by Holly Hook
“I figured.” I don't want to imagine what these Chronophage things must look like. At least now, I hope, we won't have to deal with them. But Frank...”Frank can open a rift and escape wherever they're holding him, right?”
“It takes a long time, but eventually, if he has enough concentration, he can do it. That's what I wanted to talk to you about. We're not out of danger yet.”
I know what she's going to say, because the same thought's been swirling in my mind, getting bigger and bigger like it wants to scream. “Frank can just go back to right before the sinking and try to stop us again. And again. And again.” He has access to every time except for the period when he was mortal and alive in the regular world, whenever that was.
“Exactly.”
I feel sick. We might be safe in this version of the Titanic, but sooner or later, Frank will simply go back to when I was sleeping in my berth and stab me right there. He might have thought of doing that already. Father and Melvin aren't safe, either. This is a course of history that might get erased right along with the Timeless Simon and the Timeless me.
“We have to figure out where they have Frank,” she says. “I know it's very late."
“It's fine.” I glance back at the closed door of my berth. Father and Melvin are behind it, sleeping soundly. Somewhere on the other side of the ship, Simon is sitting in a room by himself, probably detained for the rest of the journey. All he'll have are my memories to keep him company, memories of things that now, never happened.
This isn't over yet.
I try to remember the way to the bridge from that map of Nancy's book on the Titanic that won't be written. Another wave of dread sweeps through me when I think of her, but like a forgotten dream, I can't place it. They would have Simon under observation there and definitely Frank. “What are we going to do when we find him?” I ask.
Isabel's eyes cloud over. “I don't know.”
We pass the laundry area. “We can't kill him.”
“Or send him to prison,” Isabel adds. “Well, we could, but he would get out sooner or later. It could take him a hundred years, but that won't matter. Frank can still come back here.”
“I know.” I stop by a gate. “The only way to stop him would be to go back to whenever he was mortal, and either stop him from going Timeless or kill him.”
Chapter Four
“How are we going to do that?” Isabel asks.
“We have something that will preserve our memories time to time,” I say. “Once in the Hub, we'll remember where the right rifts are. Did Frank ever tell you what disaster he was originally from?”
“The Battle of Gettysburg.”
“Oh.” I know I shouldn't be surprised. When I first met Frank in Trenton, we were working on a presentation on the Civil War. Why didn't I realize that might be where he's from?
“He and his brother enlisted and lied about their ages to do so. They were supposed to die in a cannon blast.”
“Lovely.”
“Time originally rescued Frank and made him immortal, but his brother died. Frank worked out a plan to go back and make his brother Timeless, too. Then, they wanted to save more of their friends from dying in the battle, so they wound up causing the Civil War to go on for two more years. Time got sick from the change and that's when the Chronophages ate his brother.”
I stand there, stunned. “Frank's tried to same stuff we have?”
“He has. And now, he wants to stop anyone else from making his mistakes.”
I'm reeling.
Frank. Working to save his brother the way Simon and Isabel worked to save me.
He should be on our side against Time.
I take a breath. “Okay. We have where he's from established. Do you remember where that rift is in the Hub?” The Timeless can remember the location of every rift they've ever used. Isabel's memories are on that device back in my berth. If she's ever been there—and she likely has since she was with Frank for a long time—she'd know.
“No. I never visited that time and place. Frank never talked about where he was from. I think Time forbade him after what he did.”
“So the only person who knows which rift is his is Frank.”
“Yes. Another Timeless who helped him with his plan, Sven—he got eaten by the Chronophages, too.”
The whole impossibility of this plan washes over me. The Hub has millions of rifts, all lined up in corridors. Our chances of ever finding the right one are about none.
And we also have the matter of finding a way into the Hub in the first place.
"Isabel, where on the ship did you come out?" I ask.
"In the laundry room," she says. "But the rift I came through dissipated as soon as I arrived here. I checked for it, but couldn't feel it. Some of them are like that. Frank must have used another one, one that's sticking around for longer. If it wasn't still around here, he wouldn't have tried to drag me off like that earlier. But it could be in some obscure corner of the engine room or inside a boiler for all we know. None of us can see rifts anymore and Frank is far too crazed to help us. The last thing he'll want to do is let us go mess with more history."
“Well, I'm lost,” I say. “Unless we have some way to extract Frank's mem--”
I realize what I'm saying. Isabel and I stare at each other. Her eyes get big.
We do.
Arnelia's butterfly.
If I could force Simon to take my memories earlier tonight, I can surely steal Frank's. Then, it will only be a matter of finding the place where he remembers the rift on the ship to be. We step through, go to the Hub and find the rift that goes to the place where Frank was supposed to die. He'll remember where that is, too.
“We've got to get Simon freed,” I say. “It's going to take all three of us to do this.”
* * * * *
I check on Father and Melvin again to make sure they're still asleep. They are. I grab the clip out from under my bunk and put it in my pocket. I know that I should sleep, too, and get caught up on my rest, but how can I do that when I know Frank can open a rift at the right moment and escape? He could have done so already by now.
