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            No one in the Regional Manager’s office spoke as an angry Chryseis, her hands squeezed into tight fists, squared off against Ms. Pryor, until Matteo gleefully announced, “I love a good catfight.”
            The red-headed Regional Manager and the raven-haired Head Librarian, without taking their eyes off the other, simultaneously told the hooded man, “Shut up, Matteo.”

            “The Soul Rings are in a safe place, Chryseis. And you know as well as I do, that you’re not going to kill me.”
           “What makes you so sure? You have so much to answer for!”
            “I’m sure, Chryseis,” she answered calmly. “I once told you that I wouldn’t let anyone actually hurt you, particularly not here in this Library. And that means I won’t hurt you either. I also don’t think you’re ruthless enough to kill someone who's not fighting back. And, I’m also sure that you haven’t forgotten that people like us don’t kill. Or at least you don’t.” Ms. Pryor slowly smiled. “You also know that despite everything, I love you.”

            Chryseis unclenched her fists, but still stared angrily at Ms. Pryor. “It’s easy for you to say that.”
            “Actually, it is easy for me to say that. Because it’s true. Everything I’ve ever done for you – or to you – has always been because of my love for you, Chryseis.” She gestured at the vellum pages on the table. “Even now, I’m acting because I love you.”

            “What do these have to do with anything?”
            “Everything! These pages from The Aethiopis, the mysterious messages sent to your computer, and even the paper weight emblem that somehow just appeared on your desk are all part of his plan.”

            “Whose plan?” asked Chryseis.
            Ms. Pryor touched Chryseis’s hand and, when the dark-haired woman, didn’t pull away, Ms. Pryor grasped her hand tighter. “The Lord of Lycans. The person who tried ingratiating himself with you by contributing valuable works to the Library’s collection as Roland S. Fly.”

            Chryseis shivered involuntarily as she repeated the name, “The Lord of Lycans.”
            Ms. Pryor nodded. “Yes. He was gradually sending you bits and pieces from the past – the Amazon emblem, your real name in Greek, that passage from The Iliad, and, finally, the vellum pages from The Aethiopis.”

            Chryseis regarded Ms. Pryor with suspicion as Matteo, Becca and Kit stood silent, watching and listening nearby. “Why would he do that? What would he gain?”

            “I think he was seeking revenge for his earlier failure to permanently corrupt you. I think he wanted to destroy your mind by disturbing the delicate equilibrium in your psyche that results in you being both Chryseis at times and ‘Ms. Kent’ at other times.”
            Chryseis laughed. “I think he did me a favor then actually. I’ve wanted to be free of my ‘twin’ ever since I learned she existed. And now it’s finally happened because I’m here in the Library which was ‘her’ domain, not mine. I’m back, and it feels great!” Her smile faded as she said, “Now, give me back my Light Rings.”

            Ms. Pryor shook her head. “If I did that, it would play right into what I believe to be the Lord of Lycans’s secondary plan.”
            Chryseis spoke impatiently, “Which is?”

            “To take advantage of your innate desire for power so, if your mind wasn’t destroyed, your lust for power would corrupt you again.” She let go of Chryseis’s hand. “Assuming you can adjust to having one personality again, that is. You’re already showing signs of corruption – being glad to be rid of the pure, good and innocent part of your persona, demanding the return of the Rings which almost led to your destruction the last time you possessed them, and threatening to kill me.”

            Chryseis spoke with scorn. “My ‘innate desire for power’? You always thought you knew me so well, but you don’t know a thing really. Now, give me those Rings!”
            Ms. Pryor ignored her. “After all of these centuries, my love, I know you better than you think. And, thanks to the inadvertence of the Lord of Lycans, I now understand things even more.”

            “What in the name of Hades are you talking about now?”
            “I know why you lust for power and I also know that you’ll destroy yourself if you continue down this road. Lord Acton was right, you know. ‘Absolute power does corrupt absolutely.’ But I can save you from destroying yourself that way, Chryseis. If you let me.”

            “You’re just stalling, and it’s making me very angry. Give me my Light Rings!”
            Ms. Pryor paused and everyone could see she was deep in thought. Finally, she spoke. “Give me one chance to show you – a mere matter of minutes – and if you don’t see the truth of my words, then I’ll return the Soul Rings to you.”

            Chryseis regarded the red-haired woman warily but then nodded and relaxed.
            Ms. Pryor turned to Kit. “Mr Turner, I need your assistance again.”

