The Library Rescue – By Claire Davon #4
Ryrise started humming and began to vibrate. The air here was odd, stale almost, or perhaps this was how our atmosphere would taste in a millennium. If we somehow managed to survive this, I would stay where I belonged. As long as Braedon was there, the rest didn’t matter.
As their humming continued, the speaker glared at Ryrise. “Stop that.”
Braedon spoke, his words ragged and choppy, “Why are you doing this?”
The man snarled and let out a huff. “What you discover in your research changes the world when the government gets ahold of your research. They control time, and the power that gives them is too much. We can’t allow that.”
Ryrise’s humming paused. I didn’t understand what was causing it, or how.
“This was all to prevent a future that is terrible for the planet?” I shared a pensive glance with Braedon.
“Not that you will believe us, but yes. Sacrifices have to be made.”
Ryrise’s humming increased again, and the man swung his weapon toward the cyborg, preparing to fire.
“Wait.” Braedon held up a hand. “I can change that. I don’t have to do the things that I did and make the finds that I did.”
The man shook his head with a scoff. “You already have. The day that you stepped through your time machine and vanished changed everything. The wheels of the future are in motion. All we can do is kill you and stop further damage. It won’t change what is to come, but it might mitigate it.”
“It’s not too late,” Ryrise said in a sonorous intonation. “We will fix things now that we understand.”
The man sneered, his lip curling. “Machines. Can’t trust them.”
He aimed to fire, but Ryrise moved, their arm reaching out to sweep the weapon away from the nearest soldier and fling it aside. Then they were scrambling for us, their body between us and the soldiers.
“Grab onto me. Now.”
As I did as they asked, all the soldiers raised their weapons. Then we were spinning into the void, one second, two, longer…
Everything went dark.
The buzzing noise was loud, penetrating my senses until I woke from deep sleep. I shuddered and shot upright in bed, grabbing for my phone at the same time.
A groggy protest on the other side of the bed made me pause. The phone stayed on the nightstand, its shrill beep still emitting.
Braedon blinked and opened his eyes. “At least it’s not boots at the door,” he said in his familiar bass growl, a timbre that danced along my senses. He lifted a hand and gestured to the phone. “Better get that.”
His phone was ringing, as well. Braedon always switched his phone to night mode and silenced his ringer. Though he was the one conducting high-level experiments, I was the one who could never quite switch off.
“You… you’re here,” I breathed in surprise. “Do you remember what happened?” I grabbed his hand and laced my fingers with his.
He nodded. “Yes. I am, and I do. I’ll answer the phone. Let’s face the music.”
Fear flooded me, stronger than any that had engulfed me on the jumps with Ryrise. We were back where we had started, with danger all around us.
It didn’t make sense. Ryrise understood what we were facing and what the outcome would be. They had set us up for a brief reunion and a very long parting. I bit my lip in an effort not to cry. After everything that had happened, I had to be strong for him. One last time.
I started to answer my phone as he accepted his call, putting it on speaker at the same time. Then I stared as the call went to VM, revealing the date and time.
Before Braedon could say anything, I tapped his arm to show him my display. His indrawn gasp echoed through the room.
The date was the day Braedon vanished, the time before he’d left that day. He shared an uneasy glance with me and put his phone on speaker.
“Braedon, it’s Sam. Where are you?” came through the line.
Though the time wasn’t yet seven, Braedon was often at the office by then. Just like that day, a month and a thousand years ago.
I expected his work’s version of security at our door at any second, just like they had pursued Ryrise and I through time. Strain as I might, I couldn’t hear anything but the dog next door that the neighbor let out at dawn, as well as the traffic in the street.
“Still home. We overslept. I. um…” He met my gaze as if asking me what to say.
I had no more answers than he did. I might have been the one tracking him through time with a cyborg librarian, but he was the one who had lived it.
“Good. Don’t. The security alarms are going crazy, and they’ve evacuated the building.
The fire department is investigating, but we don’t have any idea when we will reopen.
Sorry, man, but your tests are going to have to wait.
You get an unexpected day off. Take Sarina for a drive or do something fun. You work too hard.”
Samuel got off the phone without saying goodbye. I couldn’t help but wonder if his actions were influenced from somewhere else.
Some one else.
Braedon lowered his phone and pulled me to him. I relaxed into his arms with a happy sigh, letting his warmth and scent penetrate my senses.
“Today… It's the day that it all happened. The one that man warned us about.”
“I got that.” He met my gaze. “We’ve been given a second chance. My love, you found me. Without you, I would have been lost forever.”
“I would have come for you no matter where you were. Even if Ryrise had taken me to the edge of the galaxy.”
He blinked, and the ghost of a grin crossed his face. “It did, but now it doesn’t have to. We have a fresh start, because of Ryrise.”
If someone had said to me yesterday that I’d have any reason to believe in miracles, I would have told them they were crazy. But this wasn’t the same today as it had been, and yesterday was weeks away. I’d wrap my head around the last couple of days in time.
The one thing that mattered was that Braedon was here.
“You were the one who arranged this, so you must be aware of what they are.”
He leaned over to press a gentle kiss on my lips before pulling back.
“I’m not sure I do, but I am grateful. Can you take the day off? Since I have a free day and won’t be lost in time, let’s go to the library. I’d like to say thank you to Ryrise in person.”
The young guy with the blue streaks was there, like he had been when I first walked in. He greeted us with a professional air, with no sign of recognition on his face. I gasped at the sight of him; my last memory of his still figure echoed through my bones.
