"I'm not trying to hide anything from you. Please don't hurt me. I'll tell you everything you need to know."
Niki hissed in her ear. "Your name."
"Opal. Opal Arrington. I got here when my Chronomancer brought me. I've been stuck here since he went missing a week ago. I've been searching for him, but I haven't had any luck."
"You're a Time Knight?" Jack asked.
"I serve Chronomancer Xander Sutcliff. He's forty-three, half Kenyan, I think, and half pure Iskaydrian, nearly seven feet tall with dark skin and big eyes. He's a giant teddy bear, really. Tell me you've seen him."
He would have helped if he could. "No, I'm sorry. I'm new to all this time travel stuff."
She smiled. "Ah. Welcome."
"Let her go, Niki."
Niki did as he was told, but he quickly regained possession of the pistol and kept it at the ready.
Opal sighed and adjusted her corset. "Well, no purple suits, so I guess I can safely say you're not agents of the Syndicate. This old bat was, though."
"We're no friends of the grape goons."
She snickered, patting Niki's arm. "I like that. You're funny."
"And you're strange. We need to get out of here before someone finds this body. I don't want to end up in a prison here. Jack, come on. Look alive, will you? Snap out of whatever is messing with you, or I'll make you snap out of it."
"Please don't beat him!" Her mood changed. Opal held out her hands to Jack. "Everyone is on edge. I'm sure he didn't mean it. Please show him some mercy. I don't mean to step out of line, but I can't bear to watch him be whipped."
Jack realized she was talking to him and it wasn't some kind of twisted joke. "No one's getting hurt here. I'm not like that."
Niki crossed his arms. "Yeah. If he tried to whip me, Jack would be the one on the ground. I don't let anyone tell me what to do. Submission and boot licking aren't my style."
Opal bowed her head, a few strands of her hair falling out of the elaborate braids. "Forgive me, Jack, but you allow your Time Knight to speak to you like that?"
"Uh, I guess. We've been friends for forever. We're like brothers. That's just the way we are."
"Oh. That is certainly refreshing. All right. Thank you, Chronomancer Jack. We need to leave and get somewhere safe until we can discuss things more. I have been staying in the upper room of a textile shop not too far from here. The owners are kind and don't pry into my comings and goings. We should be good to rest there for the night."
Niki pulled Jack to the side and spoke where Opal could not hear him. "Do you actually believe we can trust her? She had weapons on her."
"So do you."
"Make sure you think this through. She could be with the Syndicate."
That didn't fit. "I don't think so. She wouldn't have killed one of her colleagues. I think Opal wants our help finding her Chronomancer. If not that, then maybe she just wants to be around someone else from the present. I know I would hate to be here alone."
"Fine. Opal, lead on."
She tossed her gown over one shoulder. "This way, Chronomancer."
Jack held onto Niki's hand, squeezing it as hard as he could, while they followed their new ally through the winding streets. They passed by revelers who had passed out in the alleys, couples making out, and courtesans pleasuring their clients behind wooden crates and barrels. A stray tabby cat hissed then darted out from its hiding place when a woman shook the dirt out of a rug from her second-story window. Distant music faded across the city as the festivities quieted down and the party-goers moved indoors or to lounges by the canals to talk and drink until dawn.
Jack shivered in his fine clothing and continuously looked up at his friend for any sign of his inner thoughts, but Niki remained silent. It was obvious that he had something weighing on his mind. The only time Niki ever chewed his bottom lip was when he was being torn apart inside. He hated seeing his dear friend struggling, but Niki always bottled up and shut everyone out when he was coping with emotions. Jack learned a long time ago to not prod the bear when he was already upset. Was Niki still bothered by the confrontation with his stepfather?
"Shh, shh . . ." Niki held out his arm to stop Opal and nearly crushed Jack's fingers in his commanding grasp. "Listen."
