Gary Jonas - Jonathan Shade 10 - Timeless Gods [retail]

### Table of Contents

Title Page

mailing list

DEDICATION

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

One-Way Ticket to Midnight

About the Author
TIMELESS GODS

The Tenth Jonathan Shade Novel

by Gary Jonas
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# DEDICATION

This one is for Edward Bryant, writer, mentor, friend. He left us too soon.

# CHAPTER ONE

"You're not welcome here," the manager said, and I didn't punch him in the mouth because the Norse god Thor stood behind him. The thunder god held his massive club hammer and glared at us.

Kelly, Esther, and I stood in the alcove before the entrance to Club Eternity. From the unpleasant aroma, I suspect someone had been using the bottom of the stairwell as a urinal. I held the vajra weapon in one hand. It was basically a club with ribbed spherical heads at either end. The ribs could open up and fire energy bolts like lightning, but it was dormant at the moment. It belonged to a god named Indra, but it was mine to use for now. The manager glanced at it, but stood his ground with confidence.

The manager didn't worry me. I could have kicked his ass with my eyes closed.

Thor, on the other hand, could kill me without breaking a sweat.

"Give me your bracelets and the vajra weapon," the manager said. "Then get the hell out of here."

"You can have the bracelets," I said. "But I'm not finished with the weapon." The bracelets were our link to the club. Without them, we couldn't get here. Club Eternity was essentially a bar for immortals tucked away in a pocket dimension.

"You promised the weapon to me."

"I'm not done with it," I said raising it up to aim the business end at his face. The ribs opened into spikes that I could drive into him, but it also whirred to life so I could fire a bolt of lightning at him.

Thor grinned. He slapped his hammer into his palm, ready for a fight.

The manager considered. He had Thor on his side. Could Thor kill me before I killed the manager? Thor obviously liked the odds, but the weapon wasn't aimed at him.

Kelly stepped in front of me. She smiled at the manager as she pushed my arm to the right. Now the vajra was aimed at Thor's face.

Thor's grin faded.

Kelly spoke to the manager. "If Jonathan fires the weapon, Thor will be blasted into the bar. Before he crashes through the door, though, I will have snapped your neck."

"Thor will kill you all."

"If he survives, you're probably right," Kelly said. "But you'll be dead before that happens."

"I'm already dead," Esther said.

Thor reached up and placed his palm over the business end of the vajra. "I shall take this and—"

He didn't get another word in because I fired the weapon.

The energy bolt blasted the living shit out of his hand. The backlash from the blast shot sideways and incinerated the manager. Kelly jumped backward and ducked. The rest of the energy shot right back at me, but as it was magical, it washed over me like a bright light. Esther, being a ghost, didn't have to worry as everything passed harmlessly through her.

Thor shook his stump, cussed in three different languages, as he shook his arm about. The hand grew back and he clenched his fist a few times. He glared at me then swung his mighty hammer to smack me in the chest, but Esther darted in front of me and solidified. The hammer stuck her and drove her into me. We crashed against the wall and I slid to the floor, dazed.

Esther blew a raspberry at Thor. "Is that the best you got, you old palooka? I oughta sock you right in the kisser!"

Thor swung the hammer, and Esther popped away and reappeared behind him. Thor, clearly expecting to connect, went off balance with the swing, and Esther shoved him. He staggered, but didn't fall down until Kelly jumped in with a spin kick to his head.

"Don't hit my friends," Kelly said. "I don't care how hot you are." She ginned. "And you're really hot."

"You dare to strike me?" Thor said.

She gave a solid snap kick to his chin, driving him to the floor again. "Does that turn you on?" Kelly asked.

"What?"

"Because it's kinda turning me on," she said and kicked him again.

I managed to pick myself up off the floor.

Thor rolled to his feet, held his hammer aloft and was about to say something when a flash of bright light made us all turn away for a moment. When I looked back, a slender woman in an old Roman gown stood between Kelly and Thor. She had long, dark hair and exquisite cheek bones. Her soft white gown flowed over one shoulder, leaving the other bare. A gold belt encircled her waist.

"That will be quite enough," she said. Her voice was calm.

Thor lowered his hammer and stepped back. "As you wish," he said.

"Who are you?" Kelly asked.

"I'm the owner of Club Eternity," she said. "You may call me Decima."

She held up one hand and the bracelets Kelly and I wore snapped off our wrists and floated over to her.

"Your membership in the club has been revoked," she said. "You may take the stairs here," she motioned to the right. "When you ascend, you will find yourself in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We will wait until you're on the sidewalk before we shift our dimensional alignment. You won't find us again."

"Just like that?" I asked.

She smiled. "You should be thanking me for not ending your life, Mr. Shade. You killed my manager."

"Hey," I said. "Thor caused that."

"I saw what happened," she said. "I also made an inquiry about you."

"That can't be good."

"It's worse than you know. The Men of Anubis are coming for you, and they don't have my sense of fair play when it comes to mutiny and handling enemies."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Surely you've heard of me," she said.

I didn't take the bait with the Shirley joke. Instead, I shrugged. See? Old guys can learn new tricks. It just takes a few lifetimes.

"I am Decima," she said again.

"Yeah, I got that the first time," I said.

"I am the root source for the word decimate."

"So you enjoy destroying everything?"

She grumbled something in Italian then switched to English and spoke in a clipped tone. "You stupid Americans always get that wrong."

"Enlighten me."

"In my youth, I was the one who came up with the way to handle mutinous legions in Rome."

I gave her a blank stare.

"I would have one out of every ten men slain to teach them a lesson. The remaining ninety percent would be on better behavior after that. So it's not total destruction. It's ten percent. Deci means ten. Got it?"

"Guess you've got a bee up your butt about that one. I promise to always use decimate correctly just to make you happy."

"You won't live long enough. As I said, the Men of Anubis are coming. And they are going to destroy you. All of you. There's no place you can hide. There's nothing you can do. So you need to get out of here because I don't want them destroying my club in search of your soon-to-be-dead self."

"So they'd destroy the entire club? They wouldn't just decimate it?"

"You're trying my patience, Mr. Shade," Decima said. "Vacate the premises or I'll have Thor throw you out."

"I don't work for you," Thor said. "I was helping the manager for a free drink and the chance to hit someone."

Kelly gave Thor a nod and held her hand like a phone. "Call me," she said.

Thor raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Perhaps I will."

"How many people work at Club Eternity?" I asked. "Ten? Twenty?"

"Twenty-three."

"Damn," I said. "I killed your manager and I was going to invite Thor to come with us, but it wouldn't quite decimate your staff, especially since Thor made it clear he doesn't work for you."

"Are you sure you want to get cute with me?" she asked.

"There aren't ten people in my legion," I said. "That means you can't decimate us."

She narrowed her gaze and pointed to the exit. "Go."

I nodded to Thor. "You like to fight. Want to come with us? We could use a guy like you."

"I could use a guy like you," Kelly said.

He looked Kelly up and down and licked his lips. What a perv. "I could stand to be used by you. I like the way you dish out punishment, woman."

"Kelly."

"Kelly," he said and raised an eyebrow. "Will you punish me some more?"

"Definitely," Kelly said.

"What do you say, big guy?" I asked.

"I love women, and I love to fight. Supply me with drink and I'm in."

And that's how we got a thunder god to join the team.

# CHAPTER TWO

We stepped from Club Eternity into downtown Tulsa. It was early evening and couples walked arm-in-arm toward trendy restaurants. The air was crisp, but I was warm in my big coat. Thor didn't notice the cold. He wore a short tunic with furry vest over it. His brown trousers tucked into fur topped boots. His head was crowned with a silver horned helmet.

"I like Tulsa," Thor said.

"You do?" I asked.

"I spent a month here in 1995. There are amazing thunderstorms here."

"And tornadoes," I said.

Kelly moved ahead of us. "We should see about getting shelter for the night," she said.

"I like tornadoes," Thor said.

"I'll make a note," I said and started to cross the street toward a hotel.

Esther took my hand and leaned against me as I walked, but Thor stopped.

Halfway across the street, I took my hand back and turned toward Thor. "Are you coming?"

"I'm waiting for you to write down the fact that I like tornadoes," Thor said. "In fact, I think you should make notes of all the things I like. I shall speak them, and you shall write them down."

"I'm not your personal scribe."

"Then I hereby dub thee Scribe of Thor." He stepped into the street, patted me on the shoulder, and continued after Kelly.

I turned and ran into Esther. I was so used to walking through her that it caught me off guard. She smiled and reached for my hand again, but I moved past her before I realized what she was doing. "Watch out, Esther," I said.

"Sorry," she said.

Not quite what I was expecting. The walk sign flashed don't walk, so I trotted the rest of the way across the street.

"Anyone have any money?" Kelly asked.

"I'm flat broke," I said.

Esther shook her head. "Don't look at me." She mumbled something that sounded like, "I'm invisible to you anyway," but I wasn't sure I'd heard her correctly. She moved away and Kelly and Thor were talking.

"How about you, Thor?" Kelly asked. "Can you afford to pay for a few hotel rooms so we can get some sleep? Maybe buy some food or something?"

"I do not keep earth currency on my person, but the last time I was here, there were boxes called ATMs. I can always get money from one of those machines."

"Cool. My account was cleaned out buying access to Club Eternity," I said. "There should be an ATM around here somewhere."

Kelly pulled out her phone. "Closest ATM?"

"Okay," the phone said, "here's what I found for closest ATM."

"I want to get one of those," Thor said.

"It's an iPhone," I said.

"I haven't spent time in this realm since the nineties. An iPhone," he said."I like it. Write that down."

Kelly looked at the screen. "There's an ATM a block north at a bar called Jacob's Hoot 'n Holler." Kelly stared at her phone.

"Something wrong?"

"Yes," she said. "You know I'm not one to run from a fight."

"You run toward trouble," I said. "It's one of the things I love about you."

"I like fighting and killing, but I'm not suicidal."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm with you in this no matter what you decide," she said.

"But?"

She hesitated."But if the Men of Anubis could find us, they'd have been waiting for us.If not at Club Eternity, then wherever and whenever we left the club."

"That proves they're not all-powerful," I said."Means we have a chance."

"I don't know," Kelly said.

I got the impression she wanted to say more, but she didn't get the chance.

"You know what I know?" Thor asked.

"What?" I asked.

"I know that I'm hungry," he said. "If the lovely wench will get us a table in the restaurant over yonder, Jonathan and I will go get some money from the ATM box. Order me a large steak, and tell them to make it so rare it screams when I cut into it."

"One steak, bloody rare," Kelly said. "And to drink?"

"Ale."

"Jonathan?"

"A steak and beer sounds good to me. Anything dark and on tap. Okay, big guy, let's get some cash."

"How much would you like?"

Most banks cap the daily withdrawal at five hundred dollars, but some go to a thousand. "Whatever you can get, I guess."

"Very well."

Jacob's Hoot 'n Holler had a neon sign of a cowboy with a large hat twirling a lasso. The sign buzzed softly.

"I like that sign," Thor said. "Write that down." I followed him into the bar.

Blake Shelton sang "Some Beach" on the jukebox. The patrons in the bar were mostly rough cowboy types. Blue jeans and cowboy boots. They didn't wear the boots to look fashionable. They wore them because they worked in them. They wore plaid shirts and sat at the bar or at tables drinking beer or they danced with cowgirls on the narrow strip between tables. A couple of big men played pool in the back.

Thor bobbed in time with the music. "I like this song," he said to one of the cowboys.

"Good for you," the man said, looking at Thor's odd clothing. He looked at me in my heavy jacket and snow pants over black boots. I'd just come from the mountains of Tajikistan, so I stood out a bit, too.

Thor danced around a couple, and I worried he might grab the girl's ass, but while he looked with admiration, he didn't touch. I eased around them as well.

People looked at us and frowned. We were quite the odd pairing.

The ATM stood next to the hallway leading to the restrooms.

"Stand back," Thor said.

I thought he didn't want me to see his PIN, but he didn't pull out a card. He just grabbed the machine, yanked it off the wall, hammered the corner to create a grip, then tore off the back and pulled out a huge handful of twenty dollar bills. Alarms blared. Thor broke a few wires and the alarms went silent.

"Is this enough?" he asked, holding up thousands of dollars.

"Oh shit," I said.

"Hey!" the bartender yelled. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I have need of this cash," Thor said.

"Billy!" the bartender yelled. He pulled a shotgun from beneath the bar and aimed it at Thor, who shoved twenties into the pockets of his trousers. A few bills fluttered to the floor, but he didn't notice.

Billy turned out to be one of the big men at the pool table. He rushed over, pool cue in hand. "Yeah, boss?"

"Keep that son of a bitch there. I'm calling the cops."

Billy lowered the pool cue to block Thor's path. "That's far enough, buddy."

Thor took the cue from him, snapped it in two and tossed the pieces to the floor.

"You can't do that!" the man said stepping in front of Thor.

"Move or be moved," Thor said.

"That's a cool looking helmet," Billy said. "Too bad it ain't Halloween." He tried to push Thor in the chest.

Thor didn't budge.

He grabbed Billy by the throat, lifted him into the air and tossed him across the room. Billy crashed into a table, knocking over two men, an ashtray, and several beer bottles. The table broke under his weight and he hit the ground hard.

The bartender rushed out from behind the bar. He aimed the shotgun at Thor and fired.

The blast caught Thor in the stomach.

Thor looked down at his now ragged tunic. "Foolish mortal," Thor said and yanked the shotgun away. He snapped the gun in two. "As you were kind enough to store some money for us, I grant you your life."

He shoved the bartender aside.

Four men started to block him, but Thor walked right through them, knocking them aside.

"Let's go eat dead animal flesh," Thor said with a smile.

I followed him out of the bar.

"They're calling the cops now," I said.

"I don't care what they do," Thor said. "I'm hungry."

"I thought you had a bank account."

"Why would I need a bank account when you people are kind enough to put money in those boxes for me? I can't understand why some people get so upset when I make a withdrawal. Put that in the notebook under things Thor does not like."

# CHAPTER THREE

Approaching sirens wailed, so I tugged Thor into an alley.

"Cops," I said.

"I don't care about cops," Thor said.

"Better to avoid them right now," I said. "We have things to do."

"They won't even delay us. I'll tip over their silly cars, and cast the men aside." He raised his hammer.

Without thinking, I took the hammer away from him. "My way is better," I said.

Thor stared at me. "Give that back."

The hammer was forged by dwarves, and it had a short handle. As I was able to hold it, I assumed it was enchanted, and as magic doesn't faze me, I could wield it.

"You didn't think the hammer would find me worthy?" I asked.

Thor laughed. "You've read too many comic books, boy."

The police cars rushed past the alley as Thor snatched the hammer from my hand.

"So anyone can wield it?"

"For you it would be a club hammer. For me it's a powerful weapon."

"I think if you hit someone with a club hammer, they're going to think it's a powerful weapon. We can go now."

We stepped back onto the sidewalk and walked to the restaurant without further incident.

***

The restaurant was crowded, but at least it had a casual atmosphere, and while they looked at Thor's helmet and clothing with hesitance, they admitted us without an argument. Somehow, I doubt many people would ever consider denying service to Thor. The hostess, a lovely redhead, led us to the table where Kelly and Esther waited. Esther remained translucent, and Kelly sipped a glass of wine.

Many of the people in the restaurant were dressed up, but quite a few wore blue jeans and flannel shirts. The place smelled great with a variety of spices and cooking meats combining to make me want to close my eyes and bask in the aroma. I resisted the temptation and sat across the table from Kelly.

Thor sat next to her and scooted his chair even closer. He leaned toward her, and she put a palm up to block him.

"Not so fast, Romeo."

"Thor."

