Chapter 7 - Ten Silver Coins - Book 1

The Atrium

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Chapter Seven: The Atrium

There was only one more room in the hallway that Jill had not examined. It was at the end of the hall. Instead of a door, thick, flexible plastic strips hung from the top of the entryway to the floor. A sign above the arched entryway read: The Atrium.

As Jill pushed through the plastic and stepped into the room, she could smell the sweet scent of summer flowers, hear the gurgling of fountains, and feel humid air condense against her skin. Across from the entryway was an enormous panelled wall of tinted glass that curved at the top towards her and connected with the ceiling. The Atrium overlooked the back yard of the house, and from the room, Jill could see the woods and the field behind the house. Jill thought it odd that the room was filled with what appeared to be warm sunlight, even though it was dark as night outside the house. 

The Atrium was filled with all kinds of plants: green plants growing from the floor to the roof, vines that curled and crawled around lattice and brick, and plants that hung from pots dangling down from the roof. There were flowers of every colour; tomato and cucumber plants and other vegetables; small trees and shrubs that were trimmed into the shape of animals. 

The Atrium was the biggest room yet. There were ponds with many fish: Koi, and Cat and Goldfish. But some of the ponds were empty of water and fish. Throughout the entire room, which seemed much larger than any room that could fit in a house, were pathways lined with white stones. Small birds fluttered throughout The Atrium. Once or twice Jill ducked and pulled her hands to her head to keep from being hit by birds that swooped low where she walked. Everywhere Jill looked there were stone sculptures among the plants and flowers in the room.  

After walking through the room, Jill realized that the paths were set in three circles. The smallest circle, at least three times as wide as Jill was tall, was centred in the middle of the room. The second circle was centred in the third and largest circular path, which nearly touched the central point of each of the four walls. On each side of the circular paths was ample vegetation. The two outer circles were divided by pathways that went from the smallest circular path, diagonally toward the outer walls. There were eight such paths in all. Jill imagined that, if she were able to fly to the ceiling and perch on a hanging flower pot like one of the birds swooping at her head, she would see the pathways making a pattern not very different from a dart board.

Jill picked a ripe, red tomato from a tomato plant. She rubbed it against her shirt then bit into it like she was biting into an apple. The tomato was sweet and juicy, the most delicious tomato she had ever eaten. Jill was very hungry after all her exploring through the house, thirsty as well. She was tempted to lean over one of the fish ponds and lap up water like a farm animal, but thought it better not to. She was happy she didn’t when she found a drinking fountain tucked away behind a tall mango tree. 

Jill noticed something she had not realized at first. None of the statues had faces. They were all sculpted from greyish stone that Jill guessed was marble. The statues were carved out of the stone into men, women, cherubs, and animals, whose bodies were strong and athletic. The muscles and clothing looked like real muscles and clothes.  Occasionally, Jill looked over her shoulder, half expecting the statues to move and start laughing at her, revealing, after all this time, they were real people pretending to be statues, like the visiting street performers Jill had seen earlier in her life, before the Council had banned such things in Vendor. 

The statues were beautiful but eerie. The women had long flowing robes and beautiful hair that looked like it blew lightly in a breeze, but instead of faces they had slabs of flat grey stone. The men looked active and strong as though they resisted some great invisible power that pushed against their muscled bodies. But they had no faces either. To Jill it looked like someone had pulled a thick marble visor over their heads. 

Jill walked around the outer circle then along every diagonal path and wouldn’t allow herself to go to the central circle until she had walked every other path in the room. When she had walked each path in one continuous circuit, she arrived at the central and smallest path. It made a circle around the largest fishpond in The Atrium. At the bottom of the pond, under the lily pads and a lone fish that slowly swam about, Jill noticed some coins. 

“It’s a wishing pond,” Jill exclaimed, then rummaged through her pockets to find a coin. She had none, not even a penny. 

Standing beside the pond was the largest, most beautiful statue among all the others in the room. The stone was different in texture and colour than all the other statues. It was light brown, porous to the touch, the way Jill had heard coral was in ocean reefs. 

