It was a rambling mess - nonsense and madness. The sentences didn’t make sense but it was something I’d never received. It explained what I had been told in all my lives. My mothers go crazy – they called it postpartum psychosis in the future. Here it was crazy. To me it was Fate. They were just vessels to introduce me into my next life – perhaps part of them knew it. Maybe they knew what I was and why some of them had attempted to kill me before they could kill themselves.
Perhaps they knew I was a monster.
We all had recurring themes that happened in our lives. This was mine.
But I’d never gotten a letter from a mother. Not a mother strong enough to fight the urge of killing me and spend their miserable time writing me a (somewhat) heartfelt letter. I know... talk about family issues.
This was what made me curious. It made me question why I was reincarnated if my mother’s all wanted to kill me. And who were these mothers? Did a greater force randomly select them? Was there a greater force? Why and how could we Time Bend? Did we have a purpose? Who created us? Or was there a creator? Or were we just by chance reincarnated every now and then for no apparent reason?
It was too much.
The Count began to get restless after the third stop we had and said moodily, “how much longer?”
It was closing into the evening and we were still in the middle of what seemed like nowhere.
“Long, probably,” Jack mumbled crunching loudly into an apple.
“Stop the carriage!” I cried catching a glimpse of a figure standing by the side of the road.
Jack and the Count watched me with their mouths open wide - like I was crazy. I didn’t know what urged me to say it. My mouth had opened for me before I’d even noticed the person.
“Stop the carriage,” Jack repeated, curiously watching me intently.
“I just need to - excuse me,” I gasped for air.
As soon as the Count gave the order to stop the carriage I’d flung the door open and was looking left, right and centre for the person.
Jack climbed out behind me and stood by the carriage watching me. But it was gone. I didn’t know what the hell it was but it was gone. The person I wanted to see was no longer here and I was left - a deer caught in the headlights.
“Are you alright?” The Count called from the carriage, I turned around and Jack caught my eye.
What is it? He mouthed.
“It can wait...” I trembled, feeling mad as I was helped back into the carriage.
“Perhaps we should stop at the nearest village, my Lord?” Jack suggested, watching me concerned. The Count seemed put off by the idea but looked over me worried and nodded his head with an uncertain yes.
Jack sent the order by knocking on the roof of the carriage and sticking his head out of the window. Then as the carriage jolted into motion he leant back watching me intently.
I was going crazy.
We went on until we came across a village not far from London and I was led in by Jack to a tavern when I felt the feeling again.
It was a weird feeling, a familiar feeling. Like someone who knew me was watching me. Or I knew them, and they weren’t any ordinary citizen.
“Jack,” I whispered, clutching onto his arm. “If I’m wrong then you can officially call me crazy and mock me for however long you want. But we need to go outside.”
“What?” he muttered, sidestepping out of the way of a drunken man stumbling towards the exit. There were table’s scattered around and loud laughter stopped abruptly once we stepped into the centre of the room. We must have been a sight: two guards, a Count, a silver-haired girl and… well Jack who actually looked pretty normal.
“Now,” I hissed, pretending to fall into his side. The Count let out a shriek and pulled his arms into his chest as someone bashed into us.
“Nova needs some fresh air,” Jack exclaimed, and the Count looked at him surprised.
“You mean Marion?”
“I said Marion,” Jack said, walking backwards as I slumped into his side. He wrapped his arms around me as we were engulfed by the crowd and spewed out into the evening air. The sun had just about set and shadows shielded us from those making their way home or out.
“This way.”
“Nova hold on.” He grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me to face him.
“I can’t explain it, Jack. We just have to go.”
He searched my eyes for a moment and then nodded. Looking back on it, it must have been that moment he realised he trusted me. Foolish.
CHAPTER 22
Time: 8th August 1661
Location: In the woods behind an inn in the middle of nowhere
I took his hand in mine and followed whatever feeling was leading me towards this person, the feeling of familiarity.
We’d left a path and stepped into a forest when we both came to a stop, a feeling of ice-cold water trickled down my back and I clenched onto Jack’s hand.
“Did you feel that?” he breathed. I nodded my head as we turned our backs on each other, feet apart and ready to take on whatever was coming our way.
And it was at that moment we realised the team we could make. Foolish.
Jack reached to his side and produced a beautiful sword. “Where did you get that?” I asked, not actually noticing it before.
“Shh,” he hissed and I paused for a moment scanning the trees. Anyone could be here hiding behind one - or in the pile of leaves beside us.
And then Jack sprung into action, spinning and pointing the tip of his sword to somebody’s neck. The person laughed, it was a girl, dark long hair and narrow face.
“Please no swords,” she sighed, straightening her brown skirt and walking backward to sit on the stump of a tree.
“Who are you?” I asked. I knew her - somehow I knew her and I didn’t know how or where I knew her but she was familiar.
“I go by the name of O in this life.”
