Blood in the Fire (Timelaws Trilogy) (12 page)

Earth - June 1981

Elizabeth

I wasn’t sure what finally pulled me back to reality or how long it had been since my mind shut down. It seemed like just a few seconds, but when I opened my eyes, I saw that it was dark outside. Suddenly those few seconds were an eternity.

“Is it evening already?” I asked, noting that my headache had subsided significantly. I was still lying on the couch and Tamer and Anton were standing over me. Anton looked a bit pale.
Could he have caught the bug from me?
I studied his weary face and noted the stress lining his eyes and mouth.

If this were contagious, Mark and Luke would be more susceptible than anyone. Luke was unmoved from his armchair, but he was sitting forward and seemed alert. The tired look wearing into his expression was becoming normal. Behind him, Mark leaned against the wall with his arms crossed and held a cancer stick in his right hand.

“It’s late afternoon,” Tamer replied. “Mark called us in early because you passed out and your fever spiked. We were concerned about the possibility of a stroke.”

I sat up and looked at Mark again. He took a drag of his cigarette, and I noticed his hand was shaking a little. The fingers on his other hand drummed rapidly against his arm. Frankly, he looked like he was strung out on something, although I was sure Mark would never try that kind of thing.

“I got your fever down and I did what I could to mend your stomach lining. You were producing too much digestive acid,” Anton said. He sounded winded.
Was this just the exertion of the spell I was seeing on Anton’s face?

“Why don’t you sit down?” I offered, concerned.

Anton shook his head and continued, “We’ll have to postpone the full heal till tomorrow.” Guilt clouded his eyes. “I need to recharge.”

I smiled. “That’s okay,” I reassured, offering him a smile. “It’s nice being able to stay awake again.” I patted the seat on the couch next to me. “So what’d I miss while I was sleeping? And where’d Jack go?”

“I kicked him out,” Mark replied. The way he said it made me wonder what that’d entailed. He’d already finished his smoke and he was pulling another one out of the pack.
Dude, chill,
I thought, observing Mark. He usually didn’t smoke more than a couple cigarettes a month at most. Luke was looking at him enviously, and I think he was considering borrowing a stick himself. He’d quit smoking a couple years ago, but he looked like he could use one. Frankly, I wouldn’t have minded one either, but I never allowed myself more than two a year. As much as I craved them sometimes, cancer just wasn’t worth it. Not by a long shot.

“So, Anton, I’ve got some news for you,” I said, just to be saying something. “Remember how I told you I stopped Melissa from changing her future?”

“How could I forget?” Anton retorted, finally settling down next to me. A glimmer of anger edged his voice. He and I had not been in agreement regarding my decision to intervene with Melissa’s addendum to the Timelaws.

“I thought about it. She was sure her future would unfold the way she told us,” I explained. “And what she’d said seemed incredibly unlikely. I mean, that many civilizations all turning against us. The more I thought about it, the more the whole story reeked of wizard intervention.”

“They wrote that future into the Timelaws spell while you were enacting it?” Anton asked. I nodded.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Tamer interrupted. He held his palms up in the air, as if to police the flow of our discussion. “Hold on just one freaking minute here. This conversation does not sound right.” He turned to me. “You let a wizard alter the timeline and permanently write it into the Timelaws spell? How?” Then he looked at Anton. “And what the hell were you thinking?”

I shrugged. “We were a bit busy,” I countered. “There was a lot going on.”

Anton and I gave Tamer a quick rundown of the last few days. Actually, Anton did most of the talking because there were too many alternate realities floating around in my head, and I wasn’t sure what had really transpired. Anton was careful to omit what I wouldn’t want Mark or Luke to know about, but he refrained from using telepathy. Nonetheless, I doubt my brothers understood much of what was said.

“At least I stopped Melissa from emulating the wizards,” I said. “The spell would have failed if she’d tried to write a contradicting timeline into the Timelaws.” By using the word
failed,
I meant that our universe would have been destroyed. Anton and Tamer knew that. Luke and Mark didn’t need to know.

“So that was you guys? You guys were the ones to create the Timelaws spell,” Tamer accused. “I can’t believe it. That spell is epic. Beyond epic. Double epic and a half. And you left me out!”

Anton and I smiled apologetically. It was too late now.

“Liz, do you want to eat something?” Luke asked suddenly, getting to his feet.

My stomach churned. “No, thanks,” I replied. “Not really hungry.”

“How about I make you some soup?” he suggested. My stomach was more settled than it had been this morning, but the thought of food still repulsed me.

“Really, Luke, I’m okay,” I insisted. “Don’t worry about it.”

