Marked by Fate

by A J Kurtz

  11

  Riah

  Riah sat across from Kensie who was still unconscious in bed. Riah propped up her black boots on the edge of the bed as Riah counted how many times she’d stitched people up in her lifetime. Some bullet wounds, stab wounds, and after counting to nearly fifty, Kensie started to stir.

  She hoped Kensie would bounce back, because the team needed her. She was an asset to them and brought a brightness they all needed desperately.

  She was beginning to worry if the guys were going to come back. Normally, it didn’t take them this long. She could only hope that they were focused on the mission and not trying to kill one another. She looked at them like brothers—annoying brothers, but the closest family she’d ever had in her life.

  “J-Jackson...I’m okay,” Kensie mumbled in her sleep. Riah raised both her eyebrows. Interesting, she thought. She wondered what kind of dream she was having about Jackson. Yuck, she shook her head in disgust, yet was intrigued because Kensie and Jaymes were becoming close. That could be an issue in the near future.

  Time seemed to pass slowly with very little to do. She heard the door downstairs open and shut. Footsteps were coming up the stairs so she grabbed her gun and aimed it at the door, but relief washed over her when Agent Stone appeared holding medicine in his hand. She placed her gun back down and put the safety back on.

  “I thought I was being followed, so I took the long way back. Have they returned yet?” Stone asked.

  “Not yet.”

  “If they’re not back soon, I’m going to go bring them back. But it could lead to us being followed here. Unless they’ve already found them? It won’t be long until they find us. We can’t stay here much longer,” he informed.

  “I’ll keep watch until we’re ready to get out of here.”

  “I’ll go check the cameras.” He handed her the medicine and went back downstairs.

  Kensie’s eyes flickered open, looking around the room until her eyes met Riah’s.

  “Welcome back. Jackson saved your life and Jaymes yelled at him for not protecting you. You’ve missed a good bit.”

  Kensie winced. “This isn’t Jackson’s fault. Where are they?”

  Riah handed her a bottle of water and pills to take for her pain. She chugged the water down.

  “That’ll help with the pain. They went to get the artifact and should be back soon. I’ve been taking good care of you while they’ve been away.” She winked.

  Kensie’s cheeks turned red. “Thank you, for everything.”

  Agent Stone returned, happy to see that Kensie was awake and talking. “Good to have you back.”

  Riah held back a laugh. He wasn’t one to use comforting words and if he did, they were usually awkward, unless it was towards Jaymes and Jackson: that was different.

  Kensie tried to smile. “Um, thanks.”

  “The guys should be back soon. They took a blanket to cover the artifact so they wouldn’t touch it,” he explained.

  “Anything on the cameras?” Riah asked him.

  “Nothing out of the ordinary. We don’t have much longer to stay here though.”

  Kensie shook. “Something’s wrong, I can’t see the room. Something’s taken over my thoughts.”

  They were both alarmed to hear this and moved closer to her to see that her eyes had glazed over white color. They could no longer see her pupils.

  “What’s happening?” Agent Stone asked.

  “Something’s speaking to me and showing me what’s happening...we can’t wait for them to return, you need to go save them, now!”

  Riah stared over at Stone horrified. “How is she seeing things that aren’t even there? And who’s talking to her?”

  Kensie snapped out of her trance and seemed confused about what was happening.

  “We’ll talk more once everyone is safe. I’m going to bring the guys back, and you need to take Kensie to Jaymes’s house, where you’ll both be safe. We’ll meet you there.” He was adamant about them leaving right away before they could be found.

  Riah rushed through the house gathering only the things they needed and returned to Kensie. Agent Stone had already left.

  They returned to Washington, D.C. in the same year to Jaymes’s house. Kensie rested in the living room while Riah made them some tea in the kitchen, feeling guilty for not being there to help the guys. She trusted Stone, but she wanted to feel more useful in what was happening, and she worried that if it was taking them this long, that something bad had occurred. She felt it in her gut. And what the hell was talking to Kensie? It creeped Riah out. That was her friend, but what did this thing or person want from her?

  She pulled herself together and returned with tea in hand to give to Kensie, who was sitting propped up against the cushy pillows. That was when Kensie explained a little bit of what she saw, and it left Riah speechless. Riah pushed her to tell the guys when they returned. She found it hard to believe, but apparently anything was possible if time travel was.

  Riah finally stopped overthinking and remembered the prototypes that were about to come out. “I’ve seen prototypes that help people heal at an accelerated rate I’m not certain if they approved anything. Jackson is famous for hacking into just about anything and may be able to find that out when they get here?”

  12

  Kensie

  In the early hours of the morning before the sun began to rise, a swish of air woke Kensie and Riah, who’d fallen asleep on the sofa and recliner to find that the men had returned with the artifact. Agent Stone set the wrapped artifact down in the chair to help Jackson with the shrapnel wound on his leg. Kensie was trying to wake up and didn’t notice that something was wrong with him.

  Jaymes rushed over to see how Kensie was doing, and carefully hugged her. The men seemed to be in shock from having been in the middle of the Civil War. She understood how scary it was from being there herself.

