They sat opposite each other on cushions on the floor, a habit Callie had got used to since beginning to work here. She tried to focus on the work, knowing how important it was, but recent events kept intruding and filling her mind. She still loved Farlden and having him here but no longer dating him was painful.
“I remember when we met you said that you felt as if you’d seen me before in a dream,” she said. She had been moved by the words at the time and by the way he had looked at her as if she were the only person in the world. He had never been good at charming, romantic words, so the comment had stuck in her mind. “It was a memory of that other reality, not déjà vu, wasn’t it?”
“Yes,” he said, putting his laptop on the floor and focusing on her. “We were friends for a while in that timeline.”
That was almost exactly what Elliot had said once and it worried her to hear a hint of something having gone wrong, something that might have been her fault. “Why did we all stop being friends?”
He dropped his gaze. “It’s not important.”
“Yes, it is.” He used to love her, right up until the moment he regained his old memories and she realised there might be far more to his change of feelings than his memories of Elliot. “I need to understand this, Fal, even if it’s difficult to hear.”
“I really think you’d rather not know,” he said in a low voice, the words confirming her fear and sending a rush of dread through her. He had never tried to shield her from anything before, always respecting her need to deal with her own problems and fight her own battles. She was tough and he knew that. If he was reluctant to tell her the truth now then it had to be bad. For a moment she wondered if she should just leave it alone but that wasn’t in her nature and she still had hope that perhaps Farlden would change his mind and realise he loved her more than Elliot. If there was something she had done that might hold him back, she needed to understand it and somehow fix it.
“Please tell me,” she said.
He stayed silent, the look of worry remaining in his eyes as he nodded. “We met at the start of Uni. Elliot introduced us,” he began and kept talking, giving her enough detail that she could almost imagine that other world. When he got to the part where police had turned up to arrest Elliot and him and they had discovered from Barve that she was responsible she felt the blood drain from her face. She had only ever faked a friendship with him and the others and, although he tried to make light of it, she knew how devastated he must have been by such a cruel betrayal.
This was so much worse than anything she had imagined he might say and she had no idea what she could possibly do to make up for it. Despite the calm way he was speaking, he must hate her now and she didn’t know how to bear it.
Chapter Thirty-Four
ELLIOT LOOKED around with pleasure, drinking in the familiar sights in the Izient dimension: the bizarrely shaped buildings along with tiny dragons and feral cats wandering about. The familiar smell of nature but with plants that didn’t exist on the other earth, creating a subtle difference between the two places. There were a few Sapiens and Neans here but mostly there were Izients, dressed in the flowing robes and shimmering materials he remembered. He had almost forgotten how much he enjoyed coming here.
Dervyl had brought the team to this dimension to talk with as many Izients as possible who were skilled with Time. Tchaffi met them, her wrinkled face as kind as ever and as calm as if they were meeting socially, not trying to fix a problem that was damaging the structure of the universe.
“Everyone else is inside. Please come in,” she said, gesturing to the three-floor building behind her, the sides of which looked as if they were made from enormous living trees. It was almost impossible to tell what had been built and what was part of nature, branches and walls merging, the whole structure half camouflaged against the wooded land around it.
The ten of them followed Tchaffi as she led them through a large arched oak door, past the plants that grew out of gaps in the floor, to a meeting room like Dervyl’s but ten times larger. There had to be at least a hundred Izients sitting around a table that weaved round in a spiral, the seats away from the middle point raised in tiers so that everyone could be seen.
Elliot quickly sat down where indicated, Farlden taking the chair on one side of him and Lila on the other, both of them for once looking wide-eyed and unsure of themselves.
Tchaffi remained standing in the centre of the room, all eyes on her as she said, “Six weeks ago magic was performed to change the timeline of the other earth dimension. You’ve already been told why it was necessary and what we’ve only just discovered is that the magic went wrong for some reason and caused a merging of present and future timelines that brought the beings known as ghosts – but are in fact future versions of ourselves – into the present. We have all come together today to discuss how to rectify this issue.”
“Could we reach back in Time to before the timeline was changed and repeat the magic but make sure we do not repeat the mistake that brought the ghosts here,” an Izient man suggested.
“That might well be the best course of action, Ghoimal,” Tchaffi said, “but the only way to be certain of not repeating the error is to understand how it occurred. Does anyone have any ideas?”
The silence that followed this question wasn’t reassuring.
“I do not believe that anything like this has ever happened before,” Abbrin said and there were sounds of agreement. “I know my idea has been rejected before but people are dying, the madness caused by the ghosts destroying their minds, and I still believe that the only answer is to use our abilities to stop the change in the timeline ever occurring.”
There was a burst of noise as people all talked to each other and to the group at the same time. When the voices finally died down, Dervyl got to her feet, before Elliot could do the same, and said, “I do not consider that to be an option given the likelihood of the entire Nean race being killed if we go back to the old timeline.”
