by Jones, D. F.
Inside the barracks, rows of the military stood before the Prince. He turned to Ruben and said with an air of authority. “I have been aware of Monica and her plans. My sources say she is also working with King Anthobethia from Cancri. Our armies are more numerous than the stars in the sky. Their plan will not succeed.”
The Empyreal Guards stood at attention as Prince Aelius approached them. He said, “These are my most seasoned warriors.”
Ruben walked each row inspecting the soldiers, as was the custom. After he had returned to the front row, Ruben looked up to Prince Aelius and said, “I choose Azreal and Chayliel.”
Prince Aelius turned to the guards and exclaimed in a loud voice, “Azreal and Chayliel, you will accompany the court’s favored Tracker, Ruben. You have my authority to use your power against those who seek to harm Julia Boatwright and her family. What say you?”
In unison, Azreal and Chayliel stepped forward and replied, “As you wish, Prince Aelius.”
Ruben knew the two warriors would help him stop Monica and her enforcers. “Thank you, Your Highness.” Ruben paused and took a deep breath, then exhaled and said, “May I request one more favor?”
“Yes, my faithful and devoted servant.”
Ruben’s chest moved up and down as he stared into the Prince’s eyes of burnished fire. “May I have permission to return Julia to her true reality?”
Prince Aelius placed his hand on Ruben’s shoulder. “Follow your orders, and when the time presents itself, you’ll receive the answers you seek.”
Ruben bowed low. “I will not disappoint you. I’ll fight and follow you, my Prince, unto my death.”
“Rise, Ruben. You are blessed, my son.”
Chapter 17
1950 Burkett Falls
“Looks like the rain is over.” Phillip pushed the theater door open for Amelia.
“Brrr, and it left a nip in the air too.” Amelia put on her hat and buttoned her coat, then placed her hand in the crook of Phillip’s arm.
The local downtown businesses had decorated for Halloween with goblins, witches, and jack-o’-lanterns. The town carousel twinkled with lights, and squeals of children’s laughter made Phillip smile. He placed his hand over Amelia’s as they approached various vendors selling candied apples, roasted pecans, and caramel corn. “Want a candied apple?” he asked.
“Oh, no. I had plenty of popcorn and coke at the movies.”
As they rounded the corner, Phillip heard someone yell out his name. He turned left and right then spotted Sam and Ethel.
Sam said, “I told Ethel that was you. How are you, son?”
Ethel nodded and said, “Amelia, you look well.”
Phillip’s spine stiffened, and he took a step away from Amelia. “Oh, I’m fine. Amelia and I went to see All About Eve. What are y’all up to?”
Ethel giggled. “Sam and I ride the carousel every Friday night during the season.”
Sam wrapped his arm around Ethel’s waist and kissed her forehead. “I proposed to Ethel on a carousel near the beach. It brings back memories. We won’t keep you two. Come see us sometime.” Sam touched the brim of his trilby hat.
Ethel squeezed Amelia’s hand and said, “It’s good seeing the both of you.”
Phillip and Amelia walked in silence to his car, and he opened the passenger door.
Touching the side of his face, Amelia said, “Are you okay? You have that look again.”
“What look is that?
Taking a deep breath, she said, “The haunted look, but I’m not surprised. You get it anytime we see people related to Julia whether they’re friends or family.” She slid in the seat, and he closed the door.
Phillip felt the familiar tugging at his heart as he opened the driver’s side door and got in.
Phillip didn’t start the car, and Amelia didn’t say a word. “Amelia, why do you put up with me? I’m not sure I’ll ever get over her. I am trying to move on, but I’ll understand if you need to…”
“Don’t say it. Not again. Phillip, I don’t expect you to forget Julia.” She turned in the seat and curled her finger, gesturing for him to move closer.
“What?”
“Come here. I want to whisper something in your ear.”
Tilting his head to the side, he gave her a grin and scooted next to Amelia. She leaned in next to his ear and whispered, “Taste my kiss. I’m here. Give me a chance. It’s okay to feel again, to love and laugh again. We have something good.”
