by Mia Downing
She took my hand. “Then let’s go return this necklace, so we can go home.”
Skye
My second jump through time from the rock slab on the point went as smoothly as the first, though Marek still recovered quicker. As the expert, he should, but it rankled me for some reason.
He’d taken us back three days to just after sunset. The tide would be low enough around eleven, and we’d return the necklace right after the originals did their thing. I still didn’t get the “controlling necklace” aspect, but Marek assured me it would all work out once we returned this one and everyone stopped crossing paths and left this time.
So many stars lit the sky since the moon had yet to rise. We weren’t far enough back in time for the constellations to be distorted, but less light pollution meant I couldn’t sort them out easily.
We found a secluded spot in the woods not far from the slab of rock, and we hunkered down and waited for the originals to make their appearance. We sat side by side on a fallen log, nibbling on some cookies I’d packed.
Marek frowned at the bottled water. “This isn’t era-appropriate.”
“Yeah, and neither were the ball point pens she hid in her secret box under the reading nook.” I’d also packed a flashlight, figuring we’d need that to see when we navigated that little ocean path. I wasn’t going to admit to that yet.
As he drank the forbidden water, I took a moment to celebrate being alive. I inhaled the salt of the bay, pine, and moist earth, all mixing with the scent of the man next to me. I don’t know how he could run and sweat and not smell terrible. If it weren’t for good ole modern deodorant, I’d be a dead giveaway in our hidden spot.
Marek bumped his shoulder against mine. “You okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be? I’m alive.”
“You’re not…aroused?”
I burst out laughing and had to cover my mouth to keep the sound in check. “I know you being all sweaty makes me horny, but I think I can control myself.”
“That’s not…” He sighed, and I could just make out his wince in the dim light. “You had two jumps through time, and that depletes my energy. You’re not used to that. I’m just checking in. We’ve had a lot going on tonight.”
“Oh.” I mentally checked the bond on my side, and though his energy levels had dipped, it didn’t seem to ignite any bonfires of lust. “I’m good.” But since he mentioned it, I ran a finger suggestively up his thigh. “But if you’re offering…”
He laughed softly. “We don’t have time for that. But just think of how good the after will be once we take that third jump.”
“Really.” I smiled as he bent to kiss me, a kiss that hinted at wanting more but didn’t tempt too much.
He handed me the water bottle and wrapped an arm around me to hold me closer. “So, fill me in about meeting the other Skye.”
So I told him everything, and I finally connected her story to the nightmares I’d had so I could begin to explain my side of things. I owed him the entire truth for breaking the bond last week.
He hugged me tighter. “Sweetness. You should have told me.”
“I couldn’t. I didn’t want to be her, and having those dreams made me worry I’d start to change into her.” I shrugged as I tried to understand my feelings. “The dreams didn’t make sense, either. I mean, I sort of pieced it into the holes of your memory of that night, but I couldn’t be sure until she admitted to it.”
As much as I disliked her, the thought of what she’d suffered and did to try to save her Marek did make me feel a little guilty. I’d judged her and hung her from the highest tree without proof. “Do you feel anything for her now?”
“Well, I feel badly for her, because she’ll be in a shit ton of trouble with her original. She had no reason not to trust him with what had happened to her. She assumed he’d start trouble with Leah when I doubt that would have happened. I would have abandoned the mission and jumped right then.” He glanced at me, and as if realizing I might compare her situation to mine, he gave my shoulders a squeeze. “You had good reason not to trust me. We had just met, and this life is a lot to rationalize. She was born to that world, was his work partner for over a decade, and had told him everything. There is no excuse.”
“Do you think the whole retirement issue drove her to go to those lengths?”
His arm tensed the tiniest bit, and it echoed through the bond. “Probably.”
“I don’t understand why, though. People wait to retire all the time.”
“Yes, they do.” His arm fell from my shoulders as he busied himself with putting the water bottle back and paused in his rummaging. “Flashlights? You brought flashlights after our discussion about what is time appropriate and what isn’t?”
“We needed to see.” The flashlights were an excuse for him to avoid the truth. He knew it. I knew it. “Marek? Why does the whole retirement thing bother you? And don’t lie,” I said as he drew in a breath. “Whatever bothers you might upset me, but we have to start trusting each other, too.”
He closed the bag, set it down, and drew in a deep sigh. “I’m sorry. I…as a fraction, I don’t know how what I’m going to tell you affects me. Us.”
“Okay.” My heart rate picked up, and I wiped my dampening palms on my skirt.
He gave me a soft smile with a touch of sadness. I checked the bond to be sure, and yep, dingy gray clouded his yellow energy. “The issue is that time travel takes a toll on the body. Even though we may not age as far as appearance, our organs and systems age. The goal is to retire as soon as possible so the team can enjoy it together. Most teams don’t achieve that.”
Well, that didn’t sound good. “So they don’t retire fast enough?”
“No.”
I still wasn’t quite getting what he was trying to tell me. “So…what’s considered old?”
“Forty.”
I gulped as whatever blood I had in my face drained away and numbness settled in. “So…you could die in ten years.”
He shrugged. “It depends. We’re fractions, and that could mean we live a long life here in this time.”
