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CHAPTER 45

Bliss

"Where r u? miss u am back & want 2 c u sky"

Bliss read her text Her thumb hovered over the reply button, but in the end she put her phone away No She wasn’t safe to be around She didn’t want any more of her friends to suffer because of her

"Sorry," she said, when she noticed Miss Murray looking in her direction

"Glad you decided to join us," her teacher said with a stern smile Bliss didn’t need to be told twice Ancient Civilizations had quickly become her favorite class, and she didn’t want to ram on the History Channel, except without the cheesy reenactments In the past feeeks they had covered such diverse and fascinating topics as Etruscan feyptian funeral rites and the four types of love according to the ancient Greeks (from platonic to passionate), and how the ideas related to the birth of Western culture

Today the topic was the reign of the third eula When Miss Murray had handed the assignment to Allison Ellison last week, there had beenMost of the class was familiar with a certain movie that played on cable Or if not, like Bliss, they knew the basics of the emperor’s reputation: sexual perversity, insanity, cruelty

"My thesis today, please excuse me, Miss Murray? since the class is called Ancient Civilizations and the Dawn of the West, is that the West, or the idea of it truly died with the assassination of Caligula," Allison began The tall girl stood in front of the blackboard and read confidently fro theory Please explain," Miss Murray said, leaning forward from her desk at the front of the rooula was assassinated by a conspiracy headed by leading members of the Senate They stabbed hiuards came, he was dead The Senate then attempted to restore the Roman Republic, but the military did not support them, they remained loyal to the empire With the help of the Praetorian Guard, they installed Claudius as eula’s death did exactly the opposite of what the Senate intended?" questioned Miss Murray

Allison nodded enthusiastically "With the death of Caligula came the death of the idea of the Republic The erieved for their murdered emperor, no matter how cruel or insane his eneula’s death, the death of the Republic was all but confirain The Senate’s greatest achieve the people’s loyalty to the empire," Allison said "It’s ironic, isn’t it? Especially since it wasn’t the first atterippina and Julia Livilla had tried to kill him before, but failed They were unsuccessful and banished But the Senate succeeded where they did not"

There was a hand up "I thought Caligula was u insinuated with a smirk

Miss Murray interjected this time "He was certainly "close," as you say, to his sister Drusilla She was treated as the head of his household, and when she died, he mourned the loss like a er He even had the Senate naoddess But as to whether they were close in a Biblical sense, history is auous on the subject Understand, class, that just like today, they tried to discredit their rulers with sex scandals and all sorts of salacious lies If you believe half the things you read, everyone is a sexual pervert in antiquity Perhaps Caligula and Drusilla were lovers Or perhaps they simply wanted to solidify their power, to rule as brother and sister, as did the Egyptian despots"

Bliss looked up from her notes For so about distant historical figures safely entoes of history books Instead, when she heard the narippina, and Julia Livilla, she felt her skin tingle These were people she knew

"Dylan, I think I’ close I think this is what I am meant to know"

"Thanks, Miss M," Allison said "Anyway, for the trivia portion of h we all call hiula, it was just a nickname, which he probably didn’t like too much since it meant "Little Boot" His real name was the same as Julius Caesar’s They called him Gaius"

"Gaius Yes That hat they used to call the Visitor"

And Allison was absolutely right He had despised that nickna back too fast and too soon,in her mind, but these were the Visitor’s memories: Rome, the final days, the deception, the betrayal First with his sisters, Agrippina he could understand (Bliss was shocked to find the i back at her with the eyes of Mirippina and Valerius had sided with that damned Cassius or whatever they had called Michael back then

But Julia! How could she do this to hi when she first suspected, and it was she who had called Cassius’s attention to his corruption, Julia Livilla how Julia hated that name, said it reminded her of her awful aunt, who else

Sophia

He had been so close So close to having his dream realized He had co

In her mind, Bliss sahat the Visitor had seen back then A path A winding path deep below the city of Lutetia, through tunnels far beneath the earth, a winding path that led underground, to a coven of deain, ain forever All the world would shake and cower The rivers would run with blood and the horsemen would be unleashed There would be no escape from Satan’s arasped

The demons The deaths The corruption All this had happened before And it was going to happen again Unless

She blinked She was sitting in the classroo books and papers into their bags

Miss Murray was looking at her curiously "Are you all right, Bliss?"

"Yes," she said "I just I think I forgot to eat breakfast"

Miss Murray nodded "You know, Bliss, that if you find you need someone to talk to, I’m here for you"

Bliss nodded Teachers at Duchesne were always super-empathic The school policy was an "all-hands" approach They didn’t wait for troubled students to find their way to the guidance counselor’s office

"Sure, Miss M Thanks"

Miss Murray was s, even though she had not"It’s just I have this probleshe’s the only one who can help me"

"I see" Miss Murray crossed her arood to ask for help, Bliss And friends are the only people we can trust e are in trouble That’s what they’re for, anyway I’lad that you had reached out to her"

Bliss nodded "I think I think you’re right"

"Good" Miss Murray smiled For a moure out who