Timespell

by Diana Paz

  “Indira,” she whispered, visualizing the beach, the tent, the candles and cushions and crystals gleaming on an aged wooden table. And then she released.

  Chapter 11

  Angie

  The world sped past her. Angie sucked in her breath, but before she could scream, she and the other girls crashed into Indira’s tent, knocking over crystals and talismans as they tumbled into the crowded space.

  “Welcome, Daughters.”

  Angie’s gaze darted around the room. She found Julia, who parted the hair across her face and looked around.

  Julia had forced her power.

  She smoothed her expression, though she couldn’t bring herself to look at Julia again. How could she? They had decided against sealing with Kaitlyn. Yet here she was, facing Indira and Kaitlyn, and it was all too much. She had to get out. She couldn’t do this.

  Indira approached, her dark eye appraising them. Angie began to feel the weight of this moment. All three Daughters, finally together. Was she wrong to stop this from happening? Tap-tap-tap. Each of Angie’s fingers repeated its turn on the chiffon of her dress. She usually tried to hide the nervous habit, but she couldn’t stop herself. She needed to leave. She needed to go home and put on happy show tunes and draw pictures of butterflies and fairies and fields of flowers.

  Indira motioned toward the satin cushions in front of her. “When you are ready, place your hands upon the symbols that match the marks on your arms.”

  Kaitlyn and Julia sat down. Indira watched her, waiting for her to take her place on her cushion beside the other girls.

  Angie gripped the soft fabric of her gown. She shook her head, feeling her hair swish back and forth on her bare back.

  “Evangeline?”

  “I’m sorry, Indira,” she said, her voice sounding small. “I won’t be sealed.”

  A wave crashed in the distance, the only sound for a full two seconds. Julia glanced back, her brown eyes soft as they met Angie’s for a brief moment. Angie blinked past the sting in her eyes. Why hadn’t Julia told her she wanted to do this? Why had she tricked her?

  “The Fates have chosen, Evangeline, but as always, the decision is for each of you to make.”

  “I choose the magic,” Kaitlyn said. “I want to be sealed. What do we have to do?”

  “Wait,” Julia said, “I brought us here because I don’t want us to let the magic fade without getting more answers. I’m not a hundred percent sure it’s what I want, either.”

  “Don’t tell me you don’t want the magic. I felt how much you want it, and I also felt—”

  “Shut it,” Julia said, her chest heaving. “You’re making this decision really impossible, you know that?”

  “Daughter of Present, be still.” Indira waved a hand through the air and flames flickered to life on a circle of candles. “You Journeyed your sisters to this place using new magic. Your power has grown.”

  “Yeah, that was hardcore,” Kaitlyn said. “Do we all get more than one power?”

  Angie hugged herself, feeling suddenly alone. Julia had never forced her power like that before. They always talked things out first. What was happening between them?

  Indira’s white eye passed over Angie briefly. “Each of you has many gifts.”

  “Like what?” Kaitlyn asked.

  Indira smoothed her hands across the table in front of them. “Mine is not to reveal that which must be discovered.”

  Kaitlyn laughed. “Is this lady for real?”

  Julia cut her off with a glare. “If you keep talking about people like they’re not here, I am going to impale you with your own stiletto.”

  Angie pressed her fingers against her throbbing temples. Kaitlyn would never use their magic properly. She would always be a liability. Even so, a bubble of doubt had been floating through Angie’s mind since the moment they had arrived. How much of her decision to let the magic fade was because of her personal dislike? Finding all three Daughters was so rare. What if the Sorceress was gaining power? What if the creatures of Mythos were being unleashed and generations would go by without anyone there to seal the portals the Sorceress was creating?

  “Indira,” Julia said, breaking into Angie’s thoughts. “I know Angie is still deciding, but I have questions.”

  “I have questions too,” Angie said, unable to keep the hurt from her voice. “Why did you pretend you didn’t want to be sealed? Why didn’t you tell me you wanted to come to Indira’s?”

  Julia paled. “I thought you wouldn’t want to come.”

