“You created this alternate reality to save her, didn’t you?” Gabriel didn’t doubt this to be true, but he needed to stall for time in order to come up with a better plan than Teresa’s.
“I failed to save her the first time.” The rogue Apollyon looked away, as though remembering something painful. “It haunted me. Changed me. He convinced me it would be unwise to create a new branch of time to save her. He said we needed to learn to let things go. He was wrong. This is much better than letting go.” He gestured to the beach and the sky and the jungle.
Gabriel understood. He had created an alternate reality to save Ling. Wouldn’t he be tempted to do the same again to save Teresa? Would he be able to let go? Could he surrender to fate? Could he release his desires? Could he surrender again now?
“I’m sorry.” Gabriel could not tell what his words were intended to express regret for. The Apollyon’s loss? The unfairness of their lives, living out roles decided for them by fortune? Or for his actions? He didn’t like Teresa’s plan, but could see no other option.
Gabriel focused his will and magical power on the notebook. The leather-bound tome burst into flame and crumbed to ash in the rogue Apollyon’s hand. The Dark Mage yelled with shock and rage, holding his charred limb with his free hand. Gabriel sensed the space-time seal flicker with the distraction of the rogue Apollyon’s pain. Blackness surrounded him and Teresa as time bent around them, and they traveled back to the Primary Continuum.
Several random jumps through time eventually brought them to the edge of a forest nestled between two mountain ranges, their peaks still dusted white in the midsummer sun. From between the trees, Gabriel could see a small Japanese Buddhist temple in a nearby village. A middle-aged man wearing a simple black kimono sat in the grass across from the temple. A sword lay across his knees.
The very sword Gabriel had used to travel to this place. The gentle smile on the man’s face looked the same as the one Gabriel knew from his own time.
Akikane.
He wished he could go and ask the younger version of his mentor for advice, but he knew it would only cause more problems.
“Are we safe?” Teresa took hold of Gabriel’s arm and he helped her to her feet.
“For now.” Gabriel looked into Teresa’s eyes. “Until we need to know what was in that notebook to stop the Apollyons.”
“At least none of them have it.” Teresa straightened her hair.
“I can’t believe we went through all that to come home with nothing.” Gabriel growled and punched a nearby tree. The pain in his hand did nothing to quell the anger roiling in his chest. How could he have been so stupid? There had to have been another way. Maybe if he hadn’t listened to Teresa…
“We can get it back.”
“How?” Gabriel rubbed his knuckles and stared at Teresa.
“We can go back and get it.”
Chapter 13: The Switch
“How?” Gabriel realized he sounded like an idiot repeating himself, and it only annoyed him further.
Teresa flashed him a devilish look. “We sneak back to the rogue Apollyon’s romantic hideaway and switch the book you stole with a copy before he has a chance to steal it back.”
“Huh?” Gabriel tried to figure out exactly what Teresa suggested and how it might be possible. It sounded exactly like the sort of thing Ohin always told them to avoid. Too many possibilities of creating bifurcations.
“It’s simple.” Teresa slowed her words as though speaking to a child. “First, we create a dummy notebook. One that looks like the real thing from the outside. Then we go back to the beach, distract you somehow, and switch the fake notebook with the real one you took from Apollyon’s hut before he finds us on the beach. Then, we get far enough away and jump someplace safe.”
Gabriel blinked and shook his head. “That is an absolutely ridiculous plan.”
Teresa glared at him. “Do you have a better ridiculous plan?”
Gabriel took a deep breath, preparing his response, readying his arguments for why Teresa’s plan wouldn’t work and could only end in disaster. He let the air out of his lungs in one long slow breath.
“Nope.”
“Good.” Teresa’s buoyant attitude returned. “Let’s find some leather we can dye red.”
