All the while Chloe and Jack still stood, pistols in hand but not upraised. They didn’t react to the disdain in Ajani’s words or actions. Kitty didn’t feel nearly as calm or focused as the other two appeared.
“Unless you cooperate, Edgar will not wake,” Ajani announced.
Chapter 38
For a moment Jack wasn’t sure he could resist shooting. Edgar was dead on the floor; Katherine’s hands were wet with her lover’s blood. Chloe was staring at Ajani with horror plain in her expression. Somewhere in the house, Melody was dead—by Hector’s hand—and in the darkened library, Ajani had the temerity to sip his brandy in silence.
The bullets in Jack’s pistol would stop Ajani from rising again, and Jack wanted almost nothing more than to use the toxin that Garuda had provided. The one thing that mattered more to him was his sister, and she would be devastated if Edgar’s death were permanent. If his death could be undone, Jack would still his hand.
Still, he felt it only right to point out to Ajani that they weren’t powerless. He had his pistol trained on Ajani as he said, “The bullets are filled with poison. I can kill you permanently this time.”
Ignoring Jack, Ajani held out a glass to Kitty. “Since your brother seems otherwise occupied . . .”
She shook her head. “He’s not joking about the poison, Ajani.”
“I realize that.” Ajani watched them with a bemused expression. “I wonder, though, are you willing to gamble? What if I told you that I could send one of you back?”
“You can’t be serious—”
“To open the portal, I require a sacrifice,” Ajani said in an obviously falsely saddened voice. “That’s the cost of the opening. I’ve tried deaths from here, shed the blood of every species of beast and being in the Wasteland, but it appears that only someone from our world will do.”
“Our world?” Chloe echoed.
“Yes,” Ajani answered her, but his attention remained fixedly on Katherine. The extent of his obsession with her became frighteningly clear. There was no way Jack was walking out of this house without Ajani dead on the ground.
Quietly, Jack told Chloe, “The bullets in Edgar’s gun are filled with the same poison.”
She smiled in a way that was eerily reminiscent of Melody in a good mood, but she said nothing.
Ajani didn’t even glance at them.
“I’d hoped it wouldn’t ever come to this,” he said. He paused and smiled, clearly drawing out the tension for his own amusement. “I’ll give you a choice. Would you like to go home, Katherine? I can send you or Jackson back.”
Katherine stayed silent, but Jack saw her hesitate, an expression of incredulity on her face that matched what he felt. Of all the things he had expected Ajani to offer, that was nowhere on the list. After far too many years in the Wasteland, they were being offered a chance to return to the lives they should’ve led.
“Go home?” Kitty echoed. “Like you could—”
“I was the first,” Ajani interrupted. “I have the spell that opens what people at home have come to call a wormhole—peculiar name, isn’t it? The spell simply calls it a portal.” He lifted his hands in a wide what-can-you-do gesture. “I can’t guarantee the year, but I have experimented a bit, so I’m fairly certain that it would be near the time you originated.”
At Katherine’s silence, Ajani lifted one shoulder in a delicate shrug. “Fine. I am willing to even send two of you back, alive.”
“To the same time?” she asked.
“You can’t go to a time earlier than your own.” Ajani gave her a small smile. “Cordova would arrive dead if I tried to send him back to a time before he was born. I can send him and Jack to their rightful years, or I can send you and Cordova to your rightful years, or I can send you and Jack.”
“So no matter what, I give up Edgar? Why?” Katherine’s temper flared and her hand went to her own gun.
Ajani smiled, his gaze on the gun in her hand. “Call it a lesson. It takes a death to move between worlds. That’s the cost I’ve had to pay each time.”
Jack had watched his sister, knowing her decision before she even made it. “Right. If you can really open the wormhole”—Jack drew the word out, finding it even more ridiculous as he said it—“does that mean all the people here are here because of you?”
“Not the natives,” Ajani replied drolly.
“Us, though? The ones from home. Did we all end up here because of you?” Jack prompted in what he considered a reasonable tone.
Ajani sipped his brandy in silence for a moment before answering. “Yes, I brought you here. All of you.”
