Quantum Entanglement

by Liesel K. Hill

  The Trepid threw Maggie down in the dirt outside Kaden’s cabin. Jonah rolled beside her a moment later. He got to his knees and put his arms around her. “You all right, Maggs?” he whispered.

  She nodded in confusion. Something was wrong. Why would Justine throw her and Jonah together? Maggie could use a shield to protect both of them, now. Why would Justine give up her only leverage over Maggie?

  With a feeling of foreboding, Maggie reached for her power...and couldn’t find it. Similar to what happened in the alley, she could feel the power, just beyond her reach, but couldn’t touch it. In the alley, she’d broken through, taking Justine by surprise. Now the woman studied her like she would a squirming rat in a maze.

  Realizing how dire the situation had become, Maggie slowly got to her feet, pushing Jonah’s arms away. She needed some way to protect him. He got to his feet behind her, fingers closing around her wrist.

  “Justine, leave Jonah out of this. I’m the one you came for. You have me. Take me with you, if you must-”

  “Maggie,” Jonah protested.

  “—But leave him alone. He’s innocent in all this.”

  Justine glanced behind Maggie to Jonah, and Maggie couldn’t quite interpret her smile. “No one’s innocent, Maggie.”

  Maggie growled in frustration. “You spent the better part of a month in Jonah’s company, Justine. I know it was to get at me, but you must have gotten to know him. You know he’s a good person—”

  “You think I care?” Justine hissed. “You think I have feelings?” Justine’s eyes glittered with malice. “Think again.”

  It reminded Maggie of the Traveler she’d obliterated on the pacific island all those months ago. Like the Traveler, Justine no longer harbored any trace of femininity; a human being who’d given up her humanity.

  Maggie’s dismay must have shown because Justine laughed. “It wasn’t so hard.” Her voice sounded deep and rich, like it had at dinner the night before. “I thought it would be difficult to neutralize you, but your people left you unprotected. It was hardly a challenge. It ends today: your pathetic existence, the threat to the Unions, the archaic, individualist movement ends here and now in the dirt, where it should have stayed in the first place.”

  Justine’s lips peeled back from her teeth. Her forked tongue lolled out as she hunched her shoulders and rolled them backward, wrists arching upward and fingers pointing down. Maggie could feel the energy building. Justine pulled massive quantities of matter toward her. When she struck, the blow would be obliterating.

  Panic welled up in Maggie’s chest. Justine was going to kill them. Right now. The rebellion of the future would be lost. Jonah would die too. Collateral damage. And Maggie couldn’t touch her powers at all.

  They were about to die. Marcus, where are you?

  Taking a deep, calming breath, she reached back and grasped Jonah’s hand without looking at him. She prayed that somehow he would be spared her fate, but refused to look away from Justine’s feral gaze. If Maggie died today, she would go out on her feet, glaring at the darkness about to incinerate her.

  Jonah squeezed her hands, as though he, too, could feel something terrible was about to happen, though Maggie knew he didn’t understand it.

  Suddenly, the world curlicued before her eyes. Something slammed into her shoulder blades and the air left her lungs. Maggie found herself on the ground beside the cabin. She’d been picked up, flung through the air and slammed into the outer wall.

  Movement swirled in front of her, but her head throbbed and she couldn’t get her eyes to focus. The cut on her forehead leaked dark, viscous blood into her eyes once again.

  Ten feet in front of her, two people did battle with the Trepids. One had a slender, curvy shape. The other was masculine. Based on the woman’s short-cropped black hair and the way the man moved, boldly negotiating with death, she would have sworn it was Joan and Marcus, but she couldn’t see their faces clearly.

  Maggie blinked and jerked her head from side to side, trying to clear her vision. It helped, but things sharpened only a little at a time. She could only see the two people and the Trepids in front of her. Jonah! Where was Jonah? Maggie turned her head first to one side, then the other. Jonah had landed ten feet to her right; Justine ten feet to her left. The energy force had smashed into all three of them.

