Elder Harcourt’s hooded head nodded a bit as he hobbled closer to me. “Yes, it’s time for you to return to your time, your stretch here done.” I heaved a broken, exultant sigh, feeling faint as he moved, somehow managing to keep that hood so I couldn’t see him. I heard him inhale heavily before he blew hard, a shimmering gold floating from under his hood directly over me, falling down onto me in a floating mist, and suddenly, my clothes felt different, my purse over my arm heavy with the gun no longer in my hand, and my hair I could see was white with pink streaks. The frozen three around me went mute, their gazes stuck on the me of the future, my clothes exactly as I had left the future in, not a big difference than what I had been wearing a moment ago, except for my hair.
“There. Much better,” Elder Harcourt stated cheerfully, and began walking behind me, his hood still low on his face, but he paused. “Any last words for those here, young lady?”
My gaze landed on Elder Merrick’s, and somehow, even frozen, he managed to stare back at me with as much hatred as I felt for him. My lips curved the barest bit, a purely feral gleam, and I flipped him off. “See you in the future, asshole.”
Elder Harcourt chuckled grandly behind me.
Elder Merrick made a loud, deep gurgling noise that sounded remarkably like, “Can’t wait, bitch.”
My lips only stayed curled as I watched him with furious glowing eyes while a remarkably strong arm wrapped around my waist from behind for how slow his steps had been, and his hooded head dipped down toward me, murmuring, “This’ll just take a moment.”
A flash of bright gold erupted around the two of us, and then we were inside a serene golden shimmering escape of nonentity, glittering and majestic, beautiful and powerful, so damn prevailing, it stole my breath. My eyes stayed wide open, and a second later, I was standing on the sidewalk of Choep, New York, gunfire and explosions erupting around me. “There you are. Back home.” A flash of gold behind me, and he was gone.
I was riding in the back of a limo.
With Sin.
In 2035.
The violence on the street had quickly halted as my guards Frost and Farley, the only two left alive, and Sin, had killed the last of the men under Philip Masterson’s payroll. Elder Harcourt had placed me almost exactly where I had been taken from only what appeared to be minutes after I had been assaulted. The MIA arriving on the scene within ten minutes of the fighting started, Sin’s car having been demolished in the explosions, so we were in one of the MIA limos.
I hadn’t spoken yet, chaotic thoughts swirling through my mind, trying to decipher certain issues, and even a bit of confusion at the difference in this 2035 time compared to the past—technology, and the general pace, much different here, that slowly righting itself as I kept a firm grip on my control. Sin sat directly next to me with his arm firmly around me, obviously worried, done trying to get me to speak, his confusion clear from what had happened to me when I had disappeared. My hands were tightly clasped on my lap as we traveled back to the manor, King Collins having been phoning like mad to Sin. My cell phone was in my purse, but it was obviously dead, Sin communicating with him every few minutes that we were alright and on our way home.
Exiting the limo eventually, I stared at the manor for long moments, never believing I would be so damn joyful at seeing it again, before I allowed Sin to usher me inside, both of us hearing the commotion of the Elders and Rulers and spirit Elementals and Prodigies from a formal living room down the hall. Sin tightened his grip on me, his hold already brutal, and marched us straight back to the room, Frost and Farley, following directly behind.
“We obviously can’t find him, so we need to hurt him any way we can! We take down his goddamn businesses. Take away his fucking money supply. Take away his funding.” Elder Jacob’s voice demanded loudly as we neared the open French doors. “We can’t just stand around and let him continue to attack us.”
“I agree we need to do something, but he will absolutely go into hiding if we do such,” Queen Ruckler stated clearly. “I want that bastard dead. Not just his businesses.”
Fergus’s voice sounded, and my shoulders stiffened, my control almost slipping as my heart rate started to speed, his tone loud and gruff. “They should be here by now. Call them again.” A pause. “And why the hell isn’t her cell phone working? Are you sure she wasn’t injured?”
Elder Zellers voice, stating calmly, “They’re coming down the hallway now.”
Sin maneuvered me the last few feet, and we turned into the room. I held perfectly still as King Collins rushed me, enveloping me in a hug around Sin’s embrace since Sin wasn’t releasing me, and my King placed his hands on my shoulders, leaning his head back, eyes darting back and forth between mine. “Are you okay, Caro?”
It was so odd hearing my name. “Yes.” I couldn’t help that my voice was void. “I’m fine.”
Blue eyebrows slammed together, his gaze running over my body in a professional manner before they quickly darted to Sin. “What’s wrong with her?”
Sin’s voice was quiet. “Shock, maybe? She hasn’t spoken, except for what she just said to you.” He licked his lips. “Something happened out there.” A gentle nudge of my foot against his, and he stuttered, amending, “She’s lucky to be alive with the gunfire and explosions.”
King Collins nodded once. “Shock is understandable.”
He started trying to pull me away from Sin, even as Sin quietly muttered, “Not for her, it isn’t.”
But I waved both of them away, twisting from their holds when they damn near started a battle of tug of war with me, letting my gaze wander about the room. My gaze first landed on Elder Jacobs. I eyed him, seeing only slight differences in his appearance these years later, his dark eyes watching me closely. My gaze next landed on the Prodigies. No, I shook my head. The Elders, their change more than Elder Jacobs, but not so much it messed with my mind too much, and I started making my way directly toward them, knowing this was the truth by their initial reactions to me in 2035, but still asking calmly, “You got my letters, didn’t you?”
Instantly, I saw them all jerk, their careful expressions altering to varying degrees as they rushed toward me.
Elder Fergus made it to me first, stopping in front of me, then he was gently lifting my chin, amber eyes filled with regret stared down at me, not hiding his emotions at all. “I’m sorry. I,” he shook his head, “we shouldn’t have abandoned you like that. We were mad, furious…but we should have been bigger than the men we were.” Amber eyes darted between mine in the hushed quiet. “After we got the letters you sent, we put our anger aside and went to your apartment, but it was empty, and you were gone. We thought you had just left.”
“Elder Harcourt arrived and abruptly took me back.” My chin trembled the barest bit, but I nodded jerkily. “I’m not mad at you guys. I understood. I didn’t like it, but I understood.”
Elder Fergus grabbed me into a bear hug, holding me tight, whispering against my head, his own voice choked, “I’m so sorry.”
“We all are,” Elder Venclaire stated directly beside us, having heard him as I hugged Elder Fergus back just as tightly, and I opened my one eye that wasn’t pressed against Elder Fergus’s chest. “We’re sorry, Caro. You were our friend.” He shook his head, placing his hand against my cheek. We shouldn’t have cast you off like that.”
“You were upset. I understood.”
