by Holly Hook
“Three times. Each time, I failed. The first time, I couldn’t even find them before the first torpedo hit the Gustloff. The second time, I did find them, but I got trampled and lost track of them. The third time, Isabel’s father shot me.”
“He shot you?” My disgust for Isabel’s father deepens even more. Of course he wouldn’t have a problem shooting anyone. It’s probably something he got used to.
Simon lifts his head. “Well, to be fair, I was trying to snatch his youngest daughter and take her to that rift I came through before it disappeared. Even if he’d missed, I don’t think I would have made it in time. All I could do was lie there and heal while he took her back and ran away. People were staring at me and screaming. I suppose golden blood isn’t something they saw every day.” Simon lets his head thud back to the pillow and sighs. “Saving her family is proving impossible.”
“And how did you get back to the Hub each time? Nobody would have been able to pull you out of there. Isabel can’t.”
“I had to swim. There was another open rift on one of the rescue boats, back in one of the storage rooms. I forgot which one. It was horrible, being back in that cold water, even if it couldn’t kill me.”
“I know the feeling.” Note to self: remember the exit.
Simon yawns. “Why don’t we get some sleep? We have a lot of planning to do tomorrow. With both of us helping Isabel now, we might be able to pull this off.”
I do the same. I’m catching his drowsiness. I look at the clock. It’s almost eleven. “Okay. Love you.”
* * * * *
I jolt out of bed. My father and my little brother both sleep in their cots next to me, unaware that they’re both in danger.
I don’t bother to change out of my night gown. I don’t know what time it is, or how long I’ve got before the collision.
I have to run.
The door creaks behind me as I bolt out. My father mutters something, but I can't stop for him. It's a long way to the front of the ship.
I run down the long hallway, feet hammering against carpet. There's no one up at this hour. Most people have gone to bed. The stairwell to the top is so distant.
Footfalls get louder behind me. I look back.
Frank.
He darts after me with jackets flapping around him. His face is red with the effort. He's run after me for some time. And I can't miss the glint of the knife in his belt like he's some kind of pirate let loose on a cruise ship.
The stairwell curves up ahead and I run up it, heart pounding. It's dry, but it won't be much longer if Frank catches me.
I go up another stairwell, and another. Past a smoking room for the men and past barstools. I burst outside and into the frigid night air. I'm at the bow of the ship, and there's nothing but darkness beyond the bow. The iceberg's out there, and we're creeping closer. If I can just--
“Hey!”
My shout echoes into the night. I stare up at the crow's nest, which is high above me, pointing at the stars. There's no way they're going to hear me down here.
I have to climb up there. But how? I don't see a ladder.
The door bursts open behind me and I know what's about to happen. I won't go down without a fight. I turn and--
“Julia. Wake up.”
Simon's there, shaking me. I'm back in my room.
“What--?”
“You were tossing and turning,” he says. He glances at the clock. “Was it...that dream again?”
“I wouldn't say it's a dream.”
“You know what I mean.”
I follow his gaze towards the clock. I'm not surprised. Once again, it's 11:39 p.m.
“I can't believe this,” I say. “I can't be having another one of those nightmares.”
“That doesn't make sense,” Simon says. He kisses me on the temple. “Frank wouldn't try to stab you. Well, he could, but you wouldn't die from it, so why would he try? And besides, neither one of us can go back to the Titanic.”
“I was my past self in the dream,” I say. “I was trying to stop the Titanic from hitting the iceberg in the first place. That doesn't make sense either. And isn't Isabel going to go in there for us?”
“True,” he says. “You can't go back from being Timeless. At least, I've never known anyone who has.”
I'm not sure if that makes me feel better. “I don't get it,” I say. “It was like I was there, just like with those 2:20 nightmares.”
I turn over to face Simon. Maybe I should start staying up later.
* * * * *
The school day drags. All I can think about is getting to Independent Study to start looking up anything we can about the Wilhelm Gustloff before we go back in there. Clearly, we're going to need a plan for getting Isabel's family out of there other than dragging them out. We need floor plans. A timeline of the event. Anything.
Simon licks his lips while he turns on his computer in final period. “Let's have the Gustloff be our next presentation in here. So we don't get in trouble for not doing our work.”
“Good idea.” Mr. Iris has no idea just how much research material we really have.
But when we do a search, there aren't a lot of sites that give us much information about Isabel's ship.
Four, in fact.
That's it.
Four, compared to the thousands of sites dedicated to the Titanic. The rest are just footnotes.
Simon winces next to me. I know what he's thinking. It's not fair, and Isabel's rightly furious about this.
“I can't believe we can't find any floor plans of this ship,” he says as the hour draws to a close. “How are we supposed to get Isabel's family off this thing safely when we don't know where we're going? We don't even know when the lifeboats launched.”
“You know it better than me.”
“Not by much. I can't believe Nancy doesn't have a book about this.”
“I checked this morning for one. I even asked her about it.” Even Nancy, the biggest ship expert in town, didn't have much to tell me about the Gustloff. It sank in World War Two and killed thousands of people. That was all she could tell me.