            Kit nodded. “Her Dad, right?”
            Ms. Pryor smiled at him. “You’re a very perceptive young man. Yes, please summon him here.”

            For the fifth time, Kit spoke the magic word. “Eternity!”

            An elderly man – tall, thin, and slightly hunched over with a long white beard that matched his long white hair – stepped out of the familiar white smoke. He wore a gray robe that came down to the floor and a headband adorned with images of the sun and a lyre. The old man wore a puzzled look as he took in the people standing around the Regional Manager’s desk until his eyes focused on the face of the dark-haired librarian. He gasped before he spoke softly in a choked up voice, “Astynome? Is it really you, my child?”

            Chryseis stared in wonder at her father. Tears filled the corners of her eyes as she dropped to one knee in front of the old man. “Father,” she simply said as she looked at the office floor. No one else in the room spoke or moved. “I never thought I would see you again after that afternoon on Lesbos.”

            Chryses touched his daughter’s cheek with one hand and beckoned her to stand with his other. “So many times I thought about what to say if I ever saw you again, but now words fail me, Astynome.”

            “I call myself Chryseis now, Father.”

            “‘Chryseis’ meaning daughter of Chryses,” said the old man. “Why would you honor me so after the way we parted?”

            She took a deep breath and held back the tears. “Because you are my father, and I’ve had many regrets about that afternoon . . . when you saw me with Achilles and thought that I had willfully lain with him.”

            The old man interrupted her. “Shortly after you left Lesbos, Apollo came to me in a dream and told me things which he made me swear never to repeat. He told me what Achilles had done and also that it was he, Apollo, and not Agamemnon, who sired your child.” The old man paused. “Can you ever forgive me for thinking so little of you, child?”

            Chryseis took her father’s hands in her own and kissed his long, soft fingers. She nodded as tears fell down her cheeks. “I only ever wanted you to be proud of me, Father. Not to see or think me some weak little girl of Troy.”

            The old man forced a smile. “Weak?” he repeated. “My daughter is one of the only women to have escaped being enslaved by our enemies.” He began speaking louder and with pride. “And she bore a child of the god to whom I dedicated my life. I could not be more proud of you, Astynome. Forgive me. I meant to say Chryseis. I am proud of you, daughter, and ashamed of myself for thinking what I did and for accusing you of being weak.”

            He embraced Chryseis and held her tightly for several seconds before letting her go and turning to Kit. “I am indebted to you, Kid Eternity. I never thought to see my daughter again so I could tell her of the regrets I have had for so many centuries.”

            “You’re welcome,” said Kit with a wink before he turned to Ms. Pryor. “Finished?” he asked. She nodded.

            Kit turned to Chryseis. “I’m going to return him now,” he said. She smiled through her tears and also nodded. “Thank you for your time, Chryses. You may return now to Eternity.”

            As the old man vanished amidst the cloud of smoke, Ms. Pryor stepped close to Chryseis and held her hands. “If you still want to Rings,” she said gently. “They’re yours.”

            Chryseis shook her head. She spoke as if she was not sure she was doing the right thing, but she was so overcome with emotion that she simply said, “After what happened last time, I think it’s best that you hold onto them. At least for now.” She looked closely at Ms. Pryor and hesitated before speaking. “Thank you for arranging this. It’s been a burden I didn’t even know I was carrying for all of these years.”

            Ms. Pryor smiled affectionately. “I told you that I know you better than you think. Just as I told you that everything I’ve ever done for you, Chryseis, is because of my love for you.” Her smile slowly faded. “And that’s why it genuinely pains me to do what still needs to be done.”

            “What else needs to be done?” asked Chryseis.

            “Your psyche is not yet ready to be the Chryseis you were before 2015. I saw it as soon as you shed your ‘Ms. Kent’ persona earlier and immediately craved power again. It’s not time yet, my love, for you to be free of ‘your twin’.” Ms. Pryor paused as she stroked Chryseis cheek. “Fortunately, I prepared for that possibility too.”

           Ms. Pryor held Chyseis’s hands again more firmly this time. She looked over her shoulder and said one word, “Becca.”

