Chapter 15: Elaine
“Hold on a minute,” Elaine said, frowning. “Ancient prophecy? What?”
“Huh? Oh, nothing,” said Jin. His face didn’t show any obvious tells. His voice was normal. So of course he was lying.
“Jin!” Christine said, insisting.
“What?” he returned a bit indignantly, spreading his hands.
“Is there something you should be telling us?” Edward said, stepping up not quite aggressively.
Jin looked at Flora, but even she had folded her arms. He turned back to Edward and Elaine. “I’m serious! There’s nothing!”
“Point of Info!” shouted Elaine, “Can you explain this ‘ancient prophecy’‽”
Jin’s mouth worked for a few moments. (Or rather, it didn’t. No sound was coming out and no food was being chewed.) “It’s a prophecy I found in the library. Before the tournament.”
“Didn’t you say you read the Bio book through fifteen times?” Flora said suspiciously. Jin squirmed a little. Yes, squirmed.
Edward squinted. “Wait a minute,” he said, holding up his hands. The others looked at him. “Elaine, what was that you said?”
Elaine looked at him nonplussed. Edward continued. “‘Point of Info’…that was it.”
“I did?” said Elaine, surprised.
Jin carefully picked up the precious packet of yellow paper and scanned the second page. He looked up at Elaine, his eyes glowing. “It’s a Parli term.”
“Yeah, it is, isn’t it.” Elaine brushed her hair away from her face, troubled.
“Maybe it’s your…talent?” Christine said tentatively.
“It must be,” said Elaine slowly. Trying to get a feel for the idea. “But what does that mean?”
“I don’t know,” Christine replied, but Jin jumped back in again.
“It’s the Parli,” he said insistently, “I don’t know how, but it’s unlocked your talent.”
“Point of Info!” Elaine called again, “Can you explain ‘unlocked your talent’‽”’
“Are you going to use the interrobang every time…” Flora asked, half-annoyed, half-amused. No one answered, and she shifted in the annoyed direction.
“You could have just asked,” murmured Jin, rubbing his jaw as if she had punched him (lightly). “You didn’t have a talent before and now you do.”
“How do you know I didn’t have a—” Elaine shut up, realizing that there was no way that line of conversation could turn out well for her. “What about your talents?” she said instead, directing the question to the others at large.
Christine looked at her hopefully, but Flora just shrugged. “Mine’s the same as it always was. I know things about the story.”
“What story?” Edward asked impatiently. Flora just shrugged and looked at Jin.
“Don’t look at me,” Jin said, almost shyly. “I already have a talent.”
“Yeah, but you haven’t been very invisible lately,” Elaine said thoughtfully. Flora gave a start. That is something she should have noticed, isn’t it…
“Well, I haven’t felt anything yet,” said Christine, putting her hands in her pockets. “But I’m not giving up!”
Which left Edward. “It’s not fair,” he said, groaning. “How come Elaine gets a talent and I don’t?” Elaine smirked and retied her ponytail.
“Oh, Edward, I’m sure you’ll get a talent too,” Christine said, as if he was being foolishly self-denigrating.
“Uh, guys? Ancient prophecy?” said Flora, trying to steer them back onto the plot.
“Right. So, Jin, what’s this about an ancient prophecy?” Elaine said, putting her hands on her hips. She thought she heard someone snrk back a giggle and gritted her teeth.
“I really can’t remem—”
“Shut up and refute!” Edward said disdainfully.
There was a silence, then Jin recited,
Parli will come back.
A great battle will be fought.
A talent is found.
Everyone stared.
Flora spoke first. “Well, that was, um.” She searched for the right description. “Unusually clear.”
“You can say that again,” Elaine murmured.
“And where was this?” Christine asked incredulously.
“In the Book of Ancient Prophecies, by C. Yeh, Sr.” Jin shook his head and sighed. “OK, so maybe I should have told you sooner.”
“Hold on a minute…” said Elaine, frowning. “Edward, what did you just say?”
“What?” Edward brushed his hair away from his face. “‘Shut up and refute’?” He shivered for some reason.
“Isn’t that what you were singing earlier?” Elaine pushed.
“Waitwaitwait. I was singing?” Edward looked seriously disturbed now.
“Wait, EDWARD was SINGING?” called one of the novi.
“Shut up, Alan!” Edward called back reflexively. “…Apparently,” he added, abashed.
“So you have a talent too?” Christine clapped her hands in excitement, then immediately turned to worry again. “Oh, I hope mine comes soon!”
Elaine tactfully avoided asking how she knew she had a talent coming in the first place.
“OK, so we’ve established that Parli makes talents appear…” Flora began ticking things off on her fingers. “We’ve just about completed the basic techniques of Parli debate. We’ve started recruiting novi. What do we do now?”
Jin held up a hand. “Hold,” he said. “Someone’s coming.”