Time thief, p.26
Time Thief, page 26
“The library?” Nash asked as he approached. “Are we making more war plans?”
Piercey stared at his plate. “That would be a better use of our time.”
“What would be?” Leif dropped down hard enough on the chair that I worried it would crack.
“Stuff that stresses you out,” I said.
Leif hooked both elbows on the table and scooped potatoes with his fingers. “Made up words about your power?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Technology,” Piercey mumbled.
“Made up words,” Leif said.
Arn settled Rune’s plate beside Leif while the little boy climbed onto his lap. “Good smells, Papa.”
Seeing them together again made me feel whole.
Nash smiled at the boy. “Elsie said the same thing. Have you gotten to play with her yet?”
Rune nodded vigorously. “She hit me with two sticks.”
Nash’s shoulders dropped. “Oh. I’m so sorry.”
“It was fun. She wants to sword fight like you.”
I twisted around to watch Elsie run up and down the table of food, sticking her finger in dishes along the way to sample them. “Now that’s something to be afraid of.”
Leif clasped his son’s shoulder. “It’s good for him to get a few good whacks. Builds his pain tolerance for battle.”
Piercey raised his brows but everyone else at the table nodded at the fair point.
My eyes lingered on Rune and the inexplicable joy shining from his eyes. Just looking at him, I would have never known he’d been separated from his papa and held captive. Freeing him wasn’t enough. If I had to die, I had to know that he would live in peace. Rune and Elsie both.
“I missed you, buddy.” I reached across the table and tapped his nose.
He giggled and squirmed. “I missed you more, Auntie.” Then he twisted to look at Elsie as she sat beside her mother. “Is she your new buddy?” A hint of fear, even jealousy, tightened his voice.
“You’re my only buddy. Always. But she is my new friend.” I smiled. “My pal.”
“I’m your buddy and she’s your pal.”
Nash and Leif both chuckled as Rune repeated the words to himself. But I could only watch, frozen by the thought of how close I’d come to losing him.
Never again.
The battle to free them from the Prophet had only been the first in a war and I could let nothing hold me back, especially not now that I had even more to gain.
Having everyone together for dinner brought so much fullness to my heart and flooded me with joy, but at the same time made me dread all that could still happen.
Piercey left his food only half eaten to make more potatoes when the children frowned at the empty bowl. They gleefully followed after Piercey to help him cook, or rather run around the kitchen while he did the work. I couldn’t help but think that he looked incredibly happy having so many people around.
“Try this.” Nash pressed a piece of chocolate to my lips. “I don’t know what it is but it’s amazing.”
“Chocolate,” I said, sighing when I ate it.
Leif eyed us across the table and Arn nudged him. “Stop it,” the other man whispered.
“Seriously?” I asked. “After all that has happened?” It was Leif’s first day at the Sacred School, and it had not occurred to me that he may not have accepted Nash yet. “Nash is on our side.”
“That’s only the first step to earning my trust.” Leif anchored his elbows on the table and pointed at Nash. “What will you do when Max gets stubborn and refuses to listen to anyone?”
“She does that every day,” Nash said, nonplussed by Leif’s behavior. “Watch this.”
He grabbed my cheeks, twisted my face to him, and plopped a kiss on my lips. My cheeks warmed.
“See? Distracted. Problem solved. Move on.”
“Wow.” I pushed him. “You don’t do that, do you?”
“Sometimes.”
I gasped. “I’m never going to trust your kiss again.”
When Nash grinned, I realized he was messing with us, Leif and me both.
“Oh. More games.” Narrowing my eyes, I looked back at Leif. “He’s on his last chance. You may not have to worry about him for long.”
Nash snorted.
“Mock me and see how that goes for you,” I said.
Beneath the table where no one could see, he smoothed his hand slowly over my knee. “It goes quite well, generally speaking.”
“The arrogance.”
Leif groaned and shoveled more potatoes into his mouth. “Fine, so long as you understand that you’ll answer to my blade if you hurt her.”
“That sounds reasonable to me.”
“It’s not reasonable at all. I don’t need you to coddle me, Leif.”
Arn worked his arm around Leif. “He needs to coddle you.”
“I do not,” Leif mumbled, but then glanced up at me.
I could not fail at protecting this family I had pieced together.
Later, when everyone finished eating and became caught up in conversation, I led Piercey to the library to continue our talk.
“Time isn’t linear.” I folded my arms on the table. “We only experience it that way. Except, I don’t always. I can’t change what I’ve already experienced. It happens the same every time, but I change each time.” I leaned against the table, eyes intent on Piercey. “Every time I relive something, it sticks with me.”
Piercey looked like he was piecing together a puzzle with his mind. “Time isn’t a barrier for you.”
“Exactly. However long we have before Flare strikes, I have longer than that. I have more time. If I can learn how to control my slips, I can travel throughout my life for as long as I need to.”
“What would you learn, though? You can’t change anything. You’re only observing.”
“You love rereading books. Come on. You know what I stand to gain if I just stop fearing it.”
Understanding lit his eyes. “You can look for different angles.”
“And find out what the limitations of our world really are.”