Finding a scrap of discarded leather proved more time consuming than altering its color. They decided feudal Japan offered as many possibilities for creating a replacement notebook as any other time, so they wandered the small village looking for a tannery. Using their amulets, they altered their appearances, adopting the plain kimonos they saw many of the villagers wearing. Gabriel knew they must be sometime during Akikane’s life and guessed they were in the late 1300s. The town, composed mostly of large farmhouses with steeply sloped, thatched roofs, held fewer than a thousand citizens.
They found the tannery at the edge of the village and clandestinely searched the trash pile behind the foul smelling barn for a piece of leather the right size. Finding suitable paper took a little longer. Until the Industrial Age, paper remained relatively scarce. They decided to use one of the larger local farmhouses as a relic and travel father into the future. Unfortunately, a fire had destroyed the farmhouse in the late 1700s, forcing them to use another farmhouse to travel to the 1930s. Surprisingly, the village remained largely unchanged throughout the centuries, even as the country began to industrialize in the 20th Century.
There they changed their appearances again and, after a lunch of pilfered edamame, they found an old novel in a trash bin. Retiring to a nearby field and hiding behind a stand of trees, Gabriel used an imaginary magical blade to slice their piece of leather to match the size of the paper from the discarded book. He ripped the cover from the pages and, using a bit of subtle Stone Magic, affixed the inner pages to the new leather cover. Finally, he focused his Stone Magic on the leather, gradually changing the tint of the dried cowhide to match the reddish hue of the real notebook.
Teresa appraised the final product appreciatively. “You could have had a very good career as a forger.”
“I never thought of that.” Gabriel admired his own handiwork. “I could make my own money and be rich.”
“Then you’d have to make your own world to spend it in.” Teresa seemed intrigued by the thought.
Gabriel frowned, remembering the costs of creating worlds. “Money is too much trouble.”
“Now we need to figure out how to distract you and switch the books.” Teresa took the fake notebook from Gabriel.
“When you kiss me.”
It seemed like the best time to Gabriel. His mind had been far from the contents of his pocket.
“When I kiss you?” Teresa said the words as though she hadn’t heard him properly.
“In the jungle. After I stole the notebook. Before we got back to the hiding place.” Teresa’s continued look of confusion as he explained the kiss led him to a singular conclusion. “Oh.”
“I see.” Teresa looked down at the phony notebook in her hands. “I guess I’ll be kissing you then.”
“Paradox.” Gabriel sighed.
Time travel could be so confusing. No wonder Teresa hadn’t brought up the kiss — it hadn’t happened yet for her. That explained why she had met him in the jungle suddenly and kissed him so abruptly. And why she had seemed surprised to see him when he had found her moments later at the lookout spot.
“I hate paradox.”
“Let’s get this over with.” Teresa looked up from the book, Gabriel’s heart sinking at the tone of her voice. She certainly didn’t seem enthusiastic about kissing him. Or kissing the past version of him.
“Right. It’ll be over before you know it.” Gabriel took hold of Teresa’s arm, clasping the tiny shard of stone from the rogue Apollyon’s statue of Semele in his hand.
A twist through time and a moment later, they stood on the beach again, darkness surrounding them and the white light of the moon giving their faces a spectral glow. Gabriel started walking along the beach, Teresa f
alling in beside him.
“I brought us to a few minutes before we arrive the first time. We can find a place to watch ourselves and wait for morning.”
“And then I’ll…distract you, while you switch the notebooks.” Teresa looked up at the moon while she walked.
“Then we wait until our previous selves escape and the rogue Apollyon chases them.” Gabriel stared at the sand before his feet. “Time travel can get so bewildering.”
It took them half an hour to find a spot to secretly observe their previous selves. A short while later, the slightly younger Gabriel and Teresa took up their position watching the hut. Gabriel felt a vague sense of mental vertigo, watching himself watching the hut. It felt both fascinating and disturbing at the same time. Teresa, on the other hand, seemed bored, leaning back against a tree and dozing off to sleep.
