by Holly Hook
“Julia. We're heading out to the Branch this afternoon. Aren't we?”
I turn. It's Monica, standing there and giving me a look that says, yes, you're coming whether you like it or not.
“We are?” I ask. Now isn't the time. I have so much work to do. “But--”
“But you said last week that you would come out with me this Friday,” she says.
“Oh, yes. I remember now. You're right,” I say. There's something about Monica's eyes that makes me feel terrible. I really have drifted away from her lately. It's not my fault, but I just have no way to tell her the truth. “Want to walk there now? Simon, do you want to go?”
“I’ll see you later,” he says. I know what it means. He’s going to keep doing some research while I’m gone. I hope he understands. “Take a break, Julia.”
And then he smiles, and I feel a whole lot better about taking a few hours off.
Monica’s in the best mood I’ve seen her in weeks. We take the mile walk to the Branch in the warm weather. This is the first time I’ve come here with her since me and Simon escaped through the rift here weeks ago. Is it still even there? I’ll find out and I’ll have to make sure nobody goes through it.
“Monica, I’m sorry I haven’t been around all that much.”
She breathes out. “Well, at least we’re catching up now. I was really hoping you’d be able to come out tonight.”
“A lot’s been going on. Don’t worry. I’m not going to drift away from you like Shauna did. Is she still with that jerk?”
“As far as I know. Look, I understand if you don’t want to talk about it, but—“
I know what she's about to ask. “That girl who was asking for me the other day. She’s my cousin.”
I don’t know why I blurt it out. I have to think of something. Monica’s going to ask about it sooner or later.
“Really?” she asks. “I thought you didn’t remember much from your old life.”
“I guess I’ve repressed it, you know?” I try to remember what my file said. An absent mother who drank all the time. A father who was never in the picture. I only got to see it when I first came to live with Nancy. “Well, not my cousin, obviously. She used to come see me sometimes. I do remember that now. I didn’t even realize who she was when she walked into the bathroom. I went in after her to talk to her, but that’s when I started to feel like crap. I don’t know where she went after that.”
Monica’s happy with the explanation. Her face is relaxed. I'm not. I'm lying to her once again “I didn’t know you had a cousin, Julia. Well, I figured you did, but not one you ever knew. It's great that you’re starting to remember some of the good stuff. That girl did remind me of you in a way.”
“I agree.” I remember more of my old life than I’d care to.
We’re at the Branch a few minutes later. Monica even pays admission for both of us, even though I’ve got a little bit of money from Happy Rabbit's. I scan the place to see if that rift’s still there in the wall of the skate floor. Nope. It’s long dried up and moved on to another part of town.
For the first time, I realize how much I miss hanging out with Monica and being a normal person for once. For a few hours, I can forget all about time travel and just enjoy this moment.
Monica rents some roller blades, and I stick with the plain skates that I’m used to. The music blares and we whip around the track several songs in a row. My hair flies back and Monica grabs onto me to keep from falling, which sends us both into the partition.
“Whoa,” I say, making sure I sound out of breath. I could do this all week and not get tired. It’s awesome. “You okay?”
“Um, Julia?”
I look to where she’s facing and gulp.
Frank’s standing there near the entrance, by himself. He’s got his hands stuffed in his jeans pockets. He jumps when he catches us watching him, turns, and heads back out the door.
I hear him chasing me in the 11:39 nightmare and I can’t help but shudder.
No. He’s not a danger to me anymore. I don’t have to worry about him.
“What’s his problem? Is he jealous that he has no friends?” I ask, trying to sound cool and unconcerned.
Monica shrugs. “Don’t let him ruin your night, Julia. Come on. I love this song.”
We skate around for the rest of the night, and Frank never returns.
Chapter Twelve
Simon’s waiting at the front entrance when we leave at midnight.
“Ladies,” Simon says, giving a little bow and holding the door open for us.
Monica smiles. “Thanks. Will you be oh so chivalrous and walk us home?” I know she’s making fun of the old fashioned way he talks, but with Monica, it never comes out mean.
“Why, certainly,” he says. “By the way, I’m not from the middle ages. I’m a little more modern than that.”
“I do like the idea of you walking me home.” I grab Simon’s arms and we kiss. It’s the perfect end to my five-hour vacation.
The Branch is closing behind us, and the pimply kid is sweeping up the Friday night apocalypse. The lights turn off to the skate floor and the music shuts down. The DJ climbs down from his platform and stretches.
I’m tired, but my body feels like I’ve done nothing at all. Monica’s standing there, shaking a cramp out of a leg. I almost envy the feeling. Miss it.
But I still can't believe how much better I feel.
We walk home, chatting about stupid stuff. I can't read from Simon if he's found anything helpful out or not. His posture's unreadable. I'm not sure if that's a good thing. I won't know until he sneaks through my window and joins me tonight.
But Monica's feeling better, at least. She hasn't been this chatty for a while.
“Let's do that again next week,” I say while we walk up to the door of our house. Nancy's there, watching from the kitchen window with the light on. “Every Friday from now on. Unless something drastic happens.”
