Time's Daughter

by Anya Breton

  She was smiling when I pulled back.

  Crimson flushed through my cheeks. “Sorry.”

  Gravel crunching beneath boots meant the rest of the clan was about to join us. I was ushered into Arnold’s care. He, the youngest clan member and I got into his gold Cadillac while the others got into a blue SUV and the black van they’d used to kidnap me.

  The SUV took point and we followed behind the van down the winding drive to the road. No one spoke. Even the chatterbox Abby was grimly quiet. Without the noise of the radio to distract me I could only sooth my worries by biting my pathetically stunted nails.

  Shortly before we would have turned onto the paved road the caravan came to a halt. Each of the three vehicles pulled off to the side of the dirt road, turned off their lights and sat quietly. A moment later Arnold and Abby reached for their handles as the doors of the other cars opened in synchronization. It was almost as if they’d coordinated silently. I was clearly the odd man out.

  I could barely make out the two figures beside me in the inky darkness. “We are going to shift,” Arnold informed me gruffly. “But we’re going to stash our clothes out here. I’ll be right back. Don’t move.”

  I stood stock-still as the sound of their foot falls quieted in the distance. Several sneeze-like sounds echoed from ahead.

  Rustling in the brush worried me. I hoped it was one of the Chattan clan but I couldn’t be sure. It was too dark.

  A soft nose pressed against my hand startling me. It nudged me again. I could barely make out the white fur. A brush against my other side was assumed to be Arnold but his midnight fur made it impossible to see him.

  It was slow going through the trees beside the white cat. As soon as I heard the scuffle ahead our pace increased as if the white cat were raring for action. The fight was over in an instant with little fanfare. She turned with a small snort and nudged me backward.

  After much confusion I was guided back to the cars. The white cat left me beside the Cadillac before disappearing to where I assumed her clothes had been left. She rejoined me in her original outfit minutes later but didn’t speak.

  In the glow the van’s interior lights cast I could see that Drew and Aaron were dressed again. They’d managed to find two pairs of gloves someplace and were now lifting pieces of the wendigo onto the van floor.

  I nearly jumped out of my skin and screamed when I was grabbed from behind as the thing’s severed head was tossed atop the stack of pieces.

  “Shhh,” Alex’s voice whispered in my ear. “It’s only me.”

  I turned and threw my arms around him. “I was so worried.”

  Someone must have lent him clothes because he had on a t-shirt and track pants. “I was fine. No worries.” He hugged me tightly. “You should have stayed back at the house.”

  “I thought they’d need my help.”

  Alex’s right arm slid away so that he could move us toward the car’s door. “Now that we know we’re immune in our animal form, the clan can easily handle them. It’s just the proper disposal of the body that is a little tricky.”

  He opened the back door of the Cadillac and helped me inside then sat beside me. Abby was already in the front seat. She twirled in her seat and smacked the headrest.

  “I always miss out! Alex you promised you’d talk to dad.”

  “I did talk to him,” he answered her calmly. “He said the same thing he always does: you’re too young.”

  “I’m thirteen!” She reminded him angrily. “He let you fight when you were thirteen. This isn’t cuz I’m young. It’s because I’m albino.”

  “Abs, it’s not because you’re albino. It’s because you’re his little girl and he doesn’t want to see you get hurt. Plus, the few times you have joined in, you’ve been reckless.”

  Her lips pursed in annoyance. “That’s only because no one would let me do anything so I jumped in where I could.”

  “You can’t do that. You know we all have our place. Until you learn yours, he isn’t going to let you join.”

  She tossed her hands up. “How can I learn my place when they make me stay fifty feet back?”

  “I know it’s tough but you have to be patient.”

  Abby righted herself in the seat as Arnold approached. She grumbled a comeback when it was too late for Alex to retort. “You weren’t.”

