36. Chapter 36
Chapter 36
“ A re you going to use one of your tricks, Emily?” Ross made a few steps forward but was still between them and the door. “Time freeze? Whatever else you do?” He folded his arms. “Go ahead. Run. I guess only Gracie and I will have a talk, then.”
Even if she froze time to run for help, she couldn’t get the help here without unfreezing time.
Which left Gracie alone with Ross.
So Emily waited.
“I see we understand each other.” Ross made another few steps toward them; in turn, Emily and Gracie moved around the sofa, slowly circling the living room.
“So you are him? You’re Richard Ross?”
“I was. Thanks to your friends, I’m not anymore.”
“You’re Papa’s partner,” Gracie whispered. “The man he was afraid of. ”
“It’s not their fault you ended up here. You kidnapped Sylvia in the first place.” Emily blinked. “And then you helped me. When I came to ask about Boston in the past. You helped me find … you .”
“You lied.” Gracie’s voice broke, and she clenched her fists. “You promised me I was going back! You lied!” With a little scream, she lunged at Ross, who easily caught her wrists as she was about to hit him. She tried to wriggle out of his hold and stepped on his foot.
Ross grunted and released her. “Gracie, stop! This is not about you!”
Gracie staggered backward. “You’ve ruined my life. And Papa’s—”
“Ruined? At least you’re alive, you ungrateful bitch! I had to take care of you only on the promise I’d get what I wanted.” Ross stalked toward her, raising his arm.
Heartbeat—
A hand caught Ross’ raised fist and pulled it back.
“Will!” Emily breathed in relief.
Her friend, who’d appeared behind Ross, restrained Ross by twisting his hands behind his back. Ross grunted but didn’t fight back.
“Sorry I’m late,” Will said.
“You know that’s no excuse.”
“Your friend told me where you were. And, uh, she also asked for my phone number?”
Sarah? Oh, boy. Sorry. That train has left the station.
“But then I missed the location a few times,” Will continued.
“You got it perfect now.”
“Yes, how delightful.” Ross’s voice dripped with sarcasm.
Emily remembered what they’d been doing. “Gramps, it’s him! It’s Ross! ”
“I know. I put two and two together after James told me what happened.”
Oh. Was she really that slow? “Yeah, I … I figured it out, too.”
Ross snorted. Will strengthened his hold.
“Can you hold him for a little longer? I’ll go get help,” Emily said. Will nodded. Heartbeat—
“Are you certain you want to do that?” Ross spoke. “I can’t tell you anything if you freeze time, can I?”
Emily regarded him with narrowed eyes.
“Ignore him,” Will said. “Go!”
“Don’t you wish to know all of my plans?”
“Emily,” Will warned.
“But he’s offering us the villain’s speech!” Emily bit her lip and looked at Ross. “You can talk while you’re restrained. Can we bind him?”
“We’ve got some rope in the kitchen,” Gracie said. “The plastic one.”
Ross remained suspiciously calm.
“You’re not trying to escape?” Emily asked.
“And what would be the point of that?” Ross asked haughtily. “You’ll just stop time and restrain me with one of your tricks, won’t you? Probably draw something stupid on my face, too.”
“Not a bad idea,” Emily admitted, then wiped the smile off her face as Will gave her a chiding look.
“If you’ll allow me, I’ll sit down.” Ross motioned his head to a chair.
“Uh-uh! Not that one!” Emily interrupted as Will led Ross to the chair. “We don’t know what tricks he’s playing. He could’ve been expecting this, and that chair has some special mechanism that sets him free.”
Ross rolled his eyes. “Then would you mind picking one? ”
Emily eyed the other two candidates in the room—the armchair and another wooden chair by the writing desk. She examined Ross’ expression as he carefully monitored her. Damn poker face. He was probably a great player, too.
Too risky. “I’ll be back in a second.”
She went to the kitchen and brought over a dining chair. “Ha! I bet you didn’t see this coming, did you?” She positioned the chair on the free side of the coffee table. Gracie returned with a coil of white-red string. They all got to work, binding Ross’ wrists behind the chair and his legs together in front.
“Beautiful.” Emily whistled. “I wouldn’t wriggle too much. This looks like the type of rope that cuts real nasty into your skin.”
