blanket you with a million whispers in the night while she holds your hand as if she’s the only one who fits it right. You’ll want to carry her bones inside your bones.”
“So she’s like her mother,” Pan says softly.
“Your people say that Kricket is still alive?”
“Yes,” Pan replies. He studies Trey and adds, “Don’t look so guilty. You haven’t done her wrong, as they say in Chicago.”
“What would you call it then?” he asks bitterly.
“A little bit of circumstance, fate, manipulation.”
“What about you? Do you think you’ve done her wrong?”
“I haven’t done her right.”
“Is there a difference?”
“I hope so.”
“Why did you leave her alone on Earth?”
“For the same reason she left you—there was no other choice.”
“You didn’t have a choice?”
“Not really. Kricket has a destiny, Trey. If you get in the way of it, you’ll pay . . . and pay . . . and pay.”
“You talk in evasion and riddles. Come back if you ever want to have a real conversation,” Trey growls. He grasps his gun and checks the setting.
“You want to know how we’ve come to be here? Time has conspired against us, Trey. My family has a part to play in the future. My consort was an extraordinary creature. She could see the light of future days. ‘So many possible futures,’ she would say. ‘Where to begin?’” He laughs, but there is very little humor in it.
“Arissa saw the future like Kricket does?”
“I don’t know what Kricket sees or how she sees it. She was a child when I left her. For Arissa, it was a violent explosion of atoms, tearing her away from her body, projecting her into the future.”
“Sounds familiar,” Trey admits. “You still haven’t answered my question, though. Why did you leave Kricket behind on Earth?”
“Her mother told me she’d bring about the destruction of Rafe,” Pan says. His fingers deftly wield the cig-a-like as if it’s a baton. “Arissa sifted through so many possible futures, looking for one where we could all be together. She could see nuances in time—the other infinite possibilities, not just the dominant markers. Can Kricket do that yet?”
“I don’t know,” Trey replies. “Are you saying that Arissa saw options in time in which things could be changed?”
“Yes, but the problem Arissa had in changing the future was that there was so much time between her and the events that she was seeing. Trying to change time that far out is difficult. Time always tries to right itself. The changes have to be drastic if you want to affect the distant future, or it will find another course to come to the same conclusions.”
“What exactly did Arissa see?”
“She saw several possible futures at war with each other—all of which were attempting to become the dominant marker—the event that happens.”
“According to Arissa, what event presents itself as the dominant marker?”
“Excelsior Ensin becoming Emperor of Ethar.”
“Are there other possible markers?”
“The best one we found for Rafe is one in which Astrid rules Ethar as our empress.”
“Where does that leave Kricket?”
“In the middle of a war. Her future is liquid.”
“What do you mean?”
“Kricket’s future takes the shape of the glass you pour it in.”
“I still don’t get it.”
“Pour her into time with a certain set of circumstances and she becomes a world ender. Give her a different set of circumstances and she shapes time in a whole other way. One thing is clear about Kricket, though: she’s a catalyst. Events start and end with her. She’s the person who can ensure that the worst-case scenario will happen or that it won’t.
“We tried to hide her on Earth, knowing that she’d trigger the fight between the Houses on Ethar. Her keeper, Giffen, was assigned to her to prevent her from ever returning to Ethar. Giffen tracked the Alameeda who came to Earth to find Kricket. There have been several teams sent to search for us over the years even before Kyon Ensin.”
“What happened to the ones who came looking for her?”
“Giffen killed them. He was tracking Kyon and his associates. He didn’t realize that Rafe soldiers were also dispatched to Earth at the same time. You slipped through and he missed you.”
“What would’ve happened had he known we were there as well?”
“He would’ve tracked you and killed you.”
“And if he was unable to kill us, what then?”
“He would’ve killed Kricket before she crossed over into Ethar. That was our preemptive plan. The worst has happened, though. She slipped through, and the House of Rafe has paid the price for my inability