Preserving Will

by Alex Albrinck

  And then, to her shock, the Assassin stopped moving forward. Confusion covered his scarred face. Anger flashed in his blood-red eyes.

  ●●●

  “Come on, Adam!” Gena shouted at the screen, watching as the man who’d so ruthlessly butchered Mark moved toward the now-helpless Hope. “Why aren’t you helping them? If you aren’t going to help them, why are you there?”

  “He will help them,” Eva replied. “But only if they need that help.” Her tone allowed for no debate.

  Or so she thought. “It looks to me like they need that help!” Dana snapped, her eyes wide with fear. She clutched Dash’s hand. The boy seemed unfazed, for he’d not seen his father and Mark die at the hands of the Assassin earlier. For him, what unfolded on the screens was a mere television show, with no basis in reality. He found the action exciting rather than terrifying.

  And then, on the screen, Hope and Josh vanished.

  The camera focused on the Assassin’s face, a face that was so contorted in rage it looked as though he might explode.

  Eva’s eyes widened, and her phone was in her hand instantly, dialing the first number on her list.

  ●●●

  Adam had been watching the holographic video feed from his phone, feeling more anxious as the fractional seconds ticked by. History said Will, not Adam, would protect Hope and Josh, and yet they’d never know until it was too late if history had changed. How long could he wait to reveal his presence to the Assassin with the powerful burst of Energy required to transport mother and child to safety? Where was Will?

  On the screen, Hope and Josh vanished from sight.

  Adam blinked and looked again. Why didn’t he see Will? Why didn’t he sense Will?

  His phone rang, and the ring tone identified the caller. Why was Eva calling at a time like this? He activated the connection.

  “Leave!” Eva shouted.

  Adam recognized that tone of voice. She’d used it infrequently over the centuries, but each occurrence stood out in his mind. It was a tone that meant she’d figured something out, something critical, and she’d succinctly summarized what needed done in that instant. It was best to do as commanded and get the explanation later.

  With Hope and Josh clearly safe, with his promise to ensure their safety fulfilled, Adam’s purpose for being in the Starks’ house had ended. He detonated one of the Energy eating devices he’d described to Gena a day before and teleported away.

  An instant later, the Assassin threw back his head and let loose a massive burst of uncontrolled flame, and the fire hit the accelerant coating the walls.

  It was a unique substance, one the Assassin had developed over the preceding decades. The foam coated the walls, rather than being absorbed, and the flames would do a slow, bright, hot burn through the coating before reaching the original surfaces. With the foam, the Assassin could keep a building aflame far longer than should be possible. The Hunters had coated much of the exterior before he’d arrived, which should have enable the Assassin to use a small bit of flame to light the entire structure, generating the visual effect that would incapacitate Will Stark. Thus disabled, the traitor would be an easy target for the Hunters, and only then would the flames eliminate the foaming, specialized accelerant and consume the building.

  He’d tested the substance several times, and in each case he’d needed only a small bit of flame to set the test surfaces on fire.

  He’d never tested the formula against an inferno-like blast like the one he’d just unleashed.

  The effect was the equivalent of setting off a bomb inside the house. The flame set the entire interior and exterior of the house ablaze in an instant, but the wall he faced—which bore the brunt of the blast—had no chance to withstand the force he’d unleashed. The rear wall and the section of the house directly above him, the part of the house he’d been looking at as his head went backward, exploded out into the backyard.

  The room directly above him, relocated to the frozen surface outside, had been Will’s office. It had been the room Adam had occupied until just seconds earlier.

  ●●●

  Hope felt nothing more than a wisp of wind as the flame erupted from the red-eyed man, and passed by her and Josh without any sensation of heat. They suffered no burns, and weren’t even knocked from their feet. She heard the sound behind her, impossibly loud, as the flame that had left them unscathed contacted the rear wall of the house and knocked it, and the space directly above them, into the backyard.

