Breath
A Fablehaven Story
"That was rough, wasn't it?" Seth asked. Flopping backward onto his bed with his knees bent off the edge, the young teen glanced over at his older sister, Kendra.
Their guest room at Living Mirage was tastefully furnished. Richly embroidered Eastern carpets and rugs accented the floor, and an elegant table lamp stood on each of their small bedside tables. The spacious closet, tall chest of drawers, and massive adjoining bathroom offered all the luxury they could wish.
In spite of that, and in spite of their recent and totally unexpected victory at Zzyzx, Kendra felt hollow inside. She knew exactly what Seth meant.
"When Agad reminded us of everyone who died," she said.
At dinner that evening, the wizard had asked for a moment of silence to remember the people who had been sacrificed along their way to saving the world from the demon hordes in Zzyzx. Kendra and Seth had both found it far too painful, ruining their ability to enjoy either the relief or the celebration of what had been saved.
"Yeah," Seth said, kicking at the side of the bed. "I keep thinking of them anyway. Why did Agad have to go and remind us?"
Kendra hated to see the troubled look in her brother's eyes. She knew he was mostly thinking of Coulter Dixon, the old family friend who had been killed after the demon Graulas betrayed Seth's compassion and rampaged across Fablehaven. Even though Seth had later killed Graulas at the battle on the Shoreless Isle, it had come too late to save the elderly adventurer. Kendra knew Seth still felt guilty, even though it was completely the demon's fault.
Who did she, herself, most regret losing? It was painful to think back over all the deaths. Almost the entire family at Lost Mesa had been killed when their preserve fell. Mara was just about the only survivor. Then there had been Neil, killed by poison gas inside of Painted Mesa after he saved all their lives outside.
And so many more. Too many to name. Kendra's mind wanted to shut down when she tried naming them all. So many unfair, unreasonable deaths. Good people, working together, trying to help them save the world. Now it had been saved, but so many of them wouldn't get to live in it.
When Kendra thought about it, there was one death that hurt more than any of the others. Maybe the way Coulter's did for Seth. Maybe because she still felt like she should have saved him. Or maybe, Kendra realized, because she had never actually seen him die. So she'd just had to imagine it, over and over again.
Maybe because he died of his worst fear.
"You know who I feel the worst about?" Kendra said, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and sitting up. "Vincent. Back at the Dreamstone."
Seth sat up too, facing Kendra across the few feet between their beds. "The little Filipino guy. Trask's friend. Yeah, that was awful."
Inside the Dreamstone, a dreamlike maze of seemingly half-real but very deadly nightmare dangers, they had faced a room full of water that at first boiled and rose up to fill the last corner of the ceiling before they could shut it off, then dropped back to its old level but froze over as it went. Trapped at the top, in the small air pocket beneath their overturned canoe, Vincent had shared with Kendra that his greatest fear had always been drowning.
In spite of that, he had stayed calm and brave. But Kendra could see he was freaking out. She hadn't blamed him. Even though it wasn't a specific fear for her, being trapped in the rising water had been terrifying.
Moments later, as the water fell back down and froze, Vincent had fallen through a thin layer of ice on top. It had frozen deeper so quickly that no one had been able to pull him out. Even though they had tried for several minutes to break through the ice with all of their weapons, they never got close to reaching him. Kendra's last sight of her new friend had been of him panicking, trying to break through the ice from several feet underneath and only getting pushed deeper.
Finally, Trask had said they had to keep moving. In the end, they had barely made it through the nightmare maze in time. Even so, a huge part of Kendra has wished they could somehow stay as long as it took to save Vincent, even though she knew he was probably already out of air before they gave up.
"He was praying," Kendra said quietly.
"What?" Seth asked.
"In the canoe," Kendra said, feeling tears start in her eyes. "When it was upside down, at the top. He had his eyes closed and his lips were moving. I know he was praying." She shook her head, clenching her fists. "It didn't do him any good. At least, not for himself."
"He was a really good guy," Seth said. "I wish we had gotten to know him longer."
"It isn't fair!" Kendra said, fighting a sharp pain in her chest and behind her eyes. "I wish there was some way we could go back and save him."
Seth didn't say anything.
"What?" Kendra asked.
Seth was staring at her, eyes wide.
"We defeated the Society, right?"
"Well, yeah," Kendra said, wondering what that had to do with anything.
"And we defeated the demons," Seth urged. "We got the keys back from them."
Kendra felt her whole body freeze in shock. Her breathing stopped, her blinking, all her movements. Even her heart seemed to stop beating for just a second.
"You get it?" Seth asked.
"We have the Translocator," Kendra said slowly. "And... the Chronometer! And the Sands of Sanctity!"
Her heart beat faster now. Seth's eyes, meeting hers, matched her excitement.
"We really can go back!" Kendra breathed.
Suddenly all she wanted to do was cry. For at least one of the people they had lost, maybe there was a second chance.
Instead of crying, Kendra leaped to her feet. "Come on!" she said, heading for the door and looking over her shoulder at Seth to follow. "We have to get Warren in on this. He figures things out really well. He can help us make a good plan!"
Seth was already right beside her. "And Mara," he said. "She looked like she wanted to kick herself to death when Vincent got drowned. She's going to want to help save him. Plus she's a really good swimmer."
"Yeah," Kendra agreed. They were already out the door and heading to Warren's room nearby down the hall. At probably eleven o'clock at night, most of the adults were already asleep. Who knew why adults went to bed so early? But Kendra had a feeling Warren and Mara would wake up for this.
Racing down the hall as quietly as they could, Seth and Kendra skidded to a halt in front of Warren's door. Kendra knocked, and they both waited.
A moment later, Warren opened the door. He was wearing pajamas, and his hair was sticking up to one side like he'd been sleeping on it. His eyes were surprised, but calm and alert.
"Seth? Kendra? he asked quietly. "What's going on?"
Without waiting for an answer, he opened the door wider and invited them inside. Once in the room, he quietly closed the door.
Seth and Kendra looked around. Warren's room was a little smaller than theirs, with only one bed, but just as tastefully furnished. The blankets were pushed up, and there was a travel book and a couple of maps lying open on his bedside table. A small lamp was turned on beside them. Maybe Warren hadn't been sleeping, but reading up and making plans for his next adventure.
Warren perched on the side of the bed and invited the kids to have a seat too. Seth sat beside him, and Kendra claimed a light maroon upright chair with a fancy back and arms.
"We have an idea," Seth said, getting right to the point. "We want to use the Chronometer and the Translocator to go back and rescue Vincent at the Dreamstone. We need your help to make a good plan."
"Wait a minute!" Warren said, holding up both his hands. "That's a lot all at once. I wasn't at the Dreamstone, remember? Tell me exactly what it is you want to do."
Kendra couldn't help feeling like she had to rush. She reminded herself that even though it felt like a huge emergency, with time running out, the emergency had really happened months ago. If they were going to use the Chronometer to go back and fix it, they needed to take the time to make a solid plan first. That meant explaining things carefully to Warren so he could help them.
"In the Dreamstone," Kendra said carefully, taking a deep breath to pace herself, "there was a big room that filled up with water, all the way to the ceiling. Then when the water came back down, it froze. Vincent - he's Trask's friend, who was with us - got trapped under the ice, and we thought he drowned."
