*****Content warning: This chapter takes place on a plantation in the antebellum south. I've avoided explicit depictions of violence and abuse, but the implications are there. One character also uses a derogatory term referring to people of color (it's not the "N" word or anything, but it is outdated, to say the least). I've done my best to write about this period authentically without being gratuitous, but please take care if this is a sensitive subject for you.*****
The tobacco field behind the Harts' mansion quivered in the October wind, and in the quiet of night, the plantation appeared deserted.
"This is the place?" Virginia asked. In her arms was a pile of winter clothes she had knit for the plantation's enslaved children. After the equivalent of two months in a time hollow, JB and Sam had prepared Virginia as best they could for her new life in the twenty-first century. This had included a summary of the Civil War and emancipation. Like her husband, Virginia had gone through life as a supporter of slavery, believing the propaganda of the South. When faced with the truth of plantation life, however, she felt deeply ashamed and begged them for a chance to right her errors. JB obviously couldn't let her make any drastic changes to history, but a small gesture to ease her conscience before leaving 1849 couldn't hurt. Besides, she was still grieving the loss of her husband, and the knitting seemed to help her process some of that grief.
"This is it," said Sam, whose eyes gazed off into a place beyond the field and the house and the dark sky. She'd been unusually quiet and distant since their last day in Baltimore. JB could hardly blame her. In each time period they had visited thus far, someone had died tragically. He saw how it weighed on her—when they'd first met, she'd been giddy, full of wonder, and easily spooked. The wonder and passion had not died, but it was now tainted with a deep sadness that had burrowed inside her and peeked out its head in moments of quiet. She was less easily startled now, the reality of their situation surely having planted its roots within her so firmly that fear became just a fact of life. Part of him felt comfort in knowing that suddenly he was not alone in experiencing that lingering despair that tinted his every journey through time; another part of him wished he could wrap her in his arms and squeeze out every drop of pain she must be feeling.
Virginia squinted out at the empty field. "Where are they?"
"Probably sleeping," said Sam. "You can quietly drop off the clothes outside the cabins and then we'll send you off to your new life."
"Remember," said JB to Virginia, "your first order of business when you arrive is to find Hadley and Angela Correro. Give them the note I wrote that explains who you are and why you're there. Hadley knows I can't reach anyone but Cira when I'm outside of my native time. I'm sure his elucidator is acting up just like everyone else's. He'll accept a note with my signature as proof that I sent you." JB had even tried using the hooded man's elucidator to reach Hadley, but with no luck. When used by anyone other than the hooded man, it seemed to have the same limitations as all the other elucidators.
"And," Sam added, "if JB and I don't show up within a day of your arrival, I need you to send an email from my computer to the museum, saying I've had a medical emergency. You remember how email works, right?"
"I can manage with the step-by-step instructions you wrote for me," said Virginia. "I don't know if I will ever fully understand it."
"Hadley and Angela will help you with that," JB assured her.
"If I'm gone for more than a month," Sam continued, "you have all of the forged documentation you need to convince my co-workers that I've gone into a coma due to my injuries and it's unclear when I'll wake up."
JB swallowed the lump in his throat. It was hard enough knowing that she'd never be able to go back home, but it was what she'd told him in the time hollow that really got to him. When he'd asked her who else outside of work would notice she was missing, she'd just shrugged and said matter-of-factly, "Nobody."
"But you make friends with practically everyone you meet," he'd argued. "You can't tell me no one will miss you."
"I'm friendly with lots of people," she'd corrected, "but I spend so much time working and doing all my hobbies that I don't really make time for close friendships. It's my own fault, really. If I make it back to the twenty-first century, that's something I hope to correct."
JB understood that far too well. Before The Missing, JB had been a bit of a workaholic himself. He'd been good acquaintances with everyone and good friends with no one until the Skidmores followed Chip and Alex to the 1480s. It had forced him to partner up with Hadley and Angela for the rest of the children's rescues. His five years in the 1600s made him realize how much he valued Hadley and Angela's friendship and how much he cared about all the kids that had grown to depend on him. After he'd delivered baby Kevin to the Skidmore house and said his last goodbye that day, he'd started to sink back into that familiar disconnect.
