Part 19 (2/2)

Abbey tried to bolt, but got tangled up in some blackberry thorns, and Mantis was fast. He hooked his large hands under her armpits, and she had the queer sensation of being grasped by a stick insect. Mantis carried her back to the stump and placed her in a sitting position.

”Now, now then,” said Mantis, almost clucking. ”No need to run. We're all friends here. You know Jake, I understand.”

”Not personally,” Abbey said with a glare. ”The others will be down to look for me any second.”

Mantis chuckled. ”Your older brother looks like he might fight for you, but the other two are pretty much a wash. I need your help. You won't be hurt, my dear girl, I promise-as long as you cooperate. I just need you and Jake to try something out for me so we can help out your brother Caleb and his people. You do want to help them, don't you? Such a pity what's happening in this future.”

”What do you mean- 'what's happening in this future'? What do you need my help with?” asked Abbey. You've got to be kidding, she thought. And yet it seemed that the future Caleb truly did need something from Mantis.

Mantis clapped his hands together. ”Well, as I'm sure my dear friend Dr. Ford has already told you, Jake here can go to any future. But I don't like the term 'camel'. I feel it's derogatory, and doesn't give enough emphasis to the special nature of individuals who can move between worlds.”

Abbey studied Jake. He was handsome and beefy in that curly-haired, jock-like way, in his Levis and red warm-up jacket. He certainly didn't appear to be wasting away from some unknown disease. ”Jake has kindly agreed to transport your brother's people to another future. We just need you to help him test whether the pa.s.sageway is open before your brother returns.”

Abbey scrunched up her eyes. ”Pa.s.sageway to where? And what happens if it isn't open? And more importantly, do we get to come back?”

”Of course you get to come back, dear girl. The whole thing should take five minutes, tops. You'll be there and back before you know it. We just need to confirm that Jake can, in fact, transport people. You know the stones take you between times, from the present to the future and back again. Docks take you laterally from one future to another...but only the special people like Jake here can use them. Kind of like a modern-day Moses.”

Jake blanched at this, and his skin seemed chalky against his dark curls. Abbey didn't feel rea.s.sured. Sandy's words now made sense. You have to smoke on the docks. Camels used the docks. But how was this relevant to Sandy? Unless camels could rescue people from Nowhere using the docks...

”What if I don't want to help you?” Abbey suspected this was a dangerous question.

Mantis remained perfectly chipper, but he took a step closer to her so his eyes were inches from her own. His lips curved up in a satisfied manner, like a wolf that had already gorged itself on its prey. ”But I think you do want to help your brother. This future is crumbling, and they can no longer find enough food to survive. He's found a solution, which he's arranged with me. But some of his own people are trying to kill him. He would want you to help him.” Mantis blinked his eyes almost pleadingly, and nodded his head as if the decision had already been made, as if he were hypnotizing her.

Abbey felt herself wilting, wanting to help Caleb.

”Aha! We've got you!” Dr. Ford leapt out of the bushes followed by Simon and Mark, who each carried sharpened sticks. ”We've got you red-handed, for child abduction. I'm going to report this to the authorities.”

Simon pushed past Dr. Ford with a look of impatience. ”Let her go, Mantis. We're evenly matched. We're armed. Someone's going to get hurt. Just let her go and we'll walk away, go home, and leave you to your business.”

Abbey scanned Mantis's form for signs of a firearm. With his overcoat, it was too hard to tell.

”There's no need,” said Mantis. ”Abbey is going to help us.”

Abbey looked at Jake, who wore a look of general bewilderment at the evening's events. She couldn't imagine he planned to kill one of them, as the emails had suggested. It was clear the future Caleb did have a business arrangement with Mantis. Her mind flicked through the emails between Mantis and Jake. It was possible they'd been discussing this very arrangement. The first email could have been talking about setting up the deal. They'd a.s.sumed 'deal with him' had meant kill him or hurt him, but it could have just referred to striking a deal. The third email had said they would take care of Sinclair at the Holding the Light event. That could refer to helping Caleb. But there was the troubling reference to hurting Sinclair. What did that mean? Abbey felt Mantis watching her, expectant. She needed more data points, and she had a feeling she was more likely to get them from Mantis than from Dr. Ford.

”She's not going to help you,” Simon said.

Abbey spoke up. ”Fine. I'll help. But they come, too.” She pointed at Simon, Mark, and Dr. Ford.

Simon scowled at her and gave his head a tiny shake.