Where would they detain people on this ship? There are no jail cells. My guess would be some officers' quarters or a sick bay. That's going to be difficult if it's near the bridge. Frank will have constant supervision, especially after trying to commit murder. That could prevent him from opening his own personal rift and stepping out, but it'll also prevent us from getting to him.
Then we have the matter of making him wear Arnelia's device and hitting the button to download his memories. He's going to find out about our secret weapon, but this is the only way. We might have to do it while he's taking a nap.
He'll have to pass out sometime during the rest of the voyage. We just have to reach Frank before they take him off the ship.
But first, Simon.
I nod to Isabel. I remember where that office was where they detained us for a while. It's worth checking again, in case they've moved either Simon or Frank there. It will only be a matter of getting through the gates. I'm sure they've taken Simon and told him how much trouble he's going to be in. My only hope is that they don't house the two of them together.
I lead the way through the hallways. It must be growing close to four in the morning by now. My eyelids burn with fatigue. Thankfully, I remember the way back to the gate that leads to that office, even without the knowledge of Nancy's books.
It's closed. Locked. Rats.
“How are we supposed to get through?” Isabel leans on the wall.
I eye the chain around the gate. We don't have Simon here to lure a guy down and punch him this time. Isabel and I are on our own. “The hair clip,” I say. “Maybe it's sharp enough to cut through this. It was sharp enough to stab Frank in the side like that. We don't exactly have access to bolt cutters.”
I fish it from my pocket. The wings are pointed as ever. All the traces of Frank's golden blood are gone. I don't know what kind of future material
it's made from, but I'm shocked I haven't injured myself yet just from leaning on it wrong.
“I don't know if that will cut,” Isabel says. “Those points are sharp, but they don't pierce human skin very well.”
“How do you know that?” I ask.
“Well, you've been carrying that in your pocket and you haven't cut yourself yet.”
“Frank got cut by this.”
“He's Timeless. Perhaps Arnelia made some kind of material that can only hurt them.”
“Well, it's not like we've tried stabbing any mortals,” I say. “And I don't want to start. Let me at least try something.”
I take the hair clip. I feel amazingly stupid doing this, but it's worth a shot. I take a second to turn it in my hand to protect my skin, and slice it across the chains keeping the gate shut.
A line appears across the chains and grows deeper under the wing as I slice. I can't believe it. This is working. I slice away for a couple minutes as Isabel watches. She looks confused. I'm not sure why. I send a silent thank you to Arnelia for making us such a Swiss army knife.
The chain comes undone, flopping against the gate. I slide it open, careful not to make it squeak too much. Some crew members must still be awake this time of night. Not everyone on the ship can sleep at once.
"I can't believe that worked," Isabel whispers.
"We had better hurry," I say. My heart pounds at the thought of facing Frank. What if we can't find him before we get off the ship? The police will take him away and eventually, he'll find a rift to jump through.
"I think the officers had us in a room around the second corner," Isabel says.
"I agree." I lead the way through white walls and tiled floors. My head pounds with the stress. A sound echoes down the hallway up ahead. It's--
"Footsteps," Isabel says. She grabs my arm and pulls me to the wall.
I can't tell where they're coming from--but they're getting louder. Someone's running down the corridor that we need to head down. Someone in a hurry. I hold my breath.
And then they stop. The person sighs.
It's a familiar sigh. I peek around the corner.
Simon stands in front of the door where they held us a couple of hours ago. He peeks inside and his shoulders slump.
"Simon," I whisper. Cool relief washes through me.
He jumps and faces me. How did he get away from the officers? He must be here, searching for Frank as well. I wonder if he's reached the same conclusion we have.
"Is Frank in there?" I ask.
Simon shakes his head. "How did you get in here?"
"Simon?" Isabel asks. We emerge from the corner.
"Yes. It's me." He grins. "I convinced them to let me go when I told them that Frank threatened to stab us if we didn't do the prank. Two of the crew members did see him try to do that, so they backed me up. I think the fact that we did hit an iceberg after all had something to do with them letting me go."
"Do you know where they're keeping Frank?" I ask.
"They must be keeping him somewhere behind the bridge if he's not in here," Simon says. "I was checking to see if they'd moved him here, but I guess he's coming across so crazy that they want to keep him supervised. I wanted to check up there, but the officers led me out and told me to go back to my berth."
"At least you're free." Isabel shifts leg to leg.
"Frank's going to be stuck up there until we get off the ship," I say. "What do you think will happen when we dock? They'll have to take him somewhere."
"I think he's safely locked away for now," Simon says. He draws close and my heart flutters. "We have time to figure out what to do once he's free."
Simon only has my Timeless memories. He doesn't have any of his. He's the most in the dark here. I have to tell him. "As soon as he finds a rift, Frank will go back and make sure the Titanic sinks all over again. As long as he stays Timeless, he'll be able to go back again and again until he succeeds. He has infinite chances to kill us. We need to go steal his memories, find wherever there's a rift on this ship, and go through ourselves. Then, we have to stop him from ever becoming Timeless in the first place."
