“It smells bad here,” Ancient said. “It smells worse and worse. You know what I’m talking about. You should be able to sense it. It’s already pretty bad, but it’s going to get much worse at the end. I know. I’ve seen it before. I remember the last graduation, the one before ours. That’s why I want to leave earlier.”
“So you’re running away? From your own people?”
“I am,” Ancient agreed. “Legging it, you might say. Without the legs.”
“You mean you’re scared?” Grasshopper said doubtfully.
Ancient scratched his chin with the base of the queen.
“Yes,” he said. “I am scared. There will come a time, much later, when you’ll understand. Then you too are going to be scared. Graduation is a bad time. It’s a step into the void. Not many can simply take it. It is the year of fear, of the crazies and the suicides, of insanity and nervous breakdowns. All of that disgusting stuff that spews out of those who are afraid. There’s nothing worse than that. Better to leave before it starts. Which is what I’m doing. Because I happen to have that opportunity.”
“So you’re making the brave choice,” Grasshopper said.
Now it was Ancient’s turn to be surprised.
“I wouldn’t say that. More the opposite.”
Grasshopper wanted to ask about himself and his amulet, but didn’t. Ancient was preparing for the step into the void, for the brave choice that looked like the cowardly one. This was the moment to be silent and not interfere. So Grasshopper was silent.
“I am taking those two gluttons with me,” Ancient said, pointing in the direction of the fish tank. “Along with their room. They’re not going to even notice. They won’t know that they’ve been moved to the Outsides. Sometimes I wish I could trade places with them.”
Grasshopper looked at the fish.
He pitied Ancient, and he pitied himself.
“No, I haven’t forgotten about you.” Ancient placed the queen on the black square. “It’s strange how often I’ve been thinking of you. Why is that, do you think?”
“Because of the amulet?”
“What’s the amulet got to do with it? You don’t need it. You don’t need the tasks either. You’re wide open. You just absorb it all.”
“I do need it.” Grasshopper swayed on his heels. “Very much. Ever since I got it, it’s all been . . . right.”
“I’m glad for it.” Ancient shook a cigarette out of the pack. “That it came out better than all the others. And also for you.”
Grasshopper suddenly grew agitated.
“What happened with the last graduation? What was it you saw back then that you don’t want to see again?”
Ancient fiddled with the cigarette, not lighting it.
“What’s the point in talking about it? You’ll see it all come summer. With your own eyes.”
“I need to know now. Tell me.”
Ancient glanced at him from under the half-closed lids.
“The last time was like a sinking ship,” he said. “This time is going to be worse. But don’t be afraid. Watch and remember. Then you can avoid the mistakes made by others. We are all given two graduations for a reason. One is to watch, so that you can know. The other is your own.”
“Why is it going to be worse?”
Ancient sighed.
“The House had one leader back then. Now there are two. It’s the House divided. That’s always bad. And in the year of graduation that’s the worst thing. No more questions now. It might be that I’m simply wrong, talking nonsense. It’s going to be either this way or that way or, more likely, something completely different will happen, something that neither I nor you nor anyone else can even imagine. Predictions are useless here.”
“All right,” Grasshopper said, nodding.
The look Ancient was giving him felt strange. A faraway look.
Ancient sighed and turned to the board.
“Come closer. I am going to teach you this game.”
His fingers rushed from square to square, setting the pieces.
“Your army shall be White. Mine is Black. These are pawns. They only move forward one square. Except their first move can be two squares at once.”
Ancient looked at Grasshopper again.
“Don’t think about bad things now,” he said. “Empty your head of everything I’ve just said. Now look here . . .”
He climbed out of the attic through the window and looked around. Most of all it resembled a desert. This gray, bare, parched desert, with aerials in place of cacti. Flat, except for the solitary hill of the other attic, looking tiny from up here. And the sky, all around him. Grasshopper clung to the window, afraid to venture away. Wolf winked at him and climbed out to the roof. The iron plates rattled.
