Skyline (24 page)

Why
was he so focused on Bill? This moment alone should’ve been enough. Seeing the
old Lady Liberty. Watching Grover Cleveland ascend to a podium. But despite
Monroe’s history lesson, he wasn’t paying attention to the history around him.
Only Bill seemed to matter.

Why?

Why
did it seem like Monroe was trying to convince Bill that history was worth
witnessing? It wasn’t coming across like a children’s tale, or even as his
normal gush of knowledge. Instead, his words came out scared, desperate. As if
he was telling Bill of all that he’d miss if he left.

Charlotte
took a step back, almost like she was seeing Bill for the first time.

It
wasn’t his muscles, his mustache, or even the gleam in his eye. It was the way
he held himself. Shoulders dropped low and confident. Arms folded over each
other. A soft smile of contentment on his face. Just like Leanor, Bill no
longer looked like he
belonged
. Not with them. Not in history. He was
here, along for the ride. But only for now.

Charlotte’s
stomach churned as she remembered Bill’s smile at the monument. She’d thought
he was simply happy at his accomplishments being recognized, but it must have
been something else. Something that Monroe had recognized instantly.

What
had Bill said? “I get to be someone else.”

He
was going to leave.

“Let’s
go,” Charlotte said, interrupting whatever subject Monroe had switched to.
“Please.” She held out the orb and drew an insignia.

“We’ll
miss the unveiling,” Monroe replied.

“It’s
okay, Uncle ’Roe,” Charlie said. “We’ve already seen her.”

“Sure,”
Monroe said. But his teeth were clenched.

What
was wrong with moving on? That was what they’d been doing all along.

But
as Monroe paused before touching her, his eyes met Charlotte’s. Like a spark,
she understood. She was taking them to the final bomb. There they would undo
the Blast. Once it was defused, Bill’s obligation would be over. He could
become whoever he wanted to.

“Let’s
try 1823,” Monroe said. “Early, but not winter. Go for April.”

What
else could she do? Regardless of all that the astrolabe could do, it couldn’t
stop time. She spun them backward, ever closer to the end of the Blast.

Lady
Liberty had unbuilt. The pedestal that the public had paid for was gone. All
that remained was the star-shaped stone structure that had once held the Statue
of Liberty. A few small wooden buildings stood in the distance, but the island
was empty. Unlike every other time—with ghosts of blurry tourists and
construction workers passing by like trails of smoke—Bedloe’s Island was quiet.

“Fort
Wood,” Bill whispered.

“Yeah,”
Monroe said. His eyes lit up. “Yeah! Did you go?”

Bill
shook his head. “Only a little. I almost got caught by military guys both
times, so I stayed scarce. Of course that’s when Ana would plant the bomb.”

“Now’s
the only real time—aside from prehistory—that the island is empty. The army
moved out, but in a few years they’ll take over again during the Civil War. As
it is, they come here occasionally, but we should be okay.”

“And
Ana?” Charlotte asked.

Monroe
turned, gazing at Charlotte with wide eyes like he’d forgotten she and Felix
were there. “Well, the whole reason she wouldn’t be in prehistory is that she’d
be too visible from outside, right? So where better to hide than inside a dark,
dilapidated fort?” With a grin, he looked back to Bill and reached a hand over.

Bill
snagged it, and together they walked inside.

Charlotte
turned to Felix, who had Charlie between his legs. “Come on, let’s finish
this.” Just as Bill and Monroe were reconnecting, this was her chance. To show
Felix that Gilbert didn’t matter; what mattered was building their future from
here. No secrets. Just a graphic designer and a time traveler in love.

Felix
remained rooted to the ground. “It’ll be safe for Charlie?”

There
was no way to know. There’d been submerged bombs, fights inside darkened
construction pits, and decaying staircases; anything could be waiting for them.
“I’m not leaving you behind,” Charlotte said.

It
wasn’t safe; that was the truth. But nothing was. If she left Felix and Charlie
standing here, the bomb could take them to a different time. They could be
stranded with no hope of getting back. And Felix and Charlie would be stuck on
a military island in 1823. No, whether this place was safe or not, it was safer
with them at her side.

Didn’t
Felix see that this was their chance to start again?

Charlie
stepped from his dad’s arms. His curly hair was shorter now, Charlotte
realized. Just slightly more trim. And his shirt was a dark purple, not at all
the bright clothes he once wore to match his uncle. Just like Bill, he’d grown
overnight, changed in ways that made him hold his head higher. No longer her
little boy at all, but a little man. When he reached Charlotte, he didn’t grab
hold, simply turned and said, “C’mon, Dad. Let’s see how Mom does it.”

