by Holly Hook
She catches her breath and slows in the red fog. How long before the Timeless come after her? She's a Rogue now, someone they'll want to send back to her original period. Her chance to make this work grows slimmer. If this plan's going to work, she needs to do this while all the Timeless are distracted. While Time is still sick.
Maybe it'll be easier for her to step back into 1945. Use her memories to keep her family safe from the end of the war. Forget this.
No. She can't turn away now.
Isabel stops before the curve in the hallway. The mist this. The angry red fades from the crystal around her. The Chronophages have done their work. They've stopped the infection that was once her friends.
Soon some members of the Timeless will get assigned to go back and "fix" the sinking of the Gustloff. Isabel's life, along with many others, depends on Simon and Julia. If they don't get their memories back in 1912, they'll never save her family in 1945.
She's better than that. She is not like her father or...or his kind. She's not one of them anymore.
And besides, Simon and Julia deserve her help.
Taking a breath, Isabel runs again. Rounds the curve. The rift to 1912 is up here somewhere, not far from her own. Her memory hasn't failed. She'll know the rift when she reaches it even if she can no longer see the signs above the gateways.
More footfalls approach.
There's someone rounding the corner, running towards her. The last of the mist clears and she sees.
Her heart sinks.
It's her father.
The murderer. The monster.
Dressed in deadly black and silver, he runs for her. Breathes a sigh of relief.
Isabel skids to a stop. Holds back a scream. He must have seen her disappearing into thin air in the bathroom. Followed through the rift. Started running through the Hub, searching for her. He must have seen the Chronophages and thought the worst. It's on his face. There's no way he'll let her go now.
“Isabel!” He closes the distance between them and wraps her in a hug. It's the most revolting thing she's experienced in a long time. She doesn't return it. Frank's an angel compared to this. A real angel.
And now she stands in the embrace of a beast who murdered. Tortured. Piled emaciated bodies into trenches.
What is she going to do with him?
She's still holding Arnelia's butterfly. Isabel trembles. Her father asks if she's all right.
The wings do come to points. They're strong. Almost unbreakable. Above all, sharp.
Can she?
No one will know.
She raises the butterfly, wings towards her father's back.
End of 11:39 (#2 Timeless Trilogy)