Tapping. Thudding. Jack froze when he heard the sound of steady footsteps approaching. Once they grew closer, they stopped, leaving the alley quiet with only the howling wind whipping between the brick buildings. He yelped when a sharp pain hit the nape of his neck. He immediately dropped to the knees as his vision grew blurry. His hat fell to the cobblestones.
Opal screamed. Niki lunged at something, but Jack was in no condition to help them. His breathing quickened, but his heart rate fluttered and slowed until each beat wracked his entire body. When Niki fell to the ground next to him, coughing violently, Jack reached out to him weakly, but the blood rushed out of his head and he crumpled to the cold stones, fighting for consciousness, but finding only the deep tendrils of sleep.
Chapter 5
Locusts hummed in the late summer evening, the roar being overshadowed by the happy children playing in the small town park. The heat of the day began to dissipate with the golden haze of the setting sun. A blue butterfly glided down to land on the chain of the swing next to Jack where Ellie was staring off into space, her ebony hair reflecting the sun glow like a halo above her ears. A single tear slid down her full cheek to mingle with the lavender gloss on her quivering lips. The butterfly flittered over to the yellow strap of her sundress that rested across her slender shoulder.
Jack tore his gaze away from Ellie's light brown skin to watch the mottled grey and brown gravel under the soles of his sneakers being pushed with his nervous movements. "I'm sorry."
Ellie held her arms around herself. She blinked and took a long, slow breath. Her tiny nose twitched, but she didn't make a sound.
He swallowed hard. "I said I'm sorry. I . . . I . . . just can't. School is starting back soon and it's my junior year. I have to focus on my grades so I can get scholarships. I don't have any money. I wanna be an actor, Ellie. I want to be on Broadway under those spotlights with the audience cheering for me. Can you imagine it? My name up in lights with people flocking there to see me? Mr. Allen says I have potential. I could be famous."
"Then go be famous, Jack." Ellie wiped her eyes on the backs of her hands. "Forget about me. Forget about this place. You don't need me."
"I do need you. After what happened in middle school-"
"I told you not to bring that up."
"It's complicated, Ellie. I need you. I care about you. I just can't . . . marry you."
Ellie picked the shards of gravel out of her knee where she had knelt in front of him a few minutes before. The silver charms on her bracelet jingled with each of her graceful actions. "I'm an idiot. I'm so stupid. That magazine I read said to let everything out, to be the one to make the move. I guess I'm not a modern feminist woman. I'm not strong enough. I'm not pretty enough."
Jack turned to her. "Don't say that. Never say that. You're very pretty."
"You're lying. If I was pretty, you would have said 'yes' to me."
"We're kids, Ellie." He swung back and forth a few times. "You're only sixteen. Why rush things? We have the rest of our lives to figure out that adult stuff."
"You don't love me."
Jack ground his teeth together. How could he explain the way he felt about her? "You're like my sister. I care about you that way, Ellie. We're best friends and always will be. I don't want that to end. I think what we have is special."
"Dad said we can use his credit card to order pizza tonight. He'll be working late again at the university."
He wasn't fully convinced. "You sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine. Let's rent a few movies and forget any of this ever happened." Ellie laughed halfheartedly then jumped out of the swing. She turned to him with a small smile gracing her face below her puffy eyes that were still heavy with tears before holding out her hand.
"Ride home with me?"
"Of course." Jack took her hand and laced fingers. He tucked Ellie's bangs behind her ears before placing his forehead against hers and staring into her eyes. "But only if we get chocolate chips to make my mother's brownies."
"I have a bag at home already. I was going to make cookies to celebrate tonight."
"Celebrate what?"
"It doesn't matter." She pulled away from him and started towards their bicycles in the grass at the edge of the parking lot. "We'd better head home before it gets dark."
"Let's get extra pepperoni on our pizza."
"Whatever you want, Jack."
Jack was jerked awake, the idyllic scene of his memory crumbling in an instant.
"Wake up! Jack, come on. Damn it. Get up before he comes back!"
The thick musty air choked Jack as his senses returned to him. Before he could open his eyes, he rolled over on the dusty stone floor and dry-heaved. He collapsed in a fit of violent coughing until his ribs ached. Strong arms slid around him and hoisted him to his feet.
