A Time of Shadows (Out of Time #8)

by Monique Martin

  Only a child could be so resilient, Elizabeth thought. Nearly drowning and a mild concussion had been cured with a watchful eye and several cannoli.

  Simon sighed and stood. He glanced at his watch.

  “It’s time, isn’t it?” Elizabeth asked.

  He looked at her with a haunted expression and nodded. Elizabeth’s stomach tightened.

  Simon walked over to the living room, and Elizabeth and Jack left the breakfast dishes behind to join him. He unlocked a small box on the mantle and took out the thirteenth watch.

  Victor had recovered both the watch and Travers after the accident. As he’d secured the area, Victor had heard a banging coming from one of the cars. He’d popped the trunk, ready to fire, but found poor Peter inside. He’d been roughed up pretty badly, but nothing too serious. But, for Travers, as for them, it wasn’t the physical wounds that would take the longest to heal.

  Travers told them that he’d learned that threatening Charlotte was just the start of the Shadow Council’s plan. Once they had the watch, they were going kill innocent people until he reactivated the watches. He swore he wouldn’t have cooperated no matter what they’d done. But she could tell from the break in his voice that just knowing he had to choose at all cost him.

  Once Travers recovered enough from his ordeal, there had been a lot of heated debate about what to do with the watch. They’d all finally agreed there was really only one choice.

  “You’re sure about this?” Jack asked

  Simon stared down at the watch and nodded.

  “How do you know it’ll work?”

  Simon looked up. “We don’t. Using the watch to go back and change time, to stop the creation of the very watch we’re using to go back in time, is a classic time travel paradox.”

  Jack raised his eyebrows, hopelessly lost. Elizabeth knew how he felt. It was one of those things that made sense when she let it just rest in her mind, but when she tried to grab onto it, it always tied her up in knots.

  “And you’ll know it worked if…?” Jack said.

  “If it doesn’t work,” Simon said, “we’ll return here. Try something else. And if it does….” He looked over at Elizabeth. “None of this will have happened.”

  A chill ran up Elizabeth’s spine. It was the right thing to do, but the idea of not even remembering Charlotte was horrifying. It was a dangerous thing, changing time, but they had no choice but to try.

  Jack sat on the arm of the sofa. “And if the bad guys in the future were really after the watch and there’s no watch, then Charlotte…”

  Simon nodded and the knots in Elizabeth’s stomach tightened further.

  “All clean!” Charlotte said as she came bounding back into the room.

  “Good,” Elizabeth said, pulling her into what was supposed to be a quick hug, but Elizabeth just couldn’t let go.

  “Elizabeth.”

  Trying to hold back her tears Elizabeth eased Charlotte back.

  A deep crease appeared between Charlotte’s eyes as she looked up at her. “What is it?”

  Elizabeth looked to Simon who handed Jack the watch and sat down on the sofa. He waved Charlotte over and took her hands in his. He looked down at them and cleared his throat.

  “It’s time to send you home,” he said.

  “It is?” she said excitedly.

  “It is.”

  They’d debated telling her the truth of what they were going to try to do, but decided it was better this way.

  Elizabeth sat down next to Simon and ran her hand down Charlotte’s arm. “We’re going to miss you.”

  Her voice caught and Charlotte frowned.

  “But we’ll see each other again, won’t we?”

  Elizabeth forced a smile to her face. “Yes, of course. It will only be a few minutes for you, but a few years for us.”

  Charlotte nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah. That’s a long time.”

  “It is,” Simon said. “But you’re worth the wait.”

  Charlotte grinned.

  Elizabeth couldn’t stand it any longer and pulled her into another hug.

  When she released Charlotte, the tears she’d been holding back fell. Elizabeth hastily wiped them away.

  Simon kissed Charlotte’s cheek and gave her one more hug before standing.

  “We have a quick little errand to run,” he said. “You stay here with Uncle Jack.”

  Whether it was Elizabeth’s tears or her own sense of something coming, Charlotte’s lower lip began to quiver.

  Simon touched her cheek. “It will be all right.”

  Jack stepped forward and handed Simon the watch as he put a hand on Charlotte’s shoulder. “We’ll be fine.”

  Simon nodded and held out his hand. Elizabeth took it and Simon slid the key into the watch.

  “Whatever happens, Charlotte, we love you.”