Felix
tilted his head, watching Charlie. Perhaps realizing—like Charlotte had—how
much his boy had grown. How Charlie wasn’t anyone’s boy anymore. Just himself.
A sad smile flickered across Felix’s thick lips, and he crossed the distance to
his family.

Charlie
didn’t wait, but led them both into the fort.

In
the darkness, Charlotte twisted her astrolabe on; the dim entryway glowed to
life. Openings led off on either side, and Charlotte walked away from the
daylight of 1823, deeper into the fort. Thousands of pinprick lights illuminated
her way, more crisply than when she’d shown off the astrolabe to Bill and
Monroe. Rooms ringed the outside of the fort, but all led to a main internal
room, away from the eleven-pointed exterior of Fort Wood.

In
the main room, Monroe and Bill wandered, illuminated by a phone’s flashlight.
Dozens of wooden crates were stacked around the edges, but if Ana were here,
they’d see her. She could hide inside one of the outer rooms, but since every
room had an opening to here, they’d see the doorway illuminated while she
worked.

“It’s
perfect, ’Roe.”

“If
we go through a few weeks at a time, we should see lights worth investigating,”
he said. “I doubt anyone will come here at night, even the military. It’s a
little spooky.”

Charlotte
swept the lights forward a week and waited for everyone to collect around her,
each watching a different side of the fort. “Here we go.” She released, and
time went by, but nothing changed. It was too dark in the fort for them to
realize time had passed, but Charlotte could breathe again. “Okay, I’ll keep
going; shout if you see anything.”

For
the next few minutes, she took them through a year week by week. When no one
said anything, she started on the next year. For all that she kept her eyes
peeled, the interior didn’t seem to change. There weren’t any ghostly figures
zooming through, and certainly no lights.

“I
…” Charlie squeaked. Charlotte turned to him, her astrolabe still activated.
Stars big and small littered his face. Reflected in those wide wise eyes. “I
think I saw something.”

He
wandered away, to one of the openings. An arch reached above him. “Here?” he
said, pointing inside. “But to the right, I think.”

“When,
honey?” Charlotte asked, joining him. “How much into our traveling?”

Charlie
stuck a tongue out in concentration, just like when he was perfecting a
drawing. “I dunno,” he finally said. He looked behind them, toward Felix for
reassurance. “Maybe near the end? Didn’t someone else see?”

“We
don’t have eagle eyes like you,” Monroe said.

“Okay,”
Charlotte whispered. “A little toward the end.” She stepped back from the
arched doorway, hiding to the side opposite where Charlie pointed.

“Probably
night,” Monroe said.

Charlotte
lit up her astrolabe once more, and Bill stepped in front of it, blocking the
light from getting out of their little circle. She took them back two days, to
the night, and released. For a split second, she saw it: a flash of light
exactly where Charlie indicated. Closing her eyes now, Charlotte twisted time
forward just a hair. An hour and a half in the future.

Ana’s
flashlight waved in their direction as they appeared, but didn’t stop. She
dropped her light to the ground, pointed it at the wall, and set to work.

His
voice barely audible, Monroe said, “Okay, let’s stop her.”

As
he took a step away, Charlotte found herself tugging him back. “Wait.”

“What’s
wrong?” Monroe hissed.

This
was their chance to stop Ana once and for all. The bomb wasn’t installed; they
wouldn’t even have to defuse it, just discard it. But it didn’t feel right.

If
they stopped Ana now, would she actually stop? Or would she keep going, keep
planting bombs throughout the city? What could they do—except hurt her—to make
her stop once and for all? “That’s
Leanor
,” Charlotte began, and then
she had it. Even if Monroe must’ve been rolling his eyes. “We can’t just fight
her,” Charlotte whispered. “We have to save her, too.” Then she’d have more
than just her family intact. She’d have Leanor too.

“What
do you suggest?” Bill asked, quiet enough. Ana still didn’t seem to notice them.

There
was only one way to truly save Leanor. Not just save her from the Council. Not
just stop the bombs. But turn her into the woman they’d met at the base of the
World Trade Center. A woman who could see the weight of tragedy. “We get her to
regret,” Charlotte said. “Tell her why we’re here.
Who
sent us, and what
happens if she sets the bomb. Remind her about Paris and the others. Get her
back.” Simply stated, but Charlotte didn’t have a real plan.

Across
the way, Ana pointed her thick gun at the wall, and a red laser sliced easily
into the stone of Fort Wood. She turned a dial on the gun and sliced through
the stone again. Just like before, the brick fell out—a new hole—and Ana
created a false brick facing to hide the bomb.

Ana
pulled a small metal box from her bag—this one even smaller than what they’d
found in the foundations of the Plaza. But the size of the thing wasn’t enough
of a difference. This seemed wrong. Why would Ana use the same plan when it had
failed once before? That wasn’t how she’d operated on the previous bombs.