  The Cadillac was the only vehicle to start back. I didn’t know why the others hadn’t left with us. Perhaps they were scouring the forest floor to remove signs of the struggle. It seemed like a reasonable explanation.

  Without a caravan to follow, the eldest member of the clan drove like a bank robber fleeing the police. I quickly put on my seat belt then grabbed onto Alex’s arm for dear life. He laughed and covered my hand with his.

  The trip that had taken fifteen minutes when I’d driven it and eight minutes with the caravan took Arnold a mere four minutes. Up the winding drive he drove like a man who had lived there his entire life and was impatient to get back. We slowed only when we neared the garage around the side of the house.

  The car’s brakes applied far earlier than they should have. I saw why when I followed their eyes to the glow that had once been the bonfire. In the dull orange light stood the figures of six wendigo.

  Arnold put the car in reverse and began backing the car slowly down the driveway. The figures broke into a run for us. He slammed the breaks and put it in park.

  “Aeon,” Arnold spoke rapidly. “We’re going to shift. You’re going to open the car door, run into the house and lock the door behind you.”

  For once I had no interest in arguing with their overprotective demands. I nodded my assent. The creatures barreled down on us. I opened the door as soon as I heard the tearing of their clothing. Alex sprung over me onto the gravel drive to knock over the closest wendigo. I bolted from the back seat toward the house.

  The front door was thankfully unlocked. I slammed it behind me and then peered out the narrow glass windows on either side. There was nothing to see from that vantage point. It was infuriating. How could I hope to help if I couldn’t see anything?

  I made my way through the house until I found windows looking out onto the fight. The ferocious battle was loud enough that the sound had been easy to follow. In the dim light cast by the front and back lanterns I could see that even the white cat had a foe. Alex checked on her before heading to his second victim. His concern had earned him a swat on the nose from the pale paw of the white kitten.

  The French doors ten feet from me shattered in a deafening crash a second later. I screamed in terror even as I tried to process what had happened. Five wendigo had found their way onto the deck and were barreling through the room toward me. I bolted for the front door and struggled to lock it behind me in the hopes that they weren’t smart enough to get it open.

  “There are more in the house,” I shouted at the cats. Onto the front steps I pounded and down into the gravel driveway but my flight was cut short when I saw four more creatures emerge from the forest on the opposite side of the driveway. “And four more just walked out of the trees beside us!”

  If only the other clan members would hurry up! We stood a far better chance against the horde with all nine cats. What could they possibly be doing?

  I headed toward the fighting cats because I didn’t know where else to go. In the distance I saw two sets of headlights moving far faster than was legal. Shortly after I’d spotted the lights, the cars were weaving up the driveway at maniac speeds. Six individuals jumped from the SUV and van, shifted into their animal forms as they ran and engaged the monsters in combat.

  In the distance I saw a massive pack of creatures appear from the same copse of trees as the previous bunch of four. The sea of heads and tattered clothing made me nearly lose my lunch. There were dozens within the light and perhaps more that I couldn’t see in the shadows behind. I held my breath and wished for time to stop.

  I knew it was against the Chattan clan’s rules for me to freeze time but I had to thin
k. How could nine cats and one of me hope to fight against a number so large? Even if they were immune to the creature’s madness in their animal form, they weren’t immune to physical attacks. I had to think of something.

  The cats’ attacks continued even though time had stilled. My heart soared. I’d forgotten the Chattan clan was immune to my power. The wendigo weren’t quite so lucky.

  I watched nervously as the beleaguered family methodically handled the sea of monsters until I could barely keep my eyes open. The longer I held time captive, the less I was able to hold myself up.

  When the final wendigo fell, I exhaled deeply, allowed time to resume and promptly passed out on the driveway.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Warm, comfortable and safe, those were the adjectives that came to mind when I awoke. I was in a bed in room I didn’t recognize but I knew the face in the chair beside me. Alex. He was snoring quietly. I had the urge to kiss him but didn’t want to wake him from his slumber.

