The Indestructibles (Book 3): The Entropy of Everything (6 page)

Chapter 12:

The other side of the mirror

      Jane stormed into the next room at a run, coming to an awkward halt just within the doorway as she discovered a woman standing over a body laying on a medical gurney.
The woman was dressed in a uniform, all white, except for a black and gold trim across the shoulders like a tribal version of the sun. Her hair was the color of open flame, and flickered the same way, moving with a life of its own, the way fire always does.

      She was singing.

      "My father sang that song," Jane said, creeping into the room.

      The woman stood up to her full height but did not turn around. "My adopted father," Jane said. "An old Irish pub song. He sang it whenever he had to leave."

      "The Parting Glass," the woman said in Jane's own voice.

      She turned, and Jane's breath caught in her throat.

      This other Jane had her face, but her skin was different, almost glowing with a golden light, as if all the sunlight she gathered up in the twenty years between them stayed with her and illuminated her from within.

      "I'm going to glow," Jane said.

      And her older self nodded.

      "You already do," the older-Jane said and smiled. "This has to be at least as weird for you as it is for me."

      "If I ever see anything stranger than this in my entire life, I'll be amazed," Jane said.

      "Who did you bring with you?" her future self said. "Annie must be back."

      "I am," Annie said, walking in the room, thumbs tucked into her belt loops. "I told you I'd bring help, didn't I?"

      Doc strode in next, placing a hand on younger-Jane's shoulder.

      Older-Jane's mouth quirked as if she might cry.

      "Oh, Doc," she said, holding a hand out to him. "I haven't seen you in so long."

      "Looks like you turned out alright without me," he said as older-Jane took his hand in hers.

      Titus and Kate came in next.

      The elder Jane gasped and put a hand on Titus's face.

      "Look at you," she said. "Look at your face. I haven't seen your face in so long."

      "Am I . . . Is there . . ." Titus said.

      "It's better if I let him explain," future-Jane said. "You should hear it from him yourself. But you're here. Your older self is in this building."

      She turned to Kate, and a shadow of sorrow fell across her eyes.

      "I'm dead, aren't I?" Kate said.

      "No," older-Jane said. "But again, it's not my story to tell. I'll bring you to her."

      Emily strutted in next; the darkness in the elder Jane's face faded.

      "Who is this?" she asked.

      "Entropy Emily," Emily said. "I'm the leader."

      "Is that so," future-Jane said.

      "Emily is our secret weapon," Annie said. "She's going to turn this fight around, whether she knows it or not."

      "Don't go giving her a swelled head," Billy said, walking into the room last. "She's got a big enough ego as it is."

      Older-Jane lost all decorum and rushed to him, throwing her arms around him ferociously. She picked him up off the ground so only his toes touched the floor.

      "You were saying something about never seeing anything weirder in your entire life?" Emily said to younger-Jane.

      "I take that back," younger-Jane said. "What's happening?"

      Her older self had Billy's shoulders in her hands as if to make sure he still existed.

      "So this isn't awkward at all," Billy said.

      Older-Jane started to talk, but a harsh sob came out instead.

      Billy looked at younger-Jane for help, but she just shrugged.

      Another uniformed person walked into the room from a separate entrance, a teenaged girl with dark hair wearing what appeared to be a knockoff of Billy's costume. She looked around at everyone, particularly staring at younger-Jane, before turning to address Annie.

      "What the heck is happening in here? And why is Solar crying?"

      "I'm sorry," the elder Jane said, composing herself. "Straylight, these are . . . these are the Indestructibles."

      "The beta version," Emily said. "Did she just call you Straylight?"

      "Did you just call her Straylight?" Billy asked.

      "She did. Because I'm Straylight," the girl said. "Who the heck are you?"

      "I'm a girl in this timeline?" Billy said.

      "You're totally a girl in this timeline!" Emily said.

      "He can't be. She's our age now," Titus said. "You're a different Straylight entirely."

      "Oh no," Doc said, stepping back a little.

      Younger-Jane watched as he melded into the shadows a bit, letting the events unfold as best they could.

      "Dude, did you pick someone else in this timeline?" Billy said, clearly talking to the alien in his head.

      "Are you talking to the alien right now?" the new girl asked.

      "Of course I'm talking to Dude right now!" Billy said.

