The Phoenix Creation 🆕⭐⭐⭐⭐ (on Amazon)

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A Second Continent

'Just five minutes, Alya, come and say hello, she'll really appreciate it, I promise,' encouraged Hanuel.

'What you mean is—that you can't find your way into the museum never mind out of it.'

'That too,' admitted Hanuel, with a wry smile.

They trotted up the steps of Continent One Museum, in Vancouver Beach, surprised by the number of school trips pouring down the steps on their way home, buzzing with excitement at the prospect of the start of the holidays the day after tomorrow.

Alya knew where she was going; she'd been many times before with either her parents or grandparents when they had lived in Vancouver Beach themselves. The museum had virtually been on their doorstep back then, but now it was a one-and-a-half-hour monorail ride away from San Fran. Still, it was nice to come out this way and they wanted to be seen to be supporting Trinidad as best they could, especially at the start of the holidays when there were eight long weeks to go with her.

'Third floor,' she said, over her shoulder as Hanuel kept pace.

They went up the stone steps which opened onto a bright plaza with restaurants, boutique shops and a sweetie shop mobbed by the remaining students.

They walked past the artefacts of the twentieth and twenty-first century in glass displays, from statues and gadgets to a light aircraft suspended from the ceiling. Hanuel paid attention but Alya had seen it all before and she wanted to get on with their task.

'Third floor,' said Alya again, after they'd ascended yet more steps. The glass doors swung open and they entered a huge cavernous room with small, discreet windows, snug in the rafters. The room they were in was the library and was home to every piece of antiquated scroll, book, and paper that could be salvaged after the ten year flood of 2070-2080. Alya had never spent long in this room in the past. She found it boring and irrelevant, although her grandpa loved to linger over the Greek scrolls which Alya especially couldn't understand the reason being because no one could speak Greek, so what was the point? Besides, it had all been translated and was easy enough to download onto a computer at home. And talking of boring and irrelevant, here was where Trin, Hanuel's twin sister, had decided to spend her work-experience.

'Trin,' said Hanuel, overtaking Alya and presenting his sister with a bag.

'Oh, hi you guys,' said Trin, noticing them approaching. She wore a smart navy skirt suit like the other stewards of the museum, she even had her own name badge and walkie-talkie and looked like a much older woman rather than a sixteen-year-old, work experience student.

'Hi, Trin,' said Alya sweetly. She wasn't remotely interested in what Trin was doing on work experience but she did have some questions she'd always wanted to ask about the museum.

'Thanks, Uel,' said Trin, accepting the bag from him and checking the contents. 'Dress, shoes, and corsage. I don't know how I forgot that the museum gala was tonight. I feel so stupid.'

'You're not stupid, Trin,' said Alya, kindly, 'far from it.'

'Thanks, Alya,' nodded Trin. 'I've been so forgetful lately.'

'Maybe you're in love,' mused Alya, randomly. Trin's eyes widened at the suggestion, and she glanced from Alya to Hanuel and back.

Hanuel's eyes widened too in response to his sister's reaction. Alya had just hit the nail on the head he suspected. His sister flushed violently and she seemed stuck for words. Alya rarely went out of her way to help Trin, but she couldn't bear to see her squirm in front of Hanuel, and she suspected that right now Hanuel would be feeling a bit awkward too, especially when Trin usually had all the answers, so she helped out a bit. 'Any chance we could have a private tour Trin? I've always wanted to see the basement. I hear it's where they keep the space shuttle for the next flood.'