Chloe pulled the hammer back, the sound loud in the room. Jack glanced at her, but only Katherine moved, stepping in front of her, placing her back to Ajani in the process.
“Send Chloe home,” Jack said quietly.
Katherine looked at him in shock.
“I’m not leaving you here, and Edgar would rather die than be apart from you.” Jack shook his head. “But there’s no way you’re going to let him stay dead. Send Chloe back.”
“Bravo, Jackson,” Ajani said. “If you want to stay here—and I’m assuming Katherine wants Edgar to live—let’s send Chloe back. She’s of no use to me.” He walked to the desk and lifted a piece of paper. “If you’re able to do this, Katherine, in time I’ll also send Cordova and Jackson back.”
Kitty swallowed audibly. “What do you want me to do?”
He held out the paper. “Read it, Katherine. Show me that you’re every bit as rare as I believe. I kept hoping another would come, but they all fail. No one else is like me. They can’t do spellwork. Only you.”
Jack watched his sister try not to shudder at the zealotry in Ajani’s voice. Silently, she took the paper Ajani held out. Her voice was shaking, but she began to read clearly: “I am lord of eternity in the crossing of the sky. I am not afraid in my limbs . . .”
The air in the room felt wrong, as if it were growing too thin.
She paused, and Ajani aimed his gun at Jack. “Don’t disregard our accord, Katherine.”
Jack gave his sister a comforting smile, and she resumed: “I shall open the light-land, I shall enter and dwell in it . . . Make way for me . . . I am he who passes by the guards . . . I am equipped and effective in opening his portal!”
The air in the room was visibly swirling, as if a vortex was being created.
Shakily, Katherine read the rest. “With the speaking of this spell, I am like Re in the eastern sky, like Osiris in the netherworld. I will go through the circle of darkness, without the breath stilling within me ever!”
The portal opened, looking like a fire opal grown large, and Ajani beamed at Kitty. “I knew you could do it.”
He walked toward the strange swirl of darkness and color, and as soon as he was directly in front of it, he glanced over his shoulder at Chloe. “Go ahead.”
Chloe took several steps toward him and stopped. “It takes the death of someone from there. How do you know which death will stick? Could it be Melody or Edgar who lives?”
Ajani hesitated, and Jack saw the truth on his face before he opened his mouth to answer. Ajani had said that a death of one of them was necessary to open the portal. Logically, that meant it could be Edgar, Melody, or even Daniel who stayed dead. Ajani didn’t say how or even if there was any way to determine which Arrival stayed dead. All Ajani managed to get out was, “Chloe . . .”
“Someone from home has to stay dead,” Chloe said, and then she shot him. She fired bullet after bullet into his body, and he jerked and jumped like a puppet in a storm.
Neither Jack nor Katherine moved.
Chloe glanced at Katherine. “He was from our world, too. If it’s last killed that doesn’t wake, that’s him now. If it’s just random, Edgar’s odds just improved. Twenty-five percent is better than thirty-three.”
“Thank you,” Katherine choked out around the sobs that were coming over her.
The darkness swirled, and Katherine stared at it and
then at Jack. She looked like the weight of Edgar’s death was too much to process, like she needed to be protected or, at the very least, given space to mourn. She dropped to her knees. Her hand covered her mouth, but it didn’t muffle her loud sob.
Chloe lowered the gun. “Will Ajani stay dead with that poison?”
“Garuda thinks so,” Jack said. “If not, you’ll be safer once you go back to your time. If you’re not here, he can’t reach you if he does wake.”
Chloe looked at Katherine, and then at Edgar, and finally back at Jack. “If he doesn’t stay dead, he’s going to come after her . . . and you. All of you.” Carefully, she placed her pistol on the floor and grabbed Ajani’s feet. She stood and looked at Jack. “I’ll stay here,” Chloe whispered. “Ajani should go . . . just in case.”
Jack wasn’t sure he was any less overwhelmed than his sister. Ajani was defeated, but at what cost? Edgar, Melody, and Daniel were all dead; Hector had betrayed them. Katherine was crying louder by the moment.
