Mirrored Time (A Time Archivist Novel Book 1) (25 page)

CHAPTE
R THIRTY-THREE

W
ITH NOWHERE ELSE
to go, they went to the temple. A soft sun gazed down at them, not strong enough to be overwhelming, just enough to ease the chill from their bones. Gwen sat, staring down at her bloody hands.

Her mind refused to focus. Thoughts swirled around her brain like the gentle wind teasing her hair. Tears trailing down at her cheeks, she spit into her hands and tried to rub the blood off. The red stain clung to her skin.

A sob escaped her lips, and in an instant, Rafe was there. She buried her face into his shirt, breathing in the warm, clean scent of him.

“What did he mean, Rafe?” Alistair’s last words were the only thing she could think of. It was better than focusing on his still body.
And how we left
him.

“We told you that you could never find a different version of yourself in the time streams. We never said you couldn’t find the same version of yourself.” He said. “Ever wonder what my full name was?”

“Rafe, how does this—”

He interrupted her. “I was born in a twisted, ugly world full of pain and horror. I discovered my gift by accident. It was still such a lonely existence. For a long time, I was the only one with the gift to jump the streams. I was the only one who knew they were there. That is, until I met Alistair.” His arms tightened around her. “It took me a while, you know. He was as tight-mouthed with me as he was with you. Guess he thought it was his duty. He knew you would come along and that everything would be different for me.” There was a smile in his voice. “I’ve lived more lifetimes than I care to count, Gwen. It wasn’t until you that time had meaning again.” He leaned over and kissed her forehead.

“I still don’t understand, Rafe.”

He pushed her into a sitting position, his dark gaze locked with hers. “My name’s Rafe, or RAF. Short for Reginald Alistair Fletcher.” He put particular emphasis on the middle name.

Oh my God …
“How?”

“Think of two polar ends of a magnet. When you try to put them together, they force themselves apart. That’s what trying to find your past self in the time streams is like. Usually, something in our powers makes it impossible. And when you add the fact that traveling the time streams is random for most people?” He shrugged and the casual gesture was at odds with the distraught expression on his face. “I had never heard of it happening before. Then, I went through a mirror, and it was different. It’s hard to explain. But traveling by mirrors, you’ve felt it—that feeling of free falling, as if everything is rushing by you, at least that is what it is normally like. That time, it was like there was more than one place to fall, like the power was jerking me in another direction. So I let it take me. And there was Alistair.”

She tried to understand his words. It was too much, too bizarre. Rafe and Alistair? They were too different. It couldn’t be true.

But … were they really so different?
Two sides of the same coin.
Both did whatever they could to protect her. Both had become a solid, dependable presence in her life. After everything she had seen, was it so hard to believe Alistair and Rafe might be the same person?

Her face blanched.
That means …
If Alistair and Rafe were the same person, then she and Alistair’s wife …
Alistair’s dead
wife.

“Rafe, what about Alistair’s wife?” She couldn’t bring herself to speak of them as the same person. They both meant too much to her.

“Future versions of ourselves.” He smiled grimly. “At least now, thanks to Aeon, it’s a future we won’t see.”

Gwen threaded her fingers through his, needing the proof of his presence. “How? How could Alistair exist if Aeon changed the past?”

His fingers tightened around hers, and he shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m sorry that’s not the answer you want to hear. The time streams must have diverged. I don’t know how Alistair and I became different versions of the same person. But we did. Thank God.” His words ended on a choke.

Even if it meant they lost Alistair, she had to be thankful as well. At least she still had Rafe. They sat next to each other in silence, soaking in the warm sun, letting it warm their bones.

Neither of them moved until Max appeared.

His normally cheerful face was dark with sorrow.

“Is Alistair … Did you …?” Gwen stopped.
Alistair wasn’t all right. And do you really want to ask what happened with his
body?

Rafe grimaced. “What’s going on, Max?”

The dark man’s head bowed. “Solomon has seized full control over the Guardians. He’s declared you and Gwen to be enemies of the time streams. He is saying it was your goal to release Aeon.”

Gwen shot to her feet. “That’s a lie! We tried to stop it.” Her face paled.
It’s not such a lie though, is it? It was your hand that stabbed the knife into the mirror.

Max nodded. “I have no doubt about your innocence. And there are others on the council who agree with me. It will take time to sway the minds of the other Guardians.”

Rafe stood slowly to his feet. “So, we run.”

“What?” Gwen’s voice was panicked.

“Rafe is right. I’m sorry, Gwen. For now, it isn’t safe for you to stay here. You will have to leave the life you’ve known and go somewhere the Guardians can’t find you.” Then he smiled. “You won’t be wasting your time. I want you to find Aeon, to figure out what he is up to.”

Rafe’s smile matched the grimness of Max’s. “To get revenge.”

Gwen wanted to argue with him, but she couldn’t.
I want revenge
too.

Max inclined his head. “For now, there is something more important.”

Gwen felt the exhaustion creep up her spine. “What now?”

Max’s eyes glinted gold in the sun. “Now, you pay your respects.”

They stood under a massive weeping willow next to a lone headstone. Looking at the inscription in front of her, Gwen was still at a loss for what to say. Rafe was quiet, his gaze tracing and retracing the words carved into stone.
Alistair Fletcher, Finally Home.

A shudder ran through Rafe’s frame, and he spoke. “What do we do now?”

