Dark Matter (Interchron Book 3)

by Liesel K. Hill

  He heaved another sigh, looking disturbed. “What else?”

  “Joan holding a baby and crying.”

  “Do you know whose baby?”

  “No. I asked Joan. She said she can’t think of a single time she’s held a baby and cried. Especially with how few children there are here, you’d think she'd remember, you know?”

  Marcus nodded.

  “There’s Clay on his knees, screaming.” As always, thoughts of Clay brought sadness. Even now, he lay comatose on a double bed in medical, never to wake again. For all intents, he was brain dead. It was just a matter of time until his body gave out.

  “You can hear him?”

  She shook her head. “No. Only see him. He’s holding his head like he’s in pain. Kind of a silent scream. Then I see Lila curled up in a ball, also crying.”

  Marcus held up a hand. “When you see these, can you see the setting around the people?”

  “Sometimes. Clay is in a room next to a wooden table. It doesn’t look like Interchron in particular, but it might be. There aren’t any other distinguishing characteristics, so I can’t tell anything else about it.”

  “How about with Lila?”

  Maggie thought for a moment, calling the image to mind. “It looks like she’s at Interchron. I can’t tell what room in particular. Maybe medical, or the command center. She’s lying on the floor, curled up in a ball where two walls meet. Just…crying.”

  She paused, waiting for him to process it. After a moment, he motioned for her to continue. “There’s one of Doc burning parchment by candlelight.”

  “Did you ask him about it?”

  "Not yet," she shook her head. "I will."

  "Can you see the setting there?" he asked.

  Maggie frowned. "Not much. It's very dark around him. The candlelight is lighting his face—" Maggie cut off as something in the memory came into view in her head. "There's a window behind him." She practically shouted it and Marcus jumped. "Sorry," she said. "Marcus, I've never realized that before."

  Marcus smiled. "See? I told you they'd come back eventually. Just keep trying, but not stressing out about them. What kind of window?"

  Maggie shut her eyes, trying to call up the image. Doc's face hovered above a candle. He carefully fed papers into the flame, patiently watching them burn. His expression, as the papers curled and the embers made their way slow upward, looked intense. She would almost have said disturbed, except that his face was unlined. She'd never noticed it before, but behind Doc, the candlelight reflected off some kind of glass pane.

  "I don't know," Maggie said. "Circular, I think?"

  Marcus breathed deeply. "We don't really have windows at Interchron. Certainly no circular ones. You and Doc must have been somewhere else. Can you see any other details?"

  Maggie opened her eyes with a shrug. "There are lines through the glass. It's divided into smaller panes."

  Marcus raised an eyebrow. "Like two crossed lines making four panes?"

  Maggie frowned. "No. More than that. Four lines, like a tic tac toe board. What is that? Nine panes?"

  Marcus rubbed his jaw. "Are you sure the window is circular? Could be an octagon?"

  Maggie frowned and shut her eyes. In the memory, the candlelight shimmered off the glass, giving her a vague impression of its shape, but the room was too dark to tell anything more distinct.

  Maggie let her breath out in frustration and opened her eyes. "Maybe it's an octagon. It's too blurry for me to tell if it has points or flat edges."

  Marcus nodded. "Well, it's something you didn't have before."

  She nodded, trying to feel encouraged instead of frustrated. "The last one is a rock formation. I recovered more of that one when I went over it with David.”

  Marcus instantly stiffened.

  “We were prisoners at the time,” she said, unable to keep the defensiveness from her voice. “We had nothing else to talk about and he wanted to know.” Marcus looked somewhat mollified, but his shoulders didn’t loosen. “Anyway, it’s night time and there are people standing on top of this rock formation. That’s it. I don’t know who they are or where it is.”

  Marcus stayed quiet a long time. “Well,” he finally said. “It’s a start.”

  Code for, I-have-no-freaking-clue-either.

  Maggie sighed. She didn’t want to discuss the flashes anymore. Dreaming of them unnerved her. It wasn’t Marcus’s fault he couldn’t shed any insight on them. It still made things frustrating, though.

