by Marta Szemik
Mira’s faced joined the darkness.
My beautiful caramel goddess.
She found me. How?
My body shot up to a squat, disturbing the water below me again. I jumped off the waves and shifted to face north. On the next long inhale, I closed my eyes, concentrating on Earth and its four cardinal points. My shoulders and head fell forward, all tensed muscles softened.
Heat touched the tip of my toes, then crawled up my feet. It slithered upward to my knees and thighs, creeping along my skin, spreading through my body. As the first wave touched my torso, the warmth intensified near the bottom again, flowing upward, but quicker. Within seconds, I felt as if I’d been dipped in the sun.
My spikes vibrated and extended as electric shocks circled my neck and fingers. The energy bulged into purple spheres I contained in the palm of my hands. Its voltage sizzled. I focused on the sun, the Earth’s spinning, the phases of the moon, the seasons, until the connection I sought solidified.
I hope this works.
The room shook as if there was an earthquake. Glass in the windows vibrated, reaching the threshold of their strength. The lamp light on the night table flickered. My concentration to lock the effects of my powers over the perimeter of my room intensified.
I pointed my right hand to the floor, and dragged my arm upward. Sweat rolled down my face. The sun’s weight pressed against my palm as I struggled to move earth around its orbit—backwards. It was my only hope to fix what’s been wronged.
As my grasp on the universe reinforced, the Earth flowed along its axis like a single pearl on a loose necklace. It gave no restraint against the power in my arm. When my hand pointed to the ceiling, the sun shined its brightest through the window. I lowered my arm the other way, forcing it back to sleep. I turned my shoulder in its socket again, letting my arm act like a clock’s. The circular outline continued faster and faster, leaving a blue trail of electricity in the air until I stopped just before the sun rose.
All tremors ceased.
With caution, I turned the doorknob of my room to look into the living area of the apartment. No one was there. Some furniture covered with plastic wrap. No flowers on the side table. The vacant suite waited for its new owner.
I went back to my room and snapped my fingers to open a vortex. My trip to the Amazon took seconds. A blend of fresh blossoms masked the polluted air of Manhattan. Ayer and Crystal greeted me on the porch, like they’d been expecting me to come.
“Where’s your mom?” I asked.
“She’s still asleep. The warden almost killed her. You seem different.” The twins leaned their heads to the side in unison.
“I am different. I need your help. Can you leave for a while?” I scanned the grounds around the cabin, listening to the whispers coming from inside.
“Of course. Where are we going?” The twins must had recognized the urgency in my tone as they stepped off the porch toward me.
“To the future. Well, sort of.” I turned around, opening another vortex. “We’re going to Manhattan.”
The twins came with me to my vacant apartment. I explained what had happened.
“Is he here?” Ayer asked.
“No, it’s vacant. We’re still in the past. My past but your present. The warden is looking for a host, and he’ll find it. He’ll call himself Vulcan. I will debate whether to join him. That cannot be stopped. You will tell me that’s the best decision I can make.”
“If we cannot change the past, how can we change the future?” Crystal scanned the busy street below.
“You already are changing the future by agreeing to come with me. All I need you to do is to speak with the keepers. You will be the only ones who know about this. Do you understand?”
“They’ve known you for longer, Uncle Eric. They trust you,” Ayer said.
“You’re their casters. Their decisions led to your creation. A choice I make a few days from now, in your time, will falter their belief in me. The warden will use their moment of doubt and influence their punishment on me. I will make a choice not to kill him, but join him. You cannot stop that.”
They seemed to be processing what I’d said. For a moment, their bodies shimmered, fading into a ghost realm and back to reality. The twins had always respected me as their mentor and trusted my decisions. Their attention to each lesson taught was key, and I hoped they’d remembered the most important one—to listen to their instinct.
I pulled my sleeve upward. “Plus, they wouldn’t listen to me in this state.”
The twins stared at my mark which didn’t glow nor transfer power.
“I no longer have a connection to the keepers. My opinion won’t matter. They’ll think I’ve deceived them. I know I can’t change the past and who I am now.” I crunched my forehead, squinting. “Well, perhaps I can, but it wouldn’t be right to. No one should have this much power, including me. You need to speak with the keepers. Let them know about the warden and that he’s planning to kill them. He’s already influenced their decision. Remind them that the warden wasn’t bound to the hereafter, and we don’t know his full strength. You are the only ones who can help me and help the keepers.”
“We’ll do what we can.” Ayer scratched his head. “When we speak to you in our time, I presume you will know nothing about this.”
“That’s right. And make sure it stays that way. You’re my only lifeline.”
I whirled the twins back to the Amazon. With only an hour left before I returned to the future, I still needed to see one more person.
* * *
The outside of the hill appeared quiet. The one entrance available posed a problem—I couldn’t risk running into myself, or anyone else. I opened a vortex to enter through the walk-in pantry. The smell of earth and herbs surrounded me. Pressing my ear against the door, I listened, holding my breath. Muffled voices resonated from the living room. With care, I opened the door, knowing very well the slightest sound I made would be heard by anyone in the hill.
