CHAPTER 628: THE GREAT EPIPHANY

The next morning, I was seated up, my knees drawn up to my chest as I gently touched the golden leaf on the bed.

It was still hard for me to believe.

I had had a dream.

Well, what felt more than a dream.

Felt like a memory from a life I couldn’t recall.

Running through forests laughing with a man who seemed so familiar.

A man I couldn’t see, yet somehow knew I had a romantic connection to.

I woke up before I could see his face and was stunned to find the golden leaf of the same tree I had climbed in my dream.

What was this?

Proof that I hadn’t just been dreaming?

That something was happening to me

I was getting memories of things I couldn’t recall.

A life I knew I had never lived.

All through the night, I had remained awake, staring at the leaf.

It was almost in the shape of an apple and had veins protruding through its body.

Golden, just like the leaf itself.

Except it was firmer than the body of the leaf.

I looked at it, bored, until it began to get weary.

Why in the name of the goddess did I wake up with a golden leaf in my hand when I had never been around anyone my entire life?

Xaden’s mother’s journal, which Otto had given me the night before, was beside the leaf.

I had spent the entire night reading through it.

Trying to find anything.

Something to make sense of the constellation and the newly found map.

Still baffled me that she had known my father’s brother.

And that he, too, had been interested in astrology.

I signed to myself as I flipped through pages.

Trying to see if I had missed anything.

The last mention she had made of him was when she stated. "His interest in astronomy has assisted in the questions I have asked and-

It just ended there by the end of the page.

The next page of the book began a different day entirely.

It was though she had forgotten what she was speaking on and just moved on.

Made no sense.

I was stuck in my thoughts, and I had no idea when Hildegard woke up.

"Jasmine!" She said aloud, and I jumped in fright.

I gasped, my hand already clutching my chest.

"Good heavens, I didn’t mean to scare you." Hildegard apologized sympathetically. "It’s just that I had been calling your name for a while now. And you seemed lost in thought."

She had been calling my name? I had barely even heard.

I rubbed my forehead and apologized.

"I’m so sorry," I said. "I had no idea."

"It’s already daybreak." She said.

I looked back at the curtains that had traces of sunlight demanding to be let in.

I had no idea when that had even happened.

I rubbed my eyes and yawned whilst stretching my already bent body.

"Jasmine, darling," Hildegard said as she tied her hair into a ponytail. "If you keep your back bent that way, you’re going to get older than me."

I chuckled at her joke, and the older woman joined in.

For some reason, I was getting much closer to women older than I was.

After all, I rarely even had friends who were my age.

From Urma, to Eleanor, to Nanny Nia, and now to Hildegard.

From the four women, I had lost two.

One to death and the other to a cruel fate orchestrated by someone else.

I was glad not to have ever seen Eleanor’s head decapitated and kept on a spike.

I doubt I would have ever recovered from it.

Either way, I was grateful for the wisdom and friendship they shared with me.

"I had no idea it was already daybreak," I mumbled as I leaned my back against the headboard of the bed.

She got out of bed and stretched. "We get that a lot from guests here."

"What do you mean?" I raised a brow.

"Well, it’s a different Time zone here." She pointed out. "The sun hits differently here. We are two hours ahead of everyone else. So the moon and constellations are even different here."

I paused at that phrase.

The hair on my back instantly rose as I stiffened. "What did you say?"

She looked at me, confused as she was now checking through her wardrobe for a new cloth to wear.

"About?" She said as she turned back to her clothes. "Now, which color do I wear today? Green or brown."

She sighed as she held the two dresses, trying to decide which was better.

I jumped out of bed and raced to her.

Trying to grasp and understand the gravity of what she was saying.

My brain was working faster than my mind was.

"Hildegard, could you please rephrase what you said?" I pleaded.

My heart was beating fast, and I felt as though I was about to have an epiphany.

"About the dress?" She asked. "Was wondering which color would suit me more?"

"No, not that." I shook my head quickly. "I mean, your dress is essential, but you said something about how we are in different time zones."

She nodded. "Yes, I did. The royal pack is situated farther from everyone else than usual. It’s usually still dark in other places while it’s daytime here."

I chewed my bottom lip.

"And you said it affects the moon, sun, and even constellations, right?" I asked her.

She nodded absent-mindedly. "Yes, that’s what I said."

"You’re sure of that?" I pressed.

"Of course I am." She clocked her tongue. "I grew up here, and whenever I used to visit my grandparents in the Hebron pack, at night, while we shifted and ran underneath the moonlight, I would always notice how the constellations were shaped differently here. Asked my grandma about it, and she gave a reason, but I can’t remember what it was. But I know that the way they are lined here isn’t the same as the way it is elsewhere. I mean, it’s the same thing. But then. Well, it’s just drawn in an entirely different way."

And it HIT me!

The way the constellation was lined here wasn’t the same as the way it was elsewhere.

What I had been suspecting for a while now finally made sense from that one statement Hildegard had made.

I kissed her on her cheek, a deafening and firm one.

She was startled.

She instantly went red and blinked in disbelief.

She seemed dazed.

"You’re a genius!" I said in ecstasy as I went back to the bed.

I closed the journal and started dressing.

"I am?" She said in confusion.

She looked as though I had left her in the middle of a forest and told her to find her way back home.

When I was very sure that I was okay and good to go, I grabbed the journal under my arm and headed towards the door.

Then I remembered the gold leaf and picked it up before putting it inside a page of my journal.

"Yes, you are," I said, walking up to her.

I grabbed her cheeks with both hands and gave her cheeks all over her face.

"The most intelligent and beautiful woman ever!" I said happily. "Don’t tell Nanny Nia I said that."

And then I raced out towards the door.

"But Jasmine, you haven’t eaten." She complained. "Nia would strangle me if I didn’t give you your herbs and take care of you. I made her a promise!"

"Also you haven’t even had your bath!" she complained.

"And I promise you that I’ll be back. This can’t wait!" I said as I went out the door.

I paused and went back into the room.

Hildegard was still standing, dazed, holding the two dresses.

"And oh, it’s the green," I said, pointing at the beautiful green satin dress in her left hand. "You would look absolutely splendid in it. It will match your color."

Without waiting to hear a response from

Her, I ran back out of the room.

I raced through the hallway and went past the servants.

A group of servants came by, blocking the way with a spilled bag of flour.

I jumped over them and raced on my way out.

I was wondering why the hell I didn’t think of this in the first place?

I raced up the stairs, and what would have taken me a good fifteen minutes to reach the door took me five.

I was banging at Otto’s door once I got there.

"OTTO! OTTO!" I screamed.

I banged over and over.

Seconds after, a disgruntled-looking Otto flung the door open.

"What the fuck do you want?" He hissed.

I ignored him and went right under his armpit into the room.

"I KNOW why we have been stuck in the map, unable to move," I said. "We’re in different time zones."

He blinked at me. "What?"