“Oh?” Jack questioned, taking a step towards her but lowering the sword.
“No, O.”
“Oh...” He nodded his head, still puzzled.
“But who are you?” I asked, taking a step in front of Jack to catch a clearer glimpse of her face. She was deathly pale and her young eyes sparkled with a playful and somewhat wise glaze.
“I’m not a Time Bender like the two of you.”
Jack stumbled back a little, shuffling his feet and regaining his posture. “So what are you?”
“I’m reincarnated into this life and another in the future. That’s all I’m allowed to say.”
“Allowed?” Jack questioned. “By who?” But she didn’t answer.
“So why are you here?” I asked.
“I was hoping you’d tell me why. I’ve been called.”
“Called by who?” I asked.
O looked at me softly and her head tilted to the side. “I can’t say."
I took a step forward intimidatingly. “It felt a whole lot more like you were calling me instead of the other way around,” she shrugged helplessly. “Well, you obviously have answers,” I snapped.
Jack placed an arm in front of me and sent me a look. She knew about Time Bending, she’d been called by a what or a who to help us and I had a hell of a lot of questions.
“What is our purpose?” I decided to ask.
She took a deep breath. “There is no real purpose.”
Helpful.
I grimaced. “So we’re just a mistake that keeps happening?”
The girl played with her fingers and waited to respond. “I can’t say.”
What was the point in this bitch then?
“I swear to-” I took a step towards her aggressively but she only looked up into my eyes and sighed.
“Okay then...” Jack said, using his sword to drag me back by the skirt. If he weren’t here I would have already lost my patience and I’d only been here for a minute talking to this girl.
I sighed, forcing myself to be more patient. “Okay. So why do you feel so familiar?”
She smiled, finally a question she could answer. “We are sisters in another life.”
I’d only had a couple siblings throughout my lives, and especially not one who was also reincarnated. It made me wonder how many more siblings of mine were also reincarnated. How hadn’t I known?
“What year?”
“I was born in the year 2010. You died at the age of seventeen in 2019.”
I remembered it was a car accident in Paris. I’d been back to that life before but I’d never stuck around long. It was always to deliver messages from my clients to ancestors telling them which companies to invest in and so on.
I didn’t really know what to say, I couldn’t remember everything from that life, only the select important bits.
“It’s okay, I know you won’t remember.”
“Did you know you were reincarnated in that life?” Jack asked suddenly.
She nodded her head. “I keep all my memories from this life. It’s complicated. There are others of us too.”
“Others?” Jack asked curiously.
“Most Time Bender siblings are of course accidents if they come from the same parents. We’re the less powerful versions of you guys - some would say.”
“I have a sister in the present day.”
O shook her head. “She is not one of us. Her mother must be different from yours. But you do have a brother reincarnation who appears sometimes.”
“Brother?” Jack stumbled.
She smiled. “He has multiple reincarnations in different bodies and has other Time bender siblings as well. But most of the time he’s a brother to you.” She turned away from Jack. “You will meet him someday too, Nova.”
So she could see the future, she knew about our lives and what would happen to us. Which would suggest they (whoever they were) had a way of watching us live. This was yet another thing she couldn’t say.
“Well then I presume you do know why we’re here?” I asked.
“I know why you’re in this life and I know you’re trapped. But I’m going to guess you’ve been called to me because you need help getting out.”
She was good.
“Yep,” Jack replied. “So can you do some magic poof and send us back to our bodies in the future?”
She rolled her eyes and stood up stretching. For a moment I felt surprised. I hadn’t expected it to be that easy.
“I can’t do that.” My heart sunk. “But I can tell you how you can get back.”
I grasped Jack’s arm. This was it. This was exactly what we’d needed. For over a month I’d been trapped in this life and I was finally about to be told how to save myself.
“Well?”
“You go back the old fashioned way,” she said it like it was a matter of fact and we were complete idiots for not knowing it.
“And what is the old fashioned way?” Jack asked.
“You go through a Time Portal.”
“Like a time machine?” he asked and O shook her head chuckling. “It's a bridge - to the timeline.”
“But what happens to these bodies...?” I asked.
“They will be stranded in the middle of nowhere, don’t worry. They won’t remember what’s happened to them. It all gets cleaned up so there are no loose ends. They’ll have no recollection of the last few months.”
That was a lot of information to take in but OK.
“So where is the Time Portal?”
She smiled knowingly. “For the closest one, you have to head North. It’s an old well in Scotland.”
“Well do you have a map?”
She shook her head. “You won’t need one, you’ll feel it the closer you get. You know, hot and cold directions.”
How helpful.
“What about our Totems?” Jack asked, clever. I’d completely forgotten about that part.
“Ah yes, now that’s easy, you drop what your Totems are into the well.”
Easier said than done except mine took the form of any kind of blue light. Hell if Ace was here, how was he supposed to drop in the moon?
