Lost Time

by M C Ashley

“And what do you offer us, little one?” Mara asked.

  “I know how we can find Cinderella without getting discovered.”

  “That’s a bold statement, kiddo,” I said.

  “I’m not a kid.” He crossed his arms.

  “Sure you’re not.”

  “Guardian Azarel, be still,” Mara said. “Tell us your plan, Nathan.”

  I crossed my arms and frowned.

  Nathan smirked. “Do you know how Nathan-Prime enters dreams?”

  I nodded.

  “It was the first thing I could do.”

  I grimaced. We really were a bunch of impossibilities. Had the Gray Forum still been around, every one of us would have been selected for training based off of our unique talents alone.

  But what to do with this information?

  “I need to be close to her, though,” Nathan said. “We need to be underneath the bridge where she lives.”

  I recalled Max’s map. “That’s where Zoë Slinden lives. I suppose it would make sense for her to keep Cinderella close.”

  I knew the area a bit, having traveled near it while using the sewers in my youth to—

  “The sewers,” I said, suddenly. “That’s my plan.”

  Chapter 14

  Surprisingly, Zea didn’t like my plan. It took much convincing on my part and the unlikely intervention of Clooney to sway her to my way of thinking. Also, several days of preparation that had me antsy the entire time. The Feast would start that night and if we failed then over six hundred people would die.

  We trekked through the Corpus Christi sewers, mostly untouched by Vice City and its inhabitants, although there were signs of life the further in we went. Most were freshly killed animal skeletons, stripped of everything that could be used. There were some burn marks and remnants of firewood lying on the mostly dry walkways. If anyone were there now, though, they had done their best to avoid us. I didn’t blame them. We looked like we would cause trouble.

  Zea walked behind us, using her abilities to make sure no one was tracking us. I had done my best to suppress my powers, especially since we were heading to what I figured would be vampire central for the city.

  Providentially, there seemed to be no vampiric presence in the sewers. This I could understand. More than likely the Sanguine Collective didn’t want to be reminded of the days where our efforts had forced them to feed wherever they could find it, even resorting to draining other people’s blood. They had lived in squalid conditions. From ghettos, sewer systems, and abandoned buildings they had lived in fear of us.

  Now they were free from our judgment. The creatures of the night had nothing to fear anymore.

  Someone needed to remind them how things were supposed to be.

  “Calm down, Blake,” Zea said. “Your power’s rising.”

  I stopped in my tracks, meditating on the moment, rather than the possible.

  “You two have an impressive problem to contain,” Clooney said. “One wonders why the Forum must’ve thought it a boon.”

  “Because we didn’t have to worry about hiding that much,” I said, quickly. “We didn’t have to deal with situations like this too much.”

  “And look where it got you.”

  My temper flared, but Zea took hold of my shoulder. “Clooney, stop,” she said. “This isn’t what he needs to hear now. He needs to focus. We need to focus.”

  He shrugged. “Anything for a pretty lady.”

  I frowned when he turned away from me. I had spent several days with him and I still knew next to nothing about him. One second he was on my side and the next he was deliberately trying to provoke me into a fight. What kind of world could make a man like him?

  I missed my home.

  I frowned. I hadn’t dwelt too much on that idea since I’d come to the future. Sure I’d had moments where I missed my family and friends, especially with knowing what had happened to them, but I hadn’t thought about going back. The third Law said that we weren’t supposed to mess with time. I’d read enough X-Men to know that time travel was nothing but retcons and more Summers characters to have to deal with. This was the last thing the world needed.

  But that didn’t mean I didn’t want to go back.

  Nathan-Prime seemed to be involved with time, going by his hints, especially if he’d been there at the start of the Forum. I also had the feeling he wouldn’t let me go back, no matter how much I nagged. Clearly it went against his plans.

  “Are you okay?” Nathan asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.

  I turned to him and smiled. “I’m fine,” I said. “Nothing to worry about.”

  “That would be a first.”

  “All right listen, kid. I’ll—”

  “What? Mess with me? Not with Nathan-Prime out there.”

  I held my hand up and then stopped. Dang it. Beaten by a kid.

  “You win this round,” I said.

  He smirked. I hate smirkers. So smug in their smirkiness.

  “Are we done?” Zea asked.

  I stuck my tongue out at her and she looked at me confused.

  “Is that supposed to mean something?” she asked

  It took everything in me not to face-plant on the ground. Was there anyone on this world who could appreciate my childish humor? No, I was stuck in the humorless future.

  “Let’s just go,” I said.

  I wanted to talk as we continued on, but every time I did Zea kept shushing me. It was quite rude.

  Nathan stopped us several minutes later, saying, “We’re close enough, I think.”

  He sat down and waited for the rest of us to do the same.

  “Wait, we need to build a protective circle first,” I said.

  “For what?” Nathan asked.

  “In case we’re found out. We need a fall back zone that can provide some protection. I’ll draw the teleportation circle.”

  “Sound strategy,” Clooney said. “Do any of you know how to make a protective circle?”

  I scratched the back of my head and looked at Zea.

  “What?” she asked.

  “I was kinda hoping you knew how to make one,” I said, sheepishly.

