by E. R. Mason
Jax nervously rubbed his mouth with one hand then took the leap. He stepped into the darkened hallway and looked back at the bathroom. It was now just as dark as the rest of the house. There was no longer any light from the bathroom window, just a new, ominous blackness.
The bathroom door was normally kept closed. As quietly as possible he closed it. A short way down the hall, his mother’s bedroom door was ajar. She always kept it that way so she could call him in an emergency. With the greatest of care he moved down the hallway, pushed the door open and stuck his head in. She was sleeping soundly. The green numbers on her bedside clock read “4:13.”
His own bedroom was at the end of the hall. He could not resist. As quietly as possible, he stepped slowly along and stopped outside it. With the greatest of care he twisted the knob and pushed the door open just enough to see. A figure was sleeping in his bed. His figure. Gently Jax closed the door.
There was nothing to do but leave. He eased himself downstairs and in the dim light caught sight of the bike in the utility room. There it would need to stay. He was forced to leave with only that which he had brought back in time with him. At the front door he undid the dead bolt and slipped outside. There, a rush of concern made him slap at the pocket of his jeans. His keys were there. Had he not picked them up this morning he would not have been able to lock the front door behind him. That certainly would have caused a stir in the events of the day. He checked his other pocket. No mobile phone. It had remained on the nightstand when he went downstairs. Maybe that was just as well. The temptation to use it might be too great and the effects could be disastrous, at least according to Skyla.
Jax began his walk. How did Skyla know so much? Or was she just guessing? It couldn’t all be from some book she’d read even though she did seem to be kind of a sci-fi fan. All those CDs by the TV in her boat were sci-fi. It was hard to tell if anything she was saying was the truth. For all he knew that boat might not even really be hers to use.
Jax paused to look around the shadowy neighborhood. The air was slightly too cool and damp. He turned back to take a last look at his house. A pang of depression surged up. There was no way to get back there now. He checked the street in both directions. If a neighbor drove by he’d have to hide. They couldn’t be allowed to see him and then ask about it later. If a patrol car came by they’d likely stop him for ID. Jax picked up his pace and tried to stay near cover as he walked. There was only one place he could go; Skyla’s boat. If this new jump back in time was happening to them, that’s probably where they’d head. But the walk would probably take 4 or 5 hours. At least once he got far enough away from his neighborhood there’d be a lot less chance of being recognized. Jax took a deep breath and braced for the long walk.
Two hours slowly passed and as the sun began to rise, a few cars began passing by. Jax turned away to avoid any chance of being spotted. A patrol car cruised along the street. Jax waved and continued on. Without warning a slow moving black car came creeping up the street toward him. Jax took refuge behind a hedge and watched. As the car crept by, the driver’s window was open. He got a clear look at the driver. It was Skyla! He jumped out and yelled. The car jerked to a stop and then slowly backed up. Skyla smiled up at him. “We can’t go on meeting like this.”
“You think this is funny? We are so screwed.”
“You’d better get in Mr. Sunshine. Before you make things worse.”
Jax hurried around and climbed in next to her. She checked her mirrors and pulled back out on the road.
“We need to get Remy real quick, right? That is if it hasn’t blown up in his face already. You are Friday morning’s Skyla, right?”
“Yes, thank you for asking. I’ve already rounded up Remy. He said he fell asleep on the porch, woke up in the dark, and thought he’d slept all day. He was locked out of his house. I got there just in time to stop him from ringing the doorbell to wake somebody up. I dropped him at the boat, and came looking for you. Did you screw anything up?”
“No, thank you for asking! I left myself sleeping soundly in my bed and got out quickly.”
“You’re wising up I think, Mr. Eaton. Where did the time-shift get you?”
“I had a very interesting episode in the bathroom.”
“Lights went out, eh?”
“Only in the house. Outside the bathroom window it was still bright as day.”
“Did you try to escape that way?”
“How did you know that?”
“It’s what I would have done. Obviously it didn’t work, did it?”
“Window was frozen shut. Glass wouldn’t break. What was that all about?”
“On Star Trek they used to call it a temporal rift. That’s as good a description as any.”
“I don’t get it.”
“You were in between times. You weren’t in the present, and you weren’t yet in the past. Anything can happen in that kind of zone.”
“Water came from the faucet in slow-mo.”
Skyla nodded and stopped for a red light.
Jax thought a moment and looked directly at her. “You ready to tell me how you what you know?”
“Years of science fiction and dabbling in science fact. Ever hear of string theory?”
“All I care about is how far back did we jump?”
“Okay, but you’re not going to like it.”
“I already don’t like it. How far?”
“Exactly one week.”
“We are so screwed.”
“You are starting to sound like Remy, you know.”
“Whose car is this?”
“It belongs to a neighbor. I borrowed it. We’ve got to get it back before they notice it’s gone.”
“I’m riding in a stolen car with you now?”