  “Maybe not, but it’s not right to make decisions that impact all of us.” Angie blinked to clear the tears blurring her vision. “We share this power.”

  Indira’s voice pierced the charged atmosphere in the small space. “Daughter of Past, you are here now. That which has been done can be undone for others. That is your role, should you choose to accept it, but time cannot be undone for you.”

  Angie sniffed, trying to ignore the smirk on Kaitlyn’s face. She wished she had a handkerchief. “How much time do we have to decide?”

  “You have until the hourglass empties,” she answered.

  Angie looked to the large glass bulb in the corner of the room. The glistening crystals slipped through the funnel, disappearing before they could reach the other side. No pile of sand waited at the bottom. This hourglass couldn’t be turned over and started again.

  “Daughter of Present,” Indira continued, turning to Julia. “You had questions.”

  “I want to make sure that giving back the magic won’t be something we’ll regret.” A blush touched her cheeks. “And I’ve met Ethan. He says he’s my protector, but why do I need protecting?”

  Angie frowned. Not once in all their visits had Indira mentioned anything about a protector.

  “Ethan has been chosen as a Guardian of Time. He exists to protect you all. It is ancient magic seldom used, even by Daughters of Fate.”

  “He called himself a Wanderer.”

  “It’s the name the Fates would call him. Yes.”

  Heated emotions rose in Angie. More secrets? “When did you meet Ethan?”

  Julia lifted her sooty, made-up eyes. Her full lips parted before she lowered her gaze. “I didn’t think we were going to keep the magic, so I thought it didn’t even matter.”

  “It does matter. You were visited by someone who knows about the magic.”

  Kaitlyn’s sculpted, black brows snapped together. “Why did he visit her and not us?”

  “A Guardian of Time can only be summoned by his creator,” Indira said. “He was created with the power of the Present.”

  “But he’s our protector.”

  Angie glanced at Julia. The ancient books made little mention of the power of the guardians. How had this come about?

  Indira’s face remained impassive. “The guardians serve all the Daughters, this is true.”

  “This is such total crap,” Kaitlyn said.

  “Have you more questions, Julia? Time grows short.”

  Angie’s gaze drifted to the hourglass. The tiny grains seemed to be slipping by faster than before. She had never seen sand so shiny before.

  “Yes,” Julia said. “Angie said nothing comes without a price.”

  “Evangeline is correct.”

  Angie’s fingers stopped their relentless tapping. Kaitlyn’s scowling brow smoothed away. They all sat, remembering the pain from the first mark of magic.

  “What will happen to us if we go through with the seal?” Julia asked. “And how will we know if the Sorceress opened a portal?”

  A breeze stirred inside the tent, ruffling Indira’s hair and the sheer fabric of her robes. “The Fates will not allow you to escape your task. If a portal has been created, you will be compelled to its location. Once you have completed the task, you are free to use your powers however you like until a new task is set before you.”

  “Task? Like, work?” Kaitlyn asked.

  Angie only half-listened as Indira explained about the tasks.
It was nothing she hadn’t heard before. If a portal had been opened by the creatures of Mythos, the Fates expected them to Voyage back and seal it. That was the price of their power.

  But Indira’s words echoed through her mind.

  ... Compelled to its location ... free to use your powers ... free ....

  “The tasks are often ... perilous,” Indira added.

  The soft wind grew stronger. Colder.

  “I must also warn you. Should any of you perish, it would mean you could no longer form the connection.”

  Kaitlyn’s eyes narrowed. “So if one of us dies when we’re back in time, we’ll be stuck there?”

  “That can’t be right,” Julia said. “You said our magic was ours forever once we became sealed.”

  “The magic is ours,” Angie countered, “but I can only perform menial spells without the two of you giving me your power. If one of us were to die it would be no different.”

  “The decision must be made, Daughters.” Indira motioned to the table in front of them, covered in ancient symbols and runes. The mark they each wore on their shoulder formed the centerpiece, intertwined in a triangle of three equal sides. “Do you agree to be sealed to each other and bound by Fate?”