Luke shook his head and went into the kitchen. I guess I was getting soup whether I liked it or not. Anton, Tamer and I discussed our options regarding the future Melissa told us about. Well, mostly Tamer and Anton discussed. I lay my head on Anton’s shoulder and did my best to pay attention.

The general gist remained the same. We needed to find a way to violate the rules of time travel. I tried again to think of a loophole, but a thick fog settled in my mind. Anton’s shoulder made for a comfortable headrest.

***

I didn’t remember falling asleep, but when I opened my eyes, I found myself lying on Anton’s firm chest. One of his arms was wrapped around my waist and his other hand held my head. He didn’t move, but I could feel from his deep breaths he wasn’t asleep. A blanket had been thrown over me and a bottle of water was placed on the coffee table within my reach. All the lights were off, except the one coming in from under Luke’s bedroom door. Beyond the threshold, hushed voices carried on some heated discussion. I couldn’t make out what they were saying.

“Go back to sleep,” Anton whispered. I considered asking him what had happened since I was last awake. I know we’d been working on a plan to undo the damage the wizards had done by altering the timeline, but I couldn’t remember all that was said. Anton lifted his head and landed a gentle kiss on my forehead. My questions could wait. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the rhythmic pounding of Anton’s heartbeat beneath my hand.

***

I woke up again late the following morning. This time, I was in my bed and Mark was back to reading his book. He tried to get me to eat something again, but I wasn’t interested. He said I hadn’t consumed a bite since I’d gotten sick. I thought about it, and I guess he must have been right, but I didn’t care.

***

“Welcome back,” Anton said softly. His voice carried me out of the darkness and back into my room. My boyfriend was sitting on the edge of my bed, smiling. “Feeling better?” he asked.

“Much,” I replied.

Anton stroked my hair and started to fill me in. “Tamer and I just did most of the heavy lifting but you're not completely cured.” He tipped his head to direct my attention toward my cousin standing by the door. “You should have enough power to finish it. Tamer and I will talk you through the details.”

I sat up and Tamer began explaining how the virus worked and what the cure would entail. With their help, I was able to pay attention without falling asleep. Anton only had to nudge me once when my eyes started to drift a bit. I followed every instruction to the tee, until finally, a long half hour later, it was done. My body was exhausted, but I was cured. Wizard flu, shmizard flu. Right?

Anton reached out and stroked my cheek. Then, he grabbed a fistful of my hair and used it to draw me closer. His lips waited for me until, finally, they met mine. I was a little uncomfortable in front of my cousin, but it was still nice. Thank God Luke wasn’t in the room, though. I couldn’t bear the thought of sitting through 'the talk' with him again! He’d already given me that lecture twice.

I let the kiss linger for a second longer and then pulled back to rest my head against the headboard. “Get some sleep,” Anton said as he stood to leave. “We have a big day tomorrow.”

“Before you do that,” Mark intervened, sticking his head through the door. He pointed a figure at me. “You’re eating something. Luke will be in with your dinner in a moment.”

Just as he said that, Luke appeared behind Mark and nudged him out of the way.

“What exactly does he mean by ‘big day tomorrow’?” Luke asked, as he handed me a plate of grilled chicken and mashed potatoes.

I looked at Anton for help. I didn’t want to admit that I couldn’t remember what we’d talked about.

“Nothing major, Luke,” Anton said. “We’re just going to meet with someone who will help us get a message to a friend.”

Anthe
. No one would know more about the Timelaws than my former mentor. She might not have participated in the spell’s original construction, but she had spent her whole life studying it. If there were a loophole to be found, she would know. I smiled, relieved to have figured out a part of our plan.

However, my relief was short-lived. “You and I haven’t discussed your continued participation in this…business, yet,” Luke said.

Really, Luke? Now?
But I took a deep breath. Any kind of emotional response would work against me. “That’s right, Luke, we haven’t,” I said. Inside, my heart fluttered with nervous energy. “And we will. But at the moment, I’m not talking about a major mission. No explosives, no wizards. We’re just looking to have a conversation with a woman I was quite close to. In fact, she trained me in my specialty. Anthe might be able to help us send an important message to the future.”

“I would like to meet this woman who trained you,” Luke said. “Invite her over.”

“Luke, she doesn’t live on Earth,” I exclaimed. “And she’s pretty old. A trip across the universe is a lot to ask of her.”

“She has powers like you, I presume?” he asked. “If you can go to her, she can come to you. More importantly, if you want to have this conversation, it’s going to have to be in this house, out loud, with every word translated to English.”

