Oblivion (Broken City #3)

by Jessica Sorensen

  She laughs softly. “Well, I don’t know what faerie land is, but it sounds awfully lovely.”

  I let out a contented sigh. “I don’t either, but it sounds amazing.”

  Grinning, she leans forward and kisses me on the lips. A spark ignites inside my chest, and I almost pull her back, kiss her hard and fiercely until nothing is left inside her. But she moves away quicker than I move my arm to grab her.

  “I’m going to go entertain Zander while you get dressed,” she tells me, dabbing her lips with her fingertips.

  “Wait … Come back …” I reach for her, but she’s already gone.

  Sighing, I set down the clothes she gave me and peel off my tank top and shorts. Then I grab the first article of clothing on the top of the stack: a leather corset embroidered with various shades of gold, deep browns, and silver chain. It takes a lot of sucking in and holding my breath to get the binding top on, but I manage. Then I slip into the sheer black skirt that flows at the back and bunches at the front. Next comes fishnet tights and a choker. The look is topped off by black boots that lace up all the way to my upper thighs.

  From somewhere in the back of my mind, I feel like I should be uncomfortable with the get-up, but I’m not.

  Spinning around in a circle, I watch the dress poof out around me. Then I spread my arms to the side and spin and spin and spin, watching the glittery beads shimmering in the inadequate lighting.

  “Allura, are you about …?” Blaise trails off, stopping in the doorway, his eyes practically bulging out of his head.

  I stop spinning and wave at him. “Hi.”

  “Hi.” His gaze dances all over me, scorching hot, leaving my skin tingly. “You look …”

  “Like a faerie?”

  “A what?”

  I hold up my finger. “A fictional character that has wings and sprinkles glitter everywhere.” I giggle. “I don’t even know how I know that.”

  His breathing grows raspy. “I don’t know …”

  The skirt rustles as I move toward him. “Do you think I look pretty?”

  His gaze crashes with mine, and he gulps. “I don’t know …”

  I pout. “That’s a no.”

  He shakes his head. “No, it’s not.”

  “I wonder if the old Blaise would’ve thought I was pretty.”

  “The old Blaise?”

  I shrug. “He was very brooding. Maybe more than you.”

  “What are you …?” His jaw clamps down. “She poisoned you, didn’t she?”

  “I’m not sure.” I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. “She did bite my earlobe, and I felt really giddy. Then she kissed me, and I wanted to kiss her back until she couldn’t breathe … Does that make me weird?”

  “I don’t know.” He looks extremely uncomfortable. “Maybe not, if you’re attracted to women.”

  I consider what he said. “I don’t think I am since I find you very sexy and handsome.”

  “Okay.” He cuts the conversation off with a sharp clap. “It’s time to go to the library.”

  I reach out so he can grab my hand, because I think at one point he used to hold it all the time. “To go to the library?”

  “Yeah.” He stares down at my hand. “What are you doing?”

  I wiggle my fingers. “Waiting for you to hold my hand.”

  “I don’t hold hands.”

  “Yes, you do.”

  “Allura …” His tone is tolerant.

  “Blaise …” I mimic.

  “Dammit, Poppy,” he grumbles, then grabs my hand.

  The instant our fingers touch, his stiff muscles loosen a smidgeon.

  “Not so bad, right?” I ask, swinging our arms between us.

  “Maybe not.” He looks genuinely perplexed. “Why do I feel like I’ve done this before?”

  I wink at him. “Maybe you have.”

  “No … I don’t think so … Well … Maybe.” He stares at me. “Are you sure we only met briefly?”

  I want to tell him no, that I lied, that we know each other well enough that he risked getting killed to kiss me, and I probably would’ve, too, if Zander didn’t come barreling through the doorway in a panic.

  He pants for air, hunching over. “We need to go. Now.”

  Blaise grasps my hand tighter. “What’s wrong?”

  “Fredrick’s coming,” he gasps out, bracing his hands on his knees. “And I think our cover is blown.”