Light blue flowers grew all about the base of the sculpture and made the statue look as though it floated on a soft cloud. Jill had never studied sculpture, so she didn’t know that the name for the way the statue stood was Contrapposto, meaning one leg was fully extended, while the other was slightly bent at the knee, so that the weight and form of the statue’s upper body leaned toward the straightened leg.

The statue’s right arm crossed over its chest covering the place where, if the statue were a real person, the heart would be. The left arm was extended away from the statue, palm outward. The statue’s left index finger stretched up toward the roof, pointing at something in the air, like it was about to touch something. From its shoulders protruded great wings like the wings of an eagle. If they were stretched out into their full wingspan, Jill guessed the ends of the wings would extend beyond the white stones of the first circular path in the middle of the room. Instead, the wings rested neatly behind the statue, extending above the head then falling down its back like two massive capes. It looked as if, at any moment, the statue might soar into flight.

Jill stared at the statue in awe and hesitated to move, so real and awesome did it look. The statue’s head looked like a round orb covered in clear, shining glass. Jill could see her own reflection in the statue’s faceless face; a reflection that looked small and insignificant. She took a step closer to the statue and examined the face more closely. Behind what looked like glass, Jill could see movement. At first Jill thought it might be a shadow or her reflection. But after standing completely still and holding her breath for what seemed like minutes, Jill saw the movement again. A small drop of water formed then suddenly disappeared. 

Jill discovered that if she wasn’t looking closely at the face, or if she blinked, she would miss the movement entirely. Every once in awhile, in intervals about as long as she could hold her breath before gasping for air again, a small drop of water would appear on the glass-like face about where, if it had one, the statue’s left eye would be. Then, the water would fall onto the arm that was pulled across the statue’s chest. The droplets of water collected in a pool at the elbow until the water overflowed and spilled into the wishing pond. Jill realized that the glass-like appearance of the statue’s ‘face’ was actually glass over water. She guessed that a pipe somehow connected the pool to the statue so that the water could circulate, probably, she thought, as a way to give the fish more oxygen. 

Come to the place
where the stones cry

Jill felt a sudden rush of energy as she recalled the end of the clue she had been given earlier. “The place where the stones cry,” she whispered out loud. “Could this be it?” 

Excited, Jill looked more closely at the statue, put her hand against the torso, and slowly walked around it looking at every part. Jill pulled out her letter. “One not all and all but one your treasure can find. Come on treasure, you’ve got to be here somewhere. How can I find you? Unlock destiny. Unlock your destiny, eh? How? How do I unlock my destiny? It sounds so easy: with the touch of a finger and the wink of an eye.”

Jill circled the entire statue, examining it with the interest of an inspector at a crime scene. She pulled at the statue’s wings, put her finger in its belly button. She jumped in the air and tapped the glass-like face with her knuckles. She crouched down and crawled through the flowers at the statue’s feet to look for a secret or hidden button. She found nothing. 

“Well, maybe you got the clue all wrong. Maybe it’s just a coincidence that water drips from the statue, and so what really is a coincidence you think is a real find. So much for paying attention to detail Ms. Steinback,” Jill said sarcastically.

Jill sighed loudly and blew the hair away from her face. “Well, Mr. Statue, it was nice meeting you. Sorry to disturb you, I obviously have the wrong person. Take care of yourself.”

As Jill moved to explore elsewhere, she waved goodbye, lifting her hand to the same height that the statue’s hand was extended in the air. As she turned, out of the corner of her eye, she saw the finger glow bright orange. Jill did a double take. When she looked at the hand again, it was the same colour as the rest of the stone. Jill could start to hear Ms. Steinback’s voice in her head scold her for an overactive imagination. Jill ignored the voice and lifted her hand in the air again to the same height as the statue’s finger. Orange light. The finger glowed once again!

“No way!” Jill said out loud. “Unlock destiny with the touch of a finger? Well, here goes.”

With that, Jill extended her left index finger and pressed it against the statue’s. She was surprised to feel the finger was warm to the touch. When she moved to pull her finger away, Jill let out a short shout–she could not move it! It was stuck to the statue like a strong magnet sticks to metal. The stone became hot but the heat was not painful, the same sensation she felt by rolling her finger in wax made liquid by a burning candle. The longer Jill’s finger was pressed against the statue, the brighter its finger became. Suddenly her finger fell free. Jill pulled it toward her, blew on it, and shook it in front of her face. 

