The Divorcee Is A Wicked Black Belly

Ceres entered her former prison and looked around the familiar cave, at the small bed, the book shelf, the tiny kitchen, the bathroom that Enxuo meticulously built to make life better for her. Over the course of time, they realized that Enxuo was able to enter and exit the cave while Ceres can"t even take one step outside without being blasted by an invisible force. One of Yu Yan"s tricks, openly mocking Ceres" loss of freedom.

Looking around, Ceres was brought to a painful realization that she had actually spent most of her life here, the entire arc of her youth in fact, alone with only her mother"s loyal servant to keep her company. Deep down, she knew she had put some of the blame for her incarceration on Hippolyta. If only her mother didn"t leave, if only she had taken Ceres with them, if only she had never met An Ma....The if onlys went on and on.

Over the course of the long years, she never once was curious to again look at the machine Hippolyta had built as a lark. That machine took her parents from her. Probably killed them without her knowledge. So, she pushed the thought of it aside, didn"t even look at it until everything a.s.sociated with it was forgotten with the pa.s.sing of time.

"Enxuo didn"t even know about it," Ceres said. "He probably a.s.sumed it was one of mother"s experiments. She was always doing something, you know. She was very curious and her thirst for knowledge was endless."

"Are you sure about what you saw?" An Ma asked. "It could have just been a mirage or something. A trick of the mirror perhaps."

"She looked exactly like An Ning," Richard said. "And the man beside her looked as if he had seen a ghost when he saw her."

"I don"t understand any of it," An Ning said. "Mom, you said grandma used the machine and since she and grandpa disappeared, we can a.s.sume that it worked. But how was it possible that they were able to see us and us to see them? Did she build another time machine wherever she is?"

The four of them looked at each other stunned.

"Could it be she"s trying to reach us?" An Ning asked, frowning. "They can"t go home without the machine. Grandmother must have built another one then. But they"re stuck because it"s obvious it doesn"t work. Why is that?"

"I wonder if the time machine works like a double-sided door," Richard said. "The one here is one side of the door and the other one over there is another side of the door."

"You enter here and you exit there," An Ning said, following his thought. "It could work both ways but given that why isn"t it working then?"

"It probably works like a key," An Ma suggested. "And the key doesn"t fit so that"s why they can"t go home."

"How did they look when you saw them?" asked Ceres.

"They both looked fit and healthy. Grandmother was wearing some kind of a red robe. Very elaborate and expensive. And grandfather had on this heavy black gown like those things you see in pictures worn by ancient emperors."

Ceres looked at her open-mouthed.

"Are you telling me that your grandmother and grandfather are out somewhere trapped in ancient times? What the h.e.l.l are they doing there? They were supposed to visit the year 1785!"

"What happened in 1785?" An Ma asked curiously.

"Don"t ask," Ceres sighed, remembering a similar conversation between her parents.

"So they jumped years?" An Ning asked. "Something must have gone wrong then."

"The problem facing us now is, how can we bring them back?" asked Richard.

"If it"s a question of being like a key as dad suggested then we have to synchronize both doors so the key could fit," An Ning said, frowning deep in thought. "But how do we synchronize the doors? The timeline maybe?"

"We have no idea what the timeline is though," Richard pointed out. "They were both dressed in clothes worn during ancient times but we don"t know which era. It could go as far back as 500 B.C."

An Ning looked at him then suddenly spun on her heels and walked over to a large table with a flower vase on top. She pulled open the drawers and found paints and brushes which Ceres had collected trying to pa.s.s the time learning how to paint. She was never really good at it though. And she totally abandoned it in favor of reading books on banking instead.

An Ning picked up a drawing notebook and started to draw on it. Richard walked over and looked at the drawing.

"He had on a gown called longpao if I"m not mistaken. Black with a yellow trim embroidered with some kind of an animal probably a dragon around the shoulders. There was also a gold belt around his waist," Richard said, nodding at what he saw.

An Ning"s fingers flew over the blank s.p.a.ce and slowly filled it up with lines and curves and circles. The tall figure of a man with a smooth and good looking face slowly emerged, elegantly dressed in a long black robe with his hair hidden under a cap. An Ning added the details Richard mentioned until the drawing was completed.

She then started on a new page by drawing the figure of a woman, as tall as the man, but with her face made even more beautiful with makeup. On her head was an elaborate headpiece which sets off her l.u.s.trous ink black hair. Encasing the woman"s tall and slim body was a robe the color of red blush.

An Ning showed both drawings to her parents when they were done.

"I"ll have both Matt and Sam work on this to narrow down the timeline. Then we can input each year in the gauge until we find the correct one."

"How do we know it"s the correct timeline then?" An Ma asked.

