"You never told me you could sense things from touching objects," Ness said, a question lingering in his voice. It had been two days since they'd been to the museum, and he was thinking back on it, remembering things that were said, how she'd taken his hand.
"Oh, yeah," Paula said, a little blood rushing to her cheeks. "Well, I haven't always had the ability. I think that part of my talent was still underdeveloped or something, during our journey. Now I can, only with some things though, and I have to really concentrate." Cradling the phone against her shoulder, she started going through objects on her desk and around her room, looking for an example.
"You mean you get a vision, or what? Is it like when you feel all dizzy and then something comes through?"
"Here." Paula snatched a teddy bear from her closet and sat down on her bed, the bear beside her. "Here, I've got the teddy bear I had with me when I was trapped in the mountain cabin, after Carpainter kidnapped me."
"You still have that thing?" Ness asked. "Must've taken a beating, I remember it getting bounced around in battle a lot."
"Couldn't bear to part with it. It reminds me of..." Her very first image of Ness flashed in her mind. "So much. Anyway, here, I've got it in front of me and if I touch it and concentrate very hard, making small... small circles..." Paula placed her hand on the bear's arm and began tracing patterns in its fur, circle after circle, smaller and tighter, her mind cleared, concentrating.
"Paula?" She had been quiet for nearly a minute now.
"Small circles..." she murmured, and Ness hushed up. "There, there..." Paula fell silent, shut her eyes as it came rushing back full force, the sound of water flowing in her ears, cold hands wrapped around bars of steel. "Ness," she spoke with eyes closed still, "I'm in the cabin, the river is running past the shore, and I'm gripping the bars but I'm trapped. It's an association, it's a memory..." Her eyes opened. "And the image fades away when I finally blink. Sometimes I get premonitions or flashbacks when I touch things. Mostly I see things that I've experienced in my life, but sometimes there are things I haven't seen before. I just thought..."
"Wow," Ness breathed, impressed. "That's incredible, I mean, it's one heck of a skill and it could be really useful... but it doesn't work on people, huh?"
"Guess not," Paula said, pushing the bear away. "I wish I could, I was... well, maybe I could have been concentrating harder, I was kind of talking and stuff, with my eyes... mostly open I guess. I could try harder, but the truth is, I've tried hard to do this with people before and it's never worked once."
"Yeah. Man, I just wish there was some kind of sign, I mean, clearer than the painting, I see my face in it but that's all I see. No directions, no specific threats, no answers. No place to start from." Frowning, Ness wondered what they were supposed to do.
"Too bad Buzz Buzz isn't around," Paula commented.
"Buzz Buzz..." Ness sighed. "Yeah, I could use a mentor right about now. I mean, just someone to tell me something, anything..."
"It'll happen though, won't it?" Paula stopped him. "Sometime, maybe sometime soon, maybe when we're not expecting it, or the very moment we're praying the most that it won't happen... it'll come." She shut her eyes. "We'll find out soon enough."
"Destiny..." Ness sighed. "Destiny, soon enough."
"Have you been to the museum before? I mean, walked through it?" Delaney Daly, curator at the Fourside Museum of Art, stepped out from behind her desk as she addressed the newest addition to the custodial staff.
"I haven't," explained the newly hired youth, shaking his head. "Not past the main corridor, anyway.
"Ah, that's all right," Delaney replied, glancing at her watch. "I have a few minutes, I can take you around if you'd like."
"Oh, that'd be great. Thanks." Rising from his chair, he followed her out of the office, suddenly nervous to be in an art museum. After dropping out of high school, he'd held only the most mundane of jobs: car wash attendant, elementary school janitor, and most recently, auto mechanic. But Norm's Garage was sold now, and soon developers would tear it down to make room for something or other. Here he was, a janitor again, but he'd never spent time in a place as fancy as this.
"Now here we have the east wing of the museum," Delaney said as they turned a corner. "Home to some of our most interesting and... peculiar artwork... oh, Belinda!" She caught a glimpse of Belinda Carole standing by a painting of a Carillon Beach sunset. "No tours today?"
Belinda, who had jumped at the sound of her name, shrugged. "Not too many visitors over here these days, I'm afraid," she replied, "given the nature of things, you know."
Delaney nodded knowingly. "Yes, well... well! I've got a meeting to make in a few minutes here, would you mind very much giving this young man a tour?" She gestured to the thin, rusty-haired boy beside her. "He's going to be joining the custodial team."
"I would love to," Belinda said, coming closer. "When are you starting?" she addressed the boy.
"Tomorrow," he answered, running a hand through somewhat messy hair.
"This is Belinda Carole, one of our museum tour guides," Delaney said. "Belinda, this is Tandy Phillips."
"Nice to meet you," Belinda smiled, extending her hand.
"Uh, yeah, same here," Tandy replied, shaking hands with her. He exhaled noticeably as Delaney walked away down the hall.
"You okay?" Belinda asked.
"Sure," he answered. "Man, I feel like I've been on thin ice forever, not used to being in a place like this."
