by Barbara Taub
Gaby gasped, “You mean we can go back to 1890, but then the clock starts and time passes normally? We can’t come back to 1972? We die there?”
“Not necessarily,” Harry replied. “The Metro normally doesn’t let anyone on without a ticket. But there is one person who can call the Metro. Her name is Leila, and she’s the one you have to find back in the 1890s. She is also part of this pivot point. I admit you’d be taking a big risk. You’ll have to make it back to the 1890s, you’ll have to find Leila and Thomas, her Protector, and then you’ll have to figure out how to capture the pivot point. And then she can try to send you back.”
“But it’s the past,” Carey pointed out. “Don’t you already know what happened?”
“We only know what people thought it was safe to record. And I couldn’t even bring all of that with me when I … came here.”
“Stinks.” Connor looked thoughtfully at Harry before putting a hand on his arm. Connor looked surprised, and his eyes met Harry’s. Harry nodded ruefully, and Connor’s hand dropped away. “I’m sorry. I don’t know how to fix that. At least not yet.”
Harry shrugged and turned back to Gaby and Luic. “You can try to take the twins with you. I don’t know if the Metro will give them a ticket. If not, they can stay in Null City or stay with me. I don’t think the band and I will be touring without Luic, but I’ve bought a ranch in eastern Washington, and I think I can keep them safe there. I’ll make sure they go to school, get trained in their gifts, and eat vegetables.”
Carey groaned.
“How soon?” Gaby asked through stiff lips. “And where?”
“Now.” Harry caught the waitress’ eye and motioned for the check. “And you’ve always known the Metro stop is Seattle. It’s why you never left.”
The smiling waitress came over to their table. “You don’t owe anything. That Irish gentleman who just left said it was nice to see families together on a holiday weekend, and so he wanted it to be his treat. He said you’d understand the message.”
Harry surged to his feet and turned toward the door. Then he stopped and turned back with a small smile. “I think that was an old friend. I wish … but we have to leave right now.”
Even Carey was quiet on the drive back to Seattle. To Luic’s surprise, Gaby guided them past the King Street station and over to Columbia Avenue. This, she told them, was where the first train station in Seattle had been located. “Mom always said the Metro was pretty traditional, so it wouldn’t move locations. It would originally have been built on stilts because the tidal basin was basically a swamp in those days. But since they filled it in, we actually have to go downstairs to get to the train.”
As they got out and looked around at the surrounding office buildings, Carey shook her head. “How is a train going to get to the middle of Seattle?” Gaby was about to shrug when they heard a muted train whistle. They all turned and noticed a stairway leading downward under a sign that said simply METRO.
Firmly grasping Carey and Connor’s hands, Gaby headed for the steps. Luic and Harry exchanged a long look and followed. At the bottom of the steps they saw a turnstile with a weathered-looking vending machine next to it. METRO TICKETS proclaimed the sign on top in large, ornate script. Head high, Gaby marched over and pushed the Start button. The machine hummed, and a window opened at the top to reveal a mannequin dressed in a train conductor’s uniform. The Conductor’s eyes snapped open, and a startlingly musical voice asked, “Name and destination?”
“Gabrielle Parker, Connor Parker, and Carey Parker. Null City 1890.”
She heard gears whirring and the voice replied: “Ticketing options for the requested itinerary are only available at main Null City Station. See Stationmaster for additional transfers. No charge for Null City residents traveling to Null City Station on prior return ticket. Please pull Ticket lever and collect tickets below.”
A knob labeled TICKETS lit up below the Conductor’s window. When Gaby pulled it, three tickets appeared in the slot below. The Conductor’s eyes shut, the window closed, and the machine went dark.
Luic approached the ticket machine and pushed the Start button. When the window lit up, he said, “Luic leMuir, Null City Station.”
The voice replied, “Ticketing options for Luic leMuir: charges for local transfer to Null City Station: 2.85 pints blood or.85 years of memories before age ten.”
