Chapter 15

“As Mahalesh neared a thousand years of age, her five youngest daughters, born within decades of one another, fought bitterly for control over the earth and its people. Their discord broke her heart.” Mom turns toward the window and when she speaks again, her voice sounds sad, as though it isn’t ancient history to her. “Shenoah proposed a solution—split up the land. There was plenty to go around. But Mahalesh feared it would eventually be divided too far. She felt the division would need to be limited.”

I knew this part. “Mahalesh couldn’t choose one of her daughters to rule. Shenoah suggested Mahalesh break the stone and give one piece to each daughter. Divide up the earth and let them each rule a portion to stop the fighting.”

“You’re right,” Mom says, “but no one could break the stone, not by any method they tried.”

“Then how?” I look at the ring.

Mom whispers, “I’m not sure whether I believe it, but those were different times then. Amazing times, if the records can be believed. Mahalesh prayed and asked God to break the stone, to help her end the fighting among her daughters. She asked for peace among them before she died.”

“And God did it?” I ask.

“We assume so,” Mom says. “It doesn’t say. But in the next entry it speaks of how the stone was split among the daughters. Mahalesh gave the pieces out in order, with the largest piece to her youngest and wisest daughter, Alamecha. Thus your great, great, great grandmother became the Empress of the First Family.”

“Do you think God broke the stone?”

Mom shrugs. “I don’t know. Our family received Mahalesh’s actual journals, and I’ve read her first-hand account. The heads of the other four families have copies that were made at that time, and Shenoah’s line has her records.”

“Do you believe we’re God’s chosen?” I ask.

Mom shakes her head. “I wish I knew. I believe we’re God’s creation, and I believe God struck that stone. Even if He’s not very involved in our world now, He was then, and He may be again. Especially if what I believe is true. If you’re her.”

“You think I can reunite all six stones?” I ask.

Mom closes her eyes. “Mahalesh asked God to split the stone into five pieces, one for each of her daughters. God split it as she asked, but not into five pieces.”

“I know, he split it into six.”

“No.” Mom shakes her head. “The records report seven stones.”

“Wait, what?” There are six families. One for each of the five daughters, and one to Shenoah the Peacemaker. My heart rate picks up.

There’s another stone somewhere? Why? And where exactly?

“We have the biggest stone, and we rule North America, the United Kingdom, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. The second, third, fourth, and fifth families are descended from Mahalesh’s older daughters in order: Malessa rules most of Europe, Lenora rules South America and Greenland, Adora controls most of the Soviet Bloc countries, Mongolia, Thailand, and Indonesia, and Shamecha rules the Middle East and India. Mahalesh gave each daughter a ring and a territory to rule. She gave the smallest stone to her sister, Shenoah, as well as the entire continent of Africa to rule. The Shenoah family, through Adika, still rules most of Africa today.”

Mom’s stalling. I learned exactly what each family ruled and how they held each of their nations while I was still drinking from a bottle.

“And the seventh?”

“No one knows. My mother believed God kept it for Himself, to give to a worthy queen at the appointed time. My grandmother believed it never existed to begin with, that there was some kind of transcription error.”

“What appointed time?” I ask. “When did your mom think God would award this extra credit stone?”

“According to Mahalesh’s journal, God told Eve that the stones would one day be shattered. He told her that one of her descendants would be able to regain admittance into the Garden by uniting the families and their stones. Only this Empress could gain admittance.”

“Can I see the actual prophecy?” I ask. “Or is that not allowed?”

“Only I can enter the archive, but I’ll quote it for you.” She closes her eyes as if seeing the parchment in her mind’s eye. “‘In time of great peril, when the lives of women and men shall fail, the Eldest shall survive certain death to unite the families. She comes in a time of blood and horror, in a world overrun with plague and warfare. She shall command the stone of the mountain, be it small or large. Its power shall destroy the vast hosts arrayed against it. With the might and power of God, the Eldest shall destroy all in her path, and unite my children as one. Only through her blood can the stone be restored to the mountain. Together, with the strength of her strongest supporter, she shall open the Garden of Eden, that the miracle of God shall go unto all the Earth to save my children from utter destruction.’”

The Eldest?

“I always assumed the ‘Eldest’ referred to the empress who lived the longest. So far, that’s Eve, at nine-hundred and seventy-one years.”

“Which means, you hoped it might be you.”

Mom shrugs. “We’ve all hoped. Everyone wants to be special.”

Not me.

“But what if it doesn’t mean the eldest empress to live? What if it’s referring to something else? What if God knew we would start killing the older twin, and no “eldest” sister eligible to rule would exist? Until you.”

“That’s a stretch,” I say.

“Is it?” Mom throws her hands up. “It makes more sense than the eldest empress. And look at the other evidence. You commanded the stone today, and it destroyed the light. It’s talking about you, Chancery. Our people, and perhaps the whole world, will need you, and I don’t intend to fail them.”

“The world isn’t overrun by blood, plague, or warfare,” I protest. “There’s no eminent destruction.”

“Not yet,” Mom says, “but I very much fear it’s coming.”

“What about all the destruction you and your rivals have caused over the years? Where was the salvation of the earth then?”

“War, famine, plague. Those are commonplace. An apocalyptic event, something that could wipe out the evian race, that’s the real threat. Judica has been awful to you, but now I’m beginning to believe things happened as they did for a reason. You survived certain death to be here, spared by the most merciless of rulers. I deserved my reputation. I meant to kill you, you know, but I couldn’t. Something stopped me and I spared you, the eldest twin. And then you survived again, by sheer luck. Or possibly providence.”

She’s referring to my ninth birthday.

“Although I become more certain the prophecy refers to you with every breath, I think Judica serves a purpose too. I think she could become your strongest supporter. You may need her skill set to save everyone. I think, like Mahalesh’s daughters, my precious daughters need to make peace before they can unite the other families.”

“That’s a nice hope,” I say. “But I’m afraid the only way Judica’s ever going to help me is into an early grave.”