Time Walker Read online

  Finn was just outside the stable doors now. Even as Beth became aware that everything was happening too slowly, Bryan’s head snapped up to see the tracker. His eyes widened and he started to yell.

  Bethany’s head turned, but she didn’t look at Finn. No, she looked straight at Beth. She still had her hand tangled in Bryan’s hair.

  “Finn, no!” Bryan yelled.

  Finn reached for Bryan as if to yank him away from Bethany.

  Bethany smiled at Beth.

  Then the still-entwined couple disappeared.

  Finn slammed into the Beast’s stall, running right past where Bryan and Bethany once stood, perhaps unable to stop his forward momentum. He caught himself on one knee and hand, his sword still raised in the other.

  The compulsion that had held Beth in place evaporated. She stumbled, unaware she’d been pressing forward, but she managed not to fall.

  Finn looked up. He sought and found Beth’s eye.

  She stared at him. He straightened.

  Bethany had taken Bryan.

  Beth dropped the sack filled with food. It spilled open and the apple bounced away over the snow, but she didn’t see it.

  Finn stepped toward her. She could see him forming words with his lips, perhaps saying something like, “I’m sorry,” but she was falling forward now. She fell to her knees in the snow.

  Bryan.

  Bethany had taken Bryan.

  He’d kissed her, for some reason. Kissed her like he loved her, and then she’d taken him. And the compulsion. Who had that been for? Because it didn’t seem to affect Bethany. Had Bryan’s magic been intended to keep her away, or had Bethany developed an immunity? Was that even possible, developing an immunity to something like compulsion? She knew that blood siblings had a natural immunity to each other … she’d been taught that … but …

  Panic filled her, but Beth didn’t actually feel it this time. It didn’t choke her like it had before. This time, it just rose in a white wave that blanked out her thoughts, her feelings, and her sight. She let herself be swept away in the wave, as she fainted the rest of the way to the ground.

  ∞

  Beth slept. Her body had just shut her down, and once shut down, it decided that some sleep would be a good idea. She didn’t have much say in the matter, being momentarily blissfully unaware that all her siblings had been kidnapped by her supposedly older self. She wasn’t sure how long she floated in the whiteness, but eventually she became aware that she was sleeping, and once she was aware, she began to worry about waking. If she woke, everything would be as it was before. Theo would never, ever forgive her for losing her siblings … Theo would know the second she came home and looked at Beth, she’d know the darkness that was hidden in her, like a deep, dark lake in the woods, hidden but fundamental … her mother would know that Beth was Bethany, even if Bethany wasn’t Beth … no wait, that was wrong, wasn’t it? Bethany was her, but she wasn’t Bethany … She wasn’t Bethany. Theo would know —

  “Theo isn’t coming to rescue anyone.” A voice that might have been her own whispered through the utter whiteness of her sleep. “She won’t make it in time, and they’re all going to die. It’ll be your fault, of course.”

  Beth sprang awake and pressed her hand to her right ear. The ear had felt warm just for a moment, like —

  Finn, who’d obviously been sleeping a moment before, sprung out of his seat and pushed her back into the depths of her chair. Then he stood in front of her, defending her from pending attack.

  The library was empty.

  The fire was low. It was full dark outside. The voice, her voice, still echoed in her head.

  “It was just a dream,” she whispered, and she tried to shake off the dread and sleepiness.

  “Are you sure?” Finn asked, his shoulders stiff as he looked about warily. His clothes were rumpled. He’d pulled his chair close to hers, as close to the fire as they could comfortably sit … then she remembered … Bryan.

  Beth sprang forward. Finn’s back blocked her way. She spun and climbed up over the back of the chair, but he was there too quickly and had her by the arm. She wrenched away from him, the entire sleeve of her sweater coming off in his hand. Her clothing, still crispy from the fire, was flaking off her, but she didn’t remotely care.

  Finn — surprised he’d lost hold of her — stumbled back a couple of steps as she made a dash toward the library doors. But then he was in front of her again. He didn’t touch her this time; he simply blocked her way.

  Beth slammed her open palms against his chest, but he didn’t move an inch. Her wrists ached, she’d hit him so hard.

  She tried to sidestep around him. The white wave of panic rose again.

  Finn wrapped his arms around her. She struggled and struggled, but she was fighting the white wave in her mind even more than she was fighting him.

  “No, Beth.” Finn’s voice knifed through the panic threatening to overtake her. “You are not going for the sword. You promised Bryan.”

  She collapsed against him, refusing to sob, refusing to allow herself to faint into oblivion. She didn’t deserve to be at peace.

  “We’ll take the Beast ourselves, and ride to the city. I was just waiting for you to wake.”

  “He won’t bear me!” she yelled in frustration, and slammed her forehead into Finn’s chest.

  “What? He’s a horse —”

  “He never would, all these years. He hates me. Like that carpet hates me!” She pointed to the carpet waiting by the door. She was sure it was spying on her now.

  “Beth.” She could tell by the tone of Finn’s voice that he thought she’d really lost it. “Horses, and carpets, don’t hate.”