"I've got you. Breathe nice and slow, Jack. You'll be okay."
Through the burning in his chest, Jack buried his face into Niki's tunic to catch his breath. The scent of familiar leather and spicy cinnamon cologne. It was a fragrance he had known all his life. After a few moments of struggling, Jack gasped full breaths and composed himself.
He looked around at the grey rock walls and slick floor. Water poured in from an opening high up in the cavern-like room, roaring as if it flowed in a river deeper into the earth. The darkness was illuminated by four blazing torches on the walls, their orange light revealing the wooden table covered in pliers, needles, clamps, and braided whips. A single chair with leather straps attached to the arms sat alone in the middle of the floor where the slabs of stone had been dyed crimson.
Distant screams echoed from the arched hallways that led down into the darkness and water. No light came from those areas, making them impassable deathtraps for anyone who dared enter.
"Where are we?" Jack asked, dizzy and disoriented. "What happened?"
"We were drugged. Opal and I woke up here a few minutes ago."
"Is it the serial killer?"
"Possibly. I don't like the looks of this. I tried to find a way out, but it's too dark down the other passageways. Plus, there are bats everywhere."
Opal snickered. "Are you afraid of bats, Time Knight?"
"No. I don't want to disturb them is all." He frowned then unfastened the grey cape from Jack's back. Niki carried it to Opal and draped it over her bare shoulders. "Sorry, but we can't have you in a slip and corset down here."
"Such the chivalrous knight."
"I just don't like women being uncomfortable."
She offered him a genuine smile. "Thank you."
Jack rubbed his forehead as he thought back to the strange dream he had. It was much more than a dream, though. It was reliving a memory as vibrantly as the day it happened a few months before. That evening with Ellie had nearly taken a horrible turn into awkwardness. He blamed it on her not getting enough sleep the night before or being stressed about the upcoming school year. But now, looking back, he had a growing list of questions that he wished he could get answers to.
"Guys, come look at this. I found a hidden door."
Jack joined his friend's side where Niki was running his fingers along a seam between two brown rocks on the wall. There was a click before the entire section of wall shifted out of place and rolled to the left on tracked wheels. The immediate stench of death collided with his senses, making Jack gag. "Oh, God. What's that smell? Did a rat die in there?"
"That's no rat." Opal shoved her way past Niki and flipped a switch on the wall. The hum of a generator crackled to life, lighting up the line of bare lights in the ceiling of the cave-like room. "Come in here. Watch your step. It's a bit . . . messy."
There were two giant casks of wine in the back corners with a wooden board across their tops to make a table. Melted red wax from numerous candles had trailed down the barrels and hardened in pools on the elaborately-woven white and gold rug. A statue of two golden axes with hourglasses and crosses on the hilts sat on top of a cedar chest, perched there like an idol. Human teeth, ruby-studded chalices, and dried black roses made up the assorted offerings on the shrine.
Jack moved to the side of the altar, but stopped when his boots sank into something squishy. He gathered the fortitude to look down, but recoiled with a whimper. A severed arm stuck out from below his foot. Other body parts were piled around the wine cask and torsos were shoved below the shrine. Flies buzzed where fat white maggots crawled across the discarded remains.
Niki barked at him. "Get back, Jack."
"There's-"
"I know. We see them."
Opal made a mewling noise as she rolled an arm over with her heeled shoe. The skin was peeling with decay, but the mark was still visible. A black hourglass tattoo, exactly like Jack's. "Chronomancers."
Niki frowned. "And their Time Knights, no doubt."
The pieces clicked together. "Is this serial killer going around murdering Chronomancers? Niki, take my hand. We're warping out of here. I don't care where we go. We're not safe here. I'll take all of us to the present. We'll go home and regroup with Mr. Allen. He'll know what to do."
"You can't take us both. You can only take your Time Knight. Opal has to stay behind."
He glanced at Opal. "I'm not leaving her."
