As she’d stepped out of the shower, she’d found fresh, modern clothes folded neatly on the bed for her, courtesy of the cabin crew. She hadn’t questioned how the sizes had been correct, but she was slightly suspicious to find that the jeans provided were maternity jeans, with a stretchy waistband which sat low on her hips, comfortably snug under her rapidly expanding bump. Even the t-shirt was soft and flatteringly loose around her belly.
She wasn’t about to argue how they knew about her pregnancy; she was just grateful not to have to wear a corset or a tight fitting and heavy gown. She’d pulled on her socks with some difficulty due to her expanding waistline and laced up her sneakers, before heading out in search of company.
As she walked down the plane, she caught sight of Nate.
‘Hey Red,’ he grinned as he rose from his comfortable armchair and set his beer down on the table. ‘You look good.’
‘Nate,’ she smiled. She’d had a brief explanation once they’d boarded, as to how and why her friend from Maine had ended up on the plane and in the company of Elias and his brother Theo. ‘It seems you’ve managed to land yourself on The Veritas’s shit list.’
She reached out and grasped his chin, turning his head to reveal the ugly scar burned into the delicate skin of his throat.
‘The mark of the traitor,’ Nate snorted. ‘Fuckers. Still, guess it’s my own fault for being dumb enough to join them in the first place.’
‘We’re all young and stupid once,’ Scarlett replied with a slight shake of her head, ‘doesn’t mean we don’t deserve a second chance.’
‘Yeah well, unfortunately my second chance puts a target right out there for every Veritas fucker to see. It’s open season. I wouldn’t bet too much on my life expectancy right now.’
‘Hmm,’ Scarlett mused. ‘Well let’s even the odds a bit.’
‘What?’
‘Hold still,’ she muttered, ‘this might sting a little.’ She pressed her hand to his throat, completely covering the brand marking his skin.
He sucked in a sharp breath as her hand suddenly went white hot, searing his skin. He jerked back, breathing heavily as he reached up and touched his neck. His brow furrowed in confusion, the skin felt completely smooth and normal. He turned and hastily headed for the small bathroom, in search of a mirror.
‘You’re welcome,’ Scarlett tossed over her shoulder as she sat down at a table opposite Elias, who was watching her in amusement.
‘Neat trick,’ he smiled as he lifted a heavy crystal tumbler to his lips and sipped his whiskey.
Scarlett shrugged as she glanced around the plane once again in appreciation.
‘Christ Elias,’ she muttered, ‘just how rich are you? This thing is like Air Force One.’
‘I do okay,’ he replied easily.
‘Okay?’ she answered. ‘Just out of curiosity, if I was in the market, how much would something like this set me back?’
‘Fifty-four million,’ he sipped again, ‘give or take.’
‘Fifty-four million?’ she blinked, ‘what...dollars?’
‘No, magic beans,’ he laughed. ‘Of course, dollars.’
‘Holy shit.’
‘I’ve been accumulating wealth for nearly three hundred years Scarlett,’ he explained. ‘I was doing alright when we met in London, but since then a lot has changed.’
‘I guess we’ve got a lot of catching up to do,’ Scarlett said quietly.
‘Yeah we do,’ he murmured, watching her thoughtfully.
‘Thanks for the clothes,’ she said after a moment’s silence.
‘You’re welcome. I thought you might want something more comfortable,’ his eyes flicked to her belly, ‘all things considered.’
‘How did you know?’ she asked softly.
‘I overheard you and Olivia talking in my study back in Primrose Avenue.’
‘Oh,’ Scarlett frowned as she stared down at the table.
‘I still own that house you know.’
‘Do you?’ she looked up in surprise.
‘Yes,’ he nodded. ‘I treasured the time and the memories I have there, but I haven’t been back …’ his dark eyes clouded momentarily ‘in a long time.’
She went back to staring at the table thoughtfully.
