Eternity

by Matt De La Peña

  Dak was about to step into the room and congratulate the man when Sera did something he never would have expected. He gasped in disbelief as she took a syringe out of her knapsack and jabbed the long needle into the old man’s neck.

  Sera caught the alchemist as he collapsed and lay him gently on his back. Then she stood up in front of the workbench and started collecting all the man’s stored chemicals, shoving them into her knapsack.

  Dak stepped out from behind the door, shouting, “What are you doing?”

  “Dak!” Sera said, startled. “What are you doing? I told you to wait for me in the hut.”

  “I came looking for you,” Dak barked.

  The boy raced past Dak to get inside. He pushed Sera away, and held up the old man’s head and started speaking to him in a quiet voice.

  Dak marched over to Sera and pointed at the syringe in her hand. “What’d you do, kill him?”

  “No, I didn’t kill him,” Sera said. “It’s a perfectly safe chemical blend that will put our friend to sleep for several hours. When he wakes up, he won’t remember anything about the dangerous elements he was experimenting with.”

  Dak looked down at the man, trying to understand what was happening. Things seemed to be spiraling out of control, and he didn’t know what to do. “Why are we here, Sera?” he finally demanded. “What’s the Break we’re fixing? I need to know now.”

  Sera sighed, shoving the syringe back into her knapsack. “Fine, here’s the situation, Dak. Remember back home, near your barn, when you said you wanted to go back into history again?”

  Dak nodded.

  “It got me thinking about what a great opportunity we had. Instead of just fixing Breaks this time, we could actually make life better for people.”

  “Funny,” Dak said. “I wouldn’t think that involved stabbing old people in the neck.”

  “Look,” Sera said. “We can’t do it all the time because, you know, every little change we make creates massive ripple effects throughout time. Which is incredibly dangerous. Blah, blah, blah. But I decided maybe we can alter a few key moments in time for the better. Do you know what this man was doing in here?”

  “Of course,” Dak said. “He was inventing gunpowder.”

  “That’s right.” Sera grabbed Dak by his shoulders and stared right into his eyes. “And do you realize how much death and destruction the invention of gunpowder ultimately leads to? Think about it, Dak. Guns, explosives, war, horrific acts of terrorism. And we have the opportunity to stop it all right now. Today, Dak. Me and you.”

  Sera had a point. The invention of gunpowder would lead, directly and indirectly, to a ton of horrible historical events. But he still didn’t see how putting one man to sleep in some dank, ancient Chinese warehouse was going to stop anything.

  Sera gestured at Dak’s shoes. “You stick out like a sore thumb with those checkered Vans, by the way.”

  Dak glanced at his shoes, then cleared his throat and said, “Someone’s going to figure out the formula eventually, Sera.”

  “Of course they will,” she fired back. “But our responsibility is to make sure the inventor is someone more trustworthy, someone who will aim to use this advancement for the greater good. In this case, actually, it’s a group of people.”

  “But how do we know —”

  “Come on,” Sera said, cutting him off. “We have to hurry up and get these chemicals into the hands of the ancient pacifist group known as the AB.”

  “The AB?” Dak said, more confused than ever. “Who the heck is the AB?”

  “Just follow me,” Sera said.

  Dak looked down at the alchemist again, the man he’d been searching for all morning. He was shocked to find the boy with the moon-shaped birthmark asleep on the dirt beside the old man. Dak reached down and tried to wake up the little thief by jostling his arm, but the poor kid was out cold. He was even snoring a little. All the excitement of the day must have finally caught up with him.

  “Dak, let’s go,” Sera said, tugging at his elbow. “We don’t have time to mess around.”

  As they left the warehouse, Dak found the sack of legumes next to the door. He ran it back inside and lay it next to the boy so he’d have something to eat when he woke up. Before he turned to leave, he saw that the boy was still clutching a small piece of Gouda in his right hand. He’d eaten almost all of it.

  Dak shook the kid again.

  Nothing.

