Timespell (18 page)

“I suppose we could use all the help we can get,” Angie said, studying him. “Do you have powers?”

“Some. Nothing like yours.”

Kaitlyn laughed. Some protector. “How can you protect us if we’re more powerful than you?”

“I can sense the creatures. More importantly, your magic can’t kill the creatures. Mine can.”

“That blows,” Kaitlyn muttered. It was always guys who got to kick ass. “So you can kill, but the weakling girls can’t?”

“You could kill them with a weapon,” he said, “if you wanted to train in combat. It’s just your magic that can’t kill them. The Fates never intended for the magic to be a tool for killing. It was a gift that their most devoted priestesses were able to pass on to their descendants. But with the Sorceress, and the creatures at her command, the Fates allowed the creation of guardians.”

“And the guardians have to be guys?” Kaitlyn asked.

“The Guardians of Time are created by the Daughters. I don’t know anything more than that.”

“I want to be my own guardian.”

“You can’t have everything, Kaitlyn.” Before she could reply, he continued, his voice flat and emotionless. “I’d trade my ability for yours.”

Kaitlyn turned away. Having
all
the abilities would be best.

“So, you were chosen?” Angie asked. “Not born into it, like Julia and I?”

His gaze sliced the air, finding Julia. “Why don’t you ask her?”

Kaitlyn’s breath came out long and slow. This guy was intense. She definitely planned on having a taste.

“Come on,” Angie said, grabbing the last pile of clothes and hurrying to Julia’s side. “Now that we’re together, we can find the portal.”

“No,” Ethan said. “You have to go back to the present.”

Angie’s sad lack of eyebrows came together. “Why?”

“Because you forgot to freeze time before you left, and
everyone back in the present is wondering what’s happened to you.”

Life was going on without them?

“Indira didn’t tell us to freeze time first,” Julia said.

“There’s a lot Indira didn’t tell us,” Angie said. She tugged on Julia’s corset lacings as Julia held up the panniers with a baffled expression. “I should have known.”

“Indira can go to hell for all I care,” Kaitlyn said. She’d had enough of this BS. “We have to go back.
Now.
My father will have all of Long Beach police looking for me.”

“But we’re here,” Angie said, “and the creatures are running loose.”

“We can take care of them after we freeze time,” Kaitlyn said. “We can come back.”

Julia bit her lip. “My mom is probably really worried. Maybe Kaitlyn’s right.”

“Wait,” Kaitlyn said. “Why don’t we just go back in time to the moment before we time-traveled. We could freeze time and pick up from there.”

Ethan said, “No,” as Angie shook her head.

“It doesn’t work that way,” Angie said. “The thread of time that we’re attached to is the only one that matters. If we go back to another thread, our actions will affect the present, but only as it currently exists.”

Julia gave her a blank stare. “Huh?”

Kaitlyn clenched her teeth. “She means going back to the moment before we froze time is no different than going to any other thread that isn’t our own true time. It’s no different than freezing time here in France. We have to be in
our
time—”

“Which is still moving forward, unfrozen,” Angie finished for her. Kaitlyn rolled her eyes. What were they now, twinsies?

Julia rubbed her palms against her eyes. “I still don’t get it. Is this a time-space continuum thing? Because I was never into
Star Trek.”

Ethan cursed, his head turning to the door again. “Enough. You can’t go back to the present right now, anyway.”

Julia frowned up at him.

“What’s wrong?” Angie asked.

“The minotaur has woken, and he’s calling the others.”

They
slid past the people frozen in the doorway. Julia was careful not to bump into them.

“Can you tell where they’re coming from?” Angie asked.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed, his irises swirling like storm clouds. “The gardens.”

Angie nodded. “Then that’s where the portal is.”

They raced through the wide, silent hallways. Ladders were propped against the wall every few steps, and workers stood motionless, paintbrushes and tools held in the middle of their various projects. It seemed like the place was going through some major remodeling.

“Hurry,” Ethan said. “More are coming through.”

Julia gasped, tripping in her huge dress and falling flat on her face. “Running,” she muttered. Could she ever escape it?

“Come on, Jules,” Ethan said, helping her up.

“I
hate
running.”

“I guess some things haven’t changed,” he said.