Chloe stared at Jack. “Help me get rid of him so he can’t hurt either of you again.”
He nodded, and together, they hauled Ajani’s lifeless body to the wormhole and tossed it in.
As the darkness closed in on itself, Chloe leaned against Jack, and they watched the darkness vanish.
Chapter 39
Over the next week, Kitty was a fury of cleaning and removing anything that made her think of Ajani. Chloe and Jack let her lead them through the house—which by Wasteland law was now Chloe’s possession, as were all of Ajani’s holdings.
Garuda had nominated Jack for governor the very same day the Arrivals went after Ajani. They’d learned that the morning after Ajani’s death, and what with the persuasive powers of Kitty and Garuda, Jack’s every objection to the position was quickly dispelled.
“We could burn it all,” Kitty suggested again. “I hate seeing it.”
Jack sighed. “Katherine, why don’t you rest? Chloe and I can sort through this pile.”
They went on that way for hours, gathering Ajani’s possessions and then sending them away to be claimed by anyone who wanted them. The idea of doing the same thing at his other houses was daunting, but for now, all they really needed was one place free of his presence.
Edgar, Melody, and Daniel were dead in three of the house’s rooms. Francis was recovering in another room, and five of Ajani’s other people were staying on in Chloe’s employ. A few others were debating what to do, and some had simply left. It was an odd state of affairs, and the tension in the house was wearing out everyone.
No one knew for sure if all of the Arrivals were now immortal, but as much as they could figure based on what they’d learned from Ajani, they’d only died permanently, up until now, because he’d needed their deaths in order to open the “wormholes.” Of course, Kitty had pointed out that she could do the “same damn thing as Ajani, so they’d better not fuck up.”
Garuda’s frequent visits helped her to feel calm, but even his influence couldn’t keep the panic at bay, and Jack and Chloe spoke daily about what they’d do if Edgar stayed dead. Oddly, Chloe and Francis took turns waiting with Melody, but the only people Kitty would let near Edgar were Jack, Chloe, and Garuda.
So when Edgar, Daniel, and Melody all awoke, Chloe actually wept with joy.
“Fucking Hector” were the first words Melody said when she opened his eyes. “Where is he?”
In the other room, Edgar and Kitty locked the door and didn’t come out for hours.
Things in the house were far from what Chloe had once considered normal, but she wasn’t sure that she wanted the kind of normal she’d once sought. She glanced at Jack, and together they walked to the sitting room, where they’d been spending hours talking about everything from how to handle Ajani’s possessions to movies she’d seen back home.
They closed the door behind them, and for a moment they stood staring at each other. Chloe wasn’t sure there were words enough to explain the things she’d figured out the past couple of days, but she owed it to Jack and to herself to try.
“I’m not ready for this,” she started.
Jack nodded, but he still frowned.
Chloe took the nod as encouragement to keep talking. “A few days ago I lived in a world with televisions, smartphones, and about a million other things that don’t exist in the Wasteland. That world also lacks the kinds of monsters that are here, and”—she caught his gaze and held it—“also the kind of men here.”
The way she felt in his arms wasn’t the sort of thing she wanted to ignore—neither was the fact that he was a good man. He’d stood by his sister, put her well-being before his own, and that kind of devotion was rare. He’d protected his team, tried to make the Wasteland a better place, and didn’t put his own needs before anyone’s. Even now, he was looking at her with concern.
“I’m sorry, Chloe. Katherine can’t endure the idea of killing someone in order to send you back. She thought about doing it to Hector after what he did, but . . . she’s sick of killing,” he said.
“I chose to stay,” she reminded him.
The frown he wore vanished, replaced with a look of hope. “I’m sorry I called you Mary. Before, I mean.” He swallowed nervously. “She was a good friend, but I meant what I said. We weren’t what you and I . . . what I mean is . . . I’m hoping that you and me . . .” His words faded, and he pulled her to him and kissed her.
Chloe didn’t resist. Of all the things in this world that didn’t make sense, she was pretty sure that this did. Her lips parted under his, and her arms wrapped around him.