‘Scarlett,’ he once again drew her attention. ‘I know a lot about you, from Sam, from watching over you these last hundred years. I know you, better than you think… so I’m here to tell you… don’t run. I know you’re scared right now, and you don’t know what’s going to happen. I’ve had a hundred and fifty years to think this over and assuming I’m right and Sam’s the father, I know how much danger you and your child are in, from his people and yours. Your first instinct has always been self-preservation, to run and hide. But I’m asking you as your friend, don’t run.’
He reached out across the table and took her hand.
‘Scarlett,’ he told her softly, ‘we’re your family, Olivia and I. We’ll make sure you and your child are safe, but you have to trust us.’
Her eyes filled with tears as she blew out a shaky breath and turned to look out of the small cabin window into the dark sky.
Satisfied for the moment he’d made his point, Elias settled back in his chair, giving her some space as he once again lifted his glass and sipped thoughtfully.
Olivia stepped out of the bedroom and shut the door with a careful and quiet click. She turned to head out into the main cabin, when a small door next to her opened and the man everyone called Nate stepped out, stopping abruptly when he saw her.
‘Ma’am,’ he nodded as he studied her.
‘Nate is it?’ her eyes narrowed; her voice not entirely friendly. ‘You’re the one responsible for continuously drugging my husband?’
Nate winced. ‘I really am sorry about that; I didn’t have a choice. Your husband understands that.’
‘What Theo thinks is immaterial,’ she replied coolly. ‘For all I know he’s got a raging case of Stockholm syndrome right now.’
His eyes turned down, and his cheeks colored with shame.
‘You don’t have to believe me,’ he replied. ‘Hell, I wouldn’t believe me, but I am truly sorry for what I put him through. I was willing to give my life to get him out of there, I don’t expect your forgiveness or his, but surely that counts for something.’
Olivia stared at him; her arms crossed over her chest.
‘You have my thanks for the part you played in rescuing my husband,’ she finally said. ‘As for the rest, time will tell.’
She turned to walk away when his voice stopped her.
‘I think this belongs to you.’
She glanced down to his outstretched hand, to find her compass sitting in his palm. She reached out slowly and picked it up, feeling the metal instantly heating beneath her fingers as it began to wake. She flipped it open and watched the needle as it spun wildly as if pleased to be reunited with her.
‘Where did you get this?’ she asked suspiciously.
‘Faraday had it,’ Nate explained. ‘He was using it to convince Theo that he had you prisoner, to force his cooperation.’
‘But how did you end up with it?’ Olivia frowned. ‘Faraday had to know what this is, he had to know its value is immeasurable. There’s no way he’d just leave it laying around. It should have been under lock and key.’
‘That’s the weird thing,’ Nate shrugged. ‘About an hour before Elias and his friend showed up to spring Theo, Faraday disappeared, as did most of the rest of the key people in the facility. Other than the Doc who was about to split your husband’s melon open, a few medical technicians and some guards. The facility was reduced to a skeleton staff, even the guard who was supposed to be watching me decided to take a coffee break.’
‘And you didn’t think that was at all suspicious?’ Olivia asked.
‘Sure, it was suspicious, I’m not stupid, but I also wasn’t about to miss an opportunity to get the hell out of there. I went in search of Theo; I tried his cell first and found t
his sitting on his bed. I knew it was important to him, so I scooped it up and headed out to find him.’
Olivia’s fist curled around the compass.
‘Thank you,’ she replied quietly.
She turned and headed through the plane to where Elias was sitting with Scarlett. She looked up and smiled at Davis who was seated comfortably a short distance away. He smiled back and looked back down at the paperback novel in his hands.
Sliding into the seat next to Scarlett, Olivia looked up to find Elias smirking at her.
‘Where’s Theo?’ he asked innocently.
‘Sleeping,’ she smiled.
Elias nodded.
‘He slept all the way from Rome to London too,’ he replied. ‘It’s probably the best thing for him right now.’
Olivia reached out and picked up the Hourglass which was sitting on the table between them. She set it down in front of her and placed her compass next to it, staring at them pensively.
‘You know,’ she murmured, ‘nearly two months of being trapped in Victorian London, desperate to get home and now I have two time traveling devices just sitting in front of me.’
‘Strange world,’ he smiled.
