Maggie on the Bounty (14 page)

"Not yet," I said.

It was like I cancelled Christmas. 
His face absolutely dropped.  "What else?"

I turned to the GIs next to me. 
"Can you watch the kid for a second?" I asked.

Jackie scowled.  "I just saved
your ass.  I can take care of myself."

"Listen, when you clean up
that potty mouth of yours, old lady, I'll leave you on your own."  She
scowled at me and I held my hands up, explaining, "What I have to do next
comes from the paternal side of the family.  I promise, I will be right
back."

Jackie wasn't having
it.  "I'm coming with you!"

The GI saw I was in trouble and
saved my butt one last time.  With a cheesy smile and white-bread earnestness,
he pointedly stated, "With our gunner out of commission, I need someone
here who can man the turret."

That got Jackie's attention.  She
turned around and her little face lit up like a search light looking for
bombers.  "I can!"

He grabbed her hand and walked her
over to a bench.  "But first, let me show you how to clean a rifle." 
He wasn't letting her anywhere near heavy artillery, bless his heart.

As soon as they were out of hearing
range, Killian asked, "What is left unfinished?"

"We've got a hull full of vampire
soldiers all dressed up with no place to go," I reminded him.

Killian
groaned.  "The vampires in the hull..."

"Yep."

We both took
a great big, deep breath and headed off.

W
e ran into the bowels of the ship
and looked off the catwalk at the shitstorm below.  There were two portals now,
one on either side of the room.  In lockstep, the vampires were leaving this
world and marching through, assuming that they were heading into the 21st
century to take over the world.  What we knew that they didn't know, though,
was that this second portal was an open door to nowhere.  There was no exit. 
They were all walking straight into the limboland of the boundary.

As the last of the vampire army
marched through, I jerked my head in the general down direction.  Killian
jerked his head in the "you are fucking nuts" direction.  I rolled my
eyes in the "I know what I'm doing" direction and crept to the
stairs. 

None of the vampires came back out
of the portal.  My guess they were all standing around waiting for the next
door to open, so that was working for us. 

I walked through the vacated room
in between the two portals just to see if my hunch was right.  I could hear the
quiet echo of Mortimer's note rolling back and forth between the two.  It reminded
me of listening to the waves of the ocean.

Since this whole time/dimensional
portal business was built on sound, specifically Mortimer's sound, all we
needed to do was build a standing wave of that note and we could use the
resonance of his lovely little organ music to create its own little bubble in
time and space that no one could escape from.  My job was just to push one of
them closer to the other.  Easy-peasy.

I stood behind the one portal.  On
one side of it, it looked like some sort of glitter-sticker of television
static.  The other, you couldn't even tell it was there.  The other was where I
needed to focus the last of my energy.

I placed my hand on the backside of
the 1940's portal.

"What are you doing,
Maggie?" Killian asked.

"You'll see.  Let me know when
it starts to get loud and things start shaking."

"You are terrifying me,
Maggie."

"Rightfully so.  You might
want to cover your ears."

And I pushed it towards the 1930's
portal.

I felt like one of those strong men
in those competitions where they move freight trains with their teeth.  And
exactly that stupid.

"Can I help?" Killian
called.

"Might want to set up a hernia
operation appointment for me when I get finished," I grunted. 

But I kept pushing.

Mortimer's note kept playing, but
wasn't bouncing right.  The sound started to reverberate as the feedback
started to build.  I pushed some more and the bass kicked up a notch as the
peaks of the wave grew closer. 

"I think you are doing it,
Maggie!" Killian called.

"Fan-fucking-tastic!" I
yelled back.  My arms were screaming at me.  My back was screaming at me.  And
my head felt like it was about to explode.

And then, just like that, the wave
hit the harmonics just right, and like an opera singer wailing at a wine glass,
the portals shattered and left nothingness in their place.

I fell down, not sure if I wanted
to pass out or throw up first.  I picked both.

As the world sort of faded in and
out of black spots and hazy images, I felt Killian put my arm over his shoulder
and drag me to my feet.

"Do you think you can
walk?" he asked, his face looking like something out of a funhouse mirror.

"I'm okey-dokey,
partner," I wheezed, giving him the thumbs-up before I passed out again.

