Perilous Waters (40 page)

“The mother said her name is Carmen,” Julia said.

Kaitlyn ran her finger across the back of the baby’s balled up hand before abruptly withdrawing.

She turned to Angie, as always hoping she had answers, but as Angie rose to her feet, her forehead had never looked so puckered. Her blond hair floated on a soft breeze as she vaguely shook her head. “I hope…” Angie fell silent for a moment before adding, “I don’t know what to hope. This isn’t supposed to happen. It’s all so wrong.” Her round, childlike eyes glistened with fear. “We aren’t supposed to meddle with fate like this. The baby might have been meant to die. W-w-what if the Fates become angry?”

Julia’s heart pounded heavily at the realization of what she had done. She had messed with this baby’s fate, and now… she bit her lip. It had been the right thing to do, hadn’t it? It would have died there on the beach. How could she have done any different?

The baby kicked its legs against the blankets. For someone so small, she was becoming extremely heavy. Julia switched her to her other arm before glancing around. “What era did we end up in?”

Angie pulled her gaze from the baby, surveying their surroundings beneath the starlit sky. “Lampposts,” she murmured. “And cars. A classic Chevy. In Cuba, that could mean anything from the 1960’s to present day, really, what with the embargo having impacted the country for so long. Except…”

“Except that Chevy is the only car on the whole street. And if this was our own time period, there would be more cars, wouldn’t there be?”

Angie shook her head slowly. “Not necessarily. Because of the tension between the United States and Cuba, the entire country has become something of a time capsule. The only thing we know for sure is that we’re not that far off from our own time period. And that’s both good and bad.”

Kaitlyn lifted a rumpled piece of newsprint from the gutter. “July 17, 1962.”

“1962,” Angie echoed, taking the paper. “A few months before the Cuban Missile Crisis.”

Julia didn’t know what that meant. The baby wriggled. Her arms ached from holding it so long. “How soon before you think you can time travel us again?”

Angie pressed her lips together a moment. “Hard to say. But we have to keep out of sight until we have enough power to use our magic again. This isn’t far enough back in history for our presence to be easily explained away.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, three American girls and a baby showing up in Cuba without identification, without explanation, it would make the news. We can’t risk altering the past directly like that. Not without the buffer of a few centuries. If our pictures were to come out, for example—”

“I get it,” Julia said. “Bad news.”

“Let’s find somewhere more secluded.”

They hurried through the streets, but the baby began making noises.

“How do we keep it quiet?”

Kaitlyn laughed humorlessly. “You can’t keep babies quiet.”

The noises became cries. Julia tried holding it close but it only writhed against her, crying louder.

“She probably needs food,” Kaitlyn stated flatly.

The winding streets led to more houses. Finding somewhere more secluded wasn’t turning out to be easy, and the baby only grew louder by the second. “Are we going the right way?”

“I don’t know that there is a right way,” Angie said, her voice taut.

The babies incessant crying became a siren in the night. “Hush, hush,” Julia tried for a soothing voice. And for a moment, there was silence.

“Thank goodness,” Angie said weakly.

A sinking feeling hit the pit of Julia’s stomach as she watched the baby’s face scrunch up in the moonlight. Its mouth opened wide and its little fists shook with tiny rage. The baby was going to explode. “Nice baby! Nice baby!” But the baby’s little tongue curled back. It let out a wailing cry that made the other girls stop in their tracks and cover their ears.

“Holy crap!” Her heart flew into a panic. She looked to the other girls. “It’s screaming like we’re killing it!”

“Pat her back, or-or-or… sing it a lullaby it or something,” Angie said, her eyes wide.

“Nothing’s going to make her stop except food,” Kaitlyn said. “That baby’s
hungry
.”

Lights turned on in one house, and then another. The baby screamed louder, frantic now.

“Kaitlyn, invisibility!”

Kaitlyn grabbed them before letting out a soft curse. “I don’t have enough magic. I sent it all to you when you were trying to Voyage us through time.”

“People are coming,” Angie groaned.

“Hide!” Julia said, the baby’s yells blaring against her ears and making her want to scream, too.

“How do we hide, idiot?” Kaitlyn snapped. “How can you possibly hide with a screaming baby?”