  “Aeon,” he said my name like a prayer.

  I hadn’t realized his eyes had opened until then. He blinked at me with the lazy gaze of someone who had recently woken from a sound sleep.

  “Are you okay?” We both asked at once. Our answering chuckles were a little too cutesy.

  “I’m fine,” I assured him. “You?”

  “Tired,” he admitted.

  “Is it over?”

  Alex shook his head. “We don’t know. There were stragglers all night. They stopped coming when the sun rose. Father thinks we’ve taken care of the majority of them. We’re going to canvas the area tonight but I think we’ve probably saved Junction Hill from a catastrophe thanks to you.”

  I winced because I recalled what I’d done to help. “They’re not mad that I broke the rule and froze time?”

  He laughed quietly. “No. Even Alicia knows we would have been toast if you hadn’t helped.”

  I glanced at the window next to me. The light pouring in meant I’d been away from home all night. A blush colored my cheeks. My mom was going to flip.

  I couldn’t tell her I’d spent the night at the Chattans’ without her thinking something improper had happened. It would be nearly impossible to convince her otherwise.

  “What’s wrong?”

  I forced a smile for Alex. He’d sounded so concerned. It was sweet. With a soft shake of my head I replied, “It’s silly.”

  He slid from the chair to sit next to me on the bed. His warm hand covered mine. “I like silly.”

  My eyes dropped to our hands. “I know I should be worrying about life and death but right now I’m just trying to decide how I’m going to explain to my mom why I’m not in bed at home.”

  “You should tell her the truth, Aeon,” he suggested gently.

  I swallowed hard and nodded that he was right. I did need to tell her the truth. There was no time like the present.

  My gaze lifted to hold his. “You’d better take me home before I lose my nerve.”

  * * * *

  Minutes later Alex and I were driving down the dirt road away from the Lake in Anna’s Volkswagen. I couldn’t help but look for signs of the wendigo and their attack in the trees surrounding the street. There seemed to be little evidence of anything at all.

  Alex held my hand during the entire drive but said little because of his near constant yawning. I hoped he’d be able to make it home without difficulty in his exhausted state. It would have been smart for us to bring another family member but neither of us had wanted to bother them while they scoured for stragglers and slept in shifts.

  When we’d reached Eagle Street I leaned over to kiss him before he could initiate. The pleased smile on his face afterward was worth my effort. He certainly seemed to enjoy when I kissed him far more than he enjoyed kissing me. I guessed that I really didn’t suck at kissing.

  His smile fled quickly as if he’d remembered something upsetting. “Unfortunately I’m going to have to postpone our date tonight.”

  “Its okay. I understand.”

  “It sucks too,” he groused petulantly. “I had tickets to the symphony.”

  I blushed while smiling a little too broadly. “Alex, you’re too perfect.”

  His adorable laugh was the first answer he gave. “And your only flaw is that you think I’m perfect.”

  Any argument I might have given was cut short by another lovely kiss. I instantly forgot what I would have been disagreeing with.

  We hugged tightly while he wished me luck and told me to call him when I’d finished. My trepidation exploded as the Volkswagen pulled away from the curb and I was left standing in front of the entrance.

  I took the stairs up, stepped through into the kitchen and stared at the closed door to my mother’s bedroom. She hadn’t woken up yet. She might not have realized I was gone.

  But I still needed to tell her. It was time.

  I showered away the grime of my ghastly night of fights, dressed in comfortable clothes, and sat on the couch with the intent to wait until she woke. With a call into Felix I gave myself a few extra hours. Now the tricky part would only be getting Mom out of the house before Guy appeared with the camera. This was definitely not a poignant mother-daughter discussion that could be filmed.

  She appeared bedraggled at her door after I’d banged a few pans too loudly in the kitchen. I let her visit the bathroom first then declared that we were going out to breakfast together and that she had to hurry or I was going to be late to work. Ten minutes later she emerged from the bedroom with an intentionally disheveled appearance.