Then he'd met Sam, and he found himself caring once again.
"Do you smell that?" Virginia furrowed her brow and sniffed the air.
JB inhaled through his nose and immediately felt his lungs prickle as an acrid scent passed through them. He coughed and it was like he was Tete again, fighting that dreaded asthma. "Fire," he choked.
He pulled his cravat over his nose and scanned the horizon for smoke, but he saw nothing.
Then it happened. With a sudden roar and a flash of bright light, an entire section of the house exploded. JB and Sam ducked behind a row of tobacco plants and covered their ears as three figures dashed out of the house and ran into the field. Virginia dropped her bundle and fainted into Sam's lap. Hundreds of startled adults and children leapt out of the slave cabins and scattered. From somewhere inside the mansion, a dog barked and howled.
"Pip!" whispered Sam, and she bolted to her knees. Virginia rolled off her lap, but Sam didn't seem to notice. JB grabbed Sam's arm before she could reach a standing position.
"Careful, Sam!" he said. "Don't hurt Virginia."
Sam peered down at the unconscious woman with a horrified expression. "Oh no…"
"She's okay," said JB, noting Virginia's breathing, "but please don't do anything stupid."
"Pip is still inside." Her voice was shrill and frantic. "What if he's stuck?"
"There's still time for him to get out," he said. "We can't just run into that house and abandon Virginia here in the field."
Sam hesitated—her jaw tense, her eyes bulging—but she finally groaned and sank back into the field.
By now, they could hear individual voices around them. Most whooped and cheered as they ran, but they could hear the Harts as well.
"I knew that little bitch was no good," Mrs. Hart panted from somewhere a few feet away. "I knew she was up to something this evening…Those New Orleans darkies are of the devil. All their voodoo and witchcraft…the wicked look in her eyes as she lit the kettle…"
The rest was interrupted by another series of barks from the house. Sam winced and looked ready to bound back up. JB squeezed her hand and said, "Wait, didn't you hear that? It sounds like this was Ginny's plan. This is how everyone gets free, just like Cira said."
"But Pip…"
"Ginny wouldn't have set the place on fire if she wasn't sure everyone would make it out."
"The humans, sure," she said. "But what about—"
"TRAITORS!" Tom hollered into the field, and JB heard the sound of scampering feet nearby.
"Just leave them, Tom," hissed Mrs. Hart, and the scampering ceased. "We must get to safety."
Something buzzed in JB's breast pocket. Seriously, Cira? Now? JB tapped the buzzing pocket watch and whispered, "What?"
Cira's voice sounded inside his head. This, apparently, was meant to be a private call. You need to paralyze Cretney now. She's a liability.
JB glanced at Sam, who was shaking, but had not budged from the ground. He shook his head so Cira could see. He trusted Sam and he wasn't about to paralyze her and betray her trust.
Pip was still barking.
"The people have all left," Sam moaned. "They just abandoned him there. We have to help!"
Paralyze her now! Cira ordered.
"Sam," said JB, "I can't just leave Virginia here."
"Fine." Something appeared to come over Sam in that moment; her eyes fixed on the house like a lioness on the hunt. Her arms stretched out in front of her and her shoulders leaned forward in earnest. "Then I'm going alone."
"SAM, NO!"
Too late. She was already yards ahead of him.
"Sorry, Virginia," he breathed, and bolted after Sam.
He could taste the smoke now, bitter and grimy. He expelled another fit of coughs as he whizzed past rows and rows of tobacco plants. Amidst it all, Cira's voice thundered in his head: Stop! Don't you remember what I told you? If you die in the past—"
"Sam's in danger!" He didn't bother whispering this time.
