The Children Who Time Lost Read online

  “Tell me what I want to know,” Lorenzo demanded.

  Kevin looked at the ceiling. My mind raced. Their story about Tristan’s being mad couldn’t have been true. But we hadn’t seen or heard anything of importance. It must have been pretty important, though, or they wouldn’t have been threatening Kevin like they were doing. Something just didn’t feel right.

  “You’re not going to talk, are you?” Lorenzo said.

  “You’re just going to have to kill me. But remember this.” Kevin looked Lorenzo squarely in the eye. “Whatever Tristan said in the message, someone else will find out. Your secret, whatever it is you don’t want to come out—it’s probably already out there.”

  Lorenzo frowned, his face filled with anger. “You’re right about one thing. You will die tonight.” He looked at the two men in the brown uniforms before laughing. Then he turned to Kevin. “But why should I have all the fun?” He turned to the men again. “Take him to the bedroom and kill him. But leave his body there.” He returned his gaze to Kevin and laughed even harder. “The news will be interesting tomorrow. ‘New Lotto winners argue about how to best raise child. Woman kills husband and flees with child.’ What do you think?”

  Kevin produced a smile of his own. “You won’t get away with this.”

  The tears poured from my eyes. Kevin hadn’t given me up. He must have known where I was the whole time, or at least had an idea. I didn’t know what to do. If he were to die, I’d have to make sure that it hadn’t been for nothing. I had to save our son. Both guards grabbed Kevin and dragged him toward the door. He offered little resistance and nodded at Lorenzo before he drifted out of sight.

  The two men stood still and didn’t say a word. I listened closely, waiting, but hoping the moment never came. Time seemed to freeze; I couldn’t stop my hands from trembling. Two loud bangs came from the corridor and I covered my mouth and squeezed it hard to suppress the sobbing, almost making myself choke. I trembled, tears streaming from my eyes.

  Lorenzo watched the door leading to the corridor until both men returned. They nodded at him. Then the blond man stepped forward. “What do we do with the baby?”

  Lorenzo turned to Dylan. He lifted him in the air. “Hello, little one.” He faced the blond man. “We take him back to 2013 with us.”

  I gasped—2013? Why would they be taking my son thirty years into the past? What the hell was going on? I couldn’t let that happen.

  Still holding Dylan, Lorenzo suddenly started to shake, and ripples formed on his face. It looked as if his eyes would pop out of his face. I became dizzy and lightheaded. His neck grew by about three feet. I bit my fingernails. A bright white light then surrounded his face. I squinted and covered my eyes. Dylan started crying and flailing his arms. I gritted my teeth and inched closer to the switch. I didn’t understand what I was seeing.

  Lorenzo then dropped to his knees with Dylan still in his arms. Sharp green scales protruded from his head and across his whole body, bursting through the Mackintosh jacket. The ripples across his face made it look as if it were melting like plastic on hot metal. Dylan was wailing, and for the first time I saw genuine fear on my baby’s face. Holes the size of golf balls appeared all over Lorenzo’s head. Sharp green scales like the ones that had burst from the rest of his body then shot out. They slithered around like separate organisms. Then his eyes retracted into his head. Pearl-black eyes emerged through the hole and protruded three feet. He turned toward me. His snout was a cross between a lizard’s and a crocodile’s. I felt like I would pass out. Not just because of the danger my son was in or the fear I felt. I had actually seen a creature like this before, in my dreams. But what did that mean? What did this mean?

  Lorenzo stopped trembling and rose to his feet. Dylan was still crying and thrashing. I grabbed the laptop, ejected the metallic case and stuffed it into my pocket. I grabbed the floating stool closest to me and leaned against the wall. Then I reached up and pushed the button that opened the balcony door. No one seemed to notice it retracting. When it reached halfway, I ran through.

