Chapter 15

Vicky laid her head against the bars, touching the scars that Barnabas had made the night before. They were still there. Did that mean that he was still alive? She wished she knew more about it.

"Can you feel anything from him?" Phillip asked.

"I...I don't know."

"Try to concentrate."

"Yes, try" Oriana said from the next cell.

Vicky and Phillip shot poisoned glances at her, but said nothing.

Vicky sobbed "What will happen if they...they.." she didn't finish. She couldn't

"George said that he would not be harmed" Phillip said dully.

"And you trust him?


If only he could take the gag off... Barnabas shook his head, but it did not help any. The constriction remained, as did the weakness creeping up from his bound wrists... It was even difficult to think.

"Be patient" George tried to reassure him "you will be all right, you'll see."

The gag must be the worst, George realized. For someone as opinionated as him, having to endure in silence might well be the ultimate humiliation.

"Rest your head on my shoulder if you feel weak" he offered.

Barnabas grunted, looking warily at George. George had betrayed him, hadn't he? Why did act so concerned now?

And then the confession he had made to him a few days before... No, he did not want George to touch him.

Yet the look of pain in George's eyes... he had seen it before. He had found it too terrible before... but where?"

He wished he could think more clearly.


"He's very weak, confused" Vicky said "and angry too."

"I'd be angry, too, if I was being railroaded by my friends" Phillip said bitterly.

Vicky hit the bars "And we are stuck here where we cannot do a thing to help him!"

Phillip shook his head, angry with himself...he had turned his back on Brant...

"He's being taken out. He's very weak."

"I guess that if they haven't killed him yet, it is a good sign" Phillip said, trying to cheer himself and Vicky..


"Quentin is supposed to be waiting for us here." Sabrina checked her wristwatch.

"I hope he gets here quick" George muttered "Barnabas can barely stand now."

"Did someone mention me?" Quentin came from behind a bush "Well, well." he looked at Barnabas, smiling cruelly. "It seems that this time it isn't me who got in trouble, eh, cousin?"

Barnabas looked painfully at him. Quentin felt the anger mount in him. All the hours he had spent watching Parallel time, wishing he could go there. And now Barnabas was the one going. It wasn't fair... it wasn't fair.

He slapped Barnabas and made him fall to the ground.

George pulled out his gun "Do that again and I'll shoot your kneecaps off."

"Enough of that." Sabrina said "Get us inside Collinwood."

George helped Barnabas to his feet and led him inside.

A few minutes later, they were inside Collinwood. Barnabas at last was able to sit down on the floor, and he watched how Sabrina, in the changing room was drawing a chalk pattern on the floor. A patter that would hold him captive when he was placed inside it.

It would be fun if their calculations were off, and the room changed with Sabrina still in it. That would make an interesting problem.

The look in George's eye told him that he was thinking the same thing.

George...George had betrayed him... he was doing this to him...

"Stop the martyr act" he heard Sabrina's voice in his mind.

He realized where he had seen George's eyes before. In Julia, Just after he had forced her to betray Dave...

He had no right to be angry at George... He was only being exiled, not murdered in cold blood...

And suppose he did not come back. What would that do to George? He had seen what guilt did to Julia.

"It is ready" Sabrina said "Bring him in."

They made him get up again and move to the center of the pattern, while Sabrina closed the pattern behind him.

"You won't be able to get out of this in this Universe. Better accept it."

Barnabas grunted.

"You can release his hands now." Sabrina said to George. "But be careful how you do it. He can still make trouble."

Before he did that, George hooked the cane from Barnabas' arm and draped the Inverness coat over his shoulders, then gave him the plastic bag.

"It is the earth you need." he said. "so you won't need to look for it when you get here."

Barnabas nodded and waited until George opened the handcuffs and took them away, along with the cross.

"Stand back." Sabrina said. "Get out of the room before it changes."

Reluctantly George stepped back as Barnabas tore the tape from his mouth.

Barnabas opened his mouth and moved it, pleased to find out that it was still working.

"Does Maggie know what you are doing?" he asked Sabrina, accusingly.

"She told me to take care of you, by any means necessary."

"I see."

George was now out of the room with the others. "Is there anything your want?"

He nodded "Tell Phillip that if he needs money, he can pawn anything at the Old House that he thinks will sell. I'll trust him to give me an account when I come back. And as for the shopping center..."

"Don't worry. I'll be at their backs until they get the bus service." he looked mournfully at Barnabas "I wish you had not forced me to do this."

"So do I. I hope that when I come back they won't come to me saying 'I told you so'" he licked his lips "George".

"What?"

"Good luck. And take care of yourself"

George smiled for the first time. "Same to you, Barnabas."


"He's feeling better now" Vicky said "he's relieved. Still a bit angry."

Phillip said nothing What was happening to Barnabas? what were they doing to him?

Vicky screamed..

"He's... he's gone.."

"They killed him!"

"No, he's not death." Vicky said "just... gone."


It had been so quick, the change... Suddenly the floor pattern was gone, and a lot of old, discarded furniture had appeared out of nowhere.

Barnabas blinked. Yes, the change was quick. As he remembered it from the last time.

He had to leave the room and go find a place to stay before it got to be dawn again. It was summer and the nights were short.

But before he left, he turned once more to the direction he knew George was watching and waved at him.

"Goodbye, George" he said "don't feel too badly about this."

He knew that George had answered him, even if he couldn't hear the words, then left by the door opposite the one he had just entered.

And came face to face with Buffy Harrington.

"Who are you?" Buffy asked, backing away.

He cocked his head "Have you forgotten me already?" he asked, with amusement.

She did remember him. The fear in her eyes betrayed enough of it. And she was about to scream.

"Look into my eyes" he commanded her, catching her by the shoulders.

He held her now. She trembled but could not resist him. He lifted her head and turned it to a side. She closed her eyes, trembling.

"Do you have that bad a memory of me, then?" he asked, hurt.

He knew that he should be gentle with her, but somehow he could not manage it. He was still angry at Sabrina, and some of the anger came out in the biting. He should not bite her like this. It was not her doing that he had been delivered to Parallel Time wrapped like a Christmas package. But he could not stop himself.

He finally let her go. "It is done. I am sorry. I did not mean to be rough. Come, I will need your help."


"It is done. You can all go now. And no charges have been made against any of you." George said opening the cells and releasing his captives.

"What did you do to him?" Phillip asked angrily.

"Sent him into Parallel Time. You remember about that?"

"Parallel Time?" Vicky asked, incredulous.

"Yes. He told me about that" Phillip admitted grudgingly.

"He's going to be all right. He has friends there from his last stay. He told me to tell you that if you need money hock anything in the Old House, and give him an account when he comes back."

"He will come back?"

"Yes. He came back before, didn't he?"

But that room is kin Collinwood, in Carolyn's property. She could do something for it, or..."

"She won't. I got enough to send Roger to an institution for the rest of his life. And if she does anything to Barnabas I'll use it. So she'll watch her step."

Phillip and Vicky left, but Oriana didn't.

"He will be all right, won't he?"" she asked.

"Not thanks to you." he looked icily at her. "Did you get your story? Because if you did, I'd appreciate your leaving town. And don't worry. There won't ever be a record of your being booked here."

"Sheriff!" Oriana protested.

"You led him on. And because of that I had to" he lifted the handcuffs from his belt and looked at them with distaste. "use these on him. I don't think that I can take looking at you for another day, so get your things and split."


How much has Parallel Time changed since Barnabas saw it last? Are they people there who remember him? And how do they remember him? Will he find friends still there? And what stories lie in wait for him?

Stay tuned...