Chris Kuzneski - The Prophecy

‘In Petr’s defence,’ Jones added, ‘we asked him to do a word for word translation of the message. We didn’t know it was a word puzzle where we were supposed to look for puns and other sorts of twists.’

She scrunched her face. ‘What pun are you talking about?’

‘Philly! I get it. Very clever. And you think there might be more puns?’

Payne shrugged. ‘At this point we don’t know. Could be anything.’

‘Well,’ she said, ‘at first glance I don’t think lines two and four go together.’

‘Why? Because they don’t rhyme perfectly?’

She shook her head. ‘Actually, that doesn’t bother me. If you want to get hypercritical, lines one and three aren’t perfect, either. Brothers is plural, and mother is singular.’

‘True,’ Payne admitted. ‘Then what troubles you?’

‘The verb.’

‘What verb?’ Jones asked.

‘What do you mean?’ Megan grabbed a green marker and underlined chosen. ‘It’s the only verb in the whole poem. Don’t they teach grammar at the service academies?’

Jones reread the quatrain. ‘You’re right. One verb. But why does that bother you?’

She made a giant circle around lines one, two, and three. ‘I’m pretty sure the first three lines are supposed to be describing me. I’m from the city of brothers, and I’m a filly with no mother.

‘And the fourth line?’

Megan answered. ‘It’s not talking about me. It’s telling us why I was selected. It’s actually giving us an explanation.’

Payne nodded in agreement. ‘I think you’re right. The first three lines go together.’

‘If that’s the case,’ Jones concluded, ‘then there’s a good chance we’re missing something in the second line.’

‘Like a meaning?’

‘Well, yeah,’ Jones admitted as he removed the cap from his black marker. ‘A meaning would be nice, but I think the reason we don’t understand the line is because we’re missing a word trick. Remember what Petr told us? He felt the author of this piece was a brilliant puzzle maker, so it stands to reason the three lines that go together would utilize similar tactics.’

‘Oh,’ Payne said, ‘I see what you’re saying. Lines one and three used word tricks, so line two probably does as well.’

Jones nodded. ‘Let’s hope so, because I have no idea what it’s talking about.’

A lover from the lost line.

Megan scrunched her face as she focused on the words.

‘What’s wrong?’ Payne wondered.

‘Two things off the top of my head. I realize old guys like you haven’t been in school this millennium, but are you familiar with alliteration?’

‘Ouch! Why so mean?’ Jones demanded.

Payne ignored her jab. ‘Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of a word. In this case, lover, lost, and line. What’s your point?’

She answered. ‘For some reason, alliteration is used in this line but none of the others. That seems fishy to me.’

‘Bad fishy, or good fishy?’

‘What’s the difference?’

‘Wow,’ Payne said sarcastically, ‘I was beginning to think you knew everything. DJ, please tell her the difference.’

‘With pleasure,’ he said. ‘Bad fishy is when you get a girl naked and—’

Payne interrupted him. ‘On second thoughts,

She nodded in understanding. ‘In that case, I’m going to go with bad fishy.’

‘Why’s that?’

‘Because there’s something about the word lover that just seems off to me.’

‘Off in what way?’ Payne asked.

‘I don’t know. It’s just a gut feeling. I get those sometimes, and I’m normally right.’

Payne smiled at her comment. ‘Trust me, I know the feeling. No pun intended.’

Jones sighed. ‘Awwww, isn’t that sweet? You’re both psychic. In that case, why don’t you put your freak brains together and figure out how Petr screwed up his translation? Meanwhile, I’ll focus on the end of the verse. I think I might know what “the lost line” means.’

48

Payne pointed to the two chairs on the other side of the desk. Megan walked over first and sat in the far seat. He gave her his notebook as he joined her. ‘Take a look at my notes. On the left are the words in English. On the right are their original languages.’

WORDS

LANGUAGE

city

French

brothers

Greek

lover

Italian

lost

Hebrew

line

Latin

filly

Provençal

mother

French

choice

Hebrew

place

Provençal

time

Italian

Megan glanced at the two columns, amazed by the effort that everyone had put into this

‘Where should we start?’ she asked.

‘Let’s start with your gut feeling. You said something feels off about the word lover , so let’s begin there.’

‘Great. So how do we do that?’

He shrugged. ‘Actually, I have no idea.’

She laughed at his honesty. ‘A guy who isn’t afraid to admit how clueless he is. That’s a very attractive quality in a man.’

‘Really? Then you’ll love me. I don’t know squat about anything.’

‘Keep in mind, I didn’t say stupidity was attractive. I simply said that…’

Payne stared at her, waiting for her to finish her thought, but she didn’t seem to notice. Instead, her gaze had shifted to the notebook she held in her hands. ‘What is it?’

‘What?’ she asked, not looking up at him.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Nothing’s wrong. It was just something you said.’

She ran her finger down the left column. ‘You mentioned the word love.’

‘And?’

Megan glanced at him. ‘The list is wrong.’

Payne inched his chair closer. ‘How so?’

‘On your chart, you have the word choice . But in the poem, you use the word chosen .’

Payne nodded, then explained that Ulster was forced to change the form of certain words for the poem to make sense. This was necessary because some of the languages had conflicting rules when it came to grammar. For example, where an adjective needed to be placed in order to modify the appropriate word in a sentence. ‘Does that make sense?’

‘Perfect sense. It also explains what’s wrong with the second line.’

Payne put two and two together. ‘Does this have to do with love ?’

She flashed him a smile. ‘Everything has to do with love .’

‘Wow, my flirting must have been contagious.’

‘Tell me,’ she said, ‘how much Italian do you guys know?’

Payne shrugged. ‘A few words, here and there. Mostly related to food.’

‘Trust me,’ she said, ‘you don’t have to be fluent to know this. When you mentioned love , it got me thinking about the second verse. What if the word lover was the wrong form of the word? What if it was supposed to be love instead?’

Jones took his finger and erased the r from the board. Now it read: A love from the lost line.

Payne studied the subtle change, but the solution still didn’t click in his head. ‘I don’t get it. How does that help us?’

‘And,’ she added, ‘what if the word was never meant to be translated? What if it was meant to be read in its original Italiano?’

Jones wasn’t an expert, but like many people he knew the Italian word for love . He erased the English version and wrote it in its original language.

Amore from the lost line.

‘I’ll be damned,’ Payne said from his chair. ‘That’s really clever.’

‘Certainly not you,’ Payne teased, ‘or else you’d see it.’

‘See what?’ Jones snapped.

Payne smiled at Megan and encouraged her to speak. ‘Go on. Tell him why you’re so confident this line is about you.’