Shades of Red (24 page)

The door closed almost silently behind the departing principal. “I feel like I've been hit by a two-tonne bag of feathers,” said Darrell. “Pretty soft blow, but two tonnes is two tonnes, after all.”

“I'm just so glad you're okay,” said Kate. “I woke up at three this morning, and when I saw your empty bed I knew right away that you'd gone into the past alone again. I've been so worried all morning. I guess you didn't — you didn't find Conrad after all.”

Darrell stood up, relishing the support of her strong titanium leg. “Nope. I think I can safely say that Conrad is gone for good. Even a little too good, in my opinion.” She grinned and followed Professor Tooth down the front stairs.

A warm May sun was setting into the Pacific when Darrell and her friends decided on a final walk on the beach. They wound their way down the twisting path to the shore, Delaney thundering ahead in the lead.

“What a day,” said Brodie, taking a deep breath of salt air.

“What a year,” said Kate. She nudged Darrell, who was trailing slightly behind the others. “There's so much I just don't understand yet. Why were the Jewish people persecuted during the Inquisition?”

“Jewish people have been persecuted for centuries,” said Darrell. “The Inquisition everywhere in Europe was a terrible thing. The only good thing was that because of it, changes took place. People like Martin Luther rose up against the wrongs that the church perpetuated, and elsewhere the common people ended up fighting the rule of absolute monarchs.” She sighed. “I wish I knew the whole story. I feel so sick about Anne. She'd only been married three years and she was mother to one of the greatest
queens England ever had. And when Henry got tired of her, he had her head chopped off just because it suited him.”

“I read that when they buried her the box was too small so they had to tuck her head in beside the body,” said Kate. “That man must have been a monster.”

“I don't think he really was a monster,” said Darrell. “He was a man brought up to believe that he was answerable to no one but God — and even then he fought to become leader of the church in England. His word was the law.”

“I think he was a monster,” said Kate firmly. “He divorced or killed five wives and died on the sixth, and all to satisfy his need for a son to rule after he was gone.” She raised an eyebrow. “From what I've read, his daughter Elizabeth did as good a job as any man.”

“And she had red hair,” teased Paris.

“He changed religion in England forever,” said Darrell. “Monster or not — the world is not the same place it was before he was in it.” She kicked a pebble along the sand. “I'd also like to know what happened to Lady Jacqueline. Did she escape through Traitor's Gate and make it back to her family?”

“There's so much we'll never know,” said Kate with a sigh. “You were there the most, Darrell. Do you think the Catholic Church was doing the right thing?”

“They thought so.”

“And what about the Moors? The Christians wanted to fight the Moors because they were Muslim, right?”

Darrell nodded. “That was a large part of it. It's weird, you know. We got a chance to go back and see these massive changes right as they were taking place. The Inquisition changed the world forever, and the Protestant Reformation did too. But for all the torture and pain and loss — I feel like we haven't really learned our lesson, y'know?”

“No — I don't know,” argued Paris. “I thought travelling through time was amazing. It was about fun — not about learning lessons.”

Darrell laughed. “I meant we as a people — the human race. All the agony that went into changing the church and the way people are ruled, and five hundred years later my mom is still having to work for an organization that goes to wartorn countries to help promote peace. We never seem to know the whole story.”

Kate stopped and put her hand against one of the giant boulders, sun baked and warm. “What is the whole story?” she whispered.

Brodie leaned against the boulder and smiled. “Darrell's right. It was all those things — and more. But how many people do you know that got to see a part of it for themselves?”

He turned to Darrell. “How was your mom's trip? Is she coming to get you tomorrow?”

Darrell nodded and gave a little sigh. “She's great — better than great, she tells me. I guess while I was facing off with the Duke of Norfolk, she was having a crisis of her own. A bomb went off in a bus outside her hospital. Oh, she was okay,” Darrell said quickly, seeing her friends' horrified faces. “David was there to help her get back into the hospital, and she ended up saving a number of the casualties.”

Darrell reached down and stroked Delaney's warm fur.

“I get the feeling she's going to marry the guy,” she said quietly. “And I guess that's okay. He's been pretty good at helping her stay safe, and maybe she needs somebody more than just me to look after, too.”

“Well,” said Paris, turning his face to the setting sun and stretching like a cat, “I for one have had enough of living in the past for now. I'm ready to spend some time water-skiing this summer.”

As Kate and Brodie weighed in on the relative merits of assorted water sports, Darrell and Delaney walked to the narrow mouth of the cave.
I've had enough of living in the past, too,
she thought.
My own past, anyway.

She felt the thump of Delaney's gently waving tail as she looked up the cliff, past the old arbutus to where the windows of Eagle Glen shone with an impossible brilliance in the setting sun.

“Besides, Delaney-boy,” she said, her hand brushing the thick ruff of his fur, “I think there might be a little exploring still to do around Eagle Glen, don't you?”