I nodded. There wasn’t time to think about it anymore. Time to set it all straight. I reached up and took Dee’s hands in my own again, pushing the power to travel into him. I couldn’t sit around and dwell on the fact that I had to say goodbye any longer. With my eyes closed I saw the trail that bound me to him. Without a second thought, I let go, needing to save my people.
“Thank you, Mari,” Dee said as he faded from the room, gone from our time and our adventure.
Once I cut the cord, the world suddenly stopped. Dee was back in his time, but there was history that had to be rewritten. He had missed two days, and I had to fill in the blanks for everyone as to what would have really happened in those two days. It was strange that I would be messing with everyone’s memories, and I hated when Logan did that to me. The scene laid out before me. It was like walking through museums I had when growing up. The people all around looked tiny, like a diorama, as they were frozen in place. They were waiting for the change. They were waiting for their memories of something that never occurred.
How one was supposed to make new memories was beyond me. I was too nervous to even think straight. What if I messed something up? What if I caused more problems than I fixed? This was pressure like I had never felt before. I looked at the scenes before me. They were all normal day-to-day activities, and if I thought about someone, it switched to them. I looked at Dee returning home from his job and his wife waiting for him. It was like he just returned from the campaign instead of three years in the future. The smile on his face was perfect. I knew how much he missed his life in the past, and I had to make sure that everything was as he wanted it. He deserved that much. I just wasn’t sure how to do it.
I stared at him and then thought of how that was quickly not the case. Logan had caused all sorts of problems. What I really needed to do was rewrite the messenger coming to the palace. The scene changed again. This time I was in a city I didn’t recognize, but I did recognize the person. He was standing in a room of men that had all been slaughtered. He was frozen in mid shake as he looked around. There was blood everywhere. I looked him over and was sure he wasn’t the one that had caused it. The men that littered the floor all wore the same distinctive, small, white skirt as Seth did—except for one man. That was where the messenger was looking. One man wasn’t dressed the same. I didn’t need to know who the man was to guess that’s where the messenger got the idea that the Hittites had attacked. That one man had attacked. I moved in closer and looked at the man on the ground. He was still alive when the other men in the room were not. I had a feeling that the messenger questioned him. That needed to change. Only one question remained: what if the Hittites had actually done that? How did I know if the man was who I suspected?
I gazed at the scene and tried to will it to change. Nothing happened. I looked closely at the two men left alive in the building. It hit me then. I recognized the Hittite man. He wasn’t from the past. I had met him at the luau that Logan had taken me to. He was one of Logan’s men, and not even a part of the past. Any lingering doubts were fast gone when I realized everything was completely set up by Logan.
I could jump between places but still couldn’t rewrite the past. I was beginning to wonder if I even had to powers to do so because I wasn’t a gatekeeper. Maybe rewriting was their job and not mine.
“Anything anyone else can do, you can too,” a faint voice told me.
I felt her. It was weak, but I felt her. The goddess was still alive.
“How do I do this?” I pleaded. I needed to save everyone. I needed to change the present for my family and friends.
“It is simpler than you are making it,” the voice replied.
I was beyond confused. Nothing about time traveling was simple.
“The present Logan created was never meant to be. That man was never meant to be in this time. Take a closer look at him,” the goddess directed me.
I looked closer. I already knew he was from a different time, but now I saw it. The strands that bound me to my friends also extended into that man.
“The best way to put everything back on course is to cut the bonds and send him home. Fate will take care of the rest,” the goddess replied.
“How can I see that? I don’t love him,” I answered. Kye said I could feel the people I loved. I didn’t even know this man.
“Love makes your powers stronger. You don’t need love to see the ties of time. You need to be able to love to do so. Logan can’t see these because he doesn’t love anyone but you,” she explained, her voice flickered in and out.
I looked at the man. That was a simple explanation.
“Wait,” I called out to the invisible goddess. “How do I end this all? How do I stop Logan?”
“By doing what I couldn’t.” Her voice trailed off. I didn’t need to see her to know she was gone. That didn’t help much, but at least I knew how to change the present time for my friends and family. Mr. No Name was about to go home, no matter what Logan had told him.
The bond sparkled. It was easier to cut than Dee’s bond. The world below me began to twirl, and the dioramas changed. I was now looking at the same messenger, but he wasn’t in a room filled with dead Egyptians. He was in a bar with men of all different dress. They were talking, laughing, and not a single person was wielding a weapon. This was how it was supposed to be. The past was set right.
I opened my eyes back to the room with the guys. They were all standing there, staring at me. Dee was gone as expected, but Seth, Kye, and Ty remained. Ty rubbed his head as he sat down, and Kye leaned against the wall. I felt the same head rush as new images floated through my mind. I had changed the past. We were not on the brink of war. I looked to Seth. He was the only one that was still standing tall after the onslaught of images. He grinned at me and reached to steady me as I wobbled.
“I think I have a plan on how to defeat Logan,” he told me, wrapping me into his arms.
