ALEX CHECKED THE MONITOR PANEL once more. “Just to make sure. If the heart rate slows by more than twenty percent—”
“I’ve got it,” Neven said. “Sydney will be fine, Alex. All of you will. There and back, right?”
“You could always stay, Alex,” Veris suggested, his voice silky smooth. He didn’t think Alex should be jumping, either. “Then you’ll be sure.”
Alex’s chest grew tight. “No. I have to go.”
Veris shrugged. “Then, let’s go.”
Taylor and Marit took up positions in the middle of the corridor between the rows of beds, a few yards apart. Six of the beds had been lowered down to the ground, so that Neven and the twins could lift everyone easily onto a cot each, for monitoring.
The twins were sitting on the bed next to Sydney’s, looking sober and a little bit scared.
Alex touched Sydney’s arm one last time, then went over to where Marit stood. Rafe was already there.
Brody and Veris had their arms around Taylor’s waist. Brody looked over at them. “Marit, you’re steering. You give the signal to jump.”
Marit nodded and looked up at Alex. “Ready?”
“Yes. Thank you for this, by the way.”
She gave him a small smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “You were very persuasive.”
“She means persistent,” Rafe added. He held up his hand. “I’m not disagreeing with you. I want to go get Sydney back as bad as you do. Only, they’re your hand prints on Brody’s twisted arm.”
Alex blew out his breath. “Let’s do this.”
Marit put her arms around both of their waists. “I’m glad I don’t have to kiss you guys. Aunt Sydney would choke.” She looked over at Veris, Taylor and Brody. “Ready?”
Taylor nodded.
“One…two…three!” Marit called. Her knees flexed.
The invisible hand swiped at them.
Then the bright darkness that wasn’t, while time and humanity rolled beneath them. It had been a long time since Alex had been here. He had never visited when he was stone cold sober and not in the grip of the time serum.
He could sense the others, but not see them. Marit would be communing with Taylor, pointing her toward the bookmark, so he waited, deliberately not thinking, not looking and trying not to be drawn toward any of the many bookmarks that were calling to him. Marit had to steer this jump. She knew where Sydney was.
Then a second invisible, giant hand grabbed them and they were being pulled down, yanked down, to tumble and fall…
* * * * *
It was dark when they landed.
And cold.
“…four, five six. Everyone made it,” Brody whispered.
“Something’s wrong,” Alex said, as his night vision adjusted. “This isn’t Cairo.”
Alex could see the shape of everyone. It was so dark, that silhouettes were all he could see. There was no starlight, no moon. Thick clouds roiled overhead. Alex could smell damp grass and earth. In addition, there was a bitter, black stench of smoke and burnt things. It was faint, yet it was distinct.
“There are no street lights,” Veris said.
Marit stepped forward. “No, no, no…!” she whispered, looking at something ahead of them. “Not now!” She spun around. “We have to go back. Hurry! Uncle Alex, quickly…”
Veris caught her arm. “Where are we? Where did you bring us?”
Just then, the clouds parted and a wedge of moon appeared. For humans, it would not illuminate anything. For vampires, it was all the light they needed.
Behind Marit and Veris, Alex saw the house take shape as the light increased. It was Rafe’s grand house, the one they had lived in for nearly ten years. Only this house was a black, burned-out shell. There was no second floor anymore, only jagged peaks of charcoal and square, toothless gaps where windows had once been. Burnt framing timbers had dislodged and fallen into the inside of the shell, crossing each other in a giant’s game of pick up sticks.
The stairs climbed up to empty space, perhaps the most mournful note of all.
“Oh lord…” Rafe whispered.
Veris turned Marit to face him. “Why here? Why this place? Why jump us wide?”
Marit shook her head. “It’s a bookmark for me. I didn’t mean to bring you here. We should go.”
“Maybe we should look around,” Brody said. “It’s a bookmark for a reason, Marit. Maybe if you face it—”
“You think I haven’t?” she demanded in a furious whisper, looking so much like Veris in that instant, that Alex was startled. “Why do you think the bookmark pulled me off target?” She tried to push Veris toward Taylor. “We have to go back.”
“Wait,” Taylor said. “I heard something, down in the basement.”
“No. There’s nothing. It’s empty. The house never gets rebuilt after the fire. Let’s go,” Marit said firmly.
Alex heard the faintest whisper of sound, at the very edges of his hearing limit. “Footsteps,” he said. “On the iron stairs in the second basement.”
Rafe nodded. “Yes, that’s what I heard, too.”
Brody turned to Veris. “Maybe we should leave this. Marit doesn’t think we should be here. Let’s listen to her.”