Light entered through a slit in the opening, and I stared at the back of Mira’s silhouette in the living room. Her hands rested on her hips as she listened to Xela’s concerns about my punishment by the keepers. I remembered this day, recalling Mira’s two braids, one on each side of her head. It was the first time she’d worn her hair that way, and I wasn’t too pleased. I liked her hair free, the way her spirit was. Xander and I had gone to destroy the cave Xela had been kept in.
Glad they were engaged in a conversation, I sneaked into Xander’s bedroom like a ghost. I spread poison ivy extract I’d collected in the woods onto his sheets.
That’s for calling me lover boy.
It would take him a while to shift out of this one, at least until he figured his sheets had been smothered. I only wished I could have appreciated the irritating effects of the rash when I saw him scratch it.
My urge to speak with Mira grew, but it was too dangerous. She was my only link to the life I would soon forget. How could I have not remembered her? How could Vulcan had taken such precious memories away from me? I pulled out an olive note pad and quickly scribbled the words that would make sure my memories returned. On the matching envelope, I wrote a date in the future—the date on which she needed to open the letter. I reached over to put it in the pocket of her purse propped on the kitchen counter.
“What are you doing?”
I jumped up. Mira leaned against the door frame to the kitchen.
I took a quick breath in as if I’d seen her for the first time. The parted hair in the middle and two braids at the sides of her head made her look like she belonged back in high school. Mira wore no makeup today; in fact, after seeing all the women in the club, I’d realized she hardly ever did. Her wide eyes and caramel skin brought out her natural beauty.
“I-I had to come back to give you something.”
“What is it?” She took a step closer, then pointed to my sweater. “Why the change of clothes?”
“I’d heard it’d be brisk tonight.”
She narrowed her brows.
“Did you vortex here?”
“Yes. Sugar, believe me. It’s better you don’t know everything about today.”
“Is that it?” Her attention was drawn to the envelope still in my hand.
“Yes. It’s for you, but you can’t open it until a few days from now.” I showed her the scribbled date on the front.
“You’re worrying me.” Mira shuffled her bare feet toward me and took the envelope from my hand. She examined it carefully.
“Nothing to worry about, sugar. Just promise me you won’t mention seeing me to anyone. And you won’t open this until that date.”
“I promise. Is it bender business?”
I nodded.
Mira stood a foot away from me, close enough to feel the warmth of her sweet breath on my skin.
I took her face into my hands. “I love calling you, sugar,” I whispered.
“I prefer Mira.”
Oh, how much I missed her snarky remarks.
“I’ll remember that. I promise.” I hushed her by pressing my mouth to hers. The tenderness of her lips mellowed mine as she wrapped her hands around my neck. I crushed against her body, tightening our embrace. The rational part of my mind urged me to leave. Anything I did today could change the future. I pulled away, lightheaded, and I wondered whether I forgot to breathe.
“Are you all right?” she asked. “You kissed me as if you were saying goodbye.”
“I’m fine. I need to go. I will see you soon. I promise.” I let go of her hand and spun a vortex on the back wall of the kitchen. “Mira, please. Don’t mention my being here to anyone, even me.”
She nodded. I knew she’d analyze our unconventional run-in, but Mira would keep the secret. My shifter was the wittiest woman I’d known.
I stepped through the time hole, emerging a few miles away from the hill. What I had to do next could not be seen by anyone. After all, time travel wasn’t common.
* * *
Back in my present, I examined the blue and purple lines that covered my arms. The bubbles under me flowed each time I moved on the water bed. The strain of passing through time mapped my skin. I pulled down my sleeves and fell back, letting the waves lull me to sleep.
A knock on the door stirred me thirty minutes later. I forced the energy I could muster toward my aching muscles, sat up, and rubbed my eyes. Time travel drained me beyond my expectations.
“I thought you’d feel better after four hours.” Vulcan pushed open my bedroom door before I got a chance to stand up.
“So did I, brother.” The word squeezed through my throat as I pushed off the bed.
“Here.” Vulcan touched my arm.
A shock flew through me, tensing my arms and stilling my heart for a moment. I tensed, fearing he’d take my memories away once again, but he didn’t. The smell of lightning circled my neck along with a sizzling sensation of healed flesh. Blue bolts danced around my skin, flowing through my body, feeding and nourishing my muscles. I felt as strong as when I began to move the Earth. It was like the strength had never left me.
“It replenishes and its neverending,” he explained.
Never say never.
“What’s the plan?” I asked.
“Once we’re there, we’ll connect and suck the keepers dry. Nothing will be left of their flesh except wrinkled skin and ashed bones.” An orange flame sparked in Vulcan’s eyes again. “Once they’re out of the way, we’ll take on the half-breeds to get to the casters.”
“Didn’t you want to get the casters first?” I asked.
He shook his head, “Change of plans. They’re up to something and we need to cut off the source of their energy first.”
I found it interesting that Vulcan thought of the Sarah and William and their twin children as greater threats than the keepers. It also made me wonder how he expected to overpower a warlock, an angel, and a vampire. Did we possess that much energy? It was possible; after all, I had moved through time.
