“Don’t hover in the doorway like that,” his mum scolded from where she was sitting, leaning back in an armchair, Dad on the sofa nearby, his legs folded at the ankles. “You’re too late to have dinner with us but there’s a plate of food for you that just needs re-heating in the microwave.”
“Okay.” He turned away.
“How was work?” Mum called after him but he couldn’t find the words to answer, so he ignored her, and walked into the kitchen. The light was switched off and he stood in the darkness, the muffled sound of the TV in his ears.
A movement outside the backdoor caught his eye, far too big to be a bird or fox, and he moved closer to look into the gloom. There was someone there, in the garden, he saw, shocked from the downward spiral of his thoughts, and then the thing moved and he saw that it wasn’t a person at all.
A laugh was wrenched out of him because, although it was a cliché, he really hadn’t believed it possible for this day to grow worse, but the ghost in his back garden had managed it.
Chapter Forty-Six
ELLIOT STEPPED out onto the patio, grass, flowers and trees beyond it, only half visible in the semi-darkness. He could smell plants and damp earth, and the cool evening air made goose-bumps rise on his skin. The ghost glided closer, the garden visible through its body, the sight touching an ingrained terror inside him that said he should run away, but he ignored the fear and the pounding of his heart and continued to watch the ghost as it drew nearer. It raised its face, revealing someone he had seen before.
“Hello, Jim,” he said, knowing he wouldn’t receive any reply, aware that this was probably not even any version of his friend, simply something that looked like him, but slightly comforted nonetheless by the familiar figure.
Another ghost appeared and then another, one or two at a time until there were more than a dozen of them around Elliot. That was the opposite of comforting and, with no idea what was going on or how dangerous it would be, he tried not to panic. They moved towards him and Elliot stood still. He didn’t know whether or not he would survive the encounter with so many of the creatures and he knew he wasn’t as scared as he should be, an odd lethargy taking over his body. Perhaps the ghosts were doing something to him or maybe it was the result of a disastrous day, his life not meaning much to him right now. In the end it didn’t matter: he knew it was worth the risk they posed to him if there was any chance of finding a way to help everyone.
“I think that you’re Time, or a piece of Time, or go-betweens with it,” he said, almost certain that the ghosts wouldn’t understand him but needing to try, “and I need to know what you’ve been trying to say to us. Try to simplify it or I’ll just end up with nothing but another crippling headache, or dead.”
The Jim ghost touched him just below the shoulder, its incorporeal hand oddly warm. Elliot closed his eyes and opened his mind to it, letting the images race through him. Perhaps it had understood him after all because there was more clarity than before in what he was being shown.
It was something about the old timeline. Did they want the world back to how it used to be too? After all the time spent trying to come up with a better answer, had Abbrin been right all along?
There were more touches and he knew, eyes still shut, that the ghosts must in a tight circle around him, reaching out. The images kept coming and he felt his magic connecting with... something. Something vast.
“Elliot?” His father’s voice sounded a long way away, distant enough to ignore, but with a sickening jolt, he realised that the ghosts might be harmless to Elliot but they would destroy his dad’s mind. The fear that had been muffled in him before broke through to the surface, almost crippling in its intensity, slowing down his reactions just when he needed to act speedily.
“Stop!” He opened his eyes, looking wildly about and ready to yell to his father to run away, but he saw he was alone: the ghosts were already gone. He turned in a circle, confirming it, and let out a shaky breath.
The back door slid open and his father – who had changed from his work suit to jeans and a jumper – walked out onto a concrete slab. The ghosts must have been with Elliot for some time as it was darker than it had been, his father’s frowning face lit from the house lights behind him. “What are you doing outside? It’s freezing.”
“I have to get to work.” A pain-killer would be welcome too, or one of the Izients’ special Time-induced-headache-cures.
“What? You’ve just got back. There won’t be anyone left there at this time of night.”
His father was right and Elliot reluctantly gave up on the idea, but he could hardly bear to wait now that he finally understood what needed to be done to put the world right.
Chapter Forty-Seven
“WE ARE here to decide what to do to fix the problem with Time,” Abbrin said to the team assembled in Dervyl’s office. They were, as usual, seated round the table, although the empty places stood out, the group depleted without Barve, Nariss and Amy. Nothing could bring Amy back from the dead but Elliot had renewed hope that Barve and Nariss might recover.
He had chosen a seat next to Mosrra, with Lila on the other side of him. He was aware of Farlden and Callie, together of course, on the other side of the table, but he didn’t look at either of them. He couldn’t let the thought of their relationship distract him from what he needed to say, not when the whole world was at stake.
Abbrin continued speaking, a new air of authority in his tone now that he was in charge. “I still believe that my idea of changing reality to the previous timeline is the only one that will work but does anyone have another suggestion?”
“Yes,” Elliot said at once and Abbrin frowned at him, clearly not expecting this. “I saw a group of ghosts last night and I finally know what Time wants. It wasn’t damaged by the change to the timeline: it just realised that what we had tried to do wouldn’t work.”