"Only maybe he didn't!" Seth said excitedly. "Maybe he just disappeared, because we went back from now and got him!"
Warren looked at them both very carefully, interested and alert.
"No one actually saw him drown?" he asked.
"No," Kendra said. "We just saw him fall in and get trapped. Mara saw him last. She said he was panicking, trying to fight his way back through the ice. Then he got down so deep she couldn't see him anymore. Finally, several minutes after that, we stopped trying to cut through to him. We figured he must be dead, and if he wasn't, he would be before we could reach him. And we had to keep moving before the Society caught up to us."
Kendra looked straight at Warren, not ashamed at all of the tears falling down her face. "It was the rottenest I ever felt about any decision we made in the whole war," she said.
"I understand," Warren said gravely. He didn't say anything about her tears. "Leaving someone behind who's already dead is terrible. Leaving someone to die is infinitely worse."
Kendra nodded, glad he understood.
"He was panicking," she said. "He told me just a few minutes earlier that his worst fear was of drowning. It isn't fair that he had to die that way!"
"Only we're going to save him so he didn't," Seth said. "All we have to do is go back, get him, bring him to this time, and he won't be drowning."
Kendra suddenly felt a heaviness settle deep into her chest. "Oh no," she said softly. "Is it possible to go back and get someone with the Chronometer? We couldn't take anything back in time with us when we went. We never tried to bring anything forward. What about a person?"
"Patton came forward in time," Seth pointed out.
"But he set that up himself," Kendra said. "And he only came forward for a little while, then went back. Can we go and get Vincent and keep him in the present? Will the Chronometer do that?"
"It might," Warren said, leaning forward. He spoke intensely, his brilliant hazel eyes focused. "We know, or suspect, the Chronometer won't allow us to change history. But what if we bring back a person at the very moment of death? What if no one actually saw him die?"
Kendra felt hope. "Then it might work?"
"I think it will," Warren said, growing confident. "There's no history to change, that way."
"We want to get Mara involved," Seth said. "She's a great swimmer, and she really wanted to save Vincent before. I know she'd give anything for a second chance now."
His eyes grew distant, and Kendra knew he was thinking about Coulter again. Kendra remembered Mara blaming herself for losing hold of Vincent before he fell in the water. If she felt the way Seth did about Coulter, she would indeed give anything to set it right.
"Let's go get her," Kendra said.
Warren held up one finger. "I have a simpler way."
He picked up the phone on the table next to his bed and dialed a short number. After a couple of seconds, he said, "Hey, Mara. Would you come to my room for a few minutes? I've got something to run by you." Warren listened, nodded even though Mara couldn't see him, and said, "Thanks, see you in a bit."
He hung up the phone and grinned. "Less people running around through the halls at half till midnight. Less questions, you know?"
Kendra couldn't help laughing, half at Warren's comical charm and half in the relief and excitement of thinking they might really rescue Vincent after all. "You're the best," she said, teasing a little.
Warren grinned again and shrugged. "We have so many magical conveniences," he said, "it's easy to forget the modern technological ones are useful too."
A moment later, Mara gave a quick, quiet knock at the door and slipped inside. Her eyes took in Seth and Kendra, then turned to Warren.
"Glad I'm decent," Warren said.
Mara gave him a flat look. "You invited me over. And the door was unlocked." Even though she seemed almost unfriendly, Kendra knew it was just the way Mara talked. She had a feeling the tall, athletic woman was almost teasing Warren. As fellow adventurers, they had always gotten along very well.
"We have a plan," Warren said. "Or more accurately, we plan to create a plan. Kendra and Seth have proposed we use the artifacts to go back in time to the Dreamstone and rescue Vincent."
Mara's eyes sharpened. She stared at Warren, measuring him. Her gaze flickered to the kids, then back to Warren. After a long moment, she asked, "You think this will work?"
"We have more than half a reason to think so," Warren said. "If you never saw him die, and no one ever recovered a body, then we might be able to go back in time and save him without changing anything important." Warren's eyes grew exceptionally serious. "Except, of course, that he would have a chance to live."
Mara studied him for a long moment, then nodded. "Let's try it. If I could have given my life for his at the time, I would have. I still feel responsible for letting him slip through the ice in the first place. If there's any chance we can save him now, I'm willing to take any risk to do it."
"Then we need a very, very careful plan," Warren said steadily.
"That's why we came to you," Kendra said. "I remember how you were with the gravity rods at the Fablehaven vault."
"It's just careful thinking," Warren said. He reached into the drawer under his bedside table. and pulled out several sheets of paper and a handful of pens. "First things first. I want each of you to draw as accurate a map as you can of the room where Vincent fell underwater. We'll compare them and get as clear a picture as we can. Then, I'll want you all to tell me exactly what happened, in detail."
His brow furrowed in thought.
"Actually, I'm coming up with one potential problem already. The Chronometer operates by exact time. How will we know when to set it to?"
"That's not a problem," Mara said grimly. "My time sense is as accurate as my sense of location. And I never forget when someone I care about dies. I can tell you to the second when I lost sight of Vincent."
"Good enough," Warren said, relieved.
"Wait a minute," Seth objected. "How are we going to operate the Chronometer in the first place? That thing's really complicated.
Warren gave Seth a grave look, clearly knowing his words would hurt. "Coulter explained it to me."
Seth paled. "Right." Then he rallied, brightening and looking up. "Then that means, in a way Coulter will get to help us save Vincent! He'd like that."
Warren put a hand on Seth's shoulder. "Yes, he would." Kendra wanted to hug them both.
Mara was already sketching, and handed Warren her finished map.
"Oh, right," Kendra said, and grabbed a pen and paper to sketch hers. Seth did likewise. In a moment, when they compared the three, it became evident that no one could improve on the careful drawing and precise dimensions of Mara's map. Her spatial sense was as impressive on paper as when she had led them through the trackless passageways of the Dreamstone.
Warren examined the three maps, nodded, and set the other two aside to focus on Mara's. He gave a quick, apologetic glance to Kendra and Seth. "No offense," he said.
"None taken," Kendra answered. "We're here to save a life, not enter an art contest."
Warren's lips were moving as he traced the simple lines of Mara's map, which included a cutaway view of the underwater area - at normal level just below the top of the small, central artificial island's flat circle - including depth estimations.
"So this is where you lost Vincent?" he asked, tapping a small 'x' a few feet off the edge of the island.
"Yes," Mara said, pressing her lips together. "Another arm's reach and we would have had him."
"Well, we're going to have him now," Warren said. Kendra was impressed by the authority in his voice. Warren clearly knew not only how to adventure, but also how to lead adventurers. "All right, start from when you entered that room and tell me everything that happened, in detail."
Seth, Kendra, and Mara all related the events in that room, taking turns and adding to each other's accounts when they remembered something different. At times they corrected each other, and had to talk it through until they agreed on what had happened. Sometimes only one of them remembered one part, as when Kendra and Vincent had been the only ones under the canoe.
Warren listened seriously. He asked questions to clarify things, and sometimes asked them to remember something they hadn't thought to notice at the time. It was painful for Kendra, especially, to relive the time they had chopped at the ice with fading hope, trying to reach Vincent as he fell farther down beneath them. She could tell it was hard for Seth, too, and especially Mara.