“So basically you know what you’re doing.” I gave him a naughty smirk, hoping the flame I directed to my own eyes sparked there as well. Vulcan seemed to enjoy that.
“I always do. It’s rare anyone can surprise me.”
Never say always.
We flew through a time hole to Monasterio de Piedra. The halls I’d abandoned hummed with silence. I missed my own home—but not as much as I missed the hill and my caramel goddess.
Vulcan and I walked through the corridor side by side. His arm touched mine; on purpose, I thought. Smokeless sconces decorated the walls, throwing shadows on the plush carpeting at our feet. My soles sunk in as if I was walking on sand. Endless landscapes painted the walls. If you stared long enough at one, you’d feel like you were right there. The keepers’ quarters were around the next corner. I smelled a mix of sulphur and lightning. Someone waited for us, and I hoped it wasn’t the keepers.
We turned to the right and stopped. Vulcan pressed even closer to my side. Twenty feet in front, almost against the wall of their meeting place, the keepers waited. Castall held a cane to support his frail posture. A longer beard than usual draped from his chin. The eyebrows had overgrown and were tinted with a darker shade of gray than I remembered. He’d covered his head with the hood of his long coat that matched the color of his facial hair. I’d never seen him with the hood on. The right hand on the cane shook his weakness through to the ground: a first for the warlock as well. Beside him, Drake’s skin paled and was almost translucent, and Gabriel’s neverending glow had faded to merely a shimmer.
They shouldn’t be here. Didn’t the twins warn them?
I tried to connect to their energy but couldn’t. It was as if their power had been hidden or camouflaged.
From behind a blue sheer, an approaching silhouette of two bodies enlarged. One of the two pulled the fluttering cover to the side and out stepped Crystal and Ayer.
“Perfect,” Vulcan whispered under his nose.
His stance had been weary of everyone since we arrived, but he didn’t show it. I felt his apprehension easing inside me. The warlock became more confidant of his plan to destroy the keepers with each passing minute.
“We finally meet,” he said.
“This is not a place for you, warlock,” Gabriel said in a high-pitched tone, which was quieter than his yells. A pure scream of the angel would burst everyone’s ears.
“It will soon be our place.”
I looked at his smirk. Vulcan still thought of us as allies, but I was his doom. My neck tingled, and the fleshed spikes extended around its circumference. The sensation spread through my body as the energy collected in my bones, satisfying early morning hunger. My gaze flew to Crystal and Ayer, whose faces painted an emotionless portrait.
“How dare you even think you have the power to kill us!” Drake let out his perfectly sharpened fangs.
Electricity zoomed from Vulcan to me. Blue light weaved between my fingers.
“You’ve controlled the world long enough, and it’s time you’re bend out of it,” Vulcan replied.
Power enlightened my senses, and for a moment, I wondered whether Vulcan was smart enough to move this moment to the future, to see whether he’d succeed. Perhaps he was afraid if he did, he’d be dead. Did he fear seeing what would happen? Or did he just want to ensure his plans went as he had schemed before?
The sizzling of lightning that flew through my body zapped my heart and sped up its pulse. My arms flew up by themselves, in tandem with Vulcan’s. Orange flames sparked out of his pupils. It was time to strike, and Vulcan’s priority wasn’t the keepers. He wanted Crystal’s and Ayer’s powers first.
My gaze flew to the silent twins to the right of the keepers. Lightning swirled from my feet, zigzagged up my body and to the side. The fleshed spikes on my neck lengthened, vibrating like a rattlesnake’s tail. A sphere the size of a basketball formed between me and Vulcan. It hovered four feet above ground. I felt in my bones the need to push the sphere at the twin
s, but I couldn’t. They were like my own.
Vulcan thrust his arms forward, moving mine as well. The ball of blue fire flew toward the casters. I raised my hand just before it hit their chests, and the sphere stopped.
“What are you doing?” Vulcan’s eyes bulged, and the flames inside his eyes flared outward. His claws of fire tightened around my ribcage and heart making it more difficult to breathe. Haze filled my vision as he tried to connect to my memories.
I thought about Mira, the twins, and the fate of the world if this warlock came to power and pushed away his energy. “You cannot do this.”
“Watch me.” He forced his hands forward again.
The sphere zoomed through the twins but hit the back wall. Although Crystal and Ayer appeared to be in flesh, they must have changed to their visible ghost states. Strands of lightning and electricity spread outward on the wall, up the ceiling, and down to the floor. The energy made its way back to our feet where it sizzled into our bodies.
“You’ve been warned.” Vulcan’s face flustered, then paled. The contours of his cheeks hardened. “Eric? Did you warn them about today? Do you remember them?”
Vulcan’s hoarse voice held a hint of pain, and even if I wanted to feel sorry for him, I didn’t.
“You lied to me. You stole my memories.” A new wave of electricity traveled up my body.
“It was the only way to trust you, Eric.”
My spikes rattled harder. Some broke at their seams, and blood dripped down my torso.
You have no choice but to help me. We’re connected. I die, you die, he said in my mind.
I know.