Esther laughed. "Bank's closed, pal."

"First we feast," Thor said, undeterred by Kelly's reaction. He turned and called out, "Bring us a roasted boar and lots of ale!"

A busboy at a booth turned and said, "I'll send your waiter over, sir."

"Good lad."

"I already ordered steak for everyone," Kelly said.

"That's right. And I obtained currency," Thor said. He handed a stack of twenties to Kelly, and another stack to me. "There's more where this came from. Well, not that particular ATM, but this city is replete with them."

"We'll make do with what we have," I said.

The waiter brought our meals and once he moved on, we talked between bites of delicious steak.

"Do you have a plan to deal with the Men of Anubis?" Kelly asked.

"Not exactly," I said.

"Why are they after you?" Thor asked.

"Because I escaped from them, and then I chucked one of them into the void. We're not attached to time, so they have to find us to get us. We may be the only ones who can stop them."

"Very well. I say we challenge them in battle," Thor said. "I'll smite them with my hammer."

"Not quite that simple," I said.

"Why not?"

"Because they can control time."

"So?"

"So if you swing your hammer, they can freeze time, step out of the way, and restart time. Or they can rewind time and take the hammer away from you."

"Hmm."

"What are you thinking?" I asked.

He smiled. "I'm thinking you're fucked."

"You're not going to back out on us, are you?"

"I'm immortal," Thor said. "They can't do anything to me."

"They could cast you into the void."

He opened his mouth to reply, then furrowed his brow for a moment. He nodded and lifted a finger. "I'll be right back," Thor said, and left the table.

He walked toward the restroom, and once he entered the hallway, he disappeared.

"We may have just lost our only real ally," I said.

"He'll be back," Kelly said.

"What makes you think that?"

"He wants me."

I ate, but now I barely tasted the steak. My stomach flipped as I thought about facing the Men of Anubis. The whole thing started to feel real. It was no longer way out there in the distance as something to deal with one of these days. Now it was time to face them, and while I did have a good weapon with the vajra, I wasn't sure it would do me much good. Odds were that I would die in the battle, which was fine. After all, I'd lived a much longer life than most people can even dream about. But I didn't want to get anyone else killed. Kelly deserved a good life. Thor deserved, well, I don't know what he deserved. And what about Esther? I put my knife and fork on the plate and tossed my napkin onto my half-finished meal.

"You don't like the food?"

"We don't stand a chance against the Men of Anubis," I said.

"You're just now realizing that?"

"Sorry," I said. "I'm just tired."

"I think you're right about them not being all-powerful. If they could have done so, they'd have gone back to take us out before you cast their brother into the void."

"So maybe they can't track us?" I considered that. "Maybe Indra prevented them from seeing us there."

"Maybe Chronos did," Esther said.

"You said we were aspects in time," Kelly said. "As we don't belong here, they can't find us."

"But if we catch up to them, they should be able to flow backward along our timeline and wipe us out."

"Maybe we don't have a timeline," Kelly said.

"My brain hurts," I said.

Thor walked out of the hallway and approached the table. He sat and took a drink of beer.

"Everything all right?" I asked.

He looked at me and shrugged. He turned his gaze to Kelly and looked her up and down. "I want to bed you, wench."

She laughed. "Does that work with other women?"

Thor's eyebrows rose and he leaned back, frowning. "Yes," he said. "It does."

She shook her head. "If I take you, I'll be the one in control."

He smiled. "You want to boss me around?"

"Something's wrong," I said.

"And how," Esther said.

"Spill," I said.

"I may have committed myself to your battle a mite early," Thor said.

"So you're backing down?"

"I didn't say that."

"Sounds like you are."

He stared at Kelly, then turned to me. "Here's the hitch," he said. "I didn't know the Men of Anubis could control time and even throw me into the void."

"So? You're immortal, remember?"

"And I don't relish the thought of floating in a timeless void for all eternity."

"So if you get chucked in, you're stuck?"

He nodded. "I went to have a chat with Decima, and she confirmed my concern. The bracelet I use to get to Club Eternity won't work from within the void. If I go in, I'm stuck. So far as any of us have been able to tell, no one has ever returned from the void."

"So you're afraid," Kelly said.

"No," he said. "I'm cautious."

She nodded. "He's afraid. Who'd have thought a thunder god would be afraid of a fight?"

"It's not my fight," he said. "But I am not afraid."

"I've seen fear in the eyes of men," Kelly said. "I see it in your eyes right now. You were fine with the fight when you thought you could win, but now that you know there's an actual risk, you're turning as yellow as your hair."

"I've killed men for lesser insults," Thor said.

"It's not an insult," Kelly said. "Just stating the obvious."

He rose and lifted his hammer.

Kelly smiled at him. "Aw, are you going to hit a girl?"

I rose and put a hand on his shoulder. "Let's not cause a scene, big guy."

"She dares to insult me to my very face! I do not like that. Write it down."

She grinned at him and winked. "Gets you all hot and bothered, doesn't it?"

I looked around at the guests and the staff in the restaurant. A manager tried to push our waiter toward us, but he shook his head and backed away. People at the other tables stared at us, but no one dared approach.

One woman said, "I just called nine-one-one," but she kept her voice low, so I barely heard her.

"Can we settle this someplace else?" I asked.

"Woman," Thor said, "you infuriate me."

She stood and stroked his cheek. "Pay the bill, thunder boy." And she walked away.

"Boy?" Thor said, his knuckles white on the hammer. "Boy?"

"Boy lives in the jungle with Tarzan," I said. "She meant, god. Thunder god. It's all good here." I nodded to the people at the next table. "Everything is fine."

Esther popped in front of Thor. "Try anything, buster, and I'll sock you one good."

"And now the ghost insults me too? Whatever happened to respect for the gods?"

"Toss some cash on the table, big guy. We can go sing karaoke and your first song will be Aretha Franklin's 'Respect.' Cool?"

He threw a handful of twenties on the table. "Is that enough?"

It was around seven hundred dollars. "Yeah, that ought to do," I said.

"I want to smash those women into the ground."

"You don't really mean that," I said.

He stormed through the room and grabbed our waiter. He lifted the man off the ground and pointed at Kelly, who was walking out the door."She dared to question my courage," he said.

"I'm sorry?" the waiter said and nearly cried.

"That's all you have to say to me?" Thor asked.

"Have a nice night?" the waiter said in a squeaky high voice.

"No need to hurt anyone, big guy," I said. I pulled his hands down and once the waiter's feet touched the floor, I tapped Thor's knuckles and he released the poor man. I patted the waiter on the back. "Sorry about this, m'man, but I think you'll appreciate the tip."

Outside the restaurant, Kelly and Esther waited by a lamppost.

Thor burst onto the street and stabbed a finger into Kelly's face. Before he could scream at her, she grabbed his finger and bent it backward, snapping it.

He stared at his broken finger. He turned and held his hand up so I could see it. "What is wrong with this wench?"

Kelly stepped close and grabbed him by the balls.

"What?" Thor said, surprised.

"Just checking to see if you had a pair," Kelly said. "Go back to Asgard and fuck yourself like the little girl you are."

"Nobody talks to me like that!"

"So make me stop," Kelly said and boxed his left ear.

"I could kill you," he said.

"So do it," she said and smacked his right ear.

He backed up, holding his hands up. "What is wrong with you?"

"I don't like cowards."

Thor planted himself and smashed his hammer down on the sidewalk, shattering concrete. "Stop or I'll destroy you, woman!"

"So you're finally showing some backbone," Kelly said. She smiled at him. "You had me wondering about you for a moment there."

Thor fumed. "I've killed frost giants and gods, and you dare to question my godhood?"

"You're afraid of a couple of Egyptians. Jonathan outsmarted them once, and defeated one in single combat. He's a mortal man and he's not wavering."

"That's because he doesn't know the true nature of what he's up against," Thor said.

"Enlighten us."

Thor looked at me, then at Kelly and Esther. He shook his head. "They are gods."

"We've dealt with gods before."

"Hmmph."

"So what do you suggest?"

"I suggest you and I get a room," Thor said. "I want to have my fun with you while you're still alive."

"That's not going to happen," Kelly said. "I don't sleep with cowards."

"Again, she insults me," Thor said, turning to me in utter surprise. "She should be honored that I'm willing to bed her."

Kelly swept his feet and planted him on his back. "You should be honored that I was willing to even consider you for a heartbeat."

"And how," Esther said and blew a raspberry at him.

"Jonathan," Kelly said, "send this coward back to Asgard. We don't need him."

She turned and walked away.

"Yeah," Esther said. "Get rid of the big palooka." And she followed Kelly.

"Sorry, pal," I said, helping Thor to his feet. "You blew it."

He brushed himself off and smiled. "Oh, I want her more now than ever. If I must face other gods who can control time to earn a night in her bed, so be it." He cracked his finger back into its proper alignment. "Let us plan for battle."

# CHAPTER FOUR

After securing separate hotel rooms, we took time to get cleaned up then met in my room to discuss our plans. Kelly and Esther arrived first.

"Did Thor run away?" Kelly asked as she entered the room.

"No, he's more determined than ever to bed you," I said.

She grinned. "Men and demigods are so easy to play."

I said nothing because I knew she was right.

"Where is the big buffoon?" Esther asked.

"He'll be here soon," I said. "He wants to make himself presentable for Kelly."

"That might take a while," Esther said and drifted over to the window.

Kelly sat on the king size bed and glanced at the clock radio on the table. It was 10:34. Esther solidified to open the curtains. She stared down at the wonderful view of the parking lot and at the cars moving on the highway a short distance away. I pulled the chair from beneath the desk and sat, putting my feet up on the bed. Esther turned away from the window and desolidified to walk through my legs, and reached for the TV remote on the dresser before the flat screen.

"No TV," I said.

"That's a bunch of horsefeathers."

"We have too much work to do."

She sighed and set the remote back on the dresser.

"So what's the plan?" Kelly asked. "Or are we waiting for Thor?"

"We need to find a way to reach Chronos, but I'm not sure how to get him to help us."

"You could offer to sleep with him," Kelly said. "If I have to play that card, you should too."

"No thanks."

"Oh, come on, Jonathan, take one for the team," she said with a grin.

"I'll pass. Can we move on?"

"Sure. What have you worked out beyond recruiting Thor and Chronos?"

"I think we need the other you."

"My time twin?" Kelly asked.

I nodded. "She's in Denver. We can recruit her. Having two of you would be a nice advantage."

"Especially since you have a propensity for getting versions of me killed. Doubles my odds of survival. But I'm the one in charge. She won't like it, but she'll have to answer to me."

"You should call Rayna," Esther said.

"To say goodbye?"

Esther rolled her eyes. "To recruit her."

"I've put her through too much. I don't want to get her killed."

"She has a dragon."

"That's true."

"A dragon could be the cat's pajamas."

"I don't think a cat could wear a dragon," I said.

She swatted at me, but I pulled back so she missed. "You know what I mean," she said.

"I do. All right, we'll try to get the dragon, but let's leave Rayna where she's safe."

"She could be useful," Kelly said. "Breathing fire is a nice little trick."

She meant Rayna, of course. But we hadn't parted on the best of terms, so getting Clara the dragon might be possible, but getting Rayna to risk her life seemed like a long shot.

"I'll talk to her." I said, but I didn't look forward to that conversation. She was bound to still be pissed at me, and she had every right to be. I had wronged her.

A knock sounded on the door.

"Can one of you get that?" I asked.

Esther popped over to the door, solidified and opened it to reveal Thor in all his naked glory.

"Oh my stars and garters," Esther said.

"Gaze in wonder, ghost," Thor said and strode into the room.

He planted himself in front of Kelly and stood proudly displaying his pride and joy, of which John Holmes would have been envious.

"This is what I can offer you," he said pointing to his dick.

"What's that?" Kelly asked, bored. "It looks like a penis only smaller."

Thor stepped back. "This is my real hammer," he said. "Only the worthy can lift it. I call it Gamanbjodr."

"Which means?"

"Pleasure giver."

Kelly shook her head. "Put some clothes on."

"Yes," I said. "Please cover that monster."

Esther gazed at his nakedness and shook her head. "This one doesn't need glad rags."

"Yes he does," I said.

"Does Gamanbjodr intimidate you?"

"Gaman-whatever looks like it could smack a baseball out of the stadium, so yes. Go back to your room and get dressed."

"Hmmph," he said and turned to leave.

Kelly and Esther both admired his ass as he opened the door.

"I shall return," he said and stepped into the hallway.

As soon as the door closed, Kelly shook her head. "That monstrosity is not going inside me."

I laughed. "I don't know how he fits it in his pants."

He came back five minutes later, dressed. Esther let him in.

"Does my outfit meet with your approval?" he asked Kelly.

He wore brown trousers, leather boots, and a shiny black shirt open to the navel. As he didn't have a suitcase, I figured he'd gone to another dimension to fetch the clothing.

"You look like a pirate," Kelly said.

He grinned. "Thank you."

"Let's cut to the chase," I said. "Can you reach out to Chronos?"

Thor looked at me confused. "Why do you want that skinny little poofter?"

"Because he can control time," I said.

"He always wants to make time with me."

"Then you should be able to convince him to come to the hotel," Kelly said.

"Why would I do that?"

Kelly batted her eyes at him. "Because I think two men together is really hot."

"It would please you to see me with Chronos?"

"Oh yeah."

"Then I shall reach out to him," Thor said. "For you. Wait here." Thor triggered his Club Eternity bracelet and disappeared.

Kelly gave me a smug smile. "How's that for helpful?"

"As long as I don't have to watch, it's cool."

"I want to watch," Esther said.

Kelly winked at her. "We'll have them put on quite a show for us."

"This cat is going to meow," Esther said.

"And this cat is going to be elsewhere," I said.

"You sure you don't want in on the action?" Kelly said. "Chronos likes you too. He'd be up for a threesome."

"I'm good," I said.

"You always say that," Kelly said, "but maybe you should prove it."

"Keep dreaming."

She laughed and started to turn, but froze.

"You all right?" I asked.

She didn't move.

Esther didn't move either.

A knock on the door.

I walked over and opened it to reveal Chronos and Thor.

"Be a good lad and step aside," Chronos said.

He brushed past me.

Thor shrugged and stopped in the doorway. "The door was locked, and he didn't want me to smash it."

The thought of Chronos not being able to enter a room because the door was locked amused me and I grinned.

"You can unfreeze time now," I said.

Kelly and Esther were still motionless.

"Not a chance," Chronos said. "Allow me to ask you a simple question, Jonathan Shade."

"Sure."

"Did I send an agent to you?"

"No."

"That should tell you something."

"What should it tell me?"

"That I'm not ready to face the Men of Anubis, you ignorant wanker."

"Sometimes we have to face things before we're ready. How many people are ready to be parents?"

"I don't have things arranged yet."

I laughed. "I'm guessing you haven't taken a single step toward arranging things."

"Quite right."

"Because you thought you could just wait for me to live out my life and die."

He adjusted his collar. "That thought had crossed my mind."

I stepped up close to him. "I've eliminated one of the Anubis assholes already. We only have two left."

"I'm aware of your confrontation. Indra is older than the Men of Anubis, so he was able to keep things localized."

"You're the master of time," I said.

"I can move freely through time, but I didn't take office until October 8th, 1940, so the Men of Anubis were around long before I was recruited."

"You were recruited during the Blitz?" I asked.

He nodded. "I was at Charing Cross Station in London on Tuesday morning at 8:50 when time froze. The Germans dropped three high-explosive bombs and eight of us died, while forty-eight of us were injured. Right before that happened, the gentleman who worked as Chronos in those days decided he'd had enough and offered to trade places with me so he could die and I could become the new Chronos. I had no idea what that meant, of course, but I didn't want to die. If I had it to do over... The first thing I saw when I took office was my predecessor getting blown to bits as soon as I started time with this infernal device." He held up the pocket watch.

