Remember More

Chapter 13

REMEMBER MORE

CHAPTER 13

It was pitch black but John was still sure of the direction they should take. In fact, he was even more sure than he was before. Yan's light had stopped working completely a good half an hour ago.

Yan had wondered aloud at this. How did he know which way to go? Could he still smell the difference like he did previously?

John said no. He could no longer follow the trail with his nose, because everything smelled the same now. The serum smell that he was able to pick out before was now in the all the stones in the new set of tunnels and all around them. It all smelled the same. John told her that if her light had still been working, she would see that these new stones were different from the regular limestone that had made up the first set of tunnels now beneath them. This new type had a strange, red glow to them and were made of the same stuff as the pills, originally, and so it all had the same smell.

"Does that mean they're poisonous? Like the pills?"

John shook his head. "No. Don't worry. The stone is un-refined, inactive. You can't get hurt from this stuff. It just smells…similar to me, that's all."

"But…"

"It's like…" John waved his hand about. "…it's like the difference between…flour and chocolate cake."

Yan widened her eyes. "Oh! So…the same but…" She chewed her lip as she considered this. "…but different."

"Exactly." John smiled and nodded. "If you could see it with your own eyes…"

"And how are you able to see all this, anyway? You said you had opened the Gate of Wood somehow…?"

"I know. Don't ask me how, though." He rolled his eyes. "But everything is clear now. Everything is sharper than ever."

"But what is it exactly that you're seeing?"

John thought about it for a moment. "All right. Fine. But I'm just guessing, mind you." He cleared his throat. "I think I'm seeing the magnetism in everything."

"Magnetism?"

"Yes. Well…as you know—what is light? What is it, really? It's electromagnetic radiation. But only one section in the whole spectrum, right?"

"You mean visible light?"

"Yes. Visible light. So, our eyes…your eyes are only attuned to receive one section of the entire spectrum of electromagnetic radiation that's out there." He cleared his throat again. "My eyes can see the whole thing. I think."

And with his new eyes, John could see the difference in the floor of the tunnels and whether they have been walked on recently. If they had been walked on, they would retain a kind of magnetic disturbance that would stay on the surface for a while, perhaps days before they recovered. All John had to do now was guide Yan down the one path that showed this disturbance and ignore the branches in the tunnel system that did not.

As they went along, John could see that the new tunnels were bigger and more spacious, at about ten feet by fifteen. And the stone was smoother. It was clean and not dusty at all.

Without John's wheelchair, Yan was now carrying John along, piggyback style.

Even now, John was thoroughly embarrassed. "I'm so sorry, Yan." This must have been the fiftieth time he had apologized.

She laughed. "That's all right, sir. I remember when I was a little kid, me and my friends used to play this game and it was like medieval times and we were knights on horseback. We used to take turns riding around on each other's backs and it was very much like this. So I'm used to it."