Veris crossed his arms, considering Marit. “You overplayed it, Marit. If it was just some homeless wretch hiding out in the basement, you wouldn’t be protesting so hard that we should go. You wouldn’t be so jumpy. What’s down there?”
“You really don’t want to see it,” Marit said quietly. “Please, please, just trust me, Far. Don’t go and look.”
Veris considered her for a long moment. Marit held still and stared back at him. Alex watched, fascinated. Two indominable wills were clashing head on.
Then Veris nodded. “Very well,” he said softly. “We’ll go back and regroup.”
Marit sighed. “Thank you.”
Gunshots, many of them, suddenly broke the soft sounds of the night, making everyone flinch. They were very close, maybe on the back street. Someone screamed. Then more shots.
“That was a semi-auto rifle,” Rafe said softly.
“Into the house,” Veris said shortly. “We’re exposed out here. We can jump from in there.”
They crossed the damp, calf-high lawn and stepped into the house, ducking timbers and stepping over blackened, unidentifiable lumps. Alex accidentally kicked one of the lumps. It jolted forward. A triangular shape appeared where the lump had been. Green and cream-colored Berber carpet showed a geometric pattern running around the edge of the border. How many times had he looked at those angles and traced the shape with his gaze, thinking of the tribes who had made the original carpets that had spawned an industry?
His heart started beating. He could hear Rafe’s running hard, too. Rafe looked at him, his eyes shadowed.
“No sirens,” Taylor said quietly. “Shots in the night and screaming…and no sirens in response. What is going on here?”
Alex froze as the sound of quiet sobbing reached him from somewhere beneath his feet.
“Mommy!” came the soft wail.
The gut-wrenching pain in the cry pushed him toward the back of the house where the old basement stairs were, before he made a decision to move. It was impossible to not want to help whoever was making that awful sound.
Everyone else moved with him, even Marit. She was the only human among them, yet she moved just as quietly. They climbed down the iron stairs, which had once been silvery gray, but were now rusted red and warped from heat.
The sobbing grew louder, making his gut clench. Alex stepped onto the concrete floor. The industrial carpet down here had burned away, leaving blackened patches of the glue that had held it in place. The first floor was still in place overhead and had protected the basement from the elements. The fire had not been as intense down here. There were still recognizable pieces of furniture. The cartons of books he had intended to unpack and catalogue one day were still there, the cardboard soggy and sagging, most of the cartons collapsed in on each other.
A movement from the corner of his eye made him turn to look.
A tiny shape behind the second furnace peeped out at them with enormous eyes.
“Marit!” Taylor breathed.
Alex looked at the older version of Marit. She was rubbing her temple and looked as though she was on the verge of tears. She knew what was about to happen.
Taylor moved forward and crouched down to make herself less threatening. “Come here, sweetheart,” she said gently.
Marit stepped out from behind the furnace and came over to Taylor. “You’re not Mommy,” she whispered. Her cheeks were wet with tears and her eyes red. Alex judged she was perhaps five years old.
“Did you jump here from another time, Marit?” Taylor asked her.
She nodded, her eyes enormous.
“Then I’m another version of Mommy.”
“Like she is?” Marit asked, pointing.
Alex turned to look behind the iron stairs. It was dark back there, yet there was enough moonlight he could compensate for the darkness. His vision adjusted. The area behind the stairs was nearly untouched by the fire. The carpet was intact, the blinds over the basement windows hanging by one screw, the cords still tied in the little bundles Sydney always insisted in rolling them into, to keep them from tangling up if anyone ever needed to get out through the windows in a hurry…
Taylor was sitting on the carpet, her knees to her chest, rocking softly.
The Taylor who was with Marit stood and picked up Marit, too. She glanced at the older Marit, who was staring at the other Taylor. Tears rolled down Marit’s cheeks, although she was not making a sound, or moving at all.
“Gods and guardians,” Brody breathed, moving over to the other Taylor. He crouched in front of her and went to touch her arm, then hesitated. He looked at Veris, pain in his eyes. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Marit?” Veris asked, addressing the older Marit.
Her throat worked. “Ask her,” she said, her voice hoarse.
Veris moved around the stairs and settled in front of the rocking Taylor. Rafe took a step forward, too. Alex grabbed his arm and shook his head. He didn’t know for sure what was happening. He did know they had no part to play in this.
Rafe drew in a breath that shook and shoved his hands in his jeans. Alex could see him turn his hands into tight fists, outlined by the denim.
“Taylor,” Veris said. He patted her cheek. “Taylor!”
Taylor gave a whispery sigh and opened her eyes. She looked at Veris, then Brody, her eyes growing even wider. “I’m dead already?” she whispered.
