“Ha ha. Very funny,” said Christopher weakly.
Eva released another bubble. This time, she managed to hold both bubbles together for a good second before the first one popped. She felt a wave of triumph, but she’d begun to develop one heck of a headache.
“This is all great, but can we come up with a plan here?” she said.
“A plan?” asked Sabretooth, sounding honestly confused. “What do you mean, a plan?”
She couldn’t believe her ears. Did she have to do all the thinking around here? Christopher would be helping if he wasn’t so exhausted. She couldn’t hold that against him. But Sabretooth wasn’t a stupid man. He should have understood what she meant.
“What we’re going to do about the bubbles!” she exclaimed.
“There’s nothing to be done,” he said. “Let it pop. We should take cover. Be ready for what happens. But you’re not going to contain it indefinitely. Better that we choose the time for it to pop then have it overtake you and risk your incapacitation.”
“I hate this plan.”
He shrugged. “You fight enough battles, you realize there’s no such thing as the perfect one. Just the one you got.” He indicated the glowing time bubble. “Is that thing gonna blow?”
She hastily put up another bubble just in time. “I see your point. Once Christopher’s recovered, let’s do it. The more of these I make, the more tired I’ll be.”
“I’m good,” said Christopher. He looked much better now. Much less green around the gills, as Eva’s mother would have said.
“OK.” Sabretooth looked around. “We’re going to want some heavy-duty shelter. That bubble looks hot. It could go through trees like butter.”
“Maybe behind that boulder?” Christopher suggested, pointing toward one of the stone clusters that dotted the area. “Rock won’t burn.”
“My thoughts exactly. Let’s make sure there’s enough room for all of us.”
The two of them hurried around the boulder. Moments later, Sabretooth jogged out, his expression alarmed.
“There are dead Sentinels over here,” he reported.
“Oh, yeah,” said Graydon. “Eva and I took down eight or nine of them. We lured them out with the Box, and then when they tried to shoot me, she froze them in place. Then we maneuvered them so that when the bubbles popped, they shot each other instead. We got pretty good at it by the end there.”
Sabretooth wore a fairly stunned expression. Christopher couldn’t help but laugh at it, and Graydon smirked.
“Nice work,” Sabretooth finally said.
“I thought so too,” Graydon replied with false modesty.
Chapter 26
The magic from the Box came in nonstop waves, and little spots had begun to dance at the corners of Eva’s vision as she struggled to contain it. By the time the other mutants led her to their hiding spot behind the boulder, she could barely remain upright. She’d never made so many time bubbles in such a short period, and the constant surges of magic inside them drained her in ways that she didn’t entirely understand. She just knew that she wanted to take a break now.
They ducked down behind the broken husks of the Sentinels, trusting that their armored bodies would provide some additional protection from whatever came out of the bubble, and they waited. This time, when Eva felt the bubble go, she did nothing. A wave of heat passed over her, and she could hear the crackle of burning things, but she kept her head down for the moment, reveling in the sensation of release. Her temples still throbbed, but she could relax for just a moment, and so she stretched out on the ground, closing her aching eyes.
When she finally lifted her head, she saw Graydon and Christopher stamping madly at some smoldering bushes, trying to avoid a full-grown fire. Sabretooth stood nearby, sniffing the air, all senses alert for danger. The Box sat at his feet, seemingly inert. However, Eva didn’t trust that for a moment. Who knew what kind of magic spilled from it even now? But Christopher didn’t seem alarmed, and she hoped that if something was happening with the Box, he’d warn them.
He noticed her stirring and finished kicking dirt over the bush before coming over to check on her. He hunkered down in the dirt, his shoulder grazing hers.
“How’s the head?” he asked.
“Still attached. How’s the stomach?”
“Not thrilled to be this close to the Box, but I’ll manage.”
Sabretooth gave one last sniff, shrugged, and joined them. “Well, that was anticlimactic,” he said. “The Box lit a few things on fire, but otherwise it seems to be business as usual.”
“I’ll take it,” Eva said, rubbing the bridge of her nose.
“Nice work, Bubble Girl,” said Sabretooth with obvious admiration.
“No. Nuh uh. You did not just call me Bubble Girl.”
“That’s your X-Men name, isn’t it?” he replied with exaggerated innocence.
“It’s Tempus. Say it with me. Temp. Us.”
“I dunno. Bubble Girl has a much better ring to it. It’s perkier.”
Eva began to laugh. “I don’t care who you are, buster,” she said, “but I will rip out your throat if you call me that one more time.”
“Whoa, whoa,” said Christopher, who still sat between them. “I do not support any throat ripping. Veto on the throat ripping.”
But Sabretooth just grinned, warming to the banter. “I’d like to see you try. Bubble Girl.”
“Enough,” she said. “Give me a minute to make my legs work, and we can go.”
•••
They decided to check out the force field around the X-Copter together. Splitting up had done them no good, and if Cyclops was going to come search for them, he’d start at the chopper. Eva would just have to freeze the Box if anyone got too close. It wasn’t an ideal plan, but it was all they had.
