Time's Daughter

by Anya Breton

  Surprisingly he actually listened. I watched Alex sprint to a car parked at the far end of the lot where there were no lights. Once he was seated in the car I exhaled, a long intentional movement that coincided with my wish for everything to return to normal.

  My friends picked up precisely where they’d left off.

  “You can borrow mine,” Melissa said.

  Ash sneezed, shook her head and then started for her Jeep. “I want to concentrate on William. Not on taking photos. You’ll have to live vicariously through someone else.”

  Rocking onto the ball of her left foot, Melissa made the usual post-movie suggestion. “Do you want to go for ice cream?”

  Jenny lifted her arm. “I’m in!”

  “Yeah, sure,” Jen agreed.

  “Ash?”

  “I guess,” she sighed melodramatically. “But I can’t stay long. I want to be rested for tomorrow.”

  It was automatically assumed that I’d be going, I thought because Melissa was my ride, so no one bothered to ask. I’d had enough money for the movie thanks to a donation from Mom’s tip jar. There wasn’t enough for a sundae. It was just as well. I was feeling sick to my stomach after the latest run-in with the new kid.

  I slid into the passenger seat of Melissa’s family-sized sedan while Guy took a seat in the back. She was mute for much of the drive. I attributed it to a combination of the camera on us and the fact that I’d annoyed Ashley.

  Halfway to our destination she spoke. “Are you working tomorrow?”

  “As always,” I grumbled.

  “That sucks,” she commented almost in distraction.

  “Yeah.”

  It was the extent of our conversation until we got to the restaurant. Ashley did most of the talking while the rest of us laughed at the appropriate pauses. Everyone but me ordered desert. I picked water.

  “Sugar this late will keep me up all night. I have to work in the morning,” I explained lamely. There was little point in the explanation. They all knew what the real reason was.

  I tapped my finger against the table during one of Ash’s William-related monologues. My eyes scanned the room in boredom. Half the restaurant was filled with people from school who had probably turned up from a football game or the movies. But there was a figure in black with black hair seated in the far corner. I stopped upon finding familiar steel blue eyes fixed on me.

  Alex really was following me!

  I contemplated demanding to know what he wanted but it would cause a scene. What did he think would happen? What kind of mischief could I get into at a restaurant? Food theft?

  I dropped my gaze back to the table and sipped my water while the others gorged themselves on whipped cream and hot fudge. Several minutes passed before I realized an important note. Alex was without his cameraman. How had he managed to get rid of him?

  Melissa and I were the first to leave. I couldn’t help glancing behind us several times to see if I was being followed. The only thing I could see was Guy lugging the camera.

  The ride back to the apartment was quiet. Melissa wished me luck at work then left quickly. I had the sensation that I was being watched but I couldn’t see anyone around us as we walked into the building. Guy hovered near me while I unlocked the door.

  “I won’t be leaving until nine thirty so you can sleep in a little,” I told him.

  “See you tomorrow.”

  My mom was readying for bed but lingered long enough to hear about my day. I left out the part about being stalked by a psycho and the fact that I’d stopped time.

  She had enough on her mind that I didn’t want to worry her by bringing up the topic of Chronos again. The one time I’d mentioned my dream she’d nearly had a panic attack. What would she do if I told her it hadn’t been a dream?

  Minutes later I sat on my bed and contemplated what I was going to do. While the cameras had been unable to detect my power anomaly, Alex had. He now knew I was different. He’d said others would want to know what I was and how I’d gotten my power.

  But what others were there? Were they like me? Was Alex part of the bad thing that was going to happen in Junction Hill? The thing I was supposed to stop?

  If so, what hope did I have of stopping him when he was able to ignore the only power I had?

  None, that’s what.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “Do you have this in medium?”

  I held out my hand for the t-shirt junior Jenna Brand was waving at me. “Let me check.”

  Burning Idea was busy enough that Felix and Trey were forced to work. I gestured to them that I was going to the back.

