“No,” Valcas said. “She chose to be jailed.”
My mouth dropped open.
“She told the Commissioner that she didn’t want to live a life without Romaso, that she was in love and that TSTA rules kept them from being together.”
I had to give Shirlyn credit. She was a pistol when she needed to be. But she was only sixteen years old when she’d left the daily reminder. How long had she been in jail?
I gulped. “How soon after her trip to Venice did the TSTA charge Shirlyn with an infraction?”
Valcas stood up and held out his hand. I accepted, assuming it was time to go for another routine walk through the caves. As we walked away from the pool, Valcas kept his eyes on the ground, seemingly watching each step he set in front of him. He also appeared to be stalling.
“How soon, Valcas?” I asked again, squinting as my eyes adjusted to the dimness of the caves where the light from the exterior of the Fire Falls failed to reach.
“Several weeks.”
I gasped. “Edgar lost Shirlyn to the TSTA’s jail when she was sixteen years old?”
Valcas nodded. “Didn’t you wonder why Edgar was so keenly absorbed in his work?”
“I assumed he wanted to be famous for inventing a tonic that simulated the fountain of youth—the elixir he’d made that extended his life.” I frowned. “You mean he wasn’t only pursuing his life’s work?”
Valcas let out a long, slow breath. “Edgar was never that selfish,” he said.
“Did he use his work to escape from the pain of losing his daughter? Is that how he coped?”
Valcas shrugged. “That could have been part of it. What I suspect and believe is that he wanted to live as long as he could so he could welcome Shirlyn home and spend time with her once she was set free.” He frowned. “He likely forgot what he was doing once he became lost.”
“Oh.” My shoulders crouched forward. I felt low and slightly embarrassed for how I’d judged Edgar’s motivations. I knew from meeting Edgar’s past self that he’d begun his work on the elixir before Shirlyn’s TSTA hearing. Valcas was probably right—Edgar wouldn’t have become obsessed with the invention until after he had a strong purpose for it. “Shirlyn has to be pretty old now, in Earth years, in her early one hundreds, at least.”
Valcas stopped to look into a narrow tunnel at our left. It was really dark in there.
He took my left hand in his right one and pulled me into the tunnel with him. Our clasped hands kept us from separating, but still allowed us to reach out with our free hands to feel along the wall as it grew darker.
“Yes,” answered Valcas. “And she’s still not free. Her sentence doesn’t end for another hundred years.”
“But she’ll never live that long, not without the elixir.”
“Yes, well, TSTA sentences are severe.”
I remained quiet for a few moments while I felt along the tunnel walls. They were cool and smooth. I doubted travelers before us had carved the pathways behind the Fire Falls. It was too dark… and quiet. My hope of finding my father dwindled. Had anyone else lived behind the Falls, they must have found a way out or died trying. Valcas and I didn’t see any decaying bodies or skeletons; but it wasn’t like there were crowds of people waiting in line to jump through a theater curtain made of fire. The inside of the Falls was a prison. Valcas and I were just like Shirlyn. We were all useless prisoners.
“Are you all right?” Valcas asked.
“No,” I said. “Why didn’t Shirlyn choose to seek the lost instead? That way she could have done something to help others.”
Valcas made a noise, a cross between a grunt and a sigh. “Shirlyn didn’t have a high-profile case. She was never offered a mission because she doesn’t have a travel talent.”
“But that’s not fair!” I shouted. Then I gasped, hearing my voice echo through the tunnel, listening as the caves agreed with me—NOT FAIR, Not Fair, not fair. I lifted my hand off the wall and clenched it into a fist.
“That’s discrimination,” I said. “The TSTA could have placed her on a team. She wouldn’t have had to go alone. She may have been able to help Edgar, or at least visit him from time to time so he didn’t get lost… or divorced from Elizabeth.”
Valcas stopped and placed his hands on my shoulders. “I agree,” he said. “But the TSTA is just as unfair to those of us who have travel talents.”
“What do you mean?”