  And the world broke apart.

  ~~~

  They arrived in the front yard of a newly rebuilt San Francisco estate. It was late and the street lamps burned behind them.

  “All right?” Simon asked and Elizabeth nodded.

  They walked up the front path and up the steps. Simon rang the doorbell.

  A few moments later the door creaked open and an old man tottered into view.

  “Hello, Donald,” Elizabeth said. “We’re here to see Teddy.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  “IS THAT A NEW dress?” Simon asked, knowing it was.

  She smiled and stood to give him a better view. “It is. Do you like it?”

  “Very much,” he said.

  He closed the distance between them and pulled her into his arms for a kiss. When they broke apart she smiled up at him and wiped away the lipstick she’d left behind. He grasped her hand and kissed her palm.

  She smiled up at him in that way that always made his chest tight.

  “Is it too late to call Wells and reschedule?” he asked, not wanting to share her tonight.

  “Tempting,” she said, and Simon felt his hopes begin to deflate. “But,” she added as she slipped from his embrace, “I think we should go. Something’s going on with him.”

  “Don’t tell me,” Simon said, resigned now to his fate. “Melissa?”

  Elizabeth shook her head.

  Simon tried to remember the latest in a long line of conquests. “Melanie?”

  “Not a woman.”

  Simon paused. “We are talking about Jack Wells?”

  Elizabeth ignored his jibe and dug into her jewelry box. She pulled out a necklace.

  “If it’s not that then—”

  Simon’s reply was interrupted by the doorbell. “I suppose we’ll find out sooner rather than later.”

  “Would you…?” Elizabeth asked, waving her hand in the general direction of the door.

  Simon nodded, kissed her cheek and started down stairs.

  He checked his watch as he hit the bottom step. Twenty minutes early. That wasn’t like Wells. He was always precisely on time. It was perhaps his best feature.

  Simon opened the door. Jack grinned back at him.

  “You’re early,” Simon said.

  “I am?” Jack looked down at his watch and tapped its face. “Must need a new watch. And speaking of watches…” he said as he stepped past Simon and into the foyer. “There’s something I want to talk to you two about.”

  Simon closed the front door and arched an eyebrow. “I assume we’re not talking Timex.”

  Jack grinned. “No. I’m thinking about joining up. With the Council I mean.”

  Simon nodded, not surprised. “I see.”

  “See what?” Elizabeth said as she came down the stairs and joined them.

  “Nice dress,” Jack said with a whistle that earned him a scowl from Simon and a grin from her.

  Elizabeth showed it off and then came to Simon’s side.

  “Wells is thinking of joining the Council,” Simon said as he picked up his car keys from the bowl by the door.

  “Really?” Elizabet
h said, cocking her head to the side in surprise.

  “Is that a ‘good’ really,” Jack asked, “or an ‘are you crazy’ really?”

  “A little of both?”

  Jack laughed. “Fair enough. Now about dinner,” he said as he opened the front door. “How’s Chow’s? It’s on me.”

  Elizabeth paused and shook her head. “If you don’t mind, I kind of have a hankering for Italian. I’ve been craving cannoli all week.”

  Simon looked down at her in surprise. He was never one for sweets, but for some reason he’d had a cannoli on his mind as well.

  Jack’s brow went up. “Craving? You’re not…?”

  The question caught Simon by surprise. He turned to Elizabeth and found himself oddly disappointed when she shook her head.

  “Don’t be silly. Of course, I’m not pregnant.”

  She turned to Simon like they were going to share in the joke of it, but then something passed between them. Something powerful. Whatever it was, it was gone before he could put a name to it.

  “You two okay?” Jack asked.

  Simon nodded and pulled his eyes away from Elizabeth. “Just a strange feeling. A bit like déjà vu.”

  “I’m pretty sure this never happened before,” Jack said.

  “Definitely not,” Simon agreed.

  Elizabeth looked up at him questioningly.

  “Wells offered to pay for dinner.”

  Elizabeth laughed as they walked outside. But as Simon closed the door behind them, he could feel the ghost of something in the back of his mind.

  He caught Elizabeth’s arm while Jack went on ahead.

  “You’re sure?” he asked. “About…that?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

  “You two okay?” Jack called out.

  Simon held up a hand, signaling they were, and would be right along, then turned back to Elizabeth and pulled her into his arms. “About that,” he said. “Maybe after we get Jack’s life settled, we can talk about ours?”

  “Really?” she asked.

  “Is that a ‘good’ really or an ‘are you crazy’ really?” he said.

  She laughed and pulled him down for a kiss. “A good one,” she assured him. “A very, very good one.”

  OTHER BOOKS IN THE OUT OF TIME SERIES

  Out of Time: A Time Travel Mystery (Book #1)

  When the Wall Fell (Book #2)

  Fragments (Book #3)

  The Devils' Due (Book #4)

  Thursday’s Child (Book #5)

  Sands of Time (Book #6)

  A Rip in Time (Book #7)

  A Time of Shadows (Book #8)

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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Monique was born in Houston, Texas, but her family soon moved to Southern California. She grew up on both coasts, living in Connecticut and California. She currently resides in Southern California with her naughty Siamese cat, Monkey.

  She's currently working on an adaptation of one of her screenplays, several short stories and novels and the next book in the Out of Time series.

  For news and information about Monique and upcoming releases, please visit: moniquemartin.weebly.com