Fighting for Infinity (24 page)

On our way to the bedroom, I updated him.

“This might work to our advantage,” I explained. “Persuade him to stop all of this. To return the stones, to leave Maryah alone, and to free Rina.”

Dylan squinted at Maryah’s frozen form. “What makes you think it will work this time? I tried to stop him last lifetime at our wedding, and it didn’t work.”

“He was in his own body then. Maybe he was protected. Now he’s in Maryah’s body. Please try.”

Dylan nodded at Anthony to release his hold on time.

Maryah stumbled forward, but Dylan was already speaking in his distinctive, persuasive tone. “Dedrick, you are finished with this battle now and forever. You will free Rina and never speak to or think about Maryah or any member of our kindrily or any other ever again. You will return all the element stones and cease and desist with any and all plans you had to control people or energy.”

M
aryah’s lips curled upward, but it was Dedrick’s darkness staring back at us. “For a moment, I contemplated pretending your useless power worked on me, but I simply couldn’t keep a straight face.” He spoke in a low grumble that didn’t sound anything like Maryah. “I am so far above you pathetic Elements that I need a telescope to see down to your level.”

Anthony froze time again, and Ma
ryah’s legs stopped mid-stride.

“Go get Louise,” Anthony said. “She can tell us when his soul leaves her body.”

Dylan sunk into the chair. “How can his soul travel anywhere if you’re freezing time?”

“He might be immune to our powers,” Anthony explained, “but Maryah’s body is not. Eventually he’ll grow bored and go back to where he came from.”

Or he’ll inhabit someone else. I didn’t express that concern out loud because I didn’t want to give Dedrick any ideas. Dedrick’s body-snatching power meant he could be anyone. We had to be extremely cautious.

∞

Dedrick grew bored of our stalemate within minutes. Louise verified that his filthy aura had departed. She didn’t see any trace of him anywhere, in anyone.

“If Maryah’s soul were in her body,” I asked Carson,
“Do you think Dedrick would be able to possess it?”

“I’m not sure. I’m still unclear on how he and Rina accomplished that feat to begin with.”

“Are you thinking of agreeing to Maryah’s plan?” Krista asked. “Traversing her body to where her soul is?”

“Maybe. I couldn’t ignore River’s warning—or rather Evelyn’s—that Maryah needed her body to survive this. “Dedrick might keep
possessing her. Eventually, Anthony won’t have enough strength to keep time frozen.”

“What if he traps her body there too?” Carson asked.

“Maryah said she and Rina had a plan. I need to trust that she knows what she’s doing.”

I stared down at her. Maryah told me this needed to happen in order to save everyone and stop Dedrick. If it were Mary, I wouldn’t have had a choice but to follow her demands. But this was inexperienced and vulnerable Maryah. She was asking me to directly put her in harm’s way.

I breathed deeply and caressed her cheek. She was asking me to have faith in her.

Krista touched my arm. “Go with your gut.”

Carson tucked his hair behind his ears. “Don’t look at me. Even I don’t have the answer to this one.”

I walked to the dresser and pulled out a pair of leggings, a fleece, and socks then selected the most durable shoes in her closet. Krista helped me dress her. I was sliding her shoe onto her foot when Harmony tapped my shoulder.

“Screw sneakers. She can borrow these.” She shoved her combat boots at me. “We’re nothing alike except for our foot size.”

I looked down at her black socks. “Won’t you need them?”

“I have several pair.”

“Thank you, Harmony.”

Krista and I finagled Maryah’s feet into Harmony’s boots and laced them tight.

I removed Evelyn’s potion from my pocket. I hoped half of the elixir would be enough to travel there and back again. I swallowed the last of it then scooped Maryah’s body into my arms.

Harmony gave an approving nod, but then her eyes flew open wide. “Nate, wait!” 

We were already gone.

I landed less than a foot away from Maryah’s radiant soul. She pulsed brightly when she saw me, even brighter when she realized her body was in my arms.

“You said you needed to physically be here, so here you are.”

For a moment she stared down at herself like she wasn’t sure how to join herself together, but then her light spiraled into her body. She took in a deep breath, and when I was sure she was whole again, I set her down on her feet.

“It worked.” She patted her chest and face. “I’m here.”

“I hope we’re doing the right thing.”

“Nathan.” She clutched my forearms. “I need to tell you something, but I don’t know how much time we have. Dedrick could come in at any second. If he does, traverse immediately. No matter what we’re talking about. No matter how shocking or unbelievable it is. ”

“No.”

“What?”

“I’m staying.”

She squeezed my arms tighter. “You can’t!”

“I can and I am. I’m not leaving you.”

“That’s not how it works. Rina said you can’t be here.”

I rolled my shoulders and stood up straight. “
Rina
is part of the reason I need to be here.”