He straightened. “Max …”
“I’ll only be able to find the passageway to the afterlife as I die. I’ll have to die again and again until I glimpse it and learn to pry it open.” I swallowed down the lump forming in my throat. “We are meant to travel to the afterlife. There’s a way.”
“You can’t get past Henderson. She’s locked up that door. We’re stuck here.”
“Are we?” I picked at a loose thread on my sleeve. “I’ve avoided my death so far. But I’ve spent my life bouncing between these two eclipses and every experience tied to them. There’s more here for me to learn. You found a way to break into the white room and take over our simulation. I think we can do the same with the afterlife.”
Pain filled his voice. “We’ll figure out how and I’ll be the one to do it this time. It’s too risky.”
“This world needs you. Look at what your graduates are doing. You have students.”
Piercey grabbed my hands. “You’re the one with something to lose. You can’t leave Nash and Elsie when you’re just starting.”
I swallowed hard and looked down. “I’m going to die, Piercey. That’s why I can’t die now.”
“Reality is so complicated. You’ve experienced the eclipse, yes, but you did die in your first two lives that way. Maybe you’re hopping timelines. Maybe you aren’t going to die in the eclipse here.”
“Then why can’t I die otherwise?”
“You’re assuming that’s why. It could be that you subconsciously drew upon more power and saved yourself.”
“I didn’t.”
“Why have you always stubbornly clung to this death?” He ripped his hands away. “You left me behind once. I know how it feels to lose you. That little girl shouldn’t have to go through that.”
“Piercey—”
“No. Nash was right. You refuse to give up on anyone. You refuse to give up on our world. But you jump at the chance to give up on yourself. I won’t stand for it.”
I lowered my head into my hands. “I need you for this, Piercey. After I relive everything, I need to connect with you again so you can experience it, and we can figure it out together.”
“Fine. But I’ll be the one to go to the afterlife. I’ll train Val to take my place in case of the worst. There’s no one to take your place for Nash and Elsie.”
How must it have hurt him to say these things to me? “I can’t let you die for me.”
“I can’t let you die for me either.”
We stared at one another. No words could bridge this gap. We both meant what we’d said.
I settled my hands against the table, feeling too heavy to hold myself up. “Fine.” I sighed. “Neither of us can let the other die. We’ll just have to find a way to break into the afterlife and make it out alive.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
I traced a crack in the table and avoided the eyes of Piercey’s graduates sitting in the conference room with us. Somehow it reminded me that I belonged here and yet didn’t, that it was true of everywhere I’d ever called home. I didn’t fit in anywhere.
Piercey used his teaching voice as he continued with the end of his report. It grated at me today. “Flare has united six Prophets who have formed a council and agreed to work toward combining their lands. Others have refused, including the Prophet of the Valley. There’s talk of war brewing.” Piercey settled his clipboard onto the table. “We need to decide our next steps.”
“I say we ally with Max.” Val nodded at me. “She’s proven to be very capable and she has the people’s best interests at heart.”
“I agree.” Another graduate spoke up from the far end of the table. “Flare is an enemy to us all. If she uses the Prophets to conquer lands and create nations, they’ll never be nations for the people. They’ll be nations of terror and oppression.”
I held my breath as the next graduate spoke. They were all in agreement. I’d assumed they would fight me, maybe because Piercey always had in his own way.
“Then it’s settled.” Piercey’s eyes shifted to each person at the table. “We ally with Max against Flare. We’ll need to keep her alive while sabotaging her efforts.”
Nash gripped my hand beneath the table.
“It’s tempting to kill the Prophet,” Piercey said, “But Flare will use it to her advantage. It’s better to isolate the major players and keep them busy defending against us.”
I should have known Piercey would come up with an excuse to not kill. So, I rose and nodded at Nash. “Show them your back.”
Piercey drew back at the interruption. “Max—”
Nash pulled his tunic over his head and turned so the overhead lights shone against the scars weaving down his spine.
“Eskel.” I watched the graduates take in the devilishly elegant script running down the middle of his back. “Written in blood.”
Piercey lowered his head. The table fell silent.
“I could tell you as many stories of Eskel’s ruthlessness as there are days. Not only did he conscript Nash and use the threat of hurting his daughter to force him to serve a cause he didn’t believe in for years, but the Prophet also tried to force Nash to bind himself to him.”
The graduates murmured at this violation, because binding yourself was meant to be sacred.
“He used his power to carve his name into Nash’s spine, healed him, and did it again. How many times must you do this before it leaves behind scars not even power can heal? This was done to one man. What else has he done? What will he do if left in power?”
Val looked at Nash as he put his shirt back on and sat down.
“The Prophet of the Valley, Eskel the Ruthless, must not remain in power. He is poison to the people. He uses his power against his people. Do not abandon them to suffer another day beneath his crushing rule. We should kill him now.”
Piercey raised his head again with his eyes unyielding. “The Prophet of the Valley has refused to surrender or join forces with Flare. It’ll mean war. He will be fighting Flare and keeping her distracted. That’s the best chance we have of holding Flare off.”
“Innocent people will die.” My voice hitched.
