Underland Chronicles: 1 - The Border's Edge (A Gregor the Overlander FanFic)

Chapter 19

"Wait, wait, wait," Pandora said, waving her hands as if she could erase away the scene.

"I'm confused..." Hazard said, shaking his head.

"Could you elaborate, Nerissa? I'm having difficulty following," Mareth said.

"In Sandwich's Last Prophecy," Nerissa said slowly, taking time to relax. "Sandwich is talking about someone he feels is important. Someone he trusts. In fact, in the prophecy, he describes the person as wise and compassionate. After seeing what Pandora can do, I know for certain that he is talking about her. Sandwich is giving Pandora his life."

"So you mean... I'm continuing his work?" Pandora asked.

"Yes," Nerissa affirmed.

"I'm not going to lock myself in a stone room and write on everything, am I?" Pandora took another look at what she had done to the map on the wall. "I guess I answered my own question. Oh joy, I can't wait for that. I'm gonna end up with back problems like Leonardo da Vinci."

"Was Leonardo da Vinci a famous prophet in the Overland?" Hazard asked.

"No. He was a painter and sculptor," Pandora explained. "He spent four years painting the ceiling inside the Sistine Chapel... I can't say how good that was on his health."

"I'm going to have to look back at the Last Prophecy to get a full understanding of what Sandwich means," Nerissa said.

"Right now?" Hazard asked.

"As soon as possible. I'll need some parchment and ink so I can write down what I find."

"I'll fetch you some," Mareth volunteered.

"I should really clean up my mess," Pandora said. "Would you mind getting me a piece or two of parchment too, Mareth? If I write down what I wrote on the map, you can have it repainted."

"Of course, Pandora. Are you sure you want to do that? I can ask someone else to copy it down."

"No, I should do it. I'm the one who's responsible. Again, I apologize for that."

"What happened in the past doesn't matter now," Mareth smiled. "If I dwelled in the past, I would not be so content to live with only one leg. You don't need to apologize."

After half an hour of painstakingly copying down what she wrote on the Underlander's map, Pandora's hand was practically spasming. Massaging her sore, cramped hand with her thumb, Pandora rested the pieces of parchment, ink, and quill on the huge table. It had taken longer than she thought to review her work and write it down in a coherent way. Sometimes, Pandora had a hard time distinguishing one poem from another, and it took even longer for her to get them down on the parchment.

With that task out of the way, Pandora decided that it was time to take that bath Vikus had suggested. She made her way back to her floor with no problem, although she took a wrong turn in a hall and had to backtrack. Entering into the ladies' side, Pandora removed her t-shirt and shoved in into one of the cubbies along the wall. She could finally see how dirty she was, for the shirt was no longer white. Her light-washed jeans weren't much better and had several new holes near the heels.

Because of how disgusting her hair felt, Pandora shampooed it three times. She didn't spend much time in the water, for fear that her idle mind would go off on dismal subjects. Wringing as much water as she could from her now-clean hair, Pandora dressed in a light blue tunic with dark blue pants. She decided she should let her tennis shoes air out, so she tried on several pairs of Underlander sandals that she found in the cubbies before finding a pair that was her size.

Thinking that Mareth might have returned to the War Room, Pandora headed back down there. She was exhausted but hated the thought of returning to her room. She needed to keep her mind busy.