Even Warren seemed troubled, though he hadn't been there, listening to the story of those desperate moments. But he stayed purposeful, insisting they all face it and relate everything that might help them save Vincent.
Finally, they all had a clear picture of exactly what had happened. Warren rocked back on the side of his bed and sat there for a minute, thinking hard.
"All right," he said. "There were lots of people in the room. We can't go back to where your past selves would see us. And if we wait until you left the room, there are two problems with that. First, Vincent might already be dead. Second, we run the risk of the Society showing up. Who knows what complications that would cause, if they had seen us - from the future - attempting a rescue? Plus they'd just try to kill anyone they saw, including Vincent."
"Besides," Seth said, "we can't take anything back into the past. We wouldn't be able to do anything that we couldn't the first time."
"You're right," Kendra realized. "So what does that leave?"
"It only leaves one alternative," Mara said. "We have to travel to the Dreamstone, into that room, with the Translocator, in this time. Then we have to use the Chronometer to go back in time, underwater, and save Vincent."
"That's exactly where I was headed," Warren said.
"Because there won't be ice in the present!" Kendra realized. "It will have melted. So we can go underwater - then go back in time, save Vincent, and come back to the present - and we won't be trapped!"
"I can go underwater," Mara corrected gravely. "Seth said it. I am the most accomplished swimmer and diver. And this is my risk to take. I am the one who lost Vincent in the first place. If anyone takes the chance of getting frozen into ice in the past, it will be me."
Warren sighed. "I'd like to take the risk away from you," he said. "I have a tendency to always want to be the one who risks and sacrifices myself, because I hate seeing anyone else get hurt or killed. But I agree. You will be the best for this. Our best chance to come away from this with zero casualties, us and Vincent included, is for you to make the dive."
Mara inclined her head slightly, assenting.
"It's no fair that other people always get to do the awesome things!" Seth complained.
Kendra elbowed him. "Didn't you just get to slay two demons with Vasilis three hours ago?"
"Easy for you to say," Seth grumbled. "You got to kill the Demon King."
Then he looked up at everyone with clear eyes.
"Mara, Warren's right. You should do this. I won't risk blowing our chance to save Vincent's life, or getting any of us hurt, just so I can be a stupid kid who wants some excitement."
Kendra stared at Seth. He was really growing up! She wanted to tease him about it, but felt it would be too terribly cruel. Instead she got up and gave him a hug. "Thanks, Seth," she said simply.
"Anytime," Seth muttered, staring at the toes of his sneakers.
"Ahem." Warren cleared his throat. "We have the basics of a plan. I think with a little more work, we can have a really good one. There's just one part we need to look at now. How do we actually get the artifacts?"
Kendra looked at him seriously. "We just go and explain to Agad what we need them for."
Seth gave her a pitying look.
"What?" Kendra asked, looking around. Mara's expression was grim, and Warren's was caught halfway between hers and that of Seth.
"Kendra," Seth sighed, "haven't you learned anything from all our adventures yet?" He shook his head. "What's the one thing adults -" he looked quickly at Warren and Mara, then amended, "- most adults say when we have a good idea to do something important, and it's risky or daring or just seems like a wild idea only kids would have?"
Kendra looked at the floor, feeling all her breath rush out at once. "No," she breathed. "They say no."
"And when we go and do it anyway," Seth said, "and it works," they tell us afterward that we shouldn't have. And they say they would have stopped us, even if they had known it would work!"
"I'm with Seth on this one," Warren said, his eyes worried and grave. "I don't think Agad would consider one life worth it to risk the artifacts like this."
"Do you disagree with him?" Mara asked, her eyes dark.
"Absolutely," Warren said firmly. "One life is worth everything."
Kendra stared around at the others, her heart sinking. Was it really coming to this again? Sneaking around, disobeying, doing wild and dangerous things without even being able to tell people like Agad or Grandpa and Grandma Sorensen?
"I'm sorry, Kendra," Warren said gently. "I know you hate this kind of sneaking about."
"It's okay," Kendra said bravely. "You all are right. We can't risk people shutting this down before we start. I'd rather be grounded for life than Vincent drown and be dead for life."
She glanced at Seth. "If you can give up wanting excitement, I guess I can give up wanting to be obedient."
Seth reddened. "Kendra..." For once, her obnoxious brother seemed moved and at a loss for something to say. He came over and returned the hug she had given him a moment earlier.
Kendra could feel her brother shaking, and realized she was doing the same thing.
"It doesn't matter about things like that," Seth said. "If we can save Vincent's life, that's way more important."
"Yeah," Kendra agreed. "So, then how are we going to get the artifacts?"
"If no one comes up with a better idea," Warren said, "I'll steal them."
"What?" Kendra asked. "How are you going to do that?"
Warren dug in the bedside drawer and pulled out a large ring of keys. "The Sphinx gave me these, remember? When we were first infiltrating Living Mirage? In all the excitement since, no one's asked for them back from me. They open most of the doors in this complex, and this one," he held up a medium sized, plain looking brass key, "is a skeleton key to every room on this floor."
"Including Agad's rooms!" Seth exclaimed. "Where he probably has all the stuff. You know, his cool magical wizard loot. Including the artifacts!"
"Wait a minute," Kendra said. "Haven't I seen you picking locks? Why do you even need a key?"
Warren ducked his head and looked slightly embarrassed. "The skills of a thief for an adventurer," he said. "You're right, Kendra. Ordinarily I wouldn't. But many of the locks in this place are magically trapped, have been for centuries. I could go up in a puff of smoke or dust if I opened the wromng one without an authorized key."
"Good enough reason," Seth said.
"One question," Mara asked. "What about the boiling water in that room. In the past it was frozen into ice, but normally it was at least simmering. And if it starts up heating again like before, we could be in real trouble."
Warren snapped his fingers. "I'm glad you mentioned that, Mara. Of course, we'll need to deal with the heat. You said Tanu made heat resistant potions for all of you the last time?"
"That's right," Seth remembered. "They had a bit of liquid courage in them, too, in case we had to face dragons. I guess we won't need that part this time, since there weren't actually any dragons inside the Dreamstone."
"As far as we know," Mara said darkly.
Kendra gulped, thinking of having to face a dragon when they went back for Vincent.
"It doesn't matter," she said bravely. "I'd face ten dragons if I have to, to save him, with or wthout a potion."
Sneaking a glance at Seth, she saw that he actually looked like he kind of hoped they got to face ten dragons. Kendra sighed. Some things never changed.
"All right," Warren said. "So, we should each have a potion to resist heat, just in case. Especially Mara. Do you think Tanu keeps some on hand?"
"Probably," Seth said. "They're a really important kind of potion. I bet he uses them a lot when he searches for ingredients."
"What about Vincent?" Kendra asked. "We can't take a potion back in time for him. We weren't even able to take our clothes with us before, when we visited Patton. We had to wrap up in blankets."
"I thought about that," Warren said. "Vincent had already taken a potion in the past, so he should be good with that. And since it's already absorbed into his body, he should be able to bring the effect with him into the present. Even if not, a few surface burns on the way up is way better than drowning."
"Yeah," Seth said, "and we can heal him with the Sands of Sanctity if we need to."
"Just how many artifacts do you want me to steal?" Warren asked, half laughing. "But I agree. We'd better have the Sands, just in case Vincent or any of us needs it. Three isn't that much harder to steal than two! We can hope we'll have a safe trip into the Dreamstone, a quick, clean in and out, but we'd better be prepared for anything."