  Jonah shook his head too, trying to recover from his little doomed flight. Justine appeared completely unruffled. She got her feet beneath her and straightened her legs smoothly, lithely. A snake moving through water. She watched the battle through narrowed eyes, making no move to interfere.

  The three Trepids battled the new-comers back and forth in front of the cabin, and obviously neurochemical abilities were in use. Maggie could feel the power being wielded around her. She still couldn’t make out who was who.

  The man threw one of the Trepids into a tree, stunning him, then turned to face the second, while the woman kept the third busy. The Trepid swiped continually at the short-haired woman with a knife, but only struck invisible shields. So the man attacked the Trepids with Offensive Energy, as Marcus might, while the woman blocked them with shields, as Joan often did. It had to be them, didn’t it? Why didn’t Marcus just use his staff to wipe them out?

  When the first Trepid recovered, he made a beeline for Jonah.

  “Jonah, look out!” Maggie wanted to help, but she still couldn’t use her abilities, so she jumped to her feet instead, marveling at how slow the body was, compared with the mind. She got all of two paces before something dug into her scalp and dragged her backward.

  “Oh no you don’t,” Justine hissed in her ear. She flung Maggie to the ground and rolled her shoulders back once again, preparing to strike.

  Maggie looked around. Jonah struggled with a Trepid, barely keeping the huge man’s hands from his throat. Without her abilities—still inexplicably out of reach—she had no way to defend him. She got to her feet, ignoring sore muscles, and kicked at Justine’s knee. Physically distracting her was the only hope Maggie had. Justine easily side-stepped the kick. Maggie considered running. She doubted she’d get far.

  The energy swirling around the snake-woman looked black to Maggie’s eyes. Justine flicked her wrist and the energy snaked around Maggie, keeping her from stepping back or moving at all.

  “I will kill you if it’s the last thing I do,” Justine hissed.

  The deep male voice that came from over Maggie’s shoulder was one she knew well. “It just might be.”

  Justine’s head jerked up in surprise. She was thrown violently backward, flying twelve feet through the air and slammed into Jonah’s truck, parked in the driveway.

  When she hit, the energy holding Maggie in place dissipated, and she fell onto her backside in the dirt. The man—the same one who’d been fighting the Trepids—stepped in front of Maggie and pulled energy to him. It swirled around him, black ribbons with white barbs. He sucked it toward him, coiling it like so many springs. When released, the force of it would crack a mountain.

  Justine recovered quickly, getting to her feet beside the truck and gathering energy for a counter blow. She hesitated. Maggie wondered if she sensed the magnitude of the man’s destructive power. Glancing toward her Trepids, the air shimmered around her and she disappeared, evaporating into thin air.

  Maggie blinked, looking around. The three Trepids lay motionless in the yard. Jonah sat twenty feet behind Maggie, panting. Dark red stained the shoulder of his shirt. The dark-haired woman, who Maggie now realized was considerably younger than Joan, though she shared the petite build and bobbed haircut, gazed at them from ten feet away. Lila stood lean and confident over a motionless Trepid, neck glistening with sweat and chest heaving.

  The man who’d just saved her life turned and fell into a crouch in front of her. “Maggie,” he used the heel of his hand to wipe the blood from her forehead. “Are you all right?”

  It took Maggie a moment to nod. She trembled, but made her voice firm. “Yes, David. I’m fine.”r />
  Chapter 4: Scant Explanations

  MAGGIE SAT IN THE DIRT on her backside, leaning back on her hands and looking up into David’s piercing eyes. They were identical to Marcus’s—amber with flecks of color around the pupils. He had the same medium brown hair as Marcus, too, though he stood half a hand shorter and slightly stockier than his brother.

  David straightened his legs and held out his hand. Maggie took it and he hoisted her to her feet. “Are you hurt? I’m sorry you got caught up in that. I had to fling that woman away so she wouldn’t kill you. You and,” his eyes flicked toward Jonah, “...your friend got caught in the wave.”

  His voice sounded deeper than she remembered. She thought it might be a confidence thing: more solid than before, emanating quiet strength. Yet another quality the two brothers shared.