“It’s the least of our worries.”
“So what are we going to do this time?”
“Okay, but you’re not going to like it.”
Jax rolled his eyes.
Skyla glanced over at him. “Hide on the boat, for one thing.”
“One thing? What’s the other thing?”
“Okay but you . . .”
“I know I won’t like it! It’s already screwed up enough as it is. What’s the other thing?”
“We need to discuss returning to Demon House.”
Jax was speechless for a moment, struggling to understand. “Why would we ever want to go back there?”
“Because the corruption of time is getting worse. Before this, the problem was confined to the house, but now a time shift has affected us while we were miles away. That means the effect is widening. It can now happen to us anywhere, anytime and will probably get worse each time.”
“How can it get any worse than this?”
“I hate to tell you this, but we’re now outside of normal time. Before, when our duplicate selves from the past left the house they’d always sync back up with us. Not this time. There is now another you living at your house and he’s not going away and we still must not interfere with him in any way. It’s the same for me and Remy. The other Jax, Remy, and Skyla will go on living into their future right up to the point where we were first thrown back in time. We can’t wait around for all that to happen so we can catch back up to our time because there’s too much chance another time pulse will hit us before then and throw us back even farther.”
“This is all crazy! It’s impossible!”
“Yes, except that it is really happening. Those other copies of us will eventually put two to two together and realize we exist, as well. That alone will change our pasts. The problem will expand from there until nothing but absolute chaos is left. So as it stands now, we can never go back to our lives unless we solve the mystery of Demon House and fix it.”
“Fix it? What can we do? This isn’t our fault! We didn’t make any of this happen.”
“That’s true. And, if we hadn’t gone investigating Demon House, sooner or later others even less prepared than us would have and the situation would probably b
ecome even more disastrous very quickly.”
“Wait a minute. Others less prepared than us? We weren’t prepared for this! We don’t know anything! Just what do we know? And, how do we know what we know?”
“I’ll go over all of this with you when the time is right. You’ll just have to trust me.”
“Trust you? Who are you, really?”
“You need to stop being a wimp and step up and become Superdude. I know you can.”
“Who you calling a wimp?”
Chapter 6
Remy was not at all happy. He had two gas burners on the ship’s stove heating frying pans and was building himself a sandwich that challenged the washing up bottle for height. Jax could feel the tension in the air as he stepped down into the galley. Skyla followed close behind.
“Remy, where’d you get all that stuff?” she asked as she put down her bag.
Remy did not look away from his masterpiece. “From the 24-hour market down the street.”
“You can’t be doing that, Remy. We need to use shops well away from this area. We can’t be showing our faces around here. Someone who knows us might run into us.”
Remy looked directly at Skyla and pointed his spatula at her. “All of this is your fault!” He returned to his cooking.
“No, Remy. It’s not.”
Remy did not look up. “You did this to us!”
“I caused the time rift? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Who knows? For all we know you may have! In any case, you sucked us into exploring that place and now we’re screwed!”
“I asked Jax to help me. Nobody forced you to tag along, Remy.”
“That’s right. It’s your fault both of us are in this mess. All your fault.”
“You didn’t have to come along, Remy. Nobody coerced you.”
“Nobody mentioned our lives would be blown going there either, did they?”
“Remy, I’m sorry, but this problem would have affected all of us no matter who went to Demon House.”
Remy gathered up his sandwich, made an “Uh-huh,” grunt and disappeared back into his stateroom.
Skyla looked at Jax with an exasperated stare. Jax shook his head. “He gets this way sometimes when he’s upset.”
“I only wish he wasn’t so right.”
“What? Self doubt? From you?”
Skyla turned away and began cleaning up Remy’s mess.
Jax stepped closer. “It would help if we knew who you really are. We’re following blind right now. Remy will be okay. It’s usually just a 60 minute pissed off, then he ends up feeling guilty.”
Jax dared to put a hand on her shoulder and turned her to face him. “Hey, there’s nobody I’d rather be lost in time with.” A moment of intense intimacy engulfed them. Jax leaned forward to kiss her, but the instant their lips touched she pulled away.
“I need to keep my head clear,” she said. “I can’t be going head over heels just now.”
A burst of jubilation shot through Jax, though he caught himself and managed to sound solemn. “Well, I’m with you anyway. Have no doubt about that.”
“Remy’s problem is that he realizes how serious this is. He thinks maybe he’ll never get back home. He doesn’t understand it’s much worse than that.”
“Actually he doesn’t have much of a home. His Aunt and Uncle would barely notice if he ever disappeared.”
“Still he’s right about getting our lives back.”
“What’s our next move?”
“We need to go back to Demon House with climbing gear.”
“Yeah, that’s not going to make him feel any better.”
“He’s made some fresh tea. Let’s take it in the lounge and go over some things.”
They sat together on the sofa, morning light filtering through the closed curtains, the sound of water lapping at the hull.