That doesn't matter. Your job is to protect time, not individuals. If Samantha dies before 1920, some of time can still be saved. Don't the missing children matter to you anymore? Don't you care to save them?"
Of course they mattered. Of course he wanted to—wait. Did this mean…? "Cira, if Sam dies before 1920, the twenty-first century will be safe?"
Yes, everything up to the 1920s as well as the periods with experienced time agents stationed in them will be safe.
That was all JB needed to hear. "Elucidator," he coughed through the intensifying smoke, "self-destruct."
A robotic voice in his head asked, Verifying. Did you mean to say self-destruct? If this is incorrect, say, "No…"
NO! Cira screamed. Are you insane? If I lose contact with your elucidator, I lose all access to you.
"That's the plan," JB said.
The robotic voice continued in the background, …If this is correct, repeat, "self-destruct."
Cira shouted over it. If you do this, you can never come back. I'll send you to time prison the minute I lay eyes on you.
JB had reached the back door of the burning house. It was now or never. "Self-destruct," he commanded, and bounded inside.
Yes, Sam would die before 1920, but not tonight and not like this. She deserved a full life, and if that couldn't happen in the twenty-first century, it would have to happen here.
...
Sam could hardly see a thing in the crumbling hallway. Her eyes stung and watered, blurring everything into sloshy orange and black. All she could do was follow the sound of Pip's bark. He sounded so close, somewhere above her head. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and her vision cleared long enough for her to see him, the scruffy pup she'd met on her first day in 1849. He was in the middle of one of the staircases, which was half engulfed in fire, leaving him trapped, though otherwise unharmed.
Sam wiped her eyes again and searched for something to stand on. She turned to her right and recognized the wooden tea table in the corner. She dashed towards it and knocked off the silver tea set with one sweep of her arm. Thankfully, the table was not heavy and she had no trouble carrying it to the unburned side of the floor next to the staircase.
The sound of crackling grew louder and Pip ascended several steps as flames crept further up the stairs. Sam's head pounded, the walls warped. She had to hurry.
She lifted her skirts and climbed onto the table, reaching for Pip. He backed away at first, but when she called his name, he seemed to recognize her voice, hoarse and tired as it was. He took a second to sniff her hand before allowing her to lift him off the stairs and into her arms.
"Sam!" someone called. It sounded like it had come from the library.
"JB!" she responded. "I'm coming!" She hopped off the table and away from the burning stairs. The library was just to her left, so she spun on her heels and hurried in that direction.
"Sam, can you hear—?" A crashing sound erupted suddenly and Sam heard JB cry out in pain. Then silence.
"JB!" She dashed into the library and found him on the ground, eyes closed, beneath a fallen bookcase. Pip leapt out of her arms and scurried across the mass of books on the floor toward JB. He licked JB's face, but his eyes remained closed.
Sam knelt beside him and felt his neck for a pulse. "Oh my god, please, please be okay." She couldn't lose him. He was her best friend—her only friend, really. "I need you, JB, please wake up." He did not wake up, just lay still on the floor. Sam pushed her fingers deeper into his neck and finally felt a faint rhythm. The sense of relief was so intense, she collapsed onto the floor beside him and heaved an enormous sob. He was alive.
Pip barked and tugged at her sleeve. Right, they needed to get out of there.
Sam gathered all her strength and pushed on the wooden bookcase. It moved a couple inches, but not enough. JB was still trapped underneath. Sam tried again, but still no luck. With every push, her throat tightened and she exploded in a fit of coughs. Her diaphragm ached from the strain and her eyelids drooped sleepily. She was too weak. The throbbing in her head was almost unbearable now and the room distorted as if underwater. "I'm sorry," she murmured, and she let her head fall on JB's shoulder. "I'm so sorry." Pip gnawed at her sleeve a few moments more, but even he finally gave up and curled up next to her chest. Tony, Mary, Poe, JB, Pip…she'd failed them all.
Another loud crash echoed through the room, but this time it came with a muffled voice. "Get up, hurry!"
