The Source: Book III of the Holding Kate Series (27 page)

Wild with anguish, he shook with anger. “You should have known, Najwa, no one can jump to the future! You were a lab tech!”

“I was a medic, Corey. I didn’t have a complete understanding of the science behind the jumps. I know I don’t deserve it, but please forgive me! I will do anything to earn back your trust.”

Corey huffed a breath. “That is not possible, Najwa.”

She collapsed into her hands and wept.

“It was even more disgusting hearing it the second time!” the new Eunavae spat.

The old Eunavae scrunched her face in confusion, freaking out a bit at having her other self speak for her. Drayse reached over and took her hand with an endearing smile and turned to wink at the other Eunavae.

“We need information.” Corey stood up.

“Eunavae. Get to QHR and start replicating the vaccine. We will need several modes of administration. Mel and Donnie can help.”

“Finally!” The new Manifus stood up from the crate he had been sitting on.

“Manifus, we need to know exactly where the pockets of survivors were. We should concentrate our efforts in those places. Dirk, you are going to have to go with them to work the remote and report to Donnie and Mel.”

Both Dirks nodded.

“I can’t emphasize to you how important it is for you to succeed. The One go with you.” Corey pressed his lips together.

Dirk, Manifus, and Eunavae stepped to the back of the room and Dirk activated the remote. They disappeared and Corey turned to the trio waiting for time to catch up. “Welcome back. Did everything go as planned?”

They laughed and Manifus walked over to Krenne. “I couldn’t bear it when he touched you.” He leaned over and kissed his wife.

She frowned with a confused expression and everyone burst out laughing. He turned to Corey. “There were pockets of survivors.”

He walked over to the table and unrolled a large map of Ampeliagia. Everyone gathered around except for Brashtor who continued to stand guard over Najwa. “Here in the north on Dagan Island, spreading out from this site.” Manifus pointed to an X on the page.

“Here at Port Destin and Sissepaas River Region.” He traced his finger to the east and pointed at the second X. “Livingstone lost only a few hundred, mostly the royals and bards and the High Castle, Watshfeau inhabitants.” He tapped the X over Livingstone. “The Gol Massif Region survived with hardly any deaths, the sickness barely touched them, compared to what we have seen in this timeline. Western Coastal towns had a smattering of survivors. The Tree Dwellers withdrew from contact with the floor dwellers in the Darchewud when the sickness came and weathered it well. The Floor Dwellers were hit hard, but a few survived.”

He traced his finger over the map. “The Southern Plains and Schuldig Keep also had few fatalities.”

“So basically, there were survivors everywhere,” Starlythe confirmed. “Ampeliagia will survive and rebuild.”

Manifus nodded.

“But only if we act,” Dirk said. “I conferred with Schmitz and Wallace and there are a few things you need to know.”

The group turned their attention to Dirk.

“Corey was not exaggerating the danger of this thing we are about to do, if we decide to do it. When Manifus, Eunavae, and I jumped time, we were basically in three places at once. Here in Spear Cathair twice, and at Heartwork Village. It’s as though splitting ourselves across timelines has drained our strength. I feel like I’m recovering from a long illness or something.”

Manifus nodded and Krenne pressed into him, concern doused her features.

“It will be physically draining,” Manifus agreed.

“More importantly, there is no way to guarantee that the vaccine will survive the jump. There needs to be a contingency plan,” Dirk said.

“Like what?” Krenne asked.

“We will have to stay and seed the population,” Corey murmured.

“Come again?” Eunavae said.

“We will have to stay, marry, have babies, lots of them for as long as we live in that timeline. We will have to ensure that our DNA is deposited thoroughly into our descendants.”

Eunavae’s mouth popped open with a huff of air. “That is asking a lot.”

Starlythe turned to Staid. “Want to exchange a kingdom for a world?”

“We will do it,” he said, wrapping his arm around his wife.

Krenne and Manifus held each other tightly and seemed lost in each other’s eyes.

“Yes. We will go,” Krenne breathed.

Stealthlin and Candol had not released each other since he first burst into the room. “As long as we are together, it doesn’t matter where or when we live,” Stealthlin volunteered.

The Cheleuthi had spoken. They were devoted to saving Ampeliagia.

The Keepers searched each other’s eyes with fear and indecision.

“They cannot seed all of Ampeliagia. We need at least three more couples,” Corey said.

Trip turned to Tara. “Tara, you are my partner in battle. Will you take this challenge with me? Will you jump with me to save Ampeliagia and become my life partner, wife, and mother of our children?”

Tears welled up in Tara’s eyes. “Trip,” she whispered and pressed her forehead into his chest.

Everyone looked away in various directions. Eunavae’s eyes clamped on Corey. His face was drawn into such sadness as he looked back at her. He shook his head and broke eye contact with her.

“Now, we have a greater sacrifice amongst us,” Corey said. “From those of us left, we need to form two more teams.” He locked eyes with Eunavae, Drayse, Dirk, and Brashtor. “I know there are no love connections between the rest of you. If the vaccine does not survive the jump, you will be forced to become a partner with someone you may not even like.” His eyes flitted over to Najwa.