  The killer froze, eyes widening, and his hands went to his throat. The sounds he made were those of a man choking.

  Hope frowned. It didn’t make sense. He was behaving as though he couldn’t breathe, yet she and Josh had no such trouble. Smokey’s sides still rose and fell, though unsteadily. She had no idea why only the killer was so afflicted, but the man’s bloodied sword fell from his hand and he went to his knees. His eyes rolled back in his head as he lost consciousness and his body crashed to the floor.

  Something was tickling at her mind, a hint of a memory. She’d seen the killer before today. She did know about the group he’d mentioned. The impossible acts he’d performed today were skills she’d seen demonstrated before, by people she knew and trusted and loved.

  Aliomenti. Alliance. Will, the Oaths, and the Hunters coming after him.

  The memories knitted themselves together slowly, rebuilding in a patchwork manner. The challenges they’d undergone to bring the special little boy before her into the world. The fact that she’d suppressed her son’s gifts to protect him from exposure to and attacks by the very men who’d arrived here this day.

  She remembered that she could do things that, until seconds ago, she’d considered the realm of fantasy and magic, the myths and lies of fairy tales. As she remembered her skill, she felt the warmth, the electric current coursing through her body, and her eyes lit up as the very familiarity of the sensation triggered instinctive memories of the usage of the power inside her.

  Hope frowned. If she was able to do all of this, why hadn’t she realized it in time to fight off the killer now lying unconscious just a few feet away?

  And why hadn’t she ever shared with Will the truth of her identity and ability?

  He learned the truth when he needed to know. At one time in my life, I was ignorant of my own future and abilities, as much as I had once been ignorant of yours. That time in our lives has now ended. The need for secrecy has passed.

  Her eyes widened in shock. Will?

  She and Josh began to sink through the floor.

  ●●●

  “Something’s wrong,” Adam said, frowning. He’d appeared inside the room a fractional second after Eva’s command to leave the house, and was re-acclimating himself to the media room, watching events unfold on the larger screens. He was also adjusting to the fact that the room he’d just occupied had been permanently relocated.

  Eva glanced at him. “You appear to be unharmed.”

  He shook his head. “No, it’s not that. I’m fine. I watched along, as you did. I watched them vanish, as you did, before I departed. But before I left, after they’d vanished… I never sensed any Energy usage in the house.”

  Peter frowned. “Did we put scutarium between floors?”

  Adam shook his head. “The Energy would still reach me through the open hallways and doorways. Whether Hope’s memories restored in time and she teleported them away to safety, or Will arrived and teleported them to safety from a distance, the Energy burst from the effort should have hit me quite hard from only twenty or so feet away. I’d suspect you’d be able to detect it as well, Eva.” He paused. “Except that the house was sealed shut with a scutarium barrier. I forgot about that.”

  “But the Assassin left the door open when he went in,” Archie noted. “I thought it was strange that he’d do that, thinking that most killers would shut a door to keep a victim from escaping, or from the sound of their victims escaping and alerting neighbors. But if he thought he was going to attack a
human woman in a house a mile from the nearest neighbor, he probably didn’t worry about that.” He glanced at Adam. “By the way, we figured out that you’d blocked her memories so she couldn’t expose her abilities or her plans. Wish I’d thought of that earlier.”

  “I thought of it about three hours before the Hunters were expected to arrive, and just took care of it,” Adam admitted. “Sorry for not bringing the rest of you in on it.”

  Ashley waved her hand. “No worries about that. Let’s get back to the current issue. You’re saying there was no Energy used to help Hope and Josh escape?”

  He shook his head. “None. I didn’t do anything. I honestly don’t know if her memory restored fast enough, based on the emotional vibrations she was emitting right up until the time she and Josh vanished. Which means that either the person who saved them can mask their Energy even when they use it…”

  “Or they did not use Energy,” Eva finished. “There is only person who could be responsible.”

