Mostly, she didn’t like the Magnet powers.
But, Mara made the best of things.
She always tried to make the best of things.
Mara had been raised in the Light Kingdom, spending a few weeks a year in the Magnet House, so she could get to know it. When she came of age, Mara came to the Magnet Kingdom to live permanently. She was the Queen of the Magnetland, now. But, the wilds of the Light Kingdom always had her heart.
If she could have, Mara would’ve asked Kahn to bury her next to his sisters in the endless jungle of their homeland. Mara would much rather spend her eternity in the Light House, her body decaying and becoming part of the soil that fed the rainforest. The three hundred foot tall trees forever growing around her. There was a type of immortality in that. A sense that she’d be remembered and go on.
However, Mara knew that even suggesting it would lead to conflict. Kahn would try to take her body home, but Chason would stop him. Mara didn’t want a fight. Chason was a stickler for tradition and formality. All the Magnet Phase Queens were buried side by side in the cemetery, in a neat orderly row. Even their grey stone tombstones matched.
Jesus.
That should be number thirty-eight on her list. Don’t get entombed in that dismal graveyard. But, in order to fix that regret, she’d have to go back and somehow not Phaze with Chason. And, even if she somehow magically could, Mara would never undo their Match.
She loved Chason.
They didn’t have the storybook romance that she’d once dreamed of. She and Chason only saw each other a few minutes a day and even those moments weren’t exactly fairytale material. Usually, she just felt like an imposition in his life. Someone foisted on him by Gaia, when he should have been Matched with a legitimate princess.
Chason was so perfect that Mara never quite trusted their bond. Never trusted him to want her just for herself.
She’d always been afraid to try to demand more from him, because maybe he’d demand more from her and not like everything he found. Even their memory sharing had been brief and unrevealing. All Matches had an exchange of memories, where they saw moments in each other lives. Mara had always been very grateful that she and Chason had such a short one. She didn’t really want him to see everything and find her lacking.
It felt safer to hold back and quietly loved him enough for both of them.
Chason slanted her a quick glance when she defended her choice to visit the Light Kingdom. He always shot her the same vaguely disapproving look when she spoke of her homeland.
Mara cared what Chason thought. She did.
But, there was a piece of Mara that Chason never reached. A small place within her that she kept apart from him. Matches shouldn’t do that. They shouldn’t have any spots that the other person couldn’t touch. But, Chason was so strong and self-reliant that Mara had to hold back from him. He didn’t need her. Giving him everything inside of her would be too intimate. It would leave her too vulnerable. It was better to maintain the separation for both their sakes.
Take her birthday parties.
Every year, the Light Kingdom threw her a party. The Magnet House never celebrated birthdays. They were too busy being stoic and dreary. Mara accepted that. So, every December fourth she went home and spent the day with her family. She never asked Chason to come. She never insisted that he buy her gifts or blow up party balloons. She never pushed the idea that they should have birthday cakes in the Magnet House. No. She did what she wanted and Chason did what he wanted and they were both happy that way.
Or so Mara had told herself. What with dying and all, she was facing some pretty harsh truths about just how unhappy she was with her life.
And now, her life was over.
Chason turned away. He pushed the heels of his palms into his eye sockets as if he was the one with the agonizing headache. “If you’d just stayed in your room, you could be safe right now, Mara.”
“Sure, blame the victim.” Mara barely recognized her own voice. She didn’t have the energy to argue, but she just couldn’t help herself. Fighting came easy when you saw you were about to die. “The Fall is everywhere. I would have gotten it either way.”
“You don’t know that! If you’d stayed here…”
“I would never abandon my family.” Mara whispered. “Not for anything. Not even my own life.”
Kahn looked up at the ceiling for a long beat and then shook his head. He pushed past Chason and left the room at a near run. He didn’t want Mara to see him crying.
Poor Kahn.
