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"What is that?" Lawson asked

She shrugged "I have no idea"

"I think o," Malcolm said helpfully

"Take us to Ro bright in the darkness

Chapter Thirty

The light and the passage disappeared, and when Bliss opened her eyes, she saw that she was in a small stone room with bars on the s "Where are we? A prison?" she asked

"Noa"But we’re not in the right place or the right tirand canal dotted with gondolas and speedboats, people rushing about on the cobblestone streets with u a seat on a stone step

"They’re gone, I think only the tourists are left," Malcol a plaque by a velvet stanchion at the end of the room "It must be Tuesday, when the museums are closed, othere’d be surrounded by the Lawson "Venice isn’t too far froine a space inhis fingernail

"These portals you create, they es somehow," Bliss said

"Maybe, I don’t know All I know is I can picture myself soht using the chronolog would be that easy"

Bliss nodded She had an idea When the Visitor, Lucifer, had taken over her mind and she’d been able to see his memories, she’d had no control; she couldn’t call up a ra’s memories felt different, and she wondered if maybe it was possible for her to suh She’d have to be careful how she explained herself, though; she still wasn’t sure ould happen if Lawson ever discovered her true parentage, and noasn’t the ti "I think my mother had one of these once, and sometimes I can access her memories," she said

"How?" Lawson asked

She shook her head "I don’t know, all I know is I can feel her - guiding me - and I think that maybe if I concentrate, I can remember a little more, see how she used it" She took a seat on the stone step next to Ahraave her some space Bliss closed her eyes and focused Tell , please tell me Show me

At first all she could see was darkness But then the darkness blurred, and a light began to shiain and open it The disc had stopped spinning and looked ular watch, but with three different hands, and the nue of the circle were in multiples of thousands, hundreds, and tens Layered over the whole disc and its hands was ato certain positions

Bliss opened her eyes "I think I kno to do this" She took the chronolog and pressed the button, then waited for the disc to stop spinning "You see these hands?" She pointed them out "One set refers to time, measured first in thousands and then hundreds of years, then decades You have to set it like a clock - see this knob? You wind it so the handsit "Now these other hands, with the iitude and latitude The trick is to line up the time and place you want at the same time, then press another button on the side"

"So we just have to set it to the right time and co-ordinates, then press the button and we’re there," Malcolm said excitedly "We can do this!"

"Not so fast," Lawson said "Anyone know the date? Or the coordinates?"

Malcols," Rafe said "If this is a ot to be a library here, with a set of encyclopedias"

"I’ll help," Bliss said, and followed Rafe down the stairs They walked around the empty monastery until they reached a room at the end of the hallway that was blocked off fro the door marked BIBLIOTHECA

The room was covered with dust and lined with bookshelves A little typewriter sat on an antique desk Rafe whistled, and nodded to a shelf that contained a full set of the Encyclopædia Britannica What she wouldn’t give for the Internet right now, she thought; they’d have their questions answered in seconds

"I’ll look up the year, you take the location Okay?" she asked Rafe

"Sounds good to me"

Rafe’s job was easier, she knew - all he had to do was look up Italy and he’d find everything he needed, and he did "The coordinates for Roitude 12 degrees 30 minutes east" He sure out how to set it if we can’t"

Her task was trickier - she had to figure out the year of the feast in which Romulus had held the first Neptunalia, when the Sabine women were captured Should she look up Rome? Romulus? Neptunalia? Sabine wo for in an entry entitled "The Rape of the Sabine Woed their theories about what had really happened on that day - and that "rape" had been just another word for "kidnapping," which hy the painting had been called The Abduction of the Sabine Women when she’d seen it in the ?" Rafe asked

"Al, and she wasn’t sure how trustworthy the date the encyclopedia listed was "It says eighth century BC, but the dates are a little vague As best as I can tell, it was 752 BC I’d hate to be off, though - who knohere we’d end up?"

"If that’s the best infor," Rafe said

They headed back to find the group in heated discussion "We’re trying to figure out what Ro all of those women," Lawson said

"Does anyone have a theory?" asked Bliss

"Not exactly But I’s that have been changing lately It’s not just the Gates of Hell that are falling - that’s part of it, but it’s more than that," Lawson said

"Like what?"

"Mac, you want to take this one?" Edon said