She stepped back and searched my eyes. I wasn’t certain of my suspicion until Maryah’s mouth twisted, struggling to find words for such a difficult conversation. Her shoulders slumped with shame, but then she stood tall, already accepting her new responsibility. “You know, don’t you?”

“I didn’t know when she was visiting us in your body, but the moment I traversed here and saw her for the first time.” I exhaled. I’d been trying to keep my emotions tamed, not knowing whether I wanted it to be true or not. Complications, heartache, blame: Rina’s existence raised so many questions and opened so many old scars. “She’s so much like you. Like you were last lifetime.”

“You’d do anything to protect her, right?”

“Of course.”

“Then go. I’m begging you. It’s the one thing I know has to happen. It’s not that you can’t be here. It’s that we’re going to need you to be somewhere else.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know. That part of my intuition isn’t clear.”

“I won’t be able to traverse to you again. Whatever Dedrick injected me with, it prevents me from traversing. I came here on a limited ticket. I’m not even sure I can traverse again.”

“Go. Now. Please. Before it’s too late. For Rina.”

“Do whatever it is you need to do to get out of here.” I stepped closer, staring into her eyes. “We’re on our way. We won’t stop searching until we find you.” She laced her fingers with mine. “I believe in you, Maryah. I’ll see you soon.”

I used my depleting energy to traverse back to our kindrily.

They all stood in the weapon room, gathered around the oblong table as if awaiting my return.

Harmony was sharpening a knife. “We should have hidden a couple of these in my boots for her. I thought of it at the last second.”

I rubbed my head, cursing myself for not thinking of it myself. I left her there unarmed, and she didn’t need to be. “Maybe I have enough time left to get back to her.”

Harmony handed me the knife. I clutched it to my chest and closed my eyes. A few sparks of light momentarily blurred my vision, but I didn’t go anywhere.

“Damn it.” I tossed the knife on the table. “Is the plane ready?”

Anthony gave one firm nod and
handed me my bulletproof vest. I pulled it over my head and tightened the side straps.

“Weapons are packed too,” Gregory said.

I glanced at the cabinets lining each wall. The doors had already been closed, but through the fogged glass, I saw silhouettes of guns. I placed my hand in the reader on the wall, and after a few beeps, the fog turned to clear glass, and the locks clicked open. Each cabinet was only half empty.

“Is the plane at maximum weight capacity?” I asked Anthony.

“She could hold another few hundred pounds.”

I threw open the cabinet
doors. “Take all you can carry.”

“Now we’re talking.” Carson rubbed his hands together and grabbed two more guns.

Faith opened the adjacent cabinet and removed her wind-and-fire wheels from their pegs. “Here.” She handed them to Shiloh. “Take these.”

“Those are your favorite.” He held up his hands, stepping away from her. “You told me I’m never allowed to touch them.”

“This is a special occasion.”

“Uh uh, no way. This is just your hormones causing a generous moment. I might lose them, and then I’ll never hear the end of it.”

Faith grinned. “If you lose them while slicing open Dedrick’s jugular, you will be excused.”

I loaded a shoulder harness with a Swiss dagger and throwing knife. “I take it you won’t be joining us, Faith?”

She patted her stomach. “Not with baby Sheila on board.”

Helen handed me a bottle of cloudy brown water. I didn’t ask what it was, just took a gulp and screwed the cap back on.

Dylan opened the door to the hangar tunnel.

“Let’s go, “I said. “One way or another, this ends today.”

SHATTERING THE GLASS

Maryah

It was a confusing thing to hate a part of myself I could barely remember existed, but the self-loathing was still there. I had a child. And I abandoned her, knowing she’d be a prisoner. I wanted to travel back to my previous life and beat some sense into myself.

I circled the room—my anger, confusion, and regret building with every step.

I stopped in front of the cabinet, bracing my hands against the frame. I stared at my reflection. “You did this,” I growled. “You got everyone into this mess so you get them out.”

I felt a little schizo, talking to myself as if I were two people, but whether I was addressing past me or present me, it was still me.

“Fix it!” I shouted while trying to shake the cabinet, but it was anchored in place. I punched my own palm. I refused to cry. Crying would not help save Rina. Or myself.

I turned away from my reflection and stared at Harmony’s boots, kicking my heel into the floor over and over.
Think, think, come up with something
.

And finally, an idea hit me.

I tugged on the padlock attached to the cabinet of drugs, but it was thick and solidly locked.

I grabbed Rina’s book from the table, lifted it over my head, took three strides toward the cabinet, and shattered the glass.

∞

Dedrick would return. He had to.

I was pretty sure I had thought of everything, right down to erasing my shoeprints from the dirt floor. My back ached form being scrunched up in the corner, and I really had to pee. I glanced at the science experiment of a toilet less than a foot away from me and clenched my thighs together. I could hold it.