“Whew! What was that?” she exclaimed. 

The finger of the statue remained orange, but it had changed in shape. It had, in fact, morphed like soft candle wax, and was now indented with the impression of Jill’s very own finger. Jill could see the circles of her fingerprints distinctly in the orange of the waxy, indented finger of the statue. 

All of a sudden Jill heard a loud crack, followed by a low humming, like a forest full of crickets at night. The arm of the statue fell limply to the statue’s side. Shocked, Jill stepped back. The humming got louder and louder until it was a high-pitched squeal, so loud and irritating that Jill had to plug her ears. Just as quickly as the humming started, it stopped. The room went very silent. No birds chirped. Jill did not dare make a noise.

Jill pulled her hands from her ears and looked around the room. Finally, she took a breath. As she did, a blinding light shone from the face of the statue and there was a loud explosion that knocked Jill off her feet onto the ground. Jill felt disoriented and numb, unsure what had happened. She moved to stand up, aware of a new level of light in the room. Jill could sense that she was no longer alone in The Atrium. There was some sort of presence in the room that felt very big and very, very close to her. 

When Jill stood up she let out a terrible, blood-curdling scream. 

“Little girl, you have no reason to be afraid.”

In front of Jill stood the most amazing creature she had ever seen. Tall as two grown men, arms and legs thick with muscle, the being stood before Jill. The creature’s skin was translucent like ice that shone with flecks of gold. Its waist and legs were covered to the knees by a white robe, and a silver sash fell from its left shoulder across its chest and torso. The creature was neither a woman nor a man; however, if forced to describe it, Jill would have said it looked more like a man.  The moment she saw it, Jill knew the being wasn’t human. It was something different, something magnificent, something other. The creature had what can only be described as hair, which fell from its head in rivulets, curling toward its shoulders, the colour of fire.  

Jill stood mesmerized when she looked into the creature’s eyes. They were clear as crystal, and when Jill looked into them, she felt as though she became weightless, or left her body, or floated in the air. Her body felt the same way, numb and shaky, as when Mr. Kay disappeared into the picture in the kitchen. As she looked into the creature’s eyes, she had the feeling that she looked into another world. The colour of the creature’s eyes cannot be described, for, Jill saw as many colours as she spent moments gazing into them. The eyes were like moving orbs, flecked with the energy of living colours. Greens alive like whole forests; blues as wild and deep as oceans where, beneath the surface, can be found newer more vibrant splashes and hues. 

The being stood in front of the fishpond with an outstretched hand. Jill realized, with fear, that the statue had come alive, and now stared back at her!

“Whatever I did, I didn’t mean to do it,” Jill said quietly. “I’m sorry! I can be real clumsy at times.”

“You did exactly what you were supposed to do. Now please, try to stand still.”

With that the creature leaned down toward her and squinted its eyes. From its right eye came a bright light. Jill tried to close her eyes shut, but before she could blink, the creature’s hands were framing her face, its fingers holding Jill’s eyelids open. The creature shone the thin beam of light directly into Jill’s right eye, and slowly moved the light across her entire eyeball. All Jill could do was stare back into the creature’s astonishing face. 

The creature pursed its lips, and pulled away from Jill. As it did, the beam of light disappeared. “You did wonderfully.” The creature smiled and removed its hands from Jill’s face. “Fingerprint and retinal analysis complete. Identity confirmed. Welcome to The Atrium, Jill Strong.”

© 2024 Andrew Kooman. All rights reserved.

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About Andrew Kooman

Andrew Kooman is a Canadian writer of fiction, poetry, plays, and films. His work has been enjoyed by audiences around the world and translated into lots of different languages. 

He’s the author of the children’s books Popcorn Helmet and Simple Christmas Spectacular, the first two books in the Ramsey P. Heaton, Future Billionaire series. Andrew likes to make people laugh in church. His popular plays and skits are performed across North America and can be purchased at SkitGuys.com.

Andrew founded UnveilTV with his brothers Matthew and Daniel, where you can watch content that inspires you. You can follow all of Andrew’s latest work on his weekly newsletter Things I Wrote Down and find him on X and Instagram.