  “Your ability to screw up the smallest things never ceases to amaze me.”

  “Then I suppose it’s up to me,” Clooney said, smirking.

  Clooney placed his satchel on the floor and immediately brought out a single piece of white chalk. He cleaned the grimy sewer floor with a telekinesis invocation, and then started to draw with the chalk.

  “Full of surprises, aren’t you?” I asked.

  “Oh no,” he said, assembling the circle. “I’m an open book.”

  I did my best not to show how much that had ticked me off. I must’ve failed, because he had a massive smirk on his face.

  “It’s done,” he said, moments later. “Center of the Garden for your circle?”

  I nodded. We could all visualize that. Even Nathan without training should’ve been able to activate the circle without hurting himself. I took the chalk from Clooney and drew the circle as swiftly as possible.

  “Are you ready?” I asked, turning to Nathan.

  “Not yet,” he said.

  “What more do you need?”

  “Someone to accompany me into Cinderella’s mind.”

  “Wait—we’re going into her mind?” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “The more people, the better the connection, so long as they’re attuned to one another. Also, I need someone to protect me.”

  “Why?” I asked again, confused.

  “People guard themselves naturally.” Nathan paused. “Think of it like this: You don’t want your home to get invaded, so you lock the doors to keep people out. People do the same when they’re asleep, especially if they’re like us…or so Nathan-Prime says.”

  “Well he hasn’t been wrong yet.”

  “With mundanes it’s simple: You just go out there and do it.”

  “To just loosen up and be ti
ght at the same time?”

  Nathan frowned and I sighed, guessing people weren’t into great parodic material anymore.

  “I don’t understand, but I’ll continue,” Nathan said. “Christeners use their abilities to shield themselves from psychic attacks as they sleep. These barriers can be anything, normally something that means something important to the one dreaming, like a gun or a prowling tiger. They act as defenses, keeping people from infiltrating their dreams by keeping them too preoccupied to do anything but defend themselves while inside their target’s mind.”

  “So you need a heavy hitter to take that on while you try to contact her?” I asked.

  He nodded.

  “Could’ve just said that, kid.”

  “Sounds far too dangerous,” Clooney said. “Should you try to endanger yourself like this?”

  I looked at him quizzically. “Why so concerned?”

  He shrugged. “You are a remnant of the Gray Forum. So far as you know, you’re all that’s left. To lose such a valuable piece of history would be truly reckless.”

  “So I should be in a museum, is that what you’re saying, Indy?”

  “No, he’s saying that you have knowledge that could be helpful to us now,” Zea said. “Even with the Archives we know little about what happened during the fall. If you ever got your memories back you’d be an invaluable asset.”

  I slinked down. “And I’m not now?”

  She rolled her eyes at my obvious need for attention and ignored me.

  “Listen, I’ll be fine,” I said, balling my fist in the air. “I was out there conquering vampires before you were even conceived of being conceived!”

  Clooney laughed. “Oh, temporal humor.”

  Now I suddenly liked him again.

  “Are you ready?” Nathan asked.

  I looked from him to Zea and then to Clooney. I’d never been in someone else’s dream before. Who knew, this might even be fun.

  “Nothing comes from nothing,” I said, holding Nathan’s hand.

  Chapter 15

  1

  The world around us swirled in a purple and red vortex of lines and waves that seemed to have no relative dimension that I understood. I stumbled forward, but caught myself before I could fall, not seeing a straight path ahead. I glanced from right to left and still nothing appeared. Nathan, however, seemed to be accustomed to the madness and walked forward with no issue.

  “You make it real,” Nathan said, showing a simple cobblestone walkway in front of himself. “Dreams aren’t meant to be traveled in. You’ve got to work against it; use your will to change the world around you.”

  I paused. If this was what the normal dream world looked like, then Nathan-Prime was more powerful than I’d given him credit for. My Nathan didn’t seem to be that strong yet, but he still had the edge over me, so I decided to follow his instructions.

  Lying still, I closed my eyes and imagined that I was crafting a walkway of my own, this one consisting of asphalt. I recalled the one I had jogged on in my childhood as a part of my endurance training. It was normally very sunny, the heat causing strain on my body. I imagined myself racing over the road, eager to break another personal record on the way back to the Silver Fortress. Elated at the old memories, I opened my eyes.

  An inch of asphalt appeared beneath my feet.

  “Were you even trying?” Nathan asked, a bemused expression on his face.

  “Listen here, k—” I said, pointing my finger at him as I walked forward, only to fall flat on my face on the unseeable floor.

  I picked myself up and dusted myself off before realizing there was nothing to remove. Grumbling, I looked at Nathan, who tried not to laugh.

  “It wasn’t that easy for me my first time either,” he said. “It’s okay to screw up.”

  I nodded, forcing my anger down.

  “Just follow me,” Nathan offered. “I can keep up the path for both of us.”

  The cobblestone walkway expanded a hundred yards in every direction. I stepped forward on the conjured solid ground like a child learning to walk, each move allowing my body to adjust to the change.

  “This dream is so fractured,” Nathan said. “I’ve never seen one so bad before.”