Sam opened her eyes. It was Virginia, standing above them with a scarf wrapped around her face and a large wheelbarrow at her feet. She'd just rammed it into the bookshelf, pushing it off JB and zapping a jolt of adrenaline back into Sam's system. Sam pushed herself up from the floor and used her newfound energy to help Virginia lift JB into the wheelbarrow, resting his head on the pile of knit clothes inside. Then she scooped up Pip and followed Virginia back into the entry hall. Dark patches appeared all around her, clouding her vision and multiplying as they approached the door.
"Keep going," Virginia urged. Sam nodded and blindly trudged onward until a blast of night air hit her face and soothed her burning nostrils and lungs. The further they pushed on, the clearer her senses became, and her vision returned just as Virginia yelled, "Only a little further!"
They made it to the back of the field, far enough from the smoke, but close enough to watch the house shudder and crumble into debris. Sam wanted so badly to sink into the grass and sleep, but she couldn't close her eyes until JB opened his. After setting the anxious Pip gently on the ground, she knelt beside the wheelbarrow and felt for JB's pulse again. It was still there, thank God.
No, thank Virginia, she thought. Then out loud she said, "You saved our lives, Virginia. How can I begin to thank you?"
"It's the least I could do after fainting on you," she answered with an embarrassed laugh. "Thank goodness I came to just in time to see JB run into the house. Why on earth did you go in there?"
Sam pointed at Pip, who'd started sniffing the hem of Virginia's dress. "He was stuck inside."
"I would have done the same for Catterina," Virginia said, and her eyes welled up and shone. "I'll miss her. Mother too. I've cried many hours for Eddie, but I forget everyone else I must leave behind." She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and dabbed at her eyes. "At least they are alive and well."
Sam couldn't remember how long the cat that had comforted Virginia on her deathbed had outlived Poe, but she hoped Catterina would be there for Maria now that she'd lost both a daughter and son-in-law.
"How is your JB?" Virginia asked.
Sam liked the sound of that. My JB, she thought. If only.
She looked back down at his face, ashy from the fire, but still so handsome. His hair had grown a bit since they'd left the twenty-first century, and its current frizzed out state made his Einstein genes all the more evident. She smiled and brushed her fingers through it until it was something close to tidy. His chest rose and fell at a more regular pace and she felt her shoulders relax. "Thanks for coming after me," she whispered in his ear. "Even though you thought I was being an idiot."
"You were being an idiot," he said, and she had to stop herself from shrieking with joy. "You scared the hell out of me."
"You scared the hell out of me," she said. "After that bookcase fell on you, I was sure you were gone, and then I couldn't get it off you and Pip was chewing my sleeve and I was so tired…I thought I'd failed you like I failed Tony."
"Tony?" said Virginia.
Sam squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head so neither of them could see the tears. "He was my dog. I told you I had no friends back home, but that wasn't true. I had Tony. He was everything to me and I left him in the woods one day when I thought I heard a cougar. I just ran and didn't even realize I'd left Tony behind until it was too late. When I came back to look for him, he was nowhere to be seen."
A finger brushed her eyelashes and she felt a tear escape. She opened her eyes and saw it was JB who'd caught it. Of course he had. There was no hiding her tears from him; he knew her too well.
"Thank you both for getting me out of there," he said. "I wouldn't have made it without you."
"I'm just relieved we all made it out," said Sam. "Now we can send Virginia off and figure out where we go next."
JB's face fell. "About that…I have to tell you something." He paused for a moment and stared at the ground.
Sam held her breath and listened carefully.
"We only have one elucidator now and I'm in big trouble with the agency."
"What happened?" she asked.
"Cira told me not to follow you into the house," he said. "I disobeyed her and set the elucidator to self-destruct so she couldn't reach me and try to pull me out of 1849. I'm basically a wanted criminal now, so I can't go back to my time or yours until I find a way to fix this."
"What about me?" asked Virginia. "Where must I go?"
