by Brandon Mull
“How?”
“What if I boost your energy?” Cole asked. “Could it maybe speed up the process?”
Lorenzo paused, looking at Cole uncertainly. “I’ve mastered the secret of perpetual youth—the skill a Grand Shaper of Creon must acquire to retire. I’ve improved my abilities for hundreds of years. The power required for time travel surpasses what even the mightiest shapers of other disciplines can imagine.”
“Cole is amazing, though,” Violet said. “With his help, I can open a wayport anytime, anywhere, as frequently as I want.”
“You should try it at least,” Mira said.
Cole held out a hand. “See what you can do with me helping. If it doesn’t make a difference, no harm done.”
Lorenzo hesitated. “You won’t try to alter my power?”
“Have shapecrafters worked on you?” Cole asked.
Lorenzo looked offended. “Of course not. I don’t want anyone tampering with my nature.”
“I’ll just lend you energy,” Cole promised. “See if it helps.”
Lorenzo took his hand. The Wayminder’s power was spectacular—complex and brilliant. Cole started small, then began pouring power into him.
“Whoa,” Lorenzo said with wide eyes. “Easy, Cole, easy.”
Cole pushed more gently.
“Okay,” Lorenzo said. “I see. Yes. No wonder everyone is so interested in you. I expected a lot, but this is . . . unprecedented.” Lorenzo released his hand, then cocked his head. “You’re still connected to me.”
“I can hold the connection without touching,” Cole said. “I haven’t figured out how to establish it without contact yet.”
“I expect you will,” Lorenzo said. “The physical contact is just a crutch. Your power touching my power has very little to do with you touching me, as you can currently feel.”
“Right,” Cole said.
“I can get you where you want to go immediately,” Lorenzo said. “Give me one more big push.”
Cole flooded energy into Lorenzo, and his ears popped when a wayport appeared off to one side. Cole only had experience with shimmery, delicate wayports. This one was utterly black, like a wound in the fabric of reality.
CHAPTER
17
DEDICATION
That looks ominous,” Twitch said, walking around the dark gash in the air near the center of the room.
“You think baby bunnies look ominous,” Jace said.
Twitch blinked multiple times. “They could have germs.”
“It should look ominous,” Lorenzo said. “Time travel is no trifling matter. I suggest minimal interference in the past. Find Kendo Rattan, if you can, and learn all he will share. You’ll have at least twelve hours. I’ll talk with Violet about how to get you back early.”
“Can we all go?” Mira asked.
“You could, yes,” Lorenzo said. “As you please.”
“Mira should stay,” Jace said.
“No way,” Mira said. “If I’m there, Kendo Rattan will be more likely to help us.”
“He won’t know who you are,” Jace said.
“Probably true,” Lorenzo said. “Kendo Rattan was actually there when the dedication happened, not visiting the event from the future. But Mira’s status as a princess could carry some weight.”
“Would it make sense for some of us to stay back?” Cole asked. “If we can each only try this once? So we’ll have another chance?”
“If Kendo is going to avoid you, he will avoid you,” Lorenzo said. “If any of you could make a difference, it will happen whether you go now or later. I think whoever wishes to try should go together.”
“How do we signal him about Ramarro?” Cole asked.
“He’ll recognize that you’re from the future,” Lorenzo said. “It will undoubtedly draw his attention.”
“Pieces of parchment?” Mira proposed. “Some could say ‘Ram.’ Others ‘Arro.’ ”
“Simple,” Lorenzo said. “Serviceable. I like it.”
“We’re all going?” Jace asked.
“We’re in this together,” Mira said.
“Let me work with Violet for a moment,” Lorenzo said. “You see parchment on that desk. Pens as well. Feel free to make your signs.”
Lorenzo ushered Violet away while Mira claimed parchment and a pen. “How big?” she asked.
“Small,” Cole said. “Just big enough to be noticed. We don’t want to draw attention from anyone else.”
“What if we get asked about the words?” Twitch wondered.
