by Holly Hook
The tingling stops. Arnelia's device has stored my memories. I take it off.
Isabel's eyes are red. She's close to tears, but they're tears of relief. I understand how she feels. When my brother and my father escape the Titanic--and I'm going to believe that they are--I'll probably do the same thing.
"Ladies," Simon repeats. He's louder. Desperate.
I turn. He's staring down the hall, to where it curves into fog the color of blood.
There's silence. Then, a loud dragging noise sounds from down the hall as if someone's pulling a cinder block across the floor. Deep in the red mist there's an indistinct movement like someone moving behind drapes. It's large enough to take up the entire corridor.
My heart leaps into my throat and I'm frozen there. The thing moves again and there's another, louder dragging noise. It's getting closer.
Simon clamps his hand down on my shoulder. "We had better go."
"I think you're right." I pull my foot from the floor. "What have we done?"
Chapter Eighteen
The three of us run.
The rest of the Hub is no better.
It's red, red, red everywhere like Time itself is inflamed. Some of the rifts spark with anger. Others remain calm. There's no one else in the corridor, like whatever's coming up behind us has scared them off. Simon and I have upset something and badly.
Is this what Frank was so afraid of? Has he seen this before?
The hallway curves up ahead to the Main Chamber. The fog's thicker up here. Something scrapes again behind us. It's closer. That thing's catching up. I don't want to know what it is.
"We should duck into a rift," I say. "One that's in another hallway."
"Good idea." Simon runs beside me and Isabel puffs behind us.
We emerge from the corridor. The Main Chamber opens up. Red swirls around us and the expanse of the floor vanishes into it. If I didn't know better I'd say we were standing at the edge of an infinite ballroom of mist. It's like the universe has ended.
"What is going on here?" Simon asks.
"You're asking me?" I face him. "None of us knows what's going on. Well, except for--"
"Me."
It's Frank's voice, echoing somewhere in the red void.
“Okay,” I yell. I'm too scared to be furious with him. I can't tell how close he is. “Show yourself. This needs an explanation.”
Footsteps. Frank's approaching. Somewhere behind us the dragging noise sounds again. I have an urge to grab Simon and Isabel and run, to go anywhere away from whatever's coming up the corridor behind us. But I have to hear what Frank has to say. He's the only one with the answers.
Frank appears, a dark silhouette at first. He stops ten feet away. He's haggard, his face long and almost skeletal in the light. His hair's a mess, his eyes bloodshot.
“I told you not to keep going with your plan,” he says, flat and lifeless. “Now you've released them.”
“I figured,” I say. He doesn't look like he's here to stop us. He just seems...resigned. “Frank—we need to get out of here. Just let us go and we won't cause any more problems.” I'm not sure why I'm saying that. There's no way he can keep all three of us here.
“It's not that simple,” he says.
“Nothing's simple with you.” Isabel balls her fists and stares daggers into him. “You weren't the one who offered to help save my family. You never offered to help. All you've ever cared about is your job no matter how much it hurts everybody else. I loved you, Frank, and you never once tried to make this easier for me!”
Frank takes a step back, hurt. “But I did. I tried to send Julia back without having to get you involved, and--”
“By hurting people,” she continues. “By trying to kill people."
There's another loud scrape behind us. How far is that thing behind us?
“Death is better than some things!” Frank shouts. Isabel's hit a nerve. Frank's turning just as red as the mist around us. “Fine. Do you want to know why I'm the way I am? I was like the three of you once. When I first became Timeless, I made a plan to save my twin brother from death in the Battle of Gettysburg."
Since falls. I stare at Frank. There's no trace of a lie on his face.
"You had a twin brother?" Isabel asks. She softens and unclenches her hands. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I couldn't speak about him until now." Frank's voice cracks. He's breaking apart. "Time would not allow me to."
"But I was also Timeless when you could have told me. You're allowed to talk about your past with other Timeless, you know." She looks at both of us and back to Frank. "How come you can talk about your past now? I'm human. You shouldn't be able to."
