Caitlin looked at her again, and marveled at how royal y she was treated in this palace.
They descended a set of marble steps, turned down another hal way, then descended yet another flight of steps.
Final y, Lily stopped, and looked over her shoulder.
There was no one in sight.
She removed a smal key from inside her dress, inserted it into the door, and unlocked it.
They walked down another long marble hal way, and Caitlin was confused as it seemed to end in a marble wal . It looked like a dead-end.
Lily reached up and ran her hand along the wal , as if searching for something.
Final y, she found a hidden latch. She pressed, and as she did, the wal suddenly opened up, spinning open, and revealing a secret passageway.
Caitlin watched in surprise.
“I haven’t opened this wal since I was a child,” Lily said. “No one knows about it in the palace but me.”
The two of them entered the dark staircase, Lily grabbing a torch off the wal before they did, and headed down into the darkness.
It was dark and damp down here, lit only by the torch that Lily held before them. They turned down twisting and turning passageways, and entered a subterranean level covered in stone.
“At one time, this was the wine cel ar,” Lily said. “It hasn’t been used for centuries, though.”
They turned down yet another corridor, and again, it seemed to end in nothing but solid stone.
Lily reached up, combing the wal s, as Caitlin held the torch for her. Final y, she found a patch of mildew, scraped away at it, and pul ed at a smal knob.
Out of the wal , their opened a smal drawer.
Lily opened it, and began to extract something.
Caitlin held up the torch, and was shocked at what she saw.
It was a large, silver cross, bigger than the size of Caitlin’s hand, and as Lily held it up and put it into Caitlin’s palm, Caitlin could feel how heavy it was.
“It’s the cross of the Alutic,” Lily said. “It’s been in the royal family for centuries. It’s meant for you.”
Caitlin marveled at its weight.
“How do you know?” Caitlin asked.
“You asked about the Fields of the Scholars. It could only be meant for you. I don’t know how this wil help you in your search, but I know that somehow it wil .”
As she spoke to, Caitlin felt it to be true.
“But there’s one thing I don’t understand,” Caitlin said. “My brother, Sam, he dreamt of the Notre Dame. I was thinking that was my next stop. But after reading the letter, and seeing this cross…it al seems to be pointing me to the Church of Saint Germain Des Pres. So how is that connected to the Notre Dame?”
“Maybe you are meant to go here first. And whatever you find there wil lead you to the Notre Dame. I don’t know. But I do know that this church is your next stop.”
That felt right to Caitlin, too. She turned and looked at Lily, and her eyes fil ed with gratitude.
“I don’t know how to thank you.”
Caitlin reached out, and the two embraced, like long-lost sisters.
“Whatever I find may just lead me back in time,” Caitlin added, with worry. “If it does, I won’t see you again.”
Lily smiled back. “You’l see me. Humans have many lifetimes, too. And I’l tel you a secret: some of us know how to time travel, too.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
Pol y stormed back into the room, pushing her way through the crowd, eager to be by Sergei’s side. She could not believe how rude and jealous Caitlin had been. She had thought she was a close friend. Now she saw that Caitlin, like everybody else, was just jealous. She had probably taken a liking to Sergei, too, and probably just wanted to steal him away.
Either that, or Caitlin just couldn’t stand the fact that Pol y had such a great man in her life.
Whatever her reasons, Pol y certainly didn’t need any advice from her. She knew, deep down, that Sergei was the one for her.
Pol y pushed her way through, and got close to Sergei. He was surrounded by a dozen admiring girls, and Pol y felt her jealousy rise. She shoved her way in, right in front of his face, forcing him to look at her.
Final y, he did. He looked somewhat resentful, though, as if she were interrupting him.
But Pol y felt that she knew the real Sergei, deep down, and that he was just putting on a show, for other people, that he was afraid to publicly show his true feelings for her.
“I loved your concert,” she gushed.
He merely raised an eyebrow and looked away, and began talking to someone else.
Pol y knew that, too, was just part of his act. She knew he was hopelessly in love with her, and that he was just trying his best not to show it.
It was okay. Pol y had staying power. She would wait until al these hangers-on disappeared, and then she would talk to him, one-on-one, and know how he truly felt.
*
Sergei final y left his backstage area, and Pol y positioned herself in the hal way so that when he walked out, he had to see her. He stopped, surprised.
“Have you been waiting for me al this time?” he asked.
Pol y nodded. “These are for you.”
She reached out and handed him a bunch of flowers.
He took them without a word, and began walking quickly away.
Pol y joined him, walking alongside him.
Final y, he broke the silence. “You can tel me again about my voice,” he said, as they walked.
Pol y was thril ed that he wanted her opinion.
“It was amazing.”
“Is that al you have to say about it? Just amazing? Wasn’t it greater than that?”
Pol y raced to think of better adjectives.
“It was magnificent. The best I’ve ever heard.”
Sergei nodded his head with something like approval.
“I know,” he final y said. “It was one of my better performances.”
Pol y raced to think of something else to say to him, some excuse for them to spend time together. She walked quickly, trying to catch up.
“I was hoping…” she began, “I was hoping that we could celebrate your performance.”
Sergei suddenly stopped, turned and faced her. His blazing eyes seemed to stare right into her.
There was a long silence.
“What did you have in mind?” he asked.
Pol y thought. She real y hadn’t had anything planned. She had just been desperately looking for an excuse to spend more time with him.