I let that sink in for a moment, and a slight chill that had nothing to do with the ocean air shuddered over me. How would I have reacted in her situation, knowing that necklace meant more time, time to wake up next to my man, to make love to him, to be with him? I had nothing stopping me from being with Marek anymore, but she still had obstacles. I could see myself crossing a few moral lines if needed to get more time with him, and I hadn’t known him as long. Maybe we weren’t so different after all. “Maybe I judged the other Skye too harshly for what she did.”
He smiled sweetly. “All she wants is to retire and live a simple, married life. She’s a bit unconventional at times but being a slave to the Association does that. It makes you do risky things to be free.”
I nodded and leaned my head against his shoulder.
He grabbed my arm. “They’re here.”
Sure enough, that bright light of the gifted grew from a pinpoint in a sweeping swirl that bobbled slightly. His original would have been out of sorts from the medication. Maybe the wavering light reflected that.
They appeared fully, Skye speaking in hushed Uptari as soon as they oriented, which was fast.
“What are they saying?” I whispered.
“She’s asking how he is. He’s saying he’s fine—liar,” Marek muttered.
They lit two lanterns and headed to the path that led along the top. From what he’d shown me before on our trip, they’d scale down the cliff to the rocky shore and continue out to where the treasure was hidden.
Marek tugged my hand. “Let’s leave most of our belongings here. We’ll take what we need down to the beach where we saw the track carved in the rocks. They’ll climb back to the top of the cliff. If we wait by that big rock and pine tree on the shore until they scale to the top, we can get the necklace back into the vault before the tide turns.”
Adrenaline raced through my system again, but th
is time, I welcomed a burst of energy. Shoving a loose lock of hair from my face, I nodded. “Okay, show me what we need, so we can get going.”
Chapter twenty-four
Marek
Okay, I didn’t want to be glad that Skye brought flashlights, but as we headed across the rocks that would become even slipperier under the rock weed and receding tide, I was grateful. We found the path that had been cut into the rock much easier this time, and we made it to the big rock in no time though the pine tree was merely a sapling.
The team hadn’t made their way down the cliff yet, and that worried me.
“Turn off the light,” I whispered to Skye. “Get your skirt and petticoat off and put your leggings on. You’re going to get wet.”
“Okay.” Fabric rustled behind me as she did as I’d instructed.
The near-full moon started to rise over the bay, giving us a little extra light. The water near us broke against the rocks in gentle bursts compared with down the point. There, it crashed with sterner intent, the currents strong and dangerous. I peered up at the cliff and breathed a sigh of relief as one dark shadow made the descent. I waited for a second, but as the form dropped to the ground, I drew in a ragged breath.
“What?” My Skye whispered.
I shushed her as original Skye held the lantern in front of her as she made her way over the rocks. She wore just a dark pair of combination underwear that consisted of one piece that came to the knee and also her boots and stockings. If she were caught, it would be scandalous, but at least it wasn’t as bad as my Skye being in modern clothing.
My Skye joined me, and she breathed out in a whoosh as the single lantern disappeared around the bend. “Where are you?” She meant my original.
“I don’t know. Did she say anything about going to the point alone when you spoke to her?”
She shook her head. “Do you remember going?”
Everything I remembered was a jumble. I thought I had gone on this part of the mission, but maybe I remembered what she told me.
“No.” I swallowed as I thought harder. “She lied to me. Him.”
Skye snorted. “You’re surprised? She seemed to do a hell of a lot of that.”
“Yes, I’m surprised. That means I don’t know how to get into the vault.”
She smacked my shoulder. “Nonsense. She knew how, and you studied everything she did. I know you looked at your notes again.”
I nodded, but that didn’t stop the dread from churning in my gut. My Skye had no memories. This would be all me, and if it weren’t about the controlling necklace with all our fates on the line, I wouldn’t be sweating so hard.
Agonizing minutes passed, and the lantern turned the corner, growing brighter as she hurried along. She stopped, and I held my breath as she scanned the darkness for an agonizing second, her gaze falling to the rock where we hid. But she squared her shoulders and started to climb the cliff’s switchback path quickly.
“Let’s go,” I whispered as she cleared the top. “I think we can see well enough with no flashlight for right now.”
Skye nodded, and we surged forward.
My heart pounded in my chest as I held her hand behind me. Every now and then my foot slipped, and she sucked in a breath. Or she wobbled, and I did the same. As we reached the bend, I handed her the flashlight and rolled up the legs of my pants.
The waves rolled in, crashing on the rocks with a burst of icy-cold spray. The ocean water in Maine never warmed to an enjoyable temperature in summer, and as I turned on the flashlight to find the cut path in the stone, that frigid water seeped into my boots.
We followed the path to the very end, and using the flashlight, I searched the cliff face for the symbols on the damp rock. The six Uptarian words looked like gashes weathered with time, but for me, they stood out like a beacon just above the waterline at my mid-thigh.
“There,” I murmured as I handed her the flashlight and gestured to what I needed to be lit. “Hold it here.”