“Play dumb?” Cole suggested.
“Tell them to mind their own affairs,” Mira said.
“You could start a fight,” Jace said.
“I’ll improvise,” Twitch said, accepting a slip of parchment from Mira. She handed out pieces to Cole and Jace.
“I guess we’ll spread out?” Mira asked.
“Probably,” Cole said. “It’ll give Kendo a better chance to notice us. And it will keep our paper messages away from each other.”
“What if he won’t help us?” Jace asked.
“We keep trying,” Cole said. “We do all we can.”
Jace nodded thoughtfully. “You’re right.”
“I understand the theory,” Violet said, returning with Lorenzo. Mira gave her a slip of parchment.
“With Cole energizing you, an early return could be possible,” Lorenzo said. “At the worst, you’ll only have to wait about twelve hours. The eventual summons to your proper time will happen naturally.”
“If Kendo helps us, he might be able to send us back,” Cole said.
“Kendo Rattan is my superior in every way,” Lorenzo said. “Let us hope for his aid. Are you ready? Unlike many wayports, once you cross through, you cannot return through the same portal.”
“Got it,” Jace said. “Time to go?”
“Anything else we should know?” Cole asked.
“A quick departure is better than prolonging this,” Lorenzo said. “I’m leaning on Cole’s power to hold the timeport open, but the effort remains strenuous. Cole should go through last.”
“I’ve never visited another time,” Violet gushed.
“None of us have,” Jace said. “Me first.”
He stepped into the blackness and vanished.
“Jace?” Twitch called.
“He can’t hear you,” Lorenzo said.
Twitch jumped through, followed by Violet and Mira.
“Thanks,” Cole said to Lorenzo. “See you soon.”
It felt to Cole like stepping through a thin, perfectly even waterfall. Instead of getting wet, his skin tingled as the unseen membrane parted to receive him.
And then Cole stood in a narrow, empty ally beside his friends. The sun was much too high in the sky to correspond to the day he had left behind. A trickle of water ran down the middle of the alley before veering into a drain. A pile of melon rinds and wilted vegetables moldered nearby.
Jace took a deep breath. “Does the past smell worse?”
“It does here,” Twitch muttered.
“Did it work?” Cole asked. “Are we in the past?”
“Lorenzo Debray sent us,” Violet said. “It must have worked.” She looked up at the walls with excited eyes, lips parting in a wide smile. “We’re in the past!”
“Then it’s long before any of us were born,” Mira said. “Even me.”
“Should we spread out?” Twitch asked.
“Not a lot of room,” Jace observed.
“I’m sure he sent us here to disguise our arrival,” Violet said. “I bet it’s the nearest empty outdoor space to the event.”
“Should we leave the alley and spread out?” Twitch clarified.
“Will the school be hard to find?” Cole asked.
“Big granite building,” Violet said. “Look for a crowd. Or ask about the dedication.”
“I’ll go first,” Jace said, trotting toward the open end of the alley.
“Meet back here?” Mira asked.
“Unless we find each other elsewhere,” Jace called over his shoulder.
Violet hugged herself and looked around. “We’re in a different century.”
“It seems really normal,” Cole said.
“We’re in the same kingdom,” Violet said. “I’ve been to the town of Halbrook. Or I will come here someday, if you look at it that way.”
“If coming here is in your past, you’ve been here,” Cole said.
“Makes sense,” Violet agreed.
“Bye,” Mira said, walking away from them.
Cole snapped his fingers. “Jace’s rope! I wanted to try and power it up.”
“You can connect to me,” Violet said, holding out her arm.
Cole extended a hand toward her, then paused. “Lorenzo told me I don’t need to touch you.” He searched for her power and began to faintly sense it. Reaching out mentally, he tried to connect, but it was slippery.
“Be careful,” Twitch said, going down the alley.
Cole grabbed Violet’s wrist and instantly made the connection, brightening her power. “I’ll try to stay linked to you.”
