Time's Tragedies- The Books Of Beginning [2]

61. Narrow Escape

As the echo of footsteps grew louder, the two adolescent time travelers trapped in the famed Garden of Loris fell silent. Lili pressed her finger to her lips, a sign for them not to speak anymore, then pointed to the Great Tree, with its heavy branches and thick canopy of large green leaves. It was the best hiding spot around, and exactly what they needed right now.

Eternity realized what Lili was planning and shook her head fiercely. She didn't climb trees - she grew up in the city, for crying out loud! She climbed fire escapes and out of windows, she climbed ladders and stairs and rooftops. She did not climb trees.

Lili gave her an annoyed look, the kind telling her that they didn't have time for reservations and hesitation. They needed to hide, now. And Lili wasn't going to give in on this one, Eternity realized, not when both their safety and the secrecy of the mission were at stake. She was smart to be so insistent, but sometimes Eternity found herself exasperated by the fact that there was someone in the world as stubborn as herself. But then again, she thought, if Lili wasn't so stubborn, they wouldn't be best friends, they wouldn't be able to stand their ground against each other and still adore each other at the end of the day.

There was a rustling noise as Lili began to clamber up the tree, Eternity studying her hand and foot placement so that she didn't fall on her ass and ruin the plan when it was time for her to make the climb. The blonde teen pulled herself up into the branches, until she was laying on a thick, sturdy branch like a jungle cat, almost obscured from view by the bushels of leaves. Eternity had to hand it to her, at a glance, there was no way she would be noticed by whoever was coming.

Then it was Eternity's turn to hide, and though she did not have the same grace as her best friend, she managed to grab onto a branch and haul herself up the trunk of the tree. After repeating this twice more, she slid onto a branch and lay atop it, hugging around the limb to avoid falling. The greenery around her obscured her, though from this new angle she and Lili could see each other better. Rough bark pressed into her arms, but she couldn't do anything about it now. The voices and shuffling of feet were growing more and more audible - they had made it into the tree just in time.

The teenagers watched with wide eyes and bated breath as two figures, an exhausted looking asian man and an irate, stern-looking woman, entered the clearing in the center of the garden, standing before the dark pond. The man was tall and on the older side, dressed in long robes, with a neat beard. The woman had a harsh sort of face, dark brown hair pulled into a severe bun, and a feeling to her that Eternity associated with strict, old fashioned teachers, the kind that she had never gotten along with. Both were members of the magical council, Eternity recalled, but their names were escaping her.

Lili, on the other hand, recognized both immediately. The man was Master Chu, a Chinese wizard who she didn't know too much about - but he had never been anything but polite to her family, and her uncle had spoken of him with respect whenever the two men worked on any sort of research together. The woman was Magda von Klappen, an Austrian witch who Lili had never liked at all - she was patronizing and stern, and she had always been rude to Lili's father, which automatically put her in the blonde's bad books.

"That oaf is the most unreliable, inappropriate individual I have ever had the misfortune of working with! Why Pym ever offered him a seat on this council is beyond me!" Magda ranted, her angry voice floating up to the ears of the interlopers tucked among the leaves.

Master Chu sighed; they had been having this conversation for far too long, in his opinion, "Magda, we've talked about this before. The entire point of this council is to represent all magical peoples and their strengths and cultures. Not all of us will have the same ideals as a result. Dr. Algernon may clash with you in terms of personality, but he has studied magic for many years, Pym trusted him, and despite his talk of running away, he stood and fought beside the rest of us in battle. That must count for something."