I'd seen people die violent deaths. It never leaves you.

"The point," he continued, "is that I am now much younger than the Men of Anubis, and as such, I am no match for them."

"You lost me. You're now younger than them?"

He sighed. "They didn't exist before we sent you to ancient Egypt."

"I don't like where this seems to be going."

"They defy time and death and achieved immortality through a blend of magic and technology, and the only living person who saw them in purely human form was you."

"And you think they're my fault?"

"They are the same Men of Anubis who mummified Tutankhamun."

"Same family," I said.

"Same exact men."

"But—"

"We believe they latched onto the Emerald Tablets of Thoth after you and Henry Winslow left Egypt."

"You believe?" I asked. "Why don't you know?"

"Time is ever shifting. They are quite good at covering their tracks. And they put blocks in place to prevent us from eliminating you before you were born. Not that we could have done that anyway as the damage was already done."

"Whatever," I said. "Why don't you skip ahead into the future, find a place where we can attack them and destroy them?"

"It doesn't work like that," Chronos said. "I can go backward in time, and I can come forward from that time, but I can't go past the moment time has reached."

"Translation, you can't go into the future."

"Quite right."

"And this is the real present?" I asked.

He nodded.

"Is he bullshitting me?" I asked Thor.

Thor shrugged. "I live moment to moment in one direction," Thor said. "All this time travel nonsense doesn't work for me."

I shook my head slowly. "I lived into the future before I killed Persephone," I said. "So I know for a fact this is not as far as time has gone."

Thor raised an eyebrow.

Chronos fidgeted.

Kelly and Esther remained still.

"Talk to me, Chronos. Be honest."

He shook his head. "I'm afraid I must be going now."

"You're afraid of something," I said.

"I don't have time for this."

"You have all the time in the world."

"Until I move to my demise," he said.

"How far forward can you go?" I asked.

He looked around. "I should leave this place and resume forward progress. If I stop time for too long, I attract attention."

"Bullshit," I said.

"I have business to attend to in the past," he said.

I grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket and drove him back into the wall. "Answer my question."

"Or you'll kill me and take my place?" He laughed. "I already know the date of my death. This is not that day."

"You don't think I'll kill you?"

"I know you won't. I still have a few weeks, though I can conceivably stretch that out for centuries by hanging out in the past."

"How do you know you die? Have you seen it?"

He shook his head. "I know because I can't move beyond that date."

"What date?"

"I don't see the relevance to your situation."

"What date?" I asked again, and lifted him off his feet.

"November 17th."

"That's two weeks from now.That's the date we face the Men of Anubis, isn't it?"

"You can't be tracked in time now, Jonathan. They can't find you, though they most certainly know you're in play because Khemet didn't return."

"I'm taking that to mean yes."

"I was there," Chronos said. "You lost."

"What about me?" Thor asked.

"Cast into the void."

Thor walked over to Kelly and stared at her for a time.

"Backing out on us?" I asked.

Thor shook his head. "I want this woman, but I'm not willing to spend eternity in the void."

"They defeat you all," Chronos said. "Myself included, and I don't even know how I came to be at the confrontation."

"Where was it?" I asked.

"You mean, where will it be?"

"No," I said. "Where was it? We have the advantage of knowing how they won, so we can change things before they happen."

"Talk, little man," Thor said. "It seems all our lives depend on it."

"The confrontation was in Denver. You even had a dragon on your side, and the Men of Anubis simply aimed the crook at the beast and blew it out of the sky with a blast of energy."

"And the rest of us?"

"Thor was cast into the void. Both versions of Kelly were beheaded by the flail, the beads may look to be gilded wood, but Mahu can alter them to be razor sharp. They wrapped around Kelly's neck and severed her head before she could react. The second Kelly suffered the same fate even though she saw the first version of her die."

"Mahu?" I asked.

"Khemet's brother. You defeated Khemet, but he was the weakest of the Men of Anubis."

"Who's the other guy?"

"Amenken. Mahu and Khemet's father. Can you put me down, please?"

I still held him off the floor and against the wall.

"Not a chance, dickhead. If I let go of you, I know you'll disappear. I want more details. I need answers. How can they be defeated?"

"They can't."

"Bullshit. I beat one of them. I have to be able to beat the other two. Divide and conquer."

"They won't face you one at a time."

"All right," I said. "Unfreeze time so Kelly and Esther can be part of the conversation."

"I'll do no such thing. If I unfreeze time right now, the Men of Anubis will know where I am. You don't want that because they'll show up here immediately, and you'll be dead in a heartbeat."

"Come on," I said, not believing a word he said.

"Think about it. They created a time ripple trying to get to Khemet in Tajikistan. They will stop at nothing to get to you now."

"Time ripple?"

"The Men of Anubis can alter time, but they can't change anything that happened to them. If any of them are in one place, that time is set. They tried to get you in Tajikistan, but their efforts caused a wave that upset time in the area. The effects were contained in the Pamir Mountains, but now they are watching for anomalies in the time layers. A simple time freeze won't draw attention, but if I do it more than once in the same area, that will definitely bring them here. What possible reason could I have to be in Tulsa, Oklahoma?"

"You'll think of something."

"No. Time remains frozen. Do you want to lose your pretty little ghost? Amenken can use the crook to force her into her physical form, and Mahu can slice her to pieces to be scattered in and out of the void. She will cease to exist."

"I'm not liking the things you have to say. They have to have weaknesses we can exploit."

"None that I'm privy to."

"We need a better place for a confrontation. And we need to know more about what they can and can't do."

"They can't find you unless you do something stupid, so take a long vacation. Go to Indonesia or Spain. Go to Idaho. Anywhere."

"A trip to Egypt might be useful. Maybe we can learn something about them there that we can use."

"If you set foot in Egypt, they will know."

My arms were getting tired, so I lowered Chronos back to the floor, but still held him against the wall. "They have wards set up to notify them?"

"Magical and technological. You can't slip past them."

"Unless someone takes me there through a rift."

"I can't open rifts."

"How did you get here today?"

"Through Club Eternity."

"Decima won't let me in there. I know Sharon can open rifts, but I don't trust her. She'd toss me in the void herself. But there's another Charon. Nice enough guy named Bob in the Underworld."

"I can't reach the Underworld," Chronos said.

"I can," Thor said.

"Sharon is Charon these days," Chronos said. "She never left the Underworld in the current layering of time."

"Nice try, asshole," I said. "You supernatural types remember every layer of time. If a vampire can feel the shifts, I know Sharon can feel them too. I know she'll remember, and if I know her, she's got her job in Boulder working as a librarian. She liked that job."

"That doesn't mean Bob is Charon."

"He was next in line to take the position, so I'm willing to bet your life that he is."

"If you go to Egypt or even to the Underworld searching for answers, the Men of Anubis will know I helped you."

"You need plausible deniability. Who in the Tulsa area would know about the Men of Anubis?"

"How should I know?"

"Someone in the occult circles, perhaps? Someone who studies Egyptian history?"

"It doesn't matter," Chronos said. He sighed. "I'm bound to your actions regardless."

"Welcome to the team," I said. "Is there a way to combine some technology with the magic in your watch so we can freeze Mahu and Amenken?"

"I am not on your team, Jonathan Shade. Your actions are the death of me no matter how things play out. Every conceivable layering of time ends for me November 17th."

"Have you looked at it with you actively helping us?"

He nodded. "I even looked at it if I worked against you, but Amenken will never see me as an ally because I let you loose in the world against his wishes."

"So there's no good reason not to be on the team."

"There's one excellent reason for me to not be on your team. I don't want to. And here's another good reason: I don't like you."

"I'm your only chance to get through this," I said. "It's in your best interest to help."

"No."

"I'm not going to face them in Denver. That's a big change right there. I'll find a better place to fight them."

"Very well," he said. "You think of a place to face them, and I'll travel forward on the timeline as far as I can. If your choice makes it possible for me to go beyond November 17th, I'll join your team."

I laughed. "As soon as I let you leave, you're not going to come back. You're a chicken shit bastard, and a coward, Chronos. What was your real name?"

"None of your business."

"In that case, I'll see you in a few weeks when the Men of Anubis pull you from wherever you're hiding to rip you apart and cast your body to the winds."

"That won't happen," Chronos said. "I've already found my replacement, and I'm turning my office over to him in the wee hours of the seventeenth."

I let go of him and waved goodbye. He flipped me the bird, grabbed his wrist and disappeared, returning to Club Eternity, and moving from there to wherever his cowardly heart desired.

"Holy shit," Kelly said. "How did Thor get in here?"

# CHAPTER FIVE

After Thor and Kelly left, Esther wanted to stay with me. She sat beside me on the bed and put an arm around me. She smiled and combed her fingers through my hair. "It feels so good to be able to touch you," she said.

"We have a big day tomorrow."

She leaned in and kissed my neck. "We could have a big night tonight."

I pulled away from her and stood. "As nice as that sounds, I need some sleep."

"Fine," she said and popped away.

Shit. I knew I'd hurt her. Didn't she know my mind was on other things? I cared for her, but she was a ghost, not a living, breathing woman. Sometimes it didn't matter what I said or did, I always ended up hurting someone.

I took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and went to bed feeling like an ass.

***

The next morning, I showered and dressed, but left the heavy winter coat hanging in the closet. I donned my dirty T-shirt and the jeans I'd worn under the snow pants. I needed to buy some new clothes. I spent a little time messing with the vajra weapon and realized that by twisting it, I could adjust the settings. I didn't know what those settings would do, and I wasn't in a position to fire it in the hotel. I put it in the closet and made a note to take it out to the country to test the various settings.

Kelly met me in the lobby with Thor trailing behind her like a large, lost puppy. Esther popped in beside her, but didn't meet my eyes.

"We need to talk," Kelly said.

"We need to go up to your room," Thor said.

Kelly rolled her eyes. She spun to face the thunder god. "You. Stay here." She turned to me. "You. Come with me."

She grabbed my arm and dragged me down the hall toward the restrooms. Esther followed us.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"I don't want to deal with a handsy thunder god. What are we going to do?"

"Can you string him along a bit longer? He might be useful in the coming battle."

"He's going to have a battle if he tries to cop another feel."

"We need allies."

"This is not like some caper in a movie, Jonathan."

"I know that. Our lives are on the line here. That's why we need all the help we can get. Thor knows some powerful beings. Someone has to be able to help."

"Such as?"

"I don't know," I said. "Odin? Loki?"

"I want to meet Loki," Esther said. "He's hot to trot."

"The trickster god," I said, "not Tom Hiddleston from the Avengers movie."

"Oh."

"Fine," Kelly said. "I think this is going to be a wasted trip, but word on the street is that Asgard is lovely this time of year."

"Really?" Esther said.

"No," Kelly said. "I made that up. This is just stupid. Why would Odin or Loki stand with us in the fight? They don't know us. They don't owe us. I'm certainly not going to sleep with any of them."

"It can't hurt to try and recruit them," I said.

Kelly rolled her eyes. "There's no incentive for them. You're sending me on a wild goose chase."

"You can handle Thor," I said. "If he grabs you again, take his ass down."

"Oh, I will."

"If no one will help us, maybe they can give us some ideas about how to defeat them."

Kelly sighed. "This is a waste of time. We should go find a new city, set up shop there, and live our lives. We can help people. I can go back to training women in self-defense. You can be a private investigator. We shouldn't be doing this, and spare me your justifications, Jonathan, because they're all bullshit."

I stared into her eyes because I feared she was right, and I'd been struggling with it since we'd returned from the twenties. I was lost, searching for direction, but everything I loved was gone, and at least the Men of Anubis gave me a tangible enemy to face. An enemy I couldn't face alone. Without an enemy, Kelly would leave, and while she wasn't my Kelly, I'd prefer death to not having her in my life.

"So why are you going along?" I asked, worried she'd tell me she wouldn't.

"Because I don't abandon my friends," she said. With that, she turned and walked back to Thor.

"She's right, you know," Esther said.

But I ignored her. My focus was on the fact that Kelly considered me a friend. It was a major step in the right direction. Maybe she'd come around. Now that she'd changed over from seeing me as the only person she knew in the world to seeing me as a friend, there was hope. I didn't expect us to ever get to where my Kelly and I had gone, but maybe if we could deal with the Men of Anubis, perhaps we could build a life for ourselves somewhere and maybe that life would help to ease my guilt about losing my Kelly. Henry Winslow may have been the one who killed her, but I blamed the Men of Anubis for messing about in time so much that Winslow had the power to send those whirling blades through her. Those nightmares haunted my dreams, and while Winslow cast the magic, the Men of Anubis pulled the strings. They mocked me every goddamn night, and I was tired of it.

And if I couldn't get through this alive, that was okay, too, because I no longer fit into the world, and when you don't belong, it's easy enough to let everything go.

Kelly talked to Thor and I heard her ask him to take her to Asgard. His face lit up. I wanted to stand there and bask in the knowledge that she was on my side, but I had other things to do to prepare for battle.

"Let's go, Esther," I said.

Esther turned away from me and stared at the floor.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Don't get in a lather," she said. "Everything's Jake. Everything's always Jake."

"Then let's go."

My first order of business was a cab ride to a North Tulsa residence where I paid eight hundred bucks for a 2001 Dodge Neon. The car didn't have heat, but it was November, and the temperature was in the seventies, so I figured I'd be all right.

After buying the car, I stopped at a store and bought some new clothes. I paid for them, then changed in the dressing room. I shoved my old clothes into the bag. Once I'd tossed the bag into the backseat of the car, it was time to get busy.

The next item on my to-do list was to gather information, and hopefully to recruit help or at least gain knowledge from the magical community. The best place to start was a metaphysical bookstore, and Google helped out on that front.

Peaceful Enchantments was located in the Cherry Street District. Billed as a metaphysical store, they carried a wide variety of books from Eastern philosophy to magic to ancient Egypt. They also carried a nice selection of Tarot cards in a glass case.

Getting to the store meant climbing a steep staircase. The wooden floor creaked as I stepped inside. Esther was with me, but she remained invisible. It was just after noon, so the place had just opened. Esther darted into the curtained rooms to make sure there wouldn't be any surprises. The smell of sandalwood incense permeated the air, and a kind older woman with silver hair greeted me from behind a counter piled high with books and stands holding flyers. She wore stylish glasses and a brown sweater vest over a light blue plaid shirt.

"Welcome," she said. "Feel free to browse, but if you need any help, my name is Shirley Amauric."

"Thanks, Shirley," I said. "I found you online. I'm only in town for a few days, and I really need to talk to someone who knows something about magic."

"We have a variety of books about magic, of course. Are you interested in folk magic, Earth magic, ceremonial magic, sympathetic magic?"

"All of the above," I said. "I'm looking for someone proficient in casting spells. Someone who's already been through initiation rites to achieve a higher level of power, and in particular, someone who can cast protection and containment spells."

"That's not really what we do, sir. We teach classes in Kundalini yoga, and spiritualism and meditation. We do have books on Wicca and Kabbalah, of course."

"You have herbs here, and some of those are particularly useful to witches constructing hex bags."

"Herbs are useful for many things, but I think you've seen too many horror movies, sir. Wiccans seek peace and harmony with nature. We don't offer the herbs used in the creation of dangerous hex bags."

"I'm not looking to cause trouble for anyone," I said. "I understand you've got your hands full running a store like this in the middle of the Bible Belt."

"Not really. We've been here for forty years, and we've never had any real trouble."

"I'm glad to hear it. Let me throw something else at you. Have you heard of Dragon Gate Industries?"

