The History Mystery by Ana María Machado Page B

brought for everyone.
    â€˜Hey, you know what? There’s something new here!’ said Pedro, as he finished reading the message again.
    â€˜What’s that?’ asked Matt. ‘Do you know this priest?’
    â€˜No, that’s not it. But look: he repeats a lot of the stuff he already said before, in the other messages. He makes a big deal about writing, says he’s all proud that he’s one of the few who knew how to read and write, stuff like that.’
    â€˜He always says that,’ Sonya interjected. ‘That’s not new, Pedro.’
    â€˜No, you’re right, that’s not the new bit.’
    She did like Pedro, but sometimes she wished he didn’t have to go round and round when he was talking. She sighed inwardly and waited.
    â€˜What’s different this time is that he is quite clear about living in different centuries. See, in the second paragraph, he says “in monasteries such as the one where my companions and I worked in our scriptorium …” A scriptorium is where medieval monks made their manuscripts, so that’s the Middle Ages, right?’
    The others nodded.
    â€˜And then, look, later it says, “Even when fate brought me to your continent, centuries later, as a member of the Jesuit company …” So now he’s a Jesuit missionary to the Americas, and he even says “centuries later”. That’s what’s new, Sonia. He is specifically saying he has lived in different times. It’s a bit like what the wizard’s assistant was saying before, but this time it’s much clearer.’
    Sonia had to agree.
    â€˜What about this Sisyphus person?’ asked Matt. ‘Do you know anything about him?’
    â€˜I do,’ said Sonia. ‘I’ve heard of him. My grandpa was talking about him the other day. It’s a Greek myth, I think, and it’s about a man who was condemned to push a huge rock uphill for all eternity. I don’t know why, but I remember that as soon as he arrived on the top and stopped to rest, the rock would roll downhill and he had to do it all over again.’
    â€˜Listen, Matt,’ Pedro said. ‘Before I talked to you, Sonia and I were making a list of the things that we have gathered from all the messages.’
    â€˜Show him the list,’ suggested Sonia, and they showed it to him.
    â€¢ It’s someone who’s proud of knowing how to read and write.
    â€¢ It’s set in a different place and time in each message.
    â€¢ His grammar is pretty mixed up.
    â€¢ He writes in an old-fashioned style, but the text arrives by computer.
    â€¢ Changes sex.
    â€˜Wait, I don’t get it,’ said Matt. ‘What do you mean, “changes sex”?’
    â€˜Oh, yeah, right, we didn’t explain that,’ said Sonia. ‘What we meant was that sometimes the hacker says they’re a woman: an Egyptian queen, a merchant’s wife, whatever … But at other times they write as if they’re a man.’
    â€˜This priest, or the notary from the ship, for instance,’ Pedro recalled. ‘Or the alchemist’s assistant. And Marco Polo.’
    â€˜What assistant?’ asked Matt, feeling a bit left out of secrets the others seemed to be in on. ‘What alchemist? What notary? What are you talking about?’
    â€˜You should explain it to him properly,’ said Carol. ‘You can’t expect him to guess!’
    She was right, of course. A lot of the messages Pedro had mentioned were very recent. They’d only come in over the weekend. He and Sonia hadn’t had a chance to tell the others yet.
    â€˜Well, the alchemist’s assistant is this wizard who appeared in the middle of Will’s computer game and started writing on the screen, but he didn’t leavea written message, because Will closed it,’ Pedro began. ‘The notary guy is new too – we only heard from him last night.’
    Matt was