Julia frowned, but thinking and running weren’t possible at
the same time. All she knew was that she had to keep up, and Ethan knew which way to go.

They burst out onto an open courtyard. Julia spun around as she took in the vast, wide lawn. The whole place overflowed with time-frozen people. “What’s going on? Why are there so many people here?”

Angie stepped forward slowly. “The princess who came in earlier said that this is the day of Marie Antoinette’s official debut in Paris. Here’s the main courtyard, also called the Cour Napoléon. Well, not yet it isn’t. That building opposite us is the Louvre. Amazing, to see it in history.”

“Who the hell cares?” Kaitlyn said, flipping back her hair. “How do we find the creatures and get out of here?”

An ear-splitting roar shattered the silent world. Julia ducked down, covering her ears. Holy crap, that had been loud. When her heart vacated her throat she said,
“Please
tell me that wasn’t a minotaur.”

“I wish I could,” Ethan said.

“They’re after the princess,” said Angie, rushing into the crowd. “They’re after Marie Antoinette.”

“You’ve made it easy for them,” Ethan called out. “Unfreeze time first, so they’ll be forced to conceal themselves.”

Angie vanished in the mass of frozen bodies. Another roar echoed through the courtyard as a whole group of people crashed to the ground like human dominoes.

Crap.
“Come on, Kaitlyn,” Julia muttered, grabbing Kaitlyn’s arm and rushing into the crowd of living statues to catch up with Angie.

“Marie Antoinette dies someday anyway,” Kaitlyn yelled. “Who cares if it’s today?”

Julia’s fingers dug into Kaitlyn’s flesh. “Move it. You wanted to have the magic, now you have to do the work.”

The roar came again, but this time it was cut short as a blast of white light shot out from the depths of the crowd.

“Get off me,” Kaitlyn said, breaking free. “You don’t need me anyway. Superhero Angie is handling it.”

“Fine.” Julia spun around, wanting to scream. Why was Kaitlyn such a pain in the donkey? Julia stormed ahead, hating that everything was a fight, and especially hating that every single thing had to come with a new set of problems.

“The Fates won’t be happy if you don’t seal the portal,” Ethan said. “You can’t do that without your Sisters.”

Julia’s blood boiled. “So now I’m supposed to be Kaitlyn’s keeper? And what are the Fates going to do to us if we disobey? Send us back in time again? Force us to be invisible forever?”

Ethan looked at her like he didn’t know her, which made sense because he didn’t. His voice dropped to an ominous tone. “You should know better than anyone not to tempt the Fates.”

Julia couldn’t hold his gaze. A vision tried to surface in her mind. Ethan was familiar—why? She glanced up again, finding him watching her. Waiting.

“I’m sorry,” Angie said, running up to them. “I shouldn’t have left you.”

“It’s okay,” Julia said, taking a step back.

“I know we aren’t saving Marie Antoinette from the guillotine, but she isn’t supposed to die today. History could be changed forever. I was so stupid, though. I should have helped you unfreeze time first so the creatures would be forced to glamour themselves.”

“Explain later,” Julia said. “We have to find Kaitlyn.”

“She can’t have gotten far in the middle of all these people,” Angie said. “When we reach her, Journey us to the center of the crowd first. We’ll cast a spell of protection over the royal couple before we unfreeze time.”

Julia caught sight of Kaitlyn, stumbling against the frozen bodies. “Kaitlyn,” she cried, hurrying up.

“No. I’m done,” Kaitlyn said, not slowing down. “Time travel us back or forget it. I’m not giving you two any more of my magic. Not a drop.”

Angie peered behind them. “What’s that?”

Julia listened. Grunting. And dull, rhythmic thuds. She shut her eyes and used her connection to see Ethan, his teeth bared as he fought off two hideous, fur-covered creatures.

“Ethan!”

She tried to run back to him but Angie grabbed her, shooting a flare of magic through her arm. “We have to protect the prince and princess.”

“But—”

“It’s why we’re here. It’s why the thread opened up to this particular time in history, don’t you see? Journey us to the center of the crowd. Now.”

Julia struggled to catch her breath. Angie couldn’t hold on to both her and Kaitlyn forever, and Ethan needed help. But protecting the past was what they were here for. She let the image of Ethan melt away and drew in their magic.