Simon's mouth falls open. "You're right," he says. "I haven't thought about it that way.”
"And only Frank will have a memory of where there's a rift on the Titanic," Isabel adds.
It's our only chance. Frank's memories won't tell us where the rifts are in New York when we arrive. Our chances of finding another by ourselves is almost nothing.
"Which direction did he come from?" I ask Isabel. We have to start narrowing this down. "When he confronted you, I mean?"
Isabel shudders. "I can't be sure. I didn't know he was following me until I had lured you into the corridor."
Any hope of avoiding another struggle with Frank flattens and dies. "We head up to the bridge, then. At least, the captain might be busy getting us towed to land or figuring out how many days it's going to take."
Simon nods. "I know the way."
* * * * *
He leads us through another series of corridors and higher through the decks, to D deck and C deck and eventually, B deck. We encounter two more gates on the way up, but I use Arnelia's hair clip to cut away the chains on each one. They're going to discover this tomorrow morning when most of the crew is roused and going about their duties. At least they'll never suspect that a girl with a pretty butterfly hairpiece will be the main suspect. Unless they think I've stolen it from the first class.
Simon holds a finger to his mouth as we walk to a set of elevators, complete with gates. We're in first or second class now. There's green carpet here along with plants. Somewhere, a man laughs. It's someone who should be dead and on the bottom of the ocean now. Or floating in the frigid water, stiff.
"Will this be loud?" he asks me, pointing his thumb at the elevators. He's trusting me with the knowledge of the ship. “I used the stairs on the way down.”
"I'm not sure," I whisper. I've never used them. "We can try. It's not like there are many people around."
We call the elevator down and board. Thankfully, no one comes running at the noise. The cage closes around us and we head up into the top deck.
"It's four thirty." Simon's checking his pocket watch. "We don't have long to do this. Once daybreak hits, the crew will be everywhere."
The elevator stops and the gate opens. We're standing before the Grand Staircase. We're in the heart of forbidden territory. Simon and I aren't allowed in First Class. Isabel is technically a stowaway. She's supposed to be here even less than we are.
My heart races. The last time I saw this, in a version of the world that now doesn't exist, icy water was filling up the column of the Grand Staircase, lapping at my shoes. Frank had that knife pointed at me while Melvin screamed in my arms.
"Julia?" Simon asks. He gently takes my arm.
It does something to calm me down as we step closer to the staircase. I let out a breath. There's no danger here. It's beautiful, spiraling down through the ship like a wooden piece of DNA. There's no water. Only precious air and silence reigns here.
"Sorry." I turn to search for the entrance to the bridge area. I know it's close. "We need to move." Then I spot it. There's another golden gate across a doorway that leads to a stark white hallway. It's the entrance to the bridge and the officers' quarters. I remember now, even though I've never been in there. Frank's somewhere inside.
"Quiet." Isabel walks up to the gate and strains her ear. "I hear distant voices," she whispers, "but I think they're closer to the front of the ship. We can cut through this and slip in quietly."
She's right. Two men talk somewhere. They're muffled, like someone having a conversation at a neighbor's home.
My pulse thrums again. This is our one chance. Frank must be in one of the officers' quarters if they're keeping a close watch on him. I take the hair clip and angle the wing. Slice at the chains. I go slow, afraid to make any noise.
Minutes creep by. My palms sweat. At last, the chain falls away and
hits the gate with a metallic plink.
Simon slides the gate open. It squeaks. We slip into the crew area. I close the gate behind me and slide the chain around it to make it look whole. It won't do to have someone walk by and find it tampered with.
Placing the hair clip back in my pocket, I face the hallway we now stand in. Doors line it. Someone snores on the other side of one. Many of the crew are asleep. The voices are louder. Someone must still be up, manning the ship and communicating with the outside world. Much of the crew must be below decks, inspecting the damage. We probably aren't moving any closer to New York right now.
“We stay together,” Simon says. “Check doors.”
I grab for the first one. Twist the knob and slide it open. There's a cot, but no one's inside. I check the next. Again, no one.
“Frank's probably not in one of these,” I say. I slide open a third door. “He's--”
There's someone in a black uniform on the floor.
I push the door open all the way and step in. The officer looks up at us. His hands are bound with cuffs and he's gagged with a white cloth. The sheets of his cot are strewn on the floor, the remnants of a struggle. I know what's happened.
The three of us cram into his quarters. He tries to say something through the gag. I lean over and untie it. The man catches a breath. I don't care that we're not where we're supposed to be right now. “Was that crazy man in here?” I ask him. “Where did he go?” Frank must have been kept in here, cuffed and supervised by this officer while the rest of the crew went down to inspect the damage. Frank took the opportunity and used a mind trick on this officer, convincing him to unlock the cuffs. Then Frank tied this guy and left him. He could be gone by now, through another rift and away from us, and now we'll never be able to catch him.
“I don't know what happened,” he says. His eyes dart around in confusion as he stands. He swallows. “I was guarding him. He was sitting here one second...and the next, I found myself on the floor, bound.” He takes a breath. “What are you kids doing in here? Are you with him? What did he do?”