Her lips tightened a bit, but she didn't say anything.

"I see that you have," I said. "They don't have a branch in Oklahoma, which means you're bound to have some independent wizards and witches in town. I need to speak with one of them. Ideally, the most powerful and knowledgeable. Hopefully someone who knows a great deal about Egyptian magic."

Esther popped over beside me. "Nobody here but us and the customers coming in now," she said.

Sure enough, a young woman and her son clomped up the stairs, and approached the counter. "Excuse me," she said. "Can you point me to your crystals?"

"Of course," Shirley said and stepped out from behind the counter.

"Have I been a useful chunk of lead?" Esther said.

I didn't know what she was talking about, but when I turned toward her, she looked away.

Shirley led the woman to the selection of crystals. "If you have any questions, I'll be right over here."

"Thank you," she said and slapped her son's hand away from the counter with all the crystals.

Shirley walked back to me. She took off her glasses and polished the lenses on her vest. "I don't know you, sir," she said quietly.

"My name is Jonathan Shade," I said. "If you look me up, you'll find that I died back in 2007."

"And yet here you stand."

"Think about that," I said.

"Yes, well, don't take this the wrong way, but I'm a bit skeptical about people coming back from the dead."

"As well you should be," I said. "The truth is somewhat more complicated, of course."

"Of course."

The kid knocked something off the counter and the sound of breaking glass interrupted us.

"Teddy!" the woman said. "No!"

Shirley glided over to them. "It's quite all right," she said. "Please step back. I don't want anyone to get cut."

"I'll pay for the crystal ball," the woman said.

"That won't be necessary." Shirley knelt and picked up shards of glass. "I'll get a broom."

The woman led her kid back to the stairs and as they descended she said, "I can't take you anywhere! Why you have to constantly embarrass me is beyond my capacity to understand."

"Get over it, Mom," the kid said.

Shirley swept the rest of the glass into a dustpan. She sighed and shook her head. "Happens more often than you'd think," she said and emptied the dustpan into a plastic trash can beside the counter. She clipped the pan to the broom handle.

"Let's cut to the chase," I said. "To show you that I'm part of the community, I'll take the broom from you using my delicate hand of pale power."

I held out my hand.

Esther solidified her hands and yanked the broom from Shirley's hands and carried it over to me. I grabbed it, twirled it once and set it on the ground. She made her hands go invisible again.

Shirley sighed, unimpressed. "Simple magic," she said.

"Which is why I need someone more proficient."

"Call forth three of the crystals from the counter over there," she said.

"Now I have to jump through hoops?"

"Three crystals."

"Do you have a preference?"

"A carnelian, a black tourmaline, and a red tiger's eye."

"Fine."

I mimed raising my hands as Esther popped over to the crystal counter. She slid the glass door open and studied the selection. I hoped they were labeled because I wasn't sure she'd know the difference. I certainly wouldn't have. She picked up three rocks and carried them over, holding two in her right hand and waved the other around in her left hand. To Shirley it would look like semi-translucent hands carrying the crystals.

I shook my head, but Esther ignored me. She wanted to have some fun. She lifted the single crystal over Shirley's head making the crystal seem to fly over her. Esther spun in a circle and placed the crystals in my outstretched hands. Then her hands popped out of sight.

"You owe me," she said.

"Good enough?" I asked Shirley.

"Clumsy," she said.

"I'll put them back for you," I said and held them out to Esther.

"Watch this," she said.

She solidified her hands to take the crystals then popped over to the counter.

Unfortunately, as soon as she popped away, the crystals dropped because she couldn't carry them with her unless she remained solid enough to hold them. "Horsefeathers!" she said.

The crystals hit the floor.

Shirley raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry about that," I said. "I can do this."

Esther popped back over. She gave me an embarrassed grin then stooped to lift the stones. She carried them back to the counter and put them in their respective places.

"You need to work on your control," Shirley said.

"My elbow was bent," I said.

"Right."

"Can you help me out?"

"You need to see Dr. Carlos Ancho."

"The guy is named after a pepper?"

Shirley sighed. "He's a local purveyor of esoteric knowledge. If anyone can help you, it's Dr. Ancho."

"Got an address for me?" I asked.

"He's a professor, and he works at Oral Roberts University."

"You know how Oral Roberts died, don't you?" I asked.

"Pneumonia."

"Wrong," I said. "He got hit by a speedboat when he was out walking his ducks."

"Trust me, he died of pneumonia."

"It's a joke."

Shirley frowned. "Take my advice, Mr. Shade. Don't tell that joke on campus."

"Thanks," I said. I grabbed a chapbook from the counter and looked at it. The Sacred Magic of the Qabbalah by Manly P. Hall. I handed it to Shirley. "I'll take this."

"As you wish."

I handed her a ten dollar bill. "Thanks, Shirley." I turned to leave.

"You don't want your change?"

"Keep it," I said. I didn't really want the book either, but it seemed like good manners to buy something.

I descended the stairs with Esther by my side.

"Sorry about the crystals," she said.

"What was that all about?" I asked.

"I thought it would be the cat's meow if I could take something physical with me when I pop over."

"Practice that when it doesn't make me look like an idiot," I said.

She looked hurt and I thought of apologizing.But then she laughed and solidified enough to take my arm. "Like you need my help to look like a sap."

# CHAPTER SIX

Oral Roberts University was in south Tulsa at 81st and Lewis. One of the more famous features was a massive sixty foot bronze sculpture of praying hands in front of the entrance.

Confession time. When I was a little kid, I found out that Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny were lies adults told to children. The night I learned about them, I climbed into bed and thought about what else didn't make any sense. God was at the top of the list. For years, I thought adults pretended to believe in God so the children would feel there was a higher power out there and feel protected, or perhaps scared depending on how the faith was administered. The entire concept of an omnipotent, omniscient being that created the universe billions of years ago, and only recently decided to create mankind in His own image seemed pretty damn silly. But there are people who seem to need their faith, so who am I to judge?

My mother was religious in spite of her magical background. She felt light magic came from God and dark magic from the devil. I wonder how she squared that circle since my father's magic was dark and hers was light. Maybe she felt she'd saved him. As for gods, I've met beings most folks consider gods, but none of them qualified in my view. Even Thor could be killed. I might not be able to do it, but someone or something could. And the same held true for the Men of Anubis.

Esther stared at the Praying Hands.

I kept moving toward the entrance.

"You coming?" I asked.

"Those are huge," she said.

"Every now and then, they have a problem with those hands," I said.

Esther turned to me. "Really?"

I nodded, all serious. "The hands fall open every Sunday, but they're easy enough to fix. Just toss a quarter up there and the hands snap shut." I clapped my hands for effect.

Esther shook her head. "Why do I ever listen to you?"

As we walked to the front doors of the main building, Esther put out a hand and solidified it to stop me.

"What?" I asked.

"You be respectful in there," she said. "Many of these people have dedicated their lives to serve God."

"Do you believe in God?" I asked.

"And how," she said. "And I pray for you all the time. These are good people so don't be a jerk to them."

"Delightful people like Ted Haggard graduated from this fine institution," I said.

She shook her head. "You check your phone right now. Find someone you like who graduated from here."

"These people would think you're Satan spawn," I said.

"Says you. I think they'd consider me an angel. Get out your phone."

"I'll be nice."

"Get out your phone, Jonathan. I'm serious."

I sighed and took out my phone. I checked for a list of graduates from ORU. "Michele Bachmann," I said. "Not impressed."

"Keep going," Esther said.

"Actors, baseball players. But then there are lots of religious people. Pastors, pastors, everywhere."

"Who help people. Find someone you like or I'm outta here."

I scrolled through the list and finally stopped. "Okay. I like Ryan Tedder," I said. "Lead singer for OneRepublic."

"Then I want you to talk to these people the way you'd talk to Ryan Tedder."

"So you want me to ask how to hit the high notes in 'Counting Stars?'"

"Don't be a wet blanket. I'm serious, Jonathan."

"Fine."

She nodded and dematerialized.

As we reached the front doors, I said, "Maybe someone here will do a Darth Vader impression and tell me they find my lack of faith disturbing."

She made her hand solid so she could punch my arm.

But Esther was right and I knew it. Who was I to judge others for the things that made their lives bearable?

A nice woman directed me to Dr. Ancho's office. It was in another building, so we had a walk ahead of us. The campus was beautiful. The famous Prayer Tower stood tall in the center of the gardens with pebbled pathways leading to the various buildings.

Dr. Ancho was teaching a class, so we waited in the hallway. Eventually, class let out. Students pushed through the doors and flowed into the hall. I ignored their conversations and when the flow slowed to a trickle, I stepped into the room.

Carlos Ancho stood three feet tall on his tiptoes. He wore a nice business suit, and when he looked up at me, he gave me a warm smile. "Greetings and salutations," he said. "You don't look like students."

Esther was still invisible, so the plural caught me off guard.

His smile brightened. "Yes, I can see your ghost friend," he said and extended his right hand. "Dr. Carlos Ancho."

I shook his hand. "Jonathan Shade."

"Perfect balance," he said and nodded. "Not many like you around." He turned and bowed to Esther. "And you, my lovely lady, are stunning. Yes, you are forgiven, and if Heaven exists, you will be welcomed with open arms should you elect to make that journey."

"Does Heaven exist?" Esther asked.

Dr. Ancho shrugged. "You would know better than I. The Good Lord doesn't speak to me directly, but I have no problem taking it on faith."

"So you're a scientist and a Christian?" I asked. "Doesn't that bring about some kind of conflict of interest?"

He laughed. "My dear boy," he said, "I'm not one of those god-of-the- gaps types. Science explores the nature and law of the universe, and God is the creator of that universe. Nothing science discovers will ever erase the creator. We should seek the answers to the universe, and study the laws God set up to govern it."

"Interesting view."

"Somehow, I don't think you came here to discuss God. You strike me as an unbeliever."

"Guilty as charged," I said.

His smile never wavered. "Nothing wrong with wanting more evidence." He looked me up and down. "Your soul is stained with the blood of many men."

"Which means I'm destined for Hell, is that it?"

He shook his head and laughed. Then he leaned toward me and lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Don't tell anyone," he said and looked around as if to reassure himself that we were alone, "but I don't think Hell is a place you go. I think it's a place you work your way through on your journey to enlightenment."

"So no lakes of fire?"

He glanced at his watch. "I have the next hour free, and if you'd like to continue this, I say we go over to the Hammer for some coffee and snacks."

"The Hammer?"

"Officially, it's the Armand Hammer Alumni-Student Center, but we all call it the Hammer."

"So you don't mind answering questions?"

"Buy me a cup of coffee and I'm all yours for an hour. I doubt there's anything wrong with you that we can't solve in that time frame."

"You're not even going to ask why I want to talk to you?"

He laughed again. He had a great laugh, and I found myself liking him more and more. "I live for conversations," he said. "I don't care why someone wants to talk to me, or what they want to talk about. I get to know people by talking with them. I can teach, console, sympathize, empathize, learn, and sometimes check off the box for all of the above. I love talking with people, be they friends or strangers who are destined to be new friends."

"I want a new friend," Esther said.

"Oh, my dear lovely woman, I would be honored to call you friend."

"And Jonathan would be honored to buy you a cup of coffee."

# CHAPTER SEVEN

On the inside, the Hammer looked like a cross between a mall food court and an airport gate concourse. Off to the right, people stood in short lines to get tacos or coffee, while off to the left chairs sat in rows, though there were some long white counters with places to plug in computers, and an open area with a massive television broadcasting four channels on one huge screen.

Dr. Ancho ordered a latte, and I got a black coffee. We chose a few seats away from the studying students, though most looked like they were just surfing the net. Esther didn't order a drink because while she could solidify these days, she was never hungry or thirsty and wasn't sure she'd be able to process liquids or solids.

"Thank you for being open to talk to us," I said.

Dr. Ancho nodded. "My pleasure."

"Word on the street is that you have a good feel for what's going on in the world."

He sipped his latte. "When I was a boy, I lived in Mexico City, and the day before my birthday, I begged my mother to take us on a trip. I told her it was very important that we get out of the city, but when she asked me why, I couldn't tell her because I wasn't getting a clear signal. I just knew we needed to leave."

"Did she agree?"

He shook his head and frowned at a painful memory. "She said we could go on a picnic on Saturday, but I knew that was too late and we needed to go now. She said no because she and my father had to work, and my aunt was coming to visit that night to stay for a week. I told her if we stayed there, she would die. She reassured me that she would be fine, but I couldn't sleep that night. I tried to talk to my father, but he was drunk and refused to listen. My sister was too young, and my aunt when she arrived was too tired. But I warned them all that death was stalking us."

"What happened?" Esther asked.

He shrugged. "We were in our small apartment, and early that Thursday morning, there was a terrible earthquake. More than ten thousand people died that day. September 19, 1985. My mother, father, sister, and aunt died when the building collapsed. My mother managed to throw herself on top of me when the roof caved in. I felt her last breath leave her body. My tenth birthday. I was trapped there for two days before rescue workers found me."

"I'm sorry," Esther said, reaching over to place a semi-solid hand on his arm. The empathy in her sad eyes moved me. "Now I know why you can see me."

"Oh, man," I said. "I have no words."

He waved us off. "No words are necessary. The reason I'm telling you this is because there are no days promised to us by God. I believe He loves us because it makes me feel better to believe that, but in reality, I believe we are on our own here. We all suffer tragedy. We all experience miracles. And by miracles, you can choose to believe they are from God, but so are the tragedies. I love the Lord, and I believe He loves us all too. But I think He has better things to do than to worry about any individual person or even any individual planet. We should live our lives to the best of our ability. We should take the time to get to know one another, and to have empathy to a point. I also believe there is evil in this world, and some people are here to fight the darkness to keep the rest of us safe."

Esther nodded. She looked at me. "He means you."

"At times," Dr. Ancho said. "And at times it may be a little lady crossing the street that delays a car and prevents an accident. We can all have some measure of impact on the world, and sometimes through chance, and other times through choice, we can leave the world better than we found it."

A young man and woman approached our chairs. "Hi, Dr. Ancho," they said in unison.

"Greetings and salutations, Corinne and James. I trust the world is being kind today?"

"Every day," Corinne said. She handed him a sheet of paper. "We made this for you, Dr. Ancho. Have a blessed day."

He accepted the sheet and they moved on into the building to study or talk or play games.

Dr. Ancho smiled and held up the sheet of paper. "I believe this is for you, Mr. Shade." It was a Bible verse in nice calligraphy, and it read, "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. —John 15:13."

I didn't know what to say.

"It doesn't have to come to that, of course."

I stared at him, not sure how to respond. Was the guy a psychic? Was he just reading me somehow? I didn't know. He seemed genuine.

He smiled. "You are a wanted man by a seriously powerful force in the universe. You call them the Men of Anubis. I call them Amenken and Mahu. If you face them alone, they'll smite you in the amount of time it takes to crack an egg against a skillet."

"So you are psychic."

He smiled. "I can see things in time, but I can't do anything about them. I can issue warnings, but in most cases, I don't meet the people I need to warn. I like to get to know everyone I can because I can always see the moment of their death. If it's possible to change that, I let them know what I can without coming right out and saying too much. If I draw too much attention, the tragedies are worse."

"Like in Mexico City."

He nodded. "Or New York in September 2001."

"You know that correlation is not causation, right?" I said.

The smile and nod. "Ahogado el niño, tapando el pozo." He shrugged, "I know. And perhaps the tragedies would be just as bad if I didn't warn people. I try to tone things down, and for the last fourteen years, I've managed to avoid the big tragedies. You can argue that I wasn't in a position to see them. Perhaps. But many times I see small tragedies and large tragedies and I see that a nudge here or there will keep things on the smaller side. But I've also learned that if I go to these places physically, they are always worse. This is true whether I open a rift or I take normal transportation."