As she held the light, I traced the six jumbled words with my finger. When aligned correctly, it would spell out May the light carry you forward, the time traveler’s greeting. The words may, light, and you were on the actual face of the vault’s lid. The words the, carry, and forward were on the outside edge on the cliff face.
I grasped the stone at the two spots indicated in Burke’s journal. I gently turned the rock so those inside words fell in line to spell out the greeting.
Skye leaned forward to see better. “Does it say something?”
“May the light carry you forward.”
I had to give Burke credit. A time traveler would have stopped there. But the trick to opening the vault came in turning the lid past that until the words mixed again. I kept turning and stopped when the words light and carry were opposite their original settings. At the satisfying click of an inner tumbler releasing, I sighed.
“You have the necklace?” I asked as I gently tugged off the rock lid. “We have to hurry. If the water reaches the dry part, it won’t seal.”
She removed the necklace and put it into the cavity hewn in the rock. “It is dry.”
“I know. It’s brilliant. Definitely not something from this time.” Or from the future, either. “See the loose coins and that other treasure? Put that in the bag. We’ll put that in the vault at home for our originals. Something from that has to be on the list.”
Quickly, she gathered items and shoved them into the bag. The icy water rose higher, my calves going numb.
“Okay, that’s all we have time for.” I put the cover on and reversed the steps for word alignment. With the water rising fast, I swiftly darted past the familiar saying to return the lid to its original position.
Just as I finished, a big wave crashed into us, soaking me to the waist. Skye gasped, and we quickly turned to head back.
Euphoria washed over me like the wave had, and I turned to grin at Skye as another wave rolled in. Joy turned to fear as she stumbled and went under.
I fought to hold onto her slippery hand with both of mine, screaming in terror as her head bobbed under. Eyes wide with fear, she gulped a breath of air just before the tide dragged her under again. I used my weight to haul as hard as I could to keep the receding wave from ripping her out of my hands entirely.
I couldn’t stop time. I’d have to let go of her to stop it. And I had no clue what would happen to the waves. What if stopping time earlier had been a fluke? What if I couldn’t do it again?
“Skye, keep fighting,” I urged as her head surfaced.
Saying a prayer to the Fates, I let go and scrambled to push the correct sequence of buttons in time.
Skye
I couldn’t breathe. Icy water filled my nose and lungs, the salt stinging my eyes. Somehow, up became down, and only Marek’s hand grasping mine helped to give me any semblance of orientation.
I heard him scream something, and his hand slipped from mine.
One of my hands hit the edge of a rock as I flailed. I latched onto it, struggling to get my feet under me. As the water receded, I launched myself up, praying I wouldn’t get towed out to sea in the strong current. My head cleared the water, and I gasped for breath, my eyes still closed and stinging from the salt.
And then another wave crashed over me.
I have no clue what happened. I must have blacked out. I woke to Marek’s arms wrapped around me, and my cheek bounced against his sopped shirt. My chest burned, and I started hacking to get the water out of my lungs.
“Skye.” Marek set me down on dryer ground, rubbing my freezing arms with his just-as-cold ones. “You okay?”
I nodded, coughing as I wiped at my eyes and removed a hunk of seaweed from my hair. Blinking, my vision finally returned as he lowered me onto a rock away from the tide.
“I’m glad you changed. If you had been wearing your skirts… Well, thank the Fates.”
I hadn’t even thought of that. I’d read somewhere that in the olden days, people died of drowning not only because th
ey couldn’t swim, but because the weight of all those wet woolen clothes drew them under. I shuddered, partly from the residual chill and partly from the thought of almost dying three times in one night—if I counted her knife at my throat as the first.
But he’d let go of my hand, and I knew he wouldn’t do that without good reason. I gaped up at him in shock and wonder. “Did you stop time again?”
“I did.” He raked his hand through his wet hair, his face just as shocked. “I’m sorry. I had to let go of you to save you, but then ocean froze, and I just…plucked you out.”
“I’m glad you did,” I finally wheezed. “Can we get out of here before I actually die of something?”
He nodded. “Let’s get you dressed and get our bags. We’ll jump ahead ten years or so and layover at the house. I don’t think you need to make a long jump tonight.”
I rose on shaky legs with his help, silently agreeing. I just wanted to go to bed.
Skye
The manor house in 1905 looked a lot like it did in my time—same ugly rug in the foyer, same paintings. Some things were different, such as the kitchen and the bathroom off his bedroom. It had a huge, claw foot tub. They did have electricity. He’d said a lot of these things he pushed for when they had renovated in 1890, and it had been the first house in town to be “modernized.” They had come back to update things regularly to preserve the home, but it served more as a summer residence. Who wanted to hunt treasure in winter?
However, we didn’t have means to heat water easily since the coal furnace wouldn’t be running in summer with no one in residence. Marek found a rain barrel outside with sun-warmed water. While he ran down to the little house to speak with the caretakers and warn them of our visit, I took a quick sponge bath to get the sticky saltwater off me.
As I ran a towel through my hair, Marek returned.
“Feeling better?” He carried a cloth-covered basket in one hand and another bucket of water in the other. “The caretaker sent up a basket of food to tide us over until morning. There is cheese, bread, and pie. It should all be safe.”
