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Authors: Amy Richie

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BOOK: Timeless (Immortal Love Series)

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David came to my bedside often over the next week. Constantly he was checking on me, making sure I was healing. “It isn’t right,” he muttered that first night.

I tried to smile, but it probably just looked more like a grimace. “S’ok,” I slurred.

“
She could have killed you.”

“
She didn’t even have the sword,” I croaked out.

David shot me an exasperated look before lifting my shirt to examine the wound. “This whole thing,” he shook his head, “it’s different than I thought it would be.” He smiled sadly and then turned his face.

It irritated me that he was feeling sorry for me. After all Neleh was just trying to help me. “Are you finished?”

“
Yeah.” He pulled my shirt back down. “You know Eva…”

“
She was just trying to help David.” I couldn’t yell at him like I wanted to, but I hoped he could tell how angry I was.

“
You are just a child.”

My mouth dropped open in disbelief. “I am not a child.” I coughed from the effort of trying to be angry.

He looked at me for a long moment and then got up. “I think you’ll be fine, but I still think she went too far this time.” I kept my face turned away from him.

It took nearly a week before I was able to stand up on my own. It was another week before David gave the go ahead for me to fight again. I never fought the guard again after that, but everyday my skills at combat grew.

And every day, my blood grew stronger. Every night, before I returned to my cell, Neleh would have one of the guard take a razor blade and make a single cut along the length of my arm. As time passed the cuts didn’t even bleed very badly. A cut, even a deep cut, would heal on me in twenty minutes.

Finally, after a very long time, Neleh was satisfied enough with my progress to leave me alone with David. It was during this time that David taught me another of his secrets.

Two days after she left, David came to my cell. “Eva, I want to teach you something,” he began.

“
Ok.”

“
You can’t tell Neleh.”

This got my attention. I looked at him carefully. “She wouldn’t want me to know?”

“
The guards have the ability to form a protective shield around themselves and anyone standing close to them.”

“
A shield made of what?”

“
Energy.”

I crinkled my nose. “Why wouldn’t Neleh want me to know?”

He sat down on the only chair in the room. “The guards were created to protect — Kiera mostly, but protect is the only thing they know. They are loyal to Neleh right now but…”

“
I already know all this. It doesn’t explain...”

He held up his hand in an impatient gesture. “I believe the shield is purely a defense mechanism. I don’t know if they can put it up at will. There has never really been a need.”

“
And it’s never been fully researched?” I rolled my eyes at his serious expression.

“
Neleh can’t do it at all. That is probably why she didn’t want you to. That would make you more powerful than her, at least to defend yourself against her.”

“
She can’t get through this shield?”

“
No. Nothing can.”

“
Can you put up a shield?”

No Eva. Only the guard can.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Why do you think I can?”

“
The guard’s blood flows through your veins. There is no reason to believe that you cannot. With a lot of practice of course.”

“
Who will teach me?”

“
I will. You will have to practice on me. No one else can know about it.”

***

I felt the pressure on my back change. The lights whirred on. At first I was slightly disoriented. It took me a minute to remember where I was —in my pod. In the decam room.

Sols and Max stirred behind me. “Is it done?” Max said out loud. His voice echoed in the silence.

“
I don’t know,” Sols whispered.

A door slid open.

Chapter Five

“
I guess that means we’re done,” Sols said with a nervous laugh.

I got up slowly. David had told us that he didn’t know for sure how decam would affect us. I subtly checked the strength in my legs and arms. I was slightly stiff from sitting for so long, but other than that I felt fine.

“
Alright,” Max said with a ring of authority, “everyone ready?”

Both men looked at me expectantly. “Yes.” I gave a short nod.

Sols led us through a narrow doorway that went to Orbex, the machine that would take us back through time. I had never actually seen Orbex — only pictures — so the scene was a little intoxicating. “Now there won’t be much room inside of Orbex,” David’s words echoed in my memory, “but the shape and size are essential for speed and easy concealment.”

The small sphere shaped time machine was set on a high platform in the middle of a large room. I couldn’t make out a door, or any kind of window. In fact it appeared to only be a large grey colored ball. I had serious doubts as to whether the three of us could fit inside. Well, one of them would be staying, I thought dryly.

Most of the walls in the large room were bare. Only one wall had a small panel of controls. The coordinates for our destination were already programmed, but Max went over to the panel to check them again before we left. It was best for everyone if we didn’t go back to the wrong time. He pushed a series of buttons and a door on the opposite wall slid open. I hadn’t seen the door when we entered but I knew it had to be there somewhere, we were still naked.

Without a word we all three filed into the small room. There were three lockers and a small bench inside. The two men quickly filled the bench. I opened my locker and pulled out the clothes set aside for me. I put them on as fast as I could without looking suspiciously embarrassed. They would not know of my discomfort. I slipped the shirt over my head and looked at the men, who were moving much slower.

My pants were a looser fit than I was used to, and the shirt went down a little further. They were both a matching pale brown and made from a material I was not familiar with. I raised my arms, experimenting with the stiff fabric. It didn’t move with my body the way my normal clothes did. We should have practiced with these clothes, I thought dismally.

The men were wearing clothes similar to mine, just not as tight. Sols laced his boots slowly, as if he had all the time in the world. I puffed out my cheeks in irritation.