The courtyard was enormous, easily as big as four or five football fields, filled from end to end with people. She needed to find the prince and princess in this mess. The magic waited for her to Journey them, but where to?

She saw a squared off space in the center of the mob, with guards holding people back. Two people stood behind the guards. They had to be the prince and princess.

Journeying was a much more slippery power than freezing time, but she had taken them from California to Paris. She could definitely cross them over this crowd.

“This is taking forever,” Kaitlyn muttered.

Julia lost her concentration. “She’s always starting crap with me.”

“I know. You have to ignore her. You have a job to do.”

“Hello?” Kaitlyn sounded shocked. “I can
hear
you!”

Julia bristled. “Unfortunately, we can hear you too.” She gathered the magic again, this time letting all her thoughts fall away except one. They needed to reach Marie Antoinette.

In a flash the world went dark and noiseless. A pale glow
appeared with images of the entire world crammed into the space of that one pinprick of light. Julia could go anywhere she wanted. She concentrated on the royal couple, letting the rest of the world spin away as she released the magic. For one fleeting second she didn’t know how to orient herself. They tumbled onto the grass in the center of the courtyard. Julia somersaulted over and over until she slammed into a guard and knocked him over.

“Ow”

She sucked at Journeying.

Angie sat up, brushing grass and hair from her face. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Julia said, doing her best to fix the statue-man.

“I’m
not okay,” Kaitlyn said. “You need to work on that power.”

“You’re one to talk,” Julia snapped back.

Angie put her head in her hands. “I guess you’re both just fine.”

“Is that Marie Antoinette?” Kaitlyn asked, peering at the frozen figures in the center of the crowd. “She doesn’t look any older than us.”

“She’s seventeen years old,” Angie said.

“So are you, Angie. Today,” Julia said. “Happy birthday.”

Angie’s cheeks turned pink. “Thank you.”

“So bizarre,” Julia said, eyeing the frail-looking girl. “The future queen. She looks like a little kid.”

Angie nodded. “Already married to the heir to the throne for three years.”

“Married,” Julia echoed.

“Can we get on with this?” Kaitlyn asked.

“Wait.” Julia looked into the crowd of reaching, grasping hands. “Ethan.” She stood up, almost falling over in her gown. Where was he? She didn’t see any sign of him. “Ethan!”

“Just summon him over, all-powerful Julia,” Kaitlyn said.

Julia swallowed and closed her eyes. Crap, crap,
crap.
What had she done the last time?

“What’s wrong? Can’t do it?” Kaitlyn asked, her voice dripping like acid.

“Shut up.”
Okay. Picture Ethan. Picture Ethan.

She saw him. A minotaur lay still at his feet. She gasped as another one punched him in the face.

“Ethan!”

He ducked another blow and raised his hands. Magic collected in his palms and shot out like lightning bolts. Before the minotaur hit the ground, his eyes found hers.
Summon me!

She thrust out her hands.
Find me, Wanderer.

Her hands filled with the familiar icy chill and, a moment later, the cool presence of his fingers interlaced with hers.

She opened her eyes, impatient as the silver mist filled in his body first, then his arms and neck and finally his face.

Relief flooded her as he pulled her close. “I hate watching you disappear.”

Her hands slid up his arms. Sticky warmth met her and she drew back. “You’re bleeding.”

“Julia, we have to hurry,” Angie said. “The spell of protection, remember?”

“But Ethan’s hurt.”

“We can use restore.”

“Later,” Ethan said. “For now, do what you’re meant to do.”

Julia started to object but a roar pierced the silence.

“Another minotaur,” Angie whispered. “Hold up your hands. Once we cast the spell, we’ll unfreeze time. The creature will be forced to glamour, and most likely return to the portal. We’ll follow it.”

They held out their hands. Julia closed her eyes as light shot forward, coating the royal couple until magic drizzled over them like frosting.

The minotaur roared again. Julia’s eyes found Ethan’s.

“Unfreeze time,” he said. “Now!”

Angie
gripped Julia’s hand as the sounds and smells of thirty thousand people assaulted her senses. She searched her friend’s wide eyes. Julia’s lips formed words, but they were drowned out in the noise around them.