But
before Charlotte could figure that out, before she could step forward and
explain to Ana that she could be more—that she
had
been more—Ana slipped
the bomb into the square hole and set the facade before it. She clapped her
hands together, turned to the doorway, and said, “I know you’re there.”

•
• • • • • • • • • • •

Before
Charlotte could stop him, Bill was through the doorway. He lunged toward Ana,
not even thinking of Charlotte’s plan. But how could he? It wasn’t really a
plan, just a notion. He grabbed for Ana’s shoulder, his other hand aimed at her
wrists. Obviously his training was kicking in. But as he spun Ana, she kept
spinning. His other hand missed her wrists.

She
wasn’t in the mood to listen; she wanted to fight. She wasn’t Leanor yet.

“Char!”
Bill shouted as Ana aimed a punch.

Charlotte
spun. “Felix, you’ll be okay? Charlie?”

“
Go
,
Mom,” Charlie said, eyes alight as he pushed her away. Felix gave Charlotte a
firm nod. If Ana targeted them, she’d never forgive herself. But Bill needed
help.

Monroe
was already at the facade, trying to pull it out.

Ana
aimed a kick at Bill’s knee. When it connected, she didn’t follow with another
blow to take him down. She turned and ran away. Away from her final bomb, away
from Bill. Toward a leather bag lying on the ground.

“No
way,” Charlotte muttered. She met Ana halfway and grabbed the woman, yanking
her arm. Ana pivoted, leaped, but Charlotte kept hold. Together they tumbled to
the ground. They rolled over and over each other, through an entryway and into
an adjacent room.

When
they slowed, Ana was on top. She sprang away, not bothering with Charlotte. She
should’ve. Charlotte whipped a hand out and clutched Ana’s ankle. The
anachronistic woman slammed to the floor in a grunt.

“Bill!”
Monroe shouted from around the corner. “I’ve got the bomb!”

“On
it,” came Bill’s response. “
Help
them.”

Ana
hand-walked her way over, kicking at Charlotte with her free foot. Charlotte
shifted her head out of the way, back, up, but at last Ana connected with her
teeth. Pain blossomed across her mouth.

“Damn.”
Charlotte squeezed her eyes shut; her grip loosened. Ana was free.

But
Charlotte snapped her eyes open and jumped to her feet. She grabbed at Ana and
once again they tumbled to the ground, through the doorway where Bill was
working on the bomb. Where Monroe was lifting something into the air.

He
spun on his heel and pointed that something—the laser gun Ana had used to cut
out the space for the bomb—at them. “Freeze.”

Ana
scoffed. “That’s for cutting
brick
, idiot.”

“If
it can cut brick,” Monroe said, the gun clicking as he twisted a dial, “it can
cut you.”

“Oh?”
Ana asked. “I thought you needed my
regret
.”

Shit.

“You
heard?” Charlotte asked. Maybe there was a chance. Maybe she could—

Then
Ana turned with a snarl. “Save it.” She shoved Charlotte, and Charlotte was too
stunned to jump back at her. “Just like you’re saving them.”

“We’re
not
,” Monroe said. “We don’t give a damn about the Council. All we care
about is New York.
New Yorkers
. Saving them from whenever your bombs
took them.”

“Right,”
Ana said, taking a step toward her bag. “How could you even
know
about
the Council if they didn’t send you?”

Charlotte
stood. Keeping her tone soft, unthreatening, she said, “Silly Leanor.” The
woman’s jaw dropped at her name. “You told us.”

“I,
I …” Her wide blue eyes flicked from Charlotte, to Monroe, to Bill, even to
Felix and Charlie. Then her face screwed up in anger. “Bullshit.”

Ana
swung a leg at Charlotte’s side. Her toe bit in like a bullet, and Charlotte
crumpled, clutching her ribs. Through blurred vision Charlotte saw Ana shove
Monroe aside and race toward Bill. But she didn’t go after the bomb that Bill
huddled over protectively. Instead, she snatched up her bag, shoving her hand
at the mesh astrolabe inside. “Enjoy,” she said. Then she was gone.

Spitting
blood, Charlotte rose to unsteady feet. “That bitch. How could
she
be
Leanor?” She touched her side, and her fingers came back wet with blood.

“You
okay, Mom?” Charlie asked, his little hands out to her side.

“I’ll
be fine, but I gotta focus now, baby.” There would be time for treatment later.
They had to defuse this final bomb.

Charlotte
crouched at Bill’s side as he wrenched up the largest side of the bomb that Ana
had placed. But when the inside of the box was exposed, everyone let out a
collective moan.