"All right," I said. "I'm open to believing you've got some precognition going on."

"A blessing and a curse," he said.

"You know why I'm here."

He nodded. "I do. But I don't know why."

"What do you mean?"

"You don't have to do this. Your hand is not being forced."

"I trapped Khemet in the void. His father and brother are going to try to kill me, and worse, they'll kill my friends to get to me."

"Mr. Shade, they have to be able to find you first."

"They know I'm here."

"They know you're alive somehow, but they don't know where you are, and unless you call them out, they aren't likely to find you before you die of old age. All you have to do is settle down and live a normal life. You can help people here and there, and provided you don't do anything on a grand scale, you and your friends will be safe. Hanging around with a Norse god isn't what I'd call laying low."

"But they can travel through time."

He nodded. "Have you heard of the Mandela Effect?"

"No," I said.

"There are many people who remember Nelson Mandela dying in prison back in the 1980s, but he didn't die until 2013, and that was after not only getting out of prison, but also becoming president of South Africa."

"Sounds like a memory issue to me."

"Perhaps it is," he said. "And perhaps it isn't. Did you see Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs?"

"Of course."

"What does the witch say when she talks to her magic mirror?"

"That's easy," I said. "She says, 'Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?' Everybody knows that."

"And everybody would be wrong. She says 'Magic mirror on the wall.'"

"Nonsense."

"And how," Esther said. "It's always been mirror, mirror."

"Pull up YouTube on your phone," Dr. Ancho said.

"Why?"

"Because I want you to watch a clip from Snow White."

"We have better things to do than that."

"Humor me."

So I pulled up the clip in question and sure enough, the damn witch didn't say "Mirror mirror" she said, "Magic mirror."

"What the hell?" I asked.

Esther shook her head. "No," she said. "Someone changed it."

"The movie is based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, of course."

"I read that when I was a kid," I said. "And I remember it saying, 'Mirror mirror on the wall," in the book as well."

"It still does."

"So history has been changed?"

"You seem to be evidence of that, Mr. Shade. Perhaps your exploits are the reason for the Mandela Effect. Then again, perhaps anytime the Men of Anubis move through time, they shake things up a bit and that helps to keep you hidden."

I shook my head. "You may be right. Wow, the Snow White thing really messes with my head," I said. "Are there other examples?"

"Dozens. Everything from the HBO show with Sarah Jessica Parker to the ending of 'We Are the Champions' by Queen."

"Sex in the City is part of it?"

"Sex and the City."

"In."

"And."

"Come on."

"Look it up. I'm sure you saw The Empire Strikes Back."

"Of course."

"When Vader tells Luke he's Luke's father, what does he say?"

I struggled to remember the lines. "I think he said, 'Luke, I am your father.' Right?"

He shook his head. "Wrong. He says, 'No, I am your father.' There are plenty of other examples. Do you remember the Berenstain Bears or the Berenstein Bears?"

"Berenstain," I said.

"Most folks would disagree with you."

"You're just talking about memory here. We often remember things incorrectly."

"Have you been to Ellis Island?"

"Yes."

"How did you get there?"

"Ferry."

"Did you know there's a bridge?"

I smiled. "Yes. But it's not open to the public. They use it to transport materials and workers for the restoration projects."

"What's the most common brand name for adult diapers?"

"Depends."

"Depend. No S."

"I've never needed them," I said, "so I've never really paid attention."

"The Men of Anubis have been scouring the recent past going back a few decades, moving forward a few decades. There are seven billion people on this planet. You've been traveling. They know where you fought Khemet."

"So they have to search the entire planet for me. As an artifact, I don't show up."

"And if they make any alterations, even small ones, things shift a bit. They are making clouds at the bottom of the river and when the silt settles, it doesn't land where it was. For them to find you will take a stroke of luck so great it would be like winning the lottery every day for a week."

"So you're telling me to back off. You see that if I continue on this quest, I'll die."

"Or your friends will die. Or perhaps all of you will die."

"Any chance we all survive?"

"If you continue your search? About the same as winning the lottery every day for a week."

"But the Men of Anubis have killed millions of people."

"Everyone dies." He finished his latte and stared into my eyes. "But not everyone lives."

# CHAPTER EIGHT

"You are capable of simply walking away," Dr. Ancho said. "Why don't you?"

I looked around at the students in the Hammer. The laughter, the quest for knowledge, the like-minded people seeking spiritual communion. Why was I fighting? Was it for these people? I didn't know them.

Was it for my old friends back in Colorado? I hadn't seen any of them in a lifetime, and I mean that in a literal sense. So far as they knew, I was dead, and had been for years. None of them knew I even existed, and I didn't know what was going on in their lives either. We were strangers.

Kelly and Esther were the only constants in my life. I tried to connect with Brenda, and that was wonderful while it lasted, but when Khemet killed her, a part of me died as well.

I faced Dr. Ancho. He sat in a gray and blue chair, his small hands on the armrests, and his feet dangling off the edge of the seat cushion. His eyes speared me, and I felt as though he could rip my mind open and stare into my soul. Rough and violent words—speared and rip. Stab and tear. But his eyes held no malice. His eyes held no judgment. He sought understanding, but his motives were pure. He was a kind man. A caring man.

He didn't say anything.

When you ask a question like that, you remain silent until the other person speaks. They can squirm, they can try to turn away, they can even run away, but if they don't leave, at some point they'll say something if only to break the silence.

Silence carries weight

That weight presses down on people.

Esther watched me struggle with my inner demons. She knew better than to speak as well. Her caring eyes held me in place and I knew she wasn't going to judge me for anything either.

No one else was paying any attention.

This was a safe place.

I could open up.

"I don't know," I lied.

"Then I can't help you," Dr. Ancho said.

He started to push himself out of the chair.

"I don't know," I said, "how to put what I'm feeling into words."

He settled back and gazed at me. "I like to watch basketball," he said. "I can't play the game, of course. Well, I could, but I'd have to use magic to win because while I may be able to run through the other players' legs, it would be too easy for them to block any ball I tried to throw toward the hoop. I still like to step onto the court at the Maybee Center every now and again. I like to dribble the ball, pass it around to students, give them their shot at the basket. Anyone can toss the ball around, dribble it up and down the court, pass it to another player. Let's do that here."

"I don't have a basketball," I said.

He smiled. "Come with me."

He pushed himself out of the chair, dropped to his feet and moved down a hallway toward the restrooms.

Esther floated after him, so I followed too.

Once we were out of sight of the main floor, Dr. Ancho reached up and his fingers glowed. He slid his fingers down through the air and peeled open a rift to a basketball court.

"Go on through," he said.

Esther stepped through the rift. I stared down at Dr. Ancho. "I wasn't saying we should get a basketball."

"I know. Step through."

I had to bend down to get through the rift, but I did so. Dr. Ancho followed me through then closed the rift.

We stood at the edge of the basketball court. Several players moved on the boards at the far end, their sneakers squeaking when they cut and changed directions. They shot easy baskets, patted one another on the back and laughed. Easy practice.

Several basketballs sat on the floor by the players' bench. Dr. Ancho raised a hand and made a slight motion. One of the balls rolled across the floor then took flight and sailed through the air at me.

I caught the ball.

"Simple magic," I said.

None of the players paid us any attention, and they hadn't seen the ball fly.

"Bounce the ball," Dr. Ancho said.

I bounced it, liking the high pitched noise it made when it struck the boards. I caught the ball again and started dribbling.

Dr. Ancho stepped onto the court and held up his hands to me.

I bounced the basketball to him. He caught it, dribbled for a moment and tossed it to Esther. The ball passed through her and hit the floor, bounced a few times then rolled against the wall.

"You were supposed to catch it," he said.

Esther shrugged. "I've never touched a basketball."

"First time for everything," I said. I started to walk toward the ball.

"I've got it," Esther said and popped over to it. She solidified, lifted the ball then popped back to the court. The ball dropped to the floor by the wall where she'd been. "Aw, horsefeathers," she said and popped back to it. This time, she carried it back to the court.

"Keep practicing, Esther," Dr. Ancho said. "To grab something physical and take it with you is possible, though difficult because it takes a great force of will. It's easier if you have something of similar mass already in your hands when you go. Then you trade it for what you want to take with you."

She shook her head and tossed the basketball to me. I dribbled a few times, ready to pass to Dr. Ancho, but he dug in his pocket and took out a handful of change. He motioned for Esther to go over to him.

"Take a quarter," he said.

She picked a shiny quarter from his palm.

"Hold it tightly." He walked ten feet away and placed a penny on the ground. "All right. Pop over here with the quarter, trade it for the penny and pop back to where you are now."

"All right," she said and popped over to the penny.

The quarter dropped to the floor where she'd been. She ignored it, lifted the penny and popped back, but the penny dropped to the ground by Dr. Ancho.

"Aw, applesauce," Esther said.

"You have to really want to carry it with you and to take the other item back."

"Shouldn't she try to trade a penny for a penny?" I asked.

"The mass doesn't have to be equal. It can be close and the universe will allow it."

"I don't think I can do that," Esther said.

"You jumped over here and brought your clothing with you," he said. "If you couldn't make the jump with anything, you'd arrive naked."

"The clothes are part of me. I've worn them forever."

"They go because you see them going with you."

"Stop beating your gums about me. Jonathan needs your help, not me."

"You keep working, Esther," Dr. Ancho said. He turned toward me. "I'm open."

I passed him the ball. He caught it, turned and launched it toward the basket. The ball hit the rim and bounced off. I ran over and caught the ball, did a hook shot toward the basket. The ball hit the backboard and bounced away. I caught the ball and tried a layup. The ball rolled around the rim then fell the wrong way.

"You used magic to stop that from going in," I said.

He grinned, feigning innocence and put a foot out to stop the ball from rolling past him. "Why would I do such a thing?" He lifted the ball and tossed it into the basket. He winked at me. "Someone has to score some points."

I retrieved the ball. "Nice shot."

"And no magic."

"Magic retired."

Dr. Ancho laughed, knowing exactly what I meant. "He came back for a season. Why do you think he did that?"

"He wanted to play."

"You can retire, Jonathan."

"And do what?"

"Anything you want."

I dribbled the ball. "That's not true."

"Why? What do you want?"

I considered that for a moment. "I want to make things right," I said, and passed him the ball.

"What makes you think things aren't right?"

"No offense, Dr. Ancho, but I don't buy into a grand plan for the universe designed by some imaginary friend for adults."

He laughed. "That's a good one. I'll have to write that down." He set the ball on the floor and dug a small memo pad out of his pocket. From another pocket, he produced a pen. As he wrote on the first page, he spoke the words aloud. "Imaginary friend for adults." He put the pad and pen away. "I like that. It's right up there with 'invisible man in the sky.'"

"George Carlin," I said.

He nodded. "All jokes aside, if you don't buy into a grand plan for the universe, what do you have to make right?"

"Sorry?"

"It's a simple question. If there's no plan, there's nothing to set right. It's not like life is a game of basketball and we have to keep score on an intergalactic scoreboard."

"The Men of Anubis have a plan."

"Most of the people on this planet have a plan too. They plan to lose weight. They plan to write a book. They plan to ask that lovely young woman on a date. They plan to save some money. They plan to get a new job. They plan to watch their favorite TV show on Friday night."

"The Men of Anubis have killed thousands of people. Maybe millions."

"People die every single day, Jonathan. Some die from a heart attack. Some die from cancer. Some die in a robbery, a car accident, some in war, some in childbirth, some jump off a bridge, some are shot, stabbed, strangled, you name it. We're right back to the fact that everybody dies."

"I can't do anything about them," I said. "But maybe I can do something about the Men of Anubis."

He nodded and tossed the basketball to me. "Take a shot," he said.

I shook my head.

"Take a shot," he said again, raising his voice slightly.

"Fine," I said and turned to throw the ball toward the basket.

"Not from there," he said. "Move to the free throw line."

I walked over and put my foot behind the line.

"Esther, stand along the key."

"The key?" she asked.

"The line right there," he said, pointing.

She stood where he said. He moved to the opposite key as though he and Esther were going to rebound my free throws should I miss.

"The game is on the line," Dr. Ancho said. "Tie score. We're down to the final seconds. A basket will win the game. You were fouled and you have two free throws. Make one and you win the game."

I took my shot.

Dr. Ancho motioned with one finger and the ball bounced off the rim and came back at me. I caught it, bounced it a few times as I repositioned myself at the line.

"Last chance. A basket wins the game."

"No magic," I said.

"I won't need magic," he said. "You won't make the shot."

I sent the ball up in a lazy arc. It hit the backboard, bounced on the rim and deflected off to the side.

"Did my imaginary friend make you miss?" Dr. Ancho asked.

"You put doubt into my head saying I wouldn't make the shot."

"I can't work direct magic against you, Jonathan. The doubt was already there. You worry that you're not good enough. That somehow what the Men of Anubis do has some reflection on you."

"Thousands of people died because of me," I said.

"Did you kill them?"

"I couldn't save them."

"Welcome to the real world when sometimes bad things happen and there's nothing you can do about it."

"They have to be stopped."

"And you think you can stop them?"

"I have to try."

"Why? Because they killed thousands of people?"

"Those people would not have died if not for me."

He sighed and made a motion with one hand to send the basketball back to the other side of the court where it belonged. Then he walked past me and said, "You're not fighting for thousands of people."

"What do you mean?"

"You tell me," he said and kept walking. "But I have to get to class now."

I raced to catch up to him. "You think you know me?"

He grinned. "I know I do."

"Well, evidently, I don't know myself. Care to throw some light on the subject?"

"Oh, now you want a spotlight?"

He moved to open the door, but I blocked his path. Esther kept her distance.

"No," I said. "I want to make amends."

"For?"

"The people who've died because of me."

"All those thousands of people in New York back in 1927? You didn't know them, and you're not the one who killed them. They've been gone for almost ninety years."

"For Henry Winslow," I said. "I failed him. For Brenda Slaughter, who would still be alive if not for my actions. For Naomi Miller. For Brand Easton. For Esther, who wouldn't have killed herself and come back as a ghost."

"That was a different you," Esther said. I hadn't realized she'd come over to us. "And that was my choice."

"And for Kelly. My Kelly."

I still had dreams of watching her get cut apart by cleavers. Her memory haunted me, and I'd been pushing it away so hard there were nights I couldn't sleep at all.

"So you want revenge."

"No," I said. "I want to do something right for a change."

"The Men of Anubis can kill you with a touch."

"I'm not afraid to die."

"But you can't bring any of those people back."

"Some of us aren't even gone," Esther said. "I've been carrying a torch for you for as long as I've known you. I can be physical now, and you don't even seem to notice the bank is open."

"I've noticed," I said. "I just feel we have to deal with the problem at hand first." I knew it was a lame comment, and Esther shook her head then stared at the ceiling.

"It's not your problem," Dr. Ancho said.

"The Men of Anubis are looking for me."

"But they can't find you. Let them look."

"They need to be dispatched," I said. "It's not right for them to go backward and forward in time killing people, changing things. And they will find me."

"What makes you think that?"

"Because good things always die and the bad things always flourish. I can make a difference, or at least die trying."

"And take how many more with you?"

I gave a light humorless laugh. "You don't get it, Dr. Ancho," I said. "Everyone I've ever truly loved is already dead. The least I can do is try to fight the things that killed them. You know that old military sentiment of 'All gave some, and some gave all?'"

Dr. Ancho nodded.

"My friends gave all. Esther here gave all. Even Brand, who in his own misguided way was probably trying to do the right thing, gave all. And Kelly."