While sitting there, staring at the shower curtain and waiting, I replayed everything over and over, trying to self-induce an epiphany. How did Rina traverse? Did it have something to do with her being Nathan’s daughter?

Eventually, the room went dark. I tried to steady my nerves. I flexed my fingers. I felt like a caged animal ready to attack.

Instead of Dedrick’s voice, I heard River’s. “Where is she?”

“I’ll be back soon,” Evelyn said.

The room went dark again, and when the candle glow returned, I stood and stepped out from behind the curtain.

River’s eyes bugged. “You’re here. All of you.”

Not all of me. I desperately needed the old me’s memories so I could figure out how to get us out of here. “So it seems.”

“Where’s Rina?” River asked.

My voice came out defeated. “I don’t know. Dedrick took her away.”

Part of me wanted to tell him how important Rina was to me. I wanted to tell him the revelation that had just rocked every fiber of my being. But it was too complicated to explain.

“Nathan traversed you here?” River asked.

“Yeah.”

“You’re here because of me, you know. I helped him escape.”

“You did?” I couldn’t picture Nathan willingly accepting help from River. “How?”

“Evelyn had some magic potion that allowed him to traverse. I snuck it to him.”

“Magic potion.” The words felt so unnatural on my lips. “Thanks for helping him.”

“No problem.”

I leaned against the wall. “Did you ever think we’d be discussing magic potions and traversing while being held captive in some hidden underworld?”

“Never. It’s still unnerving. All of it.”

I glanced at the shattered glass cabinet. None of the bottles had been labeled. All I knew was Dedrick used the pale yellow one to put Rina to sleep. “Can Evelyn get us more of that potion?”

“That was all she had. She said she’d been saving it for a long time, and she was insistent that I could not spill a drop.”

“Figures.” I slid down the wall and sat on Rina’s mattress.

“Aren’t you worried your body will be stuck here too?”

“It doesn’t matter. I need to be here, body and soul, if we have any chance of breaking out.”

“We?”

“Rina, me, and you.”

“You’re still willing to help me?”

“I promised you I would.”

He sat next to me but at a respectful distance. “I figured Nathan would have talked you out of it by now.”

“Nathan doesn’t make decisions for me. Besides, you helped him get out of here. I’d say he owes you one. A big one.”

River raised a brow then nodded. “If we do escape, if this nightmare with Dedrick ever ends, I really hope we can stay friends.”

I snorted with surprise. “That’s asking a little too much of me. When we get out of here, we go our separate ways, and you leave me and my kindrily alone. Forever.”

“Right.” His shoulders slumped forward. “I understand. I’ll stay away.”

I pulled my knees to my chest. What if he truly didn’t remember the night at Montezuma Well? I knew firsthand how frustrating it was to not remember things I had done. Nineteen lifetimes worth. I couldn’t even remember having a daughter and abandoning her.

“We did have some good times though, right?” he asked. “Before the night in question.”

“Yeah.” I picked at a loose thread on the mattress. “I guess so.”

“I still remember the look on your face when I sang you that song on Valentine’s Day.”

“That was so embarrassing.”

River leaned his head back against the wall. “Tell me about it. I felt like such a loser when you ran out of there almost throwing up.”

“That wasn’t the only time I almost threw up. How about on my birthday when you tried kissing me right after that slutty redhead left your house?”

His smile vanished and he squinted. “What redhead?”

“You know, the day I came over and confided in you about my kindrily. You were hungover but not that hungover.”

He studied the section of
blanket between us then his eyes lifted to meet mine. “Maryah, I have never tried to kiss you.”

“Liar. You tried the day we ditched school too. In your car, you said you wanted to spoil me rotten. And the morning after your drunk escapade with Little Red Riding Whore, your lips actually made contact.” I shoved his shoulder. “You tasted like beer. It was right before I fell asleep, and when I woke up, you took me to...” I gulped. “Montezuma Well.”

River stared at me, biting his lip. He shifted so he was facing me. “No.”

“You’re denying it?”

“I’m telling you I never tried to kiss you.”

“Is this part of your mental problems? I thought you said you were just playing along with the doctor.” The serious look on his face made me
stop smiling. “Okay, if it wasn’t you, who was it?”

His eyes blazed with anger. “Exactly.” 

My breath caught in my throat. “You’re saying you think it could have been Dedrick?”

“It all makes sense!” River jumped to his feet. “That’s why I don’t remember anything the cops told me. If you asked me to swear on a Bible, I’d swear that I wasn’t at Montezuma Well with you that night. I have no memory of any of it, Maryah. None. And shouldn’t I? I mean, even if I totally snapped like that doctor said, wouldn’t almost killing one of my best friends stick in my mind at least a tiny bit?” He paced, but he paused to look at me. “And I can tell you another thing. If we had ever kissed, I would remember it.”