“That’s right,” Farlden said with feeling and Elliot added his agreement. To his relief he saw a lot of the Izients make the hand gesture of their people that symbolised their own agreement while others added words supporting what Dervyl had said. He thought more than half of them took this stance, but he couldn’t tell for sure and he silently cursed Abbrin for not leaving the idea alone. The man seemed determined to cause discord in any timeline.
“Are there any other ideas?” Tchaffi asked.
“It seems unwise to make suggestions without a full understanding of the facts,” said an Izient woman who looked nearly as old as Tchaffi, who leaned on a walking stick as she stood up. “I believe we need to study the damage in Time in far more detail than we have so far and then a solution might suggest itself.”
“Are those with relevant abilities willing to get into groups and try to discover what has happened and why? Before you answer, bear in mind that the endeavour might drive people mad since it is dealing with the same flood of contradictory events that the ghosts put into the minds of those they touched.”
Elliot hadn’t thought of this possibility. He and Farlden should be safe now, having already recovered their memories, but others might not be. He waited for responses from the magic users around them, fearing that the danger might make them reconsider Abbrin’s idea.
Chapter Thirty-Five
IT WAS Sunday, the day after the meeting in the Izient dimension, and Elliot and Farlden were on their first official date in this timeline. It felt bizarre to Elliot to be relaxing when so much was at stake but Dervyl had ordered everyone to take a day off and begin work afresh on Monday. Despite the risk to their sanity and lives, not a single person at the meeting had refused to help investigate the damage to Time, which gave Elliot a burst of hope that together they would find a way to put things right.
He and Farlden had met for lunch in a London restaurant, Elliot’s mother reluctantly accepting that he could survive negotiating travel using public transport. “You look great,” he
said to Farlden, who was out of his work suits, dressed more casually today as he sat opposite Elliot at a table for two. Farlden raised an eyebrow at him, looking half amused and half confused by the compliment and Elliot felt like a fool. “I’m trying to keep the conversation off work and, besides, you do look handsome. It’s nothing new for me to see that.”
“I know. It’s just... different now. There’s the old life we shared but then there’s everything that’s happened since then and everything from the new timeline. Could we just treat this as a first date?”
“All right,” Elliot said doubtfully, not entirely sure what Farlden wanted. They already knew each other and, he hoped, loved each other so he didn’t see why they couldn’t continue their relationship where they had stopped, before performing the magic that took away Farlden’s memories. The last thing he wanted to do was start an argument, though. It was enough to be together again. “How is your family?”
“Worried about Barve but I’ve told them we won’t stop until we find a way to heal him.”
“That’s right. Sorting out the ghost problem might get him back to his old self and, if not, I promise I’ll help you think of a way.”
“Thanks.”
A waiter brought the bottle of wine they had ordered and poured them each a glass, before leaving them alone again.
Elliot took a sip of his and wondered why he felt so nervous. “What jobs do your parents have here?” Elliot remembered how kind they had been to him when he was staying at their house, after he’d argued with his own mum.
“Mum works at a library that focuses on Nean writing and Dad’s an artist, selling sculptures. That’s how he’s able to be home with Barve. They both love their work.”
“Apart from what’s happened to Barve, which we will solve, it sounds as if your parents have a good life in this timeline.”
“Yeah, they do. It’s weird because, now I know about the past, I’ll get angry about slavery and things that existed in that world and they don’t remember any of it or understand what I’m thinking.”
“It’s difficult,” Elliot said, thinking of the differences in his own life now, not that any of it was bad or mattered as long as he had Farlden again.
“No. Yes. I’m not saying this well. I mean, they’re happier than I ever imagined they’d be and that’s great but it doesn’t seem like anything special to them because they don’t remember what’s changed: the life of slavery that almost destroyed them and the constant prejudice in that reality. They don’t remember having manual jobs that wore them out, or being called ugly names by nearly every Sapiens in our street, or having shops nearby that refused to serve them. I feel like two different people sometimes, one of me seeing the world as they do, the way it is now, and another me grateful for the changes and scared that we’ll find a way to mess everything up again.”
“We won’t,” Elliot said with more certainty than he felt. “The three human races live peacefully together in this timeline and the Izients will always be here to stop aggression building up.”
The waiter returned with their meals and they fell silent as he put a plate of pasta on the table in front of Elliot and passed the vegan risotto to Farlden.
“Enjoy your meal,” he said brightly and they thanked him, Elliot aware that this didn’t feel much like a date anymore.
The restaurant was filled with people and various couples were smiling or gazing affectionately at each other, while he and Fal couldn’t seem to think of anything except the problems still ahead of them.
Perhaps Farlden had been right earlier when he said that they should start over or maybe the timing, with so many difficulties in their lives, was getting in the way at the moment. Elliot had thought that Farlden regaining his memories was all that they needed in order to be happy together but he realised now that it wasn’t going to be that simple.