      "I don't even know how this is possible," the new girl said.

      "How what is possible?" Billy said.

      "I'm guessing all of it," Titus said. He looked at Kate, who had, like Doc, taken a step away from everyone else to simply observe.

      Younger-Jane watched as Titus tried to disappear as well, but, in a throwback to his less confident days, mostly looked like he was mortified.

      "This is why I didn't want to tell you guys anything," Annie said. "I knew you'd freak out."

      "I am not freaking out!" Billy said. "Okay. I'm freaking out!"

      "I'm not you!" the new girl said. "Wait, this is the old Straylight?"

      Billy stomped his feet.

      "Old Straylight? I'm the old Straylight? Did I quit? Tell me I didn't quit. Wait, Dude, did you dump me? For someone younger?"

      "Billy," younger-Jane said. "Give it a minute."

      "This is so much worse than finding out I'm a hot girl in this other timeline."

      "Watch it," the new Straylight said. "Don't be a creep. I didn't realize my predecessor was a creep."

      "I'm not a creep. And where am I?" Billy said. "Did I get captured again? Seriously, did they shoot me with the thing that kicks Dude out again? I don't want to do that twice. I hope that doesn't happen a second time."

      "You died, Billy," older-Jane said softly.

      She grabbed his hand and held it.

      Billy stopped fidgeting and stood completely still as she spoke.

      "You're gone. You died."

      "I'm dead?" Billy said.

      "You were so brave," older-Jane said. "You died saving so many people. It was the stupidest, bravest thing I ever saw."

      "I'm dead? You're saying I'm dead?"

      "You died a hero, Billy Case," older-Jane said.

      "I don't care if I died king of Mars, I don't want to be dead!" Billy said.

      "Well it's the truth," older-Jane said. "It's so strange to see you here, like this."

      "Yeah, it's pretty weird for me too," Billy said.

      Older-Jane shook her head, then looked back and forth from her younger self to Billy.

      "You aren't together in your timeline, are you?" she said. "I can tell."

      Younger-Jane and Billy locked eyes.

      "Together?" Billy, Jane, and Emily all said at the same time.

      Emily started laughing so hard she had to cling to Doc's jacket for support.

      "The future is amazing," she said, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes.

Chapter 13:

The King of Wolves

      After the ruckus died down—at least, after everyone but Emily got themselves back under control—Annie suggested they should find this future's Titus next.

      Older-Jane looked at Kate and Titus and frowned.

      "Annie, you know he's . . ." she started.

      "He'll be fine," Annie said. "He'll be okay."

      "I can't wait to find out how messed up I am in the future," Titus said, his voice laden with sarcasm. "I'm not dreading this at all."

      Older-Jane smiled.

      "You're what's holding this world together, Titus Whispering," she said. "You're doing exactly what you were born to do. But it's been rough on you. Just be ready."

      Titus looked at Kate, but the Dancer offered no comfort, looking coldly ahead.

      "Let's go," she said.

      Jessie, the replacement Straylight, gestured for everyone to follow her. She led them down a poorly lit corridor, through an area that looked like it might have once been an atrium, now littered with glass from broken windows. Through another set of doors into a sort of theater—no, Titus realized, an actual theater, but battered and broken, seats scattered around, water damage permeated the walls. One of those tiered classrooms you see in Ivy League schools on TV.

      Sitting on the stage, silhouetted by dim backlighting, was the largest werewolf he'd ever seen. Bigger even than Gabriel, the older, elegant warrior who had taught him how to fight when he went looking for his past last year. Massive, gray-furred shoulders, moving up and down with animalistic breathing. As Titus walked further into the room, he knew suddenly that this was not the only werewolf here, there were others, five, maybe six, resting in the shadows as well. The big wolf had a pack here. Some of them even smelled faintly familiar. Titus knew he might be able to identify them if he transformed, but he held back. Better to wait.

      The big werewolf slid off the stage, the ground rumbling as his full weight hit the floor. He waved a massive paw to one side, and the lights in the theater rose slightly. Someone in the back had turned them up, clearly.

      "Come here, boy," the werewolf said in a thunderous, low growl.

      "I hope he doesn't mean me," Billy said.

      The wolf pointed one huge talon at Titus.