"Do you think I should bring Vasilis?" Seth asked.
Warren pursed his lips, thinking for a moment, then shook his head. "That magical, legendary sword could attract more trouble than it keeps away. Bad enough we'll be carrying at least two powerful artifacts with us. In fact, we'd better leave the Sands behind with someone. If we lose that in the Dreamstone, we'll be in real trouble if there are serious injuries."
The matter-of-fact way he talked about 'serious injuries' made Kendra very nervous. But she was determined not to back out now.
"A more important question," Mara said, "is whether you will also need to steal potions. Can Tanu be counted on to help us?"
They all shared a serious glance.
"It's a risk," Warren said. "The more people we bring into a covert operation like this, the greater the chance that one of them will blow the whistle on the whole thing."
"No way," Seth said flatly. "Tanu won't blab. I'd risk telling him if it was my life on the line. He'll never do anything to get in the way of rescuing someone."
Kendra thought about it. She didn't know the big Samoan potion master quite as well as Seth did, but when she thought of him, his kindheartedness was the biggest thing that came to mind.
"I agree," Kendra said. "Tanu will help us."
"It's a good thing for you that you're right," Tanu said, opening the door and walking in. "I'd hate to have to explain to everyone what happened to an overly brash young adventurer who tried stealing potions from the secured stash of a master."
Warren threw his hands up, then smacked the heel of one into his forehead. "Is my bedroom the open forum for every late-night conversation to happen at Living Mirage? But no, that's what I get for not even locking my own door when making top-secret plans. What are you doing here, Tanu?"
"Spying and eavesdropping," the Polynesian said calmly. "I noticed Mara peeling out of her room at a suspiciously late time of night. It seemed like something interesting might be going on, so I followed her down here."
"And have been listening all this time?" Warren asked.
"No, actually," Tanu said. "Only after she didn't come out for a while, and when I checked Seth and Kendra's room on a hunch and they weren't there. A bunch of people including them, all meeting in your room at quarter to midnight? It had to be some kind of adventurous scheme. I was about to knock and ask why I wasn't invited when I heard myself come up as the topic of conversation."
He sat down on an extra chair, the fancy but none too thick wooden bracings creaking under his weight.
"What's all this about stealing my potions?" Tanu asked.
He looked from one of them to another.
Quickly, Kendra filled him in on the plan to save Vincent. Tanu listened thoughtfully, then nodded when she finished.
"You were right to be careful," he said. "But you were right about trusting me, too. I'll help you. As it happens, I do have a couple of those potions ready. Give me an hour, and I can whip up a few more. They're not that complicated to make, and I have access to all of my gear and a lot of first-rate ingredients at the moment."
"Wow," Seth said. "Thanks, Tanu."
"Yeah," Kendra added. "I'm sorry we talked about stealing your potions."
Tanu scowled. "Don't be," he said. "I hated leaving Vincent behind. One of the roughest moments of the whole war. If you had stolen them, I'd be glad you did it. It's only that you would have been in danger. My traps don't differentiate between good intentions and bad, friend or foe." He paused thoughtfully. "Maybe there's a way for me to remedy that."
"Another time," Warren prompted. "Can you get started on-"
He looked around at the small group.
"How many of us are going?" Warren asked.
"All of us," Seth said promptly.
Kendra rolled her eyes.
"Now wait," Tanu said. "I think I at least should stay behind. You'll need someone in a steady place to help out if things go wrong. Besides, have a ny of you thought about what happens when three of the artifacts go missing? They'll raise the alarm in minutes. This place will be turned upside down."
"Good point," Warren said. "So we should go somewhere else."
"Exactly," Tanu stated. "I recommend my place as a base of operations. It's pretty far away and well-guarded, so even if they suspect it, without the Translocator they won't be able to get there and interfere anytime soon."
"We only need a little time," Mara said. "A half hour from start to finish is way more than it should take."
"Agreed," Warren said. "Kendra, Seth, do you hve any objections to using Tanu's house as our main base?'
Kendra felt flattered that Warren had asked their opinions, as if they were adults, instead of just automatically overruling them and leaving them out of the important decisions.
"No objections," she said.
Seth shook his head. "Sounds good to me."
"Then we should get going," Tanu said. "I'll head back to my room and grab what I need for the potions. I can start some of the mixing now, and finish the rest at my place. Meanwhile, Warren, why don't you put some of that thieving to better use than stealing my stash?"
Warren grinned and rubbed at his hair. "Right." He pocketed the keys, and with a quick wink, he headed out of the room. "See you all in a few." Tanu followed him out.
"I've been thinking," Seth said. "Mara, if you're going to take the Chronometer underwater and use it to go back in time, won't it fall to the bottom when you're away?"
"Good thinking!" Kendra gasped. "We can't lose it down there! And what if Mara and Vincent can't get back?"
"It shouldn't be a problem," Mara said. "From what I understand, the transition to the past and back is instantaneous. I won't be 'gone' from the present at all. But I also understand the trip through time with the Chronometer can be disorienting, right?"
"That's right," Kendra agreed. "I felt like I got the breath knocked out of me, and I was dizzy and bent over."
"Then I could still drop it," Mara said. "We'd better tie a rope to it, and to me too for safety's sake."
"I have some rope in our bedroom!" Seth said, excited. "I'll grab it." With that, he dashed out of the room. Kendra and Mara looked at each other.
"All the guys have gone to snag gear," Kendra observed.
"Whereas we women are content with our wits," Mara agreed with a wry smile. It was the first time Kendra had seen the tall Native American woman crack a joke, and she immediately felt warmer towards her.
Within a moment, Seth returned with two large coils of rope under his arm.
"Where did you get that?" Kendra asked.
"Oh, I picked it up from the general supplies here," Seth said. "You know, in case the Sphinx or someone staged a hostile takeover and we had to escape out the window."
"What's this about escaping out the window?" Warren said, walking in the door. "Don't go without me. That sounds too fun. Rappelling is the best."
Kendra made a sound somewhere between a chuckle and a sigh. "Warren, did anyone ever tell you, you are irrepressible."
Seth elbowed her. "Kendra, did anyone ever tell you, only someone who reads as much as you would even know a word like that."
Kendra elbowed him right back. "If you read as much as me, you would know some cool words too." Dropping the banter, she turned to Warren. "Did you get them?"
With a flourish, Warren produced a cat-shaped teapot, a long metallic rod, and a brass egg with lots of complicated buttons and dials on it. He was carrying them in what had to be a small extra-dimensional pouch, like the backpack he had once been trapped in for three months with Bubda the hermit troll. The pack on Warren's belt looked much too small on the outside to hold all three artifacts.
Noticing Kendra's glance at it, Warren nodded. "Extra-dimensional for sure," he said. "Essential equipment for any adventurer, if you can get one. It sure beats the days when I had to lug my tent and fire-starters and weapons and everything around on my back. Sure gives you respect for people who did it the old-fashioned way."
"Why didn't you just use the Translocator to come back here?" Kendra asked.
Warren held up a hand. "A few reasons. First, a lot of people in a small room. I didn't want to show up overlapping any of you, or knock someone over. Second, general respect for powerful magical items. You learn not to use them casually for something you really don't need to. Third, I'm afraid Agad may have added a homing spell to this. If I used it, it could alert him instantly that it was taken and where I went."