  “I’m...fine,” she managed, before realizing her neck, back, and backside all ached. “Well, maybe a little bruised.” She rubbed her backside gingerly.

  David smirked. A gasp came from behind them and Maggie turned to find Jonah trying to get to his feet. His face contorted with pain and he made it up to one knee, but no farther.

  “Jonah!” Maggie hurried to his side where Lila joined her. David came up behind them. A thin white rod stuck out from the middle of Jonah’s forearm at an angle. “Oh Jonah, your arm!”

  “We can’t stay here, Maggie. We have to go.” David said.

  “His arm’s broken. We have to...splint it at least.”

  “Here, let me,” Lila said. She put her hands on both sides of Jonah’s face. “Look at me, Jonah.”

  He obeyed, and Maggie felt Lila pulling Constructive Energy to her. Jonah trembled harder than before. His face contorted in pain and with a resounding SNAP the bone jumped back to attention inside his arm.

  Jonah stared at Lila, eyes wide and mouth partly open. When Lila’s eyes focused on him, she smiled, ducking her head. “Breathe Jonah,” she said softly, reminding Maggie of Joan.

  Jonah didn’t obey. The awestruck look seemed pasted on his face. Lila dropped her hands from his face to his shoulders and gave him one quick, violent shake. “Breathe.”

  Jonah sucked in a deep breath. It came easily, without pain.

  “We need to move,” David said.

  “We have time for a few more breaths,” Lila answered. “Only a few,” she added when David’s mouth settled into a stony line. “Besides, I need to bandage this. The bone is knitted but I can’t Heal epithelia.”

  “Yes. Good.” Maggie said. “Give Jonah a few minutes to recover and you can tell me what exactly is going on.” She motioned to the spot Justine had disappeared from minutes earlier. “Do you know who or what she is?”

  David glanced at the spot she’d indicated. His eyes returned to Maggie as he slowly shook his head. “I’ve never come across anything like her.”

  “She did something to me. She touched me and then I couldn’t use my abilities.”

  David stepped closer, looking concerned. He put his hands on either side of her face and she felt the hum of energy around her. He was scanning her, much as when Doc did his medical scans, or Marcus did his Healing.

  After a moment, he dropped his hands, his eyes focusing on her again. “I don’t feel anything unusual. Can you use your abilities now?”

  Maggie reached out into the universe and pulled Offensive Energy toward her. It came. Her surprise must have shown on her face because David gave her a rueful smile.

  “I swear,” she sputtered, “I couldn’t touch the energy a minute ago.”

  “I believe you,” David put a hand on her shoulder. “She must have some way to block your abilities when she’s nearby.”

  Maggie thought about that and nodded. “At first, I used them a little bit. I didn’t get completely shut off until she touched me. Until we can figure out how she’s doing it, and counter it somehow, I’ll be completely defenseless whenever she’s near.”

  “All the more reason to get you back to Interchron quickly.” David said.

  Maggie studied him for a moment. He’d obviously grown a lot as an individual in the last five months. “How did you two know to show up here?”

  “We intercepted a transmission between the collectives,” Lila said, ripping strips from the bottom of Jonah’s shirt to wrap around his arm. “It said they’d found another Traveler and were sending an assassin after you. David must have some Seeking abilities. Once we got here, he tracked you to this place.”

  Maggie’s face heated. She remembered all too well what David told her before she’d last left Interchron. He had some sense of her. It wasn’t a Seeking ability if it was specific to her. “You aren’t safe here anymore, Maggie,” Lila continued. “David’s right: we have to go.”

  David glanced at Lila, his gaze remaining steady. He wasn’t one to gloat over being told he was right; he’d already known he was, after all.

  “Where are we going?” Maggie asked.

  “There’s a field two miles east of here.” David nodded over his shoulder, toward the higher mountain passes. “We left our Traveler there. Once we make it there, we’ll head back to our time.”