“Cyclops will want to take the Box, you know,” Sabretooth said to Graydon. He sounded all casual, but the stiff set of his shoulders looked anything but.
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Graydon responded.
“I’m not going to be one of Scott’s little yes-men. I’d last about ten minutes before I wanted to knock his head off his shoulders.”
The corner of Graydon’s mouth turned up. “Ten? I wouldn’t give you five.”
Sabretooth snorted. “You’re OK with giving it to him? I won’t be able to watch out for you.”
“I think it’s for the best,” Graydon said cautiously.
Sabretooth nodded, and after a tense moment, Graydon walked off.
Christopher watched all of this, unnoticed, from a spot on the ground only a few yards away. He debated whether or not he should say something. After all, he’d obviously caught what was meant to be a private conversation, and the polite thing to do would be to pretend he hadn’t heard a thing. But how much had he missed with his pops because he’d been afraid to say what was on his mind, and now it was too late? He didn’t want to make that mistake ever again.
Cautiously, he joined Sabretooth. At first, he just stood there, hoping to comfort the larger mutant with his presence. But Sabretooth didn’t pay him any notice. Instead, he just hunched miserably, staring out at nothing. He had to say something.
“You OK?” he asked, which was stupid. Of course he wasn’t OK. That couldn’t have been more obvious.
“Could you do me a favor, Chris?” Sabretooth asked unexpectedly.
“Sure,” Christopher said. Then he immediately felt the need to qualify the offer. “I mean, if I can.”
“If Graydon does go back to that school with you, could I give you a number to call and let me know how he’s doing? Nothing sensitive. I don’t want to get you in trouble with Summers. Just… how he’s doing.”
Christopher’s heart went out to him. “Sure. No problem. I could even put him on the line for you if you wanted.”
“No. Don�
�t tell him I’m checking up on him at all.” Sabretooth’s voice was gruff. “It would only upset him.” He ran a hand over his face, which looked unusually haggard. “We should get out of here before we’re attacked by a bunch of killer undead daisies or some ridiculous nonsense like that.”
He smirked at Christopher, but it felt forced. Christopher wanted to say something, but what? He had no idea how to fix this problem. Heck, he had no idea what the problem was, only that it felt all too familiar. Maybe he was just taking his own past, his own trauma, and pasting it onto Sabretooth. In that case, he really did need his head examined. Or maybe it was just stress. Stress was a handy excuse for just about anything.
Sabretooth arched a brow, waiting for a response.
“Sure. I’m happy to help,” said Christopher. It was the easiest thing to say. Maybe that made him a coward, but if he found something more substantial to do later, he would do it. That would have to suffice.
Sabretooth’s beefy hand clapped him on the shoulder. “Thanks, Chris. Let’s get going.”
“You took the words right out of my mouth.”
“Lead the way.”
Christopher was happy to do just that. He led Sabretooth over to join the others, and they walked past the boulders with him in the lead right up until the moment when he smacked face first into something. He backed up a step, his nose smarting and his eyes watering uncontrollably, and tried to figure out what had happened.
“Ow,” he said.
“Your nose is bleeding.” Sabretooth stiffened, instantly on high alert. “Another of those magic wave things?”
Graydon checked on the Box, which was safely tucked back down in his jumpsuit. “You’d think I would have felt something.”
“No,” Christopher confirmed. “I ran into something with my face.”
He pinched his nostrils, and his fingertips came away streaked with red. This made no sense. He looked around. The space before him appeared completely empty, with nothing that could have hit him. He saw nothing on the ground that could have been thrown at him while he wasn’t paying attention, and he thought he would have seen it even if he wouldn’t have been able to duck out of the way in time. But he’d seen nothing in the moment before impact.
“Another one of those invisible force fields?” Sabretooth suggested.
Christopher tilted his head to see if he might glimpse something when the light hit it just right, but still no luck. He began to put his hand out, moving with slow caution, but Sabretooth grabbed it before he could move more than a few inches.
“No, this thing packs a punch. Let me,” he said.
“You were trying to break through it, but we’re not doing that any more. If it’s linked to the Box, it might be susceptible to my abilities. I should at least try it,” Christopher responded.
“If you’re going to do that, one of us should be ready to pull you away if it goes bad,” Eva suggested. Sabretooth looked confused, so she elaborated. “Sometimes when he’s touched things affected by the Box, he’s nearly been sucked in. He’s had trouble disengaging on his own.”
“And you were going to tell me this when, kid?” Sabretooth demanded.
“It didn’t come up,” said Christopher. “Probably because I knew you’d overreact.”
“I’d do no such thing.”
“Actually, he has a point,” Graydon muttered.
Sabretooth held up a finger in warning. “You stay out of this. And you need to share with the rest of the group.” He turned to Christopher.
“Sure. As soon as you start doing that, I’ll follow your lead,” said Christopher. “Now if you’re done throwing your temper tantrum, I’d like to see if there’s a force field here or not.”
He didn’t bother to wait for an answer, because he knew what the answer would be. Sabretooth would grumble and complain, but eventually he’d have to admit that Christopher was right. He didn’t need a babysitter all the time.