I exchanged a look of disbelief with Anton. I was about to drag the eldest, most respected Dark alive to my house. Why? Because my older brother wanted to keep an eye on me. It was absurd. Imagine dragging the president from the White House for a chat. This was even more ridiculous. Unfortunately, it was also a point I wasn’t willing to argue, not with my future as a Dark at stake.

“Alright, Luke. I’ll invite her over,” I conceded. Check. Mate.

“I look forward to meeting her,” he said with a phony smile. Then he left.

I raised my eyebrows again and looked at Anton and Tamer. All three of us were suppressing a smile. The second Luke disappeared from my view, we all exploded with laughter. Thank goodness Anthe had a sense of humor. To put this request to her, I certainly would need to draw on mine.

I looked down at my plate of food. “I hope she likes grilled chicken,” I said.

“For Anthe, you might want to spring for KFC,” Anton replied. We all snickered again and the conversation turned to rumors we’d heard about Anthe’s past. There was a lot of gossip in our circle about what she’d accomplished in her day, but strangely, I’d never met anyone who actually knew anything about her past. Mark joined us and was intrigued by the mystery surrounding this woman. However, Luke remained in the kitchen and made lots of noise with the pots and pans. I wasn’t sure what he was doing. Finally, when I was done eating, Mark announced that I should get some sleep and left the room.

Anton and Tamer were about to follow, but there was one more thing I needed before they left. I hated to ask this, but I had to know. “Eln and Merador, are both of them safe?” I inquired.

Anton frowned and searched my face for a moment. “Yes, and we’re even getting some reports of wizard in-fighting, just as Merador promised. It seems a sizable guerrilla group has surfaced within their ranks.” His voice softened. “Don’t you remember?”

I stared back at Anton and when he didn’t continue, I shook my head no. His lips formed a sad smile. “You said that we could offer Merador and Eln protection. They’ve been moved to a safe-house with the location need-to-know only. Your orders,” he reminded me.

I nodded and smiled. “It’s a good idea,” I said.

“It is,” Anton confirmed. “Now, get some rest.” He lingered for a moment, then left.

“See you tomorrow,” Tamer said, before he followed Anton out.

I waited to hear the sound of the front door close behind them before I lay back and closed my eyes. My last thought before I succumbed to my dreams was that I had better not fall asleep on Anthe tomorrow.

Earth - June 1981

Elizabeth

Anthe could have teleported into our living room, but as a matter of etiquette, she elected to use the doorbell. “Hmm, so you’re the reason I’m here,” she accused when Luke answered the door.

Luke opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Anthe was dressed in her deep purple uniform and a delicate crown of pink and purple crystal feathers adorned her head. Although she was shorter than me, she was robust, and her posture demanded respect. She looked Luke over for a moment and then extended her dark hand to take his.

“I…yes,” Luke responded, finally finding his words. “I’m just concerned—” He did not notice her offer to shake hands.

Anthe dropped her arm back to her side. “Good,” she interrupted. “It’s nice to see Elizabeth has people who care for her.” She looked past Luke and extended me a warm smile.

“Please come in,” I offered. She would have stood in our doorway all day if I had waited for Luke to remember his manners.

“Thank you,” Anthe acknowledged. She stepped past Luke to where Anton, Tamer, Mark and I were gathered. This morning, I had done what I could to spruce up the house and those of us with uniforms were wearing them.

“Let’s get down to business, shall we?” She took a place on the couch and indicated with a nod that I should sit next to her. I went to her side.

“So why do you think I’m here?” Anthe asked. I smiled politely to conceal the inner groan I felt rise inside me.
Here we go again.
I’d already told her when we spoke that she was here to help us find a way around the Timelaws. However, Anthe must have had an agenda of her own. I respected her immensely, but she took way too much pleasure speaking in pompous, self-indulgent riddles. My sessions with her had been invaluable, except they could have taken a quarter of the time.

“We need to send a Timelaws-forbidden message,” I replied. “And we thought you might know how.”

Luke finally realized that our front door was still open. He shut it and walked over to stand by Mark, Tamer and Anton. The four of them crowded closer to the living room, but remained on their feet. In uniform, Tamer and Anton looked like soldiers standing guard. My brothers looked like gawking tourists.

“Well, I am here, talking to you,” Anthe said in response to my question. “So, clearly, I figured out one way to do it. I don’t think you will like my method though—it is a little long-winded.”

More riddles. The only explanation
wa
s that she trained under Yoda
.

“Wait, are you outside one of your assigned times right now?” Anton asked. Clearly, her puzzles hadn’t worn him down yet. Just wait for it. It would happen.