Amelia leaned slightly away and cupped Phillip’s face with her hands. “Look at me with your eyes, open your mind and your heart to me, Phillip. Allow me to love you.” She kissed him softly and tenderly.
Part of Phillip needed to let go of Julia, and part of him never would. “I will try, Amelia.”
“That’s all I ask. Want to spend the night with me?”
He nodded yes, and she kissed him again.
* * *
Turning into the Boatwright Plantation made Phillip’s heart drop to his stomach. He drove past the house onto the dirt road that led to Burkett Falls. Phillip needed to tell Julia something.
Pulling up to the beach, Phillip’s heart hammered inside his chest. Julia was there. She was sitting on a rock next to the cliffs of the Falls. Her long blonde hair was tied at the nape of her neck and cascading over her shoulders. In slow motion, she turned and waved.
It was Sloane.
Pulse racing, Phillip walked through the tall grasses onto the sandy beach and climbed the rocks to join her. “You damn near gave me a heart attack. You look so much like your sister. When did you dye your hair?”
Sloane gave him a half smile and said, “Oh, I changed my hair color in New York before I moved back home. I miss her, Phillip. I don’t think I’ll ever get over missing her.”
Phillip placed his arm around Sloane’s shoulders, their heads touching together in shared grief. He let out a sigh and began to tell Sloane about Ruben, about Julia’s time traveler.
“I’ve worked on dozens and dozens of formulas, and I’ve hit a dead end. I’ve spent so many hours trying to figure it all out. I can’t do it anymore. I came here today to let her go. I’m asking Amelia to marry me.”
Sloane’s sorrowful eyes threatened to spill tears, but she blinked them away. “How can it be possible that Julia’s living somewhere in the future? And for argument’s sake, what if Julia does come home and you’re married? I’m not trying to talk you out of it. I’m just curious.”
“I’ve thought about it, prayed about it. If I marry Amelia, and then Julia makes it home, I’ll stay with Amelia. I won’t break a wedding vow. I’m still in love with your sister and always will be, but Amelia loves me, and I love her. It may not be with the passion or the intensity of the love I feel for Julia, but it’s still love. You never love two people the same way.”
Shaking her head, Sloane said, “It’s time for truths. I married Brooks. I came here today to tell Julia. This spot always makes me feel closer to her. I wish you and Amelia all the happiness in the world.”
Phillip placed the palms of his hands on the boulder to prop his upper body. “Truths. Here are some truths. It still feels as though I’m betraying Julia. I feel like I’m cheating on her.”
“You’ve gotta get over that before you marry Amelia. You’re not cheating. If Julia could come home, she would’ve been here already. It’s time for both of us to move on.”
Phillip looked up at the Falls then down into the churning waters of the dark blue pools. “I dove off the Falls more than a dozen times to find Julia. Ruben said the time portals open at different places and times around the world, and there’s no way to navigate back. I asked him to bring her home, but he said it was impossible. That’s why he gave me the blueprints to his ship. I’ve tried. I have stacks of journals with formulas and possible outcomes. I can’t complete the sequence.”
“Phillip, it’s time to stop. Life continues and time keeps marching on. We can only pray that wherever Julia is that she’ll find h
appiness.”
“A colleague of mine has some property for sale in the mountains. I think I may buy it. Build a place for me to think and write. A place where I can…”
“Be with Julia? And I’m not judging you, Phillip. Come up to the house. I know it’ll brighten Dad’s day. Oh, Mom isn’t well and rarely leaves her room anymore.” Sloane stood and reached for his hand. “Ethel is cooking her famous pot roast with red potatoes.”
Phillip grabbed her hand, pulling himself off the ground. “I’d love to eat dinner with you. Maybe your mom will talk to me today.”
“You might be the gander to get Bunny’s goose in gear.” They both laughed and made their way to the big house.
Phillip parked next to the barn, which brought back vivid memories of Julia on the night of her twenty-first birthday. They had fallen so deeply in love, and then she was gone. He closed his eyes and placed his forehead on the steering wheel as tears ran down his cheeks. Was he making the right decision with Amelia? Would Julia find her way back home?
