But there is one thing you must do to accept your role. And yes, it is yours to accept. I can no longer protect the Vault.

I’m writing this just before leaving the city of Pumapunku. As your mother and I travel again I will leave instructions for a future Guardian to tell you the words to bring the Vault and enter it. I will ask that Guardian to add here the spell that makes you Guardian, because it is too dangerous for me to put this down all at once.

And I will give you the key when we meet during the last time travel that your mother and I will make.

Once you’ve said the spell and assembled your team of Artifact Hunters, you must seek magical artifacts around the world before they are found by those with evil intentions, and lock the artifacts in the Vault. That is your future.

Magic can be unexpected, so we hope to see you again one day.

Your loving parents.

Isaac paused and cleared his throat, suddenly thick. Amelie put her hand on top of his. “Okay,” he said. “Here’s the next. This one’s from someone else.”

From my vantage point, we have just met, Isaac. From yours, I have been gone many centuries.

These are your final instructions. It was your father’s hope that by the time you read these words you would better understand the scope of your duty. He and your mother had no choice but to send you through peril, for it is the duty of the Guardian to go into danger to retrieve and protect artifacts. It is in times of war, in times of catastrophe, in times unsettled that magic is most powerful and most vulnerable to the forces of evil.

The Guardian—you—must keep those artifacts safe. The Guardian—you—must collect your Artifact Hunters.

To become the Guardian, you must recite a simple spell. Standing inside the Vault with the key in your hand, you must say, “I accept” three times, and it is done.

From that moment, until you relinquish the duty to another, you are the Guardian as I have been in my time and your father will be in his. Being the Guardian will make you a target, but also give you extra magic.

I leave you in hope.

Vivienne

“She was there the last time I time traveled,” Isaac said to Amelie. “In Camelot.”

“Camelot.” Amelie’s eyes began to shine. “What I wouldn’t give to see that.”

“Maybe we can go there sometime,” Isaac said. “To the happy Camelot. When all this is over.”

The pendant lay on the table. Isaac picked it up in his fist. It was suddenly a heavy weight. He looked at Amelie and she nodded.

He clutched the pendant and said, “I accept.”