Ross gave her a polite smile.
Will remained by Ross to control him; Gracie slipped a little back, and Emily positioned herself on the other side of the coffee table and crossed her arms. “Okay. What do you have to say for yourself? Why was all of this needed?”
“Why is any action ever needed?” Ross responded. “To fix our lives.”
“You weren’t happy in your time?”
“Oh, I was doing fine. I didn’t want to end up here. I didn’t want to go anywhere.”
“Then what?”
“My sister was a good woman, you know.” For a second, a hint of gentleness crept into his voice, but it was quickly overtaken by bitterness. “Worked with the poor. Brought them food, clothes. Then one day, one of those pitiful creatures turned the knife on her. Do you think that’s fair?”
“She died? And you’re trying to get her back?”
“She was the only one that cared,” Ross said quietly .
“My mama died as a result of a car crash,” Emily said. “Not fair, either. But you don’t see me going around murdering people!”
“The man that came to visit me on the ship? He’d only stand in my way.”
“He could’ve been someone’s brother, too.”
“And we’ve already established life isn’t fair,” Ross snapped. “It’s every person for themselves. And I’m doing what I need to do. If you’re not—then you’re not utilizing your powers to their full potential.”
“Time travel is not meant to be misused this way,” Will said.
Ross gave him a side glance. “I take it you’re the moral one. Funny. You don’t show it.”
“Oh, no, he definitely is,” Emily said.
Ross swiveled his head and fixed her with an icy stare. “He stole my wife.”
“You don’t deserve her,” Will said.
“Irrelevant. I married her. She belongs to me.”
“You’re showing your care in a very strange way.”
“What can I say? Distance makes the heart grow fonder. And the women here … they just aren’t what they used to be. Not as meek, as well-behaved. They think marriage is an equal partnership. I do miss my dear Sylvia.”
“Gross.” Emily wrinkled her nose. “You’re like fifty! She’s my age!”
“It’s not my fault I got trapped here for fifteen years, is it?” Ross hissed at her, then schooled his face back into a cool mask as he stared at Will. “But it all ends well. Now I’ve got you here. And you’re never leaving.”
Will flicked a confused glance to Emily, then looked back at Ross.
“You Leaders think you’re invincible. Hop over here, hop over there.” Ross chuckled. “You know what happens if I kill you here? You aren’t going anywhere. ”
“Well, tough, since you aren’t killing anyone,” Emily said. “Don’t mind him, Will. I’m ready to freeze if he tries anything.”
Ross ignored her. “Your body, over there, will stay the same. Only lifeless. Forever. Imagine how she’ll feel about that. Gazing at the frozen body of her dead lover.”
Will paled.
“Ross, shut the hell up,” Emily said.
“And that’s when I’ll swoop back in. Finally take my marital rights.”
Will came to his senses. “Shut up!”
Ross laughed, then looked back at Emily with a disgustingly pleased smile.
“He’s lying,” Gracie said from where she was hugging herself in the corner. “He can’t go back.”
“I know.” Will’s voice still shook a little. “I’m sorry, I hadn’t inquired. Miss Ralkin, are you all right?”
“I’d seen better days,” Gracie said with a faint smile. “But worse, too.”
“Well, then.” Emily tapped a finger on her folded arm. “Lovely villain’s speech, Ross. Oscar for you. But as you’ve noticed, you’re trapped, and you have not one but two time travelers guarding you.”
“Should we call the police?” Gracie suggested.
“What are you going to tell them?” Will asked.
She shrugged. “He’s got a fake ID if nothing else.”
“And he hit you earlier.” Emily nodded. “We’ll find something to keep him under lock and key. We’ve got you nice and cornered, Ross.”
“Do you?”
Emily motioned to Will and the chair.
“His binds are fine,” Will confirmed.
“Well, if you’re all done with talking … ”
“I am,” Ross said. “I suppose I should thank you.”
“For what?”
“Listening so attentively. I needed to wait for”—his eyes flicked to somewhere behind Emily’s shoulder—“now.”
The air behind her shifted, and soft fabric rustled. Will’s eyes widened. A soft male voice whispered into Emily’s ear, “Trust me, it’s for the best,” and a sharp pain pierced her spine.