Chapter 18
Present Day
As a theoretical physicist, Andy was accustomed to staring at his thirty-seven-inch monitor and watching a formula take shape with the physics virtual animation software. But this formula was special. While his project rendered, he thought about all the UFO TV shows, YouTube videos, and articles debunked by mainstream media. He thought about the individuals who reported UFOs. People laughed at them and thought they were crazy.
There was one story about a disappearing lake swirling into the ground like a giant flushing toilet that gave Andy the idea the time portals could work like a wormhole he could manipulate into his theory, Spinning Time. If a portal were indeed a wormhole, using its supergravity, he could, in fact, create enough velocity causing space and time to bend, circling back in a loop.
Things in the past that already happened couldn’t be modified—or could they? He was pumped with adrenaline as the sequencing neared the end. Based on information from Ruben and Charlie, Andy theorized Julia lived in an alternate or parallel universe, which meant she didn’t alter the past but created a different future.
The rendering stopped.
Andy jumped out of the chair and yelled out, “Hot damn, I did it.”
Julia stepped inside his third-floor office with its A-frame vaulted ceiling and exposed wood beams. The pine furniture and Southwestern rugs brightened the room. She said, “What’s going on in here?”
Andy swooped Julia up in his arms and swung her around in circles. “I did it. The program works.” He kissed her cheek and grinned. “Want to see my time machine? I need to test it, but in theory, the formula works, Grannie.”
Julia rolled her eyes. “Please stop calling me Grannie. It’s getting on my last nerve.” Julia was five months pregnant, and her energy level seemed to skyrocket on certain days. Her parenting book suggested it was the nesting phase, which made her clean everything twice.
He chuckled and placed his hand on her growing belly. “I’m sorry.”
She leaned over Andy’s desk chair and stared at the computer screen. Julia’s eyes widened, and she exclaimed, “Can’t say I understand the numbers under the animation, but…wow. It’s amazing, Andrew. You’re brilliant.”
He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Aw, no one’s called me that since I was a little boy. But I agree, the machine is incredible, and in theory, it should work.” Andy pressed his forehead to hers. “It’s your ticket home, Julie Bean.”
Julia cried and said, “Oh, Andy. I’m so full of pride, and Phillip is smiling from heaven. When will you test one of the crafts?”
Andy dropped into the chair and began clicking on the keyboard to save his program onto the external hard drive. “Today hopefully. I thought maybe Charlie could take us to her ship on our daily run. We’ll pack a blanket and bring a picnic. I love the mountains in the fall with the russet reds and vibrant golds.”
Julia leaned against his desk, resting her hands on her baby belly. “I love the idea.”
Footfalls pounded up the stairwell, and Charlie ran into the room. “I’ve been waiting on you guys for thirty minutes to run through our drills unless you’d rather walk.”
Julia looked at Charlie and said, “Hiking sounds great, and I’m going to pack a picnic lunch.”
Charlie went over and placed her hands on Andy’s shoulders. “Is that it?”
He tilted his head to meet Charlie’s blue eyes. “Uh huh. Think we could go to The Bus? No time like the present to test Spinning Time while it’s fresh in my mind.”
Charlie leaned in and kissed Andy on the lips. “Aw, honey, that’s wonderful. The Bus is a good five miles away, and he does resemble the Needle-Horn. How far into the past do you think The Bus can go?”
Andy chuckled and said, “The Bus is a he?”
“Of course.”
Phillip pressed his lips together in thought for a second. “In theory, once I’ve made the adjustments, The Bus could travel anywhere, anytime. If the time portals emulate a wormhole, there would be no limits. Once a date and time are entered into the program, the craft would arrive at its destination in milliseconds. Want to test her—oh, I mean him out?”
“Today?”
“Sure. Pick any time in history. Who would you want to meet or where would you want to go?”
Charlie placed her hand on her hip and said, “I want to meet Leonardo da Vinci.”
Andy rapidly typed on his keyboard and pulled up info on Leo and printed out several pages of Da Vinci’s inventions. “We shouldn’t leave Julia.”
Klock trotted into the room, barking, “Do I look like chopped liver? I’ll stay with Julia.”