"You get used to it," Belinda said with a knowing look. "How old are you?"
"Nineteen. I can't believe she even hired me, I don't have good luck with jobs." His green eyes alternated between looking at Belinda and past her. "I kinda, y'know, didn't finish school and stuff..."
"Oh," Belinda's eyes widened. "You'll get used to this place real fast. Delaney's pretty professional most of the time, but most of the people who work here are really laid-back. It's not bad at all." She paused, glancing around. "So, about that tour anyway..."
"Oh yeah," Tandy said, as if he'd just remembered it. "Hey, what did you mean when you said not too many people come down here anymore, 'cause of the nature of things?"
"Oh, that," Belinda murmured, trying to think of a way to explain. "It's just some freak incident that happened with this weird painting..."
Tandy narrowed his eyes. "Weird painting?"
Belinda shifted her weight uncomfortably. "Well, it's kind of a long story, has to do with that painting right behind you there, if you want I can tell you about it as we walk."
"Oh, thanks," Tandy said, turning around slowly. "Which one is it?"
"The red one, in the very corner," Belinda replied, taking a step towards him.
"Oh, this... whoa." He peered intensely at the painting, frowning his eyes. Looking at it, with its swirling reds and dark maroons, made him feel dizzy and strange. Looking at the center made him feel dizzier and stranger. "This a joke?"
"Joke?" Belinda repeated.
"This thing got a mirror in it or something?"
"You see your face in the picture?" Belinda came forward, looking from Tandy to the painting and back again, growing more uneasy by the second.
"What kind of trick is this?" Tandy said skeptically. "What'd you guys do?"
"It's not a trick." Belinda looked up at him with serious eyes. "It's trouble."
"I wanted to see something in it so badly, Dad, some explanation..." Jeff's voice trailed off. It felt good to be back at the lab again, away from the crisis at hand. He didn't want to think about Giygas coming back or darkness surging over light. He didn't want to think, period, but there was no escaping that, whether he retreated to Snow Wood or his father's lab or almost anywhere.
"Nothing scientific?" Dr. Andonuts stared at his son, whose eyes looked unusually blank. "The angle of the light, the surface of the painting..."
"Well, I didn't touch it," Jeff cut in, "but it wasn't the light, Dad, this was something. The tour guide doesn't see anything when she looks into the painting, and neither does anyone else. It's a specific... calling?"
"You think Giygas is back? But the four of you..."
"Anything's possible. The painting's so reminiscent of our final battle, it's almost like Giygas has to be behind it. Except..." Jeff closed his eyes. "Except he can't be, because we destroyed him, and he just can't go and take it all away like it didn't mean anything. We were heroes, Dad. We saved the world."
"And if it's in the cards, you will again," Dr. Andonuts added, glancing down at the blueprints for his latest project, a revision of the old Sky Runner. "I'm behind you, Jeff, and I'll help you kids any way I can."
"I wish I knew what it all meant," Jeff sighed. "Destiny. I thought ours was done with already."
"Oh, you're never done with it," Dr. Andonuts replied, slightly distracted by the building plans. "You may think you are, but sooner or later you realize that destiny just keeps going and going... carrying you places." He rose, rolling the blueprints up in his hands. "Funny, sometimes I think the less I concentrate, the smarter I sound." He chuckled at his own remark, and Jeff tried to join in, but his heart wasn't in it. Things were going wrong, and the thought was unsettling. Destiny was waiting. Or coming. Or just sitting there.
Poo's eyes shot open. It had all been a dream, a disturbing dream that had awakened him, although the piercing light of mid-afternoon had no doubt helped. The light seemed less harsh the more he blinked, but the dream did not. Black skies swallowing a red Earth, and the most nightmarish faces he had ever seen... he thought of the painting in the museum, and the image was the same. Destruction, hate. Fear.
He sat up, brushing some dirt off his clothes. He'd been training a lot the last two days, both physically and mentally, because he was scared. The painting scared him... no, the power behind it, whatever was making this happen, Giygas, something. Red swirls like bloodshed, and it bothered him. What was their fate? Was this it, were the Chosen Four going to find themselves in the midst of another war, at the helm of the the most important quest the world had ever seen... again?
Training was exhausting, especially now that Poo had mastered most of the basic and intermediate techniques and was starting on more advanced skills. He wanted to be strong, ready for whatever was ahead, which was difficult with such an uncertain enemy, with such strange impending doom. Maybe they weren't doomed, but it was the feeling he got from looking at the painting, shivers down his spine, a sense of dread. Something was going to happen, and it wouldn't be good.
Pulling himself to his feet, he started for the palace, trying to shake the nightmare out of his head. It had been so real, he could have touched the faces, heard the howling winds, felt the blood flowing in him, or spilling from him. He was afraid, but his destiny left him without options. If he was called, he would go. If he was wanted, he would answer. If there was fighting, he'd brandish his sword, and if it was fate, he would die. His own feelings didn't matter, and neither did his fear. He was waiting for a sign, for destiny to call again and take the Chosen Four on a wild ride to defend the world once more.