The Journey The Malevolent Curse

Chapter XI: In the Depths of the Evil Heart

All was silent as we ate our food. The smell of the pottage that I wished was seasoned with spices, had enveloped my senses. This smell—the smell of food—was what had calmed us down. Everyone finally had slight smiles on their faces. Not enough to talk of good times and to try and laugh, but at least they were not frowning.

I looked in the water of my glass and could see in the reflection that my tears were dried, and my cheeks were not red with rage or pink with sorrow anymore. Bella had come back because Dad had run after her and had helped her calm. He felt bad for her for some reason, and I didn't quite understand that. I figured it had to do with him trusting Bella's story because he knew how deceitful and cowardly Blake was.

We had decided unanimously that after dinner, Bella would finish her story without any interruption and we would try to believe her. Bella had promised to tell the complete truth, not that she had not been before. Bryan hadn't exactly forgiven Bella, but he was giving her another chance to explain.

After each of us had finished our dinner, we sat and waited, giving Bella the signal to start whenever she wanted to. It was about five minutes before Bella began to speak.

"So, we just learned about the WAFE. And as you probably figured out, my father used the earth and air part of the WAFE to cause the sand storm. When you started to get near the Costco where he had put the time machine, he created a tree right where you were driving so that your car would crash. Then, hoping that you were smart enough, which you were, he hoped you would take shelter in a place that would give you food and anything else you would need. The night you got to the store and the following day, he would occasionally go and move the phone to different places hoping you would find it. But all day long you still didn't find it, until you started a movie for . . ." She took a deep breath. We had set up a movie for Amy and Luke to watch. I'm sure she did not want to say "Amy".

Dad must have noticed why Bella didn't go on, for he said, "So they found the phone. . . and then what?"

"Oh." She sent a look of gratitude to Dad. "Yes, and then when you were in Jesus' era, my dad had enough time to figure out how to get you all to Rome."

"Wait." I interrupted Bella from continuing. "Why did Blake let us even go to Jesus' time? He's done all these bad things to us. Why did he let us get blessed by Jesus?"

"He just needed time to figure everything out, I guess? I honestly don't know though." Bella said.

I nodded, but inside I was screaming.

"Wait," Bryan said, cutting off Bella from trying to speak again. "How did we not lose the phone in Jesus' time?"

"Well, my dad has the power to send you wherever he wants. And he actually planned on landing it with a family member in each era you, or we, visit."

"Wait, the phone isn't broken?" Bryan asked.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't quite explain that right. The phone you had in Jesus's time was not broken. Until my dad replaced it with a different one the night you were all asleep in the tent. That one he replaced it with was one he had made so that you could only end up in a time where a family member is," Bella said.

"I'm confused," Bryan and I said.

"The one I had dropped, the day after school this year, was one he had created so that you, the person who used the time machine, could only go to a relative's or ancestor's time. He had created it that way so that the person who uses the time machine would not change history, only something in their life."