  “It’s the magic. My magic. And the Beast and the carpet are magic. Don’t you see? It’s all Spirit’s fault! And he was kissing her! Kissing her, like he wanted to be kissing her.” Her voice was muffled against Finn’s shirt. She was aware that she was practically pressing her body against his, but she didn’t stop, didn’t want to stop. What did it all matter now, anyway?

  “Right. I saw the kissing. I also thought it was … perhaps Bryan has unresolved feelings … all right, then, maybe never mind that discussion now. We wait or we go. Those are the choices.” Finn sounded way too rational for Beth’s liking, but she felt the panic easing, as if she was pulling strength from him.

  “Can you still feel them near?” she asked, finally grabbing back onto her sanity. His shirt was crumpled underneath her clawed fingers, and she relaxed her grasp to smooth the fabric, just a little.

  “Yes. It’s driving me crazy. I’m surprised I was able to sleep … it’s like they’re right here but I can’t see them.”

  Beth thought about it all — everything that had happened up to this point. She let all the images flood through her head. Finn’s heart was beating steadily against her ear. She let the thoughts build up. Tamping down the panic while she acknowledged everything that had happened, only then could she address what had to happen next.

  “I think I can be rational now,” she murmured.

  “Does that mean I should let go of you? Step back?”

  “You probably should.”

  “Probably?”

  “Well, I am a little cold everywhere you aren’t touching me.”

  Finn made a noise low in his throat that resonated through his chest, something that sounded almost primal. He tightened his arms around Beth. She felt a flutter in her belly, like it was answering him on some instinctual level. But then he shook his head, and laughed lightly.

  “I’m not surprised. Your clothing is pretty much falling off you.”

  “Oh.”

  “I wouldn’t want anyone to think …wouldn’t want you to think that I took advantage.”

  “No?” She smiled against his chest.

  “No,” he sighed. But when he stepped back from her, he didn’t immediately drop his arms. Beth looked up at him. He was glancing over her shoulder as if gazing out the window, but he didn’t actually see
m to be looking at anything in particular. She thought it might be a good idea to change the subject, and maybe get changed into some less ruined clothing.

  “Where does she go when she disappears?” Beth asked, more to herself than to Finn.

  “What do you think about when you open the locks?” he asked as he dropped his hands from her shoulders. It was a strange and off-topic question, but Beth thought about it anyway. He wasn’t looking at her yet, so she thought it okay to continue to gaze up at him. He needed to shave; the hair on his face was darker than that on his head.

  “I don’t really think of anything …”

  “They knew I was a warrior early on … I think that’s one of the reasons my parents, Ren specifically, adopted us. I was a warrior like him, and Calla was a healer like Peony.”

  Beth felt a tiny thrill at the thought that Finn might share his adoption story with her. It wasn’t something any of them did often. She wondered if he and Calla had lost their parents, as they all had — other than Bryan and Rose, who had come to Theo and Hugh before the Rising at Aerie Ridge — because of the magical surge that had also Spirit Bound them all.

  Finn still gazed over her shoulder, but he was looking inward, not out. “But they didn’t know about the whole Spirit Bound thing then, I don’t think. Or at least they didn’t know it would manifest different powers as well.”

  “Like Rose, Ari, and Tyson being elementals, when such a thing had never existed before.”

  “Yeah. And like Calla not only being a crazy powerful healer, but an empath as well.”

  “And their powers are only just manifesting.”

  “Exactly. Who knows how powerful any of us will be in five or ten years?”

  “If we all survive this,” Beth said with a shudder. Finn raised his hands as if to rub her arms, but then let them drop. She was disappointed.

  “Right. My point is, I didn’t know either. And obviously I’m still working it all out. How I track. They didn’t even know I was doing it when I was younger, except no one I knew could hide from me —”

  “That would have made you popular at children’s parties.”

  Finn dropped his eyes to Beth’s and laughed. He reached forward and twined his fingers in hers, both hands. She felt like collapsing into his warmth once again. “You should change,” he said.

  “I want to hear the end of the story.”

  “All right. It’s difficult to mentor a power that no one else has.”

  “That’s why we’re lucky to have Theo.”

  “Yes, I can see how that would be helpful, having someone who can look inside your head like that. Same with your grandmother. But just because they’re in your head, doesn’t mean they can help you control the power.”

  “Or even understand it.” Beth hated the bitterness that laced that last statement the moment she heard it, but she couldn’t take it back. Finn ignored it.

  “In my Dad’s case, he’s just impervious to magic. He doesn’t control it at all.”

  “Most wielder powers are like that, aren’t they? They just exist?”

  “Yeah, but strength and agility can be increased. Invulnerability or healing are just what they are.”

  “Okay, but tracking?”

  “Is something I can hone, like you practice.”

  “Theo sets up scenarios.”

  “When I want to find something, I think about finding it. I direct my … energy toward the person or animal — it doesn’t work on inanimate objects — and I think about finding it. I had to learn to do it by choice, and figure out how to follow the instinctual impulses.”

  “Okay.” Beth wasn’t completely sure where Finn was going with all of this.

  “So in the same way, you must have to think about something when you use your power. You think about the lock being open, at least.”

