August 9, 7:00, Peter Salt's house, Guest bedroom
Onyx's corpse was still hanging from the rafters of the barn. Watson had smoothed out her suicide note and put it back. She tried to remember if Tuck ever mentioned a fingerprint analysis turning up unknown prints, but she couldn't recall him ever talking about it. They had done a fingerprint analysis on the note, hadn't they?
The beat-up Chevy was still absent from the driveway. Wherever Salt was, it wasn't here. Tuck was still asleep in his room. He'd wake up later, go out to do his chores, and find his sister dead. He'd be alone. Watson already knew that.
She picked up the time travel device for the second time in as many days. She switched it on. It was time to go.
She just felt numb.
Watson stared at the coordinates of the last time door she'd opened - the one that had brought her here, a week ago. Her finger hovered over the RETURN TO ANCHOR POINT button. If she hit that, it would take her home: alpha alpha Los Angeles, one minute into May 15th, 2054. But she kept her eyes on the coordinates that brought her here, where - if only for a few moments, spread throughout the week - she'd been able to let down her guard. She'd been… comfortable.
Maybe even happy.
She was suddenly filled with rage, burning, consuming, white hot and painful, and with an anguished, animalistic growl she threw her time travel device across the room. It crashed off the wall and onto the floor with an ugly crunching shatter.
Watson's eyes widened. Oh, crap. She shouldn't have done that. She leaped over to it, picking it up and clicking the on/off switch - it flickered back to life, apparently the same outside of a long, thin crack running down the screen. She sighed in relief. If she broke the device, she couldn't guarantee she'd be able to get back to her own time without literally waiting for it to roll around - a risky prospect since she'd have to coexist with her younger self for ten years.
It was time to leave Grundy County.
Sighing, hands shaking, she hit the return button.
Time: ? Date: ? Place: ?
The humidity hit her lungs like a sledgehammer.
Watson bent over, wheezing, confused by her body's reaction to the moisture in the air. She'd adapted to it over her past week in Tennessee - and furthermore, it shouldn't be this humid. She should be on the coast of California. It was humid there but not this kind of humid - hot there, but not this kind of hot.
Furthermore, she should have returned to the stroke of midnight, when she left. Even allowing for error, it should still be dark out. But it wasn't - with this light, it was probably early afternoon.
And why was she in a forest?
"Oh," she said out loud, realizing what was going on and pulling out her time travel device to check. Yep. CURRENT LOCATION (UTC): 1 AUGUST 2044 CE | LN α α | 13:00, CURRENT LOCATION (WGS86): 35.39° N | 85.72° W. Somehow she managed to send herself back to exactly when and where she'd first arrived. She glanced at the anchor point - it should have said 00:00 | 15 MAY 2054 CE | 34° 3′ 25.2″ N, 118° 14′ 16.8″ W and then a note about whether or not the time door was open or closed.
But the anchor point box was blank. Maybe that was why she'd been sent here. Maybe that was- Wait. Watson glanced at where it said LN α α, then looked behind her.
There was no door.
And furthermore, if this was exactly when she had arrived - where was she?
It was at that moment she realized that, instead of the clothing she had been wearing when she hit the return button - the same jean shorts and cutoff Volunteers t-shirt she'd tried to show off to Ekha - she was once again wearing her more customary outfit of running shorts and a leotard under a bleach-white labcoat.
Her eyes widened in realization. She hadn't even known this was possible - to send her consciousness back in time, to her own body as it existed at that point.
She stashed the time device away. This was exactly what Ares was looking for, wasn't it? Part of his final solution to all the little issues in his life… she wouldn't be telling him about this, of course! He'd have to pry it out of her cold dead hands.
And in the meantime, she had another chance.
August 1 (2044), 1:00 PM, Grundy County, Tennessee
Loop Two
Onyx Alechi was an attractively freckled blonde with eyes as black as the stone she was named after. She was 21 years old and lived a hard life on the road with her eleven-year-old brother, Tuck, who she'd been working since she was thirteen and newly orphaned to keep him from becoming a ward of the state. Being a ward of the state never ended well when you were a poor white kid from the poorest part of the state, where what few people who still lived here didn't have anything but the forest, the mountains, and a way of life that hadn't changed much in over a hundred years.
