A Quill Ladder (16 page)

His eyes told him that there was some sort of pattern or regularity in the spacing of the secret society dots, the home dots, and the unreferenced dots. Mark tried to decipher the pattern. He was good at patterns. He found patterns in ceiling and floor squiggles. But try as he might, he couldn
’
t figure out this one. There were just too many dots. His hand twitched at his pencil to sketch lines between the dots on the library map. But defacing a map was such sacrilege that the mere contemplation of it sent sick shivers down his neck. He should also transfer the dots on the library map to his map, but the scale was different, and he was too agitated to trust his ability to put them in the exact right spots.

He tried to force his thoughts down a logical path. He didn
’
t have to figure out the pattern now. He would just make a copy of the map. Kasey had mentioned something about copying. Copying was okay for academic purposes. He just needed a copy of the map.

Mark pushed himself up away from the table and out of his chair. He wiped his hands carefully on his pants and then grasped the edges of the map, preparing to approach the front desk. But he realized with horror that it was vacated.

He whirled about, looking for Kasey. The lower level of the library panned out beneath him, and somehow the height and the open concept of the building suddenly made him woozy. Sylvain
’
s grey head was still focused on a computer screen below.

Kasey suddenly appeared behind him and Mark almost yelped. The man wore his usual affable grin.

“
Ready for another set?
”
he said.

Mark tried to force the words
“
need to make a copy
”
out of his mouth, but at that moment Kasey
’
s eyes fell on Dr. Ford
’
s map from the green file, and he moved toward the table with alarming speed.

“
Where did you get this map?
”
Kasey said.

Mark grasped at explanations and tried to move his lips in some sort of appropriate manner, but nothing came out.

Kasey snatched up the paper.
“
It
’
s one of the missing maps from the Messiah series.
”

Mark reached automatically for the map, to pull it back, to start to scream, to drop to his knees and ball himself around the maps, but at that moment, he looked over the balcony to the main computer bank below and saw the two men from Dr. Ford
’
s office approaching Sylvain. The fluorescent lights on the library ceiling glinted off the metallic grip of a handgun in one of the men
’
s pockets.

They stole through the dark streets, emptier than before, with streetlights winking on and off in their wake.

“
I can
’
t believe you came here by yourself,
”
Abbey said.

Caleb shrugged.
“
I needed answers about Simon, and about what my future self might have done to him. There
’
s no opportunity to sneak out when Mom and Dad are there. I figured tonight was my only chance, and if I came and told you, then Mantis would know, and there
’
s no way we would have gotten away.
”

“
Or maybe we would have. He brought us here.
”
Abbey gestured at her jumpsuit.
“
Where did you think I got this ridiculous outfit?
”
Caleb had refused the jumpsuit that Simon had offered him, claiming that it was dark, nobody was around, and they were going immediately home anyway.

“
What?
Mantis
brought you here?
”
Caleb shook his head in disbelief.
“
I didn
’
t think he would do that. Anyway, I figured he was easier to sneak out on than Mom and Dad.
”

“
Except that he hears doorbells,
”
Abbey muttered.

“
What?
”

“
Never mind. Mark came too. I left them both at the library
—
that cube building. Sylvain gave me the address for Sinclair Systems. How did you know you were going to be able to come here, to this future?
”

Caleb wheeled around the final corner to the library.
“
I didn
’
t for sure. But Mom and I have come here a couple of times. At first I thought it was because she can access any future, but then last time she let me go through first, and we came here, and I realized this must be my future as well as Simon
’
s.
”
Caleb shot her a look, his green eyes ominous.
“
Is it?
”

Abbey ground her toe into the pavement.
“
Sort of. Why is she bringing you here?
”

“
I don
’
t know. We just travel around the city and she asks me how I
’
m feeling. I have no idea what we
’
re doing.
”

The possibility of what her mother was doing struck Abbey with a sharpness that almost hurt.
“
Cale, I think maybe she
’
s looking for you. For the future you. You can
’
t come too close to your future self or you get sick. Remember how sick I got in the Livingstone Lab building? And then Mark got sick in your future. Your other future, because it was his future too.
”

Caleb had stopped walking and now regarded her with a doubtful expression, his green eyes wide in a sea of freckles.

“
Did you ask Simon what the future Caleb did to him?
”
she plunged on. If the future Caleb had done something to Simon
’
s company, that would be proof that Caleb was alive.

Caleb shook his head.
“
He wouldn
’
t say. Just that he was fine, and not to worry about it. It
’
s really beginning to bug me that no adults will tell us anything, not even our own future adult selves.
”

The lights from the library building windows illuminated Caleb
’
s carrot-orange hair. Abbey reflected that it was odd that the library was the only building over two stories in Coventry. She wondered what had happened to the other buildings.

