Chosen Fool (Forever Evermore #5) (34 page)

He was gone, the pouncing crowd stumbling over themselves in a heap.

My voice was hoarse. “Please…” The medicine was almost gone from my system, but my leg muscles wouldn’t work to stand without help. My gaze searched the crowd for Sin. “Get me out of here before he comes back.”

“Okay, miss,” a gentle Mage male murmured, hurrying to grab under one of my arms. A Shifter female grabbed my other. Both of them carefully lifted me to my feet. I wobbled as vertigo hit, so they kept a firm grip on my biceps. Another Shifter opened the door to the shop I had just been in, where Sin must be. The throng of bystanders followed as I was helped into the clothing store.

My vision was still blurry, but my attention scanned the place.

It was a furniture store, no clothing anywhere.

The place was a tacky, dated mess, and horrendous retro music played.

Stopping next to the glass cashier stand, the Mage muttered a curse as he fingered the cuffs around my wrists. A shiny bell chimed above the entrance, the door closing as the last person from the onlooking crowd entered. The crowd was a mixture of concerned Mysticals and Commoners, most of them wearing light-denim jeans—some folded oddly at their ankles—with colorful t-shirts rolled at the sleeves. My vision cleared further, and I stared at their hair. It was definitely not the current trend. There were a few oddballs with Mohawks, while the rest had hair styled giant and puffy with possibly…
hairspray
?

My heart rate shot up in a thunder of dread. Blood drained from my face.

The quiet outside.

The wrong—yet right—store.

The different clothing styles.

The out-of-date but still new furniture.

Hell, even the music.

But, most importantly, the Bossman. The hybrid with the warped magical gift.

His destination had been ruined by a silver bullet.

Licking my lips, I asked, “What year is it?”

The Shifter woman, who was eyeing the wound on my chest, glanced up at me. “Did he hurt your head, too?”

“He shot me up with something,” I stated truthfully. I wobbled on my feet as the Mage adjusted my arms behind my back, still attempting to remove the cuffs. “What year is it?”

Her expression was kind as she stated patiently, “It’s nineteen-ninety-three.”

I nodded, my vision blurring at her pronouncement. “Right.” Even with the pain I was in, my entire body managed to go numb. “If you get me a paperclip, I can remove the cuffs.”

Her brows lifted. “You know your way around handcuffs?” When I nodded, blinking blindly, she murmured, “If I hadn’t known you were telling the
truth
he was kidnapping you, I might think you belong in the cuffs.”

I licked my lips again. “He’s an asshole who has abused me often. I learned at an early age how to get out of the cuffs he put me in.” I tilted my head at the desk, seeing her eyes harden at my
truth
. “Can you please find me a paperclip? These are very uncomfortable.”

She rounded the cashier desk at a fast clip, pushing the gawking clerk out of the way. “The bullet doesn’t hurt?”

“Stopped against my ribs. If someone has a pair of tweezers, I can pull it out myself.”

She froze for a moment. “I’m sorry for what he’s done to you.” Her kind smile didn’t hide the feral animal inside her. “We’ll put out an alert and have him arrested the first moment he’s spotted.”

No…they wouldn’t. No alerts were going out.

These people wouldn’t remember a damn thing as soon as I was free.

Because I shouldn’t be here at all. In their lives.

In the
past
. In 19-fucking-93.

Chapter Thirty

Hands now free, the cuffs in my purse, I grunted and hissed. I pulled the damned silver bullet from my chest with a pair of tweezers a Com woman handed over.

Everyone watched in morbid fascination…and stayed in the shop. Like I wanted.

Breathing a sigh of relief and leaning heavily against the glass cashier stand, I dropped the bloody bullet into my open purse and zipped up the purse. A simple plan had formulated now that the pain of performing that deed was done. The pain of fishing inside my chest with a pair of tweezers had pounded through my shocked, utterly dazed state, making me actually
think
. Only one man had been talking this morning about time being fickle.

Directly working to get these people moving before more entered the shop, I let my Core open, pulling on the stars’ power, my eyes glowing under my hooded lids. I exhaled a lungful of air, and my audience was hushed as tiny, beautiful stars flew past my lips.

Straight at them.