It all happened in a split second, but Emily experienced each beat like a picture, frozen in time. She turned around, only to see a brief shadow vanishing into thin air. She turned back and collapsed on her knees. Pain. So much pain. Waves of tiny needles spreading through her veins, muscles, permeating every cell.
Will yelled her name and started for her.
Two steps in, Ross leaped from the chair, his restraints falling back, neatly cut.
He lunged for Will from the back and tackled him.
Pain. Like her blood had turned into molten lava.
Will’s head hit the side of the coffee table. He moaned, stunned but not unconscious.
Emily reached for the object lodged in her back. Every move felt like wading through a sea of red-hot needles. She pulled it out.
It was a syringe with a long, thin needle. Emptied, save for a few drops of dark blue liquid.
What the hell?
Ross knelt over Will and grabbed his collar. “He wanted her ,” he hissed and punched him, spraying blood from a broken nose. “But I was waiting … ”
Rolling on the floor, Emily stretched out her hand. Heartbeat, wait. Heartbeat, stop.
Punch.
Stop!
“For you,” Ross finished. Each punch swiveled Will’s face in the other direction.
Heartbeat, wait. Heartbeat, stop!
“Too bad you’ll go down this easily.” Ross’s chest heaved victoriously as he stared at his half-beaten enemy.
Why won’t it stop?
Will stirred. Ross quickly packed in another punch.
Emily scrambled for the watch; it fell from her half-paralyzed fingers, and she opened it on the floor. Five minutes. I only need five minutes.
“And to think she chose you over me!”
She clicked down the crown.
Nothing.
Numbly, she stretched her fingers and stared at them as if they didn’t belong to her body.
I can’t time travel.
Ross grabbed Will by the neck and lifted him slightly, a murderous gleam in his eyes.
I. Can’t. Time travel.
He squeezed his neck tighter.
He’s going to kill him, and I can’t help.
“Will,” she breathed. Tears of pain and realization took over her voice. “Will!”
Something cold hit her hip. Will’s watch. Must’ve fallen from his pocket when Ross tackled him .
She couldn’t time travel with it. But he could.
Emily carefully rolled the watch down the carpet until it stopped near the table’s leg. Will’s fingers twitched, feeling the object. Then Ross hit him again, and he let go.
Emily desperately scanned her surroundings. A book perched on the edge of the table, within arm’s reach if she lunged. She gathered all her strength, reached for it, and hurled it at Ross.
“What”—he let Will go for a second and gave her an irritating look—“do you want? You’re done for.”
“I know,” Emily gasped. “I just needed a distraction.”
Will blinked out of existence. Ross gripped empty air and stumbled forward.
Will reappeared behind him, face without injuries and—clothes cleaned of blood?
Sure, Gramps. You’ve got your priorities.
Will put his hands together in one massive fist and hit Ross on the spine. Ross turned and hurled a fist toward Will, who ducked and hammered a left hook into Ross’ ribs.
No way.
Hook, uppercut, jab, jab—Ross retreated further and further into the corner, keeping his hands up and trying to get in a punch during Will’s swift assault.
The Jaunty Jimmy moves.
The coffee table blocked Emily’s line of vision, but based on the grunts, Ross was not doing well. By the time she managed to drag herself onto her feet, Will had him in a corner, his fists coming off bloody as he packed a punch, and then another, and then another, into the practice bag that Ross had turned into .
“Will,” Emily croaked.
Finally, he stopped and turned. Ross lay in an unconscious heap.
Will breathed deeply and shook his hair out of his face. “Emily. Oh God, Emily. What has he done to you?”
He started toward her.
Behind him, Ross stirred, light catching his eyes. He picked up a heavy paperweight, fallen from the writing desk.
“Will!”
Too late. Ross lunged for Will one last time; Will turned—
Ross choked and fell on his knees in front of him, the delicately carved handle of the letter opener sticking out of his back.
Gracie stood behind him at the open door to the kitchen, shaking like electricity had run through her, her hands half stretched out, fingers folded as if they were still holding the letter opener.
