A/N: Thank you, Danielle, for your review! I hope you are enjoying the story! Stay safe!
The door to the jail opened once more causing them all to glance over. Walking into the room was a young woman of maybe 19. Her auburn hair was pushed messily into her gray bonnet, her matching skirts were torn at the hem, and stained with mud and grass. Her wicker basket hung over her arm as she entered. "Are ye hungry?" she asked, eyes staring at the floorboards at her feet. "They told me to see to yer needs."
Flynn's brows twitched as he stared at her. Lucy smiled, nearing the bars. "Thank you," she said softly. "You're very kind."
Wyatt asked, "Who are you?" He eyed her carefully, feeling uncertain about her presence. "Who sent you?"
Lucy and Rufus turned to face Wyatt. Rufus muttered, "Now you're jumpy about the locals?"
The young girl cleared her throat, lifting her blue eyes to meet Wyatt's. "My name is Charlotte. The guards asked me to bring ye some food." She motioned to the basket. "It's not much but it's good."
"I'm hungry," Rufus told her with a shrug. She neared the cell, extending the basket forward for him to choose from the items inside.
The moment she neared the cell, Wyatt's hand darted out, grasping her wrist and pulling her hard against the cell. She cried out, dropping the basket as she tugged against him. Wyatt covered her mouth with his free hand to keep her from screaming for help.
"What are you doing?" Rufus hissed. He looked down at the floor. "All of it spilled-"
Flynn and Lucy stepped forward but Wyatt shot them a look to stay back. "She's up to something-"
Charlotte whimpered, shaking her head no as her blue eyes widened, silently pleading with Lucy and Flynn for help, a small tear escaping the corners of her eyes.
Wyatt turned back to her. "Who sent you?"
Lucy grabbed his arm. "Wyatt!" He glanced over at her and her voice dropped low. "Let her go."
Wyatt turned his eyes back to the panicked young woman he was holding. He gritted his teeth before sighing. He released her and she bolted from the room. He shook his head, motioning toward the door. "She's up to something!"
"What are you talking about?" Lucy questioned, her expression and tone showing her anger. "You just assaulted a young girl-"
"What is a Scot doing here?" he argued. "Everyone else sounds British-"
Lucy groaned, tossing her arms off to the side as she answered, "The Scots were a part of the first settlers to come here!"
He tilted his head. "Really?"
She nodded, brushing her hair out of her face, muttering something about him needing to crack open a book once in a while. She shook her head, sitting down on the cot with a huff. Rufus picked up the basket, hoping to find something that hadn't fallen onto the dirty floor. He was disappointed to discover nothing stayed within the confines of the basket. He sat next to Lucy, arms crossed as he glared at Wyatt.
Flynn inhaled deeply, looking at Wyatt. "We should take turns on watch," he suggested. "If something is going to happen soon, it would be better for us to be awake when it occurs."
Wyatt nodded in agreement. "I guess I'll take the first watch." He hoped by offering to take the first watch, it would get him back on the others' good side again.
The boring and long minutes dissolved into torturous hours. Despite their best efforts to keep themselves awake, the team had fallen asleep. No one had come into the jail since Charlotte fled.
Flynn's suggestion to sleep in shifts to ensure they were awake should something occur during the night was sound, sans for the terrible fact that their exhaustion finally caught up to them and they had all fallen fast asleep.
Flynn woke to the sounds of birds chirping loudly at the cell's window. He squinted at the bright morning light that filled the jail. He blinked as he glanced around the small room. Everyone was still asleep. He jumped to his feet, nudging Wyatt who was sitting against the bars on the floor with his foot. "Wyatt."
Wyatt groaned as he woke up. "What?"
"You fell asleep."
Wyatt bolted upright. "What?!" He stood up and glanced around the jail. "What happened?"
Flynn glared at him. "We're locked in the jail."
"They never came in?" Wyatt asked, mouth agape.
"You two are so loud in the morning!" Rufus muttered as he yawned, sitting up.
Lucy brushed her hair out of her face as she sat up. She noticed the looks on their faces - they were not happy. "What's wrong?"
Flynn eyed Wyatt. "He fell asleep on his watch."
"You what?" Rufus and Lucy gasped.
Wyatt rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry, okay? I was tired..."
"So, we're trapped in here?" Rufus panicked. "We're going to die in here, aren't we?"
The door to the jail opened. They turned to look at their company. Entering the small building was Future Jiya. She looked at the four of them, a shake of her head and a small smile on her somewhat amused expression. "You guys sure need a lot of help these days."
"Jiya!" Rufus gasped, nearing the bars. "What are you doing here?"
"Saving you," she told him. "As always." She crossed the room, stopping at the cell. She pulled a lock pick kit from her pocket and opened it.
Wyatt asked, "Do you want me to-"
"I got it," she told him. "Thanks."
"What about the colonists?" Lucy asked as she neared the bars.
Jiya's dark eyes remained locked on her task. "Would I be here if they were?"
Lucy's mouth fell open. "They're gone?"
Jiya nodded. "Every last one of them," she told them, lifting her eyes to meet their stunned faces. "Except you, of course."
"How is that possible?" Wyatt questioned. He grabbed Jiya's wrists through the bars. "What aren't you telling us!"
Rufus grabbed Wyatt's shirt at the shoulder, tugging him away from her. "Stop it!"
Jiya's eyes narrowed at him. "You have no idea what happened-"
"But you do," Wyatt told her. "It's all over your face." She nodded and he spat, "Why should we trust you?"