  Riah and Stone were working on Jackson. Kensie looked past Jaymes to see that Jackson was hurt. Maybe Jaymes was trying to distract her from watching, but she saw Jackson was passed out, and that made her worry even more.

  “How are you feeling?” Jaymes asked.

  Her attention turned back to Jaymes briefly. “I’ll be fine. What about you? And what happened to Jackson?”

  “A cannonball went off and sent shrapnel flying everywhere. I should have never blamed him for what happened to you. I had no idea it was that bad there. People were dying all around us...they were so close. We thought we were going to die. And all he could do was apologize to me about everything that’d happened since our mother passed away, and say how he wanted to get back to make sure you were okay.” Jaymes became emotional over his traumatic experience.

  “You’re both back and you found the artifact. It’s over now, you’re safe,” she assured him the best she could.

  “Jaymes, Jackson, and Kensie will be all right. How about we go have a talk?” Agent Stone suggested, seeing that Jaymes was having a hard time. They left the the room to go talk to one another and to calm him down.

  She got herself up off the sofa and went over to where Riah was stitching Jackson back up. She saw the piece of metal Riah had taken out, and that it was covered with blood. Her stomach twisted into knots.

  “Will he live?” she asked.

  “He got lucky. The metal thankfully didn’t hit any major arteries. I’ll be right back. Keep an eye on him for me, please.” She left with bloody towels and the metal she had taken from his leg.

  Kensie needed his hacking skills so they could find out about the prototype that could help them both heal faster, but obviously this was the worst time to even bring it up.

  She sat on the floor next to his unconscious body. His head was propped up by a pillow, and half of his clothes were ripped off where she could see, and the upper part of his body was covered with a blanket. She stared down at him, and tears formed in her eyes as it hit her all at once that she could have lost him today. That all this time she kept people at a dis
tance, and now she realized that she’d come to care for him more than she intended to allow herself to.

  Her eyes moved towards the artifact on the chair, where it was still covered up. “All this pain for this artifact that may or may not lead us to the orb that could stop this pending civil war and set everything right...Will I forget I met all of you? Or how I feel towards you?” She paused, wiping her tears as she looked back to him. “You’re both stupid and brave for going...and you went again, which makes me angry with you, but how can I be when you came back to me and you’re going to live.” She cried. Her tears stung her eyes and after she’d held in everything, it felt good to let the tears flow.

  She had been warned that this would be physically and mentally exhausting, and she would be drained. No amount of preparation could have made her deal with any of this.

  Early evening, everyone had gotten out their frustrations and tears. Jackson woke up and all of them gathered in Jaymes’s living room.

  “Kensie, I’m impressed with your first attempt at this mission when you had little to no training. We’re lucky to have you with us. Riah, you’ve saved our asses more times than I can count, thank you. Jaymes and Jackson were brave enough to find the artifact, and once we’re able to locate the orb, I’ll see to it that all of you are rewarded for your efforts. Before we continue on about the artifact, Kensie wanted to tell us something…” Agent Stone left her to take over the conversation.

  Kensie could feel all their eyes on her. As much as she was used to it by now, having been a teacher before all of this, this was something she felt like she could barely put into words to explain to them.

  She inhaled deeply before she began to speak. “When I was lying in Jackson’s bed, I was suddenly somewhere else with a man’s voice speaking to me. It sounded like he was everywhere. When he appeared to me, he looked like Jaymes, but I knew it wasn’t him. This being was using his body so that I was comfortable in his presence. When I was more at ease, he showed me everything that was happening with everyone at that very moment in different timelines with Jaymes and Jackson in 1863, Rogue agents following Agent Stone in this time, 2082....” She trailed off to compose herself. “He told me that we need to get the orb before anyone else does, and he showed me what would happen if we didn’t. There would be a world war and everyone would die.” She blinked back tears. “Except for some of the Elite who have their own plans to carry out. I don’t know what they are, but I saw most of you dead, and it was so real. I don’t know what came to me and I don’t believe it’ll be the last time.” She worried that they would think she was crazy and not believe a word she said.

  The others remained quiet, taking in what she said. It was quite out there, she knew that.

  “Is there a name this...thing or being gave you?” Stone asked her.

  She didn’t know what word to use for it, she could only guess. “Not a name, the closest I can get to a word to describe it is a being. It’s not like us humans. He didn’t give me any information other than that, either. I felt his good intentions towards me—us. I know this is hard to imagine I can hardly believe it myself.”

  “In all its strangeness, I believe you, Kensie,” Jaymes spoke up.

  The others nodded in agreeance with Jaymes, and it was a relief for her to have them believe her. She hoped she would have a way to prove it to them at some point in time.

  After all that had occurred, she was aware that she could’ve died and still could going forward. She wanted to make some changes in her life, and one of them was to stop keeping people at a distance. Going forward, she planned on setting things straight about who she’d like to spend her time with while she still was able to, once things calmed down a little, that was.

