Blood in the Fire (Timelaws Trilogy) Read online

  “Mark, you don’t have to work tomorrow right?” Luke asked. Mark looked at me and I nodded. It wasn’t nearly as much time as I wanted, but I couldn’t take the risk that Luke would change his mind. Anton and I would not be fully recovered, but we would have more magic than we did now. “Yeah, I’m free,” Mark said.

  “Okay,” Luke agreed. “I’d planned to take the day off anyways to stay home with Liz.”

  “You won’t be sorry,” I promised as I got to my feet. It occurred to me that I shouldn’t stick around in that kitchen one second longer in case Luke had a change of heart.

  Chapter Three

  Brothers Talk

  Mark

  Liz scurried toward the backyard faster than a cockroach caught in a flashlight beam. Luke didn’t move a muscle as she left. He just stared off into the distance. Then, once she was gone, the hand he was resting on the dining table curled into a single trembling fist.

  “It’s not easy parenting two teenagers, is it?” I asked. “Especially when one of them is me, and the other one can turn you into a rabbit.”

  “Can she really do that?” Luke asked quietly. I walked around and took the seat Liz had occupied.

  “I have no idea,” I replied. Finally, his gaze refocused, and he turned to me. His eyes glistened. They were fighting back tears.

  My brother’s not soft. He’s the toughest guy I know. Tough enough to hold it together at our parents’ funeral because he thought we needed him to hide his fear. Did he think Liz and I didn’t know that his heart was breaking? And at the age of twenty, he abandoned his plans to go to college, got a job and took guardianship of my sister and me. That’s courage. But his face right now reflected the overwhelming burden that he bore on his shoulders. Liz nearly died and she was acting like the whole thing was no big deal.

  “What am I doing?” he asked at last. “Aliens tried to kill Liz. They almost killed all three of us, and I just agreed to go along with her on some mission.”

  I let out a long sigh. “She’s stubborn,” I said. “If you tell her she can’t use her magic, she’s just going to do it behind your back.”

  Luke glared at me. “So my role as her guardian is to just go along with it?” he asked, tossing his arms into the air in frustration. “She makes the decision to fight in some kind of war, and I’m just supposed to say okay?”

  He waited for an answer. Reassurances buzzed on the tip of my tongue, but I kept them to myself. My gaze fell on the kitchen faucet as I considered my response. I hadn’t tightened the knob and water dripped slowly into the sink.

  Maybe if Luke pleaded with Liz long enough, she would see what she was doing to both of us and give in. But I knew better. Her obsession with magic consumed her. Enough to make her blind to Luke’s pain. The only thing I could do to improve the situation was reassure him.

  I was about to remind Luke just how bad-ass our sister was. This was a girl who was feared by the thugs and bullies at her school. Real thugs, with blades and criminal records. She had a developed a reputation for being able to kick butt.

  He chimed in before I could start. “When I was holding her and she fell unconscious. Her blood was all over the floor and my hands and shirt. I thought—”

  “I know what you thought,” I interrupted. "I was there.” Neither one of us needed to relive the moments before my two fingers on her neck felt her weak pulse.

  But Luke didn’t stop talking. “Then yesterday, you came home and asked me if she was here, then told me she wasn’t at the hospital, and I swear to God, Mark, for the first few moments, I thought it was another dream.” Why would Luke think he was dreaming? Then, I realized: he must have been having nightmares that resembled that exact scenario. We’d both shared the unspoken fear that the wizards would come back for her.

  “Mark, there was a chance magical aliens had my sister,” he continued, “and what did I do? I cleaned dishes.”

  “Well, those dishes had been piling up for a while,” I offered. Luke shot me an irritated glare. He was right; it wasn’t funny. It wasn’t like I had come up with any bright ideas last night either. I searched the hospital. Then I came home to see if she had found a way back here. When I learned she was still at large, all I did was plant my behind on the couch and stare at the damn wooden door. If she hadn’t walked through, I don’t know how long I would have sat there, hoping for good news.

