Page 38 of One Last Step

I laugh.“Very well.I won’t stop you.Butsince you've chosen the easy route today, you should know that you've made tomorrow harder.Consider that your final lesson for the day."

She chuckles.“Okay.I’ll keep that in mind when I’m bored to tears doing my homework tomorrow.”

“You can’t say you weren’t warned.”

She leaves the room, skipping on her way to the elevator.I remain where I am for a while.

Sophie has just touched on perhaps the most difficult question of life.It’s a question that has plagued philosophers since time immemorial, and no one seems to be able to provide a good answer.Care about everything.Care about nothing.Live in the moment.Plan for the future.Don’t dwell on the past.Learn from history.It’s all confusing and contradictory and none of it isquiteperfect.

Maybe the only perfect answer is the obvious one.It depends.Each person needs to make different choices to achieve happiness in their own life.

“A little crummy when the safest paths are created by a bunch of people doing the same thing,” I remark to no one.

Well, I can sit here all day stewing in my melancholy, or I can do something productive.That means either studying Laura’s journal or heading downstairs to spy on Elena.If I start reading the journal, I’ll continue to stew in my melancholy, so I decide to head downstairs.

Look at that.I’ve made an informed choice.Now we’ll see if this choice brings me happiness.

The Museum is packed today, even more so than it was the day of Dr.Fournier's ill-fated speech.As soon as I step into the crowd, I am stuck there, unable to move until those ahead of me move.They, in turn, must wait until the people ahead of them move.

How is a museum about clocks so busy?I know that horology is a pride of Switzerland, but still.

I look around but don’t see Elena anywhere.Well, that’s all right.I’ll wait until I have an opening to escape.Then I’ll go look for her.Besides, it’s not like she’s going to be talking about dark family secrets while surrounded by strangers.

I find myself behind a group of college students.There are seven of them, led by a tired-looking professor who does little other than issue the occasional half-hearted reminder to be calm around the pieces and not damage them.

The students do a passable job of listening at first, but they’re really only children themselves.They’re already antsy when I arrive, and when five minutes only takes us through the first quarter of the exhibit, they begin acting out.A young couple in front of me begins tickling each other, laughing and loudly exhorting the other to stop.Their friend in front of them loudly calls for them to stop as well, but he is more serious and clearly irritated at the couple’s shenanigans.Or perhaps he’s jealous and just doesn’t want to see them affectionate.

The professor gives his half-hearted warning.The couple ignores it, and the friend turns around and shouts, “You guys!Stop!”

As he turns around, his shoulder knocks a mantel clock to the floor.The room holds their breath as the seemingly fragile instrument hits the ground.Rather than shatter into a million pieces as I and everyone else expect, however, it bounces and then lands on its back intact save for a small door in the rear of the case.

That door opens, and a roll of paper falls out.It's rolled shut, so I can't read what's written inside, but from where I stand, I can see the tail end of a faded symbol on the corner of the page.

My eyes widen.There’s no mistaking it.The two hooked lines I see are the bottom half of a swastika.

“Hold still!”

Elena’s voice carries over the crowd, a little unnecessarily since everyone is already frozen.She pushes through the people, using her elbows and knees to create space.When she reaches the group, she calls, “Excuse me,” and pushes through the open-mouthed couple.

“I’m so sorry!”the culprit says, white-faced with shock that it was he—the well-behaved one—who damaged the valuable antique.

Elena doesn’t reply to him.She quickly shoves the paper back into the clock, closes it, and stands.“I’ll take it for repairs.”

She lifts her head, and when she sees me, she freezes.The color drains from her face.Her lower lip trembles for a moment, then she pushes past me, rushing as fast as the crowd will allow her to the elevator.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

I check on Sophie briefly and find her door ajar.She’s playing some sort of karaoke game.She sees me watching, flushes beet red and shrieks for me to close the door.Not the best reaction to her embarrassment, but I don’t address it now.

The discovery of the German letter—almost certainly an intelligence report from the network that used to meet here—has inspired me to read more of Laura’s journal and see if I can learn more.The children clearly learned something from the journal, so there must be something there that can shed light on what’s going on here.Really, I should just give the journal to Claudia, but I also want to know for sure if this Laura could be Annie.

So ask Claudia.

I dismiss the thought irritably.I also want to know the answer to this mystery, and Claudia might not be willing or able to give me that answer.

So I head to my room and start reading.The next few entries are unrelated to the Museum and the Nazi messages.I start skimming through them, but an entry catches my eye, and I stop and read that one instead.

December 25,

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