"She's right," Simon says. I don't miss the nerves in his voice. He's just as scared of the thing behind us as I am. He takes my arm. Pulls me away from the corridor and closer to Frank. I'm glad for it.
Another sound like someone dragging a huge bag of water follows. Whatever's coming must move slow, but it'll get here soon. We don't have much time. I know I should run, do anything to get away, but we have to get to the bottom of this. There might not be another chance.
"This is a special case," Frank says. He looks over his shoulder, then back at us. "Time is sick. Very sick. It gets this way whenever someone makes a huge change to history. It's in no shape to stop me from talking about what I want now."
An awful feeling bubbles up inside me. We've screwed something up. How badly? "Time...is sick?"
"This is its body, after all," Frank says. He's talking faster. "The three of you must have changed history somewhere, and I think I know where. Isabel, I told you it wasn't worth stopping the Gustloff from sinking."
She lunges at him. Swings a fist, which lands on his stony chest with no effect. "You should understand if you lost your twin brother!"
"I do!" He pushes her away and holds up his hands. "I really do. But there's something that happens when you change history that's so much worse. Trust me."
"What is it?" I stand beside Isabel. "Stop skirting around the subject and just tell us."
Frank lets out a breath. The air feels electric like there's a big ball of energy approaching us. My hair stands on end.
"You want my story? Here." He stuffs his hands in his pockets and takes them out again. "Fred and I lied about our ages and enlisted in the Union Army. We served together for months. Relied on each other to get through the hard times. Then the day of the battle came. The two of us were supposed to die in a cannon blast. Time saved me. It left him to perish. I saw my brother blown apart right before the rift took me away." Frank's scarlet now. I can't help but watch and listen. "I tried to go back and get him, but of course we Timeless can't go back to times we lived in. So I had a Timeless friend named Sven go back to the Battle of Gettysburg and mark my brother with my blood," he says. "To make a long story short, we got Fred to the Hub. Time claimed him and he became like me. But we'd left a lot of friends back in the battle who died. Fred and I decided we'd send Sven to stop our troop from going into that battle in the first place."
"Why haven't I heard of this Sven guy?" Simon asks. His eyes are big. Scared, like he's putting the pieces to a horrible puzzle together.
Frank ignores him. He speaks quickly. "It changed the outcome of the battle. The Civil War dragged on for two more years. More people died. Time became sick, just like now."
Two watery scrapes. My skin tingles. "Simon--we need to--"
"The reason you haven't heard of Sven is that he no longer exists." Frank drops his face to his hands. "And neither does my twin brother. You used to know them both, Simon. You and Sven were good friends. You even worked together on your first assignment. The one with the knight."
I remember Simon's story about that, and the fact that he couldn't remember who he'd been paired with. Now I know why that bothered him so much.
"What?" he sputters. "But Timeless memories can't be messed with. I couldn't have forgotten."
Frank steps closer. He glares right into Simon'
s face. "There's one thing that can erase our memories. That's the Chronophages."
"The what?" I ask.
Frank turns to me. His eyes are bloodshot. Bloody gold streaks through the blue in them. He stares hard into me. "We aren't the only things Time uses to protect itself. Sometimes, even we try to mess things up. Time understands that. That's why it sends the Chronophages after us if we dare pull these stunts. They can't leave the Hub or attack mortals, but...but they eat us Timeless who meddle with history! And each time, they make the rest of us forget. The only reason I still exist and remember it all is that I made a deal with them. I'd stop other Timeless from messing with history if they left me alone. Yes, I'm a coward, but you don't understand. Death is better than letting them get you. At least when you die there's a chance that a part of you goes on. When you get eaten by those things...it's all over. Your body and soul both get destroyed. You should have let me kill you when I could, Julia. It would have been easier for you."
"Why didn't you tell us this earlier?" I ask, trying to hide the explosion of terror inside. I move farther away from where I think the entrance to the corridor is. The Chronophage must be ready to come out any second.