           Becca took her cue and stepped forward holding a gold watch that dangled from a chain in her left hand as she stood close to Chryseis. “Focus on my voice and the watch, Chryseis. Focus on my very soothing voice and don’t look away from the watch as it swings slowly back and forth in front of you. Let yourself relax as you slowly go under. You cannot move. You’re to focus only on what I tell you. Can you do that for me, Chryseis?”
           Chryseis quickly found herself unable to resist the combination of the swinging watch and the very familiar, hypnotic voice of the college student. “Yes, Mistress Becca. I will obey,” replied Chryseis in a monotone.
           Becca looked at Ms. Pryor and raised an eyebrow curiously. “She’s the Amazon Arrow, isn’t she?”

           Ms. Pryor shrugged as she released Chryseis's hands. “One of them. Now stay on task, Becca, because I need this done right! And you need to be sure it’s done right too!” Ms. Pryor said in a tone that made the college girl shiver.

           Ms. Pryor handed Becca a note pad. “These are your instructions. You’re going to use all of your skills and all of your talents to put Chryseis and Ms. Kent back the way they were three weeks ago, before the Lord of Lycans began fucking with her mind.” Ms. Pryor’s voice seethed with anger momentarily before she regained her composure. “And take good care with the final instruction, which requires the utmost subtlety, because I want Chryseis, not Ms. Kent, to have a very faint memory that she and her father made peace and that he was proud of her.”

          Becca nodded as she kept the watch swaying in front of Chryseis and began speaking to the dark-haired woman. Ms. Pryor, Matteo and Kit watched and listened as Becca took close to thirty minutes to accomplish all that she had been told to do by Ms. Pryor. Finished, Becca sent Ms. Kent back to her basement office in the Library with instructions to come out of her trancelike state in an hour’s time and to resume work on Library-related matters.

EPILOGUE

           After Ms. Kent left the Regional Manager’s office, Ms. Pryor turned to Becca and Kit. “Thank you. What you both did today was very important to me and necessary.” She nodded to Matteo, who moved behind Becca and Kit. Matteo withdrew two guns from his pockets and pointed them at the back of their heads. “Unfortunately, I cannot permit you to leave with the information you learned here.”

           Kit was about to speak when Ms. Pryor gestured for him to remain quiet. “No talking! Just listening! I’m very aware of what each of your voices are capable of doing, so if you even whisper, Matteo will fire his weapons. Do you both understand?”

           Slowly, Becca and Kit nodded. Both looked defeated and dejected. “Cheer up. It doesn’t have to end that way.” She paused and sat behind her desk. “I really am grateful for your help. Believe it or not, I do love Chryseis and I have for hundreds of years. One day, she will be whole again, but that day is not here yet. You have both helped though to bring that day closer so, for that reason, I’m willing to spare your lives – and let you keep the money you earned, of course. On one condition.”

           Kit and Becca looked at Ms. Pryor curiously. They could hear Matteo breathing behind them and sense the guns close to their heads. Ms. Pryor opened a desk drawer and removed two large vials which each contained an amber colored liquid. “You may not believe this, but more than 15,000 years ago, I was a medicine woman in a tribe here in North America. Over the millennia, I’ve learned a lot and gathered many herbs and roots and other interesting items.” She held the two vials towards the young man and woman. “These contain a relatively harmless mixture of herbs and water, but they also include traces of peyote and a single drop of liquid from one of the five rivers of Hades – Lethe, the river of forgetfulness. After you drink it, you will experience twenty-four hours of euphoria and confusion. Then, you will be left with only the vaguest memories of what happened here today.”

           She looked squarely Kit and Becca. “Your choice. Within the next ten seconds, you’ll either drink or die. If you drink, Matteo will see you safely to your hotel rooms and watch over you for the twenty-four hours.”

          Kit took the vial, uncapped it and drank. Becca did the same. Several seconds later, they both stood glassy-eyed across from Ms. Pryor. She spoke to Matteo, who put away his guns. “See that they stay safely in their hotel rooms until this time tomorrow and make certain their paths don’t cross when they leave. I’ll be in touch eventually.”

          Matteo nodded back and took the two young people by their arms, leading them from the Regional Manager’s office.

          Once she was alone, Ms. Pryor placed the vellum pages of The Aethiopis in their original packaging so she could store them in her hidden vault with the other “lost” works she had collected over the millennia. Finished, she sat back in her chair and smiled with satisfaction as she hugged the gold paperweight Amazon emblem against her chest.