“Wait, what are you saying?” Dirk asked. “Do you mean one of us is going to have to team up with her?” He pointed to Najwa.

“If Kate were here, we would volunteer. But I have no idea how long it will take to find her, even if I can. I will never stop looking for her.” He scrubbed his face with his hand. “I will never be able to love another woman. It just isn’t in me. You all know this. It wouldn’t be fair for me to ask you to spend a lifetime in a loveless marriage.” He smiled sadly at Eunavae.

She nodded and cast her eyes down.

“So, yes. We have two beautiful women here and they need to choose a husband out of the remaining men.”

Eunavae fidgeted nervously and looked into the faces of Dirk, Brashtor, and Drayse. She barely knew any of them and now she was faced with the choice of selecting one to possibly father a generation. Her mouth fell open and she huffed an incredulous breath. “Oh. My. God!”

The tension in the room broke with the nervous laughter.

“Okay, Eunavae, can I have a word in private?” Drayse took her hand.

She looked up at him and her cheeks flushed as she drew an unsteady breath and nodded. He led her out into the night.

Najwa’s face locked on Corey’s. “Corey, I can make you forget her,” she whispered. “I do have feelings for you, I wasn’t faking that. I will go with you to this new world and we can start over. In time you —”

Corey’s nostrils flared and he ground his teeth together. Tara leapt over to Najwa and slapped her across the face.

“That was for Kate. Don’t you ever speak to him, again!” she growled in her ear. “I have quite a history for killing beasts and you wouldn’t even register on my remorse scale!” She whipped out her knife and pressed it to Najwa’s ear.

Najwa stiffened, defiance clenched her jaw.

Heartbeats counted the silent moments as the two women glared at one another. No one moved.

Finally, Trip touched Tara’s back.

“Tara, come on.” He wrapped his fingers around Tara’s wrist and gently coaxed her away.

Eunavae and Drayse stepped back through the door. “Well, it’s official. We are engaged to be married if all else fails and we need to procreate and replenish the planet,” she announced drily.

“Congratulations.” Starlythe matched her tone, clearly unimpressed.

Trip snorted. Dirk let out a “Ha!” Then everyone broke apart at the hilarity of the statement.

Corey smiled and studied Eunavae. She cast her eyes up at Drayse and he saw the kindling of something wonderful in her expression.

The room stilled when everyone realized that Najwa was the only one left. Dirk sighed. “Brashtor, let’s do this together. We will take her with us and let nature take its course. Maybe we will get lucky and the vaccine will survive.”

Brashtor glanced at Najwa, then nodded.

“Okay, then. Let’s assign regions to the teams, then you can start packing and preparing for the jump,” Corey said with a heavy sigh.

Tara and Trip stayed near Corey, refusing to allow him to be alone in his sorrow. They moved into his cabin, tended to his needs as he tended to the villagers, and spent every night on his front porch, star gazing. They sat and listened to the crickets and croakers and distant howlers singing night songs.

The stars mocked Corey. They twinkled with the light of Kate’s eyes and promised peace, when he knew Kate had none. He scowled into the offensive sky and dared the moon to join in their scoffs.

“Where will you start?” Trip whispered, his arm draped over Tara’s shoulder.

“I honestly have no idea. I will have to hope she reaches out to me. She could be anywhere and until I get a signal from her, I would be jumping in vain.”

“If Najwa did her job as well as I suspect she did, Kate may believe that you have moved on,” Tara whispered and grasped his hand.

“Gregory probably encouraged her to believe that too.”

“When you spoke to her last, what was her mindset?” Corey asked Tara.

“She was heartbroken and confused, but there was a part of her that refused to believe that you no longer loved her.” Tara leaned her head against Trip’s shoulder and turned her face to Corey. “Najwa told her unbearable lies about you.”

“Yes, she told me lies about Kate, too. I didn’t believe them, though.” He shifted his weight and shuffled his feet on the step below the one he was seated on. “Do you think she will keep faith with me? Do you think she will remember our love is eternal? How could she doubt it?”

“Najwa has planted doubt seedlings into her for two years. She’s watered them…”

“And fertilized them,” Trip grumbled.

“Exactly. Kate’s doubt is likely full grown and producing seeds of its own by now.”

“Kate…Kate…come home to me,” Corey moaned in agony. “Contact me, Kate.”

WHY? WHY DID
he throw me away? Did I outlive my usefulness? Was I a bad wife? What could I have done differently?
Kate scoured her brain trying to make sense of Corey’s change of heart. She had tossed and turned in the canopy bed all night long, unable to go back to sleep after sleeping all day. Even if she had been tired, her mind would not let her rest.

Her arms ached, a strange sensation, as though she had been holding onto something with all of her might, only to have it ripped away from her. The pain in her arms was nothing compared to the gnawing horror in her chest. It grew so strong at times she couldn’t breathe and then for some reason it would recede and hide in a dark corner of her soul until a memory or thought unleashed its fury again. Then she would double over in paralyzed agony, unable to take in air. Tears came and went, never releasing her from the pain, just soaking her pillows in damp hopelessness.