They all looked at Gaby. “I forgot about that,” she admitted. “The Metro decides who can ride, and sets its own prices. My mother told me once the Metro is about change. To ride you have to give up something you don’t ever get back, and you never end up where you were.” She looked thoughtful. “I never thought about what she gave up to get all of us out of Null City.”
Luic looked at Harry. “We met when we were twelve? I can do without any of my memories before then.”
Harry smiled but said, “Think about it. What if it’s the memory of learning to walk or talk or read?”
“If I lose so much blood, I might not be able to take care of Gaby and the kids,” Luic replied, turning back to the machine. “Memory please,” he said firmly.
“Start year?” asked the machine.
“Age eight,” Luic replied. He smiled into Gaby’s worried eyes. “Very bad year.”
The gears whirred. “Please pull Ticket lever and collect ticket below.”
As Luic pulled the Ticket knob, a shiver rushed through him.
Harry pushed the start button and said, “Harry Daniels. Null City Station.”
The Conductor replied, “Ticketing options for Harry Daniels: no memories before age ten available. Charges for local transfer to Null City Station: 2.85 pints blood.”
When Harry removed his hand from the Ticket knob, there was a bandage across his wrist and he looked pale. He took his ticket and moved silently away from the machine.
Each of them put their ticket into the turnstile and was admitted to a platform containing a few benches and a timetable. Connor studied the schedule and announced there was a train to Null City due in eight minutes.
Carey sat next to Gaby on the bench. “I don’t remember Null City,” she confided nervously.
“We won’t actually be going into the City.” Gaby put her arm around Carey’s shoulders. “The Metro station is kind of a free zone. Mom said her family were the only ones who know how it works, but she didn’t tell me much.”
They heard a train whistle and all stood up. A single car, which looked more like a trolley, rolled up and the doors opened. They were the only ones aboard. As the train pulled out into the tunnel ahead, Connor sat with a hand on Harry’s bandaged wrist while Carey was pressed between Gaby and Luic.
The ride was both smooth and surprisingly short. Before Gaby even had a chance to start worrying about what would happen when they arrived, the train slowed to a stop before a platform with a mosaic sign for Ø CITY. The doors opened and they stepped out.
She heard a scream. “Gaby!” Before she could move, Gaby was being hugged by a tall girl. “The Metro told me you were coming!”
“Emily?” she gasped. “You’re all grown up!”
She turned to the twins. “It’s our cousin Emily! She’s the Null City Anchor.”
Emily turned to them. “Carey? Connor? You both look so wonderful!” She hugged them but then stepped back with a worried frown. “You have your gifts already. You can’t stay here if you want to keep them.”
She turned back to Gaby. “I’m so sorry about your parents. We all miss them so much.”
Gaby blinked suddenly wet eyes. “I heard about your mother too. Are you okay?”
Emily nodded but looked at her watch. “We don’t have much time. Because you are going on behalf of Null City, the Metro let me use my Anchor pass to get your tickets, and you’ll find a change of clothes on the train.” She watched Gaby carefully as she realized there were only two tickets.
“No,” said Gaby. “What if we can’t get back from the 1890s?”
“You can’t take Carey a
nd Connor,” Emily said softly. “They don’t have tickets.”
A train pulled into the station. “1891” proclaimed the signboard. Gaby’s face muscles were frozen. She forced her mouth to turn up in what she hoped would pass for a smile and turned to Carey and Connor. “I’ll come back for you.” She hugged Connor fiercely and then Carey. “And until I do, I want you to promise you’ll remember our Thanksgiving. And eat vegetables.”
Connor put his arm around a sobbing Carey. Ignoring the tears streaking his own cheeks, he told Gaby, “We’ll be fine. We can take care of each other, and Carey can make Harry’s life a living hell.”
Harry looked alarmed, but he turned to hug Gaby and push a photo into her hand. He and Luic exchanged an awkward man-hug. Luic put his arms around both twins and whispered as he handed Carey the little kaleidoscope. Then he took Gaby’s hand and led her onto the train. The doors closed behind them, but she stood with her face pressed against the window as the train pulled out of the station. When it was out of sight, she turned into his arms. “What did you say to the twins?”
