by Holly Hook
I’ll just take a peek. Stick my head in and come back out. Make sure this gateway will take me through to a point where I can even do anything.
I hold my breath, raise my hand, and brace for the cold that’s on the other side. Isabel tenses next to me, watching, waiting.
My fingers go through the gold. Hit the solid crystal on the other side.
I try again.
Still solid.
Again.
Nothing. I don't even feel my hair standing on end like with all the other rifts I've traveled through.
“What?” I ask, heart pounding. “Why isn’t this working?”
Isabel backs away, sheepish.
“I knew Simon wouldn’t tell you right away,” she says. “We Timeless can’t go back to where we came from. We can only go to times where we never lived our natural lives. It’s so we don’t go back and mess with things. And by the way, Simon wasn’t the one who pulled you out of 1912 the first time you came to the present. He couldn’t. It was me. I’m the one who pulled you out.”
Chapter Seven
I recoil.
No. It can’t be.
Simon told me that he’d rescued me front he Titanic the first time and brought me to Nancy. Why would Isabel pull me out?
“But…” I sputter. “Simon told me that he brought me through. He’s not lying to me.” An ache fills my chest. Simon? Lying? Is this why he doesn’t have a plan for saving my family yet? Why didn’t he tell me this?
I leap into the rift that leads to my family. The gold curtains wave around me, mocking me. I'm not falling. Isabel watches me from the other side, waiting. I’m locked out. She's telling the truth.
“Did he?” she asks. “Or did he just say that he had you pulled out? There is a difference.”
I don’t know. I can’t remember his exact words. Did he? I want it to be true, that he’s not deceiving me.
“Oh, Simon’s not the kind of guy who would flat out lie to you,” she says. “He probably didn’t know how to tell you all of this. He didn’t you that time would claim you as one of us. When it happened, I think it surprised him.”
I’m shaking. “No,” I say. I couldn’t have done this for nothing. My family can’t really be shut away from me forever.
Isabel’s sad again. She walks to the archway. Reaches for it. Her hand vanishes somewhere in the gold glitter and she brings it back out. “It’s always so cold on the other side.”
I turn away and I’m running.
How could she? How could Isabel drag me all the way out here just to tell me that there’s no hope?
How could Simon not be the one to tell me? It shouldn’t have come from her.
“Julia!” she calls. “I haven’t finished. Stop!”
I don’t even know which way I’m running. The endless hall stretches in front of me. Rifts whiz by. I don’t care where I end up. I can’t go back home, to where Simon dreams about the truth.
“I mean it. Stop!” Footfalls thud after me.
I keep going. Not so much from Isabel, but from Simon.
I can't go back to my bed now where he's waiting.
I just can't.
Isabel calls my name again.
My gaze lands on a random gateway and I dart for it, slowing enough to hear my sneakers skidding on the crystal floor. I dive into gold. I'm falling through the scream. It's a time I never spent my natural life in. It'll work for now.
Simon should have told me. He should have told me when we met at school and I learned what he was.
My hair flies back and I land. The world snaps back into focus.
I breathe out. Crickets chirp all around me and it's night. At first, I think I'm back in Trenton in front of my school, but it's completely different here. Humongous trees rise around me, pointed at the sky. They're black silhouettes against a backdrop of stars. I've never made out so many of them. Around me, it's almost pitch black, a level of dark that I've never stood in before.
I'm in a wilderness. When, I don't know.
I turn. The rift I just popped through waves and shimmers in front of me, alive and vibrant. A swooshing sound fills the air. The grass around it is bright green in the light. This rift is strong, a glowing beacon in the dark. It's not going to disappear for a while.
Something snaps not too far away and a wolf howls. This is no-civilization-has-been-invented yet wilderness.
Good. I want to be alone.
I don't even care what animals are in these woods. Nothing can kill me, anyway.
I stalk away from the rift and realize that there's no way I can see ahead of me. I feel like I'm walking into a void. I plop down on an overturned log at the edge of the light and pick a stick up. I prod the ground with it, making pointless patterns in the dirt. I must be at someone's fire pit. There's a heap of sticks only feet away from me.
Simon should have told me. He shouldn't have let me get my hopes up.
Now my family's locked away in tragedy forever.
I throw the stick away into the dark. It arcs over the dark fire pit and crashes somewhere in the trees. More twigs snap. I've scared something away.
I can't cry. I can't even scream. I can only stare at that dirt under my shoes.
Feet hit the ground somewhere close. I know it's Isabel. She's followed me.
“No offense, but I want to be left alone right now,” I say.
“Julia.” She runs up to me and her feet swing into my vision. She's wearing white and purple tennis shoes. Jeans. We're both so out of place here. “I didn't mean to disappoint you, but you needed to know.”
“Thank you.” I can't turn her away. If she's right, she's the reason I'm still alive. I owe her my life. “So Simon had you get me out of there the first time?” I'm not mad about that part. I'm furious because he didn't tell me that we couldn't go back through to 1912.