"Because I'm the only shot you have at making it out of here alive!" she shouted back. "So, should I let you out or do you want to stay in there and give historians something to ponder over for the next millennia?" She waited as his hold loosened around her wrists. He finally released his hold on her. "That's what I thought." She returned to her task of picking the lock.
Flynn asked, "What can you tell us?"
The cell opened and Jiya stood off to the side. "I can't tell you much but I would caution you to look closely when you get out there. Details are important."
Flynn nodded, understanding her meaning. "Thank you." He slipped out of the cell, stopping before her. "Remind me to teach you how to pick a lock."
She chuckled. "You do."
He smiled at her before exiting the jail.
Lucy hugged her. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me," Jiya told her. "I won't be able to save you again…" Lucy's mouth opened to ask a question when Jiya shook her head. "Don't worry about me. You're so close to figuring it all out. Just focus on that and everything will change."
Lucy nodded, tears welling in her eyes as she forced herself to follow Wyatt, who pushed his way by them without thanking Jiya.
Rufus stood before her, studying her face. He saw how worn she appeared. Whatever took place in the future, it didn't go easy on her. He hugged her. "I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"Whatever you've been through," he admitted. "Whatever has happened...I promise not to let it happen again."
Jiya smiled. "I know you mean it but you have to end Bloodstone and Rittenhouse for those words to have meaning." She pulled away from him and smiled up at him. "Goodbye, Rufus. We might not see each other again."
He kissed her forehead. "I hope we do." He cradled her face in his hands for a moment, staring into her eyes. He saw one of her eyes had glossed over gray. He hadn't noticed it before. His lips parted to speak when she pulled his hands away from her face.
"Go," she told him. "You're running out of time."
He sighed, not wanting to leave her but knew she spoke the truth. He forced himself away from her, exiting the jail. He stopped as his eyes took in the empty colony.
It was eerily quiet. There were no people outside of themselves in the colony. Everything appeared as the colonists had just left. They searched the buildings for clues on their whereabouts but found nothing. Dinner plates with food still served remained on the tables. Glasses were still full with drink. Even the dog bowls were full. The fires had burned into piles of heated ash from not being tended to for hours.
"It's like they just vanished," Wyatt stated. "How is that possible? Did anyone hear anything last night?"
Jiya's warning echoed within Flynn's mind as he carefully studied the area. He searched for the meaning behind her words. The devil was always in the details and it was usually those details that were often overlooked or misinterpreted.
Lucy approached the trees on the outskirts of the colony, searching the trunks. She went from one to another until she froze. "Over here!"
The group trudged through the mud to where she stood. She stared at the trunk, not uttering a word. Wyatt asked, "What is that?"
"The only thing history said they found," Lucy explained, "were the letters 'CRO' carved into a tree trunk."
"So?"
She sighed. "This is what they believed the colonists carved to inform those who come a year later, that they headed to Croatoan Island."
"But they didn't, did they?" Wyatt recalled. She nodded and he added, "Despite what you might think, I do listen." He turned back to the colony. "It just doesn't add up though. Why would they carve this and head out in the middle of the night?"
Flynn stepped closer to the tree, studying the carvings. He noticed a small mark under the 'O'. He rubbed the spot with his finger. He licked his lips and turned to Lucy. "Do you see this?"
She looked at the mark he pointed out. "Do you think they were trying to write something else there?"
"Find something?" Wyatt questioned.
Flynn said, "I don't know if this was meant to be an 'O'...might be they were in a hurry and couldn't complete the message."
"Meaning what?"
"If I didn't know any better," Flynn began, "I'd say they were still working on their message. Look here. It looks like they started to carve another section before they stopped."
"Or their knife slipped," Wyatt told him. "That's a loose theory at best."
Flynn shook his head, brows knitted together. He didn't believe it to be that simple. Not after Jiya's warning, anyways. His eyes drifted across the colony again before scanning the woods surrounding them. He noticed some flora that seemed out of place and marched over to the woods.
Lucy watched him with interest. She followed him. "What is it?"
Flynn knelt, studying the ground. "They were taken."
"Taken?" she repeated. "Indians?"
He licked his lips as he stood up. He turned to face her. "They were taken out of here by a time machine."
"What?" she gasped, staring at the ground. "Wha-how?"
He pointed to the ground. "The indentations on the ground," he started, "are just like the legs of the Mothership." He turned to face her, crossing her arms over his chest. "I don't know if this is a Bloodstone or a Rittenhouse thing but… that's why we didn't hear anything."
Lucy blinked the surprise away. "We should ask Jiya-"
"She's gone by now," he told her. He closed the gap between them. "It's on us to figure this out."
"But figure what out?" Lucy asked. "Why would they take an entire colony? It doesn't make sense-"
Flynn held her gaze. "They've taken people from history before," he reminded her. "There's no saying the reason but…" he sighed heavily, "Jiya knew something was going on. Her warning to me...pay attention to the details."
"The details," Lucy repeated. She scanned the empty colony. "If you're right about the tree's carving, then there's no saying what the message was intended to be."
Flynn's lips pressed together into a thin line as he thought it over. He shook his head as his eyes dropped to the mess in the mud. He saw the numerous footprints sunken into the mud. None of them gave him the impression the colonists were taken against their will. There were no signs of struggle. It looked like they simply marched their way to the time machines and silently left on their own accord.
Wyatt approached them. "We should get back."
"What about-" Lucy started to say.
Wyatt glanced over his shoulder. "No offense but it doesn't look like we did any good here."
Despite wanting to stick around longer in an effort to find any more clues as to what took place, Flynn agreed with Wyatt. He already pieced together what probably happened. Now he needed to think up what might have been the message on the tree. "CRO" had a different meaning in his mind as the team marched through the woods back to the Lifeboat.