  “There was nothing you could do,” I said.

  “No, you’re right!” Luke exclaimed. “Because I couldn’t call the cops and tell them aliens might be trying to kill my sister. Child services would have revoked my guardianship so fast, Liz would already be in a foster house.”

  “She is sorry,” I said. “You know how scared she is of hospitals. She just wasn’t thinking straight.” I wondered if Luke could hear the steady drip of water too. It was out of sync with the ticking clock and the noise was driving me mad. Still, I didn’t move to fix it.

  “Yeah, I know she’s sorry,” Luke said, softening his tone. “Sometimes she acts so mature, I forget she’s a fourteen-year-old teenager. I expect her to be an adult. Then she goes off, pulls a stunt like the one from last night, and I remember she’s still a kid.”

  “Nah, she’s not a kid. She’s more mature than I am,” I countered. “Which is why I think we should give her a chance. It might even be fun.”

  Luke smiled. “It’s not hard to be more mature than a college student who still watches Tom and Jerry cartoons between classes,” he ribbed. I smiled too. I knew Luke couldn’t pass up an opening to tease me, and I’d purposefully handed him that one on a silver platter.

  “Hey, don’t you go knocking the genius that is cartoon physics,” I said. Even though Luke had smiled, his eyes were still sad.

  “Look, Liz acts like this world of hers is no-big deal,” I continued. “Maybe it’s not. Maybe what happened was some freak act of nature and once you and I get a chance to look into it, it won’t seem so scary anymore.” Luke picked up the glass Liz had been drinking from and took it to the sink to rinse out. He turned the faucet on and finally the dripping was replaced by a steady stream of water. I kept talking. “I mean she’s been doing this for years and she’s never come home hurt before. Mom and Dad got her started for goodness sake. Would they have done that if she was in real danger?”

  Luke nodded. He placed the clean cup on the towel by the sink and turned toward me. “Thanks bro,” he said, rustling my hair as he walked by.

  “We’ll go with her and then we’re both gonna feel better about this whole thing,” I replied. Luke was already half way to his bedroom, but I kept talking. “And in the meantime, if we get to kick some alien wizard butt along the way, well how cool would that be?”

  Chapter Four

  The Family Business

  Elizabeth

  My mind tried to connect with Anton as I headed out to the backyard. Wet, damp air greeted me at the porch door: the remnants from last night’s storm. Mosquitos and small bugs hovered around in the still atmosphere.

  After a few more attempts, I concluded that my boyfriend was out of telepathic range without a power boost. Short-range telepathy required virtually no magic.

  Voices coming from the kitchen let me know that Mark and Luke were discussing something inside. The humidity out here was unpleasant, but I suspected the kitchen would even less agreeable. Instead, I surveyed the overgrown grass in our backyard. After last night, it was probably my responsibility to do the trimming. By tomorrow, I’d be deemed fit enough to start on my new allotment of chores. Choosing between a new mission and yard work, I decided it was worth another shot.

  To my surprise, my boyfriend answered this time. He sounded groggy.

  Sorry for waking you, I apologized. You didn’t get much sleep last night, did you?

  Nah, what’s up? Anton replied. He tried to sound casual, but we’d both been struggling to get a good night’s rest since our last assignment. It ended with me finding out that we were going to lose the war against wiza
rds. It wouldn’t happen soon, or even in the next hundred years, but eventually, the good guys lost.

  Anton was the only person I had shared this information with. The shock in his eyes when I’d told him had made me sick to my stomach. But we were both clinging to one small shred of hope. Our future comrades could still win the war if I could figure out a way to break the rules of time-travel. All I had to do to change the course of events was get a message to my friend in the future. Unfortunately, breaking this particular time-law seemed impossible.

  My mind was tired of spinning around in endless circles, trying to solve a puzzle that, perhaps, had no solution. I could feel through our telepathic link just how drained my boyfriend was too. He was fighting sleep, despite the hour. We both needed a distraction.