I woke up upside-down over
Killian's shoulder as he jogged down a hallway.  Jackie was, for some reason,
trotting right beside him.  My earlier injuries were very, very angry at me
about being upside down.

"I think I'm going to throw up
again," I said.

"Try not to," he
replied.  "We need to get to the swimming pool."

"Little midnight dip?"

"More of a sunrise swim,"
he replied as he put me down.  I did my best to hurl away from his shoes.  I
wiped my mouth as he steadied me on his arm.

"What's your rush?" I
murmured.

"You have been in and out of
consciousness for many hours, Maggie.  It is close to dawn."

"Sorry about that."

"Apology not necessary.  But
in that time, things have been changing."

He opened the door to the swimming
pool.  The vampire stew was gone.  Instead, there were all sorts of scantily-clad
men diving in the pool and splashing around.

"Fuck," I said.

"Fornicating under the consent
of the king, indeed," Killian replied.  "I believe the other timeline
is decaying and the boat is returning to its journey on the Atlantic Ocean."

"Double
fuck."

"Hey, Nurse!  That sure is a
funny getup!" one of the guys called out to me.

"Special mission!" I
shouted.  "Clean up duty."

"Is
that your kid?  She sure is cute!"

"I'm
Jackie!  And I saved your ass!" she shouted back.  The soldiers just
laughed at her spunk.

"Really,
we need to talk about this new habit of yours," I said.

One of the
soldiers wasn't buying our whole we're-with-the-band act.  Guess our
bloodstained, ripped uniforms and bruises might have set off some bells and
whistles.

"You don't suppose they're
Nazi spies?" I heard one of the guys ask another guy in the pool.

The other one replied, "Not
sure, private."

I sure hoped they didn't decide to
get out of the water to investigate, because the kid didn't need to see any
dough boy privates.

I walked
over to the dressing area. 

"Is
the vortex there?" asked Killian.

Time heals
all wounds and it also heals vortexes ripped in the boundary by time-traveling
vampire world walkers.  It wasn't open, but I could feel the weakness.  That
said, the weakness was growing stronger.  I looked down at Jackie.  "We
gotta take her back or else I never get born," I stated, leaving it unsaid
that if we went backwards in time, we'd have two jumps to make to get to the
future, all while we were getting sucked through space to another geographic
location as this fake reality decayed.

Killian
nodded, though, getting the implications of this decision.  He reached out and
squeezed my hand.  "If our fate is to grow old and gray in the past
together, it is a future I could live with."

"I'll
get us out of this," I said.  "I'm not growing old in the past with
you."

"Actually,
us elves have a much longer life cycle, so you will, indeed, grow old while I
retain my boyish good looks."

"Shut
up, elf."

I turned my attention to the vortex
and stuck out my hands, ready to work my voodoo.

"Do you think you can do it
without getting caught between worlds?" Killian asked.

It was a completely legitimate
question, but not exactly the one I needed at this particular moment.  I
shrugged my shoulders.  "Listen, you're with the second best world walker
in two dimensions.  Maybe three.  If anyone can do it, I'm it."

"You
failed before on the deck of the ship," he said.

"Practice...
practice... practice...." I replied.  I reached out and pushed against the
ether.  Usually when you jump through time, it feels like you're pushing
through Silly Putty.  But this was cold, biting cold, so cold it was hot.  Or
maybe it was just hot.  Something about molecules, speed of light, time-travel
were bumping around in my head.  I didn't pay that much attention to that
episode of Mr. Wizard.

I pushed, though, hoping I wasn't
going to singe my skin off, which was a completely rational fear.  World
walkers die all the time, and Barbara might only have been able to do this over
and over because she was already dead.

Just when I thought that I couldn't
bear it any longer, I broke through.  I grabbed Killian's hand and threw him
through it ahead of me, grabbed Jackie and mooshed her through, and I jumped
after.  The portal sealed right behind us.  It was smoking.  My skin looked
like I fell asleep out in the sun and was instantly blistering.  I had brand
new respect for that world walker those vampires had turned.  I thought that
she was a slouch because she left a scar on the dimension.  The reason that
scar was there was because she had ripped a hole where there should never have
been one.

"OW!" I said, poking at
my skin, watching it go from red to white back to red.