I reached around to hug him. That was the best news I had heard in a long time. My hands passed over his unmarred back. The wound was gone. I had done it. I really did it. I had changed the past. I was beyond exhausted, but I had hope now. My eyes were getting heavy with exhaustion. It was time to be the goddess the stones were turning me into, at least once I got a nap in.
Chapter 11
Collecting Stones
I peeked through barely opened eyes. It was still daylight, which was nice. It seemed like my recovery from using the stones was getting shorter each time. At least I hoped it was. I didn’t want to be passing out for the rest of my life. But if we planned correctly and took care of Logan, I guess there would be no need to use the powers ever again.
Looking across the room, I saw that Seth was standing at the window. He was magnificent in his little white shendyt. His broad, muscular shoulders no longer held the scar that would have been there for the rest of his life. He had the memories of everything, but he had never really been hurt. At least not in this time.
“Did I really do it?” I asked quietly.
It was hard to believe that I had. This was all too new for me. I thought maybe someone was going to pinch me, and I’d wake up at the point that I first passed out, when Seth had left to go to war again. He was standing in my room now as I rested. It had to be a dream. Everything I had been through had kept me from him. I couldn’t have been lucky to have a moment alone with him now.
Seth turned and grinned at me. His perfect, yet slightly lopsided, smile graced his face, causing me to smile back. He slowly made his way back to me and carefully sat on the bed.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
He was the one being cautious now when just moments before he was covered by a healing gash on his back.
“Like I need another nap,” I replied. I was tired, but at least not too tired to be awake. “Where is everyone else?”
Seth shrugged. “I shooed them out when you passed out. It didn’t take much convincing. Ty had a headache from the change, and Kye wanted to talk to your fa
ther more.”
Seth took my hands in his.
“I’m sorry you had to see me injured. I never wanted you to see that.” Seth seemed ashamed of it.
“I’m sorry you got injured,” I replied. Technically, I made him come back, so it was my own fault for seeing it. “Did it hurt?” I asked. That was a silly question. Of course it hurt.
Seth smiled and shook his head. “Yes… no… kind of.” Seth reached up and touched my face. I leaned into his hand. It had been long since we had been alone.
“When this is all done, I think we need to take a vacation.” I closed my eyes and felt his hand on my cheek. His skin was warm and tingled as it touched me.
“When this is all done, I’m taking you home, and you’ll get to be my wife, never having to fight another war.” Seth’s hand moved from my face down my neck. He leaned closer. The blue stone lined his eyes. It was faint, but still there.
Seth leaned forward, and I moved at the same time so that my lips could meet his. The touch of his lips to mine made my arms wrap around him and pull him onto the bed with me. His hands braced above me as he kissed me more. I had missed him too much.
“Ahem,” a voice from the doorway tried to interrupt us.
Seth was on the same page as me. It had been too long. Neither of us were ready to pull apart. We both ignored our uninvited guest.
“While that’s one way to get the future we need, can we talk about your great plan and try that first?” Kye asked.
Seth ended the kiss but stayed above me, staring into my eyes. Slowly he sat back up and let his hand trail down my arm. I felt the tingles that were always there but then saw more. There was a faint shimmer where he had touched me. Ty had said I sparkled when I passed out, but it seemed like maybe Seth made me sparkle, too.
“Did the Pharaoh give you permission?” Seth asked, starting a conversation I had no clue about.
Kye shrugged. “He’ll come around.”
“The plan?” I asked, bringing them both back to a subject that didn’t confuse me.
Seth grinned. “I think it’s time we collect some stones.”
I looked at Seth, and then Kye. Kye shrugged. He was as clueless as I was as to what Seth was talking about. There were no more stones to collect. I technically had six stones, and Logan had ninety-four. What were we going to collect?
“There are none left,” I told Seth. Maybe he wasn’t around for that conversation, though I was pretty sure he knew that already.
“Okay, let me rephrase that. Time to go steal some stones,” Seth added and wiggled his eyebrows.
My mouth must have dropped open because he laughed and tapped my chin. Kye wasn’t laughing with Seth. He was confused like me.
“Guess I need more details,” Kye finally replied. “Because I’m not seeing how you plan to do that without putting Mari, or anyone else, in danger.”
“Go wake Ty, and I’ll explain it to you guys all at one time. Trust me. I’m sure this will work.” Seth explained nothing. He was bottling in his excitement, but it was still there.
Kye nodded to him and left the room. Seth took that as his cue to continue where we left off. Quickly, he pulled me onto his lap and ran his hands through my hair. His lips had just touched mine when the guys returned. Ty had to have been sleeping in the outer room not too far away. I sighed at the quick kiss, and Seth set me back on the bed beside him.
“Planning time already?” Ty asked. He rubbed his eyes and looked at me, and then to Seth.
Seth grinned. “No more than planning. Time to beat Logan at his own game.”
The three of us looked expectantly at Seth, and he grinned more. He liked being in the spotlight. By marrying me, he was poised to take over after my father died. He would make a great pharaoh one day if we could make it that far.
“How hard was it to rewrite history?” Seth asked, turning to me.
I shrugged. I didn’t really rewrite anything. It was more like I put the past back the way it was supposed to be.
