A Grave Tree (36 page)

Sylvain regarded him through slightly slitted eyes. “You’re unusually strong,” he said. Sylvain didn’t clarify whether he thought this was good or bad. However, it was clear from his expression (even without the benefit of a little yellow card) that he was not completely happy.

Sylvain and Mark crept inside to the mezzanine and peered over the edge. The thunderous hum from the turbines had stopped, but the whining sound vibrated through the building. Just like the man who was here before, Jake stood strapped to the docks at the far end of room, past the double row of six cylindrical generators. His head was on the podium and his entire body looked limp. Sandy was nowhere in sight. Perhaps they could free Jake and be gone. Perhaps it would be easy.

“That’s it,” Sylvain murmured, pointing at the docks. “The point of power.”

They descended the stairs quietly and started to make their way past the generators.

The whining penetrated Mark’s skull, and he wanted to reach out and slash people and things to make it stop. Almost unbidden, the energy he’d been seeking before on the reservoir pooled in his fingertips, begging to be released. He could see why Sylvain wasn’t necessarily pleased with his newfound strength. He might not be able to control it.

They were almost to the docks when Mark’s heart gave a painful jolt and he nearly leapt into Sylvain’s arms in fright (which would probably have electrocuted him in the process). Sandy had emerged from between the middle and last set of generators, along with three men holding guns. Evidently, even for Sandy, guns were more reliable than throwing energy. Ian trailed behind them.

“I’m so glad you’ve come,” Sandy trilled, which even to Mark’s Asperger’s brain sounded as if they had just come for dinner and she didn’t have men holding guns on them. “Where are the others?”

“They’re off looking for Russell. What is this?” Sylvain said.

“Go watch for them,” Sandy instructed one of the men, who departed up the way Mark and Sylvain had come. “This,” Sandy said, spreading her arms expansively, “is the solution we’ve all been looking for. This is reconnecting our futures and sending energy and water to people in need. I just need some help getting it going again.” She motioned at the two men, who lowered their guns.

“Why would we help you, after what you’ve done to the future?” Sylvain said. “To my business ventures?”

“Sylvain, you’re still a rich and powerful man in the future. Yes, I may have taken advantage of some degree of prescience to make some wise investments and establish businesses of my own. But that’s nothing that you haven’t done in the past, and is it not reasonable to share a bit of the wealth?” She paused. “We both have the goal of bringing the futures back together, and this is just one small step in bringing more resources to a future that desperately needs them. Surely you can support that.”

“Ian?” Sylvain said. “Are you part of this?”

“Ian and I are married, silly,” Sandy said. “Of course he supports me.”

Everyone, except the men with guns, swiveled their heads to Ian, who bobbed his head with a big smile that matched the frightening image on one of Mark’s little yellow cards that read “very happy” on the bottom.

“I see,” Sylvain said. “And Jake? He’s not looking very good.”

“I know. He’s just resting right now. He’s played an important role in this, and he’ll get a break soon. I promise. But he’s been a trooper.”

“I’d like to talk to Jake about that,” Sylvain muttered under his breath.

Sandy continued. “Right now, because the diversion failed, half the grid in Coventry City is probably down, perhaps even the hospital. We don’t want to leave those people without power. I know you have a talent for building walls, Sylvain. Maybe you could help get the diversion back up temporarily while I convince Caleb’s people to help rebuild, so we can send Coventry City the power and water it needs. Then Jake here will help the remaining people in this future move to the promised land. I’m afraid Ian and I had to immobilize them on the other side of the diversion. They were going to hurt themselves with this silly attack.”

“But that’s preposterous,” Sylvain sputtered. “Coventry City went solar and geothermal years ago.”

Sandy shook her head with wide eyes. “Not the new Coventry City.”

While she spoke, what had started as a little black seed in Mark’s belly had grown into a big unruly ball of fury. His half-sister lied, punched, and let people fall off diversions onto rocks. She wasn’t interested in saving people. And now she had convinced Ian and maybe Sylvain to help her. Energy felt like it was rippling down his arms and into his hands.