THE END

Notes:

As I said when I posted Part 1 of this story, I performed a lot of research before I began writing. Much of what I wrote in the three parts of "When The Past Calls" was accurate and is based on that research, but not all of it

With regard to The Aethiopis, that poem is part of The Epic Cycle, a collection of epic poems (including The Iliad and The Odyssey) which tells the story of The Trojan War. The events in The Aethiopis take place right after the conclusion of The Iliad. The poem is attributed to Arctinus of Miletus, who is believed to have been a student of Homer. As stated in Part 1, only five lines of The Aethiopis exist today.

Everything Athena said in her telephone call with Ms. Kent and Ms. Pryor about the plot of The Aethiopis, how the Venetus A and Venetus B versions of The Iliad ended up in Italy, and the letter from Aurispa to Traversari are factually accurate. As to her theory of how nine vellum pages from The Aethiopis could have survived after being lost to history for so long, I made that up entirely.

In Part 2, Arctinus stated that there were six books which comprised The Aethiopis. Ms. Kent correctly stated that there were only five books to that epic poem; I made up the existence of a sixth book and the events in it which were purportedly stricken from history by Zeus.

The Tale of Achilles -- The story Achilles told of how he captured Chryseis and Briseis is taken from The Iliad and, as stated, The Aethiopis did tell of how Achilles was sent to Lesbos to be purified for killing Penthesilea and Thersites. There is a 130 foot rock of granite on Petra with 114 steps carved into the stone. However, as far as I know, there was never a temple dedicated to Apollo at the top of the rock (but there is a church atop it now).

Finally, a little about Kid Eternity! Kid Eternity is a comic book superhero whose adventures premiered in Hit Comics #25, which was published by Quality Comics in December 1942. I first learned of Kid Eternity when I read DC’s Wanted, The World’s Most Dangerous Villains #4 in 1972 and Secret Origins #4 in 1973. According to my research, all of Quality Comics's properties were sold to DC Comics in 1956, but most of those Quality properties had fallen into the public domain by then because copyrights were either not properly filed or renewed. Kid Eternity was one such character. DC Comics does own the copyright to its 1990s version of Kid Eternity, which is why I changed the name of my version of the character to “Christopher E. Turner.”
I hope you enjoyed this three part Librarian Perils story!!!

:) (Smile) — Description
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            No one in the Regional Manager’s office spoke as an angry Chryseis, her hands squeezed into tight fists, squared off against Ms. Pryor, until Matteo gleefully announced, “I love a good catfight.”
            The red-headed Regional Manager and the raven-haired Head Librarian, without taking their eyes off the other, simultaneously told the hooded man, “Shut up, Matteo.”

            “The Soul Rings are in a safe place, Chryseis. And you know as well as I do, that you’re not going to kill me.”
           “What makes you so sure? You have so much to answer for!”
            “I’m sure, Chryseis,” she answered calmly. “I once told you that I wouldn’t let anyone actually hurt you, particularly not here in this Library. And that means I won’t hurt you either. I also don’t think you’re ruthless enough to kill someone who's not fighting back. And, I’m also sure that you haven’t forgotten that people like us don’t kill. Or at least you don’t.” Ms. Pryor slowly smiled. “You also know that despite everything, I love you.”

            Chryseis unclenched her fists, but still stared angrily at Ms. Pryor. “It’s easy for you to say that.”
            “Actually, it is easy for me to say that. Because it’s true. Everything I’ve ever done for you – or to you – has always been because of my love for you, Chryseis.” She gestured at the vellum pages on the table. “Even now, I’m acting because I love you.”

            “What do these have to do with anything?”
            “Everything! These pages from The Aethiopis, the mysterious messages sent to your computer, and even the paper weight emblem that somehow just appeared on your desk are all part of his plan.”

            “Whose plan?” asked Chryseis.
            Ms. Pryor touched Chryseis’s hand and, when the dark-haired woman, didn’t pull away, Ms. Pryor grasped her hand tighter. “The Lord of Lycans. The person who tried ingratiating himself with you by contributing valuable works to the Library’s collection as Roland S. Fly.”

            Chryseis shivered involuntarily as she repeated the name, “The Lord of Lycans.”
            Ms. Pryor nodded. “Yes. He was gradually sending you bits and pieces from the past – the Amazon emblem, your real name in Greek, that passage from The Iliad, and, finally, the vellum pages from The Aethiopis.”