  Heads nodded. If something was done they couldn’t explain, it meant Will Stark was involved.

  He hadn’t traveled far when he’d left Eva and Aaron’s house earlier in the day.

  ●●●

  “Hope! Josh!”

  The sound barely reached her ears above the roaring flames. Will was outside the house, had seen the fire, and was screaming out their names. Whether he’d taken one of the golf carts or run from the entrance, he’d made the effort to try to help them, even when it seemed hopeless. His plaintive tone, detectable even in his faint screams of agony, made his assessment clear. To him, she and Josh were dead.

  And she couldn’t call out to him because her head had just moved inside the floor on its way to join the rest of her body in the basement. Her heart ached for Will, for what he must be suffering right now. He’d wanted nothing more than their happiness, had built this home and this neighborhood to ensure it, and would see in this burning house proof that he’d failed them, a guilt he’d carry with him for a very long time.

  More memories came to her, prompted by the voice in her head more than the one calling out her name. The man watching the house burn from the outside would, this very day, travel through time, into the future, and there learn his true destiny. The man outside would then go back in time, into the distant past, and live an impossibly long time. His only goal was to make sure that she survived, that she lived through this attack, and that their children were born.

  Children?

  Her hand went to her belly, and she remembered. The child growing there would join Josh in escorting their father to the future, and would then send him forth on his epic quest into the distant past. Her children, her fully grown children from the future, would travel back through time to this date, to this time, to this location.

  But that meant…

  Hope and Josh settled on the floor of the basement, into a moderate darkness near the stairs leading to the first floor and the inferno that raged above. As they stopped moving, still surrounded by the covering that had protected them from the Assassin’s flame, she saw it.

  The vehicle shimmered into existence before them, appearing without a sound in the middle of the floor in the basement, seeming to glow in the modest lighting provided by the fading bits of sunlight streaming in from the outside. Somewhere out there, even now, her young husband was being beaten by Hunters who thought him more than capable of fighting back.

  Josh had no idea that was happening, and was staring at the time machine. “Cool!” he exclaimed. “How did that car just show up in the basement, Mommy?”

  She patted him on the head. “You’ll figure it out one day.”

  The top dissolved, revealing three occupants.

  A young man with jet black hair leaped from the time machine, holding a backpack in one hand while affixing a mask to his face with the other. He whisked silently up the steps, and as he ran by, they could see that his eyes were covered by sunglasses that seemed glued to his face, hiding any hint of his eyes.

  Hope’s hand went to her mouth. Josh.

  The young woman leaped from the vehicle as well and moved to the back of the house, her bright red hair streaming behind her. Hope was overcome with emotion, fighting back the tears of joy that threatened to moisten her face, knowing she was watching the woman the child inside her would become.

  Angel motioned toward the wall as if throwing something, and a huge hole appeared. Dirt and rock and debris poured into the basement, pushed to either side to allow ever more material inside. She turned and trotted back to the third man, who had climbed out to look at the time travel machine.

  “Everything look okay?” Angel asked.

  The man looked up. “I don’t see any damage.”

  Josh tugged on Hope’s arm. “Mommy, what is Mr. Adam doing with those people and the neat car?”

  Hope frowned. “Who?”

  “Mr. Adam. You know him, Mommy. He’s like us. He comes and visits us and you talk about fires and Energy and Hunters and Assassins.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t recognize him.”

  Josh giggled. “Mommy, you’re being silly. Mr. Adam is one of our best friends!”

  She sensed he was telling the truth, that the stranger traveling with her grown children was someone she should know. But there was nothing there, no memory that said she’d ever met him before. “I… I’m sorry, Josh. Mommy’s memory is a little… off right now.”

  The elder Josh thundered down the steps. He carried the backpack over one shoulder, and over the other shoulder…

  “Mommy, why is he carrying the mean man?”

  “I’m… not sure, sweetie.”

  “I wish he wouldn’t help the bad man.”