  Riah decide to go out for a bike ride to get some air and time away from the intense situation at hand. Kensie fell asleep on the sofa and wasn’t sure what everyone else was doing.

  In the morning, after everyone got enough rest and was feeling better, Kensie pulled Jaymes aside and went out onto the porch swing to talk to him.

  “I wanted to talk about why I kept you at arm’s length...I’ve been afraid of relationships ever since Morgan, and now with all this happening, it made me take notice that I don’t want to die alone and if anything, I’d want you to be there as my friend and hope that you would give your blessing—”

  “When we thought we were going to die, you were all he could talk about, and something changed with him ever since he met you. I think he’s done blaming himself for our mother’s death and for feeling like he’s disappointed me. Him and I have some things to work out, but I want nothing more than to see him happy and you. You’ve changed our lives for the better, and I’ll always be grateful to you for that.”

  She was surprised that he was being so mature about the whole thing, and she wondered if he planned on punching his brother once they were done talking, which made her nervous. She reached over and held his hand,

  “This isn’t how I thought things would turn out, but going through all these changes made me know exactly what I wanted, and I never meant to hurt you in any way,” she said in an apologetic tone.

  He smiled at her. “We’ve all changed and I know you didn’t. I’m good with us being friends. And my brother had better treat you right or I’ll have to put him back in his place.” He chuckled. He squeezed her hand and left the porch to return inside. She felt a little unsettled about their conversation, but had hope for her future and looked forward to knowing Jackson better.

  She returned inside, where Agent Stone and Riah were speaking in the kitchen. Kensie had a seat at the center island next to Riah.

  “Riah and Kensie, there’s something else I didn’t get to discuss with you both. Those rogue travelers that were following us had found us in 1863, and we needed to make a deal with them in order to get everyone back safely.” Stone sipped from his coffee mug. “We promised that we would return to 2075 and hand over the artifact to whoever was in charge and we’d let them live. We didn’t have much time to discuss details, but we need to keep our word.”

  “Did they say who it was?” Kensie questioned.

  “Yes, and I’m sorry to say that it involves the Kelly family, including Morgan.”

  Kensie jumped up out of her seat. “No, that can’t be!”

  She needed a moment alone and she went out for a walk as she remembered a fond memory she had of Morgan when they were back in college.

  It was summer break from college and they were in a store shopping together for their dinner that evening.

  “I’m thinking we should order pizza instead,” Morgan said as she held hands with Kensie browsing the aisle for food.

  Kensie rolled her eyes. “You always eat out. Good thing for you, I know how to cook a homemade meal.”

  Morgan stopped in the middle of the aisle and planted a kiss on her lips. “I love that about you.”

  Kensie shook the memory from her mind and let out a scream of anger. She ran back into the house, finding them both still in the kitchen, but with worried expressions on their faces.

  “I need to see my family first when we get back, before we see the Kelly family. I need to know that they’re safe. I also have a plan that you’re going to want to hear.”

  They waited for Jackson and Jaymes to return. She wondered what was happening between the two of them and if she’d caused any issues because if she did, she’d feel terrible. She already felt bad enough for hurting Jaymes’s feelings. She even questioned her decision.

  13

  Jaymes

  Jaymes watched Kensie return inside. His heart pained him and he was on the verge of crying. Usually, he would trade it for anger, but not this time. He had finally opened up to someone—Kensie in this case—then given her space, only to get shot down. It wasn’t the conversation he was hoping to have with her. In fact, he wanted to give her a bracelet that had been sentimental to him because it’d belonged to his mother. That was how invested he’d become in their friendship or
whatever it was that was going on between them.

  He took the bracelet out of his pocket and ran his fingers across the diamonds, remembering when he and his brother had gifted it to their mother for Mother’s Day years ago…

  Jackson covered their mother’s eyes with his hands while Jaymes opened the box and walked over to clasp it onto her wrist. Jackson uncovered her eyes and she gasped.

  “This is so beautiful!” she said excitedly as she scanned the diamonds that were shimmering from the light hitting it. She hugged them both. “I love it!” When she backed away, she stared at the two of them. “Material things mean nothing to me, you should know that. Being here with you two is what matters most.” She smiled with happy tears threatening to escape her eyes.

  The brothers exchanged a smile, pleased that she liked her present. They had extra money and they wanted to spoil their mother. She deserved it. After all, she raised them without their father around, and she did an amazing job.

  “I know, mom, but once in awhile we want to be able to spoil the most important woman in our lives,” Jaymes said.

  “Jaymes and I may not always agree, but when it comes to you, mom, we’re on the same page. I’m glad you like it. You deserve it.” Jackson smiled at her.

  Tears began falling down her cheeks, and both brothers kneeled down in front of her, each one holding one her hands. Jaymes gave her a gentle squeeze.

  “Why are you crying?” Jackson inquired.

  She wiped some tears from her cheeks and forced a smile. “I love you both more than life itself.” She sniffled.

  Jaymes stood up, snapping out of his flashback. He was hurt, something he never wanted to feel again, but knew it was inevitable at some point. He balled up his fists at his sides as he stepped off the porch.