And that was the crux of the issue right there, though I didn't say it. Dr. Ancho knew. I could see it in his eyes. Somehow, he was able to read me and know just what was in my heart. Things I didn't want to say to anyone. Like the fact that every time I saw Kelly, I longed for a way to trade her for the Kelly I'd lost. The Kelly I loved, and who loved me back.

"That doesn't mean you have to give all," Dr. Ancho said.

"I don't care if I live or die," I said. "I just want to take the Men of Anubis with me if I go. And quite frankly, hiding from the sons of bitches doesn't appeal to me at all. That means they win. That means Kelly died for nothing."

"Kelly died facing Henry Winslow," Esther said.

"And if not for the Men of Anubis and their actions, we never would have been tossed back in time."

"But Sharon and Chronos sent us back."

I closed my eyes and thought about it. These were the same Men of Anubis I'd met in ancient Egypt. They got the Emerald Tablets of Thoth when Henry disappeared and shot forward in time. But Henry would not have been anywhere near Tutankhamun's funeral if not for me.

"I need to sit down," I said. I leaned against the wall and slid to a seated position.

The Men of Anubis had killed untold numbers of people. They had altered time in ways I couldn't imagine. The ramifications of their actions changed history, and they couldn't have done any of it if not for me. So all those deaths were on my hands.

Kelly's blood was on my hands.

"All of it is my fault," I said. "If I'd killed Winslow when I first met him, the world would be a much different place."

"You don't know that from nothing," Esther said. "Maybe you're just the fall guy here."

"I don't look anything like Lee Majors," I said, trying to lighten the mood. It didn't work.

"You know what I mean. I wasn't with you in Egypt, but I think you've been framed. You were on the up and up in San Francisco. You've saved lives the whole time I've known you."

"And I'm the reason you killed yourself."

"Different you, but the you that you became is so much better than the one I knew. That rhymes." Esther tried to cheer me up by dancing and going into a little sing-song. "The you I knew, you knew him too, and you know it's true, you're better than you know who."

"To keep the rhyme going," Dr. Ancho said, "it's time for you to buy a clue."

"Stop," I said.

"I'll spell it out for you. The Men of Anubis couldn't send you back to create them. They're a byproduct of something else."

"They're one hell of a byproduct."

"When time is altered, there are always problems. I'm going to be late for my class, but the students won't mind. What are you hoping to accomplish?"

"I want to put an end to the Men of Anubis. They're my fault, so they're my responsibility."

"And if you die facing them?"

"At least I will have tried to make things right."

"Will you stick around in spirit to keep fighting?"

"I sure hope not." I looked at Esther. "No offense, Esther, but I can't imagine what you've been dealing with for all these years."

"You don't want to," she said.

"That's not true," I said.

"Yes it is. To you I'm just a dead girl. I get it. To me, you're my chance at life. And I don't think it's ever going to happen. Not ever."

"Can we deal with this later, Esther?"

"Always later," she said and turned away.

"You were saying, Dr. Ancho?"

He hesitated, and for a moment I thought he'd judged me and found me wanting, but he soldiered on and looked up at me. "If you're simply severely injured, will you try to find a way to reset time?" Dr. Ancho asked.

"How would I do that?"

"If you don't know, I'm certainly not going to tell you."

"By taking the watch from Chronos?"

"Trust me. You don't want that job."

"Truth be told, I've had more than enough time travel nonsense. It's one of those things that sounds like fun, but turns into a total nightmare."

"No one ever stops to consider the ramifications. Just keep your eyes open for the real villain of the piece."

"I will," I said, thinking I knew what he meant. "Will you help us?"

He took a deep breath and considered it. "That depends on what you expect me to do. I won't fight with you or for you or even against you."

"I need to know what I'm up against, and I need some help getting my recruits together. I also need to find a good place to face the Men of Anubis. I promised Chronos not to face them in Denver, but I have to go there to get a few helpers."

He stared at me for a moment and I saw disappointment in his eyes. "I can open a doorway to Denver for you, but I won't be able to keep it open, so you'll need to find your own way back."

He gave me a nod then reached up and pulled down the air, opening a rift. A gust of cool wind rippled through my shirt.

"Go. I have a class to teach."

"Thank you," I said.

He gave me a strange look. "Not sure you should be thanking me, but it's your life. Now go. I'm late."

Esther and I ducked through the rift and stepped from the floor of the Maybee Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma to an alley off East Colfax in Denver, Colorado.

# CHAPTER NINE

The temperature hovered in the high forties, but the wind made it feel colder. Esther couldn't feel the difference, but I found myself wishing I had a jacket.

"Dr. Ancho is good," I said as we exited the alley to the sidewalk on East Colfax. We'd stepped through right around the corner from a small parking lot with a strip mall of shops, one of which had a door that read, Colfax Self Defense. Someone had stuck a piece of white tape on the door between the Self and Defense to act as an impromptu hyphen, but that wasn't clear until we got closer.

I hadn't seen that door in a lifetime, and I'd never seen the grammar Nazi correction before. My last memory of this place was from when a sorcerer named Blake Ravenwood blasted the entire city block out of existence, leaving a smoking hole in the wake of whatever magic he'd used. I got even with the son of a bitch and left him in the Underworld after kicking his ass. Naomi Miller, whose body he'd been using at the time, died to get him there, and I've never really forgiven myself for her death.

Life has a way of tormenting me because I'd seen her die twice. As I reached for the door to the dojo, I thought about Kelly. I'd seen her die twice, too.

"What are you waiting for?" Esther asked.

"This Kelly won't know you."

"I'll stay invisible until you introduce me, and I won't beat my gums."

"That'll be a first," I said.

She gave me a playful slap, then went translucent.

I took a deep breath. The smell of pizza cooking down the street wafted past and made my stomach growl. Grunts sounded from inside the dojo as students punched air going through their routines. No time like the present, I thought, and opened the door.

A black woman approached me with a big smile, moving with exaggerated stealth as she put a finger to her lips. She looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't place her. Had she been one of my Kelly's students too? Kelly taught mostly women because she liked to empower them to take control of their lives. You couldn't ask for a better role model.

"Can I help you?" the woman whispered.

"I'm here to see Kelly Chan," I said.

"Oh, she'll be back directly. She's at the airport saying goodbye to a friend."

In the studio, a young woman with dark red hair led ten other women through a routine where they blocked punches and kicks while advancing and retreating in unison. It didn't look very effective at first, but I realized this was more to get them used to the contact of blocking, and to the concept of moving backward to avoid a punch or kick and stepping around once the other person has committed. It looked to be a beginner's class. The women ranged from early twenties to late sixties.

I drew a breath, thinking that Kelly had breathed this air. She wasn't my Kelly either, and I knew I needed to be prepared because she might not recognize me. I was a bit older than the last time she would have seen me, and my hair was different. And to her, I was dead, and had been for years. My heart pounded and I realized I hadn't responded to the woman's statement about Kelly being at the airport.

"Sorry," I said. "Would it be all right if we waited?"

"We?" the woman asked.

"She can't see me," Esther said.

"I mean, would it be okay if I waited," I said. Wow, I was really off my game.

The woman sized me up, and suspicion showed in her narrowed eyes. "What do you want with Kelly?"

"I'm here to offer her a job," I said. "If she wants it, of course."

"She's got a job."

"This is a different kind of job that would make use of her particular set of skills."

"Don't go all Liam Neeson on me, Mister..." She hesitated so I'd give her my name, but I didn't want to do that. I don't know why.

"Not me," I said. "Her. Look, I'll just sit here and read a magazine. Is that cool? If I disturb anyone, I'll leave if you ask, but I'm not here to cause any trouble. I just need Kelly's help."

"You know her?"

I shook my head. "We've never met."

She looked me up and down again then frowned. "I guess it's all right, but if you get rowdy, I'll throw you out of here myself."

"Yes, ma'am."

"If you need me, my name is Monique."

"Got it. Thank you, Monique." I pointed to the plastic chairs in the little waiting area between the counter and the front of the building. "Sitting down now."

"Mmm hmm."

Class let out fifteen minutes later. After the women chatted for a few minutes, they filed out of the dojo.

Monique glanced over at me as the last of the students left. Kelly's substitute teacher went off to the women's locker room without coming over to the door.

"We don't have another class until tonight," Monique said. "Means you need to leave now."

"Can you call Kelly for me?" I asked.

"And tell her what?"

"Tell her that her old friend Jonathan needs to talk to her."

"And you said you didn't know her."

"It's complicated."

"Isn't it always?"

"Help me out here. It's just a phone call."

"I'll think about it."

"In the meantime, can I use the restroom?"

"It's in the back."

"I know where it is," I said.

The substitute teacher exited the women's room. Her red hair was even darker than I realized, but it was a dye job as I could see blonde hair at the roots. She wore blue jeans and a T-shirt with a big orange jack o'lantern on it. Halloween was over, so maybe she liked the shirt. She gave me a nod as she passed.

As I stepped into the men's room, I heard her ask Monique, "Who's the cute guy?"

Esther remained invisible to them and listened to their conversation. If they said anything of value, she'd fill me in. I used the restroom, washed my hands, and returned to the front of the dojo. The floor was exactly as I remembered it, covered with training mats. I'd killed a Sekutar warrior in this very place. Well, in a different layer of time.

Monique and the redhead stood by the office door, chatting. Esther gave me a shrug. Nothing to report.

"You going to help me out?" I asked. "Can you please call her?"

"You ain't got the number?" Monique asked.

"I used to," I said. "I can get it again. I just don't want to talk to my sister. Please?"

"Hold your horses," Monique said.

"No horses to hold."

Monique went into the office, leaving me with the redhead.

"Hello again," I said. "I'm Jonathan. And you're?"

"Not."

"So I'm not even worthy of your name?"

She grinned and gave me a wink. "You never know what the future will bring."

"I used to know," I said.

"What happened?"

"Forgot to pay the bill to the psychic hotline. You'd think they'd have known to remind me."

She nodded. "You're not that funny."

Monique exited the office. "I tried Kelly's phone, but it went to voice mail. Sorry, Mr. Jonathan. You gots to go. I need to lock up and meet my friend Jessica for coffee."

"It's all right, Monique," the redhead said. "I'll lock up. I don't mind waiting with Jonathan for a while."

"You sure?"

She nodded and winked. "Oh, I'm definitely sure. He's cute, and I'm between boyfriends."

"Okay, Gillian. If you say so. Thanks again for covering the class."

"Any time. Kelly saved me, so it's the least I can do."

Monique gave me another look, then pushed through the door and headed down the sidewalk.

"Thanks for hanging out with me, Gillian," I said.

"Well, now you know my name," she said and locked the door.

"I do have ears."

"Indeed," she said.

"So Kelly saved you?" I asked. I wanted to know more about who this Kelly was. For all I knew, after I died, she could have reverted back to being a killer for hire.

Gillian nodded and stepped closer. "I was a nymphomaniac, and I made bad choices about which guys to sleep with. Some of them were violent, but I like the bad boys. Long story short, one was a little too bad. Kelly taught me how to defend myself."

She seemed a mite comfortable with the whole nympho thing, and the way she looked at me made me wonder if she wanted to put me on the menu. I wasn't ready for a fling. Brenda's death was too recent, but the way Gillian bit her lower lip as she stared at me was something of a giveaway.

"I'm glad," I said.

"So, Jonathan," she said, looking me over again. "Your last name wouldn't be Shade, would it?"

"Hate to disappoint you, but Jonathan Shade died years ago. We share a first name."

"That's a pity because Kelly still talks about him. I would love to meet him."

"Got a time machine?" I asked.

She laughed. "I wish. If I did, I'd make sure I never hooked up with Jack Munster."

"You slept with a guy named Munster? Did he look like Frankenstein's monster?"

"No, but he smelled like the cheese."

I laughed.

"I like your laugh, Jonathan."

"Something's wrong with this sheila," Esther said.

"Thank you," I said, intending the response for both the live and dead girls. Esther didn't need to worry. I sensed something off about Gillian. And for Gillian the pleasantry was to have something to say. I sure wished Kelly would get back.

Gillian leaned close and sniffed me. "You smell good." She let her lips brush my ear and whispered, "I want you inside me."

I blinked. Had I heard her correctly?

"I'm sorry?"

She grabbed me and pushed me backward toward the women's locker room. "Working out makes me horny, and you look like the kind of man who can scratch my itches in all the right places. I know you think something's wrong with me, but I've had all my shots and I always carry protection." She dug in her pants pocket, pulled out a wrapped condom and tossed it to me. The wrapper had a radio station logo and a caption that read, "Wrap that rascal."

"Uh..."

She pushed me back, peeled off her T-shirt. She wasn't wearing a bra and she was young and healthy. She threw her shirt at me. "We're both adults," she said. "We don't need clothes."

"I was just—"

She rushed to me and planted a kiss on my lips. She moved her mouth over mine and reached down to rub my crotch. She maneuvered me into the women's locker room, which consisted of a couple of rows of lockers with wooden benches between them, and a shower room with toilets at the back.

Esther stood in the center of the dojo, shaking her head. "And now I have to play fire extinguisher."

Gillian closed the door and stood proudly. "Do you like what you see?"

"Well..."

"Do you want to see more?"

"I was actually here to see Kelly."

"I'm a vibrant young athletic woman who wants to fuck your brains out. Are you really going to say no to me? Strip."

"You're a lovely woman."

"Are you gay?"

"No, but—"

She grabbed my shirt and yanked it open, popping off buttons. They clattered to the tile floor. She pulled my shirt down, pinning my arms, then purred like a kitten as she moved her lips to mine. She kissed me down the chin, neck, and chest as she sank. Her hands ran down my arms, pulling my shirt down with them, and right as I expected her to move to my fly, she drove her head into my gut. Hard.

I bent with the blow. She came up with her head, smacked me under the chin then threw a throat punch. I tried to block, but my arms wouldn't come up thanks to the damn shirt. I managed to twist enough that her punch hit me in the side of the neck. I fell over a bench by the lockers and crashed to the floor.

Gillian leaped over the bench and straddled me. The view was nice, but I knew I was in trouble when she touched her right earring and said, "I've got him."

"Esther!" I yelled.

Gillian punched me in the face, touched her earring again. "Yes, sir," she said and tried to drive her fist through my face again. This time, I moved my head and her fist struck the floor. I bucked underneath her, and rolled over, smacking her against the wooden bench. I wrestled her until I was on top. She flailed at me, but I caught her arms, and pinned them with my knees.

Esther walked through the wall and stared at me. "This isn't a petting pantry," she said.

"Who were you talking to, Gillian?" I asked. My lip felt a bit swollen from her blow.

"Who's Esther?Don't you want me?" she asked, smiling. "You can take me now. I'll writhe beneath you like a wildcat in heat."

I sighed and looked at the ceiling.

"Want me to sock her lights out for you?" Esther asked and materialized fully.

Gillian frowned. "Looks like you have me at a disadvantage."

"Just pinch her carotid arteries closed," I said to Esther.

Esther knelt and reached for Gillian's throat.

Gillian pulled her left arm free. "Do over," she said and pressed a jewel on her left earring.

I felt like I was falling into myself.

Esther and I stepped through the rift from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Denver, Colorado.

The temperature hovered in the high forties, but the wind made it feel colder. Esther couldn't feel the difference, but I found myself wishing I had a jacket. My shirt was buttoned and intact, but my lip hurt and I felt slightly disoriented.

"Dr. Ancho is good," I said as we exited the alley to the sidewalk on East Colfax. "Oh, shit," I said as the reality settled onto my shoulders.

"What?" Esther asked.

"The Men of Anubis have found us."