  Luke asked me to give up my powers, I said.

  A moment of shocked silence met my announcement. What did you tell him? Anton asked at last. I recounted to Anton the details of my conversation with Luke this morning. We agreed that he would grab lunch with my cousin, Tamer, and the two of them would get back to me with a trainee mission: something simple and safe. The last thing I heard through the mental link with Anton before we cut communication was the sound of his sister banging on his door and yelling at him to wake up and fix her blow dryer again.

  I smirked at his misfortune, then decided to sit on the back steps for a while, in case my own family troubles waited for me inside. What would it be like having my brothers on a mission with me? I wondered. I pictured that first moment when Mark and Luke would realize they’d been teleported into space. Mark would utterly fail to contain his excitement. He would probably stand there for a moment, looking out the window, and then he’d leap into the air, hit the wall and yell, “I’m in space, baby!” Everyone at the station or on the ship would be staring at him and he wouldn’t give a damn. Hell, he might even hug one of the spectators.

  What about Luke? Luke was often too adult to get excited about much, but when he did, it was something special. There was a certain boyish sparkle he’d get in his eyes. It reminded me of Dad. Luke would probably stare out the window in sheer awe until Mark snapped him out of it. Then he would shake his head and laugh at his little brother. Sighing, he’d look at me, beaming, and he’d say, “I can’t believe I’m in space. I can’t believe you brought us here.” Seeing him that way would mean the world to me.

  I was enjoying my daydreams. Thinking about bringing them into space was helping me quiet the anxious feeling at the pit of my stomach. How would Luke react to the mission itself? I could probably take him on something as simple and mundane as dragon hunting, and he’d still find a way to convince himself it was too dangerous for me.

  “Hey, so is it all set?” Mark asked, walking out and joining me on our back steps.

  “Yeah, we’ll meet after lunch tomorrow,” I replied. I purposefully left out the where.

  “You know why I suggested today, right?” Mark asked. I nodded but continued to stare off into the distance. Mark picked up a twig by his shoe and started peeling back the outer layers of bark. He never could just sit and not be doing something. “Are you sure you’re up for a mission right away? I mean, you did just break out of a hospital yesterday….”

  “I’m fine, Mark,” I interrupted. I leaned over and rested my head on his shoulder. “I’ll find us something real simple. Tell you the truth, I’m kinda looking forward to it or, at least, part of it.”

  “Yeah, me too,” Mark said, grinning.

  We sat there silently for a minute or two. Then I asked, “Did you know that in our society, Mom was a medical specialist?” Mark shook his head so I continued. “Mostly, she served out in the field as a medic, but her expertise was neurology. Not just humans either. She worked on over a dozen different alien species.”

  Mark pulled away and turned to look at me. I guess he wanted to see my expression to make sure I wasn’t pulling his leg. I just smiled back.

  “I guess it’s not too much of a jump from cats and dogs to aliens,” Mark said with an awed expression on his face. I’d never told him what Mom really did. She was a veterinary nurse back on Earth.

  I laughed and dropped my head back onto his shoulder. “She was always complaining about her job on this planet,” I told Mark. “It drove her nuts every time she had to help put down an animal that she could cure magically. Of course, doing so would have broken our rules.”

  “What about Dad?”

  “He was a physics specialist like me. His expertise included electromagnetic and temporal phenomenon.” There was another moment’s worth of silence. At this point, there was practically nothing left of the stick Mark had been picking away at. He dusted the remaining pieces of wood off his hands and reached in his pocket for his pack of cigarettes.

  “You know what I think you would have been if you had powers?” I asked. Mark was busy lighting up so I didn’t wait for him to respond. “I bet you would have been a diplomat or a mediator.”

  Mark laughed so hard, my head fell right off his shoulder and I had to catch myself. “I can see it now, me walking up to a 300-year-old alien in my torn jeans and dirty tee. ‘Hey, welcome to our galaxy, buddy. Want a smoke?’” Mark offered his cancer stick to the imaginary alien in our yard, and I cracked a grin. His first reaction to aliens would be to invite them out for a beer and a cigarette.