Simon keeps scrolling down the web page and making disgusted faces. “Come on. I don't care that Hitler toured the ship once or that it was named after an assassinated Nazi leader. I just want the timeline of the sinking...oh, it's here.”
I check the clock. We don't have much time left. Simon and I touch heads and read together.
“So if the captains had just left the ship's lights off, the submarine might not have even spotted them that night,” I say. “Wow. What a stupid mistake.”
He sighs. “There usually is one.”
The bell rings, and we have to pack up. Mr. Iris orders us to turn all the computers off for the weekend and waves us out of the room. I want to ask Simon if we can do a mind trick on him to stay longer, just this once, but I hold back. There's no reason we can't find more information elsewhere.
“Well, we don't have much to go on,” he says. “There aren't any books about this ship in the library, either. Trust me. I scoured the shelves.”
“There might be some online,” I say. “I don't have to be at Happy Rabbit's today. Maybe we can head back to my house and--”
“Julia. We're heading out to the Branch this afternoon. Aren't we?”
I turn. It's Monica, standing there and giving me a look that says, yes, you're coming whether you like it or not.
“We are?” I ask. Now isn't the time. I have so much work to do. “But--”
“But you said last week that you would come out with me this Friday,” she says.
“Oh, yes. I remember now. You're right,” I say. There's something about Monica's eyes that makes me feel terrible. I really have drifted away from her lately. It's not my fault, but I just have no way to tell her the truth. “Want to walk there now? Simon, do you want to go?”
“I’ll see you later,” he says. I know what it means. He’s going to keep doing some research while I’m gone. I hope he understan
ds. “Take a break, Julia.”
And then he smiles, and I feel a whole lot better about taking a few hours off.
Monica’s in the best mood I’ve seen her in weeks. We take the mile walk to the Branch in the warm weather. This is the first time I’ve come here with her since me and Simon escaped through the rift here weeks ago. Is it still even there? I’ll find out and I’ll have to make sure nobody goes through it.
“Monica, I’m sorry I haven’t been around all that much.”
She breathes out. “Well, at least we’re catching up now. I was really hoping you’d be able to come out tonight.”
“A lot’s been going on. Don’t worry. I’m not going to drift away from you like Shauna did. Is she still with that jerk?”
“As far as I know. Look, I understand if you don’t want to talk about it, but—“
I know what she's about to ask. “That girl who was asking for me the other day. She’s my cousin.”
I don’t know why I blurt it out. I have to think of something. Monica’s going to ask about it sooner or later.
“Really?” she asks. “I thought you didn’t remember much from your old life.”
“I guess I’ve repressed it, you know?” I try to remember what my file said. An absent mother who drank all the time. A father who was never in the picture. I only got to see it when I first came to live with Nancy. “Well, not my cousin, obviously. She used to come see me sometimes. I do remember that now. I didn’t even realize who she was when she walked into the bathroom. I went in after her to talk to her, but that’s when I started to feel like crap. I don’t know where she went after that.”
Monica’s happy with the explanation. Her face is relaxed. I'm not. I'm lying to her once again “I didn’t know you had a cousin, Julia. Well, I figured you did, but not one you ever knew. It's great that you’re starting to remember some of the good stuff. That girl did remind me of you in a way.”
“I agree.” I remember more of my old life than I’d care to.
We’re at the Branch a few minutes later. Monica even pays admission for both of us, even though I’ve got a little bit of money from Happy Rabbit's. I scan the place to see if that rift’s still there in the wall of the skate floor. Nope. It’s long dried up and moved on to another part of town.
For the first time, I realize how much I miss hanging out with Monica and being a normal person for once. For a few hours, I can forget all about time travel and just enjoy this moment.
Monica rents some roller blades, and I stick with the plain skates that I’m used to. The music blares and we whip around the track several songs in a row. My hair flies back and Monica grabs onto me to keep from falling, which sends us both into the partition.
“Whoa,” I say, making sure I sound out of breath. I could do this all week and not get tired. It’s awesome. “You okay?”
“Um, Julia?”
I look to where she’s facing and gulp.
Frank’s standing there near the entrance, by himself. He’s got his hands stuffed in his jeans pockets. He jumps when he catches us watching him, turns, and heads back out the door.
I hear him chasing me in the 11:39 nightmare and I can’t help but shudder.
No. He’s not a danger to me anymore. I don’t have to worry about him.
“What’s his problem? Is he jealous that he has no friends?” I ask, trying to sound cool and unconcerned.
Monica shrugs. “Don’t let him ruin your night, Julia. Come on. I love this song.”
We skate around for the rest of the night, and Frank never returns.
Chapter Twelve
Simon’s waiting at the front entrance when we leave at midnight.
“Ladies,” Simon says, giving a little bow and holding the door open for us.
Monica smiles. “Thanks. Will you be oh so chivalrous and walk us home?” I know she’s making fun of the old fashioned way he talks, but with Monica, it never comes out mean.
“Why, certainly,” he says. “By the way, I’m not from the middle ages. I’m a little more modern than that.”