  I had no idea why the store was so busy. But the two girls chatting while looking at make-up near the employees-only door soon gave me the explanation. There had been a parade downtown and everyone had hit the stores afterward.

  I grabbed three sets of medium t-shirts that matched Jenna’s then returned to the front to give her hers. Pleased with the garment, she folded it over her arm and then moved into the quickly lengthening line. I stayed to put the extra mediums I’d bought out away in their spots near the window.

  “Hi, Aeon!” Jenny greeted me boisterously as soon as she stepped through the store’s glass entrance. She bounced beside me with Jen and Melissa in tow. “I love this store. I always forget it’s here.” She shook a hoodie at me. “Look, Gir from Invader Zim. He makes me laugh.”

  Jen attempted an impersonation of the cartoon character, “I love this show.”

  The others giggled. I forced a smile.

  Melissa leaned in a little to ask, “When do you finish?”

  I’d been in the process of replying, “Five…,” when Felix’s frantic wave diverted my attention.

  He called out, “Can you stay late, Aeon?”

  My eyes rolled as I sighed. “Scratch that.”

  Melissa shook her head in mock dismay. “Workaholic.”

  “As if,” I laughed sarcastically. “Have fun guys. Shop some for me.”

  “Call me if you get done early,” Melissa said. “We’re going to Bogies.”

  “All right,” I fibbed. Even if I finished at five I couldn’t afford miniature golf.

  My friends got in the ever-increasing line. I decided to shove Trey off his register so that we could efficiently get the customers rung through. He muttered something unintelligible as he shuffled off toward the back room. Within five minutes the crowd was down to a manageable size.

  Felix joined his brother for lunch shortly after. Dutifully I called my mom to warn her that I’d be late. For the rest of the afternoon I did my best to answer customer questions while manning the register too. The work kept me occupied and made the day go by quickly. Before I knew it the sun had set and my stomach was growling voraciously.

  I wanted to go home but Felix had never returned from lunch. How late was he expecting me to stay? An eleven-hour shift was technically illegal for someone my age. At least I thought it was.

  My hunger had made me sluggish. By eight thirty I was energized with anger. Felix was abusing my good nature and need for money. I had homework to do. He shouldn’t have left me alone with his store when I was supposed to leave hours earlier.

  The pair of reprobate brothers walked through the front door at five minutes before closing time. I could tell by the bloodshot eyes that they’d been up to no good. Felix came around the counter and slumped against it.

  “Thanks for helping out, doll,” he crooned and shoved something in my hand.

  I glanced down to find I was holding a wad of twenties. “Felix…”

  He held up a finger to his lips while nodding his head toward Guy the camera guy. Then he turned, put his key in the register and opened the drawer to close it out. It meant the money in my hand hadn’t come from Burning Idea’s daily profits. I was too angry with him for making me work alone when I wasn’t scheduled that I didn’t try to give the money back. Instead I shoved it in my pocket for later.

  “I gotta get something to eat,” I told Felix i
n an effort to excuse myself.

  Trey sidled up to the counter. “How about that dinner?”

  “I’d prefer to get food from someone that isn’t going to expect I put out after. You know, like the Colonel.”

  My answer in reference to KFC made Felix laugh but Trey wasn’t quite as amused. I headed into the back room before he could ask me again. Within the camera-less bathroom I pulled the cash out of my pocket and counted it. Felix had handed me one hundred and twenty dollars!

  I did the math. At seven dollars an hour that was seventeen hours worth of pay before taxes were figured in. Felix had never paid me in cash before. What was this for and why did it have to be a secret from the cameraman?

  I struggled with the ethical implications of keeping the money. Mom and I could really use it. But I didn’t know what it was for, where it had come from and if Felix was going to sober up and wonder where his withdrawal had gone. But he owed me for the extra work. I’d consider it time and a half pay.