Oddly, he had no problems staying awake through the night. Too many questions plagued his mind. Questions about Teresa. Questions about the rogue Apollyon. Could he be a rogue while also being the original Apollyon? What had his twin called him? The Prime. What was this Prime Apollyon becoming? He seemed unable to stop talking about Vicaquirao. At least that is who Gabriel assumed he constantly referred to. Maybe Semele had been a good influence on his state of mind.
Was Teresa a good influence on Gabriel’s state of mind? Was he a good influence on her? What would they do once they had the notebook? Return to the castle, surely. What remained of Windsor Castle? And the Council? How many casualties had they suffered? How many years had the war been prolonged? Could defeat now be a possibility? Would they be forced to surrender?
Gabriel blinked at the sunlight suddenly striking his eyes from behind a jungle leaf. When had the sun come up? How long had he been daydreaming? He gently nudged Teresa awake, pointing to the rogue Apollyon and Semele stepping from the hut. Teresa sat up and they watched their previous selves observe the man and woman on the beach.
“Nearly time.” Teresa stretched the sleep from her muscles.
They waited as the older version of Gabriel snuck through the jungle.
“This way.” Gabriel stood. “I’ll show you where you surprise me.”
He charted a course through the jungle foliage that would allow them to intercept his previous self on the way back from the hut. He found the perfect spot and instructed Teresa on how to mimic her sudden arrival as he had experienced it before. Gabriel hid behind a large jungle bush and they waited.
A few minutes later, Gabriel saw himself coming through the trees. His previous self walked right toward him. Gabriel experienced a moment of panic, fighting back the feeling they had miscalculated, and both versions of himself would come face to face. A swaying of leaves caught his attention. His previous self stopped and looked in the same direction. His older self stood only an arm’s length away through the deep green leaves.
Teresa burst from the jungle and stopped in front of the previous Gabriel. She seemed to hesitate and then threw her arms around him.
Dizziness washed over Gabriel as he watched the scene before him.
“I thought for sure they were going to walk in on you.” Teresa smiled, paused again, and then kissed Gabriel’s previous self.
His dizziness and sense of incongruity increased to the point where he almost forgot the purpose of witnessing this bizarre romantic interlude. He reached his arms out of the leaves, slowly slipping the notebook from his previous self’s pocket and gently replacing it with the fake. He could see Teresa’s eyes open and watching him as he eased back into the underbrush. Gabriel allowed himself a small, inner congratulation. Marcus would be proud.
“Come on,” Teresa said and dashed off into the jungle again.
“What? Wait.” A confused look on his face, the previous Gabriel chased after Teresa.
Gabriel watched the older version of himself disappear into the leaves and let a long breath of relief slide past his lips.
Gabriel waited a moment and then headed for the location he and Teresa had chosen for a rendezvous. As he walked, he wondered again about that kiss. Maybe it had been so awkward because Teresa had not been the Teresa he had expected her to be? Maybe that was the source of the strangeness in the kiss? Maybe she had been distracted by the circumstances. Maybe other circumstances would prove more sympathetic. Was kissing really so distasteful?
He found Teresa exactly where he expected. She pointed to the notebook in his hand.
“Is that it?”
Gabriel flipped open the book to show her the inside, Elizabeth’s cryptic script filling the pages.
“I wasn’t sure it would work.” Teresa looked genuinely relieved.
“Now you tell me you weren’t sure.” Gabriel shook his head in wonder and slipped the notebook in his pocket.
“I was mostly sure.” Teresa started walking through the jungle and Gabriel followed her.
It only took a few minutes to come to a place where they could watch their previous selves fleeing along the beach. They didn’t have to wait long before a small sand storm blew up around their previous selves and the rogue Apollyon appeared. Gabriel held his breath and watched the events on the beach unfold exactly as they had before.
When the notebook burst into flame he felt a twinge of compassion for the rogue Apollyon, wondering if his madness would return. Then the previous Gabriel and Teresa disappeared. The rogue Apollyon screamed in rage at the sky and then vanished himself. Those seconds of uncontrolled anger had probably been what had allowed Gabriel to escape. Every second could be essential in trying to ghost a fellow Time Mage.
