Waging War (20 page)

“Which means what?”

“It means that this piece of tape is from an
encoded message which can’t be decoded without the settings from
June 4th, 1944. And as all the records from Colossus were burned
right after the war, it is now just a torn relic of an extinct
codebreaking process.”

And there it was.

That was the reason I had to go back in
time. Ava and Adam had Seen me go, but until that moment, I hadn’t
really accepted that there was a compelling reason to. Not really.
But unlocking the rest of the encoded message about the mission in
London could only happen with the decoding key from that day, so in
one fell swoop I had motive to go and a date to focus on. June 4th,
1944.

Stella was studying me, and I realized I was
going to need her help when I went back. “So, who’d you marry?”

She gave me a sly smile. “Colonel
Marks.”

I gaped at her. “The Monger?”

“Of course I didn’t advertise the fact that
I was Family. My mother had been very private about her gifts. Not
even my father knew, and James’ parents had been killed in the
Blitz.”

“Did you have any children?” I tried not to
let my shock show, but Stella’s expression began to shutter and I
quickly added. “I’m mixed, by the way, and I wasn’t raised with
Family prejudices. I’m just curious.”

She seemed to assess me before she answered.
“Our son lives in Portsmouth, and my grandchildren and
great-grandchildren are scattered around Britain.”

I had a sudden thought. “Are they all
accounted for?”

Her assessing look turned hard. “Why?”

“Because mixed-bloods have been disappearing
around London. A Monger named Seth Walters is responsible for the
kidnappings, and we’ve been working to find them.”

Her expression shifted to concern
immediately. “My family is safe.”

“And no one knows about them?”

“We lived in Australia after the war. Our
son didn’t go to St. Brigid’s, and neither did his children. My
grandson married a Seer, but her family never met James and assumes
I’m the only true Descendant in Nolan’s family.”

“Good. I’m sorry if my questions made you
uncomfortable.”

Her smile didn’t reach her eyes, but I
didn’t think it was because of me. “When James and I fell in love,
the world was at war and the prejudices against mixing seemed so
unimportant. James would have been appalled, as I am, at the
prejudice that remains.”

Archer pushed Ravi’s wheelchair into the
Colossus room, and I thought Stella was glad for the interruption.
She went to Ravi’s side and pulled a stool around so she could sit
next to him to talk. Archer came up behind me and touched the small
of my back lightly.

“Is everything okay?”

I turned to face him. “The note you left for
Ravi was from June 4th, 1944. I think I need to get there on the
third so I can tell you to look for the decoded message.”

His eyes narrowed. He wasn’t happy about
this trip, and honestly, neither was I. I tried to diffuse the
tension with practicality. “Where should I find you?”

The expression on his face was unreadable.
“If you arrive at night, I’ll be here. If it’s daytime, I’ll be in
my room behind the library wall.”

I winced. “I should probably plan to Clock
in your cupboard then, since there would have been a whole shift
working with you here. Hopefully you’re not too jumpy about
strangers in your space.”

He leaned in and smelled my skin. “I’ll know
it’s you.”

“Fifty years later?” I said
incredulously.

“I’ll always know you.” The whisper of his
breath in my ear made me tremble. I leaned my head back onto his
shoulder and he held me like that for a year, or maybe just a
minute, tattooing my skin with his heartbeat.

“I think Ravi may have overdone it.” Stella
spoke to us as she held his hand in hers, and surreptitiously
checked his pulse. Archer and I raced to his side.

Ravi cracked an eye open and glared at her.
“I’m not dying, just tired. A quick nap will do wonders.”

Archer smiled at him and stood to navigate
the chair out of the Colossus room. “Let’s get you back to the
car.”

Ravi finally allowed Stella’s hand to slip
from his. “Thank you, my dear. It’s been far too long, and yet you
remain as lovely as the day I met you.”

Stella leaned over and kissed him on the
cheek. “Ravindra Singh, you always could charm the gold from a
leprechaun.”