I whispered, “
Be at peace
.”

Some initially screamed, but their shouts were cut short. A tiny star landed straight against the center of each of their foreheads. All stared in serene quiet, being in utter harmony with the situation. Moving through the room quickly while keeping my Core open, I touched each of their shoulders and pulled on each of their tethers, ordering them to forget. I erased the short memory from them. My action was not harmful, but it was needed. Once I stood at the back of the store where they couldn’t see me, I again exhaled stars, the tiny white fire flicking to hit their heads.

I whispered, “
Return to your lives
.”

I slipped out the back door as they started moving. Some were confused, but most began to shop inside the store. Standing in a small alley behind the shop, I sighed heavily but kept my Core open and floated through the cosmos until I found my treasure trove. I plucked a very important diamond from the hidden alcove. It appeared in my hand, and hurrying, I lifted it.

With the Primal Diamond against my lips, I whispered, “
Take me to Elder Farrar
.”

A small flash of white light consumed my entire being.

I flinched, closing my eyes against the hot water spraying my face and I almost fell as my boots slipped on a slick surface. I threw a bracing arm out to what felt like wet tile, opening my Core just a bit to put the Primal Diamond back into my treasure trove. I heard a masculine groan directly in front of me. Wiping my face, I blinked open my eyes.

And stared.

With hot water still flicking against my forehead, I stood behind a man with dark hair. He was glowing golden, with rivulets of water running down his flesh…and he was completely nude inside the shower I had landed in. My eyes widened, seeing his hips pumping as he groaned and his glowing ass flexing. Another pair of glowing hands appeared on either side of his hips. A different Mage was on their knees in front of the man. Completely mortified, my mouth dropped open as I shrieked, “Oh my God! Oh my God!”

The man directly in front of me shouted loudly.

It wasn’t a furious holler but was instead a shout full of pain as he jerked back.

He bumped into me hard.

Another male’s voice shouted, “Shit, I’m sorry!”

I stumbled, hitting the side of the tub.

I fell out of the shower and landed on a toilet. I rolled and grunted as I hit the tiled ground. Half soaked and utterly humiliated—my jaw now hurting from jarring it on the ground—I quickly jumped to my feet. Then I smacked my left hand over my eyes. There were two completely nude men staring at me, a golden haired one grabbing a towel on my left from the top of the toilet…and the dark-haired one—Elder Farrar—sporting a scowl.

“I am so sorry, Elder Farrar,” I mumbled quickly. “I—”

“Wait,” he demanded before I could mutter another word, a definite growl in his tone. The sound of the running shower cut off. “Keep your mouth shut and grab the towel for me.”

I started to take my left hand off my eyes and reach toward the toilet where the other man had grabbed a towel. But I paused.
Now
I understood the humor in Elder Farrar’s comment earlier today. I kept my left hand firmly over my eyes and reached to the right—
my right—
with my free hand. I fumbled blindly until I felt a soft towel under my palm.

The other man muttered quietly with concern, “Are you all right?”

“I like teeth but not like that.” Brusque words. “And as you can see, I’m fine.”

My cheeks heated as I realized Elder Farrar had been injured
intimately
by my outburst.

I kept my mouth shut as he had ordered, holding the towel out for him. He yanked it quickly from my hand, just as the other Mage asked slowly, “Did she call you…Elder Farrar?”

“Jesus,” Elder Farrar muttered, and I felt a breeze of Mage magic, spells and time floating around me. He whispered, “
Forget
.”

The man’s voice was slurred a beat later. “What…what just happened?”

“We were interrupted,” Elder Farrar grumbled. “You should probably go now.”

“All right,” he murmured. Wet footfalls tickled my hearing as he stepped out of the shower. I quickly pressed my back to the wall, my left hand still firmly in place. “Will I see you again?” And damn, the man sounded hopeful. Even a little shy.

A gentle, quiet word. “Possibly.”

The man walked past me and the bathroom door shut behind him, his retreating footsteps soft outside. Elder Farrar grouched, “You can lower your hand, whoever the hell you are.” I lowered it slowly and saw a towel firmly wrapped around his waist. He stepped from the shower, not glowing anymore…except for his eyes. “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t kill your trespassing ass.”