“At your hearing Commissioner Reese gave you two options: pay an exorbitant fine or go on a travel mission. Jail was not an option.”
I gritted my teeth. “I didn’t want jail. I never would have chosen it.”
“That’s not what matters, Calla. Don’t you see—people who have travel talents, and who are unable to pay, are forced to go on dangerous, often deadly, missions—just like the one we’re on now. It’s not a choice, it’s an order and a calling. Although she’s in jail, Shirlyn receives regular meals and has a roof over her head. She’s in no danger of becoming lost. She’s comfortable. And safe.”
Even though I could barely see him in the dark, I turned my head away, not wanting to accept what Valcas was telling me. But I couldn’t ignore the fact that, just like me, the Commissioner hadn’t offered Ivory jail. The other accused persons that I’d watched at the hearing were also forced to choose between two options. They could choose between a fine and a mission, or a fine and jail, never all three. Mom had mentioned all three punishments when she’d contacted me at the White Tower. Was that because she didn’t know whether or not I had a travel talent?
“But why?” I whispered.
“Control,” he said. “The TSTA wants to keep the travel talents under their control, and those that can’t be controlled must be eliminated.”
“WHY BOTHER with the fine?” I asked. “Doesn’t that just give the illusion of choice?”
Valcas let go of my shoulders. I reflexively located his hand so we could continue our exploration of the tunnel.
“The TSTA also has to stay funded,” he said.
“Don’t they get enough money from wealthy people who use their licensed travel equipment?”
“I’m sure they do, but it makes economic sense. With so many worlds full of wealth and repeat offenders, why not let travelers pay their fines and break the rules until they can’t pay anymore, and then let them ultimately chose jail or a mission. It’s a win-win situation for the TSTA.”
I sighed, drained from the conversation and constant flow of what-ifs. I wasn’t big into politics or bureaucracy, but I had opinions of what I felt was fair and unfair. And in my opinion, using travel talents for good was fair. Forcing travelers to do so without providing a real choice was not.
“Thanks for explaining all of this,” I said. “I can’t say I like it, but knowing about it helps.”
Valcas and I kept quiet for a few moments. We walked. The only sounds around us were our footsteps and their echoes along the tunnel. Gradually, the ground began to slope upward. As we continued through the tunnel, the walls on either side of us grew wider, until our fingertips barely touched.
The air felt warmer with each step. I reached behind me to wipe the sweat beads dripping down the back of my neck. That’s when I began to notice a soft glow of yellow-orange light coming from the other side of the tunnel.
My heartbeat quickened. “More Fire Falls?” I wondered aloud.
“I don’t know. We haven’t seen any wood to start or keep a fire going, so I’d be surprised if it was something other than some portion of the Fire Falls.”
I sniffed the air. “I don’t smell anything burning.”
Valcas clasped my hand. “It’s probably nothing, but we might as well check it out.”
“Like I’d turn back now,” I said.
Usually, such a response from me would make Valcas—past or present—chuckle, but if he chuckled I didn’t hear it. The end of the tunnel suddenly released a flood of high-pitched musical twinkling, filling the air with the plucky twang and tangy spice
of exotic, faraway lands. As the notes chased and bended toward each other, I felt myself wanting to dance.
Valcas’ body went rigid beside me, but he didn’t stop us from walking. My heart raced. Our feet kept going, drawn in by the music and the light.
“There’s someone up there,” I said.
“Yes. It would seem so.” His voice was tight, almost harsh.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. If he was worried, then why did we keep going? Why didn’t we stop?
When we were roughly ten feet away from the end of the tunnel, I noticed how the light bent in from the right.
The music swelled louder. Notes swirled around my head as the light grew brighter.
Valcas stopped. “Wait here,” he said. “I need to check this out.”
“But it’s just music and light. Why should I be afraid of that?”
“Please?”
I sighed and rolled my eyes. “Fine, but if you don’t come back in a couple of minutes, I’m coming in.”