  Chapter Fourteen

  I charged straight for Lorenzo. I didn’t have a clear plan, but I wasn’t going to let him take my husband and my son on the same day. Lorenzo turned and faced me with what looked like shock. He dropped Dylan onto the couch and roared at me. I threw the stool at his face, but he raised his hands. The organisms all around him snarled and stared at me with their ruby-red eyes and small fangs. I pushed the long floating sofa toward him with everything I had. It hit him square in the knees and sent him flying back against the wall. Then I noticed the blond man running toward me. I sprinted for Dylan, who was still thrashing and crying. The blond man wrapped his hands around my waist and squeezed. I screamed and flailed my arms and legs. Then I clamped my teeth onto his small finger. He screamed, dropped to his knees and released me. I looked at Dylan again and ran toward him.

  A bright white light flew past my eyes and made a hole in the corner wall. I ducked and looked toward the door, where the bullet had come from. One of the men in brown charged forward. I could also hear the metallic footsteps of the Lypsos in the corridor. I saw a small silver gun in the waist holster of the man I had bitten, who was still on his knees. He grimaced as blood dripped to the floor. I crawled toward him and grabbed the gun. I fired at the man who had shot at me, but the recoil sent me flat on my back, and the gun flew from my hand. I grimaced in pain for a moment but then looked up to see the man crouched behind a cupboard. A large hole was in the wall from where my bullet must have struck. I heard multiple snarls and the sound of the organisms slithering. Lorenzo was on his feet and pushing the sofa aside, his lizard snout pointed in my direction. I lifted myself from the floor and stared at Dylan. Lorenzo was closer to him. I wouldn’t reach him in time. Another flashing white light flew toward me and struck the floor, missing me by inches.

  The Lypsos had now arrived. Smoke wafted from the gun muzzle embedded in the arm of the one closest to me. “Do not move, Rachel Harris,” it said in a mechanical voice.

  I rolled to my left, sprang to my feet and ran through the still-open balcony door. I banged the stool against the switch on the outside wall. Sparks flew from it and the doors started shutting. The two guards charged after me but crashed against the closed door. I bolted left and stopped a few feet from the edge of the building. I looked down. I was over two hundred feet in the air, but I didn’t have a choice. I had to continue. I couldn’t save Dylan now, but I had to survive for him. I was still his mother, and I was going to get him back.

  I put my left foot on the ledge of someone’s window but couldn’t do the same with my right. The ledge stuck out about three feet, enough for me to sidestep across. But to where? Where do I seriously expect to go? I couldn’t see everything going on in my apartment now, but I knew that in a matter of seconds they would have the door open. I closed my eyes and lifted my right leg. With my back against the window, I edged to my left, keeping my gaze ahead of me. I could hear the occasional sound of cars gliding by below. Why didn’t we get a place on the tenth floor?

  I had passed at least four apartments, all with their lights off and not even a whisper coming from them. Then I heard footsteps and shouting. I saw the two men in brown on the ledge. They sidestepped toward me with no apparent regard for their safety. I started to panic again but kept going. I had no choice. I wondered if Lorenzo had joined in the pursuit, but I didn’t dare to concentrate on anything but my escape.

  A cold wind lashed my face. I closed my eyes for a moment but heard the men’s footsteps as they closed in. A light was turned on behind me. I banged against the window. A boy of no more than twelve opened the curtains. I peered in and saw a man and a woman through a room beyond. I pointed at them and mimed to him, “Get Mommy.”

  He just stared at me and shrugged. I pointed again, but just then there was a loud explosion and a flash of light, and glass shattered beside me. I shuddered and my right foot nearly slipped off the sill. The boy screamed and closed
the curtains.

  I swayed for a few seconds before regaining my balance. I wiped blood from my arms and chest. Another explosion accompanied blinding light. I screamed and rushed sideways. Then I glanced right. My pursuers were twenty feet away. One of them held up a gun and shot at me again. The light flew through the air and exploded yards to my right.

  “Help,” I screamed. “Anybody. Please.”

  No one opened his or her windows. I pressed my back against the glass and continued edging left. More and more flashing light catapulted toward me. Streams of glass continued flying in my direction. Blood now covered me. I stopped beside a window. Another light came on. I turned and kicked the glass as hard as I could. Nothing. I kicked again and again. The men had closed the gap to almost fifteen feet. I trembled and banged on the glass some more.