His state of being confirmed what was dancing in my mind. All of us had been given a reset in time—a second chance—by Ryrise.
“Can I help you?”
The reminder of him saying the same words a short time ago, or never, swam through me, and I fought to keep my face blank. I held onto Braedon’s hand for dear life. I might have detected a flicker of recognition in the man’s gaze when Braedon came forward.
“Hi there. I’ve been here several times. Listen, I was hoping I could speak to one of your librarians. They helped me a lot with my research. Ryrise was their name, though that’s all I can remember. The first name is so unique, it’s hard to forget.”
A minute tremor went through the blue-haired man.
A thousand seconds passed in the space of that heartbeat, like everything that happened swept through him like a fierce wind on the open plain.
Those last moments before Ryrise sent us back in time and we woke up in our own bed were fixed in my head.
A crease formed between his brows. I prayed that the reset would hold and we wouldn’t find ourselves back in that space when all was lost. That fear would take a while to fade.
“There’s nobody here by this name.” As I watched, the remnants of awareness faded, draining into whatever non-existence that timeline had held. “I’ll check to be sure. Hold on.”
I wasn’t sure if he was doing it to placate us or if that shred of the past/future clung to him. He accessed something on his computer and if he was just feeding us BS, did a credible job of helping. Then he refocused his gaze on us, his face apologetic.
“There’s nobody with that first name in any of the libraries in greater Los Angeles. I did a search on them all, and nothing came up. I’m sorry I can’t help you with that. Is there anything else I can do?”
Braedon shook his head, a frown curling his lips. “Sorry about that. I must have substituted someone else’s name for theirs. Thank you for your assistance.”
I let myself be led away by Braedon, though I had a million questions with no answers.
Braedon’s normal easy gait was stiff, his movements tense, until we got outside into the open air.
He paused on the pathway to the parking area.
Then he gripped my shoulders, gazing into my eyes.
I glimpsed eternity there, and the future.
Our future.
“They changed things,” he said, his gaze locked with mine. “That means those events didn’t happen.” He drew a ragged breath. “My work is important to me.”
After everything we’d been through, after all I’d done, he still was going to chase an impossible dream. Me, us, and all that I was meant nothing to him.
He hesitated for a moment. “But…”
The single word shook me out of my funk. “But what?” I pressed.
He touched my cheek, a sigh escaping from his mouth. He had been through a hell of a lot. I had hoped to learn all of it, now that we had the future back. If he allowed this new future to exist and not destroy it.
“I can’t do it if you don’t approve. I won’t take the same risks.
I’m not saying there won’t be danger but not like before.
I promise you that. What I’m doing is important, but so are you.
If you’re not okay with me continuing, we will figure something out.
My work means a lot, but… I’m nothing without you.
Nobody would ever come for me like you did. You mean everything.”
My eyes widened. “Is that why you’re doing this? Gratitude? Because Ryrise and I found you? That’s not enough.”
He let out a deep sigh, shaking his head.
“That’s not why. I love you; I’ve told you that lots of times.
But I had time to think while I was stranded.
You are all that matters to me. We are partners, if you’ll still have me.
Will you help me?” He looked at me earnestly.
“With the experiments? Ryrise said I would change the world, but I won’t do it if you’re not on board. ”
I reflected on Ryrise, that amazing cyborg, and the things that they knew and could do. They had given us this second chance, and we would make it count.
“You mean everything to me, too. I’m scared, but if Ryrise said your work is important, then we can’t let it stop. As much as I’d like to.” I stepped closer and slid my hands around his waist, linking them at the small of his back.
He pressed his body into mine and leaned his forehead against me.
A rustle from close by startled us and I froze, wondering if time had changed again, and perhaps we were on the run from the government. Maybe the blue-haired guy had remembered something after all. We were never going to be free of them.
A cat ran across the grass, chasing a mouse maybe, or a cricket. The area was still quiet, though cars went in and out of the underground parking structure of the grocery store beyond.
“I’d like to figure it out with you by my side. Will you marry me? Make this permanent? I crave nothing more than to wake up next to you now and for all the tomorrows yet to come. Even the ones that were yesterdays.”
He kissed me before I could answer and then cupped my face. I had never forgotten his touch in the weeks we’d been apart, weeks that had never happened to anyone but the two of us.
Well, three.
“Of course I will marry you, Braedon. I believed I’d lost you forever. I can’t spend one more minute without you,” I cried.
He let out a whoop , which, judging by the rustling of the bush where the stray cat vanished, startled him.
“Let’s do it today. You were what kept me going in those bleak days. I love you.”
“I love you, too.” I hated saying I love you more , like some sort of competition, so I didn’t.
His face grew serious then, and he glanced at the library again. “We owe Ryrise so much. Do you think we’ll ever see them again?”
I considered for a moment, then shook my head. “I don’t think so. During the time I spent with Ryrise, I saw many things. They gave us the assistance we requested, and their job is done. Our timeline was corrected with their help. Now we have to live it.”
He brushed my hair back and placed a kiss on my forehead. “I never did thank them. I wish I could have.”
I took his arm and grinned up at him. “If they were here, they would say thanks are not required. Think the car will make it to Vegas and back?”
“Let’s find out.”
The long journey had come to an end, and we were home. The next chapter of our lives was beginning, due to one cyborg librarian who had given us a world of possibilities.
Who knew how the world would change?
THE END