Blood in the Fire (Timelaws Trilogy) (23 page)

Earth - June 1981

Elizabeth

Anton and I lay in silence for a few moments, watching the sky brighten with the first glimmers of sunlight. My ribs pierced me with every breath, but I tried to hide it.

It wasn’t long before Anton began again. “You checked out a copy of the Timelaws report,” he said.

“You suggesting that was foolishness, too?” I asked. Hadn’t we argued enough?

“No,” he said. “I know you have to look. I get that you have to make sure there’s nothing you can do to bring him back before you can have closure.”

I let my eyes fall shut and my muscles finally relaxed. It had been exhausting trying to remain stiff.

He wrapped his arms around me and held me close. “But you have to promise you won’t try to save him without me, okay?”

“I’m supposed to ask you for permission now?” I asked tiredly.

“Tied with Luke, Mark was the most important person in the world to you,” Anton said. “It would be understandable if you wanted to risk your life to save his. But―”

“Understandable?” I interrupted. My eyes shot open. “Well, thanks for your ‘understanding.’” I don’t know why I was being so hard on Anton. He thought he needed to keep me safe, and he didn’t care if it took a fight with me to accomplish it. It meant he cared about me first and foremost. Wrong as he was, I could have told him so without trying to hurt him. Still, my voice kept at him, “I violated the Timelaws once and saved Naimi, a baby I didn’t even know. I should be able to do it for Mark.”

“How many people died to carry out Anthe’s plan?” he asked calmly. “She had years to study the Timelaws, and even she couldn’t get around paying the ultimate price.”

I opened my mouth to cut into him again. How dare he presume to decide for me whether or not I should pay that 'price' for Mark? But Anton brushed my hair away from my face and bent over to interrupt me with a gentle kiss on my cheek. “No one can take your choice away from you,” he whispered. “But I just want you to consider how much you mean to me and to Luke, and most importantly, to yourself.”

“Myself?” I asked. “You suggest―”

“Yes,” he countered. “It’s okay to be selfish. You loved Mark, but that doesn’t mean you owe him your life or that choosing yourself over him diminishes what he meant to you.”

“Anton, stop. Please,” I begged.

“Okay,” he said and fell into silence.

“Even if I wanted to, I can’t find a way that doesn’t create a paradox,” I added. “I’ve been over it more than a hundred times, but―”

“Classic paradox. If you go back in time to save him and succeed, you will no longer have a reason to go back in time and save him,” Anton said for me. “Which means you won’t have gone back in time and he’ll still be gone.” A gust of wind picked up and sent goosebumps through my skin. Anton started to rub my arms to warm me up.

“Yes,” I confirmed. “Part of me wishes I’d never created the Timelaws…” At that very moment, a shiver ran down my spine. I sat up and turned back to look at the dead man.

“You’re getting cold,” Anton said. “Would you like me to fetch you a jacket?”

“No, it’s not that,” I replied. What was it Anthe had told me?
They can only act by consensus.
That day, I’d come back to the ship feeling high and powerful and believing I could negotiate my way out of any situation, and something Prikhoff told me makes me think that maybe, just maybe, I was right.

Earth - June 1981

Elizabeth

“Liz, what’s wrong?” Anton asked.

“Save my brother,” I yelled up into the sky. “Remember our deal? I work for you and you keep my brothers safe. You give me back Mark.” Anton stared at me as though I’d just lost my marbles. However, I kept talking. “I asked you once to give him back and you didn’t listen. Well, hear me now. I’m going to recite the spell to send a message to my past self. I’ll tell myself not to help with the Timelaws spell. I’ll tell the past me that Mark dies anyways.”

The color drained from Anton’s face.

Then suddenly it was cold. Really cold. My whole body felt like it had been drenched in an ice-bath.
We saved them once,
the chorus sang.
That was our deal.

“No,” I yelled back “Mark lives or the deal is off.” I punched the ground for emphasis.

The chorus was silent.

“The universe will crumble,” I threatened with my darkest voice.

No response.

