by Simon Rose
“I remember most of this,” said Julia, “but although I saw your mom as a ghost I also distinctly remember you saying that your parents both died in the accident at the station when you were a baby. I never saw your dad’s ghost but that might be because your mom had abilities and he didn’t. I also recall us chatting at my mom’s house. How can I remember things in different ways?”
“I don’t know,” said Max. “It’s the same for me except that I remember multiple timelines now. I’m not sure how long it’ll last. Kane can also recall different timelines, that’s why he’s so dangerous to both of us.”
“And you don’t know where you were being held prisoner?” said Julia.
“No, it was dark and I didn’t recognize anything.”
“But you got on the bus.”
“Yes, the first one I saw. I wasn’t really thinking straight. I just had to get away.”
“How come you managed to get off the bus so close to here?” asked Julia.
Max took a deep breath before replying.
“My mom was guiding me. I heard a voice in my head on the bus. It just said ‘here’. I heard it more than once and had the overwhelming urge to get off the bus at that stop. I can’t explain it. Then when I sat down on the bench she was there.”
“Your mom?”
“Yes, and she spoke to me.”
“Well, that didn’t happen before,” said Julia, smiling.
“No, but she might have been trying to speak to me but the circumstances just weren’t right, like when I was at school, or when she was on the sidewalk across from my house. I didn’t tell you this before but there were some incidents at home too, things turning on by themselves, strange noises, the feeling of being watched. I know now that all that stuff was probably my mom too.”
“And it was definitely her at the bus stop?”
“Yes, I’d recognize her anywhere from her photograph but I also somehow knew deep inside that it was her. She was also wearing a locket, the same as the one I have in the box of her belongings. She opened it and showed me a picture of myself as a baby.”
“Wow,” said Julia, clearly taken aback. “And what did she say?”
“Well, she said that she’d been guiding me and that I had to reconnect with you. I told her I had no idea where you were but that was obviously why I was made to get off the bus at that point. She also said that she’d had trouble breaking through, which made sense, and that I had to go back to the beginning to where it all began. Like I told you before, she said something similar in my dreams, or at least her voice did.”
“What does that mean though?”
“I don’t know. When I went back into David’s life it obviously meant to go back to where his involvement in the operation began so that I could save him. I have no idea what my mom means now.”
“Did she say anything else?”
“No, her image began to flicker and when I reached out to grab her she disappeared.”
“That’s a powerful image, Max. You’re very lucky to have experienced something like that. She’s really trying to help you.”
“Well, she also told me to get back to you. We both know that she probably means you when she talks about a new friend who has the gift.”
Julia smiled before finishing the last of the water in the bottle.
“Yeah, maybe we’re destined to work on this thing together.”
Max yawned.
“Tired?” asked Julia.
“Yeah,” Max replied, “but I think I’m still feeling the effects of whatever they injected me with too.”
“I guess we could both use some sleep and it’s almost midnight,” she said. “You can take some cushions off the chairs. The couch is mine.”
She grinned as she tossed some of the seat cushions and a pillow at Max. She unplugged her laptop, which had been charging.
“Let’s set both our phone alarms. We need to get moving early tomorrow, maybe no later than seven.”
“Okay,” said Max, with another yawn.
Julia clicked off the nearest lamp then went to lie down on the couch.
“Get some rest. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She turned off the other light.
“Good night,” she said.
“Good night,” Max echoed into the darkness.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Subconscious Solutions
MAX WAS DREAMING. He was sitting on a bench in Castlegate Park, watching the children running around in the playground as joggers and young mothers pushing strollers went by along the pathway.
“There are still probably people who’d kill to keep it all quiet.”
Max turned to see John Carrington beside him on the bench. Suddenly the scene shifted and Max was sitting in a chair at Deanna’s house. She was seated opposite, studying Max with an intense stare.
“Do you know exactly what it is that I do, Max?” Deanna asked, as she looked directly into his eyes.
Then everything changed again and Max was on a bus talking to David Dexter’s ghost.
“Don’t say anything, Max, just listen. No one else can see me.”
Before David said another word, Max found himself in a hotel hallway as Aleksandar Kovac stormed out of a nearby room.
“Ah, David, isn’t it?” said Kovac, fixing Max with an icy stare. “I hope you’re enjoying yourself tonight, although it seems the party’s over.”
Finally, Max was in his own home, attending what seemed to be a birthday party. The framed photograph of his parents was displayed on the shelf above the fireplace. Max’s mother was talking with some of the guests in the kitchen and smiled over at Max. His dad was also in the kitchen, pouring some drinks. He saw Jeff and Jason and many of his other friends from school. Even Jeff’s parents were there, chatting with Max’s grandmother. Every time Max caught someone’s eye as he glanced around the room they smiled at him. Max had a feeling of unbelievable contentment, but then something strange happened. The expressions on the faces of everyone at the party changed and they all looked angry, even sinister. The atmosphere quickly became extremely uncomfortable. Max took a couple of steps into the kitchen and bumped into his dad beside the counter. When Max’s dad turned around his face instantly morphed into Kane’s. Max gasped and moved toward his mom only to witness her face also change into that of Kane, who smiled at him. In panic, Max turned in the direction of the other party guests and could hardly believe his eyes. They all had Kane’s face.