‘Yeah,’ she frowned, ‘you know what’s weird though? The first time we got our hands on the Hourglass, outside the palace, I didn’t set the timer at the base or turn it, or any of the things that you’re supposed to do. Yet the moment I touched it, it turned back time, only by a few seconds. I saw Bower shoot you, but when time reversed, I was able to shove you out of the way and the bullet that should’ve killed you, only grazed your arm.’
Elias glanced at her, slightly startled by the revelation.
‘I doubt it would have killed me,’ he said after a moment’s consideration. ‘I’ve survived a point-blank shot to the brain but thank you anyway.’ His eyes softened with affection for her.
‘The other thing,’ she continued, ‘in Hyde Park. It didn’t work for Scarlett but as soon as I touched it… it’s the same with the compass. It won’t work for anyone else.’
‘Have you not figured it out yet Olivia?’ he smiled. ‘It’s you. You’re the one capable of moving through time. These? The Hourglass, the compass, they are just the lens that focuses your power. You’re the one who pulls yourself through time.’
‘What?’ she replied dryly, ‘are you seriously telling me that the whole time I was stranded in 19th century London I could’ve just….’ she took a deep breath, ‘beamed myself back?’
‘What I’m saying,’ Elias grinned slightly, ‘is that eventually, you won’t need the compass or the Hourglass. You will be able to move easily through time, just as Sam does.’
‘Shit,’ she replied. ‘I can’t be trusted with something like that.’
‘Too late,’ he chuckled, ‘it’s a part of who you are.’
Olivia leaned back in her seat as the flight attendant approached with a small tray. She set a fresh glass of whiskey in front of Elias, then placed a bottle of water and a tall glass of ice in front of Scarlett, and a Coke with a glass of ice in front of herself.
Once the smartly dressed young woman discreetly disappeared, Olivia poured herself a drink and sipped thoughtfully.
‘Elias?’ she asked quietly, ‘what happened to Eve?’
He set his glass down on the table, as he stared at both Olivia and Scarlett.
‘I married her,’ he told them quietly after a moment.
‘You married her?’ Olivia whispered with a small smile.
‘We were together a long time,’ he swallowed painfully.
‘Elias,’ Olivia reached across the table and squeezed his hand. ‘What happened?’
‘She died,’ his heart thudded dully in his chest, ‘nearly seventy years ago and I’ve never quite learned how to live without her.’
He turned to gaze out of the small window much as Scarlett had earlier, the pain in his voice evident.
She gave him his space, settling back in her seat and momentarily closing her eyes against the sudden ache in her chest. She’d only seen Eve hours ago, young and vibrant and determined. Now she had to mentally readjust to the fact she had been dead for over seven decades, long before Olivia herself was even born.
Time travel was a curse.
They sat in comfortable silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Olivia’s gaze was once again drawn to the Hourglass sitting on the table, and to the compass next to it. As the thoughts churned around and around in her head, her unconscious frown deepened.
‘What is it?’ Elias asked, seeing her troubled expression.
‘There’s something about this, that doesn’t add up.’
‘What?’
‘So many things,’ she shook her head, trying to make sense of her thoughts. ‘I mean doesn’t all this seem a bit convenient?’
‘Olivia, nothing about this situation can be considered convenient.’
‘No, I mean, when we first went after Theo at the Veritas headquarters in Piccadilly, he had to have known.’
‘Who?’ Scarlett asked.
‘Faraday,’ Olivia replied thoughtfully. ‘He saw me in London at Farringdon, we were face to face. Which means when we met in the present, he knew I had been in London in 1863.’ She looked up at Elias. ‘You said he was blackmailing you to get you to bring me to him?’
Elias nodded.
‘You thought you and Sam were playing him. You handed us over because you knew something he didn’t, you knew I had to be in London with Scarlett.’
‘But he did know?’ Elias mused.
Olivia nodded.
‘Then again in Farringdon,’ she continued. ‘He used Bower to bring me to him. He didn’t care about the Hourglass; it was a means to bring me to him.’
