Part 18 (2/2)
Dr. Ford's fuzzy eyebrows were raised as he looked at Abbey. ”Don't you want to know what Mantis is up to? I thought he was trying to kill one of you.”
”Yes, of course I do. But I just don't know what we're going to find out. Mantis isn't going to tell us anything.” Abbey stopped abruptly as Dr. Ford threw his arm across her chest. Sanome had sunk to the ground in front of them. Ahead of them-or fifty meters below them, rather-in a small treed ravine, stood Mantis and Jake. They appeared to be waiting for someone.
Abbey and Dr. Ford dropped to a crouch and Simon and Mark followed suit. A stream that drew water from the pond ran through the center of the ravine, creating enough noise that their approach hadn't been heard. The man and boy stood by an old, unlit fire pit circled by stumps, discussing something in low tones.
Dr. Ford motioned them away from the edge of the ravine. The underbrush was lusher in this part of the forest, probably because of the pond. Wild blackberry and s...o...b..rry bushes grew up all around them. If not for the path, they wouldn't have been able to make their way around the pond. There was an opening in one of the bushes and they pushed their way into it. The thorns tore at Abbey's skin and hair. They found themselves in a small clearing, like a little room, large enough for the four of them to stand within arm's reach.
Once they were all huddled in the clearing, Dr. Ford spoke softly. ”Now we wait, and see who they're meeting. Probably best to stay hidden, in case the person they're meeting approaches from this direction.”
”But won't Mantis figure we followed him?” Simon said.
The wild tips of Dr. Ford's hair almost seemed to quiver in the dim light. ”Sylvain doesn't believe me capable of a lot. He probably a.s.sumes I took you home, or had an anxiety attack or epileptic seizure on the spot. But the good news is I think Sanome stopped us before he could've seen us.”
”And is there a reason he should be thinking one of those things might have happened?” asked Simon.
Abbey noticed the medic alert bracelet dangling from Dr. Ford's wrist.
”Don't worry. I should be fine. We'll get through this.”
”Is Mantis a powerful witch, Dr. Ford?” More powerful than you? Abbey thought.
Dr. Ford's temporary good mood evaporated. He sighed and rubbed the s.p.a.ce between his eyes. ”Yes, he is. Because he's an egomaniac, and egomaniacs are powerful witches because they believe everything good should come to them and so it does. But the universe can turn on them sometimes. We just need to wait for that to happen to Mantis.”
”Let's hope it happens at a convenient time for us, then,” muttered Simon, his mouth set in a narrow line. ”I'll go do a quick check of the ravine.” He vanished through the small entranceway, scarcely disturbing the briars on either side of him.
Mark had seemingly recovered from his nausea and stood with his back to them, drawing patterns in the dirt with a stick. Abbey shook her head. It didn't make sense that Mark had been sick because his future self had been among the dancers. If this was his future, how could his future also be in Nowhere?
She decided to voice her confusion aloud. ”I don't get it, Dr. Ford. If this is Mark's future, how can he also end up in Nowhere? He has two futures?”
”Actually, yes. This is where the stones get confusing, because they show many possible futures. This could be his future, until his current younger self does something to create a paradox, and then this will cease to be his future. Both remain possible futures at this point. ”
”So, the first theory you were talking about is the right one. There are multiple universes and timelines?”
”No, I don't think so. I myself subscribe to the second theory,” said Dr. Ford. ”Right now your timelines and future, and mine for that matter, are not set-not completely, anyway. They're evolving based on our choices and the choices of those around us. Once you make those choices, some futures cease to be possibilities, and others open up. The stones are meant as a learning device, to investigate possible futures.”
Simon re-emerged through the opening and shook his head to indicate that Mantis and Jake remained alone. ”I'm going to take up a watch in the shadows just beside the briar patch here,” he said. ”I can hear you if you need me, but otherwise keep your voices down.”
Abbey turned back to Dr. Ford. ”So, are we in the future then? The actual future?”
”Well, there's the rub, really.” Dr Ford clasped his hands together as if he were giving a lecture in a cla.s.sroom and enjoying it. ”Is this the future, or a projection of it? What we do know is that you can only change your future timeline with the choices you make for yourself in your present timeline. Changing your present timeline is always an option open to you, just as it's always an option open to everyone. But if you interfere with future timelines, then you create a paradox. The rule of the stones is 'look but don't touch'. If you were to die or be killed on this side of the stones, would you show up dead in your present time, simply disappear, or reappear in your own timeline unharmed? That we don't know. We're pretty sure those who create a paradox go to Nowhere to stay. We have witnesses who've seen them there in their own future visions.”
Abbey rubbed her forehead. She wished she had a paper and pen so she could sketch out the timelines. Or write out some equations or something. She didn't know what kind of equations, but something that could at least be balanced and solved would be comforting right now. ”But if we can do something that affects the future timeline, then surely we are in the future, the real future. Because otherwise how could we affect the timeline?”
Dr. Ford pursed his lips and lowered his eyebrows at this but didn't reply.
Abbey continued, ”How does Mantis have a meeting set up in this future? He has to have been here before, which means this must be one of his possible futures, too, and Jake was also in Simon's future, so is that Jake's future too? I thought you said he was dead in the future.”