“Isn’t there a silence spell or something? I don’t know! Can you think of a better idea?”

Someone opened a window. “
Calle ese bebe. ¿Qué carajo está pasando?
”

Angie circled the dirt road, her hands squeezing her skirt, her eyes enormous in her pale face. “Why did we end up in this timeline,” she murmured. “Why here. Why now.”

Julia blinked at a house in front of her. A piece of metal formed a decoration on the wall. It looked familiar… but why?

Angie stopped circling. She approached, her gaze steady as her hands lifted and she took Julia by the shoulders. “Just… listen. Kaitlyn is right. The baby needs food. She needs to be taken care of. The Fates led us to this time and place, and even though we don’t know why, we have to trust them.”

Julia paused in her bouncing motions, which weren’t making the baby feel any better, anyway. She watched Angie, her brows knitting together.

“You saved the baby’s life,” Angie continued softly. “That’s as much as you, or any of us, can do. We have to leave the rest up to the Fates.”

She backed out of Angie’s soft hold. “What are you saying?”

“We’ve already changed history by our actions,” Angie said. “We can’t risk making it worse by letting ourselves be seen here in this timeline as well.”

Horror crept over her. “You want me to leave the baby here? Just abandon it?”

“What were you going to do,” Kaitlyn scoffed. “Raise her as your own?”

“No! But, like, take it to protective services or something.”

A door opened. Someone stood on his front porch. Someone else leaned out a window.

“We don’t have enough magic to take the baby any further. We don’t even have enough magic to hide ourselves,” Angie whispered fervently. “You saved her life. That has to be enough. She would have died and now she’ll live. Aren’t you happy with that? What more can we do?”

Kaitlyn glanced down at the baby before meeting Julia’s eyes with a hard, unflinching gaze. “Pick a doorstep.”

“M-me? Why not you guys?”

Kaitlyn almost looked sympathetic for a moment. “It was your idea to save the kid.”

She looked to Angie, but found no help there, either, though she gave Julia’s shoulder a gentle pat. “This baby’s fate is in your hands. It has been since the moment you lifted her from the fire. Do you understand?”

Julia nodded, feeling lost. Dread overwhelmed her at the thought of what she was being asked to do. Choose a stranger and hope he or she wouldn’t hurt or mistreat this baby. She looked down at the furious little face. It was alive. Any life it had was better than no life at all.

She swallowed, hoping that was true.

“
¿Quién está allí?
”

“Hurry,” Angie whispered.

Julia spun around. It was impossible to think. If only the Fates would shine a light down on the house that would take the best care of her. If only there were some clear answer.

She scuffled forward, ignoring Angie’s insistence that she hurry. The house with the metallic decoration on the wall that seemed familiar… it had toys strewn all over the porch.
Other children.
Would that mean the family was loving? That they gave their children toys? Did it mean they already had too many mouths to feed?

Where had she seen that metal thing on the wall before?

The man’s voice boomed through the darkness, angrier this time. Julia’s heart leapt into her throat. She raced up to the house, placing the baby on the front step as she banged on the door.

“
Cómo vas a dejar ese bebé allí, botada como basura,
” the man yelled.
“
Qué barbaridad.
”

She banged harder, waiting until lights came on. Her heart rose up and lodged in her throat. The man ran up the lawn. She glanced down at the baby a final time, and something struck her.
Protect.
She crouched down, holding her hands over the miserable little bundle and whispered the word again, coating the baby in white light. How long did Protect last, anyway? She had no idea. Maybe this was pointless, but it seemed better than nothing.

She froze as the man who had been yelling at her crossed his yard and approached. He wore a loose fitting button up shirt, short sleeved and untucked. His dark, glossy hair was cropped short and combed neatly to one side.

Julia shivered, realizing how she must look abandoning a baby like this. “C-C-Carmen,” she managed to choke out, pointing at the baby as she sidestepped through the yard. “Carmen. That’s her name.” Why hadn’t she paid more attention in Spanish class? Why hadn’t her mother just taught her Spanish when she was little? Name… name… “
Nombre!
”
she cried, pointing wildly to the baby again.
“
Nombre Carmen
.
Baby, the baby’s name is Carmen
.
”

The man just stared at her and she bounded past him, racing away from the house. She couldn’t help looking behind her to see what he did, watching as the man hesitated, like he was unsure whether to check on the baby or chase after her.