Max woke up in a cold sweat and sat up, his heart racing. For a second he thought he was back in the room where he’d been questioned by Connor and Drake. Once his eyes had adjusted to the light he saw Julia’s shape on the couch and realized that he was safe in the house where she’d been hiding. Max was trembling and didn’t want to lie back down and close his eyes in case he had any more disturbing experiences. He thought about waking Julia and telling her about his dream, but was exhausted and soon fell back to sleep.
“YOU MUST RETURN to the beginning, to where it all began.”
Max was in a car, his hands gripping the steering wheel as he negotiated a city street lined with eighteenth- and nineteenth-century buildings. The street had shops, small businesses, and restaurants, as well as a handful of market stalls set up on the sidewalk selling produce. The dashboard indicated that the car was an older model. A boy, maybe eight or nine years old, sat in the passenger seat. Neither Max nor the boy was wearing a seat belt. Max glanced in the rear-view mirror and immediately recognized the face looking back at him. He instinctively knew that this was the younger version of Aleksandar Kovac. His glasses were in a different style to those he wore when he was older and Kovac’s hair wasn’t yet thinning but the facial features were unmistakable. He and the boy, whose name was Viktor, were talking in a foreign language but Max nevertheless seemed to understand. The words automatically translated into English in his head although he replied in the other language. The street was busy with people milling around on the sidewalks and traffic moving
steadily in both directions. The lettering on the shop fronts and road signs was written in the same alphabet that Max had seen at the laboratory in the vision of his mother as a girl. Once again, he seemed to be able to understand what was written on the signs. Suddenly, a little girl on the sidewalk dropped a rubber ball and darted into the road to catch it as the ball bounced away. Max wrenched the steering wheel to the side to avoid hitting the girl, swerved the car, and slammed head-on into an oncoming truck with a deafening thud.
“MAX! WAKE UP!”
Max opened his eyes and gasped for breath, as the morning sunlight shone through a narrow gap in the curtains. Julia was kneeling beside him, her hands on his shoulders as she attempted to wake him. She helped Max to sit up as he continued to breathe heavily.
“Are you okay? You looked like you were having a nightmare.”
“I’m fine, it’s fine,” he said, coughing slightly as he still struggled to catch his breath.
“Don’t move. I’ll get you some water.”
Max’s breathing steadily returned to normal as Julia went over to the kitchen. He had more or less recovered by the time she handed him a tall glass of water. He drank most of it in a few short gulps then placed the glass on the coffee table.
“What time is it?”
“Just after seven,” Julia replied. “So what happened? Was it another vision? Was your mom there?”
“Only at the beginning. I heard her voice again, telling me to go back to where it all began. Then I was in a foreign city, the language on the signs was the same as the one I saw in that lab, that one that I think was in Yugoslavia. I was driving in an older car with a boy. The street was busy and I never saw the kid run out into the road until it was too late. I turned the wheel, swerved, and hit another car. That’s when you woke me up.”
“That’s weird, Max,” said Julia. “But you said that Evans told you about Kovac’s car accident. You could just have been thinking about it as you fell asleep.”
Max shook his head.
“She didn’t tell me any of the details, so how could I know all that? It felt so real. I was in Kovac’s body. I was talking to the boy and saw the accident as it happened. I even felt the impact of the crash.”
Max reached over for the glass and finished the rest of the water.
“There was another dream, earlier in the night. I woke up and was really confused, wondering where I was.”
“What was that one about?”
“I was thinking about different people, probably because of everything that’s happened, such as Deanna, John Carrington, and David Dexter and his family. Then I was at home at a birthday party. My mom and dad were both there, my grandma, my friends from school. I felt really happy and also that this was perfectly normal. My parents didn’t die when I was a baby and they’d always been part of my life. It felt so real.”
“Doesn’t sound too bad.”
“No, but then everything changed. The faces of people at the party started to alter. They all looked angry and were looking at me suspiciously. The atmosphere was suddenly very scary. Then first my dad’s face then my mom’s turned into Kane’s. I turned toward everyone else at the party and they all had Kane’s face. That’s when I woke up. I was scared and thought about waking you but I was so tired that I fell back to sleep.”
“Sounds terrifying,” said Julia, gently squeezing Max’s hand. “Do you think it was just all the thoughts being processed from the last few days?”
“I’m not sure. Perhaps it was Kane searching again, testing his powers?” said Max. “Did you have any dreams?”
Julia shook her head, but hesitated before replying.
“Not that I can remember.”