  Oh. They were back to her, and her useless power. “Of course I do. I don’t see how that helps —”

  “She’s older than you.”

  “Right. Like she comes from the future.”

  “So, how did she get here?”

  “By a portal of some sort, I imagine.”

  “That would take a huge amount of magic. Probably multiple spellcasters, and maybe even blood magic. If the blood was powerful enough to begin with. I’m not sure it’s even possible to send someone through time.”

  “And blood magic is illegal.” Using blood in a spell, especially the blood of a person as powerful as the Spirit Binder, was dangerous and unpredictable enough that the Apex had outlawed the practice when she’d risen to power over forty years ago.

  “Right,” Finn laughed. “Well, we have no idea about that in the future. My point is, every time she moves — you know, appears and disappears — she doesn’t have access to a group of spellcasters, so it must be something she can do. Something maybe you already do.”

  “When I think about a lock being open?” Beth was having a difficult time following Finn’s train of thought, but then her power had always been a murky subject for her.

  “You think about the lock being open,” he whispered, and then paused as if waiting for her to put it all together.

  “You think she’s a time traveler.”

  “I think she walks through time, yes.”

  “That’s impossible.”

  “So were elementals.”

  “I think about the lock being open.”

  “Maybe … just maybe … you think about the last time the lock was open. Or the next time the lock will be open?”

  “Like you think about finding the person, you mean? You find them in your mind, and then you go there.”

  “Yes.”

  “You mean I find the lock open, and I go there,” Beth was whispering now as all the pieces started coming together in her head. “Not all of me, or someone would have noticed. Just the lock.”

  “Which is what you’re concentrating on.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yes.”

  “You think she’s a time walker.”

  “I think you are.”

  Beth let that statement knock around in her head, which suddenly felt empty of any other thought … or fear.

  “How is this going to help us find her? Figure out where she goes?”

  “We don’t want to find her yet. Not until we have our parents at our backs. But then, I think your power might work a lot like mine.”

  Finn was looking intently down at her now, and as Beth stared into his eyes, she felt the relief of knowing. Knowing what she was, knowing why the Chancellor had cloistered for hours with her parents after her Rite of Passage reading — or lack of reading. She was … she was …

  … currently holding her siblings ransom against her younger self.

  What could have happened to make her so callous with their lives? Maybe it was all a bluff? But then she thought about the knife slicing across Calla’s throat. She thought of Rose, an earth elemental and a poor swimmer, in the icy water. It wasn’t a bluff.

  “I’ve never wanted to be a mind mage, not until I met you.” Finn’s voice pulled her out of the endless mind loop she’d been starting to obsess over. “And I never have any idea what you’re thinking unless you want me to know, and usually then you’re scowling or glaring at me. Are you all right?”

  “No, and something tells me the future only gets worse.”

  “Her future.”

  “You don’t believe in destiny or fate?” Beth asked.

  “For some, I guess. But when you can walk through time, what do you think?”

  “How much do you think she’s tried to change?”

  “All of it,” Finn said. “Unsuccessfully.”

  “And now she needs the sword.”

  “And why would a person like her need such a weapon?”

  “To kill someone,” Beth whispered, not wanting to acknowledge the full answer even as it bloomed in her mind.

  “Someone more powerful than her,” Finn added.

  “It’s a short list.�
� She looked up into Finn’s eyes, and saw he knew the answer as well as she did.

  Theo.

  Only Theo was more powerful than someone who could manipulate time. The Time Walker, Bethany. She wanted to kill her adoptive mother, Theo.

  “We have to find them all before our parents return. Bryan and Rose. Ari, Tyson, Calla.”

  “No. You just need to leave the sword where it is.”

  “So, we just wait?”

  “Our parents will come.”

  “She could start killing them. Calla —”

  “Is fine. I can still feel her. The connection is dampened, but my sister is still alive.”

  “But —”

  “Bethany will appear again. She’ll taunt us some more before she gets to killing anyone.”

  “You think we still have time.”

  “I think you’ll never be out of it.”

  “That’s a little over confident. I can open locks.”

  “And move really quickly if you really need to.” Like she had with Rose, he meant, and the earthquake. Finn was right. Beth had no idea how to do anything — short of just giving into Bethany’s demands — but wait. Oddly enough, though, she felt better, more grounded inside … except for the waiting.

  The waiting was impossible, and familiar at the same time … endless waiting … unable to fix things herself … but she had no idea where that feeling came from …

  “So, new clothes?” Finn asked with an easy grin, and Beth couldn’t help but offer him a small smile in return. Changing clothes would help with the waiting …

  CHAPTER NINE

  “You can feel them all together? She has them all grouped together?”

  “Yes.”

  “All that power in one place, and none of them able to get free?”

  “That’s one of the reasons we wait.”

  “Right. It has nothing to do with the fact that we have no idea how to get to them.”

  Three elementals, a spirit tamer, and an empathetic healer … how powerful was she in the future to be able to hold those five at bay? Or maybe she was just really good at being sneaky. Or maybe Bethany was such a more powerful version of herself that she had no chance of …