Isabel sits down on another log. Yes, we're at a fire pit. “Simon tried to save you so many times. He tried, over and over and over again, to get the gate to 1912 to open for him. We've all tried to return to our times. It never works. So he asked me to help out. I pulled you into the Hub where he was waiting. You don't remember this, of course. You were still mortal at the time, so your memory got erased after it happened. The first thing you should remember is being on Nancy's doorstep. This is the real reason Time chose me to send you back. I have done something it thinks is wrong, and it decided to make me pay for it.”
I nod. The knot in my chest loosens. There's no lie in Isabel's words. At least, I hope that there isn't.
“I'm sure that Simon didn't know how to tell you that the Timeless can't go back to their original times,” she says. “But I know you want to save your family. I understand. There is a small chance you can get them back. But it's going to be a lot of work and it's going to be dangerous. Simon wants to protect you from what could happen.”
I look up. She has my ears. “There's still a way?” Is she saying that she'll go in and get them for me? Why didn't Simon just tell me that we could get Isabel to help us? It can't be that easy. Something about the look she has on her face tells me it isn't. “Okay. Just tell me what I need to do. I'm going with or without Simon.”
Darkness creeps over Isabel's features and the rift shifts a few feet away. “You will have to see things you don't want to see again.”
“I don't care.”
Something else snaps, then again and again, closer. “We should leave,” Isabel says, rising. “I want you to meet me tomorrow after you're done at the daycare. I'll be at the corner. Then I'll tell you what you need to do. Let's go before that Neanderthal tribe gets here and sees us sitting at their fire pit.”
Chapter Seven
When I return home half an hour later, Nancy's stopped snoring and nothing but silence greets me as I step into the house. It's very late now, way past midnight. Nothing's stirring.
I have to go back into my room with Simon.
The Simon who shouldn't have kept this from me.
The Simon who
should have come up with an answer before Isabel did.
Can I even trust her? Is it true that she pulled me out of 1912? It must be, if Simon can't go through that rift.
I push open my door and Simon's lying there in the moonlight on his back, sprawled out with one arm over my pillow. My indent is still there like I'm a ghost sleeping next to him. He's so beautiful, it makes my anger towards him melt...a little.
I'm not mad because Isabel says she saved me. He did his best there.
I'm mad because I deserved to know.
I sit at my computer desk and watch him sleep. I can't crawl back into bed with him. Not now. Not until I hear the same story coming from his lips.
The hours drag by. Faint purple light forms outside, them slowly brightens into pinks and oranges. It's almost time to get up for school.
Simon stirs and reaches for me. He winces when his hand closes on nothing.
“Get up,” I say.
He blinks and his gaze lands on me. “Julia?”
Translation: why are you in the chair, looking all stern at me?
I don't even give him time to sit up. “You didn't tell me that the Timeless couldn't go back to where they were from.”
He doesn't just wince this time. He flinches like someone's kicked his chest. “You went to the Hub? Where Frank could be?”
“I got tired of waiting on you. Of sitting around here doing nothing knowing that my little brother died a horrible death.”
Now he sits up. His eyes widen and he gives me the most serious, panicked expression.
“You went by yourself?”
“I can walk, you know. I'm capable of finding a rift and jumping through it. It's one thing I've learned. Simon, you're not usually like this.” He's always wanted me to be independent. He's not one of those guys who wants to keep me on a leash. And I wouldn't let him do that, anyway.
“But Frank--”
“Can't kill me.”
Now Simon's standing up. It's his turn to tower over me. “I don't know if it can happen, but there may be ways for Frank to get you in trouble with Time. I'm not sure what gives me that feeling.”
“He wasn't even there.”
“But he is most of the time. He’s the most dedicated out of all of us.” Simon’s up now. Grabbing my arms and squeezing. “You can’t go back to the Hub for a while, especially after the nightmare you just had.”
“You can’t tell me what to do.” I’m furious now. “This isn’t the Victorian era anymore. Women in this part of the world actually have some rights in this time.”
Simon shakes his head and sighs. “That's not what this is. I’m not trying to be…like that. Was I ever?” He looks at me, pleading. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt. I’ve been trying to work something out with Isabel for getting your family out of there, but I haven't been able to deliver what she wants in return. She is sort of on our side, Julia. You don’t have to be afraid of her, but you don't want to have to do what she wants. I’ll keep asking around for another member of the Timeless to help us out. I do have to warn you, it might take a while.”
Simon doesn’t know that I just spoke with Isabel. So it won’t be as easy as her going in and leading my little brother to a lifeboat. I knew it. She wants something in return. Something dangerous.
And I’m going to have to find out what that is. Simon should have told me this before. I take a deep breath. I can't yell in here.
“So,” I say, “What big, bad, horrible thing does Isabel want you to do, anyway?”
My door bursts open.
“Aha!”
It’s Monica, standing there in her Hello Kitty pajama bottoms and a yellow sweater. She stands there with the door open, smiling at me and Simon. But underneath it, there’s tension. The smile’s forced.
Simon and I forgot to keep our argument down. She must have heard our muffled voices through the wall. I hope they were muffled. I'm not sure how I'm going to explain the Hub and Time punishing us and saving my family. How do I explain that especially after what happened with Arnelia yesterday?