"We've got to get close to the middle of the room," Isabel says. She's a blur in the fog but her voice is high with fear. "There's more than one of them, right?"
"You're perfectly safe now," Frank tells her. "All of us--to the middle. It'll buy us a little more time. There's at least one Chronophage in each corridor. They're slow, but they're chasing us all out here."
"Shouldn't we think of a way out before they find us?" I ask. My voice is rising. I can't help it. Any horror I felt on the Gustloff is an anthill compared to this. Black walls of fear close in. I hold back a scream.
"There is no way out," Frank says, running into the mist. "The rifts are closed to all Timeless in here. We're all trapped until those things find us. Didn't you see them sparking?"
I grab Simon's hand and run after him. "Well, can't we hide in our quarters?"
"That's closed too. I've tried before."
"Then what?" I exchange a glance with Simon. His wide, brown eyes match my terror. "I take it we can't open a rift, either?"
"No. We wait," Frank says.
I'm dizzy running further into the red mist. I can't tell if I'm about to smack into the wall on the other side or if we're going to run into one of those things. I keep my hand locked with Simon's. He's breathing heavy.
We pass a figure standing in the mist. It's the caveman Simon and I saw leading the other guy back to his time. He's turned away from us, staring into space. We bolt past a woman in a Victorian-era dress. A man bundled up for Siberia. We're running through a crowd of other Timeless, all trapped here while the Chronophages hunt us down. No one's talking. Everyone's just waiting, confused.
The crowd gets thicker. We're nearing the middle of the Hub. I dodge people, people from every time and place. A man in farmer overalls. A soldier in fatigues. A woman in a veil. Even a girl dressed a lot like Arnelia. How many Timeless are here?
“Here,” Frank says.
We're at the center of the Main Chamber. The star pattern in the floor looks dead and lifeless in the mist.
We stop. I don't dare let go of Simon.
“Do you know what is the matter, sir?”
A man in a powdered wig leans towards Frank, expecting an answer. Gold glints in his eyes. It seems like we're the only four who know.
“You're fine.” Frank turns away from him. “You won't remember this, anyway. You never do.”
“We should work on an escape,” I say.
Simon nods. He's shut down. The brown in his eyes is dead like he's given up.
“Snap out of it, Simon! We have to think before they get here. I'm not going to just stand here and wait.”
“There isn't a way out. I've told you. They're coming up all the corridors," Frank says. He storms up to us. Glances at our interlocked hands. Something burns in his eyes. Jealousy? Hate? "Enjoy your last few minutes together. Like I said, death would have been better for you."
"Would you shut up?" Isabel pushes between us and Frank. Arnelia's butterfly dangles from her grip. I can't remember giving it to her.
"There must be a way out of this. Stop letting fate rule you!" I'm going ballistic.
"What else can I do?" he asks. "Messing with fate just made things worse. My brother no longer even exists! Sven's also gone forever."
"It was all for nothing," Simon mutters. "All for nothing." Then he kicks the air, sending mist curling away. "Nothing at all!" He takes in a breath and stares into the air.
Scrape.
And then there's a loud sucking sound out in the mist, like someone's turned on a giant vacuum cleaner. The fog zips away from us and towards some maw. Wind blows against my face, sweeping my hair along with it.
One of the Chronophages is close. It's ready to pounce. Eat.
Mutters sound through the air as the other Timeless huddle closer together. The caveman nearly backs into a girl in a robe like Arnelia's. The Mongolian guy and the Victorian lady press together and hug. Isabel turns away from Frank, keeping her death-grip on the butterfly and my memories.
I know what has to happen if we're going to get through this.
If we're going to save my family.
If we're going to save ourselves.
I slap Simon. He snaps out of his daze, blinks, and faces me. Even Frank's watching.
"Listen," I say. I'm speaking for all four of us, even Frank. "The rifts won't open until those things eat Simon and me. That's what's going to have to happen."
"No!" Isabel grabs my arm so hard I lose Simon's grip. "You can't do that. It'll ruin everything."