  Kaitlyn’s cat-like eyes sharpened on Indira. She placed her hand on the table, covering the etching that matched her mark. “Yes.”

  Julia lifted her gaze. She placed her hand on her side of the marking. “Yes,” she said, her voice steady.

  A boom thundered, too loud to be any wave breaking on the shore. Angie swallowed, opening her mouth to tell them that she wouldn’t agree. She would not be stuck for the rest of her life with Kaitlyn, who would likely use her powers to cause misery in others.

  But creating the seal was the right thing to do. Trying to avoid spending a lifetime bound to Kaitlyn was selfishness. To free herself from Kaitlyn forever ... Angie’s eyes slid closed at the thought of the peace that would bring her. But at what cost? The fate of the world?

  “Daughter of Past,” Indira said, her voice a low hiss that caused Angie’s eyes to snap open. “If you are in harmony with the choices the Fates have made, join your sisters now and place your hand upon the table.”

  The wind in the tent whipped her hair and her dress. Angie stared as the flames flickered wildly, jumping on their wicks like they might escape any minute.

  She reached out her hand, covering the twisted symbols that wrapped around a crescent moon. Her symbol. She felt the weight of her decision like shackles around her chest. The past must be protected. It would be her burden to keep Kaitlyn in line and the world safe.

  Guided by instinct, or maybe some memory of a past existence, she wrapped her fingers around Julia’s wrist. Julia met her eyes and did the same to Kaitlyn, who did the same to Angie so they formed a knot with their hands. The mark on her arm warmed, making her forget the frenzied wind wreaking havoc on Indira’s tent. She had never felt the magic pull so sweetly, aching like a hunger on the cusp of being appeased. Waves of pleasure coursed through her as the runes on the wooden table glowed brighter and brighter. This is right ... it’s meant to be.

  Indira’s laughter startled her, rising above the din of whipping wind and crashing waves. “The Fates have chosen,” Indira cried. “From alternating generations, three girls are born to help this mortal world. So I have waited, as chosen Daughters have come to this hour and failed. Failed! But at long last the Daughters have all accepted their fate. Sealed, from here until death.” One by one the candles went out, like fire-lit dominoes set in motion. “And now,” she said, lifting her arms to the sky, “I am freed.”

  The wind blew everything into the air, the blast like an explosion.

  Without the candles, Angie could barely see in the tent. But she could feel, and the magic looped around her wrist, holding her to the other girls as securely as chains.

  “Okay, that’s enough,” Kaitlyn cried, tugging at the golden shackles on their wrists. “Make it stop.”

  A sharp, electric current of power bolted through Angie. The magic flooded her, wild and uncontrollable. She felt the other girls’ heartbeats, thoughts, and emotions in a dizzying, startling stream of sensation. She couldn’t tell where her mind ended and theirs began. Every cell and nerve ending she had jumped to the same rhythm as theirs. They were one creature, breathing one breath, seeing and hearing and feeling together.

  In their shared consciousness, one voice rose above the chaos. Like an echoing whisper, the voice repeated over itself in hushed layers.

  Begin with the Future, end with the Past.

  Angie remained still as the other girls tugged against the chains of magic connecting them.

  Seek the sight of your sister. Voyage through time. Journey through space. Do all that is needed, do all you desire, but you must not return until your task is complete.

  Angie shut her eyes. The sight of her sister ... which sister?

  Kaitlyn’s image floated in her mind. She probed Kaitlyn’s mind, testing the limits of their connection. Kaitlyn’s fear laced every thought, but beneath it she found the magic. Angie stroked the essence of Kaitlyn’s mind, using her energy to slide into the other girl’s thoughts.

  “What are you doing?” Kaitlyn asked.

  “We have to start the task,” Angie said. “The Fates won’t unchain us until we do.”

  “So you’re poking around in my head? Stop it!”

  Angie felt Kaitlyn’s resistance, but she kept herself within the other girl’s essence. “I’m sorry. I need to help you, and this is the easiest way.”

  “Help me do what?”

  “You have another power. We’ll send you more magic so you can unlock it.”