‘To what end?’ Elias wondered.
‘I don’t know but also… I mean think about it. From what Theo and Nate have told me, while Theo was held captive in Rome, the whole time he was there. Then he suddenly disappears, an hour before you show up to rescue Theo and just happens to leave my compass laying around for Nate to find?’
‘Convenient,’ Elias muttered.
‘Exactly... everything we know about the Veritas, says they are a selfish, psychopathic secret society whose only mandate is to accumulate magic, be that either magically gifted people, artefacts or books.’
‘That’s right,’ Elias’s eyes narrowed as he followed her trail of thought.
‘So why leave this laying around?’ she picked up the compass and dangled it by the chain. ‘He had to know how powerful it is?’
‘He’s not playing by the Veritas rule book,’ Elias realized.
‘No,’ Olivia replied, ‘he’s not. I don’t think for one second, he accidently left Theo in Rome, after taking the girl, all his key staff and the notes on the prophecy. He also just happens to misplace the compass right where it will be found, along with Theo?’
‘He wanted you to have it back,’ Scarlett murmured, ‘just like he wanted Theo returned to you.’
‘But why? To what end?’ Elias mused. ‘What is it he wants?’
‘I don’t know,’ Olivia frowned. ‘All I know is he wanted me in Piccadilly because he knew, like you did, that I had to be in London in 1863, and he wanted me in that room in Farringdon.’
‘Why though?’ Scarlett shook her head. ‘Because he looked like he was trying really hard to kill you.’
‘No,’ Olivia shook her head, thinking back to that room. ‘He wanted me to know that he knew who I was… he called me Olivia West,’ she realized. ‘I never used that name in London, up until that point he’d never met me. There’s no way he could’ve known my name and when we were fighting, he wasn’t trying to kill me. He was testing me, testing the limits of my abilities.’
‘Jesus Olivia,’ Elias’s eyes widened.
‘When we were in that room,’ she breathed slowly, ‘you were there, both of you. You saw Manny burn Faraday with ancient fire and yet he walked out of those flames without a single mark on him.’
‘Which means Faraday isn’t human,’ Scarlett stated.
‘There’s only one being I know that is immune to God fire.’ Olivia said quietly, ‘and that would be a God.’
Elias’s eyes widened.
‘Beware the man in black, he is not who you think he is,’ Scarlett muttered.
‘What?’ Elias turned to her in confusion.
‘It’s what Eden said to Olivia the first time she met her. I thought she was talking about you, but she wasn’t, she was talking about Faraday.’
‘One thing’s for certain,’ Olivia said quietly, ‘whoever the hell Faraday is, he’s playing the long game and we need to figure out just what that is.’
The rest of the flight was pensive, none of them really in the mood to talk. Theo slept the rest of the way and Nate, and Davis kept to themselves.
Ironically, they landed in Logan international in Boston, with a car on the tarmac waiting to drive them straight to Mercy. It was barely an hour and a half away but by the time they approached the outskirts of town, Olivia started to fidget, and by the time they were driving through the woods towards the house, in the bright morning sunlight, she could barely sit still.
The car hadn’t even come to a full stop when she flung open the door and ran for the house, taking the steps up to the porch two at a time and flinging the front door open, calling loudly for her children amidst wild dog barks.
She found them playing on the floor in the lounge as she burst into the room. Roni looked up in shock and the children started reaching for her, squealing loudly for their mom as she dropped to the floor and pulled them into her arms, holding them tightly.
There was a clattering down the stairs and the scratching of claws as Beau scrambled into the room leaping onto Olivia and the twins. Manny burst into bright flames and leapt over Olivia, tackling Beau as they both rolled over the floor, dog and firedrake, playfully fighting.
Theo headed into the room and sank to his knees, gathering up his wife and his children in his arms as the others entered the room one by one.
Gradually the chaos subsided. Roni called Jake who arrived a short while later, embracing Theo tightly and taking in his appearance with a worrying glance at Roni. Olivia had settled herself on the couch with her children either side of her, Beau curled up tightly against her legs, his tail thumping loudly against the floor.
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