Chapter Thirty-Six
BECAUSE ELLIOT and Farlden were immune to the madness caused by the two timelines mixing, they were put into different groups on Monday and Elliot found himself working with Mosrra, Abbrin and Callie, the last people he would have chosen. He got along all right with Mosrra but he knew she had plotted against the change to reality with Abbrin before and that was too much a reminder of what Callie had done. Although she had shown no sign of doing so yet, he feared Mosrra might make the same decision in this timeline, to side with Abbrin against Dervyl. He also had no idea how Callie would react to her break-up with Farlden and, if she decided to cause problems for the group, there were many ways she could do it.
As they sat down on cushions in a small circle, he glanced at Callie, over in the corner, ready to pull them out of the trance if there was any sign of danger. She wasn’t wearing make-up, which was unusual in this timeline, and there was something distracted in her expression. She met his gaze and he saw a flicker of something that looked like pain in her eyes.
“Shall we begin?” Abbrin said.
Elliot closed his eyes and let the magic between them merge. It didn’t feel as comfortable – as right – as it did when he and Farlden worked together, almost as if his magic knew he didn’t completely trust these people and was holding back. He frowned and focused on making the link work, relieved when he felt the magics connect well enough to show them Time, seeing slightly into the future where past and future were connected in a way that wasn’t right, like a wall of a house built in the wrong position, damaging the whole structural integrity of the building.
The three of them reached out with their magic to investigate what was wrong but getting too close to the flow of Time was dangerous and painful and one moment he was seeing a flood of images from two different timelines and the next he was waking up with a crippling headache. Someone was holding a tissue beneath his nose and, without opening his eyes, he took it and breathed slow deliberate breaths while he willed himself not to throw up.
When he could bear it he opened his eyes and he saw that it was Callie who had been the one mopping up his nosebleed. He let her help him sit up, her hands around his back, and it felt odd to rely on her like this. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“I’ll survive.” He looked around and saw Abbrin and Mosrra still sitting on their cushions. Mosrra was sipping a glass of water, her hand shaking, and Abbrin was leaning his head against one hand. At least they both still seemed to be sane, which was the best that could be said about what had happened.
“An Izient doctor will be here as soon as he’s finished helping another group,” Callie said, speaking in a quiet voice to avoid making his headache worse, which he appreciated.
“Then I’m guessing no one’s magic session went well.”
“It doesn’t seem that way.” She gave a worried grimace.
Before they could say anything else a man with the Izient double brow ridge walked through the door and knelt down beside Elliot. He had three mugs and held one out to Elliot with the instruction, “Drink this.”
The man gave the other drinks to Abbrin and Mosrra and then checked Elliot’s vision. “You’ll all recover,” he said at last.
“What about the other groups?” Elliot asked.
“Nariss was driven mad,” the doctor said in a terse tone that hinted at strong emotion.
Elliot struggled to take in the words. Nariss, the Nean woman who had died in the previous timeline, killing herself to avoid betraying Nean secrets, had been made crazy, like Barve. She had barely been older than him and... “Farlden – is he all right?” he asked urgently
“He’s in no worse a state than you,” the doctor said, patting his back.
Beside him, Callie began to cry and, without thinking about what he was doing, he put an arm round her shoulders as they all dealt silently with the consequences of looking into Time.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
NO ONE in the team was able to do any more magic that day, their strength depleted, and nothing they had done had improved the fault in Time. What had happened to Nariss left Elliot afraid for the safety of th
e whole group and, with the number of ghosts appearing in the world still increasing, it wasn’t as if they could just stop the work.
He left the office and heard a voice call his name. He looked round with surprise at Callie.
“I owe you an apology,” she said. “Farlden told me what I did in the other timeline.”
No wonder she had looked unhappy all morning. “He shouldn’t have told you – you can’t be blamed for what happened in a different reality.”
“Isn’t that exactly what you were doing?”
The directness of the question reminded him of when they had been friends. “Maybe. Yes. I guess that means I should apologise too.”
“I can understand now the way you’ve been reacting to me but I can promise you that my loyalty in this timeline is completely with Dervyl and this team.”
“In the other timeline you were working for a different government department, recruited from the army.”
“I nearly joined the army when I was younger. I even began basic training but I wasn’t happy and, after talking things over with my sister, I left. I always wondered what my life might have been like if I’d stuck with it but now I’m really glad I didn’t.”
He wasn’t certain but he thought her sister had already been dead by the time Callie joined the army in his timeline. He wondered if that had had anything to do with the work she had done for the army, since it seemed as if it was the major difference in her life in this reality. He would probably never know but he realised it really wasn’t fair of him to be angry with her at something a different version of her had done and keep doubting her.
“Truce?” he offered.
She smiled. “I’d like that.”
A New Reality Page 12