  “Yeah, Mark, you’d be perfect for the job,” I said.

  Mark chuckled and shook his head as he contemplated the idea for a moment. Then, he laughed again at some private thought and moved to inhale another drag. “It’s gonna be a good couple of days,” he said. I leaned back against the doorpost and watched the smoke rise.

  “Yeah,” I replied quietly. “I hope so.” The sky was turning gray again.

  Chapter Five

  Ketya’s Secret

  Centream–96th Cycle of the Wizard Calendar

  (Earth Year: 5,320 B.C.)

  Anthe’s Story

  The two early afternoon suns cast golden hues across the small orange houses that lined the road. Ketya walked through the village with her head bowed. Long brown hair concealed her elfish face. Maroon eyes focused on the dust she kicked up with each brisk step. All she could think about was getting home.

  An elderly merchant greeted her as he passed by on his way to sell his goods at the marketplace, but she didn’t hear him as she drove forward, towards the edge of the village. Soon the orange houses became more and more spars as crop fields filled with fledgling yellow stalks took their place.

  A cloud passed over the larger sun and cast a cold shadow down on the winter-weary land. Ketya pulled her worn shawl in tighter and refolded it over her stomach. I should have known better than to rely on fabric to hide my pregnancy, she admitted to herself.

  The thin cloth she had patched together during her school days had been intended for an evening gown. When her teacher asked her why she wasn’t following his instructions, she told him that two dresses were plenty enough for a girl her age and the shawl would be more practical. He’d grunted and moved on. A child with her lack of abilities was a waste of instruction. Ketya had returned to her needlework while the other children in class proceeded with their sewing spells.

  In truth, she was disappointed at first that she couldn't produce the gown. The other kids in the class had used their powers to make beautiful garments. But with time, she came to appreciate the shawl. It was a testament to what she could accomplish without magic. Her classmates would have never been able to sew anything by hand. Finally, as if moved by some twisted humor, the shawl had proven to her that magic was in fact more valuable than handcraft. It had failed to hide her pregnancy from a probing spell.

  Two weeks ago, she started to suspect that she was with child. But two weeks was a long time for Ketya to keep a secret in a town where almost everyone, save herself, had powers. Rothin hadn’t even asked her if she were pregnant. He just looked at her flushed face, studied her stomach for a moment, and then performed the incantatio
n to find out what he wanted to know: that she was pregnant, that it was a girl, and most importantly, that her daughter would be born without powers.

  I should have asked him to stop, Ketya told herself. I should have asked him... But she knew why she hadn’t. It wasn’t that she feared Rothin. He was older now, and he’d earned a powerful position as a town juror. To emphasize the change, he’d shed his former blond locks in favor of the crop-cut hairstyle the army used. However, that was just an intimidation tactic like everything else about him.

  Ketya had lived with Rothin for several years, and she knew the true extent of his compassion. In fact, it was he who hid her in the schoolhouse when the small band of unruly soldiers came to 'cleanse' their town. Her mother and brother were killed during the attack. Her father was spared because he had powers, but he was not fit to raise her after that. The forbidden drink appealed to him more than the duties of a single parent. So instead, Rothin had beseeched his own father to take Ketya in and raise her. The newly formed family grew close, but half a decade later, that caused Rothin to feel that much more betrayed when she left their home to move in with Brovkyl.

  Ketya was now seventeen years old, five years Rothin’s junior. Ever since she left, they had butted heads whenever they encountered one another. More than one loud argument had taken place between them in the marketplace. Her friends warned her that Rothin was in a position to make her life difficult if he wished. They said she was too hot tempered for her own good. “He wouldn’t hurt me,” she’d told them.

  She trusted Rothin, and she knew that he still cared for her. No, fear of him was not what motivated her in the marketplace today. She hadn’t stopped him because she wanted to know what his spell could tell her.