Piercey’s eyes shone with tears. “And if the Valley falls to the Flatlanders? Into Flare’s hands? Are you prepared to handle the vacuum of power it will create while we also battle Flare?”
“I can’t turn my back on my people,” I said. “My chief agreed to hold off on attacking the Prophet until we all join, but they are prepared to defend themselves at a moment’s notice.”
“No one plans to abandon your people.”
“You already did it once.” I slammed my fist against the table. “Cowering on this mountain while the world is at war is unthinkable.”
Piercey straightened, matching my stance. “Then don’t cower. If you can control your power over space-time, you’ll be able to travel anywhere instantly. Think of all you can do then.” His gaze drilled into my eyes. “We will not help you with the Prophet until we know the Valley will stay out of Flare’s hands. So focus on what you have power over.”
It didn’t matter that I understood Piercey or even whether he was right. Leaving the Prophet in power defied the justice and vengeance every ounce of my blood cried out for. I’d spent years fighting him.
Nash reached for me, but I stormed out of the room. I didn’t need Piercey’s permission to seek my vengeance, not when I’d vowed to Nash that I would kill the Prophet. The problem was that I couldn’t say for certain that he was wrong. I had destroyed so much in my life and the two before this.
How could I trust myself?
It had taken me several days to stop shooting daggers at Piercey and even longer to warm back up to him during our training sessions. While I had not yet decided whether to kill the Prophet on my own, I did know I should not abandon my training sessions with Piercey. His knowledge had always helped me to control my power.
“Focus, Max.” Piercey breathed out slowly.
“I am.”
“No, you’re obsessed and angry. It distracts you.”
I slammed my palm against my knee. “I can’t make myself slip through time.”
“You’ve learned how to stop yourself. That’s something.”
I gripped the back of my neck as I bent forward and stretched my back. “Val said that Flare is trying to unite even more Prophets. She’s using me and the threat of other demons like me to get them to join together. And who knows how close she is to breaking back into this world. I’m sitting here doing nothing.”
“You’re training for battle with Nash, Leif, and Wren for four hours a day and sometimes five with me. You’re doing plenty.”
I shook my head. “Not enough. Not fast enough.”
“It’s going to take Flare time to accomplish her mission. It doesn’t matter that she helped create this world. The path we took to gain control wasn’t easy to find. She’s also having to live here full-time without the luxury of all the god powers she’s used to and she’s playing politics. She’s a scientist. She’ll play it safe to be sure. I’m sure we have months, at least.”
“The Prophet doesn’t need months. He’s as impatient as I am.”
Piercey nodded. “He has many eyes on him. We should practice teleporting more so that you can get to him quickly if you need to.”
That I did need to do. Traveling was my skill set, though. I had unwittingly played with space-time repeatedly in my life. I could learn to do it on purpose.
I focused on Leif to search for his heartbeat and imagined peeling away the distance between us to travel to him. Heat swelled in my palms and I snapped forward. I opened my eyes in the hallway just as he slammed right into me.
“Ouch!” Leif sprang back and rubbed his chin. “Where did you come from?”
“Sorry. Practicing.”
“Are you teleporting again? Make sure you know where we are before you do that. You terrified Wren when you popped up on her bed. She was napping. I think—”
His voice droned on as I listened for Wren and imagined myself standing in front of her. That was all it took to travel to her.
She screamed so loud I thought my ear drums would burst as she pulled her blankets over her head. “Max! Not again!”
“It’s your fault for sleeping so much.” I rubbed my ear.
“Teleport to Nash next time.”
“I don’t want to scare Elsie.”
“Oh.” She ripped the blanket down. “I’m glad there’s someone you don’t want to scare. Must be nice.”
I grinned. This time, when I focused on Piercey, I hardly even had to think about it before I appeared in front of him.
“That’s a record.” He clapped. “Now we add in greater distances.”
I didn’t need to think about where I should learn to travel. My people were rebuilding our village, and I was long overdue for a talk with the chief about all that I’d hidden from her. Wren had already told me that as soon as I learned to travel that far, I had better speak with her. The chief would be an excellent person to discuss killing the Prophet with.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
For the first time since our captivity, I stood in the home I had shared with Leif and his family since they’d taken me in. When the Prophet of the Valley captured our people, they’d set fire to dozens of our homes. I was fortunate that this one survived, but it was not without damage.
The chief had wanted to hear everything I knew and then desired time to think before discussing it further. So, I’d started from the beginning, during the time when I trained with the Prophet of my hometown to when I’d killed the villagers. I told both the chief and commanders of my time at the Sacred School, the binding of my power, and finally all I’d experienced and learned since captivity. While I did not attempt to explain the science, I even shared that the gods had created our world to test their power on us, and that I had stolen control of our world from them.
I knelt down to pick up the broken brush off the floor, the brush Rune had always used to brush my hair before battle. Our home was small with only two rooms, separated by a thick curtain. The house was nestled into the hill with small windows that peeked out like eyes. In the summer, we kept the door open, but in the winter, we closed it and covered it with canvas to keep out the bitter cold. Before all this happened, we would have likely been home cooking this evening, preparing for the battles ahead as we defended our village from the Prophet. Today, our door was broken and the curtain separating the rooms torn.
