Where Futures End (27 page)

He found he didn't mind.

Quinn severed the connection between the worlds. She
chose death for her own.

Her work was done. She trembled on the cool blanket of leaves, still holding Dylan's hand.

His words rang in her ears:
Your world will continue to die. Time will go to pieces.
If you sever the connection, it will happen much, much quicker.

She thought:
Maybe life will narrow down to a single moment.

It could be a moment like the Moribund, a pinpoint of agony. Or it could be something lovely, like pulling out of the water into the sunlight.

She listened to the leaves rustle in a warm breeze, the only voice on the air.

Another sound among the trees—

She raised herself up to look.

And saw the oddest sight: A young boy was moving through the woods, confusion lining his face.

And here was a young girl coming to meet him, the sun in her hair.

Quinn shivered with surprise. She sat frozen, watching.

“It's them,” she said in awe. “The Girl Queen. And Dylan—the real Dylan.”

Time will go to pieces.

“It's the moment they first met,” she said. It was like seeing an avatar, someone brought from the past.

Already they were vanishing, like all the other avatars vanished. Sliding back into the time from which they'd come.

But Quinn had seen them.

A magical sighting, sent from the past.

Or, no: a sign of a world going to pieces. And it was only chance that it had been young Dylan and the Girl Queen she had seen. An accident.

But maybe some accidents were magic.

Maybe some people were meant to find each other.

Quinn huddled closer to Dylan and he stirred.

“I wish people could know about the end,” she said.

His agitation made the air around them ripple. “About how I lied? How your world will die?”

“No. I wish they could know about the two of us,” she went on, turning to face him. She couldn't feel his hand anymore. He was as loose as a cloud. But all of his molecules seemed to be reaching, reaching. “And how one world saved the other.”

He and Quinn were both reaching now, lifting away with time and heat and air.

Like water into sunlight.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Parker Peevyhouse lives with her family in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she has worked as an instructor and tutor and currently volunteers with teens. She enjoys puzzles and games of all kinds and can usually be found wandering local trails or watching science fiction movies.
Where Futures End
is her debut novel.

Find her online at www.parkerpeevyhouse.com, and follow Parker on Twitter
(@parkerpeevy).

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