Archer wheeled him out and Stella held her
arm out to me. “Come, my dear. I put on a good show, but I’m as
exhausted as he is. Walk me to my car?”

I took her arm and we navigated our way out
of H Block, shutting off lights and locking doors behind us. Ringo
emerged from the darkness outside as we made our way back to the
mansion.

“Where have you been?” My voice was just
above a whisper. The Bletchley Park grounds at night seemed to
require stealth and quiet, as though its secrets were still being
kept.

“Reconnaissance,” he whispered back.

“We’re leaving soon,” I said quietly.

I could see his silent nod in the dark, and
Stella squeezed my arm. “When you see me again, please tell me to
trust my Sight. Even when it shows me impossible things.” I could
hear the smile in her voice. “And tell me James really did like
butter, he just gave me his ration coupons for it every week
because he knew how much I loved it.”

“Will it shock you to know I’m a Clocker
when I meet you then?”

She shook her head. “Oh no. One of my
grandmother’s dearest friends was a Clocker, and she often told me
stories of the places they dreamed of seeing together when they
were girls.”

I laughed. “I promise, it’s not as glamorous
as it sounds. Did your grandmother ever get to Clock with her
friend?”

“No, sadly. Her friend suddenly became heir
to the position of Clocker Family Head, and they grew apart as
responsibilities changed.”

I stared at her. “Was her friend Emily
Elian?”

Stella sounded surprised. “Yes, I believe
she was.”

“Emily was my aunt.” That announcement was
met with stunned silence. “I’ll introduce you to her granddaughter
when I get back, if you like.”

“I … I’d like that very much.” She hesitated
a long moment. “You said you were of mixed blood. Is your mix one
of Time and … Death?”

I stared at her. “Death? No. Time and
Nature. My mom Clocked forward to have me. She’s native to the
Victorian era.”

“Oh, I see. I’m sorry, I thought …” It
wasn’t that she sounded relieved, exactly, because it seemed like
she knew what Archer was. But maybe the idea of two Vampires in
such close proximity was unsettling.

It actually unsettled me. Not the idea of
being around Vampires, but the idea that I could be one.

It would solve a lot of problems.

And create about a million more.

I realized I hadn’t answered Stella, and she
must have thought she offended me because she apologized. I told
her there was no need to apologize, but I was only partly engaged
in the conversation while my mind was spinning with all the
possible ramifications of adding Death to the mix.

“No.” Ringo whispered to me. I jumped,
because it sounded like he was answering the question I’d just
mentally asked myself. Could I become a Vampire so Archer didn’t
have to risk the cure? “No,” he said again. His tone of voice was
like he was trying to shake some sense into me.

I climbed off of my mental merry-go-round
long enough to say goodbye to Stella. She held my hands in hers,
wished me luck, and said she looked forward to the memories she’d
have of meeting me in 1944. I told her I would invite her to tea
with Millicent when I returned. She cupped Ringo’s cheek in her
hand and looked sternly at him. “Don’t get caught, my dear.”

Before either of us had a chance to comment
on that cryptic statement, Archer jogged over. “Ravi’s already
asleep and will likely stay that way long enough for me to get him
home without his noticing that you didn’t return with us,” he said.
He bent to kiss Stella on both cheeks, she asked him to come visit
her again, and she got in her car and drove away.

“She’s lovely,” I said to Archer as he waved
to her one last time.

“She always has been.”

“She married a Monger.”

He shrugged. “James Marks was a decent
fellow, as colonels went. He certainly loved her enough to make up
for any deficits in his heritage.”

“How’d he feel about you?”

“If he knew what I am, he never let on, and
considering the hours Stella worked with us, he was actually quite
civil.”

“Are ye goin’ to tell ‘im what ye were just
thinkin’, Saira?” Ringo’s voice was quiet and held none of the
teasing tone ours had.