“Chason, look after my cousin when I’m gone. He’ll need your help to get through this. Kahn acts strong, but he has a gentle heart.” Kahn and Chason never got along, but they were all the family they had, now. The two of them would be alone.
Chason’s jaw tightened. “You’re not going to die.”
“Yes. I am.” She said simply, trying to get through to him.
But, Chason was focused on his goal. He was so stubborn and he wasn’t willing to hear the truth. Nothing could derail him once he was sighted on a target. “I’m going to find a way to fix this. To make you better and then,” he made a vague gesture with one hand, “then we can be better, Mara. We can listen to music and laugh and play checkers.”
Checkers? Chason hated games. He wasn’t making any sense. Mara began to get seriously concerned about him. “I wish we could do all of that, but it’s too late. You can go on without…”
“No, it’s not too late! It can’t be. I’ll get a human doctor. Maybe they can cure the Fall.”
Poor Chason.
Kahn was right. Her Match was in some kind of denial. Mara kept her scratchy tone calm and reasonable. “Chason, humans don’t even get the Fall. You know that. Stop and think, okay? You need to just accept that I’m going to die and...”
“NO!” He screamed the word. Chason had never raised his voice at her before. Mara was stunned by the depth of feeling in his eyes as he looked at her, again. “I will never fucking accept that. I’m going to find another doctor and I will fix this.” He started for the door. “I don’t care if I have to kidnap a veterinarian from Mars, someone will cure you.”
Mara felt a surge a panic. She didn’t have much time, now. If Chason left, she wouldn’t be there when he got back. She knew it. “Don’t go.”
“I won’t be long.” He kept walking.
“Chason.”
He turned and looked at her.
Nothing was going to dissuade him from leaving.
Mara swallowed and tried to think of some last words. “I love you. Forever and then some.” She’d told him that so many times over the years, especially at the beginning. She should have said it more.
Chason stared at her, his eyes swirling with something like desperation. “I won’t say good-bye to you.”
Mara kept going, wishing she’d written down a little speech. Some really inspirational heartfelt words that he’d remember fondly. “I want you to be happy when I’m gone.” She paused. “Well, not too happy. You can cry, obviously. Maybe wear grey for a year or two.” Grey was the Elementals’ color of mourning. Mara meant the comment as a joke. She’d never seen Chason cry before. Not even when his father died.
He didn’t look amused.
Chason wasn’t a man who enjoyed bad jokes in tense situations.
Or at any time, really.
Mara was so tired. She didn’t even have the energy to make a face at him for ruining her attempts to lighten the mood. “We should have danced more. I know that you have it in you to enjoy life so much more than you have. I’m sorry that I wasn’t a better Match. I’m sorry that I didn’t do more to make you happy. If we had more time, I’d do things differently.”
She’d fight harder for their Match.
To make them more.
Chason was in no mood for romantic laments. He’d always been more about duty than poetry. If you told Chason that you liked flowers, he’d have his gardener plant you rosebushes.
All the end result
and none of the motivation: That was Chason.
Important stuff went right over his head and, at some point, Mara stopped expecting him to get it. Maybe that was the whole problem between them. Chason didn’t understand the little things and Mara couldn’t explain why she needed them. So, they both existed together, with pieces of themselves held apart.
Chason’s eyes narrowed as if he was getting angry at her for simply accepting what he wanted so desperately to change. “You fight this disease, Mara, or I swear to God, you’re not going to like what becomes of me.” He warned. “Without you, I’ll have nothing.”
She smiled at that, exhausted and in pain, but unwilling to stop the conversation. Knowing that she’d be dead soon inspired her to squeeze in all the talking she could. “You could never be anything but a good man and you know it.” It wasn’t like Chason to be so dramatic. “You were born for greatness. You’ll go on without me and, in time, you’ll be fine.”
He started at her as if she was speaking some alien dialect. “Be fine?” His whole face twisted in a sort of agonized cringe. “That’s not true. If you think that…” He trailed off and stared at her for a long moment. “You’re the only light in my world.”
