do so, he needed to find the fabled Golden Fleece, which would allow him to become king.
“ ‘Medea agreed to help him find it, and after abandoning her home and her family, they sailed the world in search of the Golden Fleece. But after many years and the births of their three children, they had turned up nothing and Jason grew weary.’ ”
Alec paused again. “Do you know the story of Medea?”
“I read it,” I said. “But the version I read isn’t like this.”
Alec shook his head. “Not at all. But if the language is what we’re going by, this document has to predate what is considered the original.” He let out a little laugh. “It’s impossible but the familiarity and informality of it reminds me of the kinds of documents we see that came out of the time period when people began writing their family histories down instead of passing them down orally.” He leaned in and read the next part.
“ ‘Unbeknownst to Medea, Absyrtus had been searching for her. When he found her, he told Medea the truth. There had never been any plan to marry her off. Jason had lied to her. He tricked her into helping him attain the Golden Fleece. When confronted, Jason and his men took their children and Absyrtus as captives and threatened to kill them if Medea didn’t find the fleece and turn it over to Jason.
“ ‘Medea sought the help of the goddess and was told the fleece was in the sacred grove of Ares, guarded by a never-sleeping dragon. Medea poisoned the dragon, procured the fleece, and then, understanding that she would never be free from him, decided to kill Jason. She concocted the deadliest poison she could, distilled it into a goblet of wine, and had it served to him. Medea watched in horror as Jason made his children taste his food and drink before him. The children fell to the floor, writhing in pain. Jason seized Medea, took the fleece for his own, and executed Absyrtus by cutting his body into six pieces.
“ ‘Medea, in her bottomless sorrow, called to the goddess for help. Hecate appeared with a . . .’ ”
Alec stopped and checked his notes and computer screen again. “The document is damaged here. A partial word, ‘Κυν——λο,’ is written, and the word ‘κυνηγόσκυλο,’ meaning ‘hound,’ could fit in the space.”
He went on. “ ‘Hecate appeared with a hound and opened the gates to the underworld. Jason fled with the fleece, and Medea looked on as Hecate swept everyone in attendance to their deaths. In an act of grace, Medea’s immunity flowed in the veins of her children and they were saved.
“ ‘Jason made use of the fleece and took the princess Glauce as his wife, and so became King. Medea and her children retreated to the island of Aeaea, home of the sorceress Circe. She spent her days wandering her Poison Garden, where she buried the six pieces of Absyrtus’s body. In the spot where the earth covered each piece of his remains, peculiar plants grew, plants only Absyrtus’s beloved family could tend. Medea nurtured them with drops of her own blood and slivers of moonlight.’ ”
I felt like I’d fallen off the edge of a cliff. That sickening feeling of free fall made my stomach turn over. Marie’s hand was firm on the small of my back.
“This is fascinating,” Alec said as he continued to study the parchment. “The way the story’s told here, its age—I’ve never seen anything like this outside of a museum.” He eyed me carefully. “Where did you say you got it?”
Marie reached down and snatched the paper off his desk. He winced, reaching for it.
“Be careful!” he said angrily. “It’s delicate.”
Marie handed the document to me, gently nudging me toward the door. “Thanks, Alec. You can go back to illegally accessing the MoMA’s encrypted files.”
“History belongs to all of us,” he said as we closed the doors behind us.
I looked Marie dead in the eye. “I found the key.”
She blinked. “The key to what?”
“The door in the garden.”
“You didn’t open it.”
It wasn’t a question as much as it was a statement, as if saying it to me like that would make it true.
“I did. I’ve seen the Heart.”
Marie’s eyes grew wide. “Briseis.” She didn’t have to say anything else. I could hear the disappointment in her voice.
“You don’t understand,” I said. “Everything has been leading me to it, and this document—whatever it is—is proof of that.”