Gabriel waited a few moments and then stood up.
“We did it.” Teresa rose to her feet, her face triumphant.
“Yes.” Gabriel laughed. “Thanks to your brilliantly ridiculous idea.”
“Can I see the notebook?” Teresa offered her open palm.
“I’m not letting this thing out of my sight until we’re back at the castle.” Gabriel patted the notebook in his pocket.
“I only want to see it for a second.” Teresa gestured with her open hand.
“We can look at it back at the castle.” Gabriel furrowed his brow at Teresa’s insistence.
“Hand it to me now, Gabriel.” Teresa took a step forward, her voice commanding.
“Why?” Gabriel unconsciously stepped backward.
“Because I said so.” Teresa glared at him with open menace. “And if you ever want to see your girlfriend alive, you’ll do exactly as I say.”
Gabriel instinctively grasped the imprints of the Sword of Unmaking and the pocket watch as he felt a pulsing of magic from Teresa. A pulsing of magic he should never have been able to feel from her. A magic laced with Malignant imprints. Looking down at his hands, he realized he had drawn the sword and held its tip pointed at Teresa’s heart.
“Don’t be a fool.” Teresa shimmered and her flesh rippled as she rapidly transformed into the lovely and evil Kumaradevi. “If you kill me, you’ll never know what I’ve done with your girlfriend.”
“I don’t understand,” Gabriel stammered, trying to figure out what had happened.
“You rarely do.” Kumaradevi’s eyes twinkled with a mischievous delight. “All you need to know is that I have placed your lovely friend somewhere in time, and if you do not give me the notebook, she will die there. Alone. Most likely in some painful fashion.”
Gabriel couldn’t think. How had Kumaradevi managed to replace Teresa? How had she even been able to find this secret, alternate reality of the rogue Apollyon’s? How had he not felt the magic used to bend space and time and take Teresa away? How had she…?
“Stop trying to tease out how you failed.” Kumaradevi gestured again with her open hand. “You failed because you are pathetic. You failed because you are not half as clever as you think. You failed for the same reason you will always fail. I am superior to you in every way. Now hand me the notebook.”
“Why not fight me for it?” Gabriel wasn’t sure if this would be such a good idea. He could
see a necklace of seven concatenate crystals glowing around Kumaradevi’s neck.
“You know as well I do that my crystals are weaker here.” Kumaradevi laughed. “Why would I risk fighting you when I can force you to do what I want?”
Gabriel understood her logic. Her crystals were all linked to Malignant imprints in her vicious alternate reality and would be less powerful in the Primary Continuum. In another alternate reality, they would be exponentially weaker. She was right. Holding Teresa captive gave her a much stronger position than her magic. She could easily force him to do as she wished.
“Tell me where she is first.” Gabriel pulled the notebook from his pocket with one hand, still aiming the sword at Kumaradevi with the other.
“The notebook.” Kumaradevi snorted in derision.
“You could take the notebook and never tell me where she is.”
“I could, but then she would die.”
Gabriel didn’t understand Kumardevi’s meaning. She laughed at the confusion clouding his face.
“If I wanted her dead, I would have killed her.” Kumaradevi’s genial manner evaporated. “I know what it is like to lose the one you love. I’ll save that as a punishment for you, not a reward.”
Gabriel threw the notebook on the ground between them. He didn’t trust handing it to her. Kumaradevi’s lips curled downward as she looked at the leather-bound book in the grass. She took something from the pocket of the tunic she wore and tossed it on the ground. It looked like a stone.
“Tell Elizabeth that one day I will repay her for killing my husband while he couldn’t defend himself.” Gabriel doubted she would ever accept any responsibility for her husband’s death. Kumaradevi pointed her hand at the notebook and it flew into her fingers. She looked at him while she held the book. “Whose death do you think would crush her the most?”
Gabriel had no time to answer. Kumaradevi blinked out of existence, a wicked smile filling her face.
The Sword of Unmaking (The Wizard of Time - Book 2) Page 14