As if reading her mind, Caleb scowled and stuffed his hands in the front pouch of his hoodie.
“
What did Simon mean, that there
’
s something big coming in the future?
”

Abbey stared into the library. She could just make out Sylvain bent over one of the terminals at the main computer bank. At least he hadn
’
t abandoned them. She turned back to Caleb.
“
Well, you already know that our futures seem split, or different somehow, like we can
’
t reconcile the fact that they
’
re in the same reality?
”

Caleb nodded.

“
When we were in your future, you
—
the future you
—
suggested that something big had caused the timelines to split somehow. You said it was like a bomb, but not a bomb. I have no idea what that means, but my future self gave me a list.
”
She pulled out her phone and pressed the button to bring up the list.

“
Wait. You mean you
’
ve had a list for
three weeks
and haven
’
t told anyone?
”
Caleb
’
s hair suddenly seemed fanned up like a rooster tail, and he looked ornery enough to be a barnyard fowl.

“
Yes. Sorry. I was going to tell you and Simon, but Mom told us not to do anything, so I didn
’
t know what to do. I was just kind of pretending it didn
’
t exist.
”

Caleb nodded his head in the direction of her phone.
“
Let
’
s see it then.
”

“
Hey mates, I thought that was you.
”
Abbey swiveled her eyes up from her phone to see Max approaching, wearing a friendly grin.
“
Just wanted to thank you for doing such a bang-up job on my computer. Sinclair hasn
’
t even charged me. I owe you one.
”

Caleb shifted automatically into an affable smile.
“
Our pleasure. You probably won
’
t get charged. Our bad for making it unclear in the update manuals.
”
Abbey found her hand jostled about in an exuberant handshake from Max.

“
Say Max, just curious. How old were you when all this happened? Or did you live here then?
”
Caleb waved his arm around in a manner vague enough to capture everything around them.

Max blinked and then laughed.
“
Is that an inventive way of asking someone
’
s age? I
’
m not as old as I look. Those ultraviolet rays in space are hard on a man
’
s skin. Now, if you were to invent something to fully block those, you
’
d be a rich man. But I assume you mean the construction of the library. It
’
s a heritage building. One of the only ones around. They added the green roof recently, of course.
”

Abbey glanced over Max
’
s shoulder through the clear glass doors of the library and heard her own sudden hissed intake of breath. Two men in black trench coats, holding what looked like handguns in their pockets, were advancing toward Sylvain from behind.
“
Caleb, we have to go,
”
she interjected, just as an explosion of white papers descended in whirling circles from the mezzanine of the library and landed all around Sylvain, covering the floor and the computer desk. Everyone, including Sylvain, looked up.

Then someone started to scream. Abbey knew that scream.

Mark.

The two men looked at each other, but continued to close in on Sylvain, who still stared up at the mezzanine.

Max had whirled at the sound of the screaming and stood staring at the scene unfolding in the library.

“
That
’
s our friend. He
’
s in trouble,
”
Caleb said, bolting for the library door. Abbey had no idea whether he was talking about Sylvain or Mark. She also had no idea if he had seen the men with the guns. She ran after him, calling his name, but Caleb flung himself through the heavy, wrought-iron-trimmed doors of the library.

Max scurried behind her.
“
Do you need help?
”

Abbey shook her head at Max, stepped inside the library doors, and pressed her back against the front wall of the building. Mark
’
s screaming continued. Where was Caleb? He had vanished while she had turned to answer Max. Patrons stepped away from their computers and milled uncertainly in throngs of two or three. Three library staff members stood in a cluster talking and looking up at the mezzanine. The largest male librarian detached himself from the groups and started up the mezzanine stairs, another went over and started cleaning up the scattered papers
—
maps, Abbey saw
—
and the third went to stand at the bottom of the stairs to the second level.

Sylvain had stepped away from his computer and looked like he was planning to head up to the mezzanine, but then he saw the two men, and one of them leaned in to him and said something, and Sylvain turned slowly back around until again faced the computer he had been working at. The two men stood very close to him on either side, like they were pressing guns into his side. It looked like they were talking. The nearby librarian, intent on collecting the fallen maps, hadn
’
t even noticed. Sylvain darted a look over his shoulder and spotted Abbey. He gave his head a faint shake.

Abbey saw Caleb then. He was standing calmly at a computer next to some other patrons, just to the right of Sylvain and the men.

Abbey scowled and waved at Caleb. He ignored her. She made her way over to the stairs to the mezzanine, her legs rubbery, pushing past two patrons who lingered on the bottom of the steps asking the librarian if they could help.