I moved to climb to my feet as jabbing pain exploded from my abdomen and fought to keep me down. Nothing was hopeless. My head was spinning. I’d seen comrades die. My parents had died. I was there. I’d watched the wizard kill them and I’d been helpless to prevent it. The contradiction tore at my heart. How could I believe in my power after such catastrophic failure?

Anton leaped up to steady me as I wavered. Half of me was crumbling, there was no point in resisting. My chest hurt. I wished my heart would just stop. The pounding, it’s relentless need to fight, was driving me mad.
Let me sleep
, I begged of my body.
Allow me to give in.
I couldn’t. I owed Mark everything I had to give.

(Darling)
You can’t take the universe hostage each time something doesn’t go your way,
the chorus sang.
Had I heard that right? The word
Darling
at the beginning?

“
Mom?” I asked. The voices were silent again, but it was different this time. I could feel their uncertainty in the stillness as though they’d been caught with a secret. They acted by consensus.

…because they are everyone.
I knew who they were: the dead. The magic-wielding ones.

“Not each time,” I said. It seemed strange to me that my voice still worked. “My deal is that you keep my brothers alive. They live long lives, and I’ll never play this card again…” I paused but got no reply. “My parents will vouch for that.”

“You have until I finish my spell,” I said and began chanting. These words, they would carry me to peace. One way or another.

“Elizabeth, think about what you’re doing,” Anton begged of me. “You can’t destroy the universe for Mark.” But how could there be a universe without him?

Anton wanted to stop me, but short of killing me, there was nothing he could do. “Give her Mark,” he yelled at the sky. The plea in his voice pulled me away from my trance. I looked over and met his gaze. He was thinking about his family and what would happen to them. “For everyone’s sake, just give him to her,” he asked of the voices.

The sad fear written on his face nearly stopped me mid-spell. Fear for me. For a moment, the words caught in my throat. But then, I imagined Luke and started chanting again. This time, I reached over and took Anton’s hand in my own. Our eyes locked. His were sad and compassionate.

You can’t do this,
the chorus threatened.

Watch me.

“After everything she’s done for you, she deserves this,” he yelled. “Don’t take Mark away from her.”

Suddenly, their voices boomed in my head.
Elizabeth
,
everyone will be dead. Stop.
They were yelling so loud that I thought my brain would explode, but I didn’t stop chanting. My hands were shaking with fury.

“That’s your fault,” I said with icy calm. The spell paused with one word to go. “The first of you were the Ori. You gave the wizards the power to start this war. Then you were joined by them and you didn’t want to fight. Instead, you did nothing.” My voice goaded the silence, daring them to deny it. “Because you can’t agree on anything. You are powerless. Useless.” I was speaking to the wizards now. If they needed consensus, I could give it to them. “You can’t even stop me from destroying the universe. What will your war mean after the universe is gone?”

Please,
they whispered. They were pleading with me. A sinister smile crept onto my lips. Whatever happened, they deserved it. They deserved it for meddling with my life and for taking my parents. All of that I could forgive, but they would give me Mark.

We are not bound by the Timelaws,
they said.
We were always the Ori, always your parents, always you, and always the wizards. We must act by consensus. The war would be eternal.

“Consensus fine. Can you not all agree that it’s better to give me my brother than have the universe plunged into chaos?”

Please,
they begged again. I met their plea with silence of my own.

“Liz, we have to go,” Anton said. He reached to pick up my hand in his. I let him take it, but I didn’t make a move to leave. They could read my thoughts.

And then Mark was there.

There was no sound, no spell and no whoosh of air. Nothing, except him standing in the forest as though that’s where he had been all along. He looked around the island with mild interest. “How’d I get here?” he asked.

I had to blink a few times to absorb the sight of him. Goofy expression, dirty t-shirt, and torn jeans, looking as though he didn’t have a care in the world. It was Mark. I must have looked like a dunce, just standing there staring at him in stunned silence. I wasn’t sure he was real. Then I was on him so fast he didn’t know what hit him.