  Blaise releases a sequence of curses. “Fuck. How did he find out?”

  “I think Poppy told him.” He stands upright, pressing his hand to his chest. “To get back at you.”

  “Dammit, I knew one day she’d out us.” Blaise lets out a frustrated scream then kicks the wall hard. “Why did she have to do it now?”

  Zander wipes sweat from his brow with his arm. “It will take Fredrick some time to gather the mob, so we might be able to make it to the library still. We just need to hurry.”

  Nodding, Blaise runs out of the room, pulling me along with him. Zander hurries after us, working hard to catch his breath as we weave through the tunnels. The torches flicker off as we pass by them, leaving a trail of darkness nipping at our heels. The air is quiet, still, cold, and sends goose bumps sprouting all over my arms.

  “What happens if Fredrick captures you?” I struggle to breathe evenly as I race to keep up with Blaise.

  The red door comes into view, and Blaise increases to a sprint, almost yanking my feet right out from under me.

  “Then we’re going to be the ones locked behind those doors,” he says with his eyes fixed ahead.

  “Forever?” I gasp as I stumble over my own feet.

  Blaise tightens his hold on my hand and stops me from falling completely. Then he slams on the brakes as we reach the door.

  “No, just until he kills us.” Zander zips past us to open the door.

  “Kill us?” I whisper as Zander drags open the door with a grunt.

  The cries of the prisoners hit me all at once, lifting me further out of the daze Poppy put me in.

  I don’t want to be behind those doors.

  I want to go back to Leviter Station where I will be safe. But I don’t know how, and I don’t want to leave Blaise behind. Therefore, all I can do is hold on to him tightly and hope this version of him will get us out of here safely.

  If this is the past, then I’m guessing we will. Unless somehow the past can be altered.

  Instead of going back toward the bar, Blaise and Zander lead me down a secret tunnel hidden behind one of the rusty doors. The ceiling is so low that the three of us have to duck our heads, and without torches to light the way, we constantly bump into each other.

  “I feel like I’ve done this before,” I whisper as water sprinkles from the ceiling and soaks the top of my head.

  “Maybe you’ve been here before,” Blaise suggests as he continues moving down the tunnel while still gripping my hand.

  “Maybe …” Images blaze vividly inside my mind of tunnels, bookshelves, a map, half-machines chasing me, and a guy in a hoodie watching it all happen …

  “Dammit, I thought you weren’t going to figure it out this time.”

  A hand slaps across my mouth, and my fingers slip from Blaise’s as I’m dragged back into the darkness.

  Chapter 14

  Did You Think I’d Make This Easy for You?

  “Easy.” Lips nibble my ear. “I’m not going to kill you just yet.”

  My body shudders at the eerily familiar tone.

  The time traveler.

  I open my mouth to let out a scream, but he smashes his hand against my mouth.

  I writhe my body and kick my legs, but his arm secured around my waist never wavers.

  “Scream all you want,” he whispers, dragging me farther and farther away from Blaise and Zander. “They’ve already forgotten you.”

  Letting my body go limp, I attempt to get him to drop me, but he continues moving, hauling me backward down the tunnel until we emerge inside the cell at the
end. Soft moonlight filters through the barred window and into the room, casting shadows all over the walls. At least, I think they’re shadows until the shadows begin to move, dancing around on the bronzed walls.

  “Scary, aren’t they?” The time traveler releases me and shoves me forward with enough force that I crash into the wall.

  My cheek and forehead smack against the metal and stars spot my vision … Or maybe they’re just in the sky outside … The sky …

  Peering through the bars, I spot a full moon and thousands of countless twinkling stars in the black sky.

  “This sky … It doesn’t belong to the red sky world …” The bars singe to dust in front of me and float down the rocky ledge I’m standing on. “What’s happening?”

  “What’s happening is that I’m reminding you of what I can do.” The time traveler steps up beside me, pulling his hoodie higher over his head to shield his face. “Don’t forget, Allura, you may erase everything, but I control everything—create—which is so much more.”

