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My parents rushed to hug me. We stood in a group hug for a long time till I could breathe a little lighter. They sat back in their spots, and I wiped my tears. “The good news is I can time-travel back to him as I have the witch’s stone. But I cannot take Athena with me for now. We need to figure out our future, and Athena needs a stable environment to flourish. Can you take care of her while I’m gone? Though based on the time distribution, I would be leaving for a day or two. Still, I want Athena to be in safe hands till I return. In several years we should be caught up with the present time. So it won’t take long. Then again, I’m still not sure how time works. We’ll have to figure it out as we go. Can you take care of Athena?” I asked.
“That would be our greatest achievement, to help our daughter by keeping our granddaughter close. What else could parents wish for?” Mom said.
“Thank you. I promise I’ll get to the bottom of this.” I handed Athena to Mom.
“Our daughter always gets to the bottom of any batty situation.” Mom winked.
“Elena would be so proud of you. Just like us,” Dad said, and I could see his eyes welling up. “We already knew you were a strong-willed child, but you have grown into a strong-willed woman. I couldn’t be prouder to be the father of such a wonderful daughter.”
“Now go get your man,” Mom said.
“I am,” I said and stood up.
“Don’t tell me you’re going right now?” she asked.
“No.” I chuckled. “First, I’m going to take a long shower. Once I travel back, it’ll take a while till I get to have another one.”
Chapter 21
During the entire flight to Romania, I steeped in a constant limbo of jitters. Every now and then, sleep would reach my eyelids, only for me to wake up abruptly. The many things that could go wrong simply didn’t let me take a respite. In the end, the Bucharest airport welcomed another exhausted zombie through its gates. The great news: the palace in Târgovi?te was an hour and a half from the airport. The bad news: I still had to get there.
I kept all my belongings, especially the stone, close to me, in my backpack. But after such a long flight, it felt like I had to carry bricks. Nevertheless, I dragged my feet outside and summoned the closest taxi driver to me.
To my astonishment, it was the same taxi driver I met the first time. “Professor?” I asked.
“Oh, you know me?” he asked, pleasantly surprised. “Are you one of my students?”
“No, but we had a great talk when you drove me from the Bra?ov airport to a hotel. I enjoyed your introduction to Romanian Mythology.”
“Much appreciated. Where to this time?” the taxi driver asked.
“The royal palace in Târgovi?te.”
“That’s quite far. But since you’re one of my regulars now, I’ll take you anywhere for two hundred dollars.”
I wasn’t sure if the price was good or not, but one thing I didn’t have a problem with was money. Gabriel made sure of that. “It won’t be a problem.”
“Then let’s go,” he said cheerfully.
For a while, we remained silent. I preferred to look through the car window and admire Romania’s capital city. But then I became curious. “Professor, why did you decide to work at the Bucharest airport? I assumed you lived in Bra?ov,” I inquired.
“I still do, Miss.” He chuckled. “You see, when my wife saw I was finally making money compared to when I was a professor, she sent me to work at the Bucharest airport on the weekends. To be welcomed by a happy wife makes it all worth it.”
“Does she still make you take out the trash?” I asked.
He laughed. “She does, but not as often.”
“Don’t you miss your teaching days?”
“We’re not meant to live only one life on this earth, Miss. There’s so much to discover that staying in the same place hinders our opportunities. Didn’t your trip enrich your life?”
“It did, but it also changed my life forever.”
“Then it was a successful trip. Are you off to a new adventure now?”
“You could say so,” I said pensively.
“Just make sure this trip is as memorable as the last one. Even if humans lived for thousands of years, it would never be enough to discover all the beauties of our world.”