“Fine,” he said.
I shook my head as Valcas walked away, his footsteps tapping in time with the music. Once he was out of sight, I took a few steps forward, then a few more.
Suddenly, the music stopped.
For a fraction of a second, there was complete silence.
A loud clack that sounded like wood hitting rock interrupted the silence. The sound, repeating itself, softened as it echoed in the tunnel.
I held my breath, listening. Moments of silence ticked by. I crept closer, hoping to hear something—cheerful banter, sounds of distress, more music…
A sickening thud sounded through the tunnel.
Someone yelped, “Oof!”
That was enough to get me running. With long strides, I reached the bend and made the sharp turn to the right. It took me almost a full minute to process what I saw there.
A pile of yellow-orange tubes sat in the middle of a small cave. They gave off heat and light, but they were flameless, like glow sticks. A petite stringed instrument, with graceful lines and ornate etchings, lay nearby. I blinked. One of the etchings may have been a recent crack.
Valcas stood on the other side of the light sticks, rubbing the knuckles of his right hand.
Next to him was a doubled-over body, groaning. I drew closer, noticing that the person was male and of slight build. His head hung low as he clutched his stomach. Long, dark curls grazed the ground—curls that looked just like mine.
I covered my mouth with my hands.
The head of the doubled-over person snapped up. A male with an aquiline nose and sharp chin looked at me. Blue-green eyes, the color of which would rival the Earth’s most beautiful swimming pools, widened and blinked.
“What have you done, Valcas?” I whispered.
“I told you,” he said. “I keep my promises.”
I BENT down to get a better look at the man’s face.
I looked just like him, only his skin was darker, like Ivory’s. And his eye color was different. Yet his skin was smooth and free of wrinkles. He easily could have been twenty years younger than Mom.
“Dad?”
I don’t know who was more surprised—me for finally getting to call someone Dad out loud, or the man in front of me who’d just been punched in the stomach.
Unnerved by the man’s lack of response, I stood up and took a step backward. Biting the inside of my cheek, I glared at Valcas out of the corner of my eye.
“Did you really have to hit him?”
“Plaka.” Valcas grinned. “I can’t say I’m sorry. The gut-punch was from Doreen. I promised her I’d pass it on after Calla was charged with a TSTA infraction and was sentenced to help me find you.”
The man—my father—coughed and straightened up. His dark hair fell across his shoulders, reaching down to his waist. His eyelids fluttered.
“Valcas? You are alive… and you brought Calla to me?”
I frowned. This wasn’t at all how I’d imagined meeting my father. Sure, I didn’t expect him to reach out and hug me or apologize for his lifetime of absence, but he didn’t seem the slightest bit happy or excited to meet me. If anything, he seemed anxious and wary. And I had no idea why.
“Of course I did,” said Valcas. “I promised to protect your family. And then you disappeared! If I hadn’t gone in search of Calla and discovered her travel talent, the Uproar would have killed her by now.”
I nodded and looked at my father, stunned by how strongly Valcas defended me. “Mom and I—we thought you’d abandoned us, or worse yet, that you were dead.”
My father growled at Valcas. His voice was hoarse from who knows how many years of disuse. “Why did you bring her here?”
“Because that was our mission. We finally figured out where you could be, in the only place the Uproar can’t pass. We found you, and this is the thanks we get?”
My father squeezed his forehead with his hand. His knuckles and fingertips were knobbed with callouses. He must have played that stringed instrument a lot.
“Don’t you realize that you’ve led my daughter to the same misery that I hoped to endure alone until I died?”
Valcas’ mouth dropped open. “What do you mean?”
“You’ve escorted Calidora to her death. I am not, and have never been lost, Valcas. There physically is no way out of here—no known way to escape the Fire Falls.” My father paced back and forth, gesturing wildly with his hands. “Don’t you think that if there was a way out I would have found it by now? I never asked you to find me. I asked you to protect her.” His nostrils flared. “You have failed me.”
