The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance (38 page)

Without giving her time to argue, he brought her around the corner to a tall door that led inside the structure. They travelled down hallways and he pressed crystals that made rock walls slide open. “Secret passages,” Lia said, amazed.

“Yeah.” Troll didn’t sound happy. “Kendall, my captain’s wife, will kill me for showing them to you. She’s protective of this place.”

He took her down a few more long corridors and Lia felt impatience bubble inside. What if the wormhole was gone before they made it to the top? The worry that they’d be too late wouldn’t leave her, and it didn’t matter that Troll was moving at a good clip or that it would have taken her hours to climb the exterior stairs to the altar. “Can we go faster?”

“We’re at the midpoint.”

Lia looked around a large open area. There was sunlight streaming in, but it was night outside and she saw no visible source that could be producing an artificial glow. Everywhere she gazed there was solid stone and carefully manicured plants. Troll led her to one of eight platforms that were arranged in an arc and stood on top of it. She followed although she wasn’t sure why they were standing here.

She didn’t get the chance to ask. A stone balustrade rose from the sides of the dais, not stopping until it reached about waist height. As soon as it was in place, the entire platform began to rise like an elevator. She grabbed on to Troll.

They reached the top and he silently brought her to a second elevator. When they got off that one, he took her through a door that led outside to the flat top of the pyramid. The wormhole was there, glowing and throbbing in some rhythm that only it understood. Home, she thought, taking a step forwards, but Troll put an arm around her and stopped her.

“If you’re going to leave, at least think about it first, don’t walk mindlessly into that thing.”

“I wasn’t,” she protested, but he was right. She’d been mesmerized by it.

“You can’t even be sure this is going to take you back to 2010. For all you know, you’ll end up in Alpha Centauri seven thousand years in the past.”

Lia shook her head. “It’ll take me home. I feel it.” She shrugged, uncertain how she knew this, only that she did. “Maybe it’s trying to correct its mistake. After all, I’m not supposed to be here.”

“Bullshit. That’s a force of nature, not a sentient being who’s trying to balance the universe. And I think you
are
supposed to be here; that’s why it appeared to begin with.”

“Sometimes it’s not destiny, just an accident. I don’t belong in this time.”

“Lia, give us a chance. If you leave, what do you think the odds are that you’ll be able to come back here? I’d say zilch. That particle accelerator was probably locked down immediately once they realized they had a wormhole big enough for travel. Do you think they’ll let you near it again?”

“No,” she admitted in a small voice.

“Just a chance.” He moved, standing in front of her, and clasped her shoulders with his hands. “You told me you don’t have any family left, so what’s back there for you? Nothing much that I can see. Here you could have something important –
we
could have something important – but if you leave we’ll never know. Isn’t it worth some time to find out?”

She looked past him at the vortex. Was it pulsing a little faster now? Lia took a step forwards, but Troll tightened his hold just enough to grab her attention.

“You’re frightened, I get that, but you know what scares me more? The idea of spending the rest of my life wondering what we might have had if you’d stayed. Wondering if Gram was right and you were my destiny. Can you walk away and live with those questions?”

“But this might be the only opportunity I have. What if I pass on it, things don’t develop between us, and I can’t get home? What then?”

Troll framed her face between his hands. “I promise you, if you want to go back to 2010 later, I’ll get you there somehow.” He shook his head. “Hell, if the wormhole is tied to the pyramid in some way, Kendall can probably control it. If not, I’ll break us through security for an accelerator in 2050 if that’s what it takes.”

The vortex flickered and Lia sucked in a sharp breath, afraid for an instant that she’d lost her only chance. Troll made staying sound easy, but it wasn’t. “Your colonel thinks I’m a spy. He’ll lock me up or torture me or something if I remain here.”

“Sullivan is a problem, but we can figure out what to do with him. We can enlist the rest of my team and their wives if we have to. Someone will have an answer.”