  “How many times have you done this?” I asked.

  “I’ve lost count. I’ve done it so many times before. I do it without thinking.”

  “What’s so different about this?”

  He paused and examined his surroundings. “She’s hurt.”

  “Where? Is it something we can heal?”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t know how to say this. It’s like…she doesn’t hurt in the real world that you can see, but her mind hurts.”

  “Emotionally?”

  He shrugged. “I guess. This is going to take a lot of work.”

  “So, what do we need to do? Sit her down and talk about our feelings?”

  “You don’t. I will. Just keep looking for trouble. I’ll keep this floor stable. Just remember that your mind makes things real here.”

  “Gotcha.”

  I wasn’t used to taking orders from children. I was amazed at how well I was dealing with it. Maybe I just trusted him enough to take care of me. He did have the most experience here after all.

  I closed my eyes for a moment, seeing a brief flash of Atanasio smiling at me. I disregarded it. It had no place right now, but every now and then, when I blinked, I could still see him staring back at me. I shivered.

  “What’s wrong?” Nathan asked.

  “Nothing,” I lied. “Let’s go.”

  Nathan eyed me for a moment and then continued forward, pointing out a white door with daisies embroidered around it. A picture of a unicorn with a rainbow mane dominated the center of the door. I looked to Nathan, who shrugged.

  Approaching the door, I opened it first, charging up a light invocation just in case it was a trap. When we entered the room, we were greeted by the sight of a woman who couldn’t be more than twenty-three with strawberry blonde hair. She jumped up in surprise on her bed, having been resting soundlessly before our arrival. I surveyed her further, watching her green eyes gaze back into mine.

  “Who are you?” she asked, trembling. “Why are you here?”

  I held out a hand in front of myself. “We’re not here to hurt you, Cinderella,” I said. “We want to help you. My name is Blake.”

  Cinderella cowered in her bed. “Don’t tell me your name! Leave me alone. She’ll kill you. She wants me to find you for her. I’ve done it before.”

  “It’s okay, Cinderella,” Nathan said. “I’m here to break her control over you.”

  “You can’t. I can’t. She’s too strong. The things…what she made me do. I hurt so many people. I’ll hurt you.”

  “But we came here to help you. We’re going to stop the Feast. You won’t have to lose your soul by starting the fire.”

  Cinderella shivered. “No, I have to do it. She owns me.”

  “To hell with that,” I said, approaching her.

  I stood right by her bed and looked her in the eyes again. For the briefest of moments, I could see reason in her mind.

  “No one is going to stop us from helping you, Cinderella,” I said. “I won’t pretend to understand what you went through, all the things that Zoë said to you to make you this way, or how she took your will away. However, I do know what it’s like to lose yourself to something that oppresses you. I give you my Word that we are here to help you.”

  Cinderella breathed heavily in the bed, sweat pouring from her face. I saw embers appearing over her fingers, as she yelped and shut them off.

  “I can’t,” she said, burying her head in her knees. “She’ll kill all of us.”

  I looked back from Nathan to her and started to doubt the plan. Nathan took over for me and stood by her bed, holding her hand, which she tried to pull away from, but the kid’s grip was tighter than I’d guessed.

  “Yes, you can,” Nathan said. “I know what it’s like to have things
in your mind, telling you what to do. I have ever since I was young. But I resisted them. I took control of my life. I became the man God wanted me to be.”

  I flinched. Nathan had never hinted at this before. Just what had this kid been through before we met?

  A prickling sensation on the back of my neck caused me to turn around, and I watched a shadowy figure try to slice my head off. Ducking in time to avoid the blow, I rolled to the left, and took a better look at it.

  It appeared to be feminine. The hair was mangled and black like the rest of it. The eyes produced a dark light from the center of the specter’s head. It growled at me. Talons five inches long protruded from its ethereal fingers, ready to tear me up. I focused my mind on crafting light around me, illuminating the room, but it didn’t faze the specter.

  Cinderella yelled in fright when she noticed the specter, and Nathan erected a rocky formation around them. I stood in-between the specter and the earthen shield.

  “All right, buddy, listen up,” I said, producing an orb of light in my hand. “That woman right there is scared enough as it is without you butting in. You are interrupting a very delicate healing process here and I don’t take kindly to that. Leave now, and I don’t incinerate you into nothingness.”

  In response to my boast, the specter lunged, and I ducked and grabbed its closest hand to stop it from scratching me. I sent my right hand into its head, sending the orb of light into it. It screamed and pushed away from me. I used the brief respite to focus.

  “Ageg!”

  Aiming the bow, I fired at the specter. A dark arrow penetrated its skin. It howled in pain, but continued moving toward me. The specter lunged again, its ebony claws almost sinking into my skin, but I whirled out of the way in time to fire an arrow at it, hitting its left shoulder. Any slight victory I’d gained was lost when it kicked me off-balance, and I fell to the floor.

  Using the advantage it gained, the specter headed toward Nathan’s shield, but I picked myself up off the floor and jumped after it, tackling it to the floor. It sent its left arm backward, slashing open my right leg, and I rolled to the side, barely preventing it from following through with a second strike.