“I do like the idea of you walking me home.” I grab Simon’s arms and we kiss. It’s the perfect end to my five-hour vacation.
The Branch is closing behind us, and the pimply kid is sweeping up the Friday night apocalypse. The lights turn off to the skate floor and the music shuts down. The DJ climbs down from his platform and stretches.
I’m tired, but my body feels like I’ve done nothing at all. Monica’s standing there, shaking a cramp out of a leg. I almost envy the feeling. Miss it.
But I still can't believe how much better I feel.
We walk home, chatting about stupid stuff. I can't read from Simon if he's found anything helpful out or not. His posture's unreadable. I'm not sure if that's a good thing. I won't know until he sneaks through my window and joins me tonight.
But Monica's feeling better, at least. She hasn't been this chatty for a while.
“Let's do that again next week,” I say while we walk up to the door of our house. Nancy's there, watching from the kitchen window with the light on. “Every Friday from now on. Unless something drastic happens.”
Like Frank stabbing me to death.
No. That won't happen. Simon wouldn't lie about that.
“Agreed. Unless something drastic happens,” Monica repeats.
I look back at Simon waiting there on the sidewalk. He can't walk into the front door right now, not with Nancy watching. Once we're inside, we waves and walks away.
But he won't be far.
“I'm glad you girls had fun,” Nancy says with approval. It's approval for me, for not ignoring everyone. “It's late. Why don't you get to bed?”
It's half an hour later and I'm letting Simon through the window. I glance at the clock. It's past twelve. I don't have to worry about that new nightmare tonight.
We kiss again, longer, more passionate this time now that there's no one here to watch. “Did you find anything out?” I ask once I can breathe.
“I went to the Trenton library. No books there on it. I think the only thing we have to go on is what we learned on the computer today.”
“Fantastic. How much does Isabel know about it? Maybe we should ask her.”
“She remembers the way from her cabin to the bathroom on the ship. It's been a long time since she was even there. And she was emotionally charged at the time it happened. I doubt she remembers much that's actually accurate.”
“Good point.” Monica told me once that people don’t remember things well when they’re frightened. “Well, if we can't get her family through that one rift, and we can't get them on a lifeboat without them getting crushed or tossed into that water, what do we do? We'd have to get them on one of those rescue ships that came to pluck people out of the water.”
“And the chances of that are terrible.”
“I know.”
Simon snuggles up to me and stares at the wall. “There's one thing, but I'm not sure I like it.”
“Which is?”
“We stop the Gustloff from even sinking. By making sure its running lights stay off and it isn't spotted by the Russian submarine. I can't think of anything else. We've made four attempts already to save Isabel's mother and sister. None have worked.”
“But can't that mess with history?”
“Probably. But these are refugees. It might not do any horrible damage if they survive.”
My stomach turns. I've dreamed about stopping my ship from sinking so many times. But now that we're about to do the same for another, I'm just not sure.
And I know it's not fair.
“Look, I never liked this 'hands off history' rule,” Simon says. The anger's back there again. It's the same anger I saw in him at that dinner. “Never. Frank might, but I'm not Frank. If we do this for Isabel, she will do the same for us.”
A thought hits me.
“But if her ship doesn't sink, Time might not take her. It only takes people from tragedies, remember? And then
she’d live her normal life and never be able to help us.”
He opens his mouth to say something, then closes it.
“Crap,” he says. “I never thought of that. We'll have to talk to her before we even try that.”
He's getting up and slipping his shoes on. I know what it means. We need to go find her, and now.
* * * * *
The rift by the gas station is pretty sad-looking, even in the dark. It's been two days since Isabel and I used it and it's starting to fade. It's not as bad as the one I found by the football field the second time, but it's getting close.
But the gas station's closed, at least.
“Okay,” Simon says, waving me across the street. “Let's get over there before the police come by and think we're trying to break into the place. It’ll slow us down if we have to do a mind trick on them. The rift could disappear by time we’re done.”
“I'm never going to get used to that falling crap,” I say once we're in the Main Chamber. We land next to a guy that looks like a monk from the dark ages and another guy who I swear is dressed in a fur that's wrapped around his torso. I don't know what period that's from, and I'm not going to ask. He's staring at our clothes like he's never seen jeans and T-shirts before. Which, I realize, he probably hasn’t. A faint gold streak shoots through the brown of his eyes.
“Come on,” Simon says, pulling me away. “They don't know our language, anyway. I've seen those guys around. Usually they help lost people from the stone age get back home. I think they're okay, though.”
I still don't hesitate in going to the other side of the room with Simon. I'm still not used to there being other people here. “So how do we find Isabel?”
“She's probably in her quarters. We'll wait for those guys to go away and we'll knock.”
“Knock?”
“I'll show you how to do it.”
The two guys stand out in the middle of the chamber, watching something in the air that we can't see. Maybe Time's showing them someone who wound up in the wrong place, like someone who walked out of a cave and wound up in a city. The movie must end, because the two men run towards one of the hallways and disappear into it.