Her brief hesitation made Max wonder if she was telling him the truth. After all, he didn’t know Julia that well but he knew that she’d been having thoughts that were undoubtedly connected to Kane, most likely because of their genetic link. If Kane had somehow entered Max’s dreams, surely Julia must have felt something during the night? Was it possibly that she might betray him? Max decided to keep such thoughts to himself and hope that Julia, in one of her psychic moments, didn’t catch on to what he was thinking.
“Well,” said Max. “If it really was Kane reaching out, trying to recruit allies, we have to stop him, before it’s too late.”
“How are we going to do that? You’ve had enough dealings with him to know how dangerous he is. What can we do against someone like him?”
“We can change what’s already happened.”
“I don’t understand,” said Julia.
“There’s a machine there at the place where I was being held. I forgot to mention it earlier. Evans told me that it contains all of Kovac’s scientific knowledge and memories. She was using it to help with their work.”
“How?”
“When Kovac had to shut the operation down when I was there as David, he was apparently very close to a major breakthrough. They didn’t want to let that knowledge die with him so they took the essence of his mind and put it in the computer. I have no idea how it works but Evans was able to access his research that way and complete Project Mindstorm, once they got Kane back.”
“Okay,” said Julia. “That’s very hard to believe but I’ll take your word for it. So how does that help us?”
“Evans told me that Kovac first became interested in psychics after he had a near-death experience when he was a young man. He was in a car accident with his nephew. That’s what my dream was about. The boy was killed and Kovac was in a coma and actually died for a while. That experience got him started on this work.”
“So?” said Julia, a little impatiently. “I still don’t get it.”
“Don’t you see? If he’d never had that experience all this would never have happened. Kovac would probably have become an expert in something else back in Europe. All this will never have happened and everyone, including your mom and my parents, will still be alive. Maybe that’s what my mom means about going back to where it all began. Her voice said something like that when I was sent back into David’s life too and that helped to change things. The operation ended, Kovac was stopped in his tracks, and Kane was lost for years, until now. Maybe the only way to stop it is to go back before Kovac started his work.”
“Okay, but I still don’t understand exactly what you mean.”
“Evans used the machine to access Kovac’s memories and she said that once she experienced the accident, or at least the run up to it, through Kovac’s eyes. I’m not exactly sure how Evans used the machine. She told me about it and I watched her put on these weird headphones. I think I can work it out. If we can get to that machine perhaps I can access Kovac’s memories and change what happened.”
Julia remained sceptical.
“Can you even do that?”
“I don’t know,” Max admitted. “I went into David’s life and was able to go into my parents’ bodies too. It may be our only chance to stop this.”
“But things changed for the worse last time and your parents died,” Julia reminded him. “Maybe it doesn’t matter what you do and you can’t ever change anything or only make it worse.”
“I’m aware of that but I think we have to give it a try.”
“But what about Kane and the others?”
“I’m pretty sure that everyone was dead when I left the building. I doubt if Kane would go back there. I can’t be sure but I’d imagine it’s the last place he’d expect us to go, even if he were looking for us.”
“Could there be other people there by now, perhaps from Evans’ organization?” asked Julia.
“Maybe, but we’ll have to gamble that no one’s found out about it yet and the place will still be deserted. Plus, it’s Saturday so the whole industrial area should be quiet if there’s nobody working there.”
“Okay,” said Julia. “So, do you have any idea where this place is?”
“That’s the problem. Like I told you last night, I have no idea where I was. They drugged m
e before the car journey then it was dark when I ran.”
“Do you remember the bus number? Maybe we can trace a route from that?”
Max shook his head.
“I just got on the first bus that I saw. It didn’t have a number and just said ‘City Centre’ on the sign above the front windshield.”
Julia thought for a moment.
“Maybe I can help?”
“How?”
“I can look into your mind. I can’t read all your thoughts, just kind of sense things. Maybe I’ll see some clues in your recent memories that we can use to pinpoint the location?”
“I don’t know,” said Max, sounding anxious.
“Come on, Max. Haven’t you had Deanna in your mind recently? This surely won’t be any worse than that.”
“Okay,” said Max, although he remained hesitant. “If you’re sure.”
Julia smiled.
“Hold out your hands.”
Max did as she asked and Julia gently took his hands and spoke softly.
“Now close your eyes and relax.”
Max closed his eyes and was captivated by the sound of Julia’s voice, just as he’d previously been with Deanna. Then he felt her entering his mind and began to panic before Julia’s voice, or was it his mother’s, calmed him.
“It’s fine, Max, just relax and trust me.”
Mike still resisted but then felt himself almost falling asleep before Julia brought him back when she let go of his hands.
“Okay,” she said. “I have a few names—Barron Road, 82nd Avenue, plus a few landmarks. We might be able to identify them on a map or a satellite image.”
“Why don’t I remember that?”
“I’m not sure, but hopefully it’s going to help.”
She turned on her laptop. Once it was ready she went online to the search engine and clicked on the maps. She then quickly typed in the addresses that she’d mentioned.
“How do you know this?” asked Max, still in amazement.