"Then he could follow us when we go to Tanu's place," Seth worried.
"He could," Warren agreed. "But like Tanu said, it's far away and shielded. If we got caught using the Translocator here, Agad could have us in no time. Going far away to a secured place like that, it'll buy us a little time. Hopefully enough to complete our mission."
"Where is Tanu, anyway?" Kendra wondered.
"I'm coming!" Tanu said, hurrying in through the door. On his waist was a large, bulky leather pouch that Kendra knew held his potions and ingredients. His eyes swept over everyone. "Rope. Good thinking, Seth. And Warren, you got everything?"
"All three," Warren confirmed grimly. "And they could be after us at any second. I'm still not quite convinced I avoided all the detection traps in Agad's storerooms. Tanu, you'll have to make the first trip since you're the only one here who's actually been to your home. Get Seth and Kendra there, then come right back for me and Mara."
Warren pulled out the Translocator and handed it to Tanu, then also gave him the small pouch with the others. "Extra-dimensional," he said. "You'd better have all these with you, in case we get caught. Go!"
Tanu took the things and grabbed hold of the central piece of the Translocator. Seth and Kendra each quickly took the ends. Tanu twisted, and they all disappeared. In a second, they were in a large living room with a screened-in porch attached. Large tropical plants flourished in pots everywhere, and colorful birds perched in the bright green trees on the steep slope outside.
For a second, Kendra felt mentally disoriented by the sudden change. Then she remembered to let go of the Translocator. Seth did the same, and Tanu disappeared. Kendra worried, but only a second later Tanu came back with Warren and Mara.
"You made it!" Kendra exclaimed, relieved.
"Amd you should have heard the magical alarms going off all over that place," Warren said. His voice was tight. "It's a good thing I didn't try using the Translocator before. We'd better hurry. I'm afraid we may have griffins and rocs after us soon, if not dragons."
"Tanu, can your apartment shields hold up to dragons?" Kendra asked, worried.
"Not a chance," Tanu said. "If Agad has a way to contact any dragons nearby and send them here, we could be in real trouble. My shields are strong, but they won't hold up to even one determined adult dragon. Not for more than five minutes at the most. And I'm not sure how well they'd do against a giant roc, either."
"So we have ten, maybe fifteen minutes," Warren said, "if Agad comes after us with everything I think he will. Tanu, how fast can you get those potions ready?"
"Not fast enough," Tanu said grimly. "The good news is, I found three already in my stash. Vincent won't need one, so that means three of you can go."
The four of them looked at each other.
"I'll stay," Seth said, surprising everyone. "If Tanu has to hold off dragons or piece you guys back together if you come back hurt, he shouldn't have to do it by himself. And Kendra's fairykind. She can see in the dark. If it goes pitch black inside the Dreamstone for some reason, she'll be able to help you better than I can."
Kendra stared at her brother.
"Let's go," she said. If Seth was actually volunteering to stay behind from an adventure, there was no way she could refuse to go.
Tanu started handing out the potions. Kendra, Warren, and Mara each took one and quickly drank it.
"It should work instantly," Tanu said. "You're all already protected."
"We thought of tying ropes to Mara and the Chronometer," Seth said quickly, as Tanu handed it and the Translocator to Warren. "So they don't get lost underwater if there's any trouble."
"Good idea," Warren approved. "Two ropes to each. It's saved my life a few times while climbing, to have a backup if one broke."
Kendra could imagine Warren swinging from the top of a snow-covered cliff in some wilderness somewhere, hundreds of miles from any kind of civilization or help, hanging from one rope after another one broke and trailed down into the blizzard darkness beneath him.
She almost smiled as she realized she was also picturing him grinning with excitement, enjoying the thrill of the ride.
Seth handed Kendra the rope, and she and Warren took hold of opposite ends of the Translocator.
"Ready for anything?" Warren asked Tanu and Seth.
Tanu nodded. "We've got the Sands standing by. Get going!"
Mara grabbed the center of the Translocator and twisted it, and suddenly they were in a place Kendra had thought she would never see again. It wasn't reassuring that she had been wrong.
The Dreamstone was as ominous and creepy as she remembered it. She knew she was standing somewhere deep inside of a massive, rectangular block of obsidian deep in the Australian outback. In spite of that, Kendra felt as if she was half asleep, lost in some evil dream world far from reality. In fact, she thought, maybe that was closer to the truth.
In spite of herself, Kendra found herself looking around the water in the chillingly familiar room, wondering if she would spot Vincent's body floating on the surface. Steam rose faintly from the lightly churning depths, plumes of it obscuring a few parts of the room. They had landed on the central, circular island, and her eyes scanned from side to side.
Warren saw what she was doing and clapped a hand over her eyes. "Don't do that!" he said sharply. "We can't look for his body. If we find it, we might not be able to save him."
Kendra felt a chill of horror flood through her. "Because it would change the past!" she said. "Even the recent past, a few seconds ago. If we create a reality where we know he's dead, we might not be able to change that!" Could her curiosity have come that close to permanently killing Vincent? Kendra closed her eyes and shook hard.
"Eyes down," Mara said. "Look only at the ground and our immediate surroundings. Let's get moving. Agad probably can't interfere with us here, but we need to get back before Seth and Tanu are in trouble."
Kendra opened her eyes, carefully looking down. Mara was sitting on the flat, artificial ground near the edge of the island. Warren was helping her tie ropes around her waist and the Chronometer. Kendra knelt and assisted them, tying the other ends of two of the ropes to her own waist.
"Good thinking, Kendra," Warren approved. He tied the other ropes to himself. "Now we each have one rope to Mara and one to the Chronometer. If there's any problem, we'll help each other pull her and Vincent out."
Warren paused and put a hand on Kendra's shoulder, giving her a gentle look. "It might already be too late when we get him," he said. "Vincent might already have drowned by the time Mara lost sight of him before, which is the earliest she can go back. Even if he's alive, he might be badly injured if he got partly frozen into the ice. It could look bad. Try to prepare yourself."
"I'm ready," Kendra said, though her stomach was doing flipflops at the thought of seeing Vincent drowned or bloody and hurt. "Don't slow us down just for me. I'll be fine."
Warren nodded. "Are you ready, Mara?" He was already starting to turn knobs on the Chronometer.
Mara was breathing deeply, preparing for her dive. "I'm ready." She told Warren the exact date and time she wanted.
"I'm going back to ten seconds before I lost sight of Vincent," she said. "I'll dive to five feet below where he was before I activate the Chronometer. That will be deep enough, my past self and the rest of us won't have been able to see me. I'll stay for thirty seconds. That should be long enough to save him, and it's also short enough that if I fail, I can go back again right after and he might still be alive long enough for me to make another try."
"So you'll make your move one second after he disappeared from view," Warren said. "That will give you eleven seconds to get into position, and then nineteen seconds more to get a firm hold on him and get back to where you used the Chronometer."
"Right," Mara said. "And if he's partly stuck in ice, I should be able to hold onto him and still be close enough to get pulled back to the present, bringing Vincent along with me."
With a sinking feeling, Kendra remembered that all this depended on whether the Chronometer could bring an extra person back from the past. But there was no point in saying anything about that now. They already knew it was a chance. She didn't want to distract Warren or Mara with extra fear. So she just held it inside and tried not to let herself worry too much.