            Chryseis regarded Ms. Pryor with suspicion as Matteo, Becca and Kit stood silent, watching and listening nearby. “Why would he do that? What would he gain?”

            “I think he was seeking revenge for his earlier failure to permanently corrupt you. I think he wanted to destroy your mind by disturbing the delicate equilibrium in your psyche that results in you being both Chryseis at times and ‘Ms. Kent’ at other times.”
            Chryseis laughed. “I think he did me a favor then actually. I’ve wanted to be free of my ‘twin’ ever since I learned she existed. And now it’s finally happened because I’m here in the Library which was ‘her’ domain, not mine. I’m back, and it feels great!” Her smile faded as she said, “Now, give me back my Light Rings.”

            Ms. Pryor shook her head. “If I did that, it would play right into what I believe to be the Lord of Lycans’s secondary plan.”
            Chryseis spoke impatiently, “Which is?”

            “To take advantage of your innate desire for power so, if your mind wasn’t destroyed, your lust for power would corrupt you again.” She let go of Chryseis’s hand. “Assuming you can adjust to having one personality again, that is. You’re already showing signs of corruption – being glad to be rid of the pure, good and innocent part of your persona, demanding the return of the Rings which almost led to your destruction the last time you possessed them, and threatening to kill me.”

            Chryseis spoke with scorn. “My ‘innate desire for power’? You always thought you knew me so well, but you don’t know a thing really. Now, give me those Rings!”
            Ms. Pryor ignored her. “After all of these centuries, my love, I know you better than you think. And, thanks to the inadvertence of the Lord of Lycans, I now understand things even more.”

            “What in the name of Hades are you talking about now?”
            “I know why you lust for power and I also know that you’ll destroy yourself if you continue down this road. Lord Acton was right, you know. ‘Absolute power does corrupt absolutely.’ But I can save you from destroying yourself that way, Chryseis. If you let me.”

            “You’re just stalling, and it’s making me very angry. Give me my Light Rings!”
            Ms. Pryor paused and everyone could see she was deep in thought. Finally, she spoke. “Give me one chance to show you – a mere matter of minutes – and if you don’t see the truth of my words, then I’ll return the Soul Rings to you.”

            Chryseis regarded the red-haired woman warily but then nodded and relaxed.
            Ms. Pryor turned to Kit. “Mr Turner, I need your assistance again.”

            Kit nodded. “Her Dad, right?”
            Ms. Pryor smiled at him. “You’re a very perceptive young man. Yes, please summon him here.”

            For the fifth time, Kit spoke the magic word. “Eternity!”

            An elderly man – tall, thin, and slightly hunched over with a long white beard that matched his long white hair – stepped out of the familiar white smoke. He wore a gray robe that came down to the floor and a headband adorned with images of the sun and a lyre. The old man wore a puzzled look as he took in the people standing around the Regional Manager’s desk until his eyes focused on the face of the dark-haired librarian. He gasped before he spoke softly in a choked up voice, “Astynome? Is it really you, my child?”

            Chryseis stared in wonder at her father. Tears filled the corners of her eyes as she dropped to one knee in front of the old man. “Father,” she simply said as she looked at the office floor. No one else in the room spoke or moved. “I never thought I would see you again after that afternoon on Lesbos.”

            Chryses touched his daughter’s cheek with one hand and beckoned her to stand with his other. “So many times I thought about what to say if I ever saw you again, but now words fail me, Astynome.”

            “I call myself Chryseis now, Father.”

            “‘Chryseis’ meaning daughter of Chryses,” said the old man. “Why would you honor me so after the way we parted?”

            She took a deep breath and held back the tears. “Because you are my father, and I’ve had many regrets about that afternoon . . . when you saw me with Achilles and thought that I had willfully lain with him.”

            The old man interrupted her. “Shortly after you left Lesbos, Apollo came to me in a dream and told me things which he made me swear never to repeat. He told me what Achilles had done and also that it was he, Apollo, and not Agamemnon, who sired your child.” The old man paused. “Can you ever forgive me for thinking so little of you, child?”

            Chryseis took her father’s hands in her own and kissed his long, soft fingers. She nodded as tears fell down her cheeks. “I only ever wanted you to be proud of me, Father. Not to see or think me some weak little girl of Troy.”

