Mirrored Time (A Time Archivist Novel Book 1) (12 page)

CHAPTER
FOURTEEN

G
WEN’S HEAD WAS
killing her. Reaching up to her face, she pulled her hand away and stared at her red fingertips.

“Here.” She took the offered starched handkerchief, pressing it to her nose and pinching to stop the flow of blood. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the janitor standing next to her. His pale eyes peered at her from behind his glasses. “Are you all right?”

She opened her mouth to speak, only to shut it with an abrupt snap.
Am I all right?
The last thing she remembered was going to sleep. And now there was the persistent feeling she was forgetting something important.
Something very important.
Her head ached, and she squinted against the pain.

The sleepwalking must be getting even worse if she made it all the way to the courthouse basement. “I’m fine, Mr. …?” Her voice sounded nasally, muffled behind the handkerchief.

“Verbier, Seymour Verbier, miss.” He tugged at a lock of his flyaway white hair. “I came in this morning to get a start on cleaning the floors and found you sitting here, blood down your chin. You gave me a bit of a scare, you did.”

He made her uneasy. She got to her feet. Pulling the piece of cloth away, she touched her nose and was relieved to find it had stopped bleeding. She balled the handkerchief up in her hand. “I’m sorry. I’ll get this cleaned for you.” Even as she spoke, she tried to reach the thought refusing to appear. It was as difficult to grasp as shifting smoke.

“It’s no bother.” He waved his hands and continued to peer up at her.

She took a nervous step backward, tripping on the stair behind her feet. She flushed when the old man recoiled back as if struck. The unease rolling through her stomach was too strong to ignore. “Well then, thank you.” She stepped up. “I guess I’ll see you later. Um, bye.” Not caring how rude she was being, she fled up the stairway, desperate to get away from his eerie gaze.

At home, Gwen took a quick shower in the hope it would help relax her and dispel the lingering feeling of anxiety.
Completely useless.

A couple of aspirin and the cool air from her walk to the Archives also did little to soothe her aching head and queasy stomach. As she entered the office, all she wanted to do was lay her head on her desk and go to sleep.

Instead, she walked into the middle of an argument. The men fell silent at her entrance, but the air was still thick with anger.

Alistair stood stiffly behind his desk, arms crossed and jaw clenched. Two of the men wore similar gray cloaks with the hoods thrown back, both with the tonsured heads of medieval monks.
Twins.
Two pairs of cold eyes, the same color as their gray hair, stared at her. Their features were sharp, as if carved in granite.

The third was much shorter. While he was young, he held himself in a way at odds with his apparent age. He was dressed in a short white tunic, and his legs, thin with youth, were covered with brown leggings.

The final man towered over the others, even with his shoulders hunched in his gray trench coat and his hands jammed in his pocket. She stared at his red tie and his gray button-up shirt. In comparison to his companions, he was dressed so normally. He caught her staring and smiled, white teeth flashing against his dark skin.

Thrown off by the smile after the cold hard stares of the other three, Gwen stood frozen. Her head pounded with the same beat as her racing heart.

“So you’re the new traveler Alistair has risked so much for.” The adolescent’s high squeaky voice had an underlying tone of hatred that made a shiver run up her spine. Young as he was, he was the apparent leader of the group.

“Leave her alone, Cassian. She is blameless in this.” Alistair growled.

“Yet she is the reason—” One of the cloaked figures started the sentence, which was finished by the other without pause. “—you have chosen to defy us.”

Gwen found her voice. “What’s going on?”

“Surely you’ve heard of us?” The black man’s voice was thick with the sound of London.

“Gwen, may I present to you the ambassadors of the Guardians.” The hostility in Alistair’s tone was thinly veiled by the formality of his words. He introduced each of the figures. “Cassian Augustine.” The youth gave a sharp nod. “Brothers Jacob and Joshua of the Franciscans.” In unison, the two monks folded their hands and bowed. “And …”

He was interrupted when the final man pulled his hands from his pockets and shook Gwen’s hand, his larger hand enveloping hers in a gentle grip. “Max.” His grin was light and genuine, and Gwen smiled back at him.

“I’m not sure I understand the problem. You know about my existence and about the test. Alistair can vouch for my character. I promise I’m not a megalomaniac in disguise.” She tried for light-hearted, and Max grinned. Cassian was less appreciative of her attempts at humor.

“Do not mock us, child.” In other circumstances, having a person who looked little older than twelve call her a child might have been amusing. In the face of Cassian’s icy rage, there was nothing humorous about it. “The rules exist to protect, and they become no less important because they prevent one man’s foolish rebellion.”

The twins spoke, faces and voices calm even in the whirlwind of Cassian’s anger. “For ages we have administered the test … And for ages we have protected the streams from any force that would seek to harm it.” Again, they spoke as a single unit, one twin finishing what the other started.

Cassian spoke again, gesturing in sharp movements. “Or have you forgotten the black mirror and the destruction rained down by the force within?”

The shadow man’s laugh whispered through her mind. The image of the black mirror was seared on the back of her eyelids. Wrapping her arms around her body, Gwen willed herself to stay calm.
No one could know about the dreams.

Alistair was watching her with narrowed eyes. She ignored him. “The black mirror?” She was impressed with how calm her voice sounded.

“See?” Cassian’s voice was loud and incredulous. “How can she be trusted if she doesn’t even know what the dangers are?” He tried to continue, but Max stepped forward, his large hands spread in supplication.

“Perhaps this is a conversation better suited for a more amenable setting,” Max said. With his words, Cassian settled.

Alistair nodded, although the gesture looked involuntary. “If you would follow me.”