  She covered a yawn as I tugged on her arm to the car parked out back. My hands didn’t stop tapping the door handle with a rhythmic beat until she griped at me to hush up. I sat on them in an effort to still their nervous movement. I knew I’d start up again as soon as I let my thoughts drift off to how I was going to broach the subject.

  I handed the breakfast menu to the waitress twenty minutes later at our favorite breakfast haunt then looked up.

  The words tumbled out of my mouth. “Mom, I have something to tell you.”

  My mother’s drowsy eyes cleared in an instant while her fingers stilled on the cup of coffee she’d been about to lift. “You’re pregnant.”

  “No!” I gasped in horror.

  Her hand went to her chest. “Oh, thank god.” She lifted the coffee and took a sip.

  “I know who my father is.”

  Mom choked on her drink. With a hasty gesture she set it down and snatched up her napkin to cover her mouth.

  I continued rapidly before I lost my nerve. “The dream I told you about, well, it was no dream. I know who my father is and I can manipulate time. I can freeze it and freeze specific things in it.”

  Slowly the cloth lifted from her mouth to dab her eyes. “Oh, Aeon. I’m so sorry I never told you. I didn’t think you’d believe me. I didn’t believe it myself.”

  I was amazed that she’d not freaked out. Had she heard me when I’d told her I could do things to time? Was I going to have to say it again?

  I reached across to take her hand. “I know, Mom. I completely understand.”

  She smiled at me ruefully. “I always knew you’d be an extraordinary girl. And you are, even without any of that.” My mother seemed to be the nervous one now. She launched onto a completely different topic. “The documentary people saw that too. That’s why they picked you even though you had no interest in it.”

  “They picked me because that casting guy wanted a date with you,” I reminded her with a grumble.

  “The casting guy?” Mom dropped the napkin onto the table. “He’s the director’s boyfriend.”

  “Then why did he ask you for your number?”

  “He wanted the salon’s number so he could make an appointment for a hair cut. He never did show up for that appointment even though I went in early for him.”

  I stared at her in confusion. If the casting director was gay then he couldn’t possibly want a date with my mom. Had they really p
icked me on my own merits?

  My head spun as I recalled the conversation at hand. “You’re not freaked out that I can do special things?”

  She gave me a wide smile that extended to her eyes. “I love you, Aeon. Everything you do is special to me and nothing you could ever do would freak me out enough to change that one bit.”

  It was my turn to dab moisture from my eyes. “I love you too, Mom.”

  She reached across to take my hand for a squeeze. I returned her broad smile eagerly. If my life had ever been more perfect I couldn’t recall it.

  An average male voice interrupted our tender mother-daughter moment. “There you are. We’ve been looking for you all over.”

  I turned to find the lens of a video camera in my face. With a groan I picked up my orange juice, sipped and mentally counted the days until the documentary was over.

  Then my life could truly be perfect.

  EPILOGUE

  Mom was valiantly trying to hide her grin when we stepped into the Chattan family’s dining room. She’d never ceased to amaze me with how accepting she was of all things weird and unusual. Though she had batted several eyelashes when I’d told her that my boyfriend was a shapeshifting panther, she’d nevertheless treated him and the whole Chattan clan with her usual warmth. That had made the remainder of the documentary a whole lot easier.

  It had been a lucky eight months that I suspected had a little something to do with the black-haired individuals seated at the dinner table. Anna started around the wooden obstacle to give my mother a large hug. The two women retreated into Anna’s large kitchen to bring in the remaining dinner dishes while chatting animatedly about a new recipe Anna had tried.

  Since the documentary had wrapped we’d been able to pay off all of my mom’s medical bills and set aside a little savings for the future. It had helped that Anna had secured my mom a better paying job with a law office that had recently done a redecoration. She now made enough money to only work one job and that one job made her far happier than the two she’d worked previously.