“I told them Harry likes to get up really early in the morning.”
“He does?”
“Hell, no.”
Laughing shakily, Gaby followed Luic into the train car and looked around. One of the bench seats held two piles of clothes. There were two coats and hats hanging from hooks, with boots and two small carpetbags neatly lined up below them. There was also a small envelope of money and a pistol with ammunition, which Gaby stared at blankly until Luic slipped it into his pocket with a familiarity that had her narrowing her eyes. Finally, there was a slip of paper with the handwritten words, Ask Leila if she still drinks Grande Caramel Macchiato light.
Gaby frowned. “What does that mean?”
He shrugged. “It doesn’t sound like English to me. Must be a code.”
Gaby sat down and looked at the old photo Harry had pressed into her hand. It was a sepia-toned portrait of two teenagers who looked about fifteen. The boy was wearing a chef’s jacket and sitting in a chair. The girl standing behind him was dressed like an adult in an elaborate gown with hair drawn back onto her head to showcase a pair of stunning earrings. Both of them stared wistfully at the camera. Gaby turned the picture over. On the back was stamped “Boyd & Braas Company,” and beneath was written Leila and Thomas Chapel. La Fontaine Restaurant, Seattle, 1891.
They staggered off the train onto a wooden platform and stumbled to the nearest bench.
“That last Gap part…” Gaby shuddered.
Luic moaned.
Gaby put a cold hand into his. “I think we should just stay in the 1890s and never get on the Metro again.”
“Plan,” agreed Luic.
LEILA, Chapter Ten
1891, Seattle
“Let me take a look at your cheek.” Thomas came in from scrubbing the floorboards in Leila’s room. Without comment, he’d thrown away her bloodstained rug and replaced it with the one from his room. As he gently pressed a cool wet cloth to her cheek, he shivered. “I saw him standing over you, and for a moment, I thought I was too late. And then I just stopped thinking.”
She slid under his arm holding the cloth and put her own arms around him. “You did good, Protector. I think you saved my life.” He was frozen for a moment, and then his arms closed around her. Neither moved, each listening to the other breathing. Finally, Leila dropped her arms and looked up. “What’s the next-thing? Seems like we better do it soon.”
“Well, I think we know what the trolls are after. Maybe it’s time we took a look at the rest of those jewels.”
Leila spread out her dark shawl on the table, ignoring Thomas’ raised eyebrow as she retrieved the velvet case from the rice bin. Spilling out the blaze of sapphires and diamonds, she eyed them doubtfully. “These are literally worth a fortune. Maybe it was just a robbery.”
Thomas returned the cool cloth to her bruised cheek. “No, they were after something before they even knew about the jewels. But then tonight … they were definitely focused on the earrings. Nothing else in the restaurant or even in your room was touched.”
Leila removed the cloth and leaned down to peer at the jewels. “If they have a secret, maybe it’s written on one of the settings.” Ten minutes later they had to admit defeat. While they might find something with a microscope, they couldn’t see any visible marks.
Both reached for the ring at the same time. As their hands met on the band, they felt a familiar tingle. “Hey,” Leila gasped. “It feels kind of like…”
“The heartknife,” Thomas agreed. “Maybe…” He piled the jewels together, pulled out his knife, and added it to the pile. Leila twined her fingers with his, and they laid their clasped hands over the pile. A discordant vibration started, like a song with most of the notes missing. Leila pulled her hand away. “Maybe it needs the other earring?”
“But even so…” Thomas shook his head as he dipped the cloth in cool water again. “Why did we have to come to 1890? Why are the Mustache and the trolls after us? There must be something … more?”
He pulled the previous night’s Things We Know list out of his pocket and laughed at Leila’s scrawled addition: 5. Thomas doesn’t know squat about castrating calves. Pressing the wet cloth back to Leila’s cheek, he handed her the list.
She sighed as she looked it over. “We don’t know much more than we did last night.”