“I am.”

I blinked.
Was that a straightforward answer I heard?
“That’s wonderful!” I exclaimed. “So how did you get here? What do I need to do?”

“Your message recipient, they are in the future?” she asked.

I nodded.

“How far ahead?”

“About eight hundred and fifty Earth years, give or take a few.”

“Well then, all you have to do is keep yourself alive for eight centuries and you’ll be able to deliver your message.”

I slumped. She was joking right? Then I remembered whose presence I was in and corrected my posture. A small, camouflaged smile pulled at the edges of Anthe’s lips.

Luke took an excited step toward Anthe and me. “Is she serious?” he asked. “Can you keep yourself alive for eight hundred years?” I don’t know what had him so juiced up.

“In theory…yes,” I replied. “But there are ravaging consequences to your body and mind. It’s painful physically, but emotionally and mentally, it’s beyond exhausting. Akin with torture really. No one ever extends their life by more than twenty percent on the high end.”

“Oh?” said Anthe. “Well then I guess I must be imagining myself here. What is it that Descartes once said, ‘I think therefore I exist’? Someone should go back and let him know he was wrong.”

The correct translation was “I think therefore I am,” but it wasn’t the best time to correct her. Instead, I studied her face with intense curiosity. Extending one’s life might be easy when it was as simple as curing a disease or removing cancer. But as time progressed, it became more about repairing mitochondrial DNA, restoring brain tissue, and re-establishing neural synapses. Even the best medical experts couldn’t do that perfectly. With time, emotions, personality and memory all deteriorated along with one’s body. Anthe was so knowledgeable and intelligent. She didn’t show any signs of deterioration.

“Oh, stop staring at me,” Anthe demanded. “You’re not a ten-year-old boy, and I don't have the first pair of boobs you ever laid eyes on.” If that statement had been intended to snap me out of my shock, it failed. “I didn’t do it all in the same body,” she continued. “There were volunteers who gave me their bodies to use. That helped. It helped a lot really.”

Okay, mental check to see if I’m feeling any less flabbergasted... Nope.

“I’m not going to hop from one dead person’s body to the next for eight hundred years,” I blurted. “There is absolutely no way I would do that.” The very concept disgusted me.

“The person can’t be dead,” Anthe said. “The spell to initiate the transfer has to be cast by both participants for it to work. But the good news is that I have a body prepared for you.”

“You prepared a body for me? You knew I would ask for this?”

“Hold on,” Tamer interrupted. “I’m still confused. If you live long enough, you just get to pass along any information you want without being constrained by the Timelaws?”

“Once she’s outside her assigned time, she’s outside the purview of the Timelaws,” I explained. “We accounted for the option of written messages or even verbal communication passed along from one person to the next. But we never wrote the Timelaws to limit the possibility that someone would outlive their period.”

“Nice going,” Anton interrupted. I met his eye and smiled.

“What would you have had us done? Kill someone if they live too long?” I retorted. He didn’t respond. We’d set up the equation to calculate the length of each person’s period by taking the oldest member of their species at the time of their birth and adding 70%. That had seemed more than sufficiently conservative at the time.

“Once you had outlived your assigned time, could you time-travel to any year you wanted?” Tamer asked Anthe.

“I can only go forward in time. And only by taking the long way,” Anthe replied. That made sense. It was a provision we’d included just in case someone did survive longer than we anticipated.

“Okay, now back to my question. You have a body prepared for me?” I asked again. The concept disturbed me to my very core.

“Actually, you never answered my question,” Anthe countered. “Why do you think I’m here? People gave their bodies, their lives, to make this possible you know.”

She didn’t need to remind me. “I’m guessing it’s not so that I can send Melissa the information she needs to prevent wizards from winning the war?” I suggested, though it seemed like a pretty good reason to me.

Anthe sighed. “It’s probably not fair of me to ask you this…” she acknowledged.
Finally we were on the same page.
But then, Anthe continued, “…without telling you a little bit of the wizards’ history first. Sometimes, I forget how long it’s been and just how much information gets lost with time.” Anthe paused for a moment as though she were reflecting on the wisdom of her own words. “Luke, perhaps you could bring us all some tea?” she asked. “This story will take a while.”

I don’t remember the last time anyone in my family drank tea, but I’d asked Luke to buy some in preparation for Anthe’s arrival. Anton and Tamer claimed the two remaining seats, thus forcing Mark to accept the floor or Tamer’s lap. To Tamer’s dismay, Mark chose his lap. Anthe ignored their antics and began retelling her tale while Luke brought a pot of water to boil.