More to the point, he didn’t deserve being called “kid” again.
With caution, he reached out toward the spot where he thought he’d impacted against the invisible barrier. His fingers touched something cold and smooth and unseen. It didn’t shock him, but it felt hard like diamonds. No wonder it had hurt to run his face into it. He put his palm flat against it, marveling at the firm but completely invisible surface. How far did it extend? He began to search, adding a second searching hand alongside the first.
“No shock, huh?” asked Eva.
“Nope. It feels like glass, almost.” Christopher smiled a little. “It’s kind of neat when you’re not hitting it with your face. I’m trying to find the edge.”
She nodded and reached out, moving with the same slow caution he’d used. After a moment, she stopped. “It’s over here too. It’s curved.”
Graydon followed suit, picking an open area and moving with elaborate caution until he came to a stop some fifty yards away. “It’s over here as well,” he called. “I’ll see if I can’t find the edge.”
Sabretooth watched them with his arms folded, sulking. The three of them ignored him, working their way around the circumference of the force field, searching for the exit. There had to be some way out. After all, they’d gotten into it.
Finally, after a few minutes of painstaking searching went by, he joined them, filling in the gaps and reaching up to the high points the rest of them couldn’t touch. At its apex, he could just reach the top, so it had to be a good seven foot in height. The curved surface was about twenty feet across, with only grass and uneven ground inside. Just outside the border sat the boulders and the husks of the dead Sentinels they’d killed.
“It’s a dome,” Sabretooth said, sitting down in the dirt with finality.
Christopher had begun to suspect it sometime before, but he hadn’t wanted to say it aloud. Sabretooth just threw the ugly truth right out there. No hesitation.
“Could you bubble it?” Graydon asked Eva.
She shrugged. “If I could, then what? It would freeze us too, which does us no good. There’s no way to bubble the force field without affecting us as well. Sorry, mate, but thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“I’ll try to drain it.”
Christopher knew he sounded resigned. He certainly felt that way. He’d gone into this flight thinking that his abilities were uncool and, in some ways, useless compared to what a lot of other mutants could do. But now he just wanted a break.
Luckily, Sabretooth didn’t try to patronize him this time, because Christopher might have punched him in the face. He was fairly sure that this wouldn’t have ended well for him, no matter how many nice moments he’d had with the elder mutant that day.
“I’ll pull you back if you need it,” Sabretooth said instead. He looked at Eva. “How do I know if he needs it?”
“He’ll start going all clammy,” she said. “Like he’s about to hurl again.”
“We’ve had lots of examples of that,” said Sabretooth. “I should be able to recognize it.”
“Oh, stop it,” said Christopher.
“How can I help?” asked Graydon, obviously trying to forestall another argument.
“Keep an eye on the Box,” Christopher responded. “If it starts doing anything odd, anything at all, get me out of there. It reacted really strongly when Sabretooth messed with that other force field, so I don’t know what’s going to happen here. But I don’t want to stay here and wait for whatever trapped us in here to come and fetch us, do you?”
“Heck no,” said Eva. “If you’re willing to risk this, I say it’s worth doing.”
“Absolutely,” said Graydon. He pulled the Box from his waistband and watched it intently. “If anything happens, I’ll let you know.”
Sabretooth sighed, smoothing his bloody, matted hair out of his face. His claws stuck in the tangled strands, but he didn’t even seem to notice.
“Fine, fine. Whatever. Risk your life if you want. It’s all the same to me,” he said.
Christopher nodded, reaching out toward the invisible barrier once again. But before he could make contact with it, Sabretooth interrupted him.
“Hey, Chris? Be careful, would ya?” he said diffidently.
“Yeah. Sure.”
Christopher touched the barrier, feeling its cold smoothness beneath his hands. This one was clearly different from the barrier that blocked the X-Copter from their reach, but they must have been generated from the same source. He wasn’t willing to believe that two magic users coincidentally roamed around Chicago on the same day, having an invisible force field competition. They had to be the work of the same person. Or perhaps they were stuck in the middle, with multiple people trying to get the Box, sending Sentinels and cops, raising the dead and putting up force fields, fighting each other for dominance.
Either option could be true, so he had to be prepared for anything. He opened up, letting his power flow through him, allowing the life force to flow from his palm into the unseen barrier beneath it.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then he could feel the magic that powered the force field and the immense will that sat behind it. Once again, he could hear a faint, incessant chanting in the distance, rhythmic and guttural. The deep voice rose in volume this time, filling his ears. It seemed familiar somehow, but he couldn’t place it. He couldn’t move away from it, couldn’t return to his body or disengage from the force field. He was trapped as the chant filled his mind and took him over, driving away all conscious thought and action.
Chapter 27
When Christopher opened his eyes, it took Eva a moment to realize that something was dreadfully wrong. At first she sagged with relief, because he hadn’t been trapped by the force field. The emotion quickly gave way to disappointment because he must have come to the conclusion that he couldn’t do anything to get them out. The pang of dismay she felt made her speak more bluntly than maybe she should have.
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