# CHAPTER TEN

There were two options. I could go through the time loop again, trying to make little changes or I could take a more direct approach. I knew Gillian had earrings that let her talk to the Men of Anubis, so she was one of their agents. She must have been their spy to keep tabs on the version of Kelly Chan from this layer of time. One earring, the right one, let her contact them or another of their agents. The left was a technological device to erase time for a chance to try again.

I remembered everything that happened, but would Gillian know she'd gone back in time or would this play out for her like the first time. I had to assume she'd remember because otherwise she wouldn't know to try a different tactic.

I explained this to Esther while we stood on East Colfax just a few yards from the parking lot of the strip mall where Kelly had her dojo.

"I remember everything that happened, too. So, play it out again or go in and attack?" she asked.

"Yes."

"There's a third option," she said. "Don't go in at all."

"They know we're here. They know we're trying to reach Kelly."

"So?"

"They'll kill her."

"If they wanted her dead, they could have bumped her off already."

"We have another problem," I said.

"What's that?"

"My lip still hurts from where she punched me, but my buttons aren't broken."

"I'm sorry, Jonathan, I'm all balled up here. How is it that we went back, but still remember?"

"I don't think this is a normal time loop because we're not connected to time."

"There's such a thing as a normal time loop?"

Four gunshots sounded not too far off.

"Was that from the dojo?" I asked.

"I'll check." Esther popped away.

She popped back a moment later, her face lighter than normal.

"What's wrong?"

"Gillian just shot and killed you in the dojo."

Sirens wailed in the distance and grew closer. Shit. We weren't connected to time so we got tossed out and back like silt clouding the river, but Gillian went back to what time was before, meaning for a short time there were two of me and two of Esther, and the second Esther had to still be in there.

"Pop back in there," I said, backing away toward the corner. "See where Gillian is going. I'll catch her unawares."

"B-R-B," Esther said.

Traffic was terrible on Colfax, but the drivers did their best to wheel to the side to let the police cars and ambulance through. We weren't far from Colorado Boulevard, so the ambulance was close. Police cars screeched into the parking lot. I watched them pile out of their cars and face the dojo, guns drawn. For all they knew, they were dealing with an active shooter.

Esther popped back.

"She went up through Kelly's apartment to get to the roof."

I nodded. "Got it."

Esther sailed along beside me as I ran around the building. "I saw myself in there too, wailing over her dead Jonathan. Talk about strange!"

"We can talk about that later. Get up there and stay invisible so you can keep tabs on Gillian."

Esther nodded and popped away.

In the back alley, a fire escape led to Kelly's balcony. I raced back there, jumped up to catch the bottom rung and pulled the ladder down. I climbed to the balcony, hopped up onto the rail and jumped to the rooftop. I caught the gutter, and it groaned under my weight.

Please hold, I thought.

It bent, but did not break. I swung a leg to the roof and hauled myself up, rolling to my feet.

I caught sight of Gillian's red hair as she jumped from the rooftop to a lower roof. I followed her. I ran to the edge of the second story roof and leaped outward. I hit the first floor hard, but did a quick roll to absorb the impact. Gillian heard me land, and spun around to face me.

"Impossible!" she said. She pulled the gun from her pocket and raised it. I was too far away to do anything.

Esther materialized beside Gillian, and punched her in the face with one hand, while shoving her gun hand to the side. The gun went off and missed. The gunshot might draw the cops, though. Then again, from up here, blending with the traffic noise from Colfax, it might be mistaken for a car backfiring.

"Thank you, Esther," I said.

Gillian recovered quickly and tried to punch Esther, but Esther dematerialized. Gillian threw herself off balance with the punch, and by then I'd crossed the distance. I pushed her hard in the direction she was moving and she fell down. The gun skittered off to the side, so I hurried over and stepped on it.

"Why'd you have to go and kill me?" I asked.

"I put three bullets in your chest and one in your head. How are you still alive?"

I spread my arms to show no injuries. "You missed," I said.

I bent to pick up the revolver, a simple Smith and Wesson six-shooter.

"I saw you go down."

"Oh, baby, you were the one who wanted to go down on me."

She glared at me and reached for her ear.

"No you don't," I said and kicked her arm. I leaned in and yanked the left earring. It wasn't a clip-on, so she flinched at the pain as I tore it free. Blood dripped from her mangled earlobe. "Esther, can you hold her arms for me?"

Esther popped over and grabbed Gillian's arms. I wasn't so violent removing the right earring. I didn't feel bad about the damage. She had shot another version of me, after all.

I walked away from them and moved to the edge of the roof. I peered over to see if anyone was coming. The police had entered the building, and several stood guard outside, standing behind the open driver's doors of their police cars. No one looked up, so I was right about the noise from the gunshot. Sounds like that are ubiquitous on East Colfax. A single shot doesn't draw much attention if there are no witnesses and it's off in the distance.

I walked back to Gillian and Esther. "We're good," I said.

"How are you even alive?" Gillian asked.

"Your little earring creates a mini-Mandela Effect," I said. "I'm not tied to time the way you are, so when you hit the button, you went back in time, but I was tossed out to where I entered the area because I can't be in the same spot at the same time as my earlier self. At least, that's my hypothesis."

"I didn't understand a word of that," Esther said.

"And who the fuck are you, lady?" Gillian asked, struggling to pull free.

"You could say that I'm the ghost with the most," Esther said.

"I thought that was Beetlejuice," I said.

"That's a movie; I'm real."

"Good enough," I said. "At breakfast, she's the ghost with the toast."

"You think you're funny?" Gillian asked.

"Yes, but I realize some people think I'm just an asshole."

"They know you're here."

"You're quite the stupid little bitch, aren't you?" I said.

"What do you mean?"

"The Men of Anubis will pop into the dojo, and they'll see my body with all the bullet holes and the lack of a pulse. And once again, they'll think I'm dead."

Esther flinched.

"Something wrong, Esther?" I asked.

"Tell you later," she said.

"Your ghost friend just felt her other self go bye-bye," Gillian said.

"Is that true?" I asked.

Esther nodded.

That meant the Men of Anubis were in the dojo. They couldn't have been more than thirty yards from where I now stood.

I turned toward the dojo, thinking that maybe I should go face them now.

"They're down there, all right," she said. "And now I'm going to call them up here." She opened her mouth to scream, but only the first part of the yell issued forth before Esther smacked her on the back of the head. "Hey!"

"You try to scream again," I said, "and Esther will dematerialize her hand, push it inside your skull and rematerialize it, killing you instantly."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Try me, bitch," Esther said. "I'd love to send you down the river. You killed Jonathan."

"One version of me, anyway," I said. "Keep her here, Esther."

"Don't go down there, Jonathan," Esther said.

I held up the earrings. "I've got a do-over," I said.

"Don't waste it!"

Gillian smiled. "Go face them, timeless man."

"Jonathan, no!"

I liked the direct approach. It had served me well against Persephone and others. What if I could go down there and shoot one of those sons of bitches behind the ear before they knew I was even there? Maybe I could get both of them. Or maybe those jackal masks would deflect bullets. I checked the gun. One bullet remained. I sighed. If I had two bullets, I might have gone down there. With one, it wasn't worth the risk.

I glanced back at Gillian. "Got any more ammo?"

"Not on me."

"Okay," I said. "I find myself in need of a bedtime story, and you're just the lady who can spin that yarn for me. How and when did the Men of Anubis recruit you?"

"Two years ago, and how is none of your business."

"That long ago?" That was not only before I'd killed Khemet, it was before I'd returned from the 1920s. Of course, they'd want to keep someone on Kelly as a just-in-case precaution. Gillian was in place, but until I killed Khemet, they had no idea when or if I'd turn up. They probably had agents around Patrick O'Malley, and everyone else I knew back then, too.

"What are you going to do with me?" Gillian asked.

"I haven't decided."

"You're going to have to kill me to keep me quiet."

"I'm not going to kill you," I said.

"The Men of Anubis will expect me to report in."

"Yeah, that's not going to happen."

"They'll find me if I don't contact them."

"They're here now," I said.

"So?"

"They're not going to try to trace you along your timeline. They can do that, of course, but I think it's more likely they'll just be at your house waiting when you get home."

"Apartment," she said. "I rent."

"Then you should have struck a better bargain with them for being a spy."

"My son is alive because I agreed to help them. I wasn't about to try and up the ante."

"What happened?"

"Car accident," she said. "I lived, he didn't. They offered me a chance to relive those last seconds to avoid the wreck, and said I might one day have to kill a stranger, but my son would be alive. No offense, but I'd kill a hundred men like you to keep Joey alive."

"No offense taken," I said. "How old is your son?"

"Fifteen last month."

"You don't look old enough to have a fifteen-year-old."

"I take care of myself."

"That you do. All right, cops will be searching for the shooter, so we should probably get out of here now."

"You're taking me with you?"

I laughed. "Not a chance."

"I'll tell them about you."

I winked at her. "I'm counting on that."

"They'll find you."

"I'm counting on that, too. Esther, let her go."

Esther did as I said.

Gillian didn't get up. She stared at me. "You're just letting me go? I shot you dead."

"Well, I figure you're not armed now, so you're not going to do that again. I also figure you won't run back to the dojo because the Men of Anubis are probably gone now, and there are too many witnesses who can ID you as the shooter. There are probably cars on the way to your apartment now, so your best bet is to call your son, and have him meet you somewhere. You'll have to leave and start over someplace."

"You said the Men of Anubis would be at my apartment, so if I call my son..."

"Oh, they'll follow him. They're not stupid. They can find you."

"And you want me to lie to them?"

I shook my head. "You can tell them the truth. If you lie, they might kill you, and worse, they might kill Joey."

"I don't know what to say."

"Goodbye?"

# CHAPTER ELEVEN

Esther and I relocated to the other side of Colfax. We loitered at the mouth of an alley. The sun dropped behind the mountains shooting brilliant orange light dancing across the clouds and throwing purple shadows through the sky.

"Think she drives the same truck?" I asked Esther.

Esther shrugged. I looked to passersby like a well-dressed homeless man talking to myself. Nobody paid me any attention. The homeless tend to be invisible no matter what kind of clothes they're wearing.

The detectives continued to work the crime scene at the dojo, and they would likely be there for many more hours. They had to photograph the scene, get video, collect evidence, try to lift fingerprints, and all the rest. In real life, it took a lot longer than what you see on TV. From where I watched, I could tell the detectives had already placed tent numbers to mark evidence, and they were taking still more photographs.

A truck pulled into the lot, and my heart skipped as Kelly exited the vehicle. This Kelly had seen a version of me die already. How would she react to seeing another version of me dead on her dojo floor? She spent some time talking to detectives. She had her back to the truck.

"Let's take a chance," I said.

"You're the one taking a chance," Esther said. "I'm all berries."

"It's not a big chance," I said. "I'll keep my distance."

I walked westward down Colfax and crossed at the corner. Kelly's dojo was on the south side of the street. On that corner, I leaned against a lamp post and pulled my shirt tighter. I rubbed my arms. The temperature wouldn't have bothered me if not for the damn wind.

After a time, Kelly nodded to the officers then climbed back into her truck. She started the engine and flipped on the lights. I stepped away from the lamp post and waved my hands over my head then pointed South down the side street.

I couldn't see her because of the lights, so I wasn't sure she'd check out the crazy guy at the end of the sidewalk, but she turned on Colfax and hung a left beside me.

She buzzed down her window. "Who are you and what do you want?" she asked.

"I'm King Arthur of Camelot, and I seek the Holy Grail," I said and approached the truck.

She stared at me. Her mouth dropped open.

"Jonathan?"

"Me too," Esther said and materialized in front of her.

Kelly started. "Who the hell are you?"

"Esther, I couldn't see you until I died. This Kelly has never met you."

"Oh, horsefeathers. I forgot."

"Can I bum a ride?" I asked. "We have a lot to talk about."

"We may need to talk later," she said and pointed.

Six men unfolded from the shadows and approached us.

"Would you care to do the honors?" I asked. "I only have one bullet."

Kelly smiled, shut off the engine and opened the truck door. She reached behind the seat and came out with a gleaming katana. She tossed the scabbard into the truck.

"Who dies first?" she asked.

The men stopped. One of them touched his right ear and said, "Jonathan Shade lives."

"Shit," I said. "Don't let any of them touch their left ear."

We rushed them. Kelly lopped off the first guy's head. I ducked a punch and slammed my guy to the ground. I grabbed him by the hair and yanked an earring from his left ear. There wasn't a button on it. Maybe these guys didn't rate a time device.

A man grabbed me from behind. I threw myself backward, slamming my head into his face. Stunned, his grip loosened, and I drove him backward against the wall. I elbowed him in the gut, spun and punched him to the ground.

I turned around and the other men were all dead. Kelly wiped her blade on the last corpse's coat.

"That was fun," she said. "I see you still know how to have a good time, but you only handled two of them."

"I'm out of practice."

The two I'd handled were still alive. Kelly stepped up to the first guy, who held his bleeding ear. "Death or questions?"

"Neither," I said. "Let's just go."

"Still leaving enemies alive to haunt you later?"

"These guys are just hired thugs."

"So what kind of shit have you stepped in now, and just how many of you are there?"

"Just the one right now."

"And the dead Jonathan on my floor?"

"Maybe we should go somewhere to talk."

She gestured to her truck. "Hop in."

She returned to the driver's side, hit the switch to unlock the passenger door, then sheathed her sword and stuck it behind the seat.

I climbed in beside her.

She stared at me a moment. "Is it really you?" she asked.

"I promise, I'll answer all your questions, but we need to get out of here before the Men of Anubis show up."

"That's all I need to know," she said and started the truck. She wheeled away from the curb and drove down the side street to 14th, and took that to Colorado Boulevard. "Nobody's following us."

"Good," I said. "You've heard of the Men of Anubis?"

"Vampires are scared shitless by them. Bastards who mess with time, right?"

"Right."

"I'll want to know more about them, of course, but first, I want to know about you."

Esther appeared between us. "And me?" she asked.

Kelly raised a hand from the wheel, but stopped herself before smacking Esther. She placed her hand back on the steering wheel. "Is she going to keep doing that? It weirds me out."

"Sorry," Esther said. "I don't want to be a fire extinguisher."

"It's okay, Esther," I said.

"Not if she keeps popping in out of nowhere like that," Kelly said. "I almost killed her."

"She's already dead," I said.

"Hmm," Kelly said.

"Want me to make myself scarce?" Esther asked.

"Esther, please stay," I said.

"I'm a third wheel."

"No you're not."

Kelly stopped at a light and turned to stare at me. "If you're done talking to the ghost girl, you owe me dinner."

I gave her a confused look. "Okay, I'd be happy to buy you dinner."

"No, you owe me dinner. Don't you remember?"

"Kelly, I've lived a couple of lifetimes since I last saw any version of you that would have common memories."

"We made a bet."

I struggled to remember.

"The day you died. That morning. Over breakfast."

I shook my head. "I got nothing."

"Men," she said as the light changed.

"I said I'd buy you dinner," I said.

"But you don't remember the bet."

"No."

"You bet me dinner that after Daredevil underperformed, and then Elektra flopped that we wouldn't see another live action Daredevil in our lifetimes."

"And?"

"The Netflix series? My friend Amanda insisted I watch it with her, and I have to say it was very good."

"I don't know Amanda."

"Have you seen the Daredevil series?"

"No."

"You need to watch it."

"I don't have Netflix. Actually, I don't have a home. I managed to piss away a fortune a few months ago."

"Are you trying to get out of paying for dinner?"

I laughed. "No," I said. "Dinner is on me."

"Because you lost the bet."

"I don't remember the bet."

"You haven't changed."

"I'm still paying."

"Damn right you are."