“He was going to kill you,” she whispered and collapsed on her knees. “He … he … he …”
“It’s all right, Miss Ralkin.” Will kneeled beside her, hugged her shoulders, and closed his eyes. “You did what you had to.”
Emily slowly made her way over. The pain has lessened, but only for a fraction. Will stretched out his arm and pulled her into an embrace.
“It’s done,” she murmured. “We’re safe.”
Will joined Emily on the stairs that led to the small backyard. He grunted as he sat down, holding a cold compression to his left eye; Ross had gotten in one punch, after all.
“I’ll take the letter opener, hide it in my time,” he said. “Miss Ralkin—uh, Gracie—will call the police and report an armed robbery gone wrong. ”
Emily nodded. “Can you get her back home?”
“I don’t know if there’s an option. She appears to be resistant to any kind of almonite. Besides, she says that if her father is gone, she prefers to stay here. She has no one left there.”
“I’ll help her,” Emily said. “With anything she needs.”
“That’s very kind of you.”
“Well, we made a big old mess out of this.” She shrugged. “And besides, I like her taste in movies.”
They sat in silence for a while.
“Did you see him?” she asked.
“Only for a second. Man, medium height, wore a hood.”
Emily squinted into the night. “He came and went like a shadow. Half a second to inject me. And he freed Ross, too. I’ve never seen anything like that.”
“I have.” Will looked at her. “With you.”
Emily stretched her fingers, pulled them back into a fist, concentrated. Come on, heartbeat.
“Do you think he did it because of the competition?” she said as nothing happened. “Because ‘there can be only one?’”
“It’s not over.”
“I can’t time travel. I can’t freeze, phase, nothing.” She struggled to control her voice.
“Maybe it’s temporary. Maybe it’s just shock. Or—or we’ll find something. We’ll fix this. I promise.”
She wanted to believe his words. And Will, with his calm and logical demeanor, was usually an easy person to believe, trust in.
But Emily could feel, into the depth of her bones, that this time, he wasn’t right .
Feeling herself dragged into the abyss of dark thoughts, she decided to change the topic. “So, those were some nifty moves there the second round.”
“Not so bad, was it?” Will blushed a little. “I asked James to give me a few tips while I, uh, regrouped .”
James.
She was stuck here. What were the last words she said to him? Nothing fancy. Nothing inspiring or monumental.
James.
Stuck on the other side of the great temporal divide. All she could find here was, perhaps, a grave.
“Emily?” Will nudged, and she broke and fell into his embrace and hid her head in his shoulder as she sobbed, and sobbed, and sobbed.
“I’m never going to see him again,” her mewling voice came between the sniffs.
Will gently shooshed her and caressed her hair.
She hadn’t even told him she liked him. A lot.
After a long, long time, Emily calmed down. Will offered her a handkerchief to clear her nose.
“You should probably get going,” she said, her voice still uneven. “Gracie will have to call the cops soon.”
Will only nodded.
“Will you—”
“I’ll visit you.” He squeezed her hand. “As often as I can.”
That lightened the load on her chest, although her lips wouldn’t quite cooperate in a smile. “You better do, Gramps.”
He nodded again .
“And can you say … to the others …” She shook her head. “Nothing. Just give them my greetings. Tell them I’m ha-having …” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I’m having way too much fun here, so I’m not coming b-back.”
“Emily.” Will looked her deep in the eyes. “You are having fun here. Or you should be. It’s your world. Your life.”
“But I’m not me anymore. I’m just the regular old Emily now.”
“With or without time travel,” he added. “You’ll do just fine.”
“Damn you.” This time, she managed to smile. “You and your motivational speeches. Now you really should be going.”
The way Will squeezed her hand, it seemed he was hesitant to leave, too.
“I promise. I’ll be fine.”
“I know.” And then he blurted out, “I asked Sylvia to marry me.”
“What did she say?”
He gave her a side glance. “I think you know what she said.”
She half-chuckled, half-coughed. “I’m sorry to say I won’t be able to come to your wedding. But then, I hate weddings anyway. And I’d probably prank Sylvia into oblivion.”
Will smiled.
“Good luck, Gramps.”
He kissed her forehead. “Good luck to you too, Emily.”
And then he was gone.