  The window opened. A bald man in only his boxer shorts stared at me.

  I put my palms together and screamed. “Help me, please.”

  He frowned but did nothing. I repeated myself. He opened the window and edged toward me. A white light flew toward me and struck him in the head. His blood splattered all over my clothes and face. He fell, dead. I screamed and rushed sideways. Another shot came but missed by inches. I kept screaming at the top of my lungs. Lights started coming on everywhere. Please, hurry.

  I glanced down and saw a light in the sky drifting up. I did a double take. It was a car climbing toward where I was. I prayed that it wasn’t my pursuers. I stopped moving and waited. When the car reached me, the doors swung up. I peered in and saw the face of a blond man gesturing with his arm.

  “Get in,” he shouted.

  I didn’t know who he was or where he’d come from, but there he was, coming to my aid, just like that. Another bright light flew toward me. I swung my head left and it whizzed past me, but I felt pain. I couldn’t hear anything. I placed my hand over my right ear and felt dampness. I looked at it. Blood.

  The pain became excruciating. It hurt so much I almost lost my balance. I turned toward my pursuers. They both had their guns raised. The man in the car continued screaming at me. I barely heard him. All I could make out by reading his lips was “Jump.”

  I braced myself and leaped off the ledge. My upper body landed in the car, but my legs hung loose in the air. The white light came again, smashing the car’s windows. The car shot away and descended at breakneck speed. My head felt as if it would explode. My body flew left and right like a rag doll. I kept thinking I’d fall from the sky at any moment. The driver kept saying things to me, but I couldn’t hear him.

  Things calmed down after a few minutes, and he flew at a steady pace when he reached one hundred feet. Passengers in other cars in the sky pointed at us. I saw the flashing lights of a traffic enforcer about thirty cars ahead. I had to get in before we were spotted. I grimaced and pulled as hard as I could. The driver glanced at me from time to time. After I got my ankles through the door, he pulled me in. The door closed, and he said a few words to me. I could hear him but didn’t listen to anything coming out of his mouth.

  I finished wrapping the wound on my ear with some bandage the man had in the car. Then I wiped off the blood that covered my body. Most of the wounds I’d suffered were superficial and looked like they would heal quickly. The pain I felt had also subsided and my hearing returned. I gazed out at the night skies, staring at the stars and almost drifting to sleep. As the driver took a third right turn, I shook myself out of my trance. It felt as if we’d been driving for hours. I squinted and stared at the driver for a moment. I saw him glance at me as I turned my head away. He didn’t speak but just kept driving.

  I still couldn’t believe any of the things I had seen. It all felt like a dream. My husband was dead. My child had been snatched from me. And the thing Lorenzo had turned into—what the hell was that? I thought back to Tristan’s message and what they thought we’d heard. The notion of aliens living among us was preposterous, but the thing I’d seen wasn’t regular folk. Maybe that was what Tristan was trying to warn us about. But that wasn’t at the front of my mind. All I kept seeing was Dylan crying as the vile creature held him. Over and over I replayed the words that had come out of Lorenzo’s mouth. ‘We’ll take him back with us to 2013. We’ll take him back with us to 2013.’

  Why 2013? What was there, and why were they taking my son there. I had always heard that it was forbidden to use time travel for anything other than the Lotto, but it seemed that they may even have been from 2013. I had to think of something. Going back to 2013 certainly wasn’t impossible, but it was close to it. The Valencia facility was the only place to use. But I would need someone who had access to the portal, and I didn’t know anyone.

  I reached into my pocket and pulled the chip out. It was intact, as was its metallic case. I put it away and focused on trying to come up with a way to get my son. But even if I went back in time, where would I look for him? L.A.? Washington? New York? Hell, he might not even have been in the states. I grunted in frustration and banged my hands against the window. The driver gave me a brief glance before turning back to the skies. I gave him a long hard stare. For all I knew, he was in on it, too. Hell, he could have been an alien. It was awfully convenient that he’d shown up just like that. I shook my head and let those thoughts fade away. He’d saved my life and I was grateful. I just wished I had Dylan with me. I wiped my nose and sniffled. The driver stretched his hands toward me. He held a handkerchief. I took it and wiped my eyes. But the tears didn’t stop dropping and I knew why. Even if I saved Dylan, I’d never see Kevin again.