“I wasn’t really—”

“Yes, ye were. Tell ‘im.” Ringo’s tone
didn’t allow for wiggle room.

Archer was waiting expectantly. I sighed.
“Stella asked if I was a mix of Time and Death, and it made me
wonder—”

“No.” The quiet certainty in Archer’s voice
was exactly the kind of tone that made me bristle and immediately
want to do exactly what I’d been denied.

My eyes narrowed at him. “No? Just like
that? You haven’t even heard what I was going to say.”

His eyes narrowed right back at me. “You
wondered if you were turned, would that alleviate any desire I have
to attempt Shaw’s cure? Because if your hours were suddenly in line
with mine, perhaps I wouldn’t need to see the sun again or feel it
warming my skin. And if you were essentially immortal, perhaps I
could let go of my unreasonable and inconvenient need to keep you
safe. Is that a fair approximation of your thoughts?”

It was, but I’d rather have walked barefoot
over hot coals than admit that out loud. I glared at him. “It made
me
wonder
—” I had to think fast to come up with something
plausible that didn’t let him be right. “It made me wonder if
Tom
still had his Sight and would See me coming. He
obviously still has use of the Clocking skills he got from Wilder,
and that made me wonder how good your Clocking skills might be,
since you had some of my blood.” I put my hands on my hips and
dared either of them to contradict me.

Ringo’s eyes laughed at my obvious
re-direction, and he turned to Archer and said in a perfectly calm
and reasonable voice, “Good point. ‘Ave ye tried to Clock on yer
own?”

“Obviously not. I have no interest in going
anywhere Saira isn’t. I did try to draw a spiral once. That went
nowhere.” Archer had schooled his own tone of voice to match
Ringo’s casual one, and I forgot to be so mad.

“You did?”

Archer nodded.

“Do you want to try tracing one of my
spirals?”

“No, but as much as I hate to admit it, it’s
time you did. I need to get Ravi back home to his flat, and now
that it’s clear when and where you should arrive, additional delay
just makes it that much longer before you return.”

We had started to make our way back up to
the mansion when Archer grabbed my hand suddenly, and pulled me
around to face him while Ringo walked ahead. “I’m not kidding
though, Saira. I won’t turn you, and another Vampire would likely
kill you.” His eyes burned fiercely. “The way you feel about my
desire to attempt Shaw’s cure is the way I feel about this. If it
were something I believed you truly wanted for yourself, I might
understand it. But to even consider something so … life-altering,
as a means of avoidance – that, I can’t abide.”

All the air went out of my defiance and my
shoulders slumped. Archer pulled me into his arms for a quick,
tight hug before we continued walking. “In a perfect world, you’re
back before I wake up tonight, and then we go find the missing
mixed-bloods together.”

My voice was a whisper. “If Tom finds me and
we can leave 1944, I
will
be back before you wake up
tonight.”

He sighed. “Finding Tom that quickly is
about as likely as my perfect world scenario.” He kissed my
forehead and we got to the mansion just in time for Ringo to open
the front door from the inside. I didn’t even ask how he’d gotten
in. That would be like asking the sun how it set that day.

We slipped through the dark mansion to the
library, and Archer opened the secret door in the fireplace wall.
“I’ll be needin’ the plans for that door when we get back,” said
Ringo.

Archer smiled. “Ask me in 1944. It’ll be a
lot fresher in my memory then.”

Ringo pulled a mini Maglite from his
satchel, then tossed me the other bag he had somehow stashed in the
secret room. He aimed it at the white plaster wall, then pulled out
a piece of white chalk. I thought that was pretty brilliant and I
told him so. The spiral would be nearly invisible when we left.
“Milady,” he said as he handed it to me.

I threw my arms around Archer and held him
tightly. My heart was pounding so hard I could feel it in Archer’s
chest, and I inhaled the warm, spicy scent of his skin. “I love
you,” I whispered in his ear.

“Come home to me,” he whispered in mine.

Tom – Limoges, France – June, 1944