”Excellent. As long as they don't even think of stabbing me in the back with one of those sticks, and the little man keeps it zipped. We're creating history here, and there are people that need our help. Your part will be done in mere moments, and I'll be forever grateful for your a.s.sistance.” This last was presented with a sincere, wide-eyed expression and a grave tone, as if he were addressing a venerable a.s.sembly, not a motley trio of would-be protectors.

”All right. Let's be off then. The docks await, and we don't have much time.” Mantis turned and started marching up the path, before pausing and turning back to gesture for Jake and Abbey to go first. ”Oh, and I do possess a weapon by the way, not to mention I'm trained in both fencing and martial arts, and of course magic, but let's not make it necessary for me to employ any of my skills.” Mantis looked directly at Simon as he spoke.

Dr. Ford's eyes bulged and he opened his mouth as if he were about to say something, or maybe expectorate a lung, but Mantis held up his hand and made a zipping motion across his lips.

They walked single-file up the docks, Jake in the lead, and then Abbey, followed by Mantis. Abbey's three protectors drew up the rear with Sanome trailing and skittish, refusing to go anywhere near Mantis. Abbey sensed Simon lurching around behind Mantis, wanting to get close enough to talk to her, but uncertain about overtaking the tall man. They turned left at the top of the ravine and headed toward the beaver dam. Jake stopped in front of the docks.

Abbey found herself both drawn to and repulsed by the silvery platforms that jutted out into the dark, mirrored pond. Just like the stones, they contained an energy that tugged at her, somehow sensing her witch blood and pulsing with it through her veins, but at the same time whispering to her of a world of danger-and magic-beyond her imaginings. She'd only barely sensed it before. But it grew stronger each time they'd crossed the stones. And now it throbbed through her, and it both terrified and intrigued her.

Mantis addressed the party once again. ”Abbey and Jake will use the docks to transfer to another future and then return immediately. We'll confirm that it works, and then our business here will be concluded-and you will be free to go, or remain and watch. As you wish.” He nodded ceremoniously at Abbey and Jake.

”No,” said Simon. ”Abbey's not going.”

Mantis flashed his most charming smile. ”Young man, these docks are just like the stones that you're obviously not afraid of using. Your sister has agreed to help. Do you really want to condemn your brother's people to a slow and painful death in this future?”

”I've heard so much bunk in the last six hours that I have no idea whether what you're telling me is even remotely the truth,” Simon said.

Dr. Ford wrinkled his forehead and c.o.c.ked his head at Simon.

Abbey felt a burst of nervous laughter at Dr. Ford's bemused expression. ”It's okay, Simon. I want to help. I think it's okay.”

”Abbey,” started Simon.

”It's okay, Si, really.”

”Take me instead,” Simon said to Mantis.

”Thanks, but no thanks. I prefer the girl. Less chance that she'll try to overpower Jake, or any tomfoolery like that.”

”Please, Simon.” Abbey didn't know why she was begging for this, why she was volunteering to be a human experiment. Maybe she just needed to know. This had gone too far for her to just go home and forget about it. She needed to know who was on whose side, what was happening to Caleb's people, how the stones worked, and what these futures meant. She needed data.

Inquisitive Abbey. Inquisitive Expired Abbey, she amended. That would be the likely outcome of her need to know. After all, didn't curiosity kill the cat?

She focused on Simon. ”It's okay. I need to do this. I just have a feeling.” When had she ever acted on a feeling? Is that what she was doing now? Maybe she was deceiving herself in thinking she was doing this for data. Maybe Mantis had cast a spell on her. Or maybe it was the docks drawing her in. Maybe the magic of the stones controlled everything, leaving those who used them to think they had free will, when they didn't.

She no longer knew. The lines between the scientific method and hunches, rationality and irrationality, and physics and witchcraft, once definitive and absolute in her mind, had become very blurred over the last three days.

Simon looked like he wanted to punch somebody, but he didn't say anything.

”All right. Let's proceed then,” said Mantis.

Jake looked at the docks dubiously. ”Um...how do the docks work, exactly?”

Mantis snorted in frustration. ”I don't know. Just go on the dock and see what happens.”

”Yes,” said Jake. ”I get that. But do she and I have to stand on the same dock, or different docks? Do I have to be touching her, or carrying her? Do I need to be thinking about the future we want to go to, or will we just end up there?”

Abbey gave Jake an appraising glance. Maybe he wasn't just a dumb jock.

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