  She changed the subject. “You never finished telling me about your memory,” she said. “Did we get to the end?”

  He’d spent a good deal of the previous evening telling her of the strange force that hit him while he and Karl searched for Colin, the memories that surfaced and Karl’s theory of quantum entanglement.

  He smiled. “I think we got through most of it. After they attacked my father and David left, I made my way to Interchron, dragging my father behind me on a litter. He was unconscious the whole way.”

  Maggie felt a stab of sorrow for what Marcus had endured. “You were alone.”

  He shrugged, as he always shrugged off his own hardships.

  “So why do you think you forgot the details?”

  He shrugged again. “Too painful, I guess. David’s betrayal…” He trailed off, his eyes searching the blanket covering them. He wasn’t misty-eyed. Marcus rarely cried, and Maggie got the feeling he still harbored too much anger with David to cry over him, even angry tears. She knew he’d stopped because he couldn’t go on. When things became painful, he tried to minimize his emotions. Once he succeeded, he’d verbalize them. “Especially as a teenager,” he went on, “it was too hard for me to deal with. So, I buried it.” By his tone, he might have been talking about the inventory of Interchron’s storerooms. Maggie was probably the only one in the world who heard what he buried with that tone.

  She rested her cheek against his shoulder and ran through the entire memory he’d related to her. “What do you think it meant?” she asked. “The thing the collective woman said about you and David—I’m assuming you’re the two brothers—needing one another?”

  Marcus’s jaw tightened. She knew he didn’t want to hear that he needed his brother. That part of his story gave her chills, and not in a good way. It must be important.

  “I don’t know,” he said curtly.

  She knew his curtness wasn’t directed at her. He wasn’t even looking at her.

  Reaching up, she put a hand on his cheek and turned his face toward her. When their eyes met, his softened. “Hey,” she said quietly. “He’s your brother, and he did save my life. Doesn’t that earn him some trust?”

  Marcus sighed, shrugging his shoulders uncomfortably. “I don’t know. Maybe. I owe him for going to get you, and everything else he did. But I still can’t forgive him. Not completely.”

  “Why?”

  “He’s the reason my father died.”

  Maggie frowned. “Your father was alive when you reached Interchron.”

  Marcus nodded. “Yes, but the attack did damage he never recovered from. He didn’t die until a few years later, but he was always sickly. He never had the same vitality. Certainly never lived to be an old man. I’m positive, if not for David leading the collectivists to us that day, he'd have lived much longer. He might still be alive now.”

  A deep sorrow stole into Marcus’s face, and Maggie let the silence lie for a full minute before speaking again. “I get it, Marcus. At least, to the extent I can—I’ve never dealt with that level of betrayal from Jonah—but David is trying.” She couldn’t even imagine having to deal with that. “I think it’s important the two of you at least try to fix your relationship. I wouldn’t expect you to be best friends by tomorrow or anything—”

  She cut off when Marcus raised a hand, looking frustrated. His face had tightened steadily as she spoke. “Look, I’m not arguing.” His voice had a hard edge. “I’m sure you’re right. I just need time to work through it.”
/>   Maggie suppressed a sigh. Marcus’s voice hadn’t softened during any part of the sentence. She knew him too well—now that she remembered him. He had no intention of ‘working through’ it. He said it as an excuse to stay mad at David for the time being.

  “It’ll take time,” she said. And it would. Chances were, only time and seeing David help the team battle the collectives would soften Marcus toward his brother. “I still think you two should talk.”

  “We did talk.” His expression changed. Still serious, yet not as bleak as before. Now he looked half mischievous, half annoyed. “He told me during the second jump, he returned to your camp to find you and Kristee trying to force a memory.”

  Maggie’s face heated. She plastered on an annoyed expression. “Yeah. So?”

  “You can’t do that Maggie.”

  With a soft growl, she purposely pulled the blanket more tightly around her, putting distance between them. “Yeah. So everyone has told me. David, Doc, Joan, Nat. I don’t need another lecture on this.”

