Joshua leaned forward, dropping a kiss to my forehead. “Relax, okay?”
I wished I could relax. I smiled, hoping it was enough to keep his own worries at bay. “There’s something I never told you. Find Henry.” I gently pulled from his grasp. “Call a meeting. Just those from Shadow and Henry. We need to talk, it’s about Isaura.” I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it sooner . Isaura had taken me to 2225. Whether it was real or not, there had to be something about that time, that moment she wanted me to see. I just hadn’t been looking for it.
“What is it, Olivia?” Henry stood in his office gesturing for us to come in and close the door behind ourselves. Joshua shut the door and I walked towards the window. It was always easier to speak when I felt like I had freedom within my grasp. Though Henry never held us against our will, it wasn’t as though we had anywhere else we could go. Elsa and Cate sat on the couch along the wall, Aidan propped himself up on the arm.
“When I walked outside and gave myself up to Isaura, what did you see?” Had I gone mad and dreamt it like I had Joshua while I was under her control. Now though, the pieces were slowly making sense, falling into place.
Henry paused. “I wasn’t at the gate, but the guards told me about it. They mentioned a cloud of smoke that plummeted around both of you before you disappeared.”
“You vanished into thin air,” Cate answered. “I thought you were playing a trick, trying to go invisible to outsmart her.”
“Invisible?” I asked, “Can we do that?”
“No.” Elsa laughed. “Not technically. In the same way a glamour works to help you disguise your appearance, invisibility makes you disappear, but your physical form is still in the same space. It gets complicated because your clothes, will give you away.”
Joshua frowned. “So you should have known, Cate, that Olivia didn’t disappear because of the Mindonsiphan,” he prodded.
Cate sighed. “I didn’t know what to think. I’ve never used the ability. I’m not as strong as you, Olivia.”
That surprised me. “Aren’t we all the same?”
Elsa and Cate exchanged glances, wondering who should explain. Aidan cleared his throat. “Not exactly. You both were given a stronger dosage of Mindonsiphan.”
“Why?”
Elsa sighed. “There was a mix-up in the lab.”
“You’re kidding.” Joshua scoffed. “When were you planning on telling us this?”
“Never,” Cate whispered. “Collins told us after the injection took place. The dosage was twice the usual strength. He worried it’d kill you both and when it didn’t, he was adamant that there would be other side effects.”
“Like?” I asked.
Cate stared at me. “Your abilities are stronger than ours. I could never manifest fire, let alone create a portal.”
“Well, you haven’t tried,” I reminded Cate. “Maybe you can do those things, too.” Why was I always being told I was different? I wanted to be the same; I wanted a normal life.
“I have,” Cate answered and stood up, approaching me by the window. “Like it or not, you and Joshua are extraordinary.”
“So much for being ordinary,” I mumbled. I glanced past Cate at Joshua. “Speaking of extraordinary, Isaura claimed to have taken me back in time. To 2225. When we disappeared on the lawn.”
“Time travel?” Henry frowned. “Can the Mindonsiphan do that?”
“No.” Aidan was adamant. “If it’s true, it’s something else entirely new we’re dealing with.”
“We moved through time like nothing happened, except it had. Spade hadn’t been conceived yet. It was just grass and dirt.” I remembered that much. “Is it possible there’s another reason she chose 2225?”
Joshua stepped towards the bookshelf. “The Red Plague. Wasn’t it in the twenty-third century? Do you have a history text?”
Henry sighed. “2225 was the year the Red Plague swept over the world. Why would she take you back in time?” Henry questioned. “Did she want to infect you?” He walked towards the bookshelf and Joshua stepped aside. “I don’t have any history texts in here on the Red Plague. The school house might, but I do have something a little more interesting.” Again he pulled open his mythological book, rummaging through the handwritten inked pages and paused with his finger over a drawing. “Is this what Isaura wore that day?”
The drawing was a picture of a cuff bracelet, with inscriptions in a language I didn’t recognize and a pattern grooved of swirls on the surface. I remembered the piece of jewelry. I hadn’t thought anything of it. “She had it on her right arm.”
Cate walked over, peeking over Joshua’s shoulder to get a look at the ancient text and the picture they were talking about.
“It’s a magus bellus. Its legend states it allows wearers the ability to travel to another time. It works like the portal through your mirror. You can only use it to travel to one time and in the same place.” Henry laughed, “I never thought any of these stories were real.”
“I’ve never even heard of it.” I glanced at Joshua. “What do you think?”
Elsa and Aidan stood from the couch, walking over to the open book. “Do you mind?” Aidan asked wanting to have a look.
Joshua examined the pages in the open book before stepping back giving Elsa and Aidan room to view it. “Why 2225? If she could pick any year, why then? Do you think she could find a cure from the original inoculation?”
“No,” Elsa answered. “But the original virus, yes. It’s possible the cure could be within the original host.”
Henry’s face grew pale and grave. “Do you think she’d bring the host through to present day and infect us?”
Joshua sighed. “She’s evil but why go through the trouble? Aren’t we all inoculated already?” He glanced at me. “Any suggestions? Theories? Ideas you wish to enlighten us with?”
I paced the length of the room. I was disgusted that I hadn’t seen it sooner. “Isaura was trying to reverse the infertility problems. I’m sure of it. We have thirteen women who are pregnant. All the women under her experimentation were given Mindonsiphan and something else.” I eyed Elsa: She was the scientist in the group. “What antidote did Hunter and Gavin work up?”
Elsa frowned. “I don’t know. Hunter had already procured it when we arrived. I helped prepare it into vials but I didn’t ask for a rundown of ingredients.
“Does it matter?” Joshua asked. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Thirteen women are pregnant,” he reminded me of my own words. “Seems like something is working.”
“Yeah, but they were all impregnated,” I reminded him. “It doesn’t mean anything until women can naturally conceive.”
Joshua rested a hand on my arm. “Which might never happen.”
“We have to do something.” I hated to think Isaura may have been on to something. “We’ll make an announcement tonight at the festival about the thirteen who have become pregnant and that all women treated with Mindonsiphan may have the ability to conceive.” It didn’t make me hate Isaura any less, even if she had been the reason these women were fertile.
Henry frowned. “Is that such a good idea? To get people’s hopes up when it could be a lie?” He didn’t agree with my methods, but there was only one way to know for sure. Besides if it were the case, the women who were fertile had the right to know and be prepared for a pregnancy they might not want.
“They have a right to know,” I answered.
Henry sighed leaning back against his desk. “I suppose I’m the one to make the announcement.” He hung his head. “What do you think this will do regarding Isaura?” He didn’t want some of the women turning to support her.
“We make her a saint, after we kill her,” I remarked.
CHAPTER 18