Bending Light

21~Past or Present?

    "So," (Y/N) began. "That show was remarkable. Your lives are quite fascinating despite having to live the same day over and over again."

    "It's not all wonderful," Millard responded grimly.

    "Is that just because you know where all the hiding spaces are around here?" (Y/N) smirked, hoping he didn't actually-or else he would find The Book.

    Millard rolled his eyes.

  "Millard, you live in a resplendent mansion with infinite time to compile your research, plus the beautiful weather to do it, and you're saying you don't enjoy it?" (Y/N) asked. "What could possibly make you resent this?"

    Millard opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by a roar of laughter from the other children.

    Looking over, (Y/N) discerned that Horace was the was the object of ridicule-his look of disgrace was enough. When he denigrated Jacob's attire, (Y/N) learned that the laughter must have been about his sense of fashion, something she understood he was quite sensitive about.

    "To be fair," (Y/N) joined, "fashion in our time is very diverse. I believe you would be interested in at least some of it, though I wouldn't blame you if your nightmares include predictions about Jacob's future outfits."

    While some of the peculiars laughed, Jacob began to question Emma. Since (Y/N) knew his knowledge of peculiardom was even more limited than hers, she suspected the questions where primarily on Horace's peculiarity.

    Just as Millard began to speak again, Jacob marveled at how much the children knew about each event in the day. Hugh credited this to Millard's extensive research, which sparked another conversation (which of course involved ridicule).

    Since she'd already witnessed Millard's work, (Y/N)'s thoughts began to roam towards The Book. The whole reason (Y/N) had convinced her parents to take her on this "History Trip" was because her grandfather had given her the undertaking of finding this book. Her quandary was finding out what to do with it now that she had procured it.

    She considered creating a plan to get Millard to unknowingly aid her, but it seemed too difficult considering that it was a time-sensitive operation. Getting Millard to help knowingly would be even more impossible when accounting for the book's invisibility. It was a shame, since his vast knowledge would be an important tool.

    Although as a scientist he would want to report the findings, (Y/N) realized she still would've trusted him with the secret. This surprised her since she could barely comprehend just how vital this book was to the stability of the two worlds. She hadn't even cracked it open yet, but inexplicably, she knew this was the truth.

    As (Y/N) watched Millard talk, a small smile grew on her face. His pride could be quite annoying at times, but his intelligence far surpassed that of any other human—peculiar or not—that she had ever met or heard of. Even without his invisibility, he made her wonder what kind of friendship they could have if her vacation could become permanent.

    Of course, it would be impossible to make that many arrangements. And anyway, she couldn't stay knowing that she needed to finish what she came for.

    As she dismissed the disappointing thoughts, the group reached the end of the docks and arrived at a cove. (Y/N) went with the other girls to change into the retro swimsuits. She folded her black blouse, placing it on top of her white jeans. After a second, she decided to hang her tan leather jacket on a tree branch to reduce wrinkles. She kept her tan sandals on as she walked out to the beach.

    Bronwyn and Emma quickly got to their swimming competition while the others relaxed in the water and talked. (Y/N) took this opportunity to finish her conversation with Millard.

    Leaving her sandals on the shore, she waded through the water to Millard (who was fortunately clothed), crouched to observe a cushion starfish. The cool water was good relief from the heat of the sun. (Y/N) watched the starfish for a second. It pumped water into its legs, slowly moving across the sand, oblivious to the fact that it was being watched.

    "Well Invisiboy, I thought you said that being peculiar wasn't fun," she laughed.

    He stood slowly to prevent the starfish from noticing and replied. "That's not what I said. I mean that living in this loop is the best case for us. Not every peculiar has this option."

  "But people as special as you guys could do so much," (Y/N) argued. "I guess people could be mean if they're jealous of peculiars, but what's the worst that could happen?"

  "People are afraid of what they can't understand. They're not cruel out of jealousy, it's out of terror, and they do horrible things to peculiars because of it. They call us witches and burn us at the stake...can you blame them though? If your daughter spontaneously set alight, what would you do?"

    "I suppose I understand," (Y/N) sighed. "If there's one thing they teach about history, it's that people always need someone to blame for their actions." My grandfather fought monsters who walked on two legs and tried to destroy anyone wearing a six-pointed star, she thought.

    "Yes, so as much as we enjoy all of this, that bomb drops on our house every day as a reminder of what happens between people with differences," Millard finished.

    "...in every room!?" Bronwyn cried. Sounds of amazement came from the peculiars, breaking the silence that had formed.

    (Y/N) listened to her cousin telling the others of the future. She worried about the repercussions of revealing everything they couldn't have, but decided to join in anyway.

    Before she walked away, (Y/N) looked at Millard and said softly "If it helps any, the Allies win. Perhaps in the future, the peculiars will too."

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"We'll never tell you where they—" Abe got cut off again as Madame X flicked the safety on her gun. Before she could turn to V and issue any further threats, one of her henchmen brought her the book that had fallen out of V's hand.

"Hmm, what have we here?" she asked, flipping through the blank pages of the book. "I assume you know this is my library of...borrowed artifacts, yes?"

V didn't respond.

Madame X continued. "Well, unfortunately, I haven't had the time to look through them all. Would you care to explain the importance of this one? Specifically, what makes it worth getting captured for?" she said with a self-satisfied smirk.

V stayed silent.

"Well, I can tell it's...enchanted. Self-writing, perhaps?" Sarkisan observed.

It's a lot more than that, V thought.

"Now, it seems as though you two need some more incentive to cooperate," Sarkisan snarled, handing the book to a soldier. She then held V's pistol up so that both spies were staring down a gun barrel. "Now, I'm feeling nice today, so you get a choice: either tell me why you snuck onto my territory for this book, or hand over the twins. Now."