  The money was stuffed into the bottom of my backpack. I rejoined Guy in the storage room without a word and headed through door into the store. My eyes were tight as I cringed, fearing Felix would demand the hundred bucks back. He barely looked up from counting the ones in the drawer.

  Sniffles from beside the front door drew my attention. Trey was standing close outside, rubbing his nose and smoking.

  “C’mon, just one little dinner and I swear I’ll leave you alone,” he said in his nasally voice.

  I realized he was following me as I walked. “My mom is waiting,” I told him lamely.

  “Tell her you’re going on a date,” he retorted. “You’re a big girl. You’re allowed to date, ain’t ya?”

  “Trey, I really don’t want to date anyone I work with.”

  “I barely work here. I just help out my brother sometimes.”

  His hand dropped onto my shoulder. I gave a startled scream because I hadn’t realized he was that close. A snarl echoed in the air a second before I heard a slamming noise followed by Trey yelping. The grip on my shoulder abruptly released.

  I twirled on my heel to find Trey holding a bleeding arm aloft while another figure stood behind the fallen cameraman. Beneath a black hooded sweatshirt were the steel blue eyes of Alex Chattan. And they were fixed on Trey with a ferocious gleam.

  Without warning, Alex shot into a run around the building. I tried to follow him with my eyes but lost track in the darkness. Guy got to his feet and tried to get the camera back in working order. He’d apparently been unhurt when he’d been knocked over.

  “Jesus Christ,” Trey exclaimed in a higher-pitched voice than usual as his hand lifted to show four deep wounds on his forearm.

  I said the first thing that came to mind when I saw the bleeding slashes. “We need to get you to a doctor.”

  “Shit!” He shouted fearfully. “I’m high! They’re gonna find it in my blood!”

  “It’s either that or risk bleeding to death, you dumb ass.”

  “Dumb ass?” He whined then finally seemed to look around him for whatever had hit him. “What the hell was that? Did Wolverine just attack me or something?”

  I took hold of Trey’s good arm and led him back toward the store. Felix unlocked it for us after several bangs against the glass.

  “What the…” My boss was a little more lucid than his brother as his eyes widened at the wound. “There’s a first aid kit in the back. Let me see if there are any bandages in there.”

  I was concerned that he was going to avoid the doctors too. “He’s gonna need stitches, Felix. You need to take him to the hospital.”

  Trey continued to curse and stomp his feet from the pain.

  “I’ll take it from here,” Felix informed me upon returning with the kit.

  My lips pursed but I knew there was no point in trying to argue with them. “All right. I’ll see you Tuesday.”

  “Aeon.” Guy surprised me by speaking. “Whatever attacked him is still out here. It knocked me down. It isn’t safe even with a camera.”

  He was right. If Alex had been brave enough to attack Trey in front of a camera then he might be brave enough to attack the cameraman himself or even me. But what choice did we have?

  “You can’t call the cops,” Trey moaned. “They’ll arrest us for being high and then they might...”

  Felix shushed him quickly. “We’ll go out back. I’ll give you a ride home on our way to the hospital.”

  “But Felix…” his brother whined. Once again Trey was quieted.

  “That works for me,” Guy answered for us both.

  I thought it was silly to go in the direction the assailant had gone but it was the best idea we had. We filed through the storage room, between the boxes and to the loading dock door. Felix’s Escalade was parked almost on top of us. I forced Guy to get in first, glanced around for a sign that the coast was clear and then got in myself.

  Felix drove like an old man through downtown. It took almost as long to get home as it would have if we’d walked but I was thankful that we’d arrived in one piece considering his impaired state.

  While Felix and Trey looked on, I hurried to the side porch and Guy walked to his car in the light cast by the headlights. Through the blinds in the living room I made sure that he made it safely inside the vehicle.

  “What?” my mother asked in concern when I didn’t immediately greet her.

  “Nothing,” I lied. “I just wanted to make sure the camera guy got to his car.”

