His fist comes down on the table. “I paid my tithe sixteen years ago when Toliss made its scheduled stop. Championship.” He says the last word like a curse. “Never in my days.”
“I take it you don’t agree with the king’s decision.” Kurt licks his lips and helps himself to more water.
“It’s why he released me from my position as Head Keeper in our Hall of Records. Among other things.”
Kurt and I exchange skeptical glances. “You mean to say that the king planned for this championship even before Tristan was born?”
Gregorious-Greg scratches his head. His hands are jittery as he crosses and uncrosses his fingers. I follow his stare to a row of clear bottles lined up on the cabinet. He licks his lips with a very blue tongue. “The line of kings has been unbroken since your ancestor Trianos united the trident pieces, therefore unifying our realm.”
Sweet. Go, ancestor Trianos. “If my grandfather just gives me the throne, wouldn’t it cause a civil war?”
His eyes go to the bottles in the cabinet, then to me. “Show me the scepter.”
I take it out of my backpack, still nestled in my sternum harness. When I hold it, it glows bright, then goes dead.
“Good,” he says. “Very good.”
I don’t get it. “What’s very good?”
“The other two are still out there? That’s why you’re here.”
“Yes.”
Greg stands. Goes to the window. The hinges of the cabinet squeak as he opens them. He takes one of the bottles and tips the clear liquid into his teacup. He doesn’t offer it to us. Then he drinks.
I look to Kurt who shrugs and proceeds to eat the smelly blue flowers in our cups.
When I look at Greg again, the change in him is so subtle that anyone else might miss it. The muddy green of his eyes becomes brighter, more emerald. His skin less yellow. Even his hands have stopped trembling.
“What is that?” I ask.
Kurt elbows me.
Greg bats a hand in the air. “Medicine. This body isn’t what it used to be.”
“O-kay,” I say. “Well, now that you know who I am and what I’m doing, I was hoping you could share anything that would help us find an oracle.”
“Sorry to disappoint you, child. I have nothing to do with oracles.”
“But you know of our past, don’t you?” Kurt asks. “You know everything that’s led us here. We’re giving you the opportunity to help shape our future when no one else could do the same, and you would turn us away?”
Greg stares at Kurt for a long time. A grandfather clock dings on the hour from somewhere inside the house. It’s not even noon yet, but the house already feels like a sauna. “I was there when you were born, you know.”
Kurt sits back so hard that the plastic chair nearly topples backward. “Me?”
I’m starting to think Greg’s too senile to help. The way he’s shaking again reminds me of the patients at the old folks’ home where the swim team volunteers during Christmas. Sometimes they just need someone to let them talk.
Greg nods once but doesn’t elaborate. “You have to understand that I watch history. I write it down. I don’t shape it.”
“But you do teach, don’t you?”
“That I did. I taught all the king’s daughters, for what good it did them. Or me, for that matter. A simple disagreement with the king and I’m left to die in this house.”
I reach for the empty teacup to keep my hands busy. Kurt asks, “You mean you want to go back to court?”
Greg crosses his arms over his chest. “I used to. A few days ago, I went to one of those landlocked meetings. A mistake, yes. I am not disgraced as they were. I am not a traitor to the crown. The king and I had a disagreement. In turn, I was allowed to walk away. But I don’t want to see the crown broken to suit my needs the way they do.”
“They said that?”
I think of my friends who are landlocked. Penny and her kid. They seemed cool—on my side.
Greg’s wide eyes nod. “Aye. Though not in those words. I’d keep away from them.”
“That’s sage advice,” Kurt says. Easy for him to say. He hates them.
I take my chances, reaching out to put a hand on Greg’s shoulder. I can feel the bone jutting out. “The way I see it, you don’t want the line of kings broken. If you help me, we both win.”