  He stared at the remaining Gouda again, thinking about how he’d slept through an entire day. And he remembered the cheese was the last thing he’d eaten before nodding off.

  “Are you coming?” Sera called to him from the door.

  Dak spun around and looked his best friend up and down. He nodded, climbing to his feet. He followed her back through the hall, pretending like everything was perfectly fine when really everything was perfectly messed up. Had Sera given him a bad piece of cheese?

  Had she known it was going to make him fall asleep?

  It hurt his chest to think that his best friend in the world might be involved in some dubious mission that she was keeping from him. But she had outright lied about there being another Break. What else might she be hiding?

  9

  The AB Pacifists

  THEY WOUND through the narrow streets of the city until they came upon a familiar-looking courtyard, where Dak stopped in his tracks. This was the exact same courtyard where he’d freed the birthmark boy.

  Which meant . . .

  Sera stopped, too, and turned around to face him. “What now, Dak?” she said, rolling her eyes at him. ABe, her pet flying robot, buzzed just overhead.

  “Uh, you go on ahead,” he said. “I’ll be, like, the lookout man or whatever. I’ll make sure no one tries to mess up the exchange.”

  “Fine,” Sera said, shrugging. She held open her knapsack. “ABe, power off.” The robotic disk slipped itself inside, went dark, and Sera continued into the courtyard.

  Dak snuck right up to the entrance and hid behind the same bush he’d hidden behind only a few hours earlier, when he had stopped to watch the men in golden robes interrogate the legume thief.

  His stomach sank as he watched Sera approach those same men now. They were smiling and waving at her, like they were all old friends. How was this possible? What exactly had he missed while he was out cold in that hut? If Sera knew these men had just roughed up a starving boy, she wouldn’t be acting all buddy-buddy with them.

  Or would she?

  Dak had no idea what to do or think. It was like his best friend had become a completely different person overnight.

  Dak shook his head and tried putting those thoughts out of his head. From his hiding place, he watched Sera lay out the chemicals on a table in front of the men and start speaking to them in the local dialect. He assumed she was explaining how to make gunpowder.

  Sure enough, in a few minutes, her concoction produced a minor explosion, just like the one the old man had created in the warehouse. The golden-robed men all took a step back and smiled from ear to ear, and nodded and shook hands.

  Great, Dak thought. These guys won’t just be using their fists the next time they torture some kid who tries to swipe a few veggies. They’ll be using explosives, too.

  How was this helping people live better lives?

  Sera bid the men good-bye and hurried back across the courtyard. She squatted down near Dak, pulled ABe out of her knapsack, and started using it like a tablet now. Dak saw that it was a shiny gold on top, with a full keypad. “Okay,” she said, her fingers flying across the keys. “Let me just look up the coordinates and we’ll move on to the next place.”

  “Where’d you get that?” Dak asked her.

  “ABe?” she said. “I already told you. While you were asleep in your hammock —”

  “Let me guess,” Dak said, interrupting her, “you
were in the barn creating a flying drone that doubled as a SQuare, and you made it gold for some reason. And you did all this while simultaneously redesigning the Infinity Ring.”

  “Actually, you have it about right,” Sera said. A snarky grin came over her face and she added, “You’re finally beginning to catch on, Dacky Boy.”

  Dacky Boy?

  Sera had never once called him Dacky Boy in all the years he’d known her. He stared into this girl’s eyes, searching for Sera. His Sera. The one he’d grown up with and traveled back in time with and fought the SQ with.

  But she wasn’t there.

  This Sera was cocky and secretive, and she called him stupid nicknames. The only explanation he could come up with was that she was hurting. Maybe the reunion with her parents had changed her somehow. If so, it was up to him to figure out how to help her.

  Sera pulled out the golden Infinity Ring and placed it next to the golden drone.

  Dak glanced around the hedge and saw the men playing with the chemicals Sera had just given them. Men in gold robes.

  Strange, he thought.