  Maggie frowned at the way David addressed Karl. Why didn’t he use Karl’s name? His formal title of ‘Traveler’ made her wonder if the two men were getting along. Besides, Karl was a physical guy. Why would he stay behind? And where was Marcus in all this? Either one of their faces would have been welcome to her.

  “Why didn’t Karl come with you?”

  Lila and David exchanged worried glances, and awkwardness descended. Maggie could tell they were trying to decide what to say.

  Fear clutched her chest. “He’s okay, isn’t he? Oh please tell me he’s okay.”

  Lila made hushing gestures with her hands. “He’s fine, Maggie.”

  David’s head swiveled toward her, his eyebrow arched.

  “Uh,” she amended, “that is, we think he’s fine. We don’t actually know.”

  Maggie’s voice rose in pitch with each sentence. She knew she should take hold of herself, but she couldn’t think how. “Why don’t you know?”

  David answered. “After bringing you back to your own time, Marcus and Karl took off together.”

  “To where?”

  “We don’t know. They’ve kept themselves Concealed from us,” David said.

  “Why would they do that?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Lila answered, tying the bandage around Jonah’s arm.

  Maggie thought for a moment, then shook her head. “Not to me.”

  “We still haven’t figured out a way to keep you safe. Colin’s still out there. The team can’t fight the collectives without you, and we couldn’t bring you back while Colin was still a threat. Marcus and Karl went to take care of the problem.”

  Maggie rocked back on her heels, feeling lightheaded. David stepped close to her and put a hand on the small of her back. Lila, seeing Maggie’s reaction, left Jonah’s side.

  “Take a deep breath, Maggie. I’m sure they’re fine. They probably have a plan they’re putting into action as we speak. Once they’ve neutralized Colin, they’ll give us a shout out. We just have to wait to hear from them.”

  “What if something’s happened to one of them?” Maggie whispered. “We wouldn’t know.”

  “True, but you of all people know Marcus is our best Healer. If something happens they can’t handle, Karl can Travel them back to Interchron. And if, heaven forbid, one of them were to die—”

  Maggie nodded, understanding. “Their Concealment would dissolve.”

  Lila arched an eyebrow. “Yes. That’s right.”

  Maggie studied the dirt under her shoes. When Lila began explaining, she obviously didn’t think Maggie would remember the fact that anything made using neurochemical abilities would dissolve when the maker’s life was snuffed out. Now, Maggie could read the thought in Lila’s face: she believed someone had explained it to Maggie the last time she’d been at Interchron. Neither Lila nor David knew the bulk o
f Maggie’s memories had returned. She opened her mouth to tell them, but Lila went on.

  “So, I’m sure Karl and Marcus are fine. They don’t know we’ve come for you, or about the transmission we intercepted. We need to focus on getting you to safety.”

  From the ground behind Lila, Jonah spoke for the first time. He was looking at David in a confused way. “You aren’t Marcus?”

  All three of them turned to frown at him. “No,” Maggie answered. “He’s David, Marcus’s brother.” She vaguely wondered why Jonah had confused the two. She supposed David and Marcus did look alike. Perhaps that was it. Maggie had too many other questions to focus on.

  “So if Karl’s not here, how did you two get here?”

  Lila nodded. “In the past few months, Doc located two underground communities of individuals. Neither was as big as Interchron’s population, and their living conditions were far worse than ours, so we’ve welcomed them into the shelter of the mountain. Among them we’ve found a wealth of skills and abilities, including a young Traveler and her sister. She’s nowhere near as powerful as Karl is, but she can get us where and when we need to go.”

  “Enough questions,” David said firmly. “We have to go. Now.”

  Maggie ran her hands through her hair and David gave her an exasperated look. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m not trying to be difficult, but where will we go? If Colin is still around, we can’t go to Interchron. He’ll be able to point right at me and I’ll put everyone in danger.”

  “We’ve found a few more Concealers, Maggie,” Lila said. “Like the others already living in Interchron, they aren’t particularly strong—nothing compared to what Clay could do—but we Concealed you for several weeks before by putting them on a rotating schedule. We can do that again. Not a long term solution, but it’ll buy us some time to figure out what we want to do next.”