Charlie laughed and said, “Klock says that he’ll stay with Julia. What do you need from me?”
“I have a kit I use to work on my electronics. Do you have tools on The Bus?”
Charlie nodded. “Yes. How long do you think we’ll be gone? Ruben would kill us if something happened to Julia. He and the Empyreal Guards went to Asheville for additional supplies. They won’t return until late afternoon.”
Julia waved her hand and said, “Pish, posh. I have Klock, and we haven’t seen any sign of Monica’s enforcers.”
Charlie sat on Andy’s lap and said, “Are you sure it will work? The ship is calibrated to my DNA. What if we both end up as matter mash on the floor?”
“You’re the one who told me about the Plates of Prophecy. If it works with us, we can do several expeditions, up to the delivery of the baby. That’ll give me time to work out any kinks.”
Charlie leaned in and kissed him. “I trust you, Phillip Andrew.”
* * *
Andy and Charlie pulled on their backpacks, and then their merry band of hikers set off into the Pisgah National Forest. Their feet crunched the dried leaves of fall. The blue skies of October held no clouds as they walked along the trails.
Julia said, “Hey, stop just a sec. I have a cramp.”
Andy swiftly turned and went to Julia while his face drained of color. “Are you okay?” He pulled a bottle of water out.
“Don’t panic. Remember, I have a life inside of me, and he’s kicking the daylights out of me. Wanna feel?”
Andy went on one knee and placed his hand on Julia’s belly. His eyes went wide with surprise, and he looked over his shoulder and said, “Charlie, you gotta feel this.”
Charlie stepped over and placed her hand over Julia’s stomach. “Yup, he likes walking too. You want to sit for a minute?”
“No, the muscle cramp is gone, but I do have to pee. Andy, excuse us. Charlie, help me in case I squat and can’t get up.”
Laughing, Charlie said, “Just don’t pee on my hiking boots, and you have a deal.”
Minutes later, they were hiking a trail deep into the forest, the firs and evergreens so thick their boughs blocked most of the sun, and only streaks of light glimmered through them.
Klock ran off into the woods and came back barking, “We’re here, Charlie. Just o
ver there in the small clearing.”
Charlie pulled up her sleeve and tapped on her watch releasing the Cloak Shield.
The ship appeared, and Andy’s and Julia’s mouths dropped open, and she said, “Wow, this makes it real. I didn’t realize it would be so big. Can I look inside?”
Andy turned to Julia while slipping off his backpack and held the strap in his hand. “Not until I make adjustments. I don’t want to take any risks with your or the baby’s life. Charlie, will you let me in? Let me check out the system controls. Then you and Julia can set up camp. It’s a gorgeous day.”
The scent of firs and evergreens reminded him of Christmas. Charlie placed her thumb on the side of the ship and leaned her eye into the craft. The door slid open. Staring at the time machine, Andy felt he’d found his life’s purpose.
Looking over her shoulder, Charlie waved and said, “Come on in and meet The Bus.”
Andy’s face lit up as he stepped inside the ship. “Charlie, I knew you were the girl of my dreams.”
Andy placed his backpack on the steel table next to the door. He’d studied the interior of the ship intensely on his computer over the last five months. Stepping over to the frame that held the ship’s electronic systems, Andy clicked the levers and removed the cover. He looked at Charlie and smiled. “It’s okay. Leave me and stay with Julia. I’ll come get you when he’s ready.”
Charlie leaned in a kissed his cheek. “Take care of my boy.”
Most of Andy’s life, he could look at a problem and visualize the mechanics like a movie playing in his brain. He calmed his racing pulse and took a deep breath, zoning in on the mechanical system of the ship, and began to work.
* * *
Charlie stepped out of the ship and walked over to Julia, who sat on the ground rubbing Klock’s back. “For better or for worse, he’s working on my ship. I’m scared and excited. Just a tinge of doubt lingers that if he screws up, I’m stuck here too.”
Julia started giggling at first and then she started rolling with laughter making her belly jiggle like Santa doing a ho-ho-ho. “Welcome to the party, pal.”