“Do your best,” Violet said.
“Want me to go last?” Cole asked.
“Sure,” Violet said. She started down the alley, then glanced back. “Soak it in. Few get this opportunity.”
Cole watched her pass out of view. The alley failed to impress him. All of the Outskirts except Zeropolis seemed back in time to him. Swords and wagons. He was now further back in time, but there was nothing to emphasize the reality.
He walked to the end of the alley and took a deep breath. There was nothing noteworthy about the air, except that he was away from the moldy vegetables. The street at the end of the alley was narrow, without many people. Cole chose a direction and intersected a larger street with a lot of foot traffic. Many wore Wayminder robes. Most of the others wore tunics. He didn’t see anyone with a shirt and trousers like he had on and wondered how conspicuous they made him.
The Wayminders all seemed to flow in the same direction, so Cole followed them. After turning onto another street, Cole found a crowded square filled mostly with Wayminders, everyone facing a huge stone building with numerous fluted pillars. On the far side of the street Cole saw Violet, and up ahead he noticed Mira.
The assembled Wayminders milled and talked as their numbers swelled. Here and there wayports opened, and new Wayminders joined the assembly. No ceremony had begun yet. Cole wondered how early he was.
“Excuse me,” a voice said over Cole’s shoulder.
He turned to find a short man with reddish hair and Asian features walking behind him. “Yeah?”
“This is an awkward question, but are you bearing tidings about Ramarro?”
Cole stopped walking. “Kendo Rattan?” he whispered.
“I know the name,” the man said. “Who sent you?”
“Lorenzo Debray,” Cole said.
“I have not met him yet,” the man said. “What is the message?”
“Are you Kendo?”
“You came looking for me?”
“Yes.”
“How did you know to find me here?”
“Lorenzo.”
“May I ask how he knew?”
“I think you told him,” Cole said.
“Did I really?” Kendo asked. “That is not how I normally operate.”
“He is a former Grand Shaper of Creon. Not yet, though. He will be.”
“Perhaps if I had a purpose, I would let such a person contact me in the past,” Kendo said. “You are far from your proper time. And you are not native to the Outskirts.”
“I have to stop Ramarro,” Cole said.
“Why you?” Kendo asked.
“Lots of reasons,” Cole said. “I have special abilities.”
“Yes, you do,” Kendo said. “Glad you mentioned it. I didn’t want to be rude. Your power is hard to miss. Unique, I would say.”
“Dandalus told me I need to stop the torivor,” Cole said.
“Dandalus is long gone in the present day,” Kendo said. “Let alone when you are from.”
“He left an imprint of himself in the Founding Stone,” Cole said. “And I met his echo.”
“Fascinating,” Kendo said. “What is the threat?”
“Ramarro escaped the echolands,” Cole said. “He used a piece of the Founding Stone. The imprint of Dandalus managed to trap him in the vault you made.”
Kendo puffed his cheeks and blew out. “You know far too many secrets, young one. Almost more than I do. In your time, my Void is currently holding Ramarro?”
“Yes,” Cole said. “Is there any way we can strengthen it?”
“I made it as strong as I could,” Kendo said. “I violated some of the laws I established for Creon to do so, bending the rules as far as I knew how. The Void is my ultimate prison. It would hold almost anyone indefinitely. And it is utterly insufficient to contain a torivor.”
“How long will it hold him?” Cole asked.
“How long has it held him?” Kendo replied.
“A few days,” Cole said.
Kendo nodded. “If it held him for more than an hour, the Void will probably hold him for a few more days. Not weeks. Days. A little over a week maybe.”
“You can’t make it stronger?” Cole asked.
“Not unless between now and then I learn groundbreaking information about the kingdom I personally designed,” Kendo said. “And you are?”
“Cole.”
“Pardon the bluntness, but is this a trap?” Kendo asked.
“What?”
“A trap to capture or harm me,” Kendo said. “I greatly prefer honesty. In the long run it always simplifies matters and saves time.”