Like Frank stabbing me to death.
No. That won't happen. Simon wouldn't lie about that.
“Agreed. Unless something drastic happens,” Monica repeats.
I look back at Simon waiting there on the sidewalk. He can't walk into the front door right now, not with Nancy watching. Once we're inside, we waves and walks away.
But he won't be far.
“I'm glad you girls had fun,” Nancy says with approval. It's approval for me, for not ignoring everyone. “It's late. Why don't you get to bed?”
It's half an hour later and I'm letting Simon through the window. I glance at the clock. It's past twelve. I don't have to worry about that new nightmare tonight.
We kiss again, longer, more passionate this time now that there's no one here to watch. “Did you find anything out?” I ask once I can breathe.
“I went to the Trenton library. No books there on it. I think the only thing we have to go on is what we learned on the computer today.”
“Fantastic. How much does Isabel know about it? Maybe we should ask her.”
“She remembers the way from her cabin to the bathroom on the ship. It's been a long time since she was even there. And she was emotionally charged at the time it happened. I doubt she remembers much that's actually accurate.”
“Good point.” Monica told me once that people don’t remember things well when they’re frightened. “Well, if we can't get her family through that one rift, and we can't get them on a lifeboat without them getting crushed or tossed into that water, what do we do? We'd have to get them on one of those rescue ships that came to pluck people out of the water.”
“And the chances of that are terrible.”
“I know.”
Simon snuggles up to me and stares at the wall. “There's one thing, but I'm not sure I like it.”
“Which is?”
“We stop the Gustloff from even sinking. By making sure its running lights stay off and it isn't spotted by the Russian submarine. I can't think of anything else. We've made four attempts alre
ady to save Isabel's mother and sister. None have worked.”
“But can't that mess with history?”
“Probably. But these are refugees. It might not do any horrible damage if they survive.”
My stomach turns. I've dreamed about stopping my ship from sinking so many times. But now that we're about to do the same for another, I'm just not sure.
And I know it's not fair.
“Look, I never liked this 'hands off history' rule,” Simon says. The anger's back there again. It's the same anger I saw in him at that dinner. “Never. Frank might, but I'm not Frank. If we do this for Isabel, she will do the same for us.”
A thought hits me.
“But if her ship doesn't sink, Time might not take her. It only takes people from tragedies, remember? And then she’d live her normal life and never be able to help us.”
He opens his mouth to say something, then closes it.
“Crap,” he says. “I never thought of that. We'll have to talk to her before we even try that.”
He's getting up and slipping his shoes on. I know what it means. We need to go find her, and now.
* * * * *
The rift by the gas station is pretty sad-looking, even in the dark. It's been two days since Isabel and I used it and it's starting to fade. It's not as bad as the one I found by the football field the second time, but it's getting close.
But the gas station's closed, at least.
“Okay,” Simon says, waving me across the street. “Let's get over there before the police come by and think we're trying to break into the place. It’ll slow us down if we have to do a mind trick on them. The rift could disappear by time we’re done.”
“I'm never going to get used to that falling crap,” I say once we're in the Main Chamber. We land next to a guy that looks like a monk from the dark ages and another guy who I swear is dressed in a fur that's wrapped around his torso. I don't know what period that's from, and I'm not going to ask. He's staring at our clothes like he's never seen jeans and T-shirts before. Which, I realize, he probably hasn’t. A faint gold streak shoots through the brown of his eyes.
“Come on,” Simon says, pulling me away. “They don't know our language, anyway. I've seen those guys around. Usually they help lost people from the stone age get back home. I think they're okay, though.”
I still don't hesitate in going to the other side of the room with Simon. I'm still not used to there being other people here. “So how do we find Isabel?”
“She's probably in her quarters. We'll wait for those guys to go away and we'll knock.”
“Knock?”
“I'll show you how to do it.”
The two guys stand out in the middle of the chamber, watching something in the air that we can't see. Maybe Time's showing them someone who wound up in the wrong place, like someone who walked out of a cave and wound up in a city. The movie must end, because the two men run towards one of the hallways and disappear into it.
“We're good,” he says, and we run back to the middle of the Main Chamber.
Simon raises his foot and stomps on the floor. “Isabel,” he says. “Sorry to wake you up, but can you come out in a minute?”
“That's it?” I ask.
“Think of this thing as a doorbell. Just call the name you want, and you reach them. That's how Isabel found me and got me to pull you out of World War Two.”
“I’ll remember that.” I’d been hoping for something a little more exotic.
And then she’s there, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt like she was never asleep. I jump. Isabel blinks and looks between us. There are bags under her eyes, like she’s been up thinking for days. “Did you come up with any good ideas?”
I look at Simon. We’re going to have to explain this together.
So we do. We tell her about the fact that if we stop her ship from sinking, she'll never become Timeless or remember the fact that she agreed to help us.