Again, Lia looked over his shoulder at the vortex, then returned her gaze to Troll. His blue eyes were intense and she could see he meant every word he said. “But what if—”

“There are no guarantees in life, but sometimes you have to take the risk anyway. Stay with me, take this chance. We could have everything.”

“Or nothing.”

“That’s a possibility,” he admitted. “But we’ve got this on our side.”

Troll’s kiss made her toes curl and Lia clutched at him, hanging on as if
he
were the one who might leave
her.
She wanted him to distract her, to keep her occupied until the wormhole was gone and she didn’t have to make a decision, but long before she was ready, he broke free.

“It has to be your choice,” he said. And then he stepped aside, leaving her path to the vortex clear.

His actions paralysed her and Lia stared at the lights, watching them spin faster. She wanted to stay, but how could she? Troll was gorgeous, funny, smart, interesting, sexy – everything she wanted in a man – but even if he didn’t feel like one, he was a stranger. How could she turn her back on her home when this time was foreign to her? When she was under suspicion? When either she or Troll could decide that they weren’t meant to be?

The wormhole began to contract and she stepped forwards.

In that moment, Lia realized she was more like her parents than she’d known. They’d been afraid to risk anything, afraid to go for broke, and she was about to leave the only man who’d ever made her feel alive because of the fear. Maybe it wouldn’t work – he was right, there were no guarantees in life – but if she left, it was over right here, right now.

Lia stared at Troll, then at the gateway home.

Her job, her car, her apartment, a life that was familiar and safe. Or a man with whom things might not work out, a possible charge of espionage held over her head, a horrible colonel who thought she was guilty, and a world that was mostly strange to her. Just the thought of staying made her nauseous.

The vortex shrank farther, and with a gasp, Lia rushed towards it.

But before she crossed, she stopped short. Life wasn’t supposed to be mundane and routine. It was about change, about experiences, about dreams. About love. What if Troll
was
her destiny? What if she spent the rest of her life comparing other men to him and none of them measured up? What if she regretted her cowardice every day until she died? What then?

No promises, but a chance.

She couldn’t live with the
what ifs;
she had to know whether or not Troll was the love of her life. With her heart lodged in her throat, Lia let the wormhole close.

Tremors shook her body when it disappeared, and she breathed deeply until the urge to vomit passed. It took another couple of minutes until she felt steady enough to walk over to Troll. She stared up at him, letting his steady gaze calm her. “I’m scared that I just made a big mistake, but I’m rolling the dice, Chris.”

Wincing, he wrapped his arms around her and gathered her close. “You won’t regret it, I’ll make sure of that.” He kissed her, but before she was ready for it to end, he stepped away, took her hand, and led her back inside the pyramid.

“Chris!” she protested.

He shook his head. “Why don’t we make a pact? You can call me Chris when we’re home – alone – but otherwise it’s Troll. Deal, Ophelia?”

Now she winced. “Deal. You give as good as you get, don’t you?”

His smile was wicked. “Always. You’ll appreciate that when I have you in bed.”

Heat settled low in her belly and Lia forgot her terror and uncertainty. Life really was an adventure and hers was about to begin.

Autumn Dawn

Jordon flinched and shielded her eyes. The glow of lightning lit the darkness behind her lids, persisted in dots of colour as she slowly lowered her hand. She blinked, disoriented. Death was a lonely country road?

It was no wonder she was confused. Only moments ago, she’d been crossing the street on her way to meet the bus. When the speeding Porsche had lurched around the corner, then gunned for her with an angry growl, she’d known she was dead. Only the lightning had struck
before
the car did. Had it somehow knocked her out of the way?

She drew a shaky breath and looked around. No. It was dark here, and stormy. The sun had been directly overhead in Spokane. The city had disappeared completely, leaving nothing but whispering trees and a crawling sense of unease.