Dr. Ford stepped to the side as Mark started to draw some wide arcs with his stick. ”Camels can go wherever they want as long as they're dead in the futures in question. In theory, Jake can open portals to a whole bunch of futures for Mantis, which would be exactly what Mantis wants. Camels are rare because you have to find someone who has witch blood, who's dead in the future, and who's willing to help you-and most witches wouldn't be willing to help. It's taboo in witching circles to be a camel, and it was forbidden by the Witching Guild long ago because it means you're interfering with the timeline. We used to have a slang saying a few decades ago-'Don't smoke'. It's a play on Camel cigarettes... Smokes, get it? It means don't break the rules. But it also means don't die. Witches used to send each other off with that saying.” Abbey recalled the scrawl in her mother's yearbook: Don't smoke. And Sandy's words: ”You have to smoke on the docks.”
”But now,” Dr. Ford continued, with a grave heave of his small chest, ”we've lost too much of our heritage. We've all but died out. A lot of witches never had children. Knowing the future is apparently an effective form of birth control. Others went into hiding and tried to lead normal lives, never telling their children about their heritage. Most of the remaining witches don't even know they have witching blood, and they certainly don't know the rules or conventions, leaving them open to manipulation by people like Mantis.”
”But is there some future in which Jake isn't dead? Like near futures, say?”
”Yes, but not many. The best camels are those who are already dying of a disease, even if they don't know it yet. That way they won't be around for many futures. And besides, the stones tend to send you at least ten to twenty years into the future to some pivotal moment in your life.”
Abbey s.h.i.+vered. ”That's horrible. Is Mantis even going to tell him?”
Dr. Ford shrugged. ”The use of camels is forbidden.”
They stood in silence for a few minutes while Abbey tried to tie the strands of what she understood together. But she couldn't quite wind them.
”I don't get it,” she said finally, crossing her arms over her chest. ”Paradoxes have to involve some contradiction. Paradoxes in time travel usually involve someone going into the past and negating their own existence-or preventing the time travel from occurring in the first place, like if they went back and killed their grandfather and then were never born. What we're talking about is just changing the future, in the future. It may be against the rules, but it is not a paradox, not technically. Why is it called a paradox? I'd call it the timeline rule or something like that.”
Dr. Ford drew himself up to his full height and smoothed down his clothing, making sure everything was in place.
”Well, young lady, I'm not sure when you think you became an expert on the stones. I, for one, quite like the name. It's elegant and everybody knows what we're talking about when we say it. It only just got named a few years ago, based on a drawing I found in the ancient texts. The drawing was of a pair of docks, much like the one you showed me that Mrs. Forrester did for you. It may not be as technically sound as a physics major would have it, but it works, and it was obviously the name the ancients intended.”
Dr. Ford paused to give Abbey a huffy look and continued, ”We just figured out the rule in the last several decades. There are lots of gaps in knowledge between the ancients and us. We've only recently found some of the old texts. Witches had disappeared for years in the stones, but n.o.body knew why, or where they went. Because you can't stay in the future, you realize-the stones kick you back to your own time. You probably already experienced this.”
Abbey nodded.
”It wasn't until someone had a future in Nowhere, like Mark here, and found all the missing witches, that we finally realized what was happening, and could make the rule, and name it.”
”Are you sure it's right, though?” Abbey asked.
Dr. Ford appeared as though he'd been struck between the eyes with a mallet. ”Am I sure what's right?” he repeated.
”The paradox rule. Do you have enough data to support your conclusion? Have you run an experiment, or at least collected some qualitative data? Do you know for sure that all the witches in Nowhere tried to alter the timeline? Do you know if some witches have successfully altered the timeline and not gone to Nowhere? There could be a lot of other explanations. Aren't we, just by virtue of being here, changing the timeline somewhat? We fixed a computer on a s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p in Simon's timeline. And even if we do nothing, there's still the observer effect. Things change when you watch them. It just seems to me you might need to do some more data collection...” Abbey trailed off, as Dr. Ford was beginning to look as if his head might explode. Veins stuck out all over his forehead and his hair appeared almost electrically charged.
”Young lady, a paradox is not you simply showing up in the future and fixing a s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p,” he said severely. ”A paradox is you killing someone that would've otherwise remained alive. A paradox is you deliberately messing with some major political action or giving someone vital information. A paradox is big, and as a result, it's generally obvious. You could even potentially dispatch some minor thug and not create a paradox if that person wasn't important in the larger timeline.”
”Says the man who's never used the stones.” Abbey knew she was being impertinent, but she didn't care.
Dr. Ford drew a breath and was about to speak when Mark poked him with the stick and gestured at his drawing on the ground. Dr. Ford's eyes widened when he saw it.
”It's the map. The map of Coventry Hill on my office wall. He's replicated it line for line...” Dr. Ford paused and studied the map. ”It's identical, except here where Coventry Hill Stream normally runs...he's put a circle.”
Mark nodded and tapped that spot on the map. The circle in the dirt was neatly labeled BP. He gestured at the beaver pond just beyond them.
”I think he's trying to say that the BP on Mantis's photocopied map of Coventry Hill stands for Beaver Pond,” explained Abbey, ”and that it is in fact this beaver pond. Are you trying to say you think we're on Coventry Hill in the future?”
<script>