“This isn’t a trap.”
“It would be a good one,” Kendo said. “A secret issue I desperately care about. Delivered by children.”
“You don’t die today,” Cole said. “You still have to tell Lorenzo you’ll be here.”
“If you are here because I told him, it will happen,” Kendo said. “Of course, you could be lying. I’ve had misinformation from the future before. Maybe you heard that I die today. Maybe you came to do it. I can’t read the future.”
“I’m being honest,” Cole said.
“What do you want from me?” Kendo asked.
“Information,” Cole said. “How do we keep Ramarro imprisoned? How do we stop him if he gets free?”
“Happy to share what I can,” Kendo said. “The framers of the Outskirts built the best prisons we could to hold the torivors. Most of the framers are long gone now. Our greatest hope lies in keeping them inside those prisons. If Ramarro gets free, I’m not sure how to recapture him. You came with four others?”
“Yes,” Cole said.
“Would you like them to meet with us?”
“Sure.”
“I don’t mean to be pushy.”
“Can you teleport them here?” Cole asked.
“Easier and less conspicuous for you to speak to them,” Kendo said. A small disturbance appeared in the air in front of Cole’s lips. “Tell them to meet at the corner of the square by the goat statue.”
“Guys, I found him. Meet at the corner of the square by the big goat statue.” Cole could see the huge goat up ahead.
The disturbance vanished. “Good,” Kendo said. “Tell me about your power.”
As they walked toward the stone goat, Cole explained how he could make items work outside of the kingdoms where they were designed to function. He also explained how he could energize the abilities of others and burn away the darkness of shapecrafting.
“Truly unique,” Kendo said. “I am honored to meet you.”
“I’m honored too,” Cole said. “You’re famous.”
“I’m just a man who learned to outlive his time,” Kendo said.
“And who helped make a world,” Cole said.
“A fair imitation of a world, I’ll give it that,” Kendo said. “We all have our t
alents. Human beings tend to hastily decide that if they excel at something, they excel at everything. I try not to be one of them. I have plenty of flaws, and there is plenty I don’t know.”
Cole waved at his friends, who had all gathered at the goat. Violet looked at Kendo with crazed amazement.
“You are a young Wayminder,” Kendo told Violet.
“You’re the original Wayminder,” she said. “I’m not even worthy to talk to you.”
Kendo smiled uncomfortably. “Yet here we stand. As you see, I am only a man. A short one.”
Violet shook her head. “A giant. A legend. And you look so young.”
“When aging is halted, it halts,” Kendo said. He took in the group. “You are facing a terrible threat.”
“We’ve faced a lot,” Jace said. “But this tops them all.”
“Tell me of the perils of your time,” Kendo said.
Cole explained about Owandell and the shapecrafters. Mira told about losing her power. Jace filled in details about some of the fights.
“And now you hope I can help design a way to thwart the torivor,” Kendo said. He folded his arms and stared at the ground. “I hate to let people down. Especially when it will cause the end of the world.”
“We’re feeling the same stress,” Cole said.
Kendo grinned. “I suppose so. I have no definitive answer for you now. But I know the day you came from. With knowledge that Ramarro will indeed get free and end up in the Void, I will spend the coming decades preparing. I will devise the best strategy I can.”
“What can you tell us now?” Mira asked.
“Can we wait until after the ceremony?” Kendo said. “A former student of mine is involved. Then I can take you to a secluded location where we can speak freely.”
“How long until it starts?” Jace asked.
“Less than an hour,” Kendo said.
“Can’t we just skip ahead?” Jace asked. “You time travel, right?”
Kendo smiled broadly. “It would be convenient. But traveling forward through time is nearly impossible. Particularly if you wish to return.” Suddenly he looked shocked. “Oh no.”
Cole turned his head, half expecting to see a terrible accident.
“What?” Mira asked.
“The Perennial Serpent is attacking Charlotte Lamb,” Kendo said. A wayport opened nearby.