“That guy is pissed,” Kaitlyn said, tugging at her arm. “Let’s get out of here.”

Julia followed, looking back the whole time. The man reached the porch and picked up the baby as the front door opened. A head peered out into the night. Julia slowed, unable to stop herself from turning around completely to watch. Relief flooded her as the man handed the baby over to whoever had answered the door. Then he turned to face her, and even though the look he sent her was impossible to read across the darkness, she felt his disgust. A moment later he followed the woman inside.

“She’s safe,” Julia gasped. It repeated itself in her mind…
The baby’s safe. The baby’s safe.
The house with the iron decoration on the wall and toys in the yard had taken her in. And a house like that would have milk. The people there would know how to take care of her. Tears of relief streamed down her face, although she didn’t know why it mattered so much. She only knew that the baby would be okay.

They
rested at the shoreline, their shoes off and their feet in the sand. The balmy night would have made for fun night swimming, if the thought of the ocean didn’t bring to mind terrible sea creatures that would just as soon see them dead.

The sky to the east grew pale, with stars on that side of the world fading against the power of the sun. Angie scooted closer to Julia and slipped a slender arm around her waist, resting her head against her friend’s shoulder. The magic warmed between them, swirling to life in her mark and causing a soft glow to spill from her upper arm. Motes of magic floated to the ground in a dim shimmer.

Kaitlyn watched them both, her lips turned down and her shoulders in an uncharacteristic slouch. Her eyes seemed larger than usual, devoid of the harsh edge that normally shielded her thoughts. If Julia didn’t know better, she would almost think Kaitlyn was sad watching them.

“I think we’re ready,” Angie said, lifting one of her shoes and shaking the sand from it.

Julia put her own shoes on. She dusted her hands before offering them out to the other girls. “Link up?”

“This should be easier than usual,” Angie said, placing her fingers in Julia’s waiting palm. “We don’t even have to go a full century forward.”

Kaitlyn moved closer. The sandy, damp hem of her skirt dragged across the shore and left a scrape of sand trailing behind her. She took Julia’s hand and held her gaze.

Tentatively, Julia gave Kaitlyn’s fingers a little squeeze. Kaitlyn watched her through half-lidded eyes, her red-tinted lips slightly parted. Her gaze lowered as Julia felt an echoing squeeze, just the faintest bit of pressure. She knew better than to mention it, and glanced away, but held tight to Kaitlyn’s hand. Why did Kaitlyn seem so lost and hurt all of a sudden? Julia couldn’t puzzle it out, but despite everything that had come between them, she could tell she needed a friend.

With the three of them connected, their marks flared in unison. Julia sent Kaitlyn her magic, allowing it to flow into her without reservation as the threads of time spread out before them.

Angie began pulling at the magic, her soft presence like rose petals falling across Julia’s mind. The world drained of color, melting into pale grays and dark shadows as everything sped up. The beach was stormed by soldiers and deserted again, then laid out with towels and beach umbrellas.

Color filled the sky and the winds of time came to an abrupt stop.

Julia blinked. “Wow. That
was
quick.”

“Everything is frozen, just as we left it,” Angie said, squinting past the bright horizon.

“Except we’re in the wrong place,” Kaitlyn said, dipping the toe of her boot into a time-frozen wave in front of her. The water rippled around the point of contact, but didn’t break the wave’s cresting shape.

“Not for long,” Julia said. “I have plenty of magic to Journey us back.” Thank goodness for that, she thought, thinking of Ethan, who she had been checking on as they rested. Her teeth caught the inside of her cheek as her eyes slid closed. Ethan materialized in her mind, his eyes wide and vulnerable. He was still at the lagoon, a palm tree at his back and the sun glowing bright across his legs.

Are you back?
he asked, scrambling to his feet. Sand fell from his shorts like powder.

Almost,
Julia said.
We’re in the right time, just not the right place. Are you still okay for now?

He nodded, settling against the palm tree again.
The pirates left a while ago. I’m not in any danger here.