"Wait." I can speak freely. All the Timeless here will forget this, anyway. "Aren't we both still waiting back in 1912 to get my memories of all this back? And Simon, too? I'm still sleeping in my bunk on the Titanic behind that rift. It doesn't matter what happens to the Timeless us now. All that matters is that you do your part in this. You're human now. You have a way to cheat the memory wipe thing. The Chronophages can't hurt you."
There's another, stronger sucking sound. I struggle to stay upright in the wind. A woman screams somewhere and starts babbling in a language I don't recognize.
"You should be," Isabel says, staring down at the butterfly in her hand. There's doubt in her voice. "What if those things erase even your past existence? Do they do that?" Her eyes dart to Frank.
I study him. I wait for him to try to stop us, to threaten to murder Isabel if she goes through with this. But he's still. Listening.
"I don't think they do," he says. "That would change history. Time doesn't want that."
"Then why haven't you tried to save your brother again?" I ask. I have to keep talking to fight the terror down. "He's still waiting. You should have another go at it. I don't believe in fate. You're not its slave." Why am I trying to help Frank? He tried to murder me. He shoved Eric into a pond. He doesn't care if my family lives or dies.
"But the Chronophages--"
"Only attack us Timeless," I say. "Isabel just got around that. Maybe you should find a way to make sure you stay human in your old time. And alive."
I can't say the rest. If he does that, he will never try to hurt my family. He will never shove Eric into the pond or threaten Arnelia or make my little brother scream. He won't be there to stop us from getting to a lifeboat in time in case the worst happens and we can't stop the sinking. Sven and his twin brother can still exist.
Simon wraps his arm around me and pulls me close. He's shaking. "Julia--"
I follow his gaze.
Something huge moves in the mist, like a giant, filmy ball ten feet high. It slides closer inch by inch, eating the precious space between us and it. The other Timeless back out of its way, silent. Two sunken areas near the top resemble lifeless eyes on a face of wax. A jagged, eight-foot-wide crack spreads across it like a mouth. If someone magnified a white blood cell by a million
times, this might be the result.
It's a Chronophage.
The thing that's going to suck us out of existence.
I shove Isabel. "Run! Get to 1912 before anyone can stop you. You should be able to go through."
Isabel backs away. Fumbles with the butterfly.
Runs right at the Chronophage. She brushes against its side and it jiggles like ancient gelatin. It ignores her. Slides closer to us.
Nancy. Monica. My father. Melvin. If I want to see them again, Simon and I will have to navigate unspeakable dangers as mortals. Our stint as Timeless is over. Time will never save us from death now. Not after this.
Closer. The Chronophage's mouth peels open, revealing a darkness deeper than the farthest reaches of the universe. It's a gateway to a void where nothing can exist. Black pulses race through my mind. This is what Frank's brother saw before the end and what Sven saw, too.
I turn to Simon, staying in his arms "I'll see you back in 1912."
"You, too." He's trembling. Unsure.
"I will," I say and press my lips to his.
We kiss long and hard. I won't look at the Chronophage. It's all Simon. It's all there ever will be from now on.
Wind snaps, pulling us. It's close. The other Timeless are running. Shouting. But I stay there, embracing Simon. Our heartbeats match and become one.
There's one final gust of wind. I fly off my feet. Simon comes with me. There's dark. Unspeakable dark. We're falling through a void somewhere outside the universe, and--
...
...
Chapter Nineteen
Isabel runs into the entrance of the corridor. She can't miss the screams. The footfalls. One last gust of wind.
And then gasps. Silence.
She knows what's happened. She's still got the butterfly. Isabel keeps her hand wrapped tight around it. She remembers the way to the Titanic rift. This is the right hallway. There's no doubt. She holds the only trace left of Simon and Julia. Will the Chronophages want to eat these stored memories, too? Will they lumber after her next? They might not attack a mortal, but there may be no stopping them from taking her lifeline away. If she loses this, there will be no rescuing Simon and Julia. Isabel will never be able to step onto the Titanic without a memory wipe.