he really did have some supersecret plans for a death ray. He’d explained how that was all a lie, intended to throw the press and Edison off his trail. For the last twenty years, his primary focus has been time travel.
There are twenty trunks filled with time-travel research, in total. It’ll take me years to read through them all.
I can’t wait to see what he’s discovered.
51
Dorothy
NOVEMBER 10, 2077, NEW SEATTLE
Dorothy didn’t remember making her way back to the Black Crow or climbing into the pilot’s seat. But, suddenly, there she was. The leather was cool beneath her legs. The dashboard gleamed before her.
Mac climbed into the seat beside her, gun aimed at her face. “You can fly this thing, right?”
Dorothy swallowed, her eyes moving over the dashboard.
She had to check that the wing flaps were . . . yes, they were up. And now the carburetor needed to be put in position. She pushed the throttle to 3,000 RPMs, her eyes flicking to the EM gauge. Full capacity. Good.
Her heartbeat felt like gunfire inside of her chest. She could do this.
And then she looked up, and saw Roman’s body lying in the ashes, illuminated by the time machine’s headlights. Something caught in her throat. She fumbled with her seat belt.
“We can’t just leave him there,” she said, grasping for the door.
Mac grabbed her shoulder, pinning her back in place. He lifted his gun, almost lazily, so that it pointed between her eyes. “The only reason you’re not lying on the ground next to him is that I need someone to fly this piece of shit.” He pressed the cold barrel of his gun into her skin. “You got that?”
Dorothy had a hard time drawing in breath. What were her options? She supposed she could refuse. She could stay here, in this ruined city. Only that wasn’t really a choice, was it? There was nothing here. There was no one here.
She found herself reaching for the yoke, fingers numbly switching dials and flipping buttons. Mac lowered his gun.
“That’s a good girl,” he said, voice dripping with condescension. Dorothy’s eyes closed for a moment, bile rising in her throat.
“The Black Crow is moving into position for departure,” she said. Somehow, she managed to bring the time machine to hover, and flew them across the barren landscape, and back into the anil. She piloted the Black Crow through the tunnel of stars and purple clouds and black sky. She blinked hard, refusing to cry as the air around her thickened, growing heavy and wet. Water pounded against the windshield, making the glass creak.
And then they were surfacing, and New Seattle’s ominous, dark skyline lay before them.
Home sweet home, Dorothy thought, numb.
52
Ash
NOVEMBER 10, 2077, NEW SEATTLE
“Oh my God, you’re alive.”
That was Chandra. Willis stood beside her, aggressively washing a teapot in the kitchen sink, but he looked up at the sound of Chandra’s voice. It was very late, and Ash had only just made it back to the schoolhouse, somehow managing to pull himself through the window and down the hallway to the kitchen. He groaned as Zora launched herself across the room and into his arms.
“Damn you,” she said, hugging him hard. “I thought we’d lost you this time.”
“I’m okay,” Ash said.
“Okay is maybe not the word that I would have used,” Chandra said, nose wrinkling. “You look like death warmed over.”
Ash lifted a hand to his cheek, cringing at the feel of dry blood and raw flesh. He’d forgotten about the mess that Mac and his cohorts had made of his face. So much had happened since then.
“It’ll heal,” he said, and pulled away from Zora. He tugged his shirt straight, motioning to the wound below his ribs. “This is what I’m really worried about.”
It was sparking again, blue electricity leaping over his skin. And then it was seeping something thick and black. Ash looked away before it could change, again. It was giving him a headache. “Anyone want to tell me what the hell is going on here?”
Chandra was sitting on a barstool in the corner of the kitchen, anxiously braiding and unbraiding her hair, and now she leaned forward to get a better look.
“Gross,” she said, but she sounded excited. “What is that?”
“Exotic matter,” said Zora, frowning. She looked up at Ash, and he could see that she was making the same calculation he’d made back on the dock. “Do you think this is why you can travel through time without a vessel or any EM?”