            The old man forced a smile. “Weak?” he repeated. “My daughter is one of the only women to have escaped being enslaved by our enemies.” He began speaking louder and with pride. “And she bore a child of the god to whom I dedicated my life. I could not be more proud of you, Astynome. Forgive me. I meant to say Chryseis. I am proud of you, daughter, and ashamed of myself for thinking what I did and for accusing you of being weak.”

            He embraced Chryseis and held her tightly for several seconds before letting her go and turning to Kit. “I am indebted to you, Kid Eternity. I never thought to see my daughter again so I could tell her of the regrets I have had for so many centuries.”

            “You’re welcome,” said Kit with a wink before he turned to Ms. Pryor. “Finished?” he asked. She nodded.

            Kit turned to Chryseis. “I’m going to return him now,” he said. She smiled through her tears and also nodded. “Thank you for your time, Chryses. You may return now to Eternity.”

            As the old man vanished amidst the cloud of smoke, Ms. Pryor stepped close to Chryseis and held her hands. “If you still want to Rings,” she said gently. “They’re yours.”

            Chryseis shook her head. She spoke as if she was not sure she was doing the right thing, but she was so overcome with emotion that she simply said, “After what happened last time, I think it’s best that you hold onto them. At least for now.” She looked closely at Ms. Pryor and hesitated before speaking. “Thank you for arranging this. It’s been a burden I didn’t even know I was carrying for all of these years.”

            Ms. Pryor smiled affectionately. “I told you that I know you better than you think. Just as I told you that everything I’ve ever done for you, Chryseis, is because of my love for you.” Her smile slowly faded. “And that’s why it genuinely pains me to do what still needs to be done.”

            “What else needs to be done?” asked Chryseis.

            “Your psyche is not yet ready to be the Chryseis you were before 2015. I saw it as soon as you shed your ‘Ms. Kent’ persona earlier and immediately craved power again. It’s not time yet, my love, for you to be free of ‘your twin’.” Ms. Pryor paused as she stroked Chryseis cheek. “Fortunately, I prepared for that possibility too.”

           Ms. Pryor held Chyseis’s hands again more firmly this time. She looked over her shoulder and said one word, “Becca.”

           Becca took her cue and stepped forward holding a gold watch that dangled from a chain in her left hand as she stood close to Chryseis. “Focus on my voice and the watch, Chryseis. Focus on my very soothing voice and don’t look away from the watch as it swings slowly back and forth in front of you. Let yourself relax as you slowly go under. You cannot move. You’re to focus only on what I tell you. Can you do that for me, Chryseis?”
           Chryseis quickly found herself unable to resist the combination of the swinging watch and the very familiar, hypnotic voice of the college student. “Yes, Mistress Becca. I will obey,” replied Chryseis in a monotone.
           Becca looked at Ms. Pryor and raised an eyebrow curiously. “She’s the Amazon Arrow, isn’t she?”

           Ms. Pryor shrugged as she released Chryseis's hands. “One of them. Now stay on task, Becca, because I need this done right! And you need to be sure it’s done right too!” Ms. Pryor said in a tone that made the college girl shiver.

           Ms. Pryor handed Becca a note pad. “These are your instructions. You’re going to use all of your skills and all of your talents to put Chryseis and Ms. Kent back the way they were three weeks ago, before the Lord of Lycans began fucking with her mind.” Ms. Pryor’s voice seethed with anger momentarily before she regained her composure. “And take good care with the final instruction, which requires the utmost subtlety, because I want Chryseis, not Ms. Kent, to have a very faint memory that she and her father made peace and that he was proud of her.”

          Becca nodded as she kept the watch swaying in front of Chryseis and began speaking to the dark-haired woman. Ms. Pryor, Matteo and Kit watched and listened as Becca took close to thirty minutes to accomplish all that she had been told to do by Ms. Pryor. Finished, Becca sent Ms. Kent back to her basement office in the Library with instructions to come out of her trancelike state in an hour’s time and to resume work on Library-related matters.

EPILOGUE

           After Ms. Kent left the Regional Manager’s office, Ms. Pryor turned to Becca and Kit. “Thank you. What you both did today was very important to me and necessary.” She nodded to Matteo, who moved behind Becca and Kit. Matteo withdrew two guns from his pockets and pointed them at the back of their heads. “Unfortunately, I cannot permit you to leave with the information you learned here.”

           Kit was about to speak when Ms. Pryor gestured for him to remain quiet. “No talking! Just listening! I’m very aware of what each of your voices are capable of doing, so if you even whisper, Matteo will fire his weapons. Do you both understand?”