"You'll be fine, Virginia. It's just me and Sam who can't go to the twenty-first century because it's the first place Cira will look for us. But it's still the safest place for you." He looked at Sam again. "I'm just sorry you can't go home, Sam. I'm hopeful that once Hadley meets Virginia and learns what happened, he'll find a way to help us, but until then, we're stuck."
Sam was speechless, numb. JB had sacrificed his own livelihood to save her and now they were both trapped in the past? There was no time to process what any of this meant because Pip suddenly let out a cheerful bark and cocked his head at a nearby stump, tail wagging. In the faint light from the rising sun, Sam made out the shapes of two kids crouched behind the stump, a boy and a girl. The girl, who was holding a large basket, shook her head at Pip. The boy held a finger to his lips and trembled when Sam met his eyes. It was Fred and Ginny, and they looked terrified.
Sam reached for the dog and carried him toward the stump. The kids recoiled and looked ready to run, but Sam pleaded, "Wait, don't leave your dog behind." Fred stopped and stared at her. Ginny glared at him, but stopped too. Sam set Pip down and let him run into Fred's arms. "I'd love to keep him, but he'll be much happier with you." Fred smiled and even Ginny offered a cautious nod of thanks. Sam knew they still had their guard up, so she chose her next words very carefully: "I know you have to leave before anyone else sees you, but my friend has some clothes that might keep you warm on your long journey. Is it okay if she gives them to you now?"
Fred nodded and eventually, so did Ginny. Sam looked behind her at Virginia, who quickly gathered the clothes from under JB's head and met her at the stump. Virginia handed them the bundle and helped them stuff the clothes into Ginny's basket. Sam left them to it and rejoined JB, who had now risen from the wheelbarrow and stood quietly against a tree.
"You really are incredible," he said.
She smiled. "So are you."
"Not really. I'm the reason you're stuck in a foreign time."
"It's not all that foreign to me," she said. "Besides, I can think of worse people to be stuck with."
JB breathed a quiet laugh and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Then suddenly, something occurred to her. "What about my meds? Do I need to wean myself off of them in case I run out of doses before Hadley can save us?" The thought of once again having to experience the full force of untreated OCD made her ill.
"I have a vaccine for that," said JB soothingly. "I'm not really supposed to give it to anyone outside of my time, but I packed it in case of an emergency. Besides, it's not like I have anything to lose by breaking the rules now."
She relaxed and leaned into him. "Thank you."
"Of course."
She closed her eyes, content despite the great unknown that awaited them. "What now?" she said. "Once we send Virginia to the twenty-first century we still have an elucidator, a huge supply of money and clothes from different periods, and most of history at our fingertips. Where do we go?"
"Where would you like to go?"
That was easy. "Christmas Eve in Victorian London. Sometime between 1843 and 1870, preferably."
"Specifically the years between the publication of A Christmas Carol and Charles Dickens' death? Why am I not surprised?"
Her heart pumped faster with excitement as she continued. "And it has to be a year with snow. A fresh snowfall, none of that leftover gray slush. Oh, and I want to go caroling!"
JB's face brightened suddenly and he said, "You know, that gives me an idea."
"What?"
His lips stretched into a sly smile. "Let's send Virginia to her new home and then I'll show you."
"Oh, come on, really?" She tried to grimace, but her mouth was stuck in a grin. She followed JB to the stump where Virginia waited for them. Ginny, Fred, and Pip were out of sight and hopefully on a safe journey North. Virginia thanked JB and Sam for healing her and for trying their best to save Edgar. She promised to tell Hadley and Angela everything they needed to know to come rescue them, and wished them happy travels. And then she was gone, and they were alone, a pair of castaways standing together in the morning glow.
Sam waited quietly for what she hoped was an appropriate amount of time, then said, "Okay, what's this big surprise you have that's better than Christmas Eve in Victorian London?"
JB laughed and took both her hands in his. "Close your eyes."