Gwen blinked, her tears blurring her view of the headstone. She thought of everything that happened since she had taken the job at the Archives: the first taste of the amazing power hidden inside her all along; the tension of first meeting the Guardians; the terror of the nightmares; and learning of the black mirror. And then there was the horrible night they just experienced; Seymour’s taunting sneer when he told her he had killed Maggie; the force she released; Alistair lying in her arms, blood cooling around him.

She didn’t know what to think about any of it, let alone know what to do about it. She was afraid that if she let one tear fall, she would never be able to stop the others. So she focused on the smaller things: Rafe’s roaring laughter; Alistair’s reluctant and warm smile; about the happy moments she had experienced, thanks to the Archives.

She wrapped her hand around Rafe’s larger one, lacing her fingers through his. “Hope.” It wasn’t a trite platitude, not when it took so much effort to say. She squeezed his hand, taking strength from the fact he was standing by her side. “We hope.”

EPILOGUE

Gwe
ndolyn,

I
am sorry. Please
know I never wanted to leave you so soon. I can no longer predict what will happen to you. My past is no longer your future. This offers hope to me in what I imagine will be my last
days.

The Guardians will try to teach you that any deviation from the set path is dangerous and will harm this fragile web of time stretching out before us. Don’t believe them. Any world in which you survive, that cannot be a danger or a mistake.

If your life can be saved with the sacrifice of mine, then so be it. It is a trade I will happily and freely take. While there is some small personal significance in knowing I will be missed, I hope you do not take my absence too harshly. I am an old man, and the purpose to my life has long since
vanished.

Please forgive me for not telling you who I really am. I fear perhaps this will change the way you view our interactions. I hope you will be able to understand, at least in part, my motivations. The lies and obscurations were painful, although necessary. It was my only wish to spare you as much hurt as I was able. The truth is my existence has now become obsolete: Aeon is able to affect events outside of the mirror; Rafe no longer is cursed with my future; and most importantly, you are no longer facing the future that I had tried so hard to prevent.

For all my faults, Gwendolyn, know that everything I did was to prevent your death. And believe me when I say, if I have accomplished my goal of saving you, then I die happy.

Dark days are approaching, darker than any I can imagine. What was locked in the mirror has the power to destroy everything but also the power to change everything for the better. The future is balanced on a thin precipice, and I can only say I am sorry I am no longer there to give assistance. Trust Rafe. You two may have had your troubles, but I can promise you he cares more than he will show. Among many things, we still have that in common.

There is so much I should have told you. You deserve better than written words, yet I have no choice. My wife did not abandon her search for the Kronos blade because she believed it would not be strong enough to defeat Aeon. Instead, she abandoned her search because she discovered the truth.

Or should I say, you discovered the truth.

The truth that made it impossible for her to use the Kronos blade against
Aeon.

The presence behind the mirror, the one that was imprisoned and the one that fights to be free … Gwendolyn, he is your
brother.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

To
my friends
and family, we did it!

Thank you so much for your support and encouragement. There is no way I could ever list everyone who has been there for me. I am blessed to have so many fantastic friends and family. But special thanks to Emily and Kirsten, for being there to encourage me and make me smile, when all I wanted to do was give up. Thanks also to everyone in my RR crew who helped me feel a little bit like a celebrity. And of course, thanks to my mom, who was always willing to hold my hand, and give me that little push when what I was doing seemed just a little too scary.

This was an exhilarating, sometimes terrifying, journey, and I couldn’t have done it without all of you. At times, I needed a little cheer squad, and you all never failed. I hope everyone knows how truly important they are to me.

Next, the wonderful women of the WorldWiseWriters group. I was so incredibly lucky to have found you. You’ve been an invaluable resource and have made me a better writer. So, Andrea, Hannah, Jacky, Rowanna, and Sho: Thank you for your humor, for your support, and for your wise words of wisdom.

Special mention has to go to Rebecca K. Sterling, of Sterling Design Studios (sterlingdesignstudios.com) for creating such a fantastic cover. I’m still smiling about it. Thanks, also, to Holly Bohl, for polishing up my manuscript and wrangling my missing commas.

And of course, last and definitely not least, I have to thank you, the reader. Without you, ‘Mirrored Time’ is just meaningless black marks on paper. Thank you for taking this journey with me. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I have. Please stick around; Gwen and Rafe are just getting started.

Love to all,

J.D.

WORLDWISEWRITERS
GROUP

WorldWiseWriters is a
group of talented women committed to engaging stories filled with charismatic characters and exciting adventures. This is first class writing, edited to within an inch of its life, and fronted by breathtaking artwork. Looking for another book to read? Check out:

Andrea Domanski,
Crossfire

Once a normal teenage girl, now an Amazon warrior. Add in a bunch of kick-ass preternaturals and one maniacal demi-god and what have you got? The worst birthday ever!

Website:
http://www.andreadomanski.com/

Hannah Sullivan,
Thunder: The Shadows are Stirring

A rift between the layers of the world. A talking horse. Evil sliders. What’s a girl to do when she is the only one who can save it all?

Website:
http://www.thunderstories.com/

Jacky Gray,
Archer

Mmmm. Shoot an apple off his friend’s head or lose his food, horse, and clothes? Some decisions require little thought.

Website:
http://hengistpeoplehorse.blogspot.co.uk/

Rowanna Green,
Death Wishes

When Jo Green dies, all hell lets loose in Heaven. They have to honour her bucket list, so they send down a rookie guardian angel. Think Coke break with wings.

Website:
http://rockslikea.blogspot.com/

S.M. Freedman,
The Faithful

According to I Fidele, non-psychics are cockroaches. And the extermination is about to begin.

Website:
http://www.smfreedman.com/