“Hey, hey. It’s okay,” Mark said gently stroking my hair as I squeezed him as hard as I could and sobbed into his shoulder. I squeezed my hands around his shirt. I needed to feel him to be sure he was real. I was afraid that he would disappear again if I let go. “What’d I do to deserve this?” he asked.

“Not much,” I said. I felt a tingle wrap around my skin as Anton worked the teleportation spell to bring us home. I could have stopped to help him, but all I really wanted to do was stand there and cling to my brother. My stomach took a little dive as our surroundings transformed into my kitchen.

“Luke, get in here,” I yelled, still holding on. I would never let go.

“Yeah, I need you to save me from our crazy sister,” Mark agreed.

I didn’t see Luke come in the room or hear his steps. But a few moments later, I felt him tackle us both so hard I had the wind knocked out of me.

“Guys, seriously?” Mark asked.

I guess we were scaring him. I didn’t care, I just squeezed tighter. We stood like that, and Mark just let us.

“Holy crap, little brother,” Luke finally whispered, breathless. I was so lost in the moment, I’d forgotten Anton was even there. Only when the sound of the TV running a commercial penetrated my thoughts, did I lift my head up to see the pile of dirty dishes on the dining table and Anton inspecting them with disapproval.

“We’ve got a bit of cleaning up to do,” I said, finally releasing Mark and taking a step back. The adrenalin was wearing off, but my hands were still shaking and my heart still pounded.

“We?” Luke and Mark both asked simultaneously. I smiled, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw Anton turn to leave out the back door.

Giving Mark one last squeeze on his shoulder, I ran to follow Anton to the patio.

“Wait up,” I called out. He stopped on the steps, but didn’t turn back to look at me. I went and stood next to him, allowing myself to take in the view of the early morning sun coming up through the pattern of thin clouds. The still, humid air foreshadowed the warm day ahead.

“I wouldn’t have done it,” I said. “I wasn’t going to finish the spell.”

He broke his gaze away from the horizon and faced me. “Then how did you fool them? They knew your thoughts.”

“That’s why I couldn’t let myself think about it. But I know you,” I said. My voice was coated with admiration. “You would not have let me destroy the universe. Not even for Mark. And deep down, subconsciously, I always knew you would stop me if it came to that.”

I peeled my own eyes away from the sun and turned them toward Anton. The early morning rays reflected off his hazelnut skin, making him look handsomer than ever.

“So what you’re saying,” Anton said, shaking his head. “Is that my girlfriend took the universe hostage.” I nodded, a mischievous grin plastered on my face. “And then used it as ransom to bluff god-like beings,” he continued. I nodded again. “My girlfriend,” he repeated.

“Yeah, and you’d better remember it,” I replied. Then I stepped in to hug him. I’d nearly allowed him and his family to cease existing. He deserved a hug. He picked me up and swung me around. I kissed him on the cheek and let go.

“I love you,” he said. The words stopped me in my tracks. Anton and I had been together since before my parents had passed, more than two years ago. Our emotions for each other had been demonstrated time and time again: during battles, during missions, and even when we were just curled up to watch a movie. But neither one of us had ever said it. The weight of his words and the glowing regard in his dark eyes filled me with warmth.

“I love you, too,” I said, knowing that my voice could speak the words with confidence and with a deep respect I had never felt before for anyone else. He moved closer to kiss me and I leaned into his chest. My lips met his and moved to absorb his strength and his kindness. My hand came up and rested on his heart, relishing in the feel of its beating against my palm. His arms wrapped around me and pulled me in tighter. I met the power of his embrace, with a power and strength of my own, conveyed through the pressure of my lips and the ease of my hands resting against his body. Finally, our lips parted, but our eyes connected.

“So which one of us gets island clean up duty?” he asked.

“It was my mess,” I said. “I’ll go.”

“No, I’ll take care of it,” he said gently. “Just promise me you’ll get that wound taken care of today. Okay?” I nodded. He leaned in to plant one last kiss on my forehead. “Go spend some time with your brothers.” And with that, he was gone.