A cold wind worked its way through her jeans, stealing her warmth. She hitched her light leather jacket closer and thanked God for the vanity that made her wear her cashmere and silk sweater, though it had been a little warm for it this morning. Unfortunately, the suede boots didn’t fare as well, quickly becoming waterlogged in the rain.

A flash of lightning illuminated the outline of a tremendous stone wall lining the dirt road. A quick glance showed nothing behind her – no lights, at least, which would have indicated people. A hundred yards ahead, the wall was pierced by a wrought-iron gate. As she drew closer, she could see that the panels were unlatched, swaying slightly in the wind, almost in invitation. When she was close enough to touch it, the torches above the gate flared to life, illuminating the gravel path. She glanced up and started slightly at the fierce gargoyles flanking the wall on either side.

As she watched, one of them blinked.

Jordon froze. But she was not the kind of girl who screamed and ran at every shadow, even in such dire circumstances. She watched the gargoyle instead. It did not take long to convince herself that she’d imagined it. The statue was obviously stone.

Still, she felt watched. She looked behind her, but there was nothing out there. Blackness, night. And yet she had the feeling that something was watching her; something other than the gargoyles.

Shrugging her shoulders against the sensation, she slipped through the gates. Uneasy, she glanced back, just in time to observe the wind pushing the gates closed. They shut with a loud clang and remained fixed, as if they had latched. Was she locked in?

She did not have time for further speculation. The sound of hoof beats heading her way made her stiffen. When she saw what was bearing down on her, she ran. She did not need the lightning to see the flames shooting from the head of the midnight-coloured stallion charging her way. His eyes and nostrils blazed, as if he were a living furnace. Sparks flew where his feet struck the earth, and the ground shook.

She doubted he was checking to see if she’d brought oats.

She did not get far before she was snatched from the ground by unseen hands and flung on the back of the nightmare horse. “Hide her, Sam!” a fierce voice shouted as she was dropped astride. She grasped franticly for the mane, scrambled not to fall off. It seemed safer to ride the creature than to fall under its hooves.

Unfortunately, Jordon was no rider. The glance she spared to see who’d dropped her unbalanced her completely and sent her tumbling from the back of the galloping horse. She landed on the wet lawn with stunning force, too dazed to move. Winded, she lay there as chaos reigned around her.

A scream jerked her attention to the right. Jordon peered through the curtain of rain, scanning the darkness. As lightning flashed, she gasped. There was a woman out there. Battling a . . . griffin?

Jordon had no time to fight with her automatic rationalizations that griffins didn’t exist; the woman was losing. Seizing a fallen tree branch, she struggled to her feet. There was a flowerbed in her way. Without a thought for the daisies, Jordon tramped through the plants and dashed across the wet lawn.

It wasn’t until she’d nearly crashed into the combatants that she realized her mistake. Up close, she could see that the “woman” was nothing more that a wasted wraith, a monster with bones peeking out where pieces of her had rotted away. Jordon could see the creature’s ribs through the rags it wore. It hovered over the ground, using a rusted sword to hack at the griffin. If the griffin hadn’t been such a tremendous jumper, gifted with wings, it would have been dead.

When it spotted Jordon, the wraith’s red eyes lit. It opened its mouth and screamed, a piercing shriek that paralysed her and sent her to her knees. She dropped the branch and pressed her palms to her ears, but nothing stopped the pain. Her ears had to be bleeding. She gritted her teeth, but couldn’t hold back a moan of agony. That sound would kill her.

The banshee had forgotten the griffin. He sprang at her while she was distracted, shredding the monster’s decayed flesh with his razor-sharp talons. The monster fell to the ground, writhing. With one final snap of his powerful beak, the griffin severed her head from her shoulders.

Jordon panted as the pain ceased, cautiously lowering her hands. Shuddering, she watched the griffin rip the corpse apart. Her hand felt through the grass, closed around the branch. Hoping the griffin would stay occupied, she began to back away, eyes lowered, as if she were backing away from a mad dog.