  “So, where to now?” Dak asked, trying to sound casual.

  Sera was busy punching coordinates into the Ring. “Massachusetts,” she said without looking up.

  “America?” Dak said, surprised. “What year?”

  “You’ll see,” she said, looking up at him. “But I’m pretty sure you’ll feel right at home at Aunt Effie’s farm. I heard her barn even has a hammock.”

  “Sweet,” Dak said, playing along.

  But in his head, he was repeating, again and again, the name of the farm she’d just mentioned.

  Aunt Effie’s farm.

  Aunt Effie’s farm.

  Why did that sound so familiar?

  Sera stood up, slipping the drone back into her knapsack. “Did you eat the cheese I left for you in the hut?” she asked.

  Dak nodded, his knees suddenly going weak.

  “That’s odd,” she said, studying him. She reached back into her knapsack and pulled out a smaller chunk of Gouda, handing it to Dak. “You better eat this, too. I can’t have you getting sick on me again.”

  “Oh, awesome,” Dak deadpanned. “I was just starting to feel hungry, too.” He took the cheese and took a big bite while she watched him. He left the chunk under his tongue, though, as he pretended to be chewing.

  There was no way he was eating anything else she gave him. Not until he figured out what she was up to.

  There was a small explosion from the courtyard, and when Sera turned around to look, Dak spit the cheese out into his hand and chucked it into the bushes. He did the same with the rest of the cheese.

  When she turned back around, Dak fake-swallowed and wiped his mouth, saying, “Wow, that Gouda was seriously gourmet, but I sure am feeling tired. Don’t worry, though, Sera. I’ll do my best to stay awake so I can help you on the next warp.”

  Sera grinned. “I know you will, Dak. You’re so committed to the cause.” She punched a few more buttons on the Ring and told him, “Okay, hang on.”

  Dak took hold of the Ring as Sera hit the ACTIVATE button. The thing lit up in his grasp, and the world around him began to swirl again, and as Dak was pulled into the abyss this time, he suddenly realized the significance of Aunt Effie’s farm in Massachusetts. It was the site of physicist Robert Goddard’s most notable invention — the first liquid-fuel rocket.

  But just as Dak started trying to understand the connection between gunpowder and rockets, he was lost to the darkness.

  10

  The Rocket Launch

  DAK STOOD in the middle of a snow-covered field, shivering and staring at what he believed to be the launching frame of the world’s first liquid-fuel rocket. It was freezing cold, and he was still shaken up about his time in ancient China, but none of that could stop him from grinning ear to ear. If this contraption was what he thought it was, he knew this day would go down in history. And he was here to witness it firsthand.

  Unless he was mistaken.

  Dak wanted to confirm with Sera, who was the one who had punched in all the coordinates, but that was impossible at the moment. Sera was still sitting in the snow, rubbing her temples, totally out of it. This particular warp had been especially hard on her for some reason.

  “Sera?” Dak said in a tentative voice.

  He placed his hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle shake.

  Nothing.

  Regardless of what he’d seen Sera do in China, he had decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. This was his best friend in the world, after all. He had to trust that there was a method to her madness. Whatever mistakes she’d made, it was up to him to bring her back to the righteous side.

  “Sera?” Dak said again.

  When she didn’t answer this time, he took a few steps toward the rocket. He wrapped his arms around himself to fight against the bitter cold. His teeth chattered. But none of that mattered right now. He had to get a better look at the contraption in the distance. The rocket itself was thin, and he was still standing a good fifty yards away, but he was sure it was the early work of physicist Robert Goddard. He could tell because the engine was built into the top of the rocket, and Dr. Goddard would only later discover it was better to have the engine positioned near the bottom of the rocket.

  Butterflies spread through Dak’s stomach.

  If he was correct in his assumption and what Sera had said before the warp was true, then the date was March 16, 1926, and they were on Aunt Effie’s farm in Auburn, Massachusetts. This date was historic because Dr. Goddard’s liquid-fuel rocket would rise forty-one feet in the air, and it would remain in flight for 2.5 seconds. Those numbers might not sound all that impressive, but Dak knew they would change the course of history forever.