There were some mutters round the table and Mosrra turned to ask him, “What do you mean?”
“We changed Time so that the three human races would live together peacefully but that isn’t happening. People are developing the same prejudices and fears of each other and that’s making Sapiens aggressive.” People might not have developed serious weapons yet but, with the efforts of groups like the Sapiens Purity Society, a war between human races was inevitable unless something changed.
“What does that have to do with the ghosts?” Abbrin asked, not looking happy that Elliot had taken the control of this meeting away from him.
“Time has been trying to communicate through the ghosts to tell us what to do. We don’t need to alter the timeline in any way; we just need to make everyone remember the old one.”
“That is nonsense,” Abbrin insisted as Al said something to Callie, and Farlden made a surprised exclamation.
“How would that help?” Dervyl asked Elliot, her voice cutting through the noise, making everyone go quiet and concentrate on them.
“If everyone in the world knows how close we came to destroying ourselves before, we’ll finally start living together as one people. As soon as we do that, the ghosts will vanish for good, I promise.”
“How do we know this isn’t some mad delusion caused by your contact with the ghosts?” Abbrin asked.
“Ask Time. I think I can help you to communicate better with it now.” Elliot knew his magic had changed last night, that his mind had opened in a new way to understand the universe more fully. Unused parts of his brain were now active. A lot of Izients were still probably more powerful than him but their minds were different, so the magic wasn’t the same.
“We cannot wait any longer to solve the threat,” Abbrin said.
“Then confirm I’m right and fix the problem at the same time,” Elliot suggested, not giving Abbrin a chance to try to sway people to his own idea.
Dervyl and Mosrra began discussing which Izients had the right kind of magic to help do this, to give people the memories of the old timeline without destroying their minds with too much information
the way the ghosts had. When Abbrin began – reluctantly – to join in with their conversation, Elliot knew he had won the argument.
He tried not to consider the risks involved in performing magic on such a massive scale and, if he survived, what life would be left for him, without Farlden as his boyfriend, when all the problems had been resolved.
Chapter Forty-Eight
NEARLY A dozen people – including Farlden, Dervyl, Mosrra and Abbrin – met with Elliot to communicate with Time later that morning and, if they agreed with his assessment of the situation, to change people’s memories.
They came to one of the empty offices and, as people began to sit down on cushions on the floor facing each other, Farlden walked over to Elliot. “Be careful,” Farlden said and leaned forward, pressing warm lips against Elliot’s. He should have pulled away but, not knowing what would happen to either of them during the magic, he couldn’t bring himself to do it, instead bringing a hand up to cup the back of Farlden’s head and prolong the kiss. For a moment he lost himself in the bittersweet sensations, forgetting why this was forbidden and, when it ended, he almost said I love you before the truth slapped him and the pain of knowing that this had to be their last kiss tore at his heart.
“You need to take care too,” he said, pulling back and putting emotional as well as physical distance between them, trying to sound calm as he said, “Callie will be waiting for you.”
He turned away before he could take back the words and sat down on a nearby cushion, Dervyl a comforting presence on one side of him and Tchaffi on the other. He fought to regain his sense of calm and to focus his mind on what they were about to do, when it kept sliding back to his broken heart and having Farlden so nearby and what the hell had Fal meant kissing him like that anyway?
“We will begin by contacting Time and making sure Elliot is right that the ghosts will leave if we give everyone their memories of the past timeline back,” Tchaffi said.
Elliot closed his eyes, the swell of magic doing what he hadn’t been able to do alone and concentrating his thoughts on this. The different forms of magic mixed together and he was carried to the place where Time existed, where he could see its motion in the eddy of images of events that were occurring now.
He asked, without words, what Time wanted, knowing that the other people with him could hear his thoughts. The mix of past timeline and present one came through as the answer, the meaning of what the ghosts had tried and failed to do, and he could feel the others accept this.
Time put the knowledge in his mind that ghosts were appearing everywhere in the world, both in this dimension and the Izient one, to help them give people the knowledge they needed of the past reality. Elliot felt a jolt of fear at the danger this put people in and the reaction spread through the minds connected with his, an answering determination not to allow anyone to be harmed coming back to him.
They used their magic to work with Time to give people a bearable amount of information, letting Time filter this need down to the ghosts. The raw power from Time kept threatening to consume the joined human minds but no one pulled their magic away.
Elliot provided his own mind as an example of what needed to be given to everyone else and the feeling of Time examining his brain was like an electric shock, pain building up inside him to an intensity he was certain would kill him. Nothing existed but the pain filling every part of him and then it eased as the magic began to have an effect.
Elliot felt it the way he had felt the previous timeline change a few short months ago: a wave of magic that surged through everything, moving outwards, filling people’s minds with knowledge.
It began to fade but he knew it had worked and that made him happy, even though he didn’t believe he would live long enough to see the new world he had helped bring about. Everything was going dark as the other minds separated from his and it was a darkness that felt permanent.