“You think Dedrick took over your body?” Dedrick used River’s body the same way Rina used mine. Why hadn’t I thought of it sooner?

“It’s the only explanation. I knew it!” River clasped his hands behind his head and sighed with relief. “While I was in jail, I mentally tortured myself wondering how I could have ever hurt you. But it wasn’t me!”

So many conversations and events with River poured through my mind. Which parts were River and which were Dedrick?

“April,” I murmured, “Why did you break up with April?”

Sadness glistened in his eyes. “That’s another thing. I could never remember actually breaking up with her. I called her on New Year’s Day, thinking everything was fine, and she yelled at me. I drank a lot the night before, and I was really hungover. I told her I didn’t remember breaking up. She asked how I could have forgotten that I told her I was in love with you. I was so confused.”

“He broke up with her. Dedrick. It wasn’t you?”

River’s head dropped into his hands. “What a mess. I felt so insane. I was almost convinced I was losing it. I’d have spells where people swore I had said or done something that I didn’t remember. Like the thing about you. I thought maybe it was one of those times where the truth comes out because you’re drunk. Like maybe I really did have feelings for you, but I didn’t admit it until I was wasted.” He lifted his head. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t think I ever wanted anything more than a friendship with you.”

“But that song you sang to me on Valentine’s Day. You remember that. That was you at the restaurant, right?”

“I do remember that, but—” He paused. “I don’t remember writing that song, which has always freaked me out, because I don’t forget anything when it comes to my music.”

More moments with River popped into my head. “The first day of school. In music class. You sat in front of me and told me something about how my eyes haunted you or something like that.”

River nodded. “I saw a video clip of it.”

“You or him?”

River took a ragged breath. “That’s when it started. That’s when I assumed the drinking and drugs had finally killed too many brain cells. I couldn’t remember anything that happened in that video. I even searched the Internet to see if too much tequila caused long-term memory loss.”

I was dumbfounded. How many times had I been with Dedrick when I thought it was River?

My head snapped up. “The night you came to my house. Nathan and I were in my driveway. He had just given me my Desoto. You kicked the candles away and were really possessive of me and rude to him.”

River was silent for only a moment, but that moment seemed to stretch out like poisoned taffy. “Not me.”

I felt dizzy. Dedrick had stood face to face with Nathan. He clutched his shoulder at one point, asked him to carry my roses into the house. Dedrick had been there, right in front of him, interacting with both of us, and Nathan didn’t know it.

“Why didn’t he know?” I mumbled, still shook up by how deceived we had been. He was so close to us so many times, and none of us knew it. “Nathan said they can tell who a soul is by looking into their eyes. It’s why we wear sunglasses everywhere. He looked right at you—at Dedrick. Why didn’t he know it wasn’t your soul in your body?”

River touched his temples. “My contacts.”

“Contacts? That shouldn’t make a difference.”

River’s gaze met mine. “They’d make a difference if they were supplied to me by Dedrick.”

“You wear them all the time?”

He nodded. “I have to. I’m practically blind without them.”

“Holy hell,” I said.

River nodded in agreement.

“Dedrick could be anyone.” I had to warn the others. Dedrick might possess someone else’s body, throw in some soul-shielding contacts, and pretend to be them. Or worse yet, physically harm them. “I have to tell my kindrily.”

I stretched out on the mattress. River stood above me, his head tilting as his brow wrinkled. “How will you tell them?”

“I’ll only be a few minutes.”

“But—?”

I envisioned Nathan’s green eyes and ended up on the plane. I glanced around. Almost everyone was on board. I was practically sitting on Gregory’s lap. Nathan sat across from us. “Nathan, Dedrick can possess other people’s bodies.”

He stared out the window, not acknowledging me at all.

He couldn’t hear me. No one could. I had left my body.

What was I doing? I had become so used to astral traveling back to my body to relay messages that I confused the two.

I sailed through the cabin toward the front of the plane where Louise was sitting. Her hands were folded in her lap, and her eyes were closed. “Louise?” I waved my hands in front of her. “Open your eyes. See my aura. Realize something is wrong.”

I tried shoving her, patting her cheek, but my efforts had no effect. “This sucks so bad.”

I went back to Nathan and yelled his name as loud as I could. My voice was swallowed by the roar of the jet’s engines. I turned around to face Gregory. He said he could hear my thoughts from a distance; maybe he could hear my soul too.

I leaned down, almost butting my nose against his. “Gregory! Can you hear me?”

He reached next to him and held Harmony’s hand but showed no sign of hearing me.

I’d have to figure out another way to tell them. I reconnected to my body and traveled back to River.

He was squatting over me, shaking my arm. “About time! Come on. We only have a few minutes.”

“A few minutes for what?”

He yanked me to my feet. “To find Rina and get out of here.”

“Rina? Where is she?” I froze when a wooden door opened to a hallway. “Where did the door come from?”