  “Never hesitate to help others, Josh, even if they don’t deserve it.”

  The elder Josh sprinted across the floor, moving at a speed that suggested the Assassin’s weight was no more a burden than a sack of feathers. He kicked the back end of the time machine, and a panel flipped open, revealing a trunk. He hurled the Assassin inside, making no effort to keep the man’s head from slamming against the side.

  Hope winced. Young Josh giggled. Hope shot him a withering glare.

  Josh looked confused. “Mommy, that man wanted to kill us, didn’t he? I’m not sad if he gets a headache.”

  Hope sighed. Teaching children not to relish the pain of others was difficult in cases like this. Especially since she’d done an inside cheer at the cranial contact herself.

  They didn’t hear the conversation of the three time travelers, but became aware that all three had gone silent and turned to look at the back wall.

  Will Stark emerged from the hole that had formed there, barely conscious. Hope gasped. Her husband’s skin was raw and red, burned from the intense heat of the fire raging above. There were bruises covering his face, and his left leg dangled at an angle suggesting a complete fracture. She remembered more, even as the tears came.

  Josh had recognized the man floating through the air into the time machine as his father, and burst into tears. “Daddy!” he screamed. He tried to run to Will, but the cocoon that had protected them from the fire and moved them to this spot held him back. Josh turned instead to Hope and wrapped his arms around her waist, the side of his moist face pressed against her. She wrapped her arms around him.

  “He’ll be okay, Josh,” Hope said, struggling to keep her voice steady. “Your father loves you, more than anything. He could have prevented himself the pain you’re seeing right now, very easily. But he knew that doing so meant risking the worst possible thing he could imagine. Do you know what that is?”

  “Dying?” Josh said, his voice weak through the thick tears.

  “No. He knew it meant you might never be born. He let himself be hurt, rather than risk anything happening to you. If you ever find yourself wondering if your father loves you, Josh… remember what he looks like right now.”

  Young Josh said nothing, and his eyes never left the injured man. Hope watched
her young son for a moment, wondering how the experience would affect him. She turned back toward the time machine… and found her grown son standing in front of her.

  “I can’t see either of you, and I don’t have much time, but I know you’re there. Mom, don’t be discouraged, and please… don’t be afraid to ask for help for what’s happening to you. You’ll get the help you need if you ask. Just don’t wait too long. Once she’s born, take action.” Hope stared at her grown son, longing to reach out, to hold him, but he turned to face his younger self. “Josh, take care of your Mom, and demand that she take care of herself, no matter how much she might fight you. I know exactly how you’ll feel about your Dad in the coming years, and as natural as those feelings will be, as justified as they’ll seem… you can’t let those feelings consume you. Oh… and take care of your sister.”

  Young Josh looked puzzled.

  The older Josh nodded at both of them. “I need to go take care of an old friend.” And he was gone, racing back up the steps.

  Angel stood in front of them. The daughter she’d not yet held, the child growing inside her, was standing in front of her now, and Hope wanted to scream at the injustice of it all. Why could she not be freed of whatever it was that the older Will used to keep them here?

  “Mom, I’ll keep this brief. You’ve spent lifetimes taking care of others. Now, you need to take care of yourself. Don’t let it get too bad before you ask for help. And don’t fight those who are trying to provide that help. They’re the ones who love you the most. Let them help you. Please. Do it for me, do it for Josh, and do it for Dad.”

  She turned to the young boy she couldn’t see, and even in her confusion at the words just spoken, Hope was amused that the young woman with the fiery red hair and violet eyes was looking a foot over where Josh’s head was located. “Josh, that—” she pointed at the hole in the wall, and at the dirt and rock flowing back into the tunnel that had been created “—is something your sister needs to return to take care of. She needs to come back here and claim what’s rightfully hers. You won’t understand this, not yet. But remember my words, and when you do understand them, pass them along to her. Remember to take care of your mom. Oh, yes... and be nice to your sister.”