  Her eyebrows knit in confusion.

  My head nodded toward the bathroom. “I want to show you this new shade of lipstick I bought.”

  It was code. Mom knew I never wore lipstick and that I wouldn’t buy anything so frivolous as make-up. She also knew even if I had, I wouldn’t feel the need to show her.

  “What’s going on?” She demanded once we were closed off from the cameras in the small room with the overhead fan going on full blast.

  “Felix gave me a bonus but it was under the table.” I lowered my voice to add, “You know, tax free? So I couldn’t let the cameras see it or he’d get in trouble with the IRS.” At least that was the assumption I was going on. I pulled the money from the bottom of my backpack and set it in her hands.

  Mom eyed me suspiciously as she counted it. “How did you get this?”

  “I told you. Felix gave me a bonus.”

  My mother’s head tilted to the left. “You’re sure?”

  I went on the defensive because she didn’t believe me. “How else would I get a hundred and twenty dollars while being videotaped twenty four hours a day? It’s not like I can sell drugs or work the streets, Mom.”

  Her tone was sharp when she replied, “Don’t take that tone with me.”

  My eyes cast down to the throw rug at my feet. “I’m sorry.”

  She handed me one of the bills. “Here, take twenty of it.”

  “No, it’s okay.”

  My mother shoved it into my pocket anyway. “You earned it all. You should be able to keep at least twenty dollars. Get yourself something nice.”

  “Right now all I want is food. I’m starving.”

  “Let’s get pizza,” she suggested brightly.

  “Mom…”

  “Oh hush,” she interrupted me impatiently. “We can get pizza once in a while. We’re not poor. We’re just in debt.”

  It seemed like the same thing to me but I didn’t argue.

  * * * *

  Two hours later I’d finally soothed my stomach by stuffing my face with pepperoni pizza and a can of sugary soda. It meant that I’d be awake later than usual but I knew I could sleep in the following morning to make up for it.

  My mother excused herself to bed at midnight. I turned out all of the lights in the apartment, retreated to the bedroom and waited several minutes. When I heard snores coming from her room, I tiptoed to the front door, pulled it open as quietly as I could manage and then raced outside. On the darkened sidewalk I waited. Long enough passed that I sl
id into a crouch atop the cement and then eventually sat.

  Slowly from out of the darkness Alex emerged. I got to my feet and eyed him warily. The only adjective I could think of to describe his movement was “predatorily” and it made my breath quicken with worry.

  He stopped several feet in front of me but said nothing, hands in the pockets of his black jeans and his shoulders hunched slightly forward.

  In a brave voice I demanded, “Why did you do that?”

  “He was accosting you,” Alex replied.

  I shook my head quickly. “No, he wasn’t.”

  “He was going to,” he assured me in a lower voice.

  “How do you know?”

  “Call it a hunch.”

  I cocked my head to the right to ask, “What did you do to him?”

  He shrugged almost flippantly. “Just gave him a little scratch.”

  “A little scratch?” I repeated in disbelief. “You almost cut his arm in four pieces! How did you even manage that?”

  Alex refused to answer, mutely staring at me in the dim light of the street.

  Without thinking I blurted out, “You’re not normal either, are you?”

  He shook his head slowly.

  I couldn’t breathe for a few seconds. When I could I whispered, “Are you a witch?”

  The answer was sour as if it offended him that I’d even asked it. “No.”

  “Are you like me?”

  “I don’t know what you are,” he said in a surprisingly dark voice.

  I stared at him without knowing what to say. I didn’t know what he was. He didn’t know what I was. And he’d hurt someone. Yet I didn’t feel like he’d hurt me. If I had, I wouldn’t have come outside.

  Moments later I spoke a cautious question, “The people you say will investigate me, are they like you?”

  Without moving more than his lips he replied, “They are.”

  “Why do they want to know about me so badly?”

  “Because you aren’t normal and that makes you potentially dangerous.”