Chapter Forty-Nine
ELLIOT OPENED his eyes and wished he hadn’t. The light around him was blinding and his head threatened to explode.
“Drink this.”
A mug of something was held in front of his lips and he jerked away, gagging, only realising when he moved that he was lying down on something soft. His stomach wanted to eject the contents of his breakfast but he swallowed a few times and breathed in shallow breaths, while his body made up its mind what it wanted to do.
“Here, you can throw up in this if you need to.”
He blinked at the wastepaper bin suddenly in front of him. “Barve?”
There was a reason Barve couldn’t be there but the answering voice said that he was. Recent events came back to Elliot and the room finally stopped spinning enough for him to take in the fact that he was lying on a sofa in Dervyl’s office, propped up by cushions, with Dervyl, Farlden and Barve leaning over him.
“You’re okay?” he asked Barve.
“Nariss and me are both okay now. The overload of images changed and made sense when you all did magic yesterday.”
Elliot reached out and Barve crouched down and hugged him. “I’m really glad to see you.”
“Me too and this is the me with two timelines worth of memories.”
“The magic worked? Wait, did you say ‘yesterday’?”
Farlden knelt beside the sofa and put a hand on Elliot’s chest. There were tears in his eyes and he looked at him with a loving expression that, remembering what he did, Elliot didn’t know how to react to. “You were unconscious for about thirty hours. I’ve never been so scared.”
“The magic did what it was supposed to,” Dervyl confirmed, holding the mug near his face again and he took it with unsteady hands, nearly spilling the drink as he lifted it to his lips and sipped. His feelings of nausea and the worst of the headache began to fade almost at once and, by the time he had finished the herbal drink, he could think clearly again.
“I was sure I was dying.”
“I think Time intervened,” Dervyl said. “It still has plans for you.”
That idea was both reassuring and disturbing, but he was grateful to be alive, surrounded by friends. “So how have people reacted to remembering the other timeline?”
“World leaders have been making public speeches saying we must learn from past mistakes and this time I hope everyone will do just that,” Dervyl answered, patting his arm. “Remembering the past timeline has noticeably affected people and the three races are treating each other more kindly.”
Elliot realised that his own memories felt different. He still had both timelines in his head but the current one felt more real, the older one less intense. He didn’t know how he felt about that but perhaps it would make it easier to let Farlden go.
“What will happen to our team now?” he asked Dervyl.
“We will continue to explore different realities and learn more about how the world works. We have barely scratched the surface of its secrets.”
“Dervyl is in charge again,” Farlden added.
“The Prime Minister changed his mind about making Abbrin the leader here,” she said, “and Abbrin said that he agreed with the decision.”
He had not had much choice, Elliot thought. Now that he found he was alive to choose his own future, Elliot was less sure whether he would stay as part of the team. He couldn’t imagine what else he would do but he didn’t think he could stand watching Farlden and Callie together again.
He would have to make a decision soon but for now he was happy to have Barve back and for the world to finally be fixed.
Chapter Fifty
“WE DID this,” Lila said, waving the mobile in Elliot’s face later that day. “You’re a hero!”
“What are you talking about?”
Instead of answering, she grabbed his hand and led him out of the office and downstairs, careful not to hurry him too much while he was still recovering from the magic the group had performed.
The streets outside were filled with people talking excitedly and letting off streamers. Music came from som
ewhere and some people were dancing to it, their bodies swaying and their arms in the air.
“Isn’t this great?” Al said, approaching and hugging them both.
Elliot accepted the embrace with a surprised laugh. “What’s going on? Why are so many people out here?”
“This!” Lila pushed her mobile at him again and he caught a glimpse of a News broadcast before she whipped it away, saying, “They’re calling this World Remembrance Day. Everyone around the planet is celebrating the fact that you and the others saved the Nean race, the ghosts are gone for good and the three human races are finally at peace. Isn’t it wonderful?”
“Yes, it is,” he said with feeling, smiling at her as he took in what was happening. Between the ghosts and the anti-Nean groups, he had begun to fear that a lasting peace would never be achieved but, seeing the three races together like this, perhaps it was possible after all.
“There you are,” a familiar voice said and Elliot looked round into Farlden’s warm brown eyes. “It didn’t feel like a party without you here.”
Farlden’s hand was on Elliot’s shoulder, as if they were still close, and he hated having to remind himself that Fal and Callie were together again now. He saw Lila pull Al away and the two of them hugged a startled-looking Mosrra.
“People will remember this day, won’t they?” Elliot said.
“They won’t have any choice now their memories of the other reality are back. The human races nearly destroyed each other and that’s something everyone will work to stop happening in the future.” Farlden raised a hand and waved and Elliot followed his gaze to see Barve grinning back at them, having joined most of their other teammates, including Callie. The sight of her was another reminder, as if he needed it, that his feelings for Fal were pointless; unrequited.
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