  I turn sideways to face him, the breeze rising from the cliffs gusting my hair into my face. “Who are you?”

  He stares ahead at the cliffs and stars stretching before us. “I already told you, I’m a time traveler.”

  “No, I know you.” I curl my fingers inward and slowly start to reach for him to draw down his hood. “And well. That’s why you purposefully keep your face hidden.”

  “Perhaps you’re right, but it doesn’t really matter, because you’ll never know.” He snaps his head in my direction, and his hand follows, seizing my arm. “Did you really think I’d make this easy for you?”

  I wrench my arm back, but his fingernails pierce into my flesh. “Make what easy on me?”

  “Bringing Blaise back.” He faces me full-on and tugs on my arm until I stumble into him. “He’s going to stay where I put him and live the worst moments of his life over and over again until he goes mad.”

  “No.” I flatten my palms against his chest and push back. “I’m going to save him.”

  “Save him?” He leans forward, laughing in my face. “And how are you going to do that when you can’t even save yourself?”

  “I’ll find a way. I always do.” The words leave my lips under no control of my own, and a long forgotten memory surfaces. “I’ve said that before.”

  “Yes, you have.” The time traveler blows out a frustrated exhale. “I guess it’s time to reset.”

  “Reset—”

  He seizes both my wrists before I can finish. With one swift tug, he whips me around and lines my back to his chest. Then he slips his arm around my waist and rests his other hand at the base of my throat as he turns us toward the edge of the cliff.

  “Do you remember this part?” he whispers in my ear with a hint of remorse.

  “You kill me.” My hollow voice doesn’t even sound like it belongs to me.

  “So, you do remember?”

  “Sort of.” Not really. The truth is, my body feels possessed, as if I’m a puppet someone is controlling.

  “And do you remember why?”

  “No.”

  He positions his mouth beside my ear. “Because you erase everything—time, people, memories. It’s what you are, Allura.”

  My knees begin to tremble as memories pinprick my brain. “A time eraser?”

  “A time manipulator,” he whispers. “Which makes you very dangerous if you fall into the wrong hands.”

  “You mean the Grim?”

  “I mean everything like the Grim.”

  My head pulsates as more memories attack me. “But the Grim already had me. And technically, I am part of them.”

  “Is that what you think?” He laughs, his fingertips stabbing into my throat, choking me. “Despite what a lot of people believe, the Grim aren’t very bright. Well, at least not when compared to you and me. When you were brought to the channels that day, that stupid moron didn’t even know what he had. They locked you away, knowing you were different. They fed off you while trying to tap into your brain to see what you really are. But since you couldn’t remember, they couldn’t figure it out. Now they know. And like they’ve always done before, they’re going to chase you and chase you and chase you, ruining everything in their path. Planets, colonies, families—everything until they lose you again and this whole painful process repeats itself.”

  “Why do they want me?” I gasp out, gripping his arm as he lifts me upward until my feet no longer touch the ground.

  “Because you’re basically the end of the world.” He presses a soft kiss to my ear. “Don’t worry; in just a few seconds, you’ll forget everything.”

  “No!” I scream as the wind kicks up, funneling dirt and leaves around us.

  I can’t forget everything. I can’t forget Blaise, Ryder, and Reece. I can’t forget the pain. What I am. Who I need to save.

  The scream dissolves in my throat as he snaps my neck and drops me to the ground, to forget everything good that ever happened to me.

  Chapter 15

  I Think I Know Him

  My eyes snap open, and I sit up, gasping for air. The monitor beside me sputters a series of wild beeps, the screen lighting up with diagonal lines. I toss the blankets off, looking down at my black tank top and grey shorts, then at the numbers stained into the flesh along the inside of my wrists.

  My gaze moves to the cracked open door before I turn and lower my feet to the cold, grated floor. My legs teeter as I rise to my feet, pad across the room, and stick my head out into a hallway lit up by fluorescent square lights. When I spot no one around, I open the door wider and slip outside.