Brody sucked in a breath. “Dead?”
“You’re dead. I must be too. At last.” She gave a little smile. Tears trembled in her eyes, faintly pink. “I’ve missed you so much.”
Rafe turned away. He came over to Alex and put his back to them. “This is Neven’s world!” he said very quietly. “The one where we all died in the fire. The council drugged Veris and Brody and threw them back in, too.”
Alex nodded. This, then, was a consequence of that dark night. Unlike Rafe, he couldn’t look away.
“Taylor, tell us what happened,” Veris said urgently. “After the fire.”
Taylor nodded. “You died.”
Brody groped on the carpet behind her and held up a dose bottle. “What the hell?” he breathed. “Alex!” He threw the bottle.
Alex caught the bottle and looked down at the simple label. All it had was a number. The number was one he would never forget. He looked up at the wall safe in the corner. It stood open. That was why Taylor had come here. She had found the combination and she had known what was in it.
“This is Sommeil, the sedative,” he said. “The seal has been very recently broken, too.” There were no soot marks on the rubber flange, as there were on the rest of the bottle.
Veris shook Taylor’s arm. “Did you take Alex’s sedative?” he asked her. “Taylor!” He shook her again.
She turned her head slowly to look at him. “I took it all.”
Alex’s heart dropped. There were fifteen doses per bottle. The bottle was empty.
Brody hung his head. He knew it was too late.
“Why?” Veris demanded of her. His voice was choked.
Marit, the older one, gave a little coughing sob. Alex went over to her and pulled her against him. She dropped her head onto his shoulder and hid her face.
The other Taylor walked over to Rafe. “This is Uncle Rafe,” she told Marit. “You’ll meet him when you’re older. For now, let him hold you. I have to help Athair and Far.”
She held Marit out to Rafe. He took her and put her on his hip. “Everything will be fine,” he told her.
Marit shook her head. “Mommy is dying.”
“That Mommy is,” Rafe said. “It’s not your Mommy, though. You know about crossing timelines, don’t you?”
Marit nodded. Her chin quivered. “It still hurts though.”
Rafe sighed. “Yeah. It does.” He stroked her hair.
Taylor knelt down between Brody and Veris. “Taylor,” she said softly. “Look at me.”
The dying Taylor opened her eyes. The pupils were large and glassy. They widened. “How…?” she whispered.
“What happened? Why are you doing this?” Taylor asked.
The other one sighed. “There is nothing for me now. Marit has her life. The twins…” Her face twisted. “They tour time. I can’t find them anywhere. They haven’t been back since…since…” She looked around, frowning. “Since this.” She swayed unsteadily.
Brody caught her and held her up.
“There is just me,” Taylor whispered. “I can’t stand it. Not anymore. Then I remembered how to make it all stop. Alex’s stash was still here.” Her mouth turned up in a tiny smile. “I wish I could thank him for giving me the way out.”
She looked at Veris and Brody again. “I love you…so much. I just couldn’t bear it, without you. Forgive me.”
She sagged, her eyes closing.
Brody laid her on the ground and Veris covered his eyes.
The other Taylor turned him, using force. She took his hand away from his eyes. “That would not happen to me. You’re here. I’m not going anywhere.”
Brody kissed her hard, as if he was trying to inhale her. Veris swept them both up in his arms and rested his head against theirs.
The body that had been Taylor disintegrated and the ashes blew away, leaving the carpet next to the three empty.
* * * * *
Taylor took the smaller Marit from Rafe’s arms. “You must jump home, Marit. You remember how to get back, don’t you?”
Marit touched Taylor’s cheek, as if she wanted to test it was really her. Then she nodded.
“I know some of this doesn’t make sense to you,” Taylor told her. “It will as you get older. Marit?”
The older one nodded. “Although I understood most of it,” she said quietly. “Enough to remember this time-and-place far too well.” She grimaced.
Taylor bent and put Marit back on the ground. “Go ahead, sweetheart. Go home and hug Mommy. She loves your hugs.”
Marit looked from Taylor, to Brody and Veris, then Marit. She waved goodbye, her fingers curling down and up. Then, without warning, she vanished.
Veris came over to Marit and kissed her forehead. “Let’s get out of here,” he said roughly.
Marit clung to him, then lifted her arm toward Brody. He stepped into her arm and held her, too.
Taylor came over to Alex. “I’ll take you two back,” she said quietly.
Alex held out his arm and she stepped into it and gathered Rafe up against her other side.
“You okay?” Rafe asked.
Taylor shook her head. “No.” She sighed. “I’m glad I don’t have to direct this jump.”
She closed her eyes.
Alex caught his breath as the giant hand picked him up again.