“
They should have made Eva wear a dress,” Sols said to Max.

Max answered as if I wasn’t even in the room, barely three feet away. “Yeah, I don’t see how they expect her to fit in.”

I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t believe how ignorant these two were. I crossed my arms over my chest and pressed my lips together. I wanted to inform them that Neleh herself had agreed with me about wearing what I had on, but I held my tongue. No point in opening a conversation with two idiots. My lips curled up in slight amusement when I thought about the argument that David had lost regarding my attire.

“
She has to fit in, that’s the most important thing,” he had declared hotly.

“
No.” Neleh was calm, she already knew we would do as she told us to, but she graced him with an explanation. “The most important thing is that she defeat Dominick Letrell. She cannot do that in a dress.”

My eyes had lit up. I didn’t even need to say anything. Neleh and I were on the same thinking process. In the last few months before we were to leave, I felt closer to Neleh than David -which was odd for me. It left me feeling uncomfortable with the whole mission. We had come so far, why was David changing now?

But I realized that for David killing Dominick was secondary to Orbex. It had always been like that of course. My fitting into the past was more important for him. It was me who had changed. My hatred for Dominick Letrell grew until it had consumed me. I had only one purpose.

Sols took a small bag from his locker and stood up. I looked at the bag curiously. We weren’t supposed to be taking anything. David’s rule. “Ready?” Sols asked, looking right at me.

I didn’t say anything, just turned my head away from him. It was Max who answered. “Yeah, just about.”

Sols looked away from me to look down at his partner. “What are you doing?”

“
I can’t get this…” He didn’t finish his grunted sentence. He was obviously agitated.

Sols sat back down. “Here let me see it,” he ordered.

I shook my head in disbelief and irritation. How could David have chosen these two? I leaned against the wall.

David and I had quit seeing things the same about a month before takeoff day — Tday. Neleh had come up with the nickname. She had cackled at her own cleverness while David and I exchanged the ‘she’s crazy’ look behind her back. But that was before she and I had started thinking the same, before David became one of them. A month before Tday David left Lexon; it was the first time I could ever remember him leaving his small city. He and Neleh had argued but in the end, he still left.

He didn’t return until the next morning. After that he left a lot, usually only for a few hours at a time. He often came back and tried to change our plans around. But Neleh always won those arguments.

I was relieved when Neleh finally agreed with me that the plan needed some adjustments. The part that David didn’t like the most was my clothing. He was afraid that if someone saw me dressed differently they would be suspicious.

I doubted that anyone would guess I had come from the future in a tiny machine called Orbex. Besides, I didn’t plan on seeing anyone except Dominick Letrell. As long as Sols and Max stuck to the plan.

Originally, David had wanted me to appear like I was in danger. Then when Dominick came to save the day, I would finish my mission. That had been the plan for years.

Sols and Max would pretend to be hurting me. As long as there was blood and screaming, David was confident that Dominick would come. It didn’t make sense to me though. Why would Dominick Letrell care if I was in distress?

“
He was…different back then,” Neleh had grudgingly admitted.

“
He would have helped anyone,” David added.

I looked from one to the other. I didn’t believe it. But I shrugged and went along with it. Anyways, what choice did I have in the matter? It wasn’t until David started leaving Lexon that Neleh started listening to me.

“
He wasn’t a ‘good guy’ back then. It’s all an act,” I told her one night.

“
Where do you think David is going?” she asked distractedly.

“
Um,” I twisted my face, “maybe he has a girlfriend.”

Her head spun around to eye me suspiciously. “Has he told you that?”

“
No.”

“
Then why would you suggest that?”

“
I was just making a guess.” I was impatient to get back to Dominick Letrell.

“
Hmm.” She looked away again. “No,” she said after a while, “he doesn’t have a girlfriend.”

I sat there without saying a word. I couldn’t understand why Neleh cared where David went. He probably just needed a break from Lexon and Orbex and her.

“
That may be true,” Neleh responded to my thoughts, “but now is not the time for a break. We are less than a month away from Tday. No,” she shook her head, “do you want to know where I think he is?”

I nodded quietly.

“
I think he is visiting Damien Letrell.” Neleh had leaned forward in her seat to catch my reaction. I was very careful to have no reaction. I knew she was baiting me.

“
Why would you think that?” I asked evenly.

“
And you know what else I think,” she went on without answering; “I think you know something that you aren’t telling me.”

I didn’t miss a beat. “I only know what you tell me Neleh.”

“
Hmm.” She put her dainty finger against her mouth, obviously not convinced.

“
I think,” I said forcefully, “that we should be more focused on the important things. The only things we can control. What David does, or will do, is already set in motion.”

“
What do you mean? What we can control?”

“
I think we need to change the plan. I think it is flawed.” She sat up straighter. At least I had her attention now. “If David really has had a change of heart, we can no longer fully trust him.”

“
That is what I’ve been saying.”

“
But we can trust me and my actions.” I looked directly at her. She narrowed her eyes, seeing the plan unfold in my head. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to be helpless. I can be the one in control.”

“
Have Max and Sols lead him to a secluded place in the woods.”

“
Where I will be waiting.”

“
He would be caught off guard. Killing him would be easy.”

BOOK: Timeless (Immortal Love Series)

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