I cringed. “What do I drop in?”
“It can be anything - a blue firefly that’s how you got here in the first place.”
I nodded my head thoughtfully. “It’s as simple as that.” O smiled and pulled the hood of her cloak over her head.
“Now if you’ll excuse me-”
Shouts were heard from behind us. “Find her and lock her up!”
The hell?
Jack pulled me into him and placed the sword into my hands as we shielded the girl.
“Goodluck,” she called, forcing her way between us and quickly hugging my side. “Nothing is written in stone – it’s written in pencil,” she whispered to me before she walked into the hands of a group of men holding fire torches.
“What?” I hissed, trying to grab her arm but the men had already spotted her as she slid down the slope and into the custody of the village.
“Witch!” The men cried, spitting and grabbing her arms, they cheered at their success. Jack had stuffed me into his chest as we tried to hide behind a tree. We didn’t want to be seen with a witch and we didn’t want to be burnt alive for it - especially now that we had a chance.
Their shouts continued as they walked back into town and I began to think, so this is how she died in this life? A young girl with not much of a life at all… but she had so much ahead of her and she knew it. There was something before she was born into this life, it was obvious and there would be something in between this and her next life with me. And yet there was no such thing as a purpose? Or were purpose and destiny different?
“Let’s run,” I said as the shouts faded away.
Jack looked at me for a moment and then at the bottom of the hill. “We can’t. We wouldn’t get far before we get exhausted, your illness takes over and I’ll be forced to carry you.”
“I can manage.”
“Easy for you to say.” He rolled his eyes. “You’re not the one who will have to carry you.”
I laughed, and god it felt good. I felt the tension leave my neck and I could smile, I could breathe and relax for a moment. I had hope again. It had been restored now we had a plan. We knew how to save ourselves and I would go through hell if I meant I could get back to where I belonged. Even if the future was worse than in the past.
Jack and I watched each other, smiles on our faces and yet something felt unsettled - something wasn’t right about the moment. Something was missing.
But nothing happened.
He only looked at me, his brown eyes providing warmth the chilled evening air didn’t. He never put his arm around my waist. We stopped ourselves from letting go and crashing into a world of possibilities.
We were just two young people in the year 1661 on a chilly August evening with so many questions about the past and the future staring at each other.
“Well, what happens when we do get back?” I asked.
Jack’s shoulders stiffened and his eyes turned sharp enough to cut clean through me.
He swallowed tightly. “We go back to fighting, I guess.”
The disappointment hit me with such force I had to clench on tightly to my emotions before they showed on my face. I’d wanted it to be different - any answer but that.
“Gee thanks.” I tried to play it off, but my strangled voice betrayed me by hinting that I was disappointed.
He blinked, surprised by my response. “I suppose you just want everything to get back to normal.” He spoke to the ground with his lip turned down and for a split second, I wondered if we both wanted the same thing. But that was foolish, I should have known from the beginning. In what story does the hero fall in love with the villain?
My breath caught in my throat. I blamed these thoughts on my loneliness. Jack was attractive and I missed sex - clearly.
“What do you think my normal is?” I nudged his side gently. Jack rolled his eyes and took a deep breath as if to list all the wonders of my life.
“Cocktails, part
ies, money, fame, cameras-”
“Okay, but you realise there’s a little more to my existence right?” I said and he looked my way as though not believing it. I didn’t believe it really. I just needed to defend myself somehow. He was completely right, that was the majority of my life now.
“Please elaborate.”
“I train pretty much all day most days. And you’ve made my life a living hell in that regard - so thanks-”
“You’re welcome.”
“But there’s more to it,” I trailed on not really knowing how to persuade him I wasn’t just a normal Prospect celebrity, there was more to me.
Now I realise he knew that. He knew I wasn’t just Nova, a Prospect celebrity and he didn’t hate me. He just hated the world I was a part of and what I did.
Nevertheless, he shook his head bewildered by my ignorance. I didn’t blame him. “I try pretty hard to understand you Nova but it amazes me how you can be so blind-”
“I’m not blind,” I interjected quickly, continuing before he had the chance to jump in. “I can see that I’m the bad guy in all of this, I’m the one who gets paid to go kill completely innocent and vulnerable people.” He opened his mouth to speak but I quickly cut him off. “I’m the one who sips my fancy cocktail and laughs along with the rest of the city whilst waiting for my next client to tell me who to kill.” I took a deep breath, watching his face for any kind of reaction. “And I’ll do it. Hell the number of generations I’ve wiped out because of my-”
He snatched my fist and brought it to his chest, forcing me to level with him. “You have a chance.” He pressed my palm against his chest and I felt the dull thud of his heart pick up when I looked up at him.
“It’s a bit late for that.”
“You can help us,” he said, a moment of excitement appearing before he shut it down completely.
NOVA: The Time Bender Series Book 1 Page 17