Onyx Alechi was intelligent and ambitious and often dismissed by the locals as being little more than a gold-digging tramp because she'd use any means necessary to get a roof over her little brother's head, and that often meant shacking up with older men. These past few years it was Peter Salt and so far he hadn't turned them out yet, and Onyx was thinking that maybe he really did like the two of them, in spite of everything. They'd gotten around to talking about marriage, but Onyx was hesitant. She was still young, and Tuck was even younger, and she didn't want the two of them spending the rest of their lives - or however long it took for the 46-year-old Peter to die - in the dictionary definition of "backwoods".
Onyx Alechi bounded down the road in a beat-up old Chevy pickup truck, Keith Urban blaring out her window and dust and small rocks flying behind her. She stopped with a screech of brakes just short of a ponytailed brunette with a dancer's physique under a pristine white labcoat.
"Hey," Onyx said, leaning out the driver's side window. "What do ya think you're doin', walkin' in the middle of the road like that? You gon' get yourself killed!"
"I'm sorry," said the brunette, in some kind of West Coast accent.
Onyx blinked. She was getting the strangest sense of déjà vu right now. Maybe she'd met this woman somewhere before? "Where ya from?"
"Los Angeles."
Okay, so no. Onyx had never left Middle Tennessee in her life. "Ahh, bless your heart. C'mon, hop in, hon. I'll give ya a ride to wherever it is you're goin' - I ain't headed anywhere in particular right now, just cruisin'."
"Thank you," said the brunette, climbing in the passenger seat and buckling in, something Onyx never did. She wiped the sweat from under her chin, and Onyx's eye was caught by the large, ornate bracelet she wore.
She gunned it back into drive. "Real interestin' bracelet ya got."
"…thanks. It… it was my grandmother's. Part of a set of two. My dad has the other one." She seemed distracted.
Onyx watched her out of the corner of her eye. "Where to, honey?"
"Oh, I'm actually," she looked deliberately out the window, "looking for someone named Onyx Alechi."
A weird feeling drummed through Onyx when the brunette said her name. She smiled, and felt somehow it was probably strained. "That's me, darlin'," she said. "Onyx Alechi, most unfortunate creature on God's green Earth, if ya ask the good folks of Layne's Cove."
"Watson Justice," the brunette said, still staring determinedly at the passing forest.
"Can I call you-"
"Wat? Sure."
Onyx narrowed her eyes slightly, then looked back at the road. "What sorta business ya got with me?"
"It's… complicated. It relates to your fiancé, Peter Salt, actually."
Onyx looked her over. Looked like she was about the same age as her, and easy on the eyes, too. "You ain't never met him before, have ya? Not an ex-girlfriend or anything like?"
"No, no," Wat said quickly, looking at Onyx again. "Nothing like that. It's just…"
"What do ya want with me, then?"
Wat swallowed hard. "Listen, I'd rather not discuss this in the car. We- you… I, um, actually - there isn't a motel in Layne's Cove, is there?"
Onyx shook her head. "Used to be one, but it done burned down two summers past. Arsonists."
Wat blinked. "Are there a lot of those around here?"
"Yeah," Onyx said with a shrug. "It were actually arsonists who started the fire that killed my folks."
"I'm… sorry to hear that."
"It was near a decade ago. Idiot who done it got caught, anyway. But enough 'bout me - you ain't got someplace to stay the night?"
"No."
"Well, shoot, Peter done took in us poor wayfarin' strangers - me an' my brother, I mean - so I'm sure he wouldn't mind lettin' ya sleep in the barn."
"I think I'd prefer someplace with air conditioning," Wat said lightly, brushing sweat-slicked strands of hair out of her face. Onyx laughed. Wat got a strange expression - something like relief, or appreciation. Onyx stopped abruptly, suddenly uncomfortable.