Sandy turned to Mark wearing a broad smile. “I also need Mark’s help. We need to get Peter and Marian home. Mark and I have had a few misunderstandings today, which is understandable of course, given his condition.” She flicked a glance at Sylvain, which even without the benefit of his yellow cards, Mark would interpret as the kindly, exasperated look of a caregiver who has been pushed beyond their limits. Mark nearly unleashed a blast of energy at her. “But I know he knows how to open the door to the wormhole. We have to rescue them, Sylvain. Selena and the others have the Guild completely on their side. We need Peter and Marian’s help to stop her. We might be able to prevent the split in the futures from even happening.”

“When did you become Quinta?” Sylvain asked.

Sandy drew back, her eyes wide. “I’m not. Marian is. She’s the one who set all this up before she followed Peter. That’s why it’s so important to get her back.”

*****

Abbey’s head felt like it was going to explode. And she had a desperate need to sneeze. She, Caleb, and Digby had been peering down through a hole in the ceiling at the proceedings for the last five minutes, and Digby’s whiskers and the dust in the duct were sending her nose into paroxysms.

To make matters worse, the piercing whining they’d heard from the intakes outside was even more intense inside. The sound was low, but unnerving. It didn’t make sense; with no water, the turbines would be off and the intake would be pulling nothing in. Penstocks were gravity fed. They shouldn’t be whining. The unearthly sound was making her teeth ache. It felt evil somehow.

And now Sandy was suggesting all sorts of crazy things: that Abbey’s mother was Quinta and had established the diversion and the turbines and everything, that she was trying to bring the futures together, and that Sandy and Ian were married. She was also suggesting that Abbey’s parents could be rescued

Abbey glanced over at Caleb, who was squished into the duct next to her, squinting at Sandy as if in deep concentration.

“Do you believe her?” she whispered.

Caleb shook his head. “I don’t know. Everything she says could be true. Why wouldn’t Ian have said anything, though?”

The future is crumbling.
That’s what Selena had said. Whatever changes Sandy had made to the future, they were not benign. Abbey thought of the transport company, the destruction of New L.A., Simon’s arrest, and her own apparently obliterated future. But maybe Sandy wasn’t responsible for those changes. Maybe they all were. Why would she believe Selena, who’d done many bad things, over Sandy? Ian clearly supported Sandy. Abbey’s mother and Sandy were friends. Was Abbey letting her dislike of Sandy, maybe even her jealousy of Sandy, get in the way? But it didn’t make sense. Ian would have said something.

Unless he had been luring them here. The suggestion that they were assets ran cloyingly through her mind.

“So will you help?” Sandy said. “So we can get this back up and running and get the hospital operational again?”

“I’d be more inclined to help if you let Jake go,” Sylvain said.

Sandy’s face sharpened a bit before she donned a serene smile. “I can’t. The connection would be broken, and I don’t know if it can be reestablished. Sylvain, once you get the temporary diversion in place, I’ll take Mark down to the dam to rescue Marian and Peter. Marian will know what to do. We just need to find another camel, and then I can let Jake go.”

“What if we don’t help you?” Sylvain said.

“You don’t want to be the one to tell Abbey and Caleb that you had the chance to help their parents and didn’t, do you?”

“What about
your
mother? Is she with them?” Sylvain said.

Sandy’s eyebrows lowered. “No. We’ve taken her to a safe place outside of Coventry to recover. My dad has gone with her.”

Abbey shifted her gaze over to Mark, who’d squished his face into a deep scowl and stood with clenched fists and a partly stooped body, as if he might be about to drop into one of his crouches. Abbey tensed. It was never good when Mark looked like that.

“No!” Mark bellowed.

A rush of something blasted from his fingertips and blew Sandy and the others onto their butts. The men raised their guns immediately and a surge of energy gathered around Sandy. Abbey could sense that Sandy was pulling molecules just as Abbey now could, except Abbey pulled molecules of matter, whereas Sandy pulled molecules of energy. Was Sandy going to obliterate Mark and Sylvain?

Abbey looked wildly around the duct. She and Caleb were at least ten meters up, and there was no obvious way down.

But Sandy rose, brushed the dirt off her pants, and gave Sylvain a bland look. “I’m afraid Mark is having some difficulty understanding the importance of what we’re doing. Can you talk to him?”

Sylvain seemed frozen.

“You do not talk
to
me. You talk with me,” Mark declared. “You are a liar and a bad person. You punched me, and my mother
is
with Ms. Beckham and Mr. Sinclair.”