  The clean, white linoleum floor is cool against my bare feet as I make my way past shut door after shut door. I don’t know where I’m heading, but I pause when I arrive at a window.

  I press my nose to the glass and peer inside a room with padded white walls and flooring. Slumped against the far back wall is a guy, probably a few years older than me, with chin-length black hair and strikingly silver eyes.

  “I know you,” I whisper, splaying my fingers against the glass.

  The man’s head snaps up, and his eyes find mine. Then he gets to his feet, crosses the room, and lines his palm with mine.

  “Zander,” I whisper, familiarity dancing on my tongue.

  He smiles, and I smile back. Then his smile shifts to a snarl, and he begins bashing his head against the glass. I trip back as blood drips from his hairline and dots the glass.

  “What happened to you?” I whisper in horror.

  “Allura? What are you doing out here?”

  I turn, and my heart flutters at the sight of a blond-haired guy striding toward me with a robotic dog in his arms and a look of concern on his face.

  “Ryder. Ryder. Ryder,” I chant his name repeatedly until it clicks, overwhelming me, and my knees buckle.

  Ryder rushes down the hallway then kneels in front of me. “Sweetheart, you shouldn’t be walking around yet.” He reaches for my arm and helps me up as he stands. He examines me thoroughly before releasing my arm. “Why are you out here?”

  “I don’t know … I can’t remember …” I whisper, glancing at Zander still banging his head against the glass. “What’s wrong with him?”

  “He got addicted to Witches Potion while working a mission with Blaise.” Sadness creeps into his tone. “He used to be part of our team, but the poison drove him mad, and now … well …” He gestures at the window now covered in blood.

  Witches Potion. Poison.

  I remember, I remember, I remember …

  “Oh, my God, I remember!” I cry out, slumping against the wall.

  Ryder tucks the compassbot under his arm and grabs my elbow to steady me. “Remember what?”

  I press my hand to my racing heart. “Everything.”

  Chapter 16

  The Plan

  After telling Ryder what I remember, he immediately leaves to find Reece.

  A few hours later, I’m sitting on a bed in a small room wi
th Ryder and Reece, and the compassbot in my lap. At first, I was confused how the robotic dog survived the fall, but Ryder explained that, as I fell, I clung to the bag for dear life, so when Blaise caught me, the compassbot was saved, too.

  I’m glad. While I only had the pet for a few minutes, I’d hate to think he died because of me.

  “There isn’t anything on the computer that says anything about time traveling or time manipulation.” Reece has been camped out in a chair behind a desk, half-distracted with a glowing screen illuminating from seemingly nowhere, which he explained to me was a computer.

  I lie down on the bed on my side and prop up my head on my elbow. “You don’t believe me?”

  Reece taps the screen with a pencil, causing the pictures and letters to change. “No, I definitely believe you. I just wish I knew a way to get more information about what it is and why the hell the Grim want you so badly.”

  “The time traveler said it was because I was the end of the world,” I mutter with my head tipped down.

  “That’s a very open statement,” Reece says. “Maybe we’ll get some answers after I find out more about time traveling and time manipulation. Until then, we need to keep you here at the station where you’ll be safe.”

  I bob my head up and down. “What I don’t understand, though, is why he wants Blaise?”

  “Yeah, that doesn’t make very much sense, either,” Ryder agrees, restlessly drumming his fingers against his knee.

  “I did see him mention a time traveler in one of his memories,” Reece reminds us. “He has to be connected to them in some way. And Blaise’s past is a mystery, like Allura’s.”

  I absorb his words as I pet the top of the compassbot’s head, lulling it into a state of sleep. “I really wish I could remember more, but honestly, I’m not even sure why I can remember what I do … I mean, according to the time traveler, I was supposed to forget everything. But I remember everything that happened from the days before you guys rescued me from the cell all the way up until now.”