A woman screamed.  I looked up.  We
had landed in the ladies' dressing room and this bathing beauty was sporting a
blue wool number that left everything to the imagination.  She shouted again,
"You're a ghost!"

"No," I said, trying to
calm her down.  "It's magic."

"You're magic!" she
screamed.

I started the verbal tap dance. 
"Listen, lady, what are you even doing here?  This area is closed."

I
completely ignored the fact you could hear a ton of swimmers splashing about in
the water outside the stall.

"Why
are you magic?" she replied hysterically.

Killian
picked it up from there.  "We are part of the evening's entertainment. 
Management told us to practice here."

She blinked.  "You're
practicing in the first class swimming pool dressing room?"

I took at Killian and Jackie. 
"Oh, no!  Is this the first class swimming pool dressing room?  We're
supposed to be in the third class swimming pool dressing room.  We are in the
wrong place.  So sorry!  Please don't tell anyone!  We could get fired."

She nodded slowly and then began to
smile as she peered closer.  "You really are very good.  You had me
completely convinced."

"Just smoke and mirrors,
lady.  Do you really think we'd be wearing costumes like this if we were
real?"

I held out my ratty, bloody skirt
and gave a little curtsy.  Killian pointed at his ears and shook his head as if
he wouldn't be caught dead in this getup.

"Well, thank you for the sneak
peak!" she bubbled.  "I would love to bring my friends to the show
tonight.  Where will you be playing?"

"In the... ballroom. 
Tomorrow.  At 7 p.m.  See you there," and I pushed Killian and Jackie
towards the doorway.

"I'll bring my friends!"

"Great!  Let's hope they don't
change the venue on us like they did last week!" I piped up before we
speed-walked out into the hallway.

Killian put his arm around my
shoulder and planted a kiss on the top of my head.

"GENTLE!  My skin is on
fire."

"As is mine around you,
Maggie."

"Ew!  Gross!" said
Jackie.

"Me, too,
kid," I replied, hugging Killian back.

J
ackie stopped in front of the
second class nursery door.  A nanny holding the hand of a little boy in a
sailor suit walked by us.  She smiled as she opened the door to the nursery and
asked Jackie, "Are you coming in?"

Jackie shook her head.  "I
just have to say goodbye to my caretakers."

The nanny looked at Killian and me,
but had the good grace to not mention we looked like hell.  The door closed
behind her.  Jackie looked around, distracted.

"What is it?" I asked.

She waited for a moment before
speaking.  "I remember that nanny.  She said the same thing before.  Only,
then there was Barbara and then after that I started seeing all the
ghosts."  Jackie peered down the hallway.  No one came.  Jackie smiled. 
"I guess she isn't coming."

Killian gave me a little atta-girl
cuff to the chin.  "Not only did you open that time/space portal, you got
us here before the vampire time bubble began.  We are now in regular
time."

I buffed my nails.  Not too
shabby. 

"I should go in," Jackie
finally said.

Killian
knelt down and gave her a hug.  "Thank you." 

She let go
of him and then ran over to me, throwing her arms around my waist.

With the threat of imminent death
behind us, I suddenly realized this wasn't just goodbye... it was goodbye to a
woman I had never known in my life.  She had been quite a sidekick to our merry
band of badasses. 

"It
was nice to finally meet you, Grandma," I said. 

"Will
I ever see you again?" she asked, looking up at me and not letting go.

I rested
my hand on her head.  "Who knows?  If we get stuck here, you'll be seeing
us all the time."

"But
what if you don't get stuck here?"

"You'll
see me when I'm little," I replied.  "But I really liked getting to
meet you now that I am big."

"When
I grow up," she said, looking straight up at me,
"I want to be like you."

"When
you grow up," I assured her, "you turn into someone even
better."

"Be
happy, Maggie," she said.

I felt my
eyes start to prickle and kissed her.  "Will do.  Now go inside before you
get us reported for kidnapping."

She gave
me one last squeeze and then went through the door.  Killian came over. 
Silently, he picked up a corner of my apron and offered it to me.

"Fucking
allergies," I said, wiping my cheeks.

He
gathered me up and just let me rest against him.  "Something is most
definitely in bloom," he replied.