I cringed, knowing how deeply his words stung Valcas. The blood drained from Valcas’ face. That was the last straw. My chin quivered uncontrollably.
I burst into tears.
“Stop it! Stop talking to him like that!” Angrily, I wiped tears from my eyes. “Can’t you see that everything he’s done has been for you? He made a promise to you. When you went away, he continued to track your silhouettes and the Uproar for you. When he noticed it had started coming after me, he searched for me and found me, for you. Now we’re here because I wanted to come find you. So just… just stop it.”
I took a deep breath. If anything, my justifiable tantrum made my father stop ignoring me.
He crossed his arms and looked me up and down, at the same time changing the direction of his back and forth pacing pattern to a circle around me.
“You have the softness of your mother’s eyes and fair skin, but there is much of me in you. You are small, but your tongue is as sharp and daring as your features. Even your hair exudes tightness. Have you received any of my good qualities, however few?”
Wait. What? Did my father just dis my curls? I gave him a level stare, forcing my eyes to follow his and not break away even though he was in constant motion.
“I’ve inherited your travel talent,” I said.
My father clasped his hands. “Another Remnant Transporter in the family.” He shrugged, his lower lip pouting outward. “Forgive me for not celebrating, but as I have come to find, such an extraordinary ability is completely useless here behind the Fire Falls!”
He threw his arms up in the air. And bam! There we were again, back at the beginning of a different type of mission, one that I didn’t think could ever be accomplished, at least not in one night.
My eyes darted back to Valcas. “Well,” I said. “Thanks for letting me finally do something I’d always hoped I’d accomplish someday—meet my father. And now that I’ve done that, I guess we can go back to the pool by the Falls and wait for death.”
Part of me felt bad for snapping like that, but I didn’t think I had any other choice. Everything Valcas had told me about my father being a healer shattered. Where was the man Valcas raved about? What happened to his mentor and friend? The huge buildup left me feeling hurt and disappointed.
Valcas nodded and took my hand.
I looked over my shoulder as we walked away. “If you want to stop by and visit us sometime,
you know where we are. There’s plenty of fish, seaweed and water.”
About a third of the way back down the tunnel, we heard the short, cranky notes of a stringed instrument being retuned. I blinked back tears, trying not to think about what had happened.
The walk back to the front of the Falls felt a lot longer than our journey up to my father’s hideout. My curiosity about time travel and my annoyance with the injustices of the TSTA temporarily faded. Unable to bend my mind around the possibility that we could be trapped behind the Fire Falls forever, I couldn’t bring myself to engage in pointless small talk.
Valcas walked along with me, silently, no doubt brooding over emotions similar to mine. I squeezed his hand. I looked forward to calming down and trying to relax when we got back to the Falls. Our wait for death would likely be a long one, but I would count our blessings in the meantime. We hadn’t found anything dangerous, and as bitter as my father was, he was physically unharmed.
I shook my head, wondering what else could be behind the Fire Falls, waiting for us. I soon found out that something, more accurately someone, was waiting for us when we got back to the pool—not death or anything else that would hurt us, though.
“Hey there, Cave Boy and Cave Girl!” called out a familiar voice. “You’re just in time for dinner. I hope you like sashimi.”
Ivory sat on the ground with a knife in hand, slicing up generous portions of fish and tossing them onto a few of the leaves Valcas had washed and left to dry.
In the far corner of the opening, as far away from the pool as possible sat Ray, wild-eyed and shaking.
I LOST my appetite as soon as I saw Ray. He was curled in a ball, squeezing himself up against the wall. His teeth chattered. He moaned and his eyelids flickered, as if he were being tortured by the most terrifying images.
“Yeah, he’s not doing so well,” said Ivory, following my gaze. “He hasn’t spoken since we got in here, and I don’t know what to make of it.”
“What happened to you guys?” I asked. “Why are you here?” It upset me that Ivory and Ray were also stuck, to wait for death just like me, Valcas and my father. I sighed. Maybe my father had a point.
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