      Titus took a deep breath and walked forward. The werewolf was covered in scars, ravines in his flesh where the fur didn't grow anymore. It was clear from his gait that there was an injury that never healed either, something in his hip or knee that made his step just lightly off-center.

      "Was I ever so damned young," the wolf said, and somewhere behind them, younger-Jane gasped.

      "You're me," Titus said, and the wolf nodded his massive head.

      "I'm you," he said. "And you're me."

      The werewolf inhaled deeply.

      "You're not afraid," he said. "You've found them then."

      "The others? I did," Titus said.

      The werewolf nodded again.

      "When Annie said she was going back," the werewolf said, jaws struggling to form her name, "I wasn't sure if you'd find them. I went to find the pack when Doc died, because there was no one else to teach me."

      "Things weren't so different for me," Titus said, glancing back to where Doc Silence was hanging away from the group. "Different events, but the same reasons."

      The older werewolf smiled. It was a nightmarish sight, rows of white teeth in the darkness.

      "Then there's some people who will be happy to see you," the old wolf said. "Leto?"

      Leto emerged from the darkness like some sort of goddess of death, the ancient female werewolf who had taught Titus so much all those months before. Leto was in full werewolf form as well, that strange, almost jackal-like head cutting an alien silhouette in the darkness. A pale robe draped over her shoulders contrasted with the jet-black of her fur.

      Titus almost ran to her, but held himself back. Remain dignified, he thought. For some reason he felt powerfully compelled to impress his future self.

      The next werewolf to emerge from the darkness had no such qualms.

      "It's like seein' a ghost," Finnigan said, the red-headed werewolf reverting to human form to throw his arms around Titus and pick him up off his feet. "You were never this pretty, Whispering. You were clearly born better-looking in this other timeline."

      Older-Titus huffed a quiet laugh, but said nothing.

      "You've hardly changed," Titus said, his arm gripping the stout man's arm. "It's been almost twenty years, and you haven't changed."

      "Ah, there's some more gray in with the ginger," Finnigan said. "But you know we werewolves and our lifespans. We tend to keep our looks longer than regular folk."

      Titus studied Finnigan's face, unsure. The red-haired werewolf frowned.

      "Well I guess nobody spoiled that little genetic quirk for you back home, did they," he said. "That's unfortunate."

      The grizzled future-Titus studied the group a moment.

      "I hope you've done the right thing, Annie, bringing them here," he said. He gestured at Billy. "You."

      "Me?"

      The older werewolf didn't respond, instead turning to older-Jane from his own timeline.

      "Are you okay," he rumbled.

      She nodded at the younger Titus and smiled.

      "Not even a little bit," she said. "Are you?"

      The big wolf looked around the room, searching for something.

      "No," he said. "But we'll make do."

      "We're here to help," Doc said, finally stepping forward. "From what I understand, this is all my fault."

      "Because you died?" the old wolf said. "I'd sooner blame the person who killed you."

      "We'll talk about that later," Doc said.

      The old wolf nodded.

      "We should get you all brought up to speed," he said. The words sounded uncomfortable and strained through his massive jaws. "Jane, did your spy give you any new information?"

      "He did," older-Jane said. "At the cost of his own life, but he did. But I think we should replay the whole situation with our new friends first. Maybe they can help us piece it all together."

      Titus discerned that his older self was troubled. "What's wrong?" he said, feeling awkward and alien by asking his future self a question so revealing, yet so simple.

      The future-Titus leaned forward.

      "Is she here with you?" he asked. "Kate? Is she with you?"

      "Of course she is," Titus said, before realizing Kate had been completely silent during the exchange. "Where's Kate?"

      "Oh no," Annie said.

      "She's gone to find herself," Titus said.

      "That's not good," Annie said. "Jane?"

      "This way," older-Jane said, leading Annie away. Everyone moved to follow, but both she and Annie held up their hands to stop them.

      "No," Annie said. "Doc, and both Janes. That's it."

      "Not me?" Titus said.

      Annie and older-Jane exchanged looks.

      "Stay out of sight," Annie said. "Just hang back."

      "Why?" Titus asked, turning to the older version of himself for guidance. He found the elder wolf had shuffled back to the stage, hunched over, his back to the group.

      "Just trust me," Annie said. "It's for the best."