“What are our odds, Sky? Can you at least tell me that much?”
Skyla put her cup on the tea table. “You’re more valuable than you know. If it was just me, fifty-fifty. With you here I’m betting it’s 80 percent. We need to start by making some preplanned arrangements.”
“Like what?”
“If we get separated again, a specific place we can find each other, for one thing.”
“How about this boat?”
“No. It needs to be a geographical location that has existed for a very long time, like a hill overlooking this marina or a very old historic building. That’s because if we were thrown far enough back in time, this boat wouldn’t be here. The marina might not even be. But a point of land will always be there. A very old building is even better because you’re assured of having access to it and civilization.”
“Now you’re sounding like someone who’s been through this before!”
“There’s more you need to know. There’s a chance each of us could get thrown back to different times. We’d have little chance of finding one another in that case. We need to set a time of day that we can go to the meeting place and wait so that we can find each other if we are separated.”
“Well, that strikes new fear into my heart.”
“The time jumps will continue and probably go farther and farther back until we’re back in time to when the anomaly first began. Then we’ll be trapped there until the problem is fixed.”
“Really, you have to tell me how you know all this, please!”
“Not now. You need to focus on the problem at hand, nothing else. I’m telling you everything you need to know.”
“Remy has probably thought of some of this stuff already and that’s why he’s so angry. But, you are telling me we at least have a chance at a happy ending, right?”
“We need to get to Demon House as quickly as possible and get to work before another pulse throws us back again. But there isn’t time for that today. We need real climbing gear and lanterns, and some other things to go down into that well. We can be ready tomorrow morning.”
“You just said another pulse from Demon House. That’s what’s throwing us back in time? Pulses?”
“Yes. Temporal pulses coming from something at Demon House. It could be a rare combination of crystalline structures, or it could be something artificial. We’ve got to find the source and stop it.”
“And that will fix everything?”
“It will at least stop the jumps.”
“But we could end up permanently marooned at some place in the past?”
“That’s one possibility. There’s also a chance we could reset everything to the way it was supposed to be. Once we find whatever is doing this we’ll know.”
“What am I looking for? How will I know it?”
“Just something out of the ordinary at first. Hopefully it will be something we can shut down, or disable.”
“And if we’re that lucky, I get the feeling we won’t even really know what that will do to us.”
“Yes, that’s true. There are many variables.”
“I have a sick mother who means everything to me.”
“I know how critical this is for you. It will affect the people I care about just as bad or even worse.”
“What people?”
“Those I love, just like you. It’s time for me to get going. I need to collect everything we need so we can be ready first thing tomorrow morning. Maybe you can talk to Remy while I’m gone.”
“Shouldn’t I go with you?”
“No. There’s much less chance of anyone spotting just me. I’ll be bringing you both dark glasses and other stuff to wear when we’re in town.”
Skyla stood, hesitated, then leaned over and kissed Jax on the cheek. They shared a moment of doubt together. With an affectionate smile, she grabbed her bag, and headed out.
Jax milled around the cabin, peeking out windows from time to time, watching last week’s world go by. Each time he thought to tap on Remy’s door, he chickened out.
It was more than an hour before the sound of Remy’s door being unlatched finally interrupted t
he silence. Remy stepped out, a cup under one arm, and an empty plate in his hand. He gave a stuffy look in Jax’s direction and came aft, passing by on his way to the galley. At the sink be banged his cup and dish around and rattled the tea pot to see if it was empty. Left over tea was quickly reheated in the microwave. Remy mixed it, came to the lounge area, and sat across from Jax. He sipped his tea and stared.
Jax tried to continue reading his magazine, hoping to appear indifferent.
“So,” said Remy.
Jax looked up. “So?”
“So that was fun, what you want to do now?”
“I think I missed the fun part. Which part was that?”
“Really, what the hell are we doing here?”
“We have to go back to that house.”
“Well, we’re already in hell, only way we can go is up.”
“I hate to say this, but we’ll actually be going down.”
“Down the mouth of the beast, then?”
“We’ve got to see if we can figure out what’s causing it all and see if there’s some way to stop it.”
“Yes, I’ve figured that all out on my own, Dad.”
“Can you handle it?”
Remy bowed his head. “I’m sorry about blowing up at her. I’ll try to be more helpful. I’ll get it together.”
“Just to be clear, I’m glad you’re here.”
“Misery loves company, eh?”
Skyla returned very late with a compact rental loaded down with climbing rope, body harnesses, lanterns, and everything else needed for an extended climb. Below deck, brief greetings were exchanged. It quickly became a somewhat somber evening punctuated by only few comments of small talk. There was an unspoken fear in the air that they might not reach tomorrow at all, but rather be thrown again deeper into the past and even possibly alone. Remy was the first to bow out for the night. He paused at his stateroom door and looked back at the other two searching for the right thing to say. He gave up, grunted and waved, and closed himself in.