"He'll be panicking," Warren said. "You said he was flailing about. It might be hard to get a grip on him. A drowning person in unreasoning terror could fight you, not knowing you were there to save him. His brain won't be working."
"I have a plan for that," Mara said simply. "I don't think he'll resist me. And if he does, I know some good lifeguard holds and I'm much bigger and stronger than he is. I'll be able to hold him."
"Good enough," Warren said. "Ready to dive?"
Mara took two deep breaths. Warren handed her the Chronometer. With a quick nod, she turned and slipped off the edge of the island, turning head-down without even standing up first. Kendra thought she looked like a seal, sliding into the simmering water.
"Now we wait," Warren said.
Kendra looked at him, not daring to let her eyes wander around the large chamber. Could she still trap Vincent into being killed, even now that Mara had left for the past?
A tug on the rope at Kendra's waist startled her terribly. "Oh no!" she gasped. "It didn't work? Mara just dived a second ago!"
Warren was kneeling at the water's edge, holding up the rope to keep it from getting abraded on the sharp edge of the island. "Pull!" he said.
Kendra aided him, pulling hand over hand. Was Mara this heavy? Had she fainted? Had the potion failed, and she was getting burned? Kendra's mind raced as the rope stung her hands, and she pulled faster.
With a sudden heave, Mara came up out of the water. She was kicking to help them lift her out. In one arm, she held the Chronometer, still attached to its ropes. In the other -
"Vincent!" Kendra gasped. It was a terrible shock to see the small Filipino man again, after she had abandoned him for dead months earlier. His eyes were closed, and he wasn't moving or breathing. A small trickle of water leaked from one side of his nose. Was it too late? Kendra choked back tears.
"He's fine," Mara said, as Kendra and Warren helped her get the waterlogged man out onto the island. Mara climbed lithely up after him. "He must work out. He's a lot heavier than I thought he would be. Or he's wearing rocks in his boots."
Mara turned Vincent's head to one side and gave a quick, sharp push at his stomach. Water gushed out of his mouth and nose. Kendra fought back more tears, seeing him like this when he had been so scared of it. Mara pushed again, draining Vincent's lungs the rest of the way. Vincent immediately took a deep breath in, still unconscious.
"He's very strong," Mara said. "He was under there close to four minutes, conscious and fighting. He only breathed in water right when I found him. Now he's breathing again. But I still want to get him to the Sands. This took a major toll on his body."
"Take him now," Warren said, handing her the Translocator. He pulled a small, sharp knife from his belt and sliced through the four ropes holding him and Kendra to Mara and the Chronometer.
Mara nodded. "I'll be right back for you."
She put one of Vincent's hands on the Translocator, closing hers around it so he was holding on. Somehow, it looked incredibly tender to Kendra. Then Mara took hold of the center of the device, turned it, and they disappeared from view.
Kendra let out a huge, shaky breath and found herself turning to Warren, letting him hug her as she shook in his arms. Warren held her comfortingly, rubbing her back. They both still knelt on the ground, near the steaming water around the edges of the island.
"He's breathing!" Kendra said, shuddering. "We did it!"
"Yes," Warren said. Kendra was surprised to hear tears in his voice too. Then she remembered how he had punched the rough stone wall of a tunnel until his knuckles bled when Neil died, and she wasn't surprised anymore.
Ever since Vanessa hadn't reacted fast enough to save Errol after Warren figured out a way, Kendra had been able to sense how heartbroken he was when anyone died. Especially when they needlessly died. Or when Warren somehow felt that if he had found a better way to do things, they would have lived. This had to be the opposite of that for him.
"Yes," Warren said, seeming to understand her thoughts. "I'm crying. I'm not ashamed of it. It's a wonderful thing, to find a way to save a life. No matter what this costs us, it will have been worth it."
Kendra let her head rest on Warren's chest for a minute, taking big, shaking breaths. The kind Vincent can take again now, she thought, and felt the tears come even faster. Warren stroked her hair, and rubbed the big muscles between her shoulderblades again. Kendra felt his own tears dropping on her head.
After a moment, she looked up, starting to feel worried. "Shouldn't Mara be back by now?"
Warren stood up, offering Kendra a hand to rise with him. "She should," he agreed, looking worried. "Something might have gone wrong. We might have a hard time finding a way out of here on our own. But we'd better prepare for it, in case we need to try."
Kendra looked around. Which way should they even go? They had four very short lengths of rope, a tiny sharp knife, and whatever adventuring gear Warren had on him. Would they be able to survive and escape from the Dreamstone?
Even if they could, it now stood in the middle of a fallen preserve in the depths of the Australian outback desert. Thirst might kill them on the trek out, if the zombies didn't first. Warren had said it would be worth anything it cost them to have saved Vincent. What if it cost them their lives?
Yes, Kendra thought. Other people have sacrificed themselves for me. I can do it for Vincent.
Before Kendra could get too much more worried, Mara reappeared.
"It's pandemonium over there," the tall Indian woman said. "No dragons, but Agad is outside riding a roc. There are several harpies and a tornado djinn with him. He's threatening to burn down Tanu's house with everyone inside, to recover the artifacts. We negotiated a five minute delay with him. But the three of us and the Translocator have to get back now."
"You don't have to tell me twice," Warren said. He grabbed one end of the Translocator, and Kendra was very quick to follow suit. Even if it meant landing in the middle of a battle with an irate Agad, she wasn't about to turn down a free ticket out of the Dreamstone. Especially not after her fears of a moment earlier.
Mara twisted the central section, and they were all back in Tanu's living room. Outside, the colorful parrots had taken flight from the trees and were nowhere to be seen. In their place, Agad and his reinforcements hovered just outside Tanu's porch, exactly as Mara had described. They looked twice as angry as Kendra had imagined.
"What is this?" Agad roared. "After we nearly lost the world to irresponsible handling of those artifacts, you steal three of them for some kind of wild hijinks? And not only the children, but several of my top operatives are involved? I demand you return the Keys immediately!"
"We are not your operatives!" Tanu blustered. "I work for myself. Fly your army away from my front porch!"
"Yeah, back off, dragon breath!" Seth added, shaking a fist.
Mara shook her head. "We left the wrong two people behind as our negotiating party."
Warren quickly scanned the room with his eyes. Vincent was lying on a sofa with his arm draped over the edge. He still appeared unconscious. "Have you used the Sands on him?"
"Tanu and Seth did right away," Mara confirmed. "He spit up a little more water and some blood. Now he's breathing better."
"Why is he still unconscious?" Kendra wondered. "Shouldn't the Sands have cured that too?"
"Emotional exhaustion," Mara said. "He woke for a few seconds, shouting in fear, but it was too much for him. He collapsed again. His body is fine. This is probably a lot better for him, to keep his heart rate from racing too much while his body figures out it isn't being drowned anymore. He'll wake up soon."
"Then we don't need any of the artifacts anymore," Warren said. He scooped up the Translocator and the Chronometer, then walked quickly over to where Tanu and Seth were still facing off with Agad's flying forces. The wizard was still blustering outside.
"Quiet!" Warren hissed at Seth and Tanu, as they got ready to let out another challenge. He grabbed the Sands of Sanctity from them.