And he was serious.

In a flash, I mumbled, “This morning it was the year twenty-thirty-five, which is
normal
. But now I’m in nineteen-ninety-three, which is
not normal
.” I licked my lips quickly. “And you also told me this morning the towel was on my right side, which I didn’t understand then, but now I do.”

His eyes flared even brighter, his head cocking oddly, the way of Mages. I waited in the silence, knowing he wasn’t ‘with’ me right now. He hummed, “You’re not lying.” He blinked a few times, his dark-spelled hair throwing me even more than his marginally younger appearance. His lips pinched as his eyes focused on me, and he waved a damp hand. “Don’t say a fucking thing unless I ask you a direct question. And even then, make it short and sweet, and keep any unnecessary details to yourself. No one, not even me, needs to know any more than necessary about the future.”

Keeping my lips clamped together, I nodded once, though I really wanted to speak.

I needed this man’s help.

But this man, in this time, didn’t know me. His help was only optional.

He stalked past. I gave him plenty of room as another door shut outside the bathroom, possibly the other man leaving. I quickly bent, picking up my purse from the floor as he left the bathroom. The space opened to a small apartment. He gestured to the couch, in front of which was an ancient—but probably new in this time—television. “Have a seat while I get dressed.”

I nodded as he moved to a room directly to our right, entered, and shut the door behind him. Bending at the waist, I peeked carefully to the room on my left, which was another retro bedroom. A woman’s items littered the floor and bed.

I tiptoed forward into the living room, glancing about my surroundings. I saw a bay window on my right and a tiny kitchen with a small table to my left. The main door to the apartment was directly in front of me. This living space was much more humble than what I would have expected Elder Farrar to live in. Then again, his hair was spelled a different color and he had wiped the memory of his name from his shower partner. He wasn’t living normally during this time, so I needed to be much more careful around him.

I sat silently on the couch, placing my purse on my lap. I was probably lucky he hadn’t killed me immediately. And his reason for living like this was something to ponder—or possibly even ask him—once I was home, in
my
time.

He didn’t keep me waiting longer than a minute, entering the living room wearing a pair of light-colored jeans and slipping a shirt over his head. His hair was combed but still wet, his feet bare. The Elder rested with his back against the main door, an obvious action to keep me inside, trapping me. He crossed his arms, his golden eyes staring and evaluating me while I sat mute on his couch, doing as he had said.

He rumbled, “You’re either very foolish or very brave, I’ll give you that much.” It wasn’t a question, so my mouth stayed shut. His lips lifted in a small grin. “And you follow directions well.”

Yes, I liked all limbs attached as they were.

He flicked a finger. “You stated you know me in the future?”

“Yes.”

“How did you find me now, in this time?”

My lips pinched. “I’m not sure that’s necessary information.”

He stared a long moment. “How did you get into my apartment?”

“The same way I found you.”

His fingers drummed on his crossed arm. “You’re obviously not here with harmful intent, otherwise you wouldn’t have screamed like that earlier.” His head cocked. “In the simplest way, tell me why you tracked me down.”

My brows lifted at the obvious answer. “I want to go back to my time. To twenty-thirty-five.”

He stared. “And you think I can take you there?”

My brows now puckered in confusion. “Yes.”

He ran a hand over his mouth. Crossed his arms again. “I’m not old enough—
powerful
enough—to do that yet.”

I froze completely, then I muttered a single word. “What?”

He shook his head, stating slowly, “I can’t do it.” His gaze was steady. “I’m not sure what type of magic brought you back in time, because I sure as hell have never heard of it, but only the most powerful Mages can handle what you’re asking. Only when we’re older can we can jump through time and make it back without killing ourselves or someone we’re transporting.” Again he wiped a hand over his mouth as I blinked at him blindly, hardly able to breathe. “In fact, there’s only one Mage powerful enough who could transport you, and himself, back safely right now.”

I jumped on that, sucking in a deep breath. “Who?”

With gentle patience, he shook his head. “You shouldn’t get your hopes up. You won’t be able to find him unless he wants to be found.” Golden brows puckered, his gaze straying out the bay window while he thought. “Actually, he should have found you. He would have known you weren’t supposed to be here.”