           Slowly, Becca and Kit nodded. Both looked defeated and dejected. “Cheer up. It doesn’t have to end that way.” She paused and sat behind her desk. “I really am grateful for your help. Believe it or not, I do love Chryseis and I have for hundreds of years. One day, she will be whole again, but that day is not here yet. You have both helped though to bring that day closer so, for that reason, I’m willing to spare your lives – and let you keep the money you earned, of course. On one condition.”

           Kit and Becca looked at Ms. Pryor curiously. They could hear Matteo breathing behind them and sense the guns close to their heads. Ms. Pryor opened a desk drawer and removed two large vials which each contained an amber colored liquid. “You may not believe this, but more than 15,000 years ago, I was a medicine woman in a tribe here in North America. Over the millennia, I’ve learned a lot and gathered many herbs and roots and other interesting items.” She held the two vials towards the young man and woman. “These contain a relatively harmless mixture of herbs and water, but they also include traces of peyote and a single drop of liquid from one of the five rivers of Hades – Lethe, the river of forgetfulness. After you drink it, you will experience twenty-four hours of euphoria and confusion. Then, you will be left with only the vaguest memories of what happened here today.”

           She looked squarely Kit and Becca. “Your choice. Within the next ten seconds, you’ll either drink or die. If you drink, Matteo will see you safely to your hotel rooms and watch over you for the twenty-four hours.”

          Kit took the vial, uncapped it and drank. Becca did the same. Several seconds later, they both stood glassy-eyed across from Ms. Pryor. She spoke to Matteo, who put away his guns. “See that they stay safely in their hotel rooms until this time tomorrow and make certain their paths don’t cross when they leave. I’ll be in touch eventually.”

          Matteo nodded back and took the two young people by their arms, leading them from the Regional Manager’s office.

          Once she was alone, Ms. Pryor placed the vellum pages of The Aethiopis in their original packaging so she could store them in her hidden vault with the other “lost” works she had collected over the millennia. Finished, she sat back in her chair and smiled with satisfaction as she hugged the gold paperweight Amazon emblem against her chest.

THE END

Notes:

As I said when I posted Part 1 of this story, I performed a lot of research before I began writing. Much of what I wrote in the three parts of "When The Past Calls" was accurate and is based on that research, but not all of it

With regard to The Aethiopis, that poem is part of The Epic Cycle, a collection of epic poems (including The Iliad and The Odyssey) which tells the story of The Trojan War. The events in The Aethiopis take place right after the conclusion of The Iliad. The poem is attributed to Arctinus of Miletus, who is believed to have been a student of Homer. As stated in Part 1, only five lines of The Aethiopis exist today.

Everything Athena said in her telephone call with Ms. Kent and Ms. Pryor about the plot of The Aethiopis, how the Venetus A and Venetus B versions of The Iliad ended up in Italy, and the letter from Aurispa to Traversari are factually accurate. As to her theory of how nine vellum pages from The Aethiopis could have survived after being lost to history for so long, I made that up entirely.

In Part 2, Arctinus stated that there were six books which comprised The Aethiopis. Ms. Kent correctly stated that there were only five books to that epic poem; I made up the existence of a sixth book and the events in it which were purportedly stricken from history by Zeus.

The Tale of Achilles -- The story Achilles told of how he captured Chryseis and Briseis is taken from The Iliad and, as stated, The Aethiopis did tell of how Achilles was sent to Lesbos to be purified for killing Penthesilea and Thersites. There is a 130 foot rock of granite on Petra with 114 steps carved into the stone. However, as far as I know, there was never a temple dedicated to Apollo at the top of the rock (but there is a church atop it now).

Finally, a little about Kid Eternity! Kid Eternity is a comic book superhero whose adventures premiered in Hit Comics #25, which was published by Quality Comics in December 1942. I first learned of Kid Eternity when I read DC’s Wanted, The World’s Most Dangerous Villains #4 in 1972 and Secret Origins #4 in 1973. According to my research, all of Quality Comics's properties were sold to DC Comics in 1956, but most of those Quality properties had fallen into the public domain by then because copyrights were either not properly filed or renewed. Kid Eternity was one such character. DC Comics does own the copyright to its 1990s version of Kid Eternity, which is why I changed the name of my version of the character to “Christopher E. Turner.”
I hope you enjoyed this three part Librarian Perils story!!!