"Your five minutes is almost up!" Agad called into the house grimly. "I won't grant you another. My tornado djinn is ready to rip the foundations of your house apart."
Tanu inhaled, ready to let out an indignant protest. Warren put a hand on his arm and gave him a stern, warning look.
"Agad!" Warren said clearly. "We have all three of the artifacts here. We are prepared to surrender them to you immediately, without resistance. As a courtesy, we request that you leave us unharmed and this house undamaged."
"A courtesy?" Tanu muttered under his breath.
"You will be punished for this theft!" Agad warned. "Do not think you can get away with simply taking the Keys to Zzyzx whenever you want!"
Warren sighed. "We're tired," he said. "We just risked our lives to save a friend. If you must punish us, can't it wait until tomorrow? We will pledge not to leave this house, and to accept your sanctions without complaint."
"Hey!" Seth objected.
"Shush!" Kendra told him. "Do you want to make it worse?"
Agad was silent for a moment.
"Your proposal is acceptable," he said. "Bring the artifacts out past the house shields and set them down. Then go back inside. I will cast a spell to keep you in there until I decide what to do with you."
Kendra saw Mara and Seth exchange a worried glance. Tanu was still trying to control his anger at the threats to his house. Kendra's own heart was racing. Warren seemed to be the only one who was calm. With a steady, unhurried pace, he walked out through the porch and set the three artifacts down on the emerald-green lawn. Waving up at Agad, he calmly retreated back into the house.
At once, a flare of rainbow fire seemed to leap up around the house. Agad had wasted no time in casting his imprisonment spell, even as he levitated down off the roc's back and collected the artifacts. Glaring at them, he hopped back up and turned it into a long, magically enhanced leap onto the roc's back in flight.
"I will think hard about what to do with you," he said, sounding calmer now that he had the artifacts back in his possession. "Enjoy what may well be your last night of relative freedom." With that, he flew off. The harpies and tornado djinn followed him, several of them casting disappointed glances back at the house they had not had an opportunity to destroy.
"Relative freedom?" Tanu grumbled. "Imprisoned inside my own house."
"Cheer up!" Seth said. "At least you have the contents of your own refrigerator to keep you company."
Tanu gave him a strange look. Then he laughed and relaxed.
"You're right!" he said. "Why worry? Agad's an old blowhard, and fierce when he feels something important is in danger, but he isn't thoughtless or cruel. Once he calms down and takes the time to actually ask us what we were doing and why, he won't do anything worse to us than a stern lecture."
Seth whistled. "That's even more lenient than Grandpa and Grandma!" he said.
Kendra had to agree with her brother. It was hard to imagine their grandparents letting them off with a lecture for something like they had just done. Then again, when she thought about it, they had saved a life and not done any harm.
Besides, what Tanu had said checked out with what she had seen of Agad. The old wizard was gruff, powerful, and certainly dangerous if crossed, but not unkind. She felt confident that, in the morning, they would all receive a sober talking to about the importance of respectfully handling magical artifacts, and that would be it.
"I tend to agree," Mara said. "Agad is not irresponsible enough to hand out stiff punishments just because he felt angry."
Warren shrugged. "He isn't going to kill us. And I doubt he'll lock us up for a long time, or do us any personal harm. So it isn't a big deal."
Kendra breathed a sigh of relief as everyone in the room seemed to relax.
"That was a good thought about my refrigerator," Tanu was saying to Seth. "Who's up for cold, leftover ham and pineapple pizza?"
"I like ham and pineapple pizza," a weak voice said from the sofa.
All eyes darted to Vincent. He was awake and propping himself up on one elbow.
"Especially cold," he said, his shaky voice growing a bit stronger. "Cold pizza's the best."
Kendra ran over to him. She dropped to her knees on the floor and grabbed his hand. She felt tears starting to overflow in her eyes again.
"Am I dreaming?" Vincent asked. "I thought I was drowning. But my lungs don't hurt." He looked at Kendra, confused. "But... they did a minute ago?"
"We used the Sands of Sanctity to heal you," Kendra said, feeling her hands trembling as they held onto his. Vincent's hand was warm! He was sitting up and talking - he was breathing! He was alive!
Vincent's eyes shot wide. He sat bolt upright. He started breathing very rapidly, almost in a panic again. He clutched onto Kendra's hands tightly now, and she could see his whole body start to visibly shake.
"Then it was real?" he asked. "Kendra, where are we? I thought we were inside the Dreamstone. Is this the next nightmare?" His fear made Kendra's heart feel wrung out inside.
"It was real," she said. "But we're not inside the Dreamstone anymore. We're not in danger. We used the Chronometer and the Translocator to rescue you. It's actually several months later."
Vincent stared at her, trying to take this all in.
"The Translocator?" he asked. "Then you got it?"
"We got it," Warren said, coming over to stand beside them. "We got all the artifacts. A lot happened. Zzyzx was opened anyway, but the demons are imprisoned again, safer than before. You'll hear all about it soon."
"Warren?" Vincent asked. "I haven't seen you since the revenant got you, three years ago. You got out of the extra-dimensional backpack?"
"The Translocator again," Warren confirmed. "Only they didn't need the Chronometer to save me. I just had a long wait."
"He was in there three months," Seth said. "Eating granola bars and playing Yahtzee with a hermit troll."
Warren groaned. "Don't remind me. Most of the Yahtzee in my life, I think I played in that three months."
By now, everyone had gathered around and was standing or seated near Vincent's sofa. Kendra realized she didn't need to keep kneeling on the floor, and scooted up to sit beside Vincent. It felt wonderfully comforting to be near him, and she sensed that Vincent felt the same way.
Vincent took a deep, slow breath.
"Wait... a minute," he said slowly. "Did you say you used the Chronometer to get me?"
"Yes," Kendra repeated. She could understand why he was confused. It was a lot to take in.
"By the time we got the Translocator," Mara explained, "you had probably been under water an hour or more. You would already have been dead."
"Yeah, and then a bunch of stuff happened," Seth added. "An evil wizard put me in a bottle. We were all basically fighting for our lives for a while there."
"It wasn't until tonight that Seth and Kendra realized we could still save you," Tanu put in. "We stole the artifacts from Agad temporarily to do it. He was pretty angry."
Vincent was taking big, slow breaths.
"You... stole artifacts," he said, "and came back after the war was over, and went back in time several months later... to save me?"
"Yes," Kendra said simply. Tears shimmered in her eyes, making everything look wavy.
Vincent shuddered and grabbed her hand tighter. Then, shrugging, he threw himself into her arms and held on. Kendra was startled, but soon discovered it felt wonderful to hold him.
"It went for so long!" Vincent said. "My lungs were hurting so bad, worse than anything I ever imagined. I needed air, so much, but I knew there wasn't any out there. I knew my only hope was to hold onto what I had, that was hurting so much, until I could somehow break through the ice and take another breath in. But I just kept going deeper."
"You didn't have any leverage," Mara said. "You were pushing yourself down."
"I know that now," Vincent said. "But I wasn't thinking clearly. I felt like I was going crazy."
"You were, in a way," Warren said. "Panic does that to a person. I remember when I was in the grip of the revenant. It wasn't nice. There was nothing I could do to react rationally at all. I just flailed about."