That was the most beautiful thing he’d ever said to her. “Chason.” Mara was stunned and moved. “Please, don’t go. Just sit here with me and…”
But, he was already stalking off on his fruitless search for a cure.
Mara briefly closed her eyes.
She would never see her Match, again.
She sighed and looked around her empty room. Chills shook her body, even under a pile a blankets. She was so cold and tired. Mara needed to sleep, but she didn’t want to die alone. Even if she’d go on breathing for a few hours more, she knew that the coma was the real death. Once that happened, she’d be gone.
Kahn needed a moment to collect himself, but he’d be back. She could hold on until then. But, Kahn had seen so much death already. Said good-bye too many times. Wasn’t watching his sisters die enough? Did she really want to put him through more torture, just because she selfishly desired someone with her at the end?
No.
She couldn’t do that to poor Kahn.
It was time to let go.
There was nothing Mara could tell Kahn that he didn’t already know. She loved him. He was her brother in every way that mattered. She’d made sure that she said all that to him when she realized she would die. And now Chason had finally stood still long enough to tell him what he meant to her, too. So Mara could rest.
She closed her eyes and listened to the imaginary sounds of the Andrew Sisters in her head. I’ll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time. She didn’t have enough strength left to sing it, but her lips moved ever so slightly as she thought of the lyrics.
When had she last heard the song? Yesterday? Last month? Two years ago? It was all a fog. But, she certainly hadn’t known the last time she’d played that record it was really was the last time. The final performance of her favorite song.
How sad.
How very, very sad.
Poor Mara.
A surge of power went through the room and Mara’s eyes opened. One of the great things about being on your deathbed was an absolute lack of fear. At least, about other people. Any other time in her life, a strange Phase jumping into her bedroom would have had Mara screaming. Now, she just blinked and wondered why the girl was there. Why should she be frightened of this woman, when she was already so close to the end?
“Hey there, Mara.” The stranger smirked. “I’m Daphne. Don’t take this the wrong way, but you looked way better in your pictures.”
Daphne had honey colored hair with a lighter toned sandy streak at her temple that marked her as part of the Time House. Mara had though she knew most of the Time Phases by sight, but she didn’t recognize this girl. She was tall and thin, looking very much like a college freshman, and her outfit seemed a little bit… odd.
Her shirt was covered in cartoon-style spiders with polka dot hair bows. The illness must have been affecting her eyes because Mara could’ve sworn the silly bugs were moving on the fabric. Almost like the shirt was a movie screen and could somehow project whatever design the wearer wished. Mara had never seen anything like it.
“You wouldn’t believe the trouble I’ve gone through to find you, Magnet Queen.” Daphne stalked towards Mara with a determination that belied her teenager mall-goer facade.
Kamikaze determination.
With an Elemental, looks could be deceiving and age was always relative. Daphne’s gaze met hers and, strange clothing aside, Mara knew this woman had lived far longer than Mara had. That she’d seen so much more…
It took Mara’s brain a second to catch up, but, when it did, she realized that Daphne hadn’t arrived in the ordinary way. Phases could jump between realms and kingdoms, provided they could get through the barriers. It took power, but that was like flashlight power and Daphne’s energy was spiking towards China Syndrome levels.
Mara finally put the pieces together and gasped.
Time Phases could travel through time.
Theoretically.
But, they only had a one stop, fifty-two second window before the huge amounts of energy it took killed them. No one ever, ever, time jumped. It was literally suicide.
“What have you done?” How could Mara save this woman in the next handful of seconds? “My God, you’ll be killed! Whoever you are, maybe Job can get you back to your own time before you…”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m not that kind of Time Phase.” Daphne headed over to the side of the bed. “I am on a schedule, though, so don’t take offense if I skip the chit-chat.”
