Then I blinked and it actually worked; I moved, and I actually rose off the ground on all fours. Others had fallen forward around me, too. Mimi and Cook and Seth on hisknees behind me, whispering,Helen, Helen, Helenlike a mantra.
And I knew Helen. I’d seen her smile and scream and fall. I’d seen the timewraith that had grabbed her ankle. I’d seen it with these very eyes.
March was beside me, on his knees, too, eyes closed and teeth gritted. I found his hand in the dirt, laced my fingers with his again—because it was too much.Ourtime—the first and the second and the third times were stacking on top of each other, building something so heavy I thought it might crush me if I didn’t hold on.
“Ora,” he whispered, and my name was like a prayer on his lips.
Tears fell from my eyes, dripped on the ground.
“I remember, March,” I gasped. “I remembereverything…”
Then came the scream.
“WHAT DID YOU DO!”
The White Queen’s voice pierced right through me.
She screamed—no words, just sound. Pure, unfiltered rage, and she was looking at the Red Queen.
The Red Queen who was on her knees now, and blood was dripping down her nostrils as she looked up, and she was breathing like she’d been running, or…
Like she’d unveiled all the memories inside our heads at once.
“Enough.”
That word.
A single word that had more power than anything else she had ever said.
March pushed himself up and dragged me with him, and then I dragged Mimi, too, who was still shaking with sobs.
“Enough.We’ve gone too far. We’ve done too much. I willnoterase them—they are children, for Time’s sake!Enough!”
The Red Queen stood up. Faced the White.
The White Queen slapped the Red right across her cheek.
“I amqueen!” Her voice was worse than a knife going through my brain, and I watched, astounded, as the soldiers came closer, slowly, their swords unsheathed, but…
They kept looking at one another. They didn’t know what to do.
“I am queen—how dare you disobey me! I will take what is owed to me—what has been owed to me since I put this crown on!” she screamed and pointed at the crown glistening on her head with the beautiful colors of dawn. “You cannot stop me,sister!” The way she spat out that word. “I am queen—nobody can stop me!”
The Red Queen slowly turned to face her again, red magic slipping from the palms of her hands.
“You’ve made me a thief. You’ve made mea monster,” she choked. “You made me steal and lie and cheat. You made me stealtheirmemories—and now you want to erase them because you can’t stand to face what you’ve done to them!”
“What I’ve done?” The White Queen laughed and it sounded like glass breaking. “WhatI’vedone?! You sat beside me for fifty years. You watched. You helped—and you were supposed toextractthe memories so I could destroy them, you cheat! I know you didn’t. Iknowyou didn’t!”
The Red Queen flinched. “I know you know,” she said. “I did it on purpose.” Her hand raised, finger pointed at us though she only looked at the White Queen. “They are so young! I willnotdamage their minds like that—I refuse!”
It was her.
It was her-it was her-it was her—the Red Queen who was supposed to erase us but didn’t. Extract all our memories into Time knew what so that the White could then destroy them for good—but didn’t.
The argument wasn’t over.
“You think you’re innocent because you feel guilty?” TheWhite Queen stepped closer, her white dress catching the first real light of sunrise, the fabric almost glowing. “Guilt isn’t innocence. Guilt is just cowardice dressed up in pretty clothes,” she hissed. “You knew what we were doing. Youknewall along!
