“You’d die for me?” I blink my puzzled eyes. “You just weren’t ready to kiss me?”
“So you changed your mind about the kiss,” his smirk is the devil, his dimples are angels.
“Urgh,” I sigh skyward, almost fisting my hands.
“You don’t have to get his permission,” he acts puzzled, looking at the sky above. “Jesus must have kissed somebody.”
“Jesus?” My face is red, I wonder why I am not just walking away from the embarrassment.
“Jesus,” he repeats. “The guy who saved the world and looks as good as me.”
“This is nonsense!” I freak out. Should I tell him I just left an asylum? Damn my feet. Why am I not walking away?
“I love nonsense.” He pulls his hood back, and holds me by the arms. “You know there is an actual science to it?”
My phone rings. It’s probably the Pillar.
"Oh, you have a boyfriend?" the arrogant boy says, as I am already checking it.
“No,” I can’t remember which pocket in my jeans I tucked the phone in.
“Awesome!” he rubs his hands.
“I mean yes,” I find the phone in my back pocket. I feel guilty not mentioning Adam. Why in the world do I feel like that, if I don’t remember him?
“Bugger,” the boy pouts, and I realize I don’t want him to leave.
“I mean, no.”
“Oh,” he tilts his head back. “You’re not insane, are you?”
I don’t answer. My lips are tied, then I push the green button to answer the Pillar.
"His name is Jack Diamonds," the Pillar says on the other line. "He's a big distraction. Get rid of him. We don't have time."
"But..." I don't know how to explain my curiosity about Jack to the Pillar. Before I even ponder the thought, a number of students rush out from another bus and I find myself pushed through the main entrance with them. When I tiptoe to see Jack again, he's gone.
Chapter 19
Garden, Christ Church, Oxford University
"Right now you’re walking under the famous Tom Tower,” the Pillar plays my tourist guide on the phone. “It was designed by Christopher Wren, who was also the architect of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.”
“Alright?” I remind myself that I am on a mission, and that I might never see Jack again.
“The Tom Tower is a major tourist attraction. I can spend all day long telling you about it. One of the things is that it houses the Great Tom, the loudest bell in Oxford.”
“Do I have to know about this?”
“Everything I tell you is important, Alice. You might not use it now, but later,” the Pillar is back in his lecturing mode. “The Great Tom bell is sounded 101 times every night, around five past nine, Oxford time. In the past, it was used as a curfew alarm, to remind students to get back to their dorms. Also, somewhere up there was Lewis Carroll's own photography studio."
“Lewis Carroll was a photographer?”
“And a mathematician and painter, among other things. The guy was a genius. He even predicted Einstein’s theories in a paragraph in his other book, The Hunting of the Snark.”
“I am very curious about his photography. What were his pictures like?” I don’t know why, but something tells me I have to see the photos.
“They were of girls mostly, but we’ll get to that later. Focus only on everything I tell you, Alice. Everything is important,” the Pillar insists, as I walk through the huge cloisters.
I get inside Christ Church College and look at a huge green area in front of me. The college is a fortress, a quadrangle of Renaissance buildings encompassing the green garden in front of me from four sides. There is a fountain in the middle of the garden. The scenery makes me forget about Jack. This place has an unprecedented presence. It's like it holds great secrets; like great men and women have walked its earth.
"I see you went speechless," the Pillar says.
"I can't explain it, but there is something about this place that feels so..."
"Mad?" the Pillar amuses himself. "It's one of the most mysterious places in history. Mad people know that. Sane people think it's just a college, where you get a degree and hang it on the wall. Walk around for a minute, Alice. Let it sink into your soul. Breathe the same air Lewis, and many other geniuses, breathed centuries ago. By the way, you should use your headset, since I will be in your ear for the rest of the day."
"That's reassuring," I purse my lips, then put my headset on.
"That’s better. Here’s a brief history of this frabjous place," the Pillar says. "Christ Church is one of the largest colleges in the University of Oxford. It has a world famous Cathedral Choir, a most respectable library, and a unique and very old cathedral. Let alone, the many untold secrets it keeps safely from the sane people of this world."