Soon they were gathered in Alistair’s sitting room. Gwen tried not to stare as Cassian hopped into one of the wing-backed chairs, all awkward angles of knobby knees and sharp elbows.

Alistair stood leaning against the fireplace mantle. “Perhaps we can begin again. This time without the childish emotional displays?” He delivered the words with a bland tone, but Gwen saw Cassian twitch at the implied insult.

“How dare you!” His voice cracked on the last word in a pitchy squeak.

Alistair’s eyebrow raised, his tone droll. “I’m sorry, say again? I didn’t hear you.”

The brothers spoke up before Cassian could reply. “The test has been completed and cannot be undone. It remains to be seen what damage shall be caused.”

Alistair clenched his jaw. “As keeper of the Archives, the Council has imbued me with certain powers—”

Cassian interrupted him. “Your powers as an Archivist do not give you the right to pursue your misguided crusade at the risk of the rest of the order! You defied the Council when you tested an untried force. The consequences of such will be on your head!”

Alistair looked incredulous. “An untried force?”

Interrupting before another argument could begin, Gwen leaned forward in her chair, drawing everyone’s attention to her. “Please, I don’t understand. What’s the black mirror, and why is it so dangerous for me to have completed the test?” She placed her hand over where the compass should have hung hidden beneath her shirt. Her hand dropped to her lap, and she fought to keep her face blank.
I took it off.

After running away from the janitor, she had gone straight home, throwing the necklace off as soon as she had walked into her apartment. The chain burned her skin. And the charms? Well, they only served to remind her of Rafe and … Her thoughts spun, and she clenched her jaw.
Thief…

Cassian started to speak. Max interrupted him, his voice calm and gentle. “The black mirror is less a what and more a who. I can’t tell you his real name. It has been lost in conflicting myths and legends. Over time, the Guardians have grown accustomed to using the name Aeon. He has the power of a god; why not give him the name of one? Whoever he was, before he was imprisoned, Aeon almost destroyed everything the Guardians have vowed to protect, waging a war against them that lasted for millennium.”

Her mind was no longer on her missing necklace. Gwen thought his wording was a little strange, as if Max didn’t consider himself a part of the Guardians. The twins started speaking again before she could question the thought further.

“Aeon made it his mission to destroy the Guardians one by one, and he almost succeeded.” A slight pause, then the other spoke up in that same back-and-forth rhythm. Gwen wondered if anyone else found it as contrived as she did. “If it was not for the sacrifices of a few original Guardians, who knows what chaos would have been unleashed on the time streams. Lives were sacrificed to create the mirrored prison. Those chains can never be broken, for the sake of all humankind.”

Cassian spoke, and while quieter, his voice was still spiteful. “Surely you have told the girl what would happen if the past were to change?”

Alistair tensed even further. “Just because the Guardians believe everything is predetermined, does not mean that this is an opinion generally accepted.”

Jumping to his feet, Cassian charged Alistair. Stopping mere inches from his feet, he shouted up at the older man. “Do you think we don’t know what you are trying to do? Are you willing to risk everything to save one life?”

Alistair said nothing.

Cassian’s laugh was cold and mocking. “How selfish can you be to think your pain allows you to take this path? What has happened cannot be undone or time will unfold on itself. This is why the Guardians were created. If you think because you have tricked a few of the Council into siding with you that you are safe, then you are mistaken. We will not let you destroy the world for one life, Alistair.”

That pronouncement was delivered in a voice heavy with an implied threat. “Continue with this misguided mission of yours and I promise you will soon find yourself bereft of the support that now protects you.”

Max broke the silence ringing with the echo of Cassian’s words. “That is enough. We have delivered the message. Now it is time to go to the Council. They alone can serve judgment on Alistair for what he has done.”

Brothers Jacob and Joshua stood and turned in unison to face Alistair. “Is there anything you wish us to relay to the Council?”

The struggle to collect himself was evident on his face. Yet when Alistair spoke, his voice was cool. “I will admit to administering a testing without full backing of the Council and accept their judgment. However, it was no idle gesture, and I hope the Council will see fit to understand that Miss Conway is no random individual. You argue for destiny, Cassian, for predetermination?” His voice lost its coolness as he turned to the shorter figure. “And yet you question what I have done?”

The young man glared up at Alistair. “And where’s the other one hiding at? What does he call himself? Oh yes, Rafe.” He repeated his statement from earlier. “Believe me, Alistair. We know exactly what you are trying to do.”

With one last hateful glance at Alistair, Cassian glanced away from the older man. “Max.” His voice was a command, but the dark skinned Guardian stayed where he was.

“I am not done here.”

Cassian’s face burned red, and he turned to face the brothers. The twins reached out their arms so the three stood in a connected circle. In an instant, they disappeared.

Alistair and Gwen now stood alone in the room with Max, who was watching them with an amused expression on his face. “I’ve missed my ride.” He shook his head with a wry smile. “We shall speak to the Council. Don’t lose faith, Alistair. Cassian does not hold complete sway over all the members.” He turned to Gwen. “I would like to show you something, if I have your permission.”

Gwen glanced at Alistair, but he stayed silent. What she wanted to do was go to a quiet place and think over everything she had heard. The hostility and accusations gave her more questions, and she wanted to know what part she played in all of this.

Still, whatever her feelings, logic demanded she didn’t give up an opportunity to learn something new. Secrets hung thick and heavy in the air. If Max was willing to give her an explanation, then she would take him up on his offer. She nodded at the tall Guardian. “What is it?”

“It won’t hurt, I promise.” He moved to touch her arm. “I’m going to show you one of my memories. A benefit of my gift. I can share memories of times I have visited. It may be a little disorienting at first. Remember, I’ll be there with you.” His hand started to warm on her skin, and then she tumbled into his dark eyes.