  “You all right, missy?” the man asked in an Irish accent.

  I studied him. He had kind blue eyes to go with his floppy blond hair. His chubby cheeks gave him a pleasant demeanor. “How long have we been flying?”

  He looked at me with pity. “Twen—twenty minutes.”

  I nodded and stared ahead again.

  “So what happened back there?” he said.

  I shook my head. “I honestly don’t know.”

  We continued in silence. When he started landing the car, I didn’t bother asking where we were going; I felt safe with him. He parked the car on an isolated road. I couldn’t see any houses or a street name. He pressed a button on the car’s dash. Then a bright blue light filled the inside of the car. I squinted for a second before meeting his gaze.

  “Thanks for saving my life.”

  He shrugged with a surprised look on his face, as if it were his duty to save me. “Who were them men?”

  “I have no idea.”

  He leaned forward. “Well, they weren’t just regular folk, I can tell you that, missy.”

  I shot a hard stare at him. Does he know? “Why do you say that?”

  “The guns they used. Military grade. You don’t see guns like that every day, missy. They must have really wanted you bad.”

  His accent was quite strong and reminded me of an old friend of my dad’s, Aidan Donohoe. It took me almost five years to completely understand what Aidan said, but since then, understanding an Irish person’s speech hadn’t been a problem. I shrugged. “I guess.”

  “Who are you?”

  I looked at him again. I wiped more blood and sweat from my cheeks and pushed back the strands of hair stuck to my face.

  “Flipping heck. You’re—”

  I nodded. “Rachel Harris. Yes.”

  “But you just … you just won a baby, like. I saw you on TV and everything.”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “But why would anyone want to kill you?”

  I glanced around without speaking. Trees surrounded us. I couldn’t see any high-rise apartments for miles. The moon lighted the ground beside the car. I took another look at the dash and saw a small electronic meter. “You’re a taxi?”

  He nodded. “Aye. I’m Justin.”

  I extended my hand. He stared at it and then shook it.

  “Why did you save me?”

  He looked at me like I was mad. “I heard you scream.”


  I stared out the window for a moment. He watched me the whole time, and I became uncomfortable. “Honestly, I’m really grateful.”

  He nodded. “So where’s your son?” he asked after more silence.

  I looked at him but didn’t speak. I could see the nervousness on his face.

  “They said on the TV that you had a husband too, like. Is he …”

  I peered into his eyes. Could I really trust him with the whole truth? “My husband and son are dead,” I said. “Those people killed them both.”

  He placed his head against his chair’s headrest. “I’m so sorry, missy.”

  I cried, and he held my shoulder with wavering hands. I could tell that consoling people wasn’t his forte. I sniffled and wiped my eyes.

  “So what are you gonna do?” he said. “I could, like, drop you somewhere.”

  I stared at him. I hadn’t thought about what I’d do. I opened my mouth to speak but couldn’t form any words. I turned away and looked out the window. “Okay, fine.”

  “Okay,” he said. He didn’t say anything else for a moment. “You just take your time, missy. We’ll go whenever you’re ready.”

  I nodded without speaking. My gaze still rested on the dark skies. Silence returned. The sound of crickets and other insects filtered into the car. Justin fidgeted. After a few minutes, I looked at him. “Do you have a cell phone?”

  He nodded. “Aye.” He reached into his pocket and passed a thin cell and the accompanying headset to me.

  I placed the earpiece into my right ear and pushed a button on the phone. The clear glass keypad flipped open. I dialled Suzanna. The phone rang six times and went to voice mail. I stared toward the sky with worry. I called her again. Still nothing. Maybe Jenny and Rob are up. I placed my hands against my head and tried to remember other phone numbers. Jenny’s came to me first. I called it but got voice mail again. I panicked and buried my head in my hands. Please let them be all right. … They’re probably just sleeping.