Sandy darted a helpless look in Sylvain’s direction. “I think you’re just confused, Mark.”

Another surge of energy erupted from Mark, but this time Sandy responded with her own blast, and both groups sailed backward and away from each other, landing on their backsides.

“Mark, we’re wasting time with this,” Sandy said through gritted teeth. “Sylvain, will you get control of your son?”

Son?
Mark was Sylvain’s son?

Sylvain rose slowly after flicking a glance along the edge of the ceiling and staring directly at the duct. Mark, absorbed in gathering more energy, appeared not to have noticed what Sandy had said.

Sylvain bent down to put his hand on Mark’s shoulder. Mark jerked away, but he was jolted out of his trance for a second.

“Mark, stop, please. We have to help Ms. Beckham and Mr. Sinclair. I’ll come with you down to the dam.”

Mark’s hands flew to his ears and he pulled his knees into his chest.

Abbey’s brain catapulted around in her skull in turmoil. Was Sylvain actually going to help Sandy? Was that the best thing to do? Could they actually save her parents? There was no way he could rebuild the diversion with his mind. Working together, the two of them had barely constructed a flimsy raft.

Sandy shook her head. “I need you to start on the diversion. I’ll take Mark.”

Caleb fidgeted beside Abbey. “They can’t rescue Mom and Dad. The pentagram isn’t working. Unless Sandy knows something we don’t,” he whispered.

“I’ll need some helpers for the diversion,” Sylvain said. “Your two men here should do just fine.”

Abbey felt as if her heart had plummeted out of the duct. She was surprised it didn’t hit the cement floor with a splat. Sylvain was going to help Sandy.

Sandy’s eyes narrowed. “They have no special abilities.”

Sylvain shrugged. “I can still draw their energy.” There was a coolness to his statement that sent a frisson of unease dancing across Abbey’s neck, like they, as witches, were akin to vampires.

When Sandy hesitated, Sylvain continued. “What you’re asking is a huge task. I can’t do it without help. Do you want the diversion rebuilt or not?”

“Very well, but you need to convince Mark to help me.”

Sylvain nodded. “He’s probably just hungry. He doesn’t do very well when he’s hungry.”

Sylvain bent to Mark, his long limbs folding like a giant accordion. He withdrew something from his coat pocket. The piece of stone, which he’d tied in a handkerchief. He spoke in a slow and soothing voice, very unlike the way he usually addressed Mark. “Here’s a sandwich, Mark. It will make you feel better. I need to go outside with these men and rebuild the diversion. I want you to remember what your mother always said about how important it is for everyone to help each other and make sure everyone has a soft place to land. Didn’t she always say having tea together makes it all okay? It’s important that everyone gets home, and you’re the only person who can help us with that. Put the sandwich in your bag for later.” He patted Mark awkwardly on the arm, and Mark, still rolled in his ball, largely ignored him. But he took the stone, and Abbey thought she saw a flicker of recognition in his eyes as he felt the solid edges.

“He’s trying to draw off the men,” Abbey said to Caleb. “So we can use the stone to go home. That’s why he’s talking about tea and soft landings.”

Caleb shook his head. “Maybe he’s really trying to help Sandy.”

Sylvain rose and looked at Sandy. “It won’t take me long to have that diversion rebuilt. About ten minutes, I’d say.”

He was totally lying now.

“Ian will come with you too,” Sandy said, “and make sure you’re not up to anything.”

Sylvain nodded and turned away. “Make sure you help, Mark.”

The two men with guns followed him, and as Ian went to join them, Abbey could have sworn she heard Sandy say to Ian in a low voice, “Find those kids.”

When the others had left, Sandy approached Mark.

“Okay, Mark, we need to go down to the dam so you can show me how to get in that room. No more funny stuff with lying and locking me out. I know we haven’t exactly gotten off on the right foot, but we need to work together now.”

“No,” Mark said firmly.

“Should we go help her with Mark?” Caleb said.

“Are you nuts?” Abbey said. “We’re supposed to escape with Mark, and Jake. That’s what Sylvain wanted.”

“I’m not so sure about that. Maybe she’s actually trying to rescue Mom and Dad and Sylvain and Ian are helping.”

“Do
not
fall in the Sandy thrall again,” Abbey hissed.