"I was kiddin' about the barn," she said, trying to think if she was sure she'd never met Wat before. She couldn't have. It was impossible. "We've had a spare room ever since I started sleepin' in Peter's bed. You're welcome to it, hon."
"Thanks."
August 1, 2:10 PM, Peter Salt's house
The property looked just the same as Watson had left it, except some of the kudzu they'd cut back was still there. It was a disquieting solace to see.
Even now she still winced at the way Tuck ran over the gravel driveway without shoes or socks. "Onyx!" he yelled.
"Tuck!" Onyx yelled back with the same tone of voice, throwing open the driver's side door and hopping out. Watson did the same.
"Onyx, the- who's that?" Tuck said, pointing at Watson.
Onyx swatted his hand down. "Don't you point, Tuck, it's rude. And this is Watson Justice - picked her up on the side of the road. She's from California," she added sotto voce.
"California?" Tuck said, "whew, lady. Bless your heart." Onyx elbowed him, and he giggled.
Watson still didn't get the 'bless your heart' thing. She still thought it sounded nice.
"I hear they have lots of real cool caves in California, Miss Watson!" Tuck said, grinning widely.
"Yeah, there are," Watson said, without the forced friendliness of the first time around. After spending a week with the kid, talking to him felt natural. "I went to one called Kurain Caverns last year." She still didn't mention, though, that she'd gone because there had been a murder in it, one that his future self had perpetuated. Why would she tell him? She was here to prevent that. "And call me 'Wat', please."
"Now," Onyx said, turning to Watson, "what kinda business ya got with me?" She seemed on-edge. Watson had seen her on-edge far too many times, she felt.
"But Onyx!" Tuck said.
"Tuck, don't you interrupt!"
"But Onyx! The cave people done just arrived after ya left, for the Wonder Cave thing they doin'!" He pointed back towards the house.
Onyx slapped a hand to her forehead. "Consarn it," she exclaimed, "I thought they wasn't comin' 'til tomorrow! Sorry, Wat, I gots ta deal with this."
"It's fine," Watson said quickly, "actually, I need to speak with one of the speleologists."
"Really? Well, it's not like I was plannin' on letting my Peter run off for a week with a buncha people I don't know anyway. C'mon, let's go get introduced."
Onyx grabbed Watson's hand to drag her to the kitchen, but Watson readily went with her. It was the same as it had been a week ago. Kitty Kitaki, Mary Mec, Sen Ekha, Maren Go… Peter Salt.
"Ay, is this ya girl, Pete?"
"Just the blonde one."
"Who's the other one?"
"No idea. Onyx, we don't need more strays around here. You and your brother are enough."
"She ain't a stray. She ain't even staying that long."
The conversation played out exactly as before.
"I'm Watson Justice," Watson volunteered before Onyx could do it for her.
"Justice?" Kitaki said, raising her eyebrows. "That sounds kinda fami-"
Ekha interrupted her. "W-Watson, huh? C-Can I call you 'Wat'?"
Watson almost laughed, remembering the stupid Wattie nickname he'd tried to give her in '53. "Sure."
"…anyway," Onyx said, rocking on her heels, "Peter, darlin', honey, sugar booger, love of my life-"
"What do you want," Salt sighed.
"Wat here don't have a place to stay for the night-"
"She can sleep in the barn."
"I done told her already she can take the guest bedroom 'til she's ready to go back out west. You really gon' deny her hospitality, Peter?" Onyx said, her tone suddenly forceful.
An awkward pause. Salt gave the two of them a rather fake smile. "No, of course not. She's welcome to the guest bedroom. My team and I will be spending the next week in Wonder Cave, anyway."
"Swell," Onyx said, then glanced at Watson, silently prompting her to say something.
"Ah, right," Watson said, "I need to speak with Hana Ka'eleku."
Kitaki looked around. "She still on the can?" she said.
Hana Lavatob stepped into the kitchen through another door, drying her hands off on the bottom of her shirt, saying, "Sorry about that, everyone, the food down here just doesn't appear to agree with me. Now, where were w-" She stopped and stared at Watson.
"Ms. Ka'eleku," Watson said with as friendly of a smile as she could.