Isabel's face gets longer and longer as we talk. “Are you sure there isn't another way?” she asks. But underneath that long face is hope. There's a big part of her that's hoping that what we're saying is true, that we can stop her ship from sinking and she can live out her normal life with her family.
It’s something I totally understand.
“Not a good one,” Simon tells her. “I've gone in there three times. It would be different if the lifeboats on the Gustloff weren't a lost cause.”
Isabel turns away. Simon's rubbed a raw nerve. I have no doubt she's remembering that giant anti-aircraft gun falling towards her. Towards her family she left behind.
I've got to change the subject. “Isabel, I have no problem stopping the Gustloff from sinking. Trust me. I completely understand. The thing is, if your ship makes it safely to where it's going, Time will never take you and bring you here. You'll stay human in your old time and never even remember all of this. Then we’ll have to find you again, bring back your memory of all this, and have you go to 1912.”
“I don't know if this will be good,” she says. “I don't know if I can stay with my father, even if I won't know what he really is. If I'm in that life again, though, I'll find out the truth sooner or later. And...I know things will be rough after the war.”
“But your mom and your sister,” I say.
“I'd do it for them,” she says. Isabel faces us. “I should do it for them. But what about you, Julia? You want your family to be safe, too. And who will pull your past self out of 1912 the first time if I never become Timeless? Saving my family could mean your death.”
God. She's right. This won't be as easy as I thought. No wonder no one has gone back and changed history. “But I saved myself the second time.”
“That's right,” Simon says. “Julia's in no danger of ending up dead from this. What she did last time we were on the Titanic sort of, I don't know, overwrote what happened before. You pulling her out never happened now, Isabel. That always happens. You know this.”
Isabel's shoulders drop with relief. “You’re right. So, what were you saying?”
“We stop your ship from sinking. We could pull the human you out of 1945 after the Gustloff docks. We'll find another rift somewhere,” Simon says. “Sure, you'd still be human, but at least you wouldn't be at risk of getting sent back to something really dangerous.”
“But I won't remember either of you. And I won't be able to go into the Titanic to save Julia's family without learning your language all over again. That is, if I even listen to Simon in 1945.”
“And if you go to the Titanic human, some other Timeless will come after you and pull you out. Or worse,” Simon says. “I don't want to see that happen to you. It wouldn't be fair.”
“I would still do it if I was human,” Isabel says. “Well, if there is some way I could remember all of this. If you stop my ship from sinking, I'm going to owe you yours.”
She's actually offering to stop the Titanic from sinking.
And I don't want to say no.
“Rats,” I say. “There's got to be a way around the whole memory thing. A way for you to keep your memories of all this, kind of like what Simon did for me with the necklace.”
Something screams at me from the back of my head. I turn away, staring at the other side of the Main Chamber. The caveman and the monk are returning, a third man dressed in furs between them. The caveman talks to him in a low voice. He's reassuring the guy, who looks shaken.
They're gone and down another hallway. Their voices disappear. I try to imagine what time the third man wound up in by mistake. Maybe a big city, or somewhere far in the future that I can't even imagine.
“Wait,” I say.
Simon and Isabel look at me.
“Arnelia,” I say.
“What about her?” Isabel asks.
“I never told you,” I say. “Even though she wound up in the wrong time, she knew who I was. It's like her memory never got blocked at all.”
“She what?” Isabel asks. “That's impossible. Time always block
s your memories when you travel through it. Well, if you're mortal. That Arnelia girl couldn’t have found a way around it.”
“She was looking for me,” I say. “She did have her memories. I think. Maybe it's worth it to go ask her how she did it?”
Chapter Thirteen
We have no better ideas.
Arnelia's the best bet for figuring out this mess. She told me she was here for something, but Isabel and Frank never let her finish.
Was it to help us? To make sure Isabel could stop the Titanic from sinking? Or was it to stop us from screwing things up?
I don't know. But we're going to find out. There’s nothing else to go on right now.
“Arnelia is from the year 5052,” Isabel reminds us. She leads us down one of the hallways to where she knows that door is. “She lives in one of the Antarctic colonies. Pretty much, it’s the science district of the planet at that time. Many of us Timeless have chased people from there enough to know where they always come from.”
We’re walking fast. “That’s where the time travel lab is. It must be what you sent her back to,” Simon adds.
Isabel's irritated now. “Yeah. It’s pesky. Those people open rifts all the time, go through, and wonder why they can’t remember anything when they get back. They’ve succeeded at time travel, but they never know it. I think that we’re chasing nothing here. Arnelia couldn’t have found a way around having her memory blocked. No one ever has.”
“I have a feeling Arnelia still remembers.” I have to have hope. Did she find a way to fool Time? If she did, maybe we can use it. Isabel can still help us even if she becomes human.
And Isabel doesn’t have to help us. She could easily just take our help and go on with whatever life she would have had. After all, she saved my life once. Why put herself through danger all over again?
But she’s the one leading us along. The one walking fast like the world’s about to end.
“Here,” she says, stopping in front of a rift. “This is it.”
