Signs From Heaven by Phaedra M. Weldon

Author:Phaedra M. Weldon [Weldon, Phaedra M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B000SCHAKS
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2012-07-13T17:38:26+00:00

Chapter 6

It was like nothing Bart had ever seen before.

Vanov had called this an archive. No. More like a museum.

Most of the art hung on the walls, sat on pedestals, while others rested on individual dais like the one they had transported in on.

What caught the group’s attention were the pieces obviously not part of the display. Sculptures, paintings, musical instruments, and books rested on the floor in a less than orderly fashion, propped against the walls or slung against one another.

As if they’d been piled inside with haste.

Vanov moved in the center of the path, not allowing his robes to brush any of the displayed pieces. He stopped a few feet ahead of them, his face expressionless.

“It looks like they just threw some of this stuff in here,” Carol said as she and Gomez joined them.

Corsi stood a few feet away, looking at a long, rectangular piece of art in a black frame. “I’m thinking they were in a hurry. Might have believed this museum was the safest place.”

“Oh, this is definitely a display hall of some sort,” Carol said and she pointed to the walls and the artwork. “Or it belonged to a private collector. Whether it was owned by the city’s ruler or the richest man living in it— maybe even this Soske person— doesn’t matter. It does look like it was used to safely stow precious things.”

Bart tried to think of what these people must have been thinking or feeling to have put what looked like family heirlooms in here. Thinking to come back to them someday.

It looked as if no one ever returned.

“It’s like old ghosts,” Gomez said from where she stood. Bart stood, wincing at his creaking knees, and ambled over to her.

“Interesting description.”

“Things like this also tell you about the sort of people they were.” Gomez pointed to the painting Corsi was looking at. It was mostly blue, with a black background, with hundreds of straight lines moving at ninety-degree angles. “Like this. I’d call this a practice in line making. Doesn’t really evoke any emotion.”

“Might not mean to,” Carol said. “Looks like it’s part of something else too.”

Bart nodded as he examined it. He believed Carol was right. It did look like it was more of a puzzle piece than a whole. And to add a bit more to the mystery, the name of Soske was printed in the lower right corner. Along with another word.

Bart pulled out his padd and tapped in the word to his translator.

It came back as So below.

Interesting.

“Hey, where’s Vanov?” Corsi nearly growled.

Everyone looked around. But there was no sign of the Historian.

“Great. Let’s find him before he trips one of these traps I keep hearing about.”

“She’s right,” Bart said as the group started to follow her. “Art is where the Disruptors usually struck. As a way to get back at the City Dwellers.”

They stopped where the hallway branched in opposite directions. Corsi called out for the Ardanan, but there was no answer, only the echo of her voice.

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