Lavatob's eyes were wide. Out of the corner of her eye, Watson saw Onyx glancing between her and Lavatob. She almost looked… suspicious.
"You two know each other?" Go said.
"We met once," Watson said, "a year ago. In passing."
"…that is correct," Lavatob said blandly. "Miss- Justice I believe it was?" She glanced around the room, then offered her hand to Onyx. "Hana Ka'eleku, geochemist."
The rest of the speleologists quickly introduced themselves. Watson ignored them until Salt interrupted them.
"Onyx doesn't need to know who you all are, only that she needs to stay out of our way during preparations."
"It's real nice to meet y'all," Onyx said brightly.
"What did I just say, Onyx?" Peter said.
"Anyway, before you go," Watson said, shaking her head, "I need to have a word with you, Ka'eleku."
Lavatob glanced back at Salt, who grunted noncommittally. "Alright," she said, her jaw set.
"I'll go put some sheets an' pillows on the bed in the guest bedroom," Onyx said after her as Watson and Lavatob stepped outside.
"Alright," Watson said once they were out on the porch, crossing her arms and drawing herself up to her full height - a couple inches taller than Lavatob - after checking to make sure Tuck wasn't around. "I think we both know how we both came here."
Lavatob gave her a strained smile. "Are you here to kill me?" she said.
Watson blinked. "What?"
"Are you here to kill me?" Lavatob said again, "I thought you usually sent Flint's cousin to do all your dirty work."
Watson's eyebrows drew together. Flint's cousin must refer to Misty-2057; while Watson had certainly known she worked for the Tula Group, she hadn't known she was directly affiliated with ωatson.
"Why would I want to kill you?" Watson said. Killing time travelers seemed to be more Macario Armando's thing.
Lavatob opened her mouth in a little 'o' of surprise, then leaned forward, scrunitizing Watson's face. Watson tilted her head away slightly, uncomfortable. Then Lavatob let out a short, incredulous laugh.
"Your eyes," she said. "You're not Omega Watson."
My… eyes? "No, of course I'm not. Why would Omega Watson want to kill you?"
"Because I stole my time travel device from her group." She shook her head. "But if you're here… perhaps there's a chance for things to turn out alright."
"Why are you here?" Watson pressed.
"Same reason as you, I suspect. I need to prevent the Kurain Caverns case." She settled back into impassivity, casting a disinterested eye over Watson. "I heard you had a thing for Alechi back then; I suppose you came here to keep him out of jail in the future. I, myself, had a much more personal reason."
Watson frowned. "What happened?"
"You forgot? …I suppose it was just another job to you." She shrugged. "Do you recall that Alechi poisoned me?"
"Oh," Watson said. There must be some long-lasting repercussions of whatever kind of poison Tuck had used, if Lavatob still felt the need to go back in time and prevent her poisoning seven years after the fact. "Lavatob, back when you first joined the speleologist group, did anyone remember you being around in 2044?"
Lavatob gesticulated noncommittally. "I don't think so. It never came up. Certainly no one acted as though they had ever seen me or someone very like me when I first joined up with them."
Watson nodded, thinking. So when Lavatob had died last time - that had been a fluke, and not the true path of the universe. Whatever happened here, Lavatob survived it to leave this time, and the memories of her had been erased.
"Alright," Watson said, "that's all I needed to know."
Lavatob raised an eyebrow. "No proposal to work together?" she said. "We have the same goal - to prevent the suicide of Onyx Alechi, so Tuck Alechi won't take his revenge nine years later and drag everyone else down with him, too."
"Oh," Watson said again, "ah. You do have a point."
"I will be spending the next week with Peter. You will stay here with Onyx, won't you?"
Watson nodded. "You try to stop Salt from giving her that ultimatum in the first place - I'll make sure Onyx doesn't go through with it this time."
Lavatob nodded and stuck out her hand. Watson shook it.
"I should get back with the group now," Lavatob said, turning back and opening the door. "…by the way, Justice."
"Hm?"
"What do you mean this time?"
"…nothing. Just… nothing."