Simon eyes me from the side. It's a question. Do you want me to do a mind trick on her?
I shake my head at him. Monica deserves better.
Simon separates from me and turns around, lifting his hands in defense. “Monica, we weren’t doing anything inappropriate,” he says. He’s forgetting to use his slang again. “We were just talking. I came in a few minutes ago.” He sends me a look from the corner of his eye. Help, it means. “Besides, haven’t you learned any manners? There is such as thing as knocking.”
Monica snorts, trying to sound angry, but she’s just not convincing. “There’s also such thing as letting the people in the room next to you sleep. We have another hour before we have to get up and I have three tests today. Three!” She grins at me. I know what it means. I have to tell her everything by the end of the day. She wants the juicy details about me and Simon.
I'm relieved. Maybe she only heard muffled voices after all.
I give her a little nod. Later, it means. Meanwhile, I'm scrambling for what I'm going to tell her. Not just about now, but about everything.
“We'll be quiet,” I tell Monica. “Sorry we woke you up. Really.” I mean it.
Monica leaves, quiet now. I wait until I hear her door close with a gentle click until I face Simon.
“Rats,” I say. “My fault.”
He straightens up and turns around. “I have to go,” he says.
“She won't tell Nancy about us doing this. She's very good about keeping my secrets."
But he's already heading for the window. I can't help but wonder if he's taking the opportunity to escape my anger. I have to find out what Isabel wants, and screaming at Simon isn't going to get me there.
“Simon, I didn't mean to confront you so harshly. Well, maybe I did. If we're in this together, we need to trust each other. We can't be hiding things like this."
He turns from the window. “I understand,” he says. “You should be angry at me. I should have told you that we can't go back to the Titanic right away, so you wouldn't have the wrong expectations of all this. I kept the truth from you because I was hoping to surprise you with your brother and father, Julia. With your family here and safe. I was hoping that you wouldn't have to get involved in any more terror and heartbreak.”
And then climbing out the window. His shoulders slump with the weight of an invisible mountain as he disappears into the early morning.
Chapter Eight
I don't even see Simon all day at school. Not at lunch, and not at Independent Study at the end of the day. Wherever he's gone, it's not here.
Can he not face me?
Or is he out, trying to work out a way to save my family?
Why won't Isabel just help?
I shouldn't have yelled at him this morning. Now he won't be there when I have to meet with Isabel. I never got the chance to tell him about that.
I'm drained by the end of the day. If I were still mortal, I would have a major headache by now. I barely remember the walk to Happy Rabbit's Daycare. I go through helping Peggy, my employer, keep the kids rounded up and organized. The two hours feel like two years, even to me. I can't help but think of my younger brother, Melvin, here and playing with Misha and all the others. Safe. Coloring pictures. Rolling toy trucks across the floor. Watching the television, astounded that there are moving pictures in the living room.
I wait for my phone to blow up with messages that Simon found a way to get my family out, that they're safe and I should come and see them. But it stays silent. It's not like Simon is the phone type, anyway. Neither one of us have ever sent a text message. I still don't know how to do it.
I'm hoping he's waiting for me by time I leave, but the sidewalk in front of the daycare is empty. He hasn't even come to walk me home today.
Yes. He is feeling guilty. Very guilty. I'm regretting the way I handled our argument more and more.
I have to meet Isabel at the corner by myse
lf after all. I hate leaving Simon out of this.
She's waiting there, dressed in a black hoodie and matching jeans today. Her blond hair stands out in huge contrast against it. If I didn't know better, I'd guess that she was grieving or something. Isabel only nods when I reach her.
“So?” I ask. My heart's pounding like she's about to tell me I need to sacrifice my heart to the gods.
“Come on,” she says. Her voice is flat and emotionless. “I walked around all day looking for a new rift. The one by the school has disappeared. Another one's opened up over by the gas station. I really hope no one walks through by mistake, or guess who gets to go and fetch them.”
“We should hurry,” I say. I know Monica's waiting at home, probably right in front of my bedroom door, waiting to hear about me and Simon. The longer I take, the more impatient she's going to get. I hate standing her up yet again.
“Oh, it's still pretty strong,” Isabel says. There's no smile. “There's always one or two rifts in any area at one time. They're pretty common. That's why we exist. To help those who wander through and get lost.”
“You and Frank didn't exactly help me. The second time, anyway.”
She has nothing to say to that one. In fact, she says nothing until we reach the Speedway and stop across the street from it.
There it is.
The rift swishes and ripples gold only feet from where a man in a suit pumps gas into his SUV. He watches the numbers climb on the pump, oblivious that the gateway to every time lies right next to him. Two kids on bikes ride up and right along the edge of the rift, stopping on the sidewalk away from it. Isabel and I are the only two creatures here who can see it.
Isabel winces. “I hate it when they form in places like this. It's not often, but it happens.”
I see what she means. The guy leaves, driving his car right through the gold curtain. He must not be inside the rift long enough to get transported, because he leaves the lot and goes on his way. But I know if anyone stops there inside of the thing, Isabel and I will have the job of following them to wherever they end up.