  He stared at her from where he sat against the pillows, face unreadable. Finally, he gave a nod. “Okay, but at least tell me why.”

  “Because we need those memories. What if they’re the key to bringing down the collectives?”

  Marcus shrugged. “What if they are? Do you think destroying your mind and tainting them will help us defeat our enemies? The product isn’t worth the payment.”

  Maggie set her mouth in a stubborn line, knowing if she started yelling she’d say something she regretted.

  Marcus softened his voice and leaned subtly toward her. “Did you learn anything?” He always did that when trying to mollify her. Despite knowing his tactic, she found herself wanting to open up to him.

  No wonder he did it: it always worked. Damnit.

  “Actually, I did,” she snapped. Then sighed, softening her voice. “I regained part of a memory. David yanked me out of it before I learned much—”

  “If he hadn’t, the forcing of it might have done damage to your brain.”

  “I’m fine,” she snapped again.

  Marcus gazed at her from beyond her shoulder. She thought she detected a hint of mirth in his eyes. “Tell me about the memory you recovered.” Maggie squashed a stab of annoyance at the note of command in his voice. She had a hard time denying him anything when he leaned so close and gazed at her that way.

  Maggie's long-suffering sigh made the corners of his mouth turn up. She told him what she remembered of the round room and B. He didn’t seem surprised, and his reaction to her talking about the flash where B cornered her in a round, glass room suddenly made sense. “You knew it was that memory I tried to force, even before I told you.”

  “Lila told me some of it. I didn’t realize it was an unexplained memory flash.”

  She nodded. “It was all blurry. Indistinct. Like I saw it through water. I could hear normally so I couldn't have actually been under water. I asked him what he wanted. He said, ‘Isn’t it obvious?’ He started to tell me, but David yanked me out. If he’d waited another five seconds, I would have learned what B said to me. I’m sure the memory is from the ship. Before I dumped my memories. It’s important I know what happened in that room. It will probably explain why I got rid of them, how I ended up on the island, maybe a host of other questions we still don’t have answers to.”

  “Yeah, but Maggie,” he turned slightly and took her hands. “I don’t know if you could have trusted the answers. The warping you described, like seeing the images through water, phasing in and out with the light? That’s not part of the memory. It’s a result of forcing it. It’s like…trying to pull taffy through a sieve rather than waiting longer to see the original shape. It messed with the memory. What you heard could become warped. It might confuse you or lead you completely in the wrong direction. Is it worth the risk? Especially if it left you with lasting damage?”

  She dropped her eyes. “Of course I don’t want brain damage, but yes I think it’s worth the risk. I already think it’s been beneficial.” He raised an eyebrow and she plowed on. “Ever since it happened, I can’t stop thinking about it. Not in a normal way. I feel like it’s right here.” She motioned to the air around her head. “It’s like having something on the tip of your tongue. It’s so close I can almost grasp it. I think if I actually sleep—” she grinned wryly and motioned to the bed beneath them. Marcus grinned back. Sleep wasn’t something they’d done much of since returning from the Canyon. “—It will fully come back to me.”

  He took her hand. “Well. I hope you’re right. Promise me you won’t try and force anything again.” Maggie didn’t answer right away and he took on a warning tone. “Maggie.”

  “Oh, all right. I’ll promise if you want. What if we get into trouble? What if there’s a time crunch and we need information—?”

  “We’ll figure it out.” He took her chin gently in his thumb and forefinger, forcing her to look into his face. “Promise me.”

  “I promise.”

  He kissed the tip of her nose, and then her lips.

  Grinning, he wrapped his arms around her middle and half-wrestled her back into a lying down position, pulling the blanket from between them so they lay skin to skin. The heat in Maggie’s body awakened as Marcus playfully nuzzled her neck with his face. She laughed softly.

  He pulled back and looked down into her eyes. “There’s one more thing I wanted to ask you.”

  “What?”