  “I have too much magic already,” Kaitlyn said. “I don’t know what to do with it.”

  “You have the Sight, Kaitlyn. You are Daughter of Future.” The chains seemed to grow tighter with each passing second. “Release your magic. I think you can show us what the future is.”

  “Seriously? Releasing again?”

  Angie entered her consciousness further, pushing against the boundaries of Kaitlyn’s mind. “Like this,” she whispered. The magic flowed out of Kaitlyn, her whole body glowing. Angie withdrew, and Kaitlyn threw back her head, her green eyes flashing white.

  Fragments of color stretched out before them, like long threads that went on forever. Angie had heard of the threads of time. She explored the strands, finding that she could follow them with her mind, like paths that led in a hundred possible directions. The brightest one was easy to focus on. As she did, the thread became a scene ... a vision.

  There was a museum—no, not a museum. A palace. In it, women wore elaborate white wigs beside men with powdered faces. She saw Kaitlyn and Julia and herself, searching for something. The vision showed them racing from room to room with wide, frantic eyes. Someone was after them. What were they looking for? What was wrong? So many images swirled by she couldn’t keep track of them all, like possibilities spinning on a roulette wheel. Kaitlyn’s power grew and faded. If Kaitlyn could just hold on another second, Angie knew she could see what they were trying to do.

  The vision stopped.

  “I can’t anymore,” Kaitlyn said, gasping and blinking as her eyes returned to normal. “I couldn’t hold on.”

  “What was that?” Julia asked.

  “The future,” Angie told her.

  “But, that was all in the past. Kaitlyn is Daughter of Future. Shouldn’t she show us the future?”

  “Don’t you see?” Angie said. “The past is our future.”

  Kaitlyn tugged at the glowing ropes still snaking their wrists. “Why haven’t these come off?”

  “We’re being compelled to begin our task,” Angie said. “I’ll need the threads of time again, Kaitlyn. That’s the only way I can Voyage us.”

  “Why isn’t the magic ever easy?” Julia muttered.

  Nothing worthwhile was ever easy, but Angie kept the thought to herself. She sent Kaitlyn a small amount of
magic. “Reveal the threads again, Kaitlyn.”

  Kaitlyn let out a deep breath. Her eyes shone white again, and the threads of time appeared.

  Angie focused on the brightest one. The magic overwhelmed her. Every part of her body flooded with burning power. She felt like a giant, like she could move mountains, oceans, maybe the entire world.

  Her mind latched on to the brightest thread as she released the magic inside her. Blood rushed in her ears. The world flashed with alternating light and shadow as all of history seemed spread out before her. The universe spun around them. It belonged to Angie now, to speed up or slow down. She focused on the thread of time that Kaitlyn had showed her, terrified of where they would end up if she let go. The world morphed, shedding buildings and streetlights, becoming vast and empty. It was a world of sand and jagged cliffs falling into the sea—the world of centuries ago.

  Angie broke the connection and they lay there slumped and gasping. Her heart battled against her ribcage as she took in the darkness around them.

  “What happened?” Julia asked, rubbing her wrist.

  The tent and everything in it—even the rune-marked table where they had laid their hands—all of it was gone. It was as if they had never been.

  In Angie’s mind, Indira’s voice replayed ... I am freed ... I am freed ....

  “Angie?” Julia’s voice warbled.

  Angie couldn’t breathe. The waves crashed ferociously. It felt like her skull would split open with the sound. She had really done it. She had sent them back in time.

  Their task had begun.

  She realized how utterly alone they were without Indira. Two hundred years in the past, with nothing but each other on the deserted, windswept beach.

  Chapter 12

  Julia

  Julia tested her wrist. The golden rope was gone. So was the Long Beach skyline. The lights at the pier of Santa Monica, the sound of traffic—all of it had vanished.

  Where was the palace? She thought they were going back in time, not wiping the world off the map.

  She pushed herself to her feet, her body humming with magic overload. She needed to cast a spell, freeze time, something. The power grew, pulsing through her body until she started to feel sick from it.