One Word Kill (Impossible Times Book 1)

by Mark Lawrence

  ‘Look. I’ve done the same thing for you. You can choose how far you want to go back. Just enter the date like this and hit equals.’ I showed her the display on my calculator then got out the other headband. ‘I’ve written notes for you, too, though you should write the last page yourself, so you believe it.’

  Mia took the notebook and the offered pen. She blew into her hands and began to write. ‘It’s a bit like writing a character sheet. You know, for D&D. I could tell myself anything. Make a new Mia maybe.’

  ‘I rather like the old one,’ I said.

  She glanced at me and smiled her old smile.

  ‘It’s funny, but this is like having an erase button. If we both do this, then the things we say now are gone. Neither of us will ever know we said them, let alone what they were.’

  Mia frowned. ‘That’s kind of sad. I guess it’s a bit like writing on the sand between two waves . . . It does make me feel braver about what I might say. But also . . . sad. Does it even matter if neither of us remember it?’

  ‘Maybe not.’ My finger hovered over the ‘=’ button. ‘But I want to say it anyway.’

  Mia looked up from her writing. ‘Go on then.’

  I felt foolish. Even now the words stumbled from a dry mouth, tripping over each other. ‘I don’t know what love is, Mia. I think that’s something I’ve just started learning about. I know how it starts, though.’ We both smiled at that. ‘It seems that it grows and changes, and changes you, too. I hope it makes us better. I . . . I’m not saying this very well . . . but I think I’m going to grow into a man who could love the woman you’re going to grow into . . .’

  ‘That’s the most romantic instantly forgettable thing anyone has ever said to me.’ Mia signed at the bottom of her page of notes.

  ‘Heh.’ I felt my cheeks burning. ‘Well, here’s me forgetting my half of it.’

  I pushed the button.

  ‘You’re fine. You’re OK, Nick. Just sit still.’

  ‘Mia?’

  ‘Yes. It’s Mia. You remember me, right?’

  ‘I remember you.’ I blinked to clear the blurring from my eyes. My head ached, a ringing sound faded from my ears, and my mouth tasted strangely sweet. ‘We’re in the park? I . . . Weren’t we at your place? Your mother . . . God! She cut Rust with that bottle!’

  ‘Calm down and read this.’ She pushed a notebook into my hands.

  I opened it with cold fingers. Pages of my own handwriting. And at the very top, between two asterisks:

  *kiss the girl*

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I’m enormously grateful to Agnes Meszaros, without whose beta reading Nick’s story would have been very different and far less fun to write. She worked tirelessly and refused to let me get away with anything but my best effort.

  I should also thank my editor, Jack Butler, for acquiring the trilogy and for his subsequent support, along with the other editorial staff at 47North. And of course my agent, Ian Drury, and the team at Sheil Land.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Photo © 2010 Nick Williams

  Before becoming an author, Mark Lawrence was a research scientist for twenty years, working on artificial intelligence. He is a dual national, with both British and American citizenship, and has held secret-level clearance with both governments. At one point, he was qualified to say, ‘This isn’t rocket science – oh wait, it actually is.’

  He is the author of the Broken Empire trilogy (Prince of Thorns, King of Thorns and Emperor of Thorns), the Red Queen’s War trilogy (Prince of Fools, The Liar’s Key and The Wheel of Osheim) and the Book of the Ancestor series (Red Sister, Grey Sister and Holy Sister).