  “You’re awake?” Sera said, startling Dak.

  She walked up behind him, opening up her knapsack. Dak watched her small, robotic disk power on and fly around her head a few times before settling on her shoulder.

  “Why wouldn’t I be awake?” Dak asked. His question was a test. He was giving her the benefit of the doubt, yes, but he wasn’t a dummy. He knew it was possible — and even likely — that she had drugged him on purpose. But he still needed to figure out why.

  “No reason,” Sera said, staring across the field at the rocket. “I’m just, um, glad you’re feeling better.”

  Dak and Sera both watched a group of people dressed in warm coats step out of the farmhouse and begin trudging through the snow, toward the rocket. He quickly forgot about testing Sera because this was it. Dr. Goddard was about to initiate his history-changing launch.

  Sera took Dak by the arm and pulled him out of sight behind a thick, snow-covered tree.

  When she let go of his arm, Dak said, “I can’t believe we’re about to see the first liquid-fuel rocket take flight, Sera. This is a huge moment in global history. That’s physicist Robert H. Goddard and his crew chief, Henry Sachs, and —”

  “Quiet,” Sera barked at him. “ABe, I need the details of our whereabouts. Volume level one, please.”

  To Dak’s amazement, Sera’s robotic disk lit up and made a series of buzzing sounds. “Today is March 16, 1926,” it stated in a quiet, computerized voice. “You are in Auburn, Massachusetts. Across the snow-filled farm, you should see Professor Robert Goddard walking alongside his crew chief, Henry Sachs. Just behind them are Esther Goddard and Percy Roope.”

  “Whoa,” Dak said. “It’s like a flying, talking SQuare. You really made that in my parents’ barn?”

  Sera shrugged.

  Dak wanted to tell Sera that there was nothing her little pet microchip could tell her that he couldn’t. And he was more than a little offended that she would shush him in favor of a tin can.

  Dak looked at Sera’s profile. It was the real her on the outside, all right, but it certai
nly wasn’t her on the inside. And for the first time since running into her in the forest, he wondered if he was actually in danger.

  “Sera,” he said, “I need you to tell me what we’re doing here. Please.”

  “I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” she answered, pulling a syringe out of her knapsack, “but I’m a little busy at the moment.” She pushed the needle into a small vial, sucked up all the liquid medicine inside, and then held it up to her eye level as she squirted out a few drops.

  Dak’s heart sped up at the sight of the needle. “Is that what you used on the alchemist?”

  “How very perceptive of you,” Sera answered in an especially snarky voice.

  Dak took her by the arm. “Sera,” he said, stern but gentle. “What’s going on with you? Seriously.”

  Sera looked at Dak’s hand on her elbow and then looked up at him. “Everything’s fine,” she said, ripping her elbow free. “Strike that. It’s more than fine. I feel like I’m finally able to do the work I always dreamed of doing when we were hopping all up and down the time stream, doing whatever the Hystorians told us to do. We’re no longer just fixing history, Dak. We’re improving people’s lives.”

  “You’re not really acting like yourself, though,” Dak countered. “I know you.”

  “Okay, okay,” Sera said, taking a deep breath and blowing it out slowly. “You’re right, Dak. You’ve always been able to pick up on my moods.”

  “Exactly,” Dak said, feeling like he was finally getting through to her.

  “I’m a little stressed,” she said. “I want so badly for the world to be a better place.” She paused and looked up into the sky, and to Dak’s surprise, a single tear spilled out of her left eye and ran down her cheek. She wiped it away and looked at him.

  He saw her in that second.

  His Sera.

  “I just need you to understand what it looks like from my perspective,” Dak told her. “You’re putting people to sleep with a needle and walking around with a robotic Frisbee on your shoulder. But whatever, Sera. I believe in you. I just want you to let me in on the plan.”