“I might kill you both anyway,” Kari said. “Just for the hell of it.”
“Thanks,” Michael shook in mock terror. “I never wanted to sleep again
anyway.”
Elbowing her lightly, Jonathan gave her a warm grin.
“Remember sis,” he whispered so only she could hear. “You decide who you are, not us.”
He’d completely mistaken her reason for growling, but his words were welcome
anyway. This was no time for allowing her own personal crisis to get in the way. She would deal with it later, if there even was a later, but it was nice to know that he cared.
When the Apostle was dealt with, she was going to take a long time to herself and find out who she really was. After a lifetime of looking after her brothers, it was time to start looking after herself. It was time to discover what she truly wanted out of life.
“Kari,” Gabriel called from the stairs leading down to the courtyard.
Turning toward him, she gaped. “Didn’t you go to the past?”
“I’m back,” Gabriel replied, giving her a warm grin.
“You’re covered with blood,” Jonathan said. “Why do other people always get to have all the fun!”
Though the smell of blood was heavy in the air, and he was pale from the loss, Gabriel appeared to have been healed somehow. The scent made her mouth water, and a craving to drink human blood started to rise. She crushed it before it could form. All things in moderation and self-control at all times was her mother’s advice when it came to that particular aspect of a Heretic’s existence. Wrinkling her nose and trying not to smell it, she realized that not all the blood scent was human.
“You’ve got Heretic blood on you,” Michael sniffed at Gabriel deliberately.
“How did you get Heretic blood on you? I mean, we’re kinda rare.”
“It was the Apostle,” Gabriel replied. “She followed me back.”
“Uh, no she didn’t,” Jonathan pointed toward the enemy army. “She’s right there, and hasn’t moved an inch since you left all of two minutes ago.”
“It hasn’t happened for you yet,” Gabriel sounded very annoyed. “But it will.
And when it does, don’t try to stop her. It’s very important that she goes back to the past.
Understand. I need her there, or it will change what happened in the past and that could mess things up badly.”
“Hello,” Michael stepped toward Gabriel, pointing at something hanging around
his neck. “What’s this? Where did you get that, might I ask?”
Looking down, Gabriel grasped the piece of purple crystal hanging from a leather cord around his neck, holding it up for everyone to see. It blazed with inner fire. “A gift, from your father.”
Sharing looks with her brothers, Kari wondered what Gabriel had paid for such a valuable gift.
Letting the crystal drop back to his chest, Gabriel flashed them a roguish grin that made Kari’s heart beat just a little bit faster, despite the jealous glare his little wolf cub was shooting her.
“This is a little hard to explain to people that don’t get it. With time travel you can go to any instant in time that you want. So even though I was in the past for hours, I was only gone a few minutes here because I came back to the same time that I left. I know that the Apostle will somehow Gate Jump back to the past, and that means she’s going to get over the wall.”
“Wait, so, if she was already in the past,” Michael scratched behind one of his ears.
“How can she be over there,” Jonathan finished, scratching behind the opposite ear.
“It hasn’t happened yet, and you’re talking like it has,” Kari added.
Gabriel sighed. “It will. Just wait for it, and don’t get in her way, because she needs to get back to the past. Trust me, it’s for the best.”
“Too confusing for our blood,” the twins said. “We fold.”
“So, something in our future has already happened in your past,” Kari tried hard to wrap her mind around the concept. “But it’s going to happen in your future now too?
I don’t get it.”
“It’s not that hard,” Sam shot Kari a smug grin.
“The life of a time traveler doesn’t always happen in the right order,” Gabriel said.
“Oh yes,” Michael replied. “That makes everything make sense now. Thank you for that nugget of wisdom.”
“Gabriel,” Allie said, appearing beside him and completely solid now. “The
shield can hold for decades. Unless something drastic happens, you could die of old age before she comes one step closer.”
“Hey,” Jonathan said. “Wait, if you’re back and everything’s still the same,
doesn’t that mean you failed?”
Unable to help herself, Kari reached out and poked at Allie’s arm. It felt like flesh. Allie glared at her hand until she pulled it back.
“The paradox happened,” Allie explained, “but there are still events that happen in this part of the timeline that must happen to make that part of the timeline possible.”
“That makes even less sense,” Michael cried.
“Stop it,” Jonathan moaned. “My head is hurting just thinking about it.”
“Amen to that,” Michael agreed.
“Did the Apostle do that to you,” Kari asked, pointing to the cuts in Gabriel’s clothes, and the large bloodstains.
He nodded.
“You fought her and won,” Jonathan cried. “You have got to be the most amazing human ever!”
Gabriel hesitated before answering. “She wasted me, but I got her with my Jedi mind tricks in the end.”
“Jedi what,” Michael asked.
The ground beneath their feet trembled with the activation of some sort of internal machinery within the wall. Allie’s head suddenly snapped up and she turned to look at the computer console near the entrance of the Control Tower. There was a soldier standing at the keyboard punching in commands, catlike tail swishing lazily.
“Captain Alain Maxen,” Allie’s voice echoed over the loudspeaker. “Stop what
you are doing at once!”
“What’s going on,” Gabriel asked, squinting to look down at the soldier. “What’s he doing?”
“I think he’s using the data from the last Gate Jump performed to open another Gate,” Allie explained. “If he succeeds it will bring down the shield.”
“So that’s what happened,” Gabriel mused. “A traitor.”
“He’s locked me out of the console,” Allie cried. “I can’t stop him.”
“All soldiers and robotic guards,” Allie shouted over the loudspeaker. “Captain Maxen is a traitor, and trying to lower the shield. Kill him immediately!”
At the announcement the soldiers below and those not manning cannons on the
wall began to turn toward their leader. Hesitating not a second, Kari drew the arrow she had knocked and let it fly. Shrieking through the air, it struck Alain in the shoulder, knocking him off of his feet. Getting up, he barely seemed to notice it. Kari could just barely make out his face at the distance. His expression was one of fevered worship, without a trace of the pain he should be feeling.
Men on the walls began aiming their weapons, and those on the ground ran
toward him.
A near gunshot caused Kari to wince. Her ears were very sensitive and such a
loud noise was painful.
“Hey,” Sam said excitedly, looking at the massive pistol in her small hands.
“Look Gabriel! I actually hit him. I’m getting better with this thing already.”