Mara could feel the unstable energy vibrating around the girl, but she didn’t seem to be disintegrating into dust particles like any other Time Phase would have after they made such a trip. “You can survive a time jump?”
“No. But, I can jump more than once. So, at fifty-one seconds I know to get my ass out of here.” Leaning over, Daphne fastened the necklace around Mara’s throat. “Don’t take this off until you wake-up, alright? It was a pain in the cat to get.”
“What?” The pendant was long and sliver with stripes of white enamel running across it like a barcode. Mara glanced down at it and then back up at Daphne. “Why are you even here?”
“Because I need your help. The whole world does. Things are about to go bad and you can stop it.”
Well, that was very Back to the Future, wasn’t it?
And why had she seen Back to the Future and not Singin’ in the Rain?
Mara tried to concentrate. God, it was so hard to get her mind to focus. Layers of disconnected thoughts drifted through her pounding head. “I don’t…”
“Listen to me, alright? You’re going to go to sleep, but you won’t die. Not really. The necklace is powerful. It comes from the primordial Khaos.”
“Khaos? Like Get Smart?”
Daphne squinted. “I have no idea what that means.” She shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. Just listen, because I only have one shot at this. The necklace will hold your energy –your spirit-- like life support. With it on, you’ll seem dead, but you’ll be alive. Until the Fall is eradicated, you’ll survive in a very, very deep sleep.” She was talking rapidly, his form already beginning to disintegrate around the edges. “You’ll be in a coma, but your body will be okay.”
“You can cure the Fall?”
“No. But, in two years every trace of the Fall will be gone forever. Tessie will wipe it out completely, so even the disease in your body will vanish. The necklace will keep you alive until every last germ is called back into the Health box and it’s safe for you to wake-up. You’ll be exactly the same as you are now, only healthy.”
What was the Health box? Who was Tessie? Was she supposed to know what any of that meant? Mara had an excellent memory when she wasn’t dying. None of that seemed familiar, but so much was getting fuzzy as she neared the end.
It was stra
nge that she couldn’t remember so many details, but she still recalled the exact second she first laid eyes on Chason.
It had been overcast and grey, as it so often was in the Magnet Kingdom. Mara had been standing out in the rain with her arms outstretched, pretending that she was home. Pretending that it was the warm, tropical showers of the Light Kingdom washing over her.
When she opened her eyes, she’d seen Chason standing in the doorway of the Magnet Fortress staring at her like she was insane.
Or a mirage.
Mara had laughed at his stupefied expression, pushing her wet hair back from her face. She’d waved a hand at him, beckoning him out into the downpour.
Trancelike, he’d left the protective overhang of his home to join her in the storm. Water had poured down, flattening his neatly cut hair and pressed uniform. Chason walked across the desolate courtyard towards her, his high polished boots getting splattered with mud and grime. He’d stopped right in front of her, droplets of water running down the edge of his jaw.
Even as a very young girl, she’d known that he was the one. That this was her Match. Mara had beamed up at him.
…And Chason had slowly smiled.
The memory was so clear in her head that Mara actually forgot where she was for a second. Or maybe it was longer than that. Mara had lost all conception of time. She was sinking fast, now.
When she managed to focus again, Daphne was looking towards the window. The girl had been temporarily distracted by the afternoon sky. “My God…” She trailed off, seemingly mesmerized by the endless blue and white expanse. “My memories of the pictures in the clouds are so vague. How could I forget how amazing they are?”
Mara wasn’t sure what that meant. “You should go back and stop Parald.” She whispered. “It’s more important than saving me.”
“I can’t.” Daphne was fading like her skin was made up of TV pixels and she was losing reception. Her eyes met Mara’s, her expression intense. “You have to do this. For both of us. Fight hard, because you’re the only one who can save our Matches.”
“What?” That got Mara’s attention like nothing else could have. “What’s happened to Chason?”
Queen of the Magnetland (The Elemental Phases Book 5) Page 2