may I call you that? Simply refer to me as Leon it saves time of which we have little”
He answered so casually that I actually began to relax. Then I remembered, we were in the middle of 15th century Florence with a famous artist, a torrent of questions, and an old book with some answers.
I grabbed the book and studied the exterior. It was covered in faded symbols, I could tell that once it had been a vibrant, ornate, and astounding piece of art. Battle scenes decorated the binding while scientific discovers danced along the back. On the front were three keyholes and a symbol, the symbol my birthmark, two C’s back to back with dashes at the ends forming an oddly curved X, I shuddered.
“Hey Elie, what was Videk calling you back at our school?” A memory came wafting to my mind.
She responded slowly “A scribe, he called me a scribe”
“No not a scribe, The Scribe” I corrected her
“Why’s that so important?” She asked angrily, I guess she wasn’t used to being wrong, I couldn’t blame her, she hardly ever was.
“I think you’re supposed to open this” I presented her the book.
She took it carefully, like it was an extremely fragile vase. She studied the cover running her hand along the key slots. Then she tried to open it. At first she tried opening it like a normal book then proceeded to more extreme methods. Leon confiscated the book, if he had waited longer Elie’s fingers might have begun to bleed.
“Look, three slots, three keys. We need to acquire the keys before we are able to read the tome” Leon explained.
Elie and Leon started arguing. Elie was debating that they needed it open now and how urgent it was. Leon’s side contested that if opened improperly it could have unforeseen consequences.
I looked out the window and began to try and sort out all my questions and emotions. My organizing was cut short when I caught a glimpse of the two guards I beat up earlier. They were questioning a woman across the street. They had a scroll with them, it had pictures of both Elie and I. From my view point I could only read three words on the parchment “Wanted”, “Dead”, and “Reward”.
I spun around so fast I almost caused a whirlwind.
“We have to go” I blurted to Elie and Leon
“Why” Elie asked, bracing herself for the answer
“The guards from earlier are hunting us down and we have a bounty on our heads”
Elie looked like she just witnessed lightning disintegrate a skyscraper.
“What?!” She screeched
“You heard me. Leon, do you have a back door or something?”
“I have no door, but I may have a solution”
“Then, please GO GET IT” Elie was the one yelling orders and the guards were knocking on the door.
Leon grabbed us both and dragged us to the basement. He is a lot stronger than he looks.
Once we stopped Leon popped open a chest and retrieved some clothes from it.
“Here” he handed us the garments “Put these on, quickly!” He commanded us
“You’re not serious?” Elie asked and I had to agree.
Leon had given me a white silk shirt, like the ones you see on the cover of crazy romance novels. A pair of jet-black leather pants and to top off the look stupid checklist a little red cape like the one he wore.
Then Leon asked us something.
“Well, would you rather appear, in your opinion, stupid or be executed?” That changed my mind.
“While you two are switching your garbs I will try to distract the authorities” Who knew Da Vinci was a lawbreaker?
Once he left I changed quickly. I was worried that Leon would fail at misdirecting the guards so I looked for a weapon. Underneath some cloth I found a sword. It looked excellently crafted with a hand guard and a well tanned leather sheath. It was a rapier, a sword made more for quick thrusts than reckless slashing. I decided it was better than nothing and affixed it too my belt. Odd, belts are things that haven’t changed much over time.
“Okay I’m finished” Elie’s voice filled the room; I realized that she just came in with her disguise.
“Well, what do you think?” she asked with a quizzical smile.
What I thought was that she might be mistaken for Italian royalty. She was wearing a deep green dress decorated with lines of yellow fabric. It flowed down to her ankles and covered the length of her arms, leaving her hands exposed but covering her feet. Her necklace was framed perfectly in a small alcove of white fabric near her neck. She had tied her raven hair into a ponytail that rested on her left shoulder. It looked like an actual raven might be perching on it. Despite what I saw all I said was “Great disguise”
She frowned, but it didn’t seem to be from my lackluster response.