"I have a haunch grandmother has been trying to contact us before this to let us know where they were. If that"s the case, then they must be in a workshop somewhere working on their machine. I a.s.sume that now that they"ve made contact with us, they"ll be waiting for us to figure out where they were and do our part."

Ceres took the drawing of Hippolyta and looked at it with teary eyes.

"She looks the same," she said, staring at An Ning. "I never noticed it before but she looks exactly like you."

An Ning smiled but didn"t say anything.

"Ning Ning has the dimples though. Makes her even more breathtaking," Richard said, walking over and reaching a hand towards An Ning.

An Ning deliberately sidestepped to evade his touch. Richard reddened and stiffly dropped his hand, looking at her with a hurt look on his face. Ceres was surprised, looking at them with a sudden frown.

The four of them walked down to the house where Enxou sat on a chair waiting for them. He looked up when the door opened and met Ceres" eyes.

"Are you alright?" she asked, walking over and taking his hand.

Enxuo avoided her anxious gaze. Ceres sighed then unknotted the cloth over his leg. She took the bowl of water An Ning placed on a table and poured the contents on Enxuo"s wound. They watched as the wound sizzled then closed. n.o.body even evinced suprise at what they saw.

Ceres then told Enxuo about the time machine and about Hippolyta and Li Cheung. Enxuo was flabbergasted and wanted to hear more. He looked at An Ning"s paintings and his eyes watered when he saw An Ning"s depiction of Hippolyta. She looked the same as Ceres said but there was more. Hippolyta looked more like an ordinary woman living an ordinary life than the most fearsome leader of the Amazons. She looked the same but clearly time had changed her as it did all of them.

That night, they decided to stay in Hippolyta"s house rather than go back to the village. Enxuo had been as meticulous in keeping Hippolyta"s house clean and well-stocked as he did everywhere else. Ceres didn"t say anything when An Ma chose a room for them. An Ning was indifferent with Richard"s suggestion of sharing a room. In the end, she chose to stay in the cave, which she was careful to announce during dinner.

The dinner became even more strained. Each carried worries each was anxious to keep to himself. Enxuo"s confused thoughts were on Merius and Trei. Ceres on her mother and father. An Ma on Ceres. Richard on An Ning. And An Ning"s thoughts jumped from the time machine and how long it would take Sam and Matt to narrow the timeline to Yu Yan"s next move now that the Amazons were rescued. The chips were all on An Ning side and Yu Yan had nothing else to use and bargain with except her anger and hatred.

She couldn"t really wait for the four months as she told Enxuo. She must strike in the next week or so to keep Yu Yan off balance and on the defensive.

Richard watched dejectedly as An Ning went down the steps then disappeared into the night on her way to Hippolyta"s cave. He was conscious of Ceres" and An Ma"s concerned eyes on him as he bid them goodnight and entered his room. It was a large room with big windows that had a perfect view of the garden and the moon outside. The air seemed a little chilly and he frowned and thought of An Ning, wondering if she was cold or if there were enough blankets in the cave to keep her warm.

His thoughts drifted to their argument. He sat up with a disgusted sound and looked out the window. The chill seemed to have turned deeper and he again thought of An Ning. He closed the windows with a snap and opened one of the large closets. Inside were different kinds of pillows and blankets and a thick yellow comforter.

He pulled out the comforter, several pillows and blankets, stuffed them all in a bag and went outside. The moonlight guided him as he shut his bedroom door behind him and crossed the dining room to the living room to the front door and the porch outside.

He was closing the door, about to take a step down the stairs when he heard a sound to his left. He turned around and saw Ceres, sitting on one of the white Adirondack chairs lining the porch looking quietly at him. Richard hesitated then walked over to her.

"Why are you still awake? Go back inside. It"s cold out here."

"Are you going to the cave?" Ceres asked.

Richard nodded.

"What happened between you two?"

"What do you mean?"

"An Ning is sleeping in a cave. You"re sleeping inside. Obviously, all is not right with the world."

"It"s none of your business."

Ceres stood up and looked at him square in the eyes.

"You haven"t told her yet, have you?"

"Told her what? What are you talking about?" Richard was confused.

"You do know that he"s still alive, don"t you?," Ceres continued as if she didn"t hear his question. "He"s still alive and planning his revenge. Most important of all, he plans to return to her."

Richard stood still, staring at her with unblinking eyes.

"Well then, he can"t have her," he said with something like a snap. "I"ll kill him this time, if I have to."

Ceres laughed. She leaned on the railings and sweep her eyes across the yard which was bathed in the glow of moonlight. She contemplated the sight then sighed before turning her eyes to where Richard stood watching her.

"It"s too late for that. You should have thought of that when you first took over his body."

Richard remained silent.

"Who are you? And why do you know my daughter?"

Richard walked over to where she was and said in a firm voice: "My name is Han and Richard is my brother."