A Hole in Time

The List - Chapter 23 - The Site

Scarlett is sitting at my desk, so she passes the papers to her brother. Liam goes through the steps and reads out the next step.

"Find the answer to the numbers and then you will see

Find the letters, spell the word, where can I be?

What letters are in visible, but never out of sight?

What is the difference between here and there?

What is the beginning of eternity, the end of time and space; the beginning of every end, and the end of every race?"

I look from John to Scarlett to Liam, before I ask the question that is on everyone's mind. "Okay, what does that mean? Have you already solved this one?" Liam nods his head. "Yeah, Gracie, I have figured it out already. I have solved all of them, I think, but they do not make sense on their own. I will spell this one out for you if you want." John and Scarlett say yes, so I just nod.

"Okay, the first one is about the numbers that Gracie has already figured out. The second line is telling us what those numbers are. It says find the letters and spell the word, so the next lines are where you find the letters. Now, the first one. 'What letters are in visible, but never out of sight?' The two words only have two letters in common. 'S' and 'I'. So, the first two letters of the word are 'Si'. The next line, 'What is the difference between here and there?' again is about letters. The only difference in the spelling is the letter 'T'. So now the word is 'Sit'. And the final line. 'The beginning of eternity, the end of time and space, the beginning of every end and the end of every race.' Again, It is about letters. The first letter, or beginning letter, for eternity and end is 'e'. The end letter of time, space, and race, is also 'e'. We only need one 'e', so the word that we are looking for is 'Site'."

Scarlett is frowning, so Liam pauses. "Liam, what is a site? I thought it was spelt 'sight' and it meant how you see things, but you have a different word." Liam nods. "You are right, Scarlett, they are pronounced the same way, but this site means something else. It is a place. Like, the school. It is the site where we learn things. Does that makes sense?" Scarlett nods, and I am glad that Liam explained. I had no clue what he was talking about.

"So, the solutions of those equations you solved, Gracie, are map co-ordinates, like you thought. The numbers for the site. We now have to read the map and find the site that the numbers point us to.""Lee, the numbers down the side and the numbers across the top. They must be how we can find the site. I am thinking, imagine if each number had a line going straight down from it. And the numbers on the side, imagine if they have lines going straight across. They would match up in places. And those places would be found by telling someone to look for those numbers. That is what my history book said about the map. It is called a grid. And you are looking for something in that grid square." Liam looked at the map where I was pointing and looked at the history book that was open next to it.

"Now, what numbers are we looking for, Gracie? I think we can figure this out." I turned around to look for the papers and John was holding them out to me. I could tell that he was feeling reasonably helpless, so I asked John and Scarlett to come over to the map with us. "Four pairs of eyes will help us figure this out sooner." John smiled at me. They joined us on each side of the map and we all stared at it. "Okay, I have two numbers here. Both are four digit numbers."

Scarlett looked at the map and then back at me. "Grace, there are only two lines of two digit numbers. How can two four digit numbers work?" I frown and agree with her. That thought had entered my mind as well. "Well, maybe if we split them into four two digit numbers?" Liam shook his head. "No, I think the second four digit number has something to do with another step. The numbers across the top all start with a 1 and the numbers down the side all start with a 2. So, is one of those numbers 1-something-2-something?"

"Lee, they are both 1-something. Here are the two numbers. 1929 and 1725." Lee smiles at me and waits for me to figure it out. "Oh, of course. 1929, is 1.9 across the top and 2.9 down the side." John and Scarlett find the numbers and follow them to the grid square. It is right in the centre of the Dome. "What is in the centre of the Dome, Grace?" John looks to me and I look to Liam. "It is the Hierarchy building."