“Basically, there was one guy that was out of place. I cut his ties to the time he wasn’t supposed to be in, essentially sending him back to his original time,” I explained. All I did was put things back in place. Fate did the rest.
“Even better,” Seth grinned more. I wanted to shake him and make him tell us what he was thinking, but he was having too much fun.
Kye rolled his eyes, and for the first time I actually saw one of my traits in him.
“What if we go back and take the stones from the last person who was going to use it? If we don’t let Logan have that person, then he won’t have the stones. We collect the stone instead,” Seth suggested.
“That would be putting Mari in danger,” Kye replied, immediately disliking the plan.
“She’s in no danger if we start here within the borders of our country. Logan won’t be able to time travel, and can’t follow her as she bounces around. If she collects enough stones, then she can take us with her to get the other ones. We can keep her safe,” Seth suggested.
Kye chewed on the inside of his cheek as he thought. It actually was a sound plan. If we got the stones back, Logan wouldn’t be able to stop us.
“Okay, but let’s think this all through first,” Kye answered, consenting to the new plan that was forming.
I let out a sigh of relief. I hated waiting around for Logan to attack us. It was time to fight back and collecting the stones sounded like a good start.
I rolled my eyes as the guys continued to argue over a point that seemed too far off for me to worry about. We had to first get at least one stone back to even consider that our plan would work. Why argue now about something that might not even come to be?
Ty didn’t join in the argument between Seth and Kye. Instead, he sat down beside me. He wasn’t one for arguing either.
“Do you think you can go back and stop the people from traveling?” Ty asked. At least he wanted to know my opinion.
“Cutting the link is easy. I don’t know about the stones, though,” I replied. There was still much to learn. “I didn’t get a stone back from the guy I just did, but maybe that was because he was Hittite and not in Egypt.” The guys stopped their arguing.
“Wait,” Kye turned to me.
“Did you say you did that not in Egypt? You changed the events outside the country without actually leaving?”
I hadn’t even realized that. I didn’t think about where I was physically, because mentally I just went to the place that called to me. Yes, I did. Mentally I could be somewhere else but physically stay safe in Egypt. Maybe this was what I was supposed to do.
“But I don’t know where the guy’s stone ended up,” I answered. I was sure that I didn’t get that back. I would have noticed a charmed piece of chalcedony lying around. And it wasn’t like the guy was traveling with it.
“But that’s the best part. The guy you changed wasn’t traveling with his stone because Logan had it already. When you look for the next set of people, you can look for the people with the stones. You can get the stones back from them before Logan has a chance to take them,” Kye replied.
“But what if Logan just goes back to the beginning and takes the stones before anyone ever gets them?” I asked.
“He’s a gatekeeper. He can’t sense a stone until someone uses it. He can’t track them unless they are in use. That’s why it took him that long to get all of them collected,” Kye explained. “He can’t do what you can.”
That was another piece of luck falling on our side. I wasn’t sure what we would do with all the stones once we had them, but it was worth a try.
“Just to be on the safe side, Mari should only travel here in Egypt to see if she can get the stones,” Seth added. Kye nodded. For once they were agreeing.
“Okay, that’s all great and whatnot, but I don’t even know where to travel or what I’ll find. Last time I found the connection when I was trying to change everyone’s memories,” I explained.
“Then we do it the same,”
Seth replied. He was really ready for a fight. Excitement shone in his eyes.
“And we send one more person back to the right time?” I looked at the three guys with me. I didn’t feel right sending any of them away. They were all needed, and had no future to go back to. They looked to each other and seemed to get my dilemma.
Ty shrugged.
“Guess I can head back. There isn’t much for me, but if I can help you,” Ty offered, sacrificing himself.
“No,” I replied quickly.
If we did this right, Kye would disappear. I couldn’t lose both Ty and Kye. Even if I hated that I couldn’t let him live in the future where he had a decent life, I wasn’t about to send him back alone to live as a slave in Egypt. I stared at Ty. He had to understand sending him back wasn’t an option in my book.
Seth noticed the problem and nodded along with me. He agreed. Kye was still looking between me and Ty. I wasn’t going to back down on this one.
“Instead of trying to send him back to his original time, why don’t we pick another time in Egyptian history? Why not go back twenty years and see if you can change events. It might not work, but you can always try,” Seth suggested, trying to appease me.
I nodded along with him. That I was willing to try. Sending him home wasn’t an option.
“As long as you stay right here in Egypt, it shouldn’t be a problem. Logan can’t track you and surprise you, and if you have Ty, he can keep you safe,” Kye managed to say what the four of us were thinking.
“Fine.” I held my hand out to Ty. “Let’s go for a travel, but don’t you dare let go.”
Ty nodded and took my hand.
“To the past, Princess,” Ty replied with a grin.
Shaking my head, I let the pull of travel overtake us quickly. I didn’t concentrate on going back too far and let us land somewhere populated. We were going to head back soon anyway, but we needed to change what people around us saw.
I saw everything freeze. I was interrupting too many lives. They all paused, and I looked at the scene before me. This was where I needed to be; now I just needed to see where the lines were. I looked from left to right. I began to look around and noticed that Ty wasn’t frozen.