"So, you're gonna sit in here with a crazed psychopath who cuts up bodies for his shrine?" Niki scoffed. "Why am I not surprised?"
"We'll find another way. I can't let her be killed, either. Opal, do you think your Chronomancer could have been taken down here as well?"
"I don't see any body parts that could be his. Xander wouldn't die in a place like this. He couldn't."
Niki rubbed the black stubble that had started to grow on his chin. "Something doesn't make any sense. If these Chronomancers were held down here, why didn't they warp away to another time or place?"
Opal sighed. "If they were bound and unable to activate their hourglass mark, or if they were incapacitated with drugs or weakened by torture, then they wouldn't be able to warp. Chronomancers are powerful, but delicate."
"What should we do, Niki?" Jack asked. "Do we go through these tunnels to find a way back to the surface?"
"And risk falling into the water in the darkness and drowning? Wait. Opal, you have that lighter on you still?"
She reached into the top of her corset then pulled out the golden flip lighter. "Yep. We can light a few of those candles and carry them to light our way. We'll have to move slowly, but-"
The lights went out.
A broad-shouldered shadow passed in front of the doorway, blocking out the torchlight. Jack squinted through the dust-filled blackness to make out the silhouette of a man in a robe. The presence of the man turned his stomach nearly as much as the decaying corpses under his feet.
The man spoke in an eerily soft voice with a strong aristocratic Southern accent. "You have an
AK-47 aimed at you. One squeeze of the trigger and you will all die. Come back into the main room and sit on the floor like good guests so I can get down to business. Place your hands behind your heads, then move out of the room single-file. Avelayans first."
Jack's arms became jelly as he lifted them, lacing his numb fingers together on the sweat-caked hair that tapered onto his neck. His lips turned cold, his breathing became ragged, and his heartbeat shot up to erratic levels. A panic attack, just like that one day three years before when he was helpless. But he couldn't think about that, not then, with a gun poised to kill him and his companions.
Could he do things differently this time? Could he be brave enough to get them out? Or would he fail and end up harming a friend again because he could not do the right thing? Like the forbidden memory that he kept locked securely away in the deepest safe of his thoughts, Jack's fear tightened around his throat, rendering him incapacit
ated.
Jack shuffled into the main room where Opal and Niki were already sitting against the mold-speckled bricks. He moved to join them, but the man in red stepped between them. For a moment, Jack met eyes with the man. He was an average-sized man in his thirties with sharp facial features, spiky black hair, and the deepest blue eyes Jack had ever seen. The crimson robes trailed along the floor and were overlapped with a white stole embroidered with the golden axe symbols at the end. The man appeared to be some kind of priest. Jack felt nothing other than the need to run, to hide, to be anywhere other than where he was. The longer he stood there, the more lightheaded he became until he began to black out.
The man steadied him with a soft hand then tugged on his sleeve to lead him to the chair in the middle of the room. He shoved Jack into it before cinching the leather straps securely around his arms and ankles. "Do you know who I am?"
Jack wriggled against the bindings. They were tight. Speechless, he could only shake his head in response.
"Jack, listen to me." Niki waved his hand to get his attention. "Hey, hey! Breathe. Try to calm yourself. You're having a panic attack."
"Please remain silent while I speak with the guest of honor, Avelayan."
Opal took Niki's arm and began whispering to him.
The man in red picked up a stiletto dagger from the table of instruments then poked the tip into Jack's forearm, scraping across the lines of his tattoo. "Do you know who I am, sinner?"
"N-No, sir."
"I am Inquisitor Shay Terringer with the Inquisition of Purity. It is the goal of the Inquisition to locate, apprehend, and neutralize users of all forms of unexplainable abilities, magic, witchcraft, the supernatural, and otherworldly arts. We believe such abilities are directly from demonic sources. You, Jackson Carter, have accepted these evil powers into you and have used them against humanity itself. It is my job to cleanse you of your sins before sending you to your final judgment."
Chronomancer (Time Mage Saga Book 1) Page 8