"Exactly," Vincent said, his round eyes serious. "It was like you somehow thought that was going to help, and there wasn't any way you could think to do anything more planned out. All you could do was flail and try to jerk your body away from it."
Warren nodded, eyes sober. It was hard for Kendra to imagine him that scared. He was a strong adventurer, brave and bold! But Kendra had sampled magical fear, as well as the more ordinary variety of panic. She knew how strong they both could be. And she supposed anyone could be terrified.
"I was really losing hope," Vincent said. "I was beyond terror. You know, that sharp hopelessness you feel, like a knife stabbing into your chest, when you know for sure there's no possible way you can be okay."
He trembled, resting his head on Kendra's shoulder. Then he pushed himself upright and looked around at everyone, still holding tightly to her hand.
"I knew absolutely for sure that I was going to die. No way was I ever going to make it. There was nothing in all the world that could save me. I was down too deep, and the ice was getting thicker. But I was still terrified to take that first breath of water and let my life go. I knew it would hurt even worse. And I wanted to live - so much!"
Everyone listened to him, eyes on his face. No one said a word. Kendra's heart felt as if it would crack in half with his pain.
"I never imagined that you would come back in time, months later, and save me!" Vincent said. His voice was trembling so hard now. "It was - I mean, there was no way I could make it, do you get it?" He looked around at all of them, and tears started to fall from his eyes. "I just... thank you, guys, okay?"
Kendra didn't even try to hold back her tears anymore. She just reached over and hugged him.
"We couldn't lose you," Seth said. "It was rotten. And there was no reason for you to die. It had nothing to do with history or anything."
Mara nodded. "I almost wanted to take my own life in shame after we left you. If I hadn't been needed as an agent in the war, I might have."
Vincent was shaking, in great trembling waves.
"I just never imagined I was that important to anybody," he whispered shakily.
"Well, you are," Warren said, resting a hand on his shoulder and rubbing it.
Vincent closed his eyes and nodded, getting a hold of himself. When he spoke again, his voice was clearer.
"How did you save me? If you came back in time, wouldn't the ice have still been there?"
"Mara dived for you," Warren answered. "She took the Chronometer with you and used it underwater. We brought you out in the present, when there wasn't any ice."
"Then they brought you back here and Tanu and I used the Sands on you," Seth said. "After that you basically collapsed on the sofa until now. It's only been a few minutes."
"What actually happened when you went underwater?" Kendra asked Mara curiously. "Warren and I couldn't see."
"I dived down, just as we planned," Mara said. "I stopped at a point a few feet under where Vincent would have been. Then I pushed the button. Vincent, Warren had already set the Chronometer. I appeared in the past just before I had lost sight of you, the first time, from above the ice. Once it passed that time, I knew I had to get you and be in close contact with you for the Chronometer to bring us both back."
"We weren't sure it would," Kendra said. "But we hoped so. It was our only chance to save you."
"I'm glad it worked," Vincent said with a shaky laugh.
He looked at Mara. "How did you actually get hold of me?" he asked. "I was panicking. I had no idea what was going on, except that I had to get to the surface and breathe. I would have fought you really hard."
"I planned for that," Mara said. "After I got to the past, I waited just beneath you until it was safe for you to disappear. Then I grabbed your ankle suddenly and pulled down, hard."
Vincent gasped. "I remember that! You startled me so badly. I thought for sure a monster had me." He shook his head, amazed. "It may sound crazy, but that jolt of pure terror felt better than anything I'd ever felt in my life. It jolted me right out of the panic I was feeling. It was like... a clean shock, sweeping away the pain. I know I startled and flung my hands up, and I guess I don't remember anything after that."
"You screamed underwater," Mara said evenly. "You let all your air out and breathed water in. And you fainted. It was exactly what I was hoping for. You went limp and you didn't fight me. After that, I just had to wait a few more seconds for the Chronometer to yank us both back."
"And I stopped hurting," Vincent said. "I stopped being scared. I didn't feel anything else until I was safe here."
"That too," Mara said.
Something in the older woman's voice made Kendra think that hadn't been an afterthought. She saw a sudden, vivid image of Mara, floating upright underwater, holding a much smaller unconscious Vincent tenderly cradled to her chest like a mother protecting a child. Kendra felt sure it was a true image, and also something the tough Mara would probably almost never let anyone see.
Vincent shuddered, turned his face back into Kendra's chest, and started to cry. He sobbed hard, in earnest, letting the reaction to his terrifying near-death ordeal take him.
Kendra held him, remembering how Warren had cared for her when she cried after rescuing Vincent inside the Dreamstone. When they both cried. Kendra realized there was nothing shameful about anyone crying, even crying hard in front of others to see. Not for anyone, not even for a strong man, or for a strong woman. Kendra let her head fall on top of Vincent's soft, dark hair, and cried too.
Remembering how comforting it had felt when Warren did it for her, Kendra stroked Vincent's back, then rubbed hard between his shoulderblades. He sobbed harder, the cries taking on a sharp sound of relief. Kendra let herself imagine she was rubbing all the panic out, from when he fought for his life. How tense these muscles must have been, when he was drowning! Vincent rubbed into it, angling his shoulders from side to side and moaning. Kendra could only imagine how good it must feel.
Quietly, she felt Tanu laying a warm blanket across both of them. "We'll save you some pizza," he whispered. "Get some sleep."
The others tiptoed away. Kendra heard Warren snap off the light switch, leaving them in soothing darkness. Seth came back and tucked a small pillow under her head, leaving a second one for Vincent, if he should shift position and want it later. Her brother laid a hand briefly on her shoulder and squeezed it. Kendra could tell Seth was saying, Nice job. Then she heard him softly follow the others to the kitchen.
For a moment, Kendra regretted the pizza. Cold ham and pineapple was especially good. But she was more sleepy than hungry, and they were going to save her and Vincent some. Right now, it was wonderful to just hold him and let them both fall asleep.
I thought we lost you, she said silently in her heart. You're back now, and I'm so glad I'm getting to hold you. Your touch feels so good, you're so alive. I'm glad just to be able to take care of you.
That was too much for Vincent to think about right now. He needed to just focus on his relief and get used to being alive, get used to being able to breathe.
Out loud, she just said:
"You're safe. You're safe."
Vincent cried his relief into her shoulder. Kendra rubbed him hard, loosening the knots of tension in his back, helping him melt his body into sleep.
"You can cry as long as you want," Kendra said. "I'll hold you as long as you want. I'll always be here now."
Vincent cried.
"I'm safe," he whispered.
"Yes, you're safe," Kendra said. "You're breathing. It's all right now."
"I'm not drowning," Vincent murmured.
"That's right," Kendra told him, stroking his hair.
"I'm breathing," he said, taking deep, unsteady breaths and shuddering.
"Yes, you're breathing," Kendra told him. She kissed the top of his head, hugging him close. "You're going to stay breathing now."
"No more drowning?" Vincent asked.
"No more drowning," Kendra confirmed. "Just breathing. Lots of breathing. Lots of air, all around you now. You're safe, never going to drown again."
"I was really scared," Vincent whispered. "So scared."
Kendra stroked him.
"I was praying," he murmured, half-asleep now. "Someone answered my prayers."
"I guess so," Kendra agreed, surprised.
"You answered my prayers," Vincent breathed. Then Kendra felt his body loosen into sleep.
Kendra's heart broke with joy.
The End