“That’s not exactly true.” He put her hand up to hold the cloth against her cheek. “At least now we know more questions to ask.” Taking the paper back, he added to the list.
A. How did Bill and Joe get out of jail and who told them about the earrings?
B. Does any of this involve the Mustache?
C. What happens if ALL the jewels touch the heartknife?
D. What does Raqia have to do with this?
“If it’s connected to the jewels,” Leila reasoned slowly, “what do we know about them? Your grandfather said they were my mother’s, not family pieces. So where does a woman get jewelry like this?”
As he added E. How did Suzanne get the jewels? to the list, Thomas shook his head. “I don’t know how your mother met your father. I was a baby when it happened, and to tell the truth, I never really cared later. Besides, nobody talked about it. It was kind of embarrassing, I think, being matched to someone who was in love with a…”
“Devil?”
“Fallen,” he said again. “Angel.”
“I think it’s time I got in touch with … him.” Leila could hardly get the words past her stiff lips. “My father. How do we get to Raqia?”
Thomas reached over and gently wrapped his hand around the shaking hand pressing the cloth to her bruised cheek.
“What do you mean you don’t know where Raqia is?” Leila’s interrogation of Thomas had revealed how little he knew about his Nephilim heritage. Defensively, he reached for his omelet pan and started chopping vegetables. “You’re not too good at this whole angel thing,” she grumbled.
“I told you,” Thomas shook his head. “I’m no angel.” Ignoring her snicker, he continued, “And Raqia isn’t a where you can find on Google maps. Even if Google had been invented yet…”
He tried to remember what his grandfather had told him about the Fallen and the Nephilim, but it wasn’t much. “If my grandfather was right, there were two kinds of angels who interacted with humans: Watchers and Fallen. The Fallen are former Watchers who took human mates, and their children were the Nephilim. So many of their descendants married humans that in most cases the traits they inherited from their angel ancestors have pretty much disappeared. But there are those who married other Nephilim.” Thomas smiled back at her over his shoulder. “Like both our families. My grandfather thinks in our case it’s because we are your family’s Protectors.”
“What’s that about?” Leila asked. “It seems pretty lame that my family would need big bad protectors for centuries.”
Thomas hesitated. He opened his mouth to speak and then just looke
d at her.
“Spit it out,” Leila ordered. “I already know my father might be the devil. What could be worse?”
“Fallen angel,” Thomas corrected absently. “And remember when I told you about the reason the villagers in Fontaine Hantée don’t like our families?”
“You mean the whole ‘we’re going to end the world’ thing?” Leila hooked her fingers into an air-quote. “Seriously?”
“My family doesn’t just match with yours to protect you.” Thomas turned to face her. “We’re also supposed to kill you if it looks like you’re going for the End-of-Days option.”
“Thomas?” Leila’s voice deepened, and she was pretty sure her eyes were glowing. She swept up the scarf full of jewels in one hand and held the heartknife in the other.
“Yes?” He nervously stepped away from her.
“You want to give me the 4-1-1 on that? Just how am I supposed to be able to end the world—with or without you and an old fountain?”
He raised both hands in front of him. “Supposedly the first Nephilim had a tendency to become giant monsters who practiced every kind of sin. Angels weren’t allowed to interfere with humans’ free will, which the monsters inherited from their human parents. So the monster Nephilim and their evil grew until the Creator threatened to dismantle creation and start over. But the monsters were destroyed —some say by their own siblings, the Gifts and the Nephilim, acting on free will of their own. Anyway, since most of the original monsters came from your family, Protectors are supposed to keep an eye on you to make sure you don’t start dabbling in world domination or display any vortex-of-evil tendencies. Growing more than twenty feet tall is also a no-no.”
Despite glowing eyes and demonic growl, Leila’s features retained that inhuman calm. “Is there anything else you haven’t mentioned? Plagues? Aliens? Frogs raining from the sky? Do we need to add ‘End the World’ to our to-do list?”
Thomas shook his head in denial. “I never mentioned it because… It will not happen. Ever. I would never hurt you, and you would never destroy anything.”