  He slid his hand up her side, into her armpit. It tickled, though not unpleasantly, and she shivered. He then ran his hand up the underside of her arm, over her elbow, and down her forearm until he could finger her bracelet. The only thing she currently wore. It was the same, diamond-crusted bracelet he’d given her before returning her to her own time, months ago. The same one that had triggered the return of her memories after he’d gone.

  “You said when you looked at this bracelet,” he said, “you remembered when I gave it to you in the diamond cavern?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, I remember us lying on a blanket together, watching the diamonds sparkle in the water spray. You handed me the bracelet. What about it?”

  He hesitated, conflict in his face. “Is that all you remember? There’s nothing else?”

  Maggie thought for a moment. “No. Why? What else happened?”

  Again, the hesitation. The indecision.

  “Marcus,” she said, genuinely surprised. “Why don’t you want to tell me?”

  He shrugged uncomfortably. “Doc says we should let the memories return on their own. Small details are fine to tell you, or filling in minor holes. Big things…they’ll stick more powerfully if they return naturally. He said if we tell you something, your brain will stop trying to recover the memory. Even though you don’t remember it, you consciously know what it was. Something special for us happened there, Maggie. I want you to remember it.”

  The same old ache came back into Maggie’s chest. “I’m sorry I don’t.”

  He dropped his forehead down to lean against hers. “You don’t have to be sorry, Maggie. Ever.”

  She sighed, knowing she wanted to say this, but it would be hard. “Marcus, looking back at what happened before…I didn’t remember you, so I couldn’t fully see you. Now I can. You were in such pain, wanting so desperately for me to remember. It must have been awful. Torturous—” her voice broke.

  Marcus kissed her gently and wiped the tears on her cheeks away with his thumbs.

  “All I care about is having you back now. I never would have thought it possible, Maggie. I’d resigned myself to living without you the rest of my days. Resigned myself to being lonely for you forever. Now you’re here. If such a miracle can happen, the rest of your memories will return in time as well. I believe that.”

  Maggie gazed up into his earnest eyes and saw sincerity. She nodded. She wanted to believe him. Had to, if she didn’t want to go crazy wondering.

  Marcus kissed her more deeply, wrapping his body around hers. His lips lef
t hers and traveled down her jaw. He pressed his lips against her ear. “Maybe I can tell you one thing about the diamond cavern,” he exhaled warmly against her skin.

  “What?” she whispered back.

  “It was the first time we ever made love.”

  Maggie threw her hands up. He couldn’t see them as they were behind his back. “Is that supposed to make me feel better? I don’t remember that!”

  He chuckled.

  “It’s not funny, Marcus.”

  If anything, his grin widened. “I thought, since you can’t remember it, maybe I’ll have to show you how it went. You know, until you do.”

  Maggie rolled her eyes, grinning. “Cheesiest booty call, ever.” She sighed. “But…okay.”

  Marcus laughed more deeply. She loved the sound of his laugh. He didn’t do it enough. He kissed her deeply again, running his hands over her shoulder blades and down her back.

  A rap on the door frame made Maggie jump. It had been silent except for the two of them for so long, it felt like they were alone in the mountain. They let go of one another with identical groans. “Seriously?” Maggie muttered.

  “We’ve been alone in here for—what? Fourteen, fifteen hours?” Marcus sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

  “Is that all?” Maggie grumbled. “Not nearly long enough, after all we’ve been through.”

  Marcus grinned. “I'm surprised no one’s barged in on us before now.” He dressed as he spoke, yanking his pants on before Maggie sat up and pulled the sheet around herself. Marcus, still shirtless, walked to the door and stuck his head and shoulders through it, breeching the invisible privacy barrier all Interchron’s doorways had. Maggie immediately heard the deep rumble of Karl’s voice.

  “You guys gotta come.”

  “What’s wrong?” Marcus asked.

  “I’m not entirely sure,” Karl said. “Something’s happening, and the look on Doc’s face didn’t inspire much confidence.”

  A trickle of fear entered Maggie's chest. That didn't sound good. She scanned the floor for her clothes.

  “Where is he?” Marcus asked.