Chapter 27: Hope for Happiness
“The what-what?” Doc asked and Maggie sighed, knowing exactly how he felt. Doc turned to Nat, who was behind him and wearing an expression that was just as confused as Doc. The sky was much lighter than when the team left he and Nat on the beach two hours earlier, but it had glassed over with gray clouds, and the day, despite being early, was bleak.
“Re-mem-branc-er,” Maggie said.
The five of them had walked back to the beach in silence. When they’d arrived at the craft, Doc and Nat had looked worried. They explained that they had lost all sense of the team at some point. It wasn’t hard to figure out that it had happened when the five of them went behind the lighthouse’s Concealment. Marcus quickly explained what had happened—the Concealment, the lighthouse, the strange woman.
“And what did she tell you, Maggie”—Nat stepped in—“when the others left the room?”
Maggie glanced around, feeling trapped.
“She…said she didn’t know.”
Karl guffawed. “What?”
“She said I found something out, something on the ship, and I was afraid the collectives would invade my mind and find it, so I asked her to get rid of my memories.”
Silence descended as everyone thought about that.
“But how did you leave the ship?” Doc asked. “And how did you get back on afterward?”
“Who is this woman?” Nat asked, looking at Doc. “Why is she here? It can’t be a coincidence that Maggie found her before, and now we’ve run into her again.”
Silence again.
“What could you possibly have found out?” Marcus whispered.
Maggie turned to Marcus, wishing desperately that she could convey her horror at what she’d apparently done, but not sure how.
“I don’t know.” She couldn’t keep her voice from shaking. “I have no idea what would’ve made me…” She ran her hands through her hair. “I can’t imagine making such a decision for…any reason.” She sunk down into a crouch, keeping her heels up and wrapping her arms around her knees.
Marcus crouched down beside her, putting his hands on her shoulders. She shut her eyes, and a tear leaked down her cheek.
“Maggie,” Doc said gently, “do you think that whatever she did will bring back your memories?”
Maggie sighed, passing a hand over her eyes. “I think she believes it. Beyond that, I don’t know what to think.”
Doc sighed, looking south. “Perhaps I should go and speak with this person.”
“You can’t.” Karl said. “She disappeared. Even before we left, she was gone.”
“She told me she would be,” Maggie said, and they all turned to her with raised eyebrows. “She said that she’d been here a long time, but that now that she’d gotten the ball rolling to bring my memories back, she would leave as soon as I did.”
“So,” he said, “this is about you. Specifically.”
Maggie shrugged.
“What else did she say?”
Maggie looked at the ground between her toes. She didn’t have the courage to tell them the rest. “Nothing of consequence.”
“If I may, Doc,” Nat said. “I know I’m not an actual member of the team, but I think this needs to take a back seat. I don’t mean to devalue any of it, but we’ve been out in the daylight for far too long.”
After a moment, Doc nodded. “He’s right. Are you okay, Maggie?”
She nodded, though it was a lie.
“Is everyone else okay?”
Everyone nodded in response.
“Then let’s get on the ship. We’ll speak more of this when we’re through with our current mission.”
Nat looked relieved. “Good. Doc, let’s get a move on.”
The way he said it struck Maggie as strange. Good. Doc. Good doc. Memory stirred. Hadn’t the Remembrancer wanted Maggie to tell Doc something? Suddenly, Maggie couldn’t remember what it was.
“Something wrong, Maggie?” Doc was gazing at her with concern.
Everyone had begun moving toward the ship, but they stopped at Doc’s question and turned.
“I think she wanted me to tell you something.”
Doc was taken aback. “Me?”
Maggie nodded. “She said she could sense two more team members on the beach, and she wanted me to tell you something when I thought about it.”
Maggie glanced around at the rest of the team. They all looked wary.
“Me, Maggie? Or me and Nat? Or the entire group?”
Maggie rubbed her forehead. “I can’t remember.” She cursed softly. “Why can’t I remember?”
Marcus took Maggie’s face between his hands, looking intently down into her eyes. She didn’t resist, but a minute later, Marcus dropped his hands and shook his head.
“There’s nothing there.”
Maggie massaged her temples then froze, face snapping toward Marcus. “Hey!”
The corners of his mouth went up. “I mean there’s nothing out of place in your mind—no one keeping you from remembering, from what I can tell.”
Maggie felt slighted but went back to massaging her temples. “Oh.”
“If you do remember, be sure to tell us, Maggie. Beyond that, Nat’s right. All this needs to go on the back burner for now. We have to be focused on this mission if we’re to succeed. Come, let’s board.”
Maggie let Marcus help her onto the ship. When she stepped inside, her jaw dropped. From inside the ship she had a clear, three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the landscape around her. It was as though the entire ship were constructed of clear window glass. Yet the outside looked metallic and had no windows.
Maggie gaped for several seconds. “How—”
“It’s an alloy that allows light to flow through only one way,” Marcus said quietly at her shoulder. “Not yet invented in your time.”
Maggie gave him her best wide-eyed look. His face softened into a smirk.
“Don’t worry. It’s perfectly safe.”
The ship consisted of one huge room. The back right corner had a table and benches bolted to the floor. Along the wall behind them was what looked like this century’s version of a condensed kitchen. The back left corner had ten cots in two rows of five, also bolted to the floor. The entire front wall was a console that was obviously the center for ship operations, and behind it were benches for passengers, secured like the rest of the furniture.
“The ship is ready to go,” Doc announced. “We’ve plotted a course for the island David identified. We’ll put the ship on autopilot so we can all get some sleep. We’ll need to be as fresh as possible by tonight.”
The ship submerged smoothly and glided effortlessly through the dark ocean. Small schools of fish whispered past the thin hull-like pieces of phantom sea monsters from another world. Everyone lay down and was asleep almost instantly.
Except Maggie.
She reached out with her mind to find Marcus. He was sleeping on the cot next to hers four feet away. Her back was to him. Usually being able to sense him close by was enough to bring her comfort, but she felt lonelier tonight than ever.
The fear of the mission to come, the worry over what had happened the last time she’d gone on a mission with the team, the sickness in her stomach about the fact that she’d given up her memories for something more terrifying than she could conceive of—it all pressed in on her with such force that she couldn’t keep the tears in. She cried silently, knowing she ought to let it go and let her body sleep. She needed the recuperation.
Then she felt the hand on her shoulder. She’d been concentrating so hard on being quiet that she hadn’t heard him get up. She sat up and turned toward him. Marcus sat down on the bed and put his arms around her. He kissed her shoulder, and when he spoke, she could feel his lips moving against the fabric of her shirt.
“What is it?”
She shrugged. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m just overwhelmed.”
He nodded, brushing the back of his knuckles a
gainst her cheek. “You need to sleep, Maggie.”
She nodded but twisted at the waist so she could wrap her arms around his torso.
“I’m so scared,” she whispered.
With one hand on her back and the other at her knee, he pushed her over a few inches and lay down on the bed beside her, wrapping himself around her as completely as he could. Maggie turned toward him and curled up against his chest.
With the hum of the ship gliding through water and the rise and fall of Marcus’s chest, she fell asleep.