When he pulled away from the kiss, she kept her arms around him and murmured, “Me too. I want to get to know you, Jack.”
He smiled. “I’m awfully glad you’re not hurt. Ajani and I had an accord of sorts, that we didn’t force anyone to side with either of us, but I wanted to . . . I would’ve broken all the rules for you if I could have.” Jack leaned his forehead against hers. “I don’t remember the last time I let my own wants get in the way of the good of the group. You’re different. This is . . . not just lust.”
“Good.” Chloe laughed a little at both of them. He’d stayed pressed up against her so tightly that she was having a difficult time not telling him to shut up so they could get back to kissing. In a not so subtle move, she rocked her hips forward. Jack slid his hand up her spine, holding her to him.
Chloe stilled as she heard Kitty’s voice. “You need to go slowly, Edgar. What if—” Her words ended abruptly on a squeal and a thump.
Chloe and Jack exchanged a look. “You two need your own house,” Chloe yelled. “I’ll even give you this one. Early wedding present.”
Jack laughed, and she led him outside to the courtyard. Once they were away from the blissful couple, Chloe continued, “I’m staying, and since I am, maybe we can go on some sort of dates or whatever, too.” She smiled at him, the new governor, as they stood in the courtyard of one of her houses and teased, “If you wanted, you could court me.”
Jack’s bemused expression was endearing as he loosened his hold on her. He cleared his throat and said, “I don’t know the rules for your time, but I can try.”
Chloe tilted her head so her lips were closer to his ear and whispered, “In my time, courting doesn’t mean no lust, Jack. It just means we do other things too.”
The wicked smile he gave her was enough to make Chloe glad he already had his arms around her.
Author’s Note
The Coffin Text used by Ajani to open wormholes and assign himself deathlessness is modified from Coffin Text 1031. To the best of my knowledge, Egyptian spells have absolutely no connection to wormholes, nor would travel through a wormhole allow a person deathlessness.
Saloon girls didn’t use modern idiomatic phrases. If Kitty were back in her rightful time (late 1800s), she would not have said, “Seriously!” The characters use language from eras other than their birth eras to reflect their years spent in the Wasteland with people from later eras. If yo
u do happen to fall into a wormhole and end up in an 1800s Wild West town, do avoid giving yourself away by using modern phrases.
Each character’s name is selected for meaning as well as a vague sense of “fitting” that I can’t explain in any remotely rational way. Here are a few of my etymology notes that started the book.
•Jack (Jackson Reed)—diminutive form of John (God is gracious) or Jackson (son of Jack)
•Katherine (Reed)—pure
•Chloe (Mattison)—verdant and blooming
•Edgar (Cordova)—rich spear
•Francis (Miller)—free
•Melody (Blankenbecker)—song tune
•Hector (Soto)—anchor, steadfast
•Ajani—he who wins the struggle
•Garuda—king of birds
•bloedzuiger—literally “bloodsucker”
•Verrot—rot/rotten
•lindwurm—a wingless dragon of Nordic folklore
•cynanthropy—a mania in which the patient thinks he is a dog
Acknowledgments
My sincere gratitude goes to the following people without whom this book would be nothing more than incoherent scrawls scattered throughout various notebooks and on the backs of receipts:
Liate Stehlik, Kate Nintzel, Seale Ballenger, Jean Marie Kelly, Brianne Halverson, and Shawn Nicholls astounded me with stellar support for Graveminder as I was writing this book. You’ve all been quite kickass.
Ashley (via her mother, Stephanie) lent me her name through winning a charity auction. Meeting you at FaerieCon made me smile, so I hope your namesake in the story makes you smile.
Dr. Scott Paulson answered my physics questions, so I could try to grasp the possibilities of timespace (although the physics in the text was quite corrupted by the liberties I took). You’re still very patient.
My research assistant, Christopher Scheirer, procured articles on various oddities (all while working on his PhD). My personal assistant, Laura Kalnajs, read and proofread this book repeatedly—all while keeping my daily chaos in check. Thank you both.