For Evermore

CHAPTER 9

I wake up all at once. No groggy feelings, no residue of sleep in my eyes. A full night's sleep hasn't managed to fade away thoughts of yesterday's adventures from my mind. The platform, the lair, the code, the secret society, the secret pledge, the members. My head is playing yesterday's flashbacks on repeat. I can't distract myself from these thoughts and I don't think I want to. My grandfather was in this secret society. How did I never know of this? How did I never know my grandfather even studied here? Another family member of Jeremy seems to be a member of the secret society and his name is struck off took- Nikolai Holdsworth. Who could that be? His father? I don't think so. His father is very much alive as far as I know. His grandfather then? Is it a rite of passage to be a member of this society? If so, then why am I not a member? Do you need an invitation to become a member? Do I even want to be a member? What sorts of things happen in this society and what secrets are they keeping? Could Jeremy have the answers? Yes. But will he give them to me? I think not. 

I keep up this inner monologue for a while when the phone rings and I am jostled out of my head. It's my mother. Maybe it's a sign. I answer the call.

"Hello Katie!", her voice reminds me of a life that seems far beyond my reach and etched in a time that feels like forever ago.

"Hey, mom! How are you?"

"Never better, now that I've finally heard your voice! It's been days! how have you been and what's going on?"

"Just college stuff... Sorry, I had a lot of stuff to do, and a lot of submissions due this week."

"Aww... Stop being so hard on yourself. You've always been a smart kid. You'll do well."

"Yeah, I suppose."

"Is everything okay sweetie? What's the matter? You sound a little distant."

"It's nothing. Don't worry."

"Hey come on. Tell me. What's bothering you?"

"Mom, how did grandpa Marcus die?"

"Why are you suddenly asking about grandpa? Is something the matter?"

"Nothing. I've just been wondering lately. I know almost nothing about him. I mean nothing at all, except maybe his name, and that he died when I was a baby. Why doesn't anyone talk about him?"

"It's nothing like that. Your father was just too close to him and when he died, your dad was very depressed. More depressed than I have ever seen anyone be. He had to take therapy for a while and he was on anti-depressants. It took a long while to get normal after that. No one ever mentions it because it hurts your father to think of his father. I don't think he ever moved past it."

"I didn't know that."

"We just didn't want to relive it. It was a difficult time for us. I had my hands full with you and Martha and there wasn't much I could do to help him."

"So, how did he die?"

"They said it was a heart attack." she sounds unsure.

"They said? Who said?"

"The college of course. Evermore. We received a call from one of his colleagues who informed us of his death. The college held the funeral as he was one of the most reputed professors there."

"Professor? He taught at Evermore?"

"Why, yes. Oh, I suppose you didn't know that. Yes, he did teach there and was a very respectable professor of the college. He majored in the classics too- like you."

"He did? And you never told me that all my interest in Roman mythology and the Latin language and medieval stuff comes from him?"

"Uh... I guess I should've told you. That's the reason we were so happy when you said you wanted to major in Latin. Someone in the family was going to carry on the legacy."