Esther shook her head. "I should go check on the other Kelly."

"Stay here, Esther. We may need you."

"You may need me, but you sure as hell don't want me."

"Did she say other Kelly?" Kelly asked.

# CHAPTER TWELVE

We stopped at Old Chicago, and ordered a pizza to split. Esther sat beside me, invisible. It bothered me that she felt so rejected, so I promised myself to make it up to her later. It occurred to me that I was always having to make things up to her. She was stalwart and true, and I didn't appreciate her enough.

While we waited for the pizza, I drank a beer, and Kelly sipped an iced tea. Esther didn't say anything. She just sat there watching us talk, but as she was invisible, Kelly couldn't see her, and I didn't pull her into the conversation because I was enraptured. The restaurant was busy, but we had a small booth and the talking from the various conversations was just white noise in the background. I stupidly let Esther fade into the background, too.

"Before I go into a long, drawn-out story," I said. "What do you know about the Men of Anubis and all that surrounds them."

"Ancient Egyptian assholes. They move through time, and evidently know when certain magical artifacts are used. I also heard that you were alive and in New York, and that somehow I have a time twin."

"Yes, there's another Kelly Chan. You two lived different lives."

"The other Kelly your ghost mentioned. She's the Kelly you knew?"

"Uh, no."

"Jesus, Jonathan. How many of me are there?"

"Right now? Two."

"That's just weird." She shook her head and sipped her tea. "What happened to the Kelly you knew?"

"She died."

"How?"

"In battle. A wizard sent sixty meat cleavers spinning at her all at once. For me, it was more than fifty years ago, but it still haunts me every night."

"I'm not touching the fifty years ago comment. Tell me this. Was it a good death?"

I nodded.

"Who can ask for more? Are you here to ask me to die in battle for you, too?"

"I don't want you to die."

"We all die, Jonathan. Well, except for you, it seems. You're like a cat with nine lives or something."

"I'd sacrifice all of them to bring back the Kelly I knew," I said.

"That's not going to happen. So she died in the sixties?"

"1877."

"You went back to the old west? There's a story there."

"I went back to ancient Egypt first. Look, this is a convoluted story, and I can tell you all about it another time. What matters is that I tricked the Men of Anubis. They thought I was dead, but evidently, they weren't completely convinced because they had agents watching you."

"If they can go through time, why not kill you before you went back?"

"Too late. I'm not attached to any layer of time."

"I don't get it."

"Just accept it. I don't want to explain layered time right now. I promise, I'll explain all of it. Hell, I'll write it all down if you want. But for now, I need to recruit you and a few others to help fight the Men of Anubis."

"Doesn't matter. I'm in."

"You don't know what it entails."

"I don't care. Cho is safely off to Japan, and I'm free to do as I please. I'm in."

"Cho?"

"Little girl. Werewolf for a father."

"I've never seen a werewolf."

"You don't want to."

"I'll take your word for it."

"As well you should," she said and leaned back as the waiter arrived to deliver our pizza.

When he left, we each grabbed a slice. I set mine on my plate to cool a bit, but Kelly bit into hers. Not feeling pain was a useful byproduct of her magical engineering. She could eat piping hot pizza without a problem.

"You said the Men of Anubis can tell when particular magical artifacts are used?" I asked.

She chewed and swallowed while nodding, then said, "That's what I've been told."

"By whom?"

"A vampire named Victor Pavlenco."

I nodded. "I've met him. He's an ass."

"I can't stand the guy, but he has a cute ass."

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that. Son of a bitch almost got me killed. So what did he tell you?"

"He has something called the Ring of Aten. There are at least three of them, and if a vampire wears one, he or she can walk in daylight without burning."

"Handy trick."

"Not much use to us here, though, unless Victor is willing to help."

"No. If I ever see that bastard again, I'll drive a stake through his heart."

"Tell me how you really feel."

"Anything else?"

"Not really. You've met the Men of Anubis. You tell me."

"They have technological devices. A crook and flail from ancient Egypt. Used to belong to Osiris."

"The Egyptian god?"

"Big, blue, and dangerous. I hope I never see him again either."

"Are you name-dropping to try and impress me?"

"No, I really did fight Osiris. And I met King Tut and his bride."

"Now you are name-dropping."

"Maybe a little."

She smiled. "I like that you feel the need to impress me. The truth is that you impressed me by showing up here alive. You died in my arms, Jonathan. When I learned you were alive, I tried to find you. I had feelers out all over the place, but Victor lied to me, saying he couldn't locate you."

"I wanted to come see you, but it wasn't safe."

"Plus you already have a version of me. Speaking of her, where is she?"

"Off with Thor somewhere, trying to recruit soldiers for the coming battle."

"With Thor?"

I nodded.

"You have the whole name-dropping thing going again. It's like a disease."

"It's a disease, all right," Esther said, finally speaking up. "And I can't take anymore."

She popped away.

It bothered me that she was upset, but Kelly couldn't see her, and I knew Esther would be fine, so I shrugged and took a bite of pizza. The rich tomato sauce and toppings made my taste buds tingle. The cheese stretched and curled when it broke.

"This is good," I said and waved my hand in front of my mouth. "Still hot."

"Man up."

I filled her in about how I dispatched Khemet to the void, and about the vajra weapon I had stashed away in a Tulsa hotel room. I told her about Rayna and the dragon. And I tried to explain Esther.

"Is she here?"

I shook my head. "She left a little while ago."

"Oh, we probably should have included her more. Why didn't she speak up?"

"You have to understand about Esther," I said. "The version of you I knew adored Esther. She remembers you that way."

"What about the version of me in Tulsa or off gallivanting with Thor?"

"She likes Esther, but it's just not the same."

"Nothing ever is."

"Will you do me a favor and try to be nice to her?"

"She's a friend of yours, Jonathan. That's enough for me. I promise to extend the hand of friendship to her. I might not feel about her the way my original time twin... triplet?... did, but I will give it my best effort."

"Thank you," I said. "And don't refer to my Kelly as the original time twin. The Kelly out with Thor is technically the first and she might be sensitive about that. I just didn't meet her until 1926."

"See, it's shit like this that messes with my mind. You were born in 1979, but you talk about meeting someone born a year earlier, more than fifty years before her birth. My birth. Our birth?"

"I thought you were born the same year as me."

"A woman never tells. Maybe I was born five years after you. I look younger than you."

I laughed. "Trust me, I'm way older than you now."

"You always were, but you never act like it."

"That's because I'm a guy."

She nodded and grabbed another slice of pizza. "You say that like it's a good thing."

"Because it is."

She laughed. "Dream on."

I laughed, and a part of my mind made a note of it because I knew it might be the last time I'd be able to just sit back and enjoy a meal with a friend for a long time. While no day is ever promised to us, we always look to the future. But that moment, looking at the Kelly Chan I'd just met less than an hour earlier, I knew it was probably the last time I'd get to enjoy her company. She might die tomorrow. I might die. Hell, we both might die. But tonight we were very much alive, and I laughed and enjoyed getting to know my old friend for the first time.

We all have nights like that. We should treasure them because they're rare and wonderful, and we too often take them for granted, the same way I'd been taking Esther for granted. I wished she could be here to enjoy this dinner too.

I hoped that wherever she was at that moment, that she was happier than she'd been while sitting here watching me talk to another Kelly. And while I did wonder about her as Kelly and I enjoyed our meal, I confess I didn't think about her enough. Once more, I simply expected that she would always be there.

That's the thing about friends. They're always there for you.

Until they're not.

# CHAPTER THIRTEEN

We crashed for the night at a cheap hotel on Colfax. There were two beds, but it looked like the kind of place that rented by the hour. But hey, it was cheap, and they didn't have black lights so if the sheets were as spotty as my phone's internet connection, I couldn't tell. We didn't want to risk going back to Kelly's dojo/apartment, so we'd stopped at a Target store to get a few things: toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, a change of clothes for each of us.

Esther didn't come back. She had freedom to roam, and I knew she'd show up sooner or later. Maybe she'd gone to spend time with the other Kelly and Thor. I tried calling Kelly, but it went to voicemail.

"Which bed do you want?" I asked.

"The one farthest from the door."

"Extra time to react if someone attacks?"

She shook her head. "Easier to ignore sounds in the hall."

"Thank you for agreeing to help."

She sat on the bed and stared at me. "It feels so strange to see you. It's like I'm dreaming."

She was a lot nicer than the other Kelly. Of course, I wasn't the guy who killed her Jonathan, so that could have something to do with it. Either way, I felt much better about the odds of surviving the coming battle. I had two Kelly Chans on my side.

Kelly turned on the television, and a trailer for the new James Bond movie, Spectre was playing. "I want to see that," I said.

"I want a date with Daniel Craig," Kelly said.

"Easier to see the movie. It starts tomorrow."

Kelly shook her head and started to say something, but the news came on. Local stuff, but nothing about my murder at the dojo. When they switched to weather, she turned off the TV.

"So no double-oh seven," I said.

"You and your movies," she said, and grinned.

"They give me something to live for," I said.

"That's sad."

"I don't know. There's going to be a real Star Wars movie next month with Harrison Ford and the whole gang. There hasn't been a real Star Wars movie since Return of the Jedi, and that was only good until those stupid teddy bears showed up."

"There's more to life than movies."

"Says you," I said, and thought again about Esther.

"Where are you living these days?"

"Here and there. Since I got back in June, I've spent some time in New York City, Florida, Mexico, Tajikistan, and Tulsa. Had a quick jaunt to Venice, Italy. That was nice."

"But you haven't put down roots anywhere?"

I shook my head. "Can't do that with the Men of Anubis out there."

"So what will you do once they're dispatched?"

I shrugged.

"Seriously, Jonathan."

"I haven't thought about it."

"You could always come back to Denver."

"There's nothing here for me. All my friends think I'm dead."

"I'm here."

The way she said it made me think of my Kelly. I'd fallen in love with her, then watched her die. I couldn't face that again. I needed to keep both versions of Kelly alive, but distant. Neither of them was my Kelly, though this one at least seemed to care about me.

I wanted to respond, but I took too long to formulate an answer to that, so her words hung in the air. I should have grabbed them and told her that was reason enough to come back here, set up shop, live life, help the people of Colorado. But truth be told, I hadn't even paid much attention to the Star Wars trailers. After all, I didn't expect to be alive to see the movie.

Kelly got up and moved toward the restroom. "I'm going to take a shower," she said.

And I realized my lack of response had hurt her.

Why do we always hurt those we care about?

I didn't want this to be any more uncomfortable than it already was, so I crawled into bed and tried to sleep. I was still awake when Kelly finished her shower and slipped into her bed. And I was still awake two hours later. Too many things raged in my thoughts. I was worried about Esther. I wasn't sure who we could trust.

When I finally drifted off to sleep, my dreams were haunted by images of the Men of Anubis killing both versions of Kelly—the time twins, as I'd started to think of them. I sat up in bed, awake, and glanced over through the darkness at Kelly sleeping in the other bed. I knew she wasn't sleeping, but she maintained a steady rhythmic breathing. As soon as I sat up, her senses had to be alerted. She just didn't want to talk to me. I rubbed my face.

Eventually, I went to sleep, and morning came far too soon.

"Rise and shine," Kelly said. "Big day. Things to do, gods to kill."

"We won't kill them until the 17th."

"Why wait?"

"So we can plan?"

"Why the 17th?"

"Because that's what Chronos said."

"Chronos is the guy you told me about last night who sent you back in time?"

I nodded.

"And he said the 17th... why?"

"It was the last day he could see. His office goes to someone else that day."

"And you believe him?"

"Shouldn't I?"

"He wanted to cast you into the void."

"He wants to be free of the Men of Anubis too."

She shook her head. "After all the shit you've been through, you're still too trusting."

"What do you mean?"

"You need to determine your own future. You decide the time, place, and date of the showdown. Not them. You have to make your own decisions if you want to live to see another day. When someone else makes your decisions for you, they're writing your story."

"We might not have a say in that."

"You'd damn well better try. I'm hungry. Let's eat."

I rolled out of bed in my boxer briefs, and staggered to the dresser where the Target bag rested. I opened it and pulled out my fresh clothes. Kelly had already placed the toiletries on the sink in the bathroom. I considered just getting dressed, but gave my underarms a whiff. "I need a shower first," I said.

"Knock yourself out."

I yawned and stumbled into the bathroom to get cleaned up. While I showered, I gave some thought to our predicament. I thought about Gillian and the devices I'd taken from her. I needed to give those a thorough examination. What if they had trackers in them?

I dried off, wrapped the towel around me, and brushed my teeth. Then I exited the bathroom trailed by a cloud of steam.

"Can you toss me my pants?" I asked as I sorted through the new clothes from Target.

"The dirty ones?" Kelly asked.

"Yeah. I forgot to empty the pockets." I yanked open the package of underwear and dumped them on the bed.

Kelly found my pants on the floor, shook her head and threw them to me. I caught them with one hand and dropped them on the bed.

"I'm going to go over to Starbucks across the street," Kelly said. "You want a cup of coffee?"

"My usual," I said. "Thanks."

She smiled because it was like old times. "One venti caramel macchiato coming right up."

It really was like old times.

When she left, I got dressed and transferred my billfold and keys from one pair of pants to the other. The new pants were cheap blue jeans, but at least they were clean. I had the earrings I'd taken from Gillian in separate pockets of my old pants so I'd know which was which. I removed them and went to the desk to examine them.

They were gold, though probably not real gold. Each had identical inset emerald jewels. One was a switch that moved up and down. I didn't mess with that one because I knew it would open a channel to the Men of Anubis. The other had a small button that depressed rather than moved. I didn't want to press it because I wasn't sure how it would work on me. I figured it would throw me back in the timeline by half an hour or so with full knowledge of what was going to happen so I could make changes, and it had to be partly technological because it worked on me. I certainly didn't want there to be two of me. I'd dealt with that before, and didn't want to play that game again.

It didn't seem prudent to test it. For all I knew it was a one-use item, though that seemed unlikely. The way the jewels were inset would go a long way toward preventing the accidental activation, but I still didn't want to risk keeping them in my pockets.

Kelly returned with our coffee.

"Here you go," she said and handed me my cup.

"And here you go," I said handing her the earrings. "Don't say I never gave you anything."

She looked at them in the palm of her hand. "These are ugly."

"They aren't that bad." I pointed to each in turn. "This one opens a line to the Men of Anubis. And this one sends you back in time a bit."

"Define a bit."

"Thirty or forty minutes, I guess."

"So if I get that date with Daniel Craig, I can relive it?"

"Or if we fuck up somewhere along the road, you can fix it."

Her ears weren't pierced, but she didn't feel pain, so she just stabbed them through her earlobes as she said, "I think I'd rather save it for Daniel."

# CHAPTER FOURTEEN

As I drank the coffee, I checked my phone for the date: Friday, November 6, 2015. I tried calling the other Kelly and got her voicemail again.Not good.Esther was still M.I.A.Really not good.

After breakfast, Kelly drove me out to Boulder. I worried about Esther, but I had to stay focused on recruiting helpers. One such helper, in spite of not being able to trust her—or perhaps because I couldn't trust her—was Sharon. I just needed to get her to see that it was in her best interest to help. She hated the Men of Anubis, too, after all.

She worked, as I expected, in the special collections department of the library at CU Boulder. Kelly had much better luck than I ever did with parking, so we got a spot not too far from the Norlin building. The tan walls and tiled floors looked exactly as I remembered, though it had been a lifetime since I'd seen them. It felt like a half-remembered dream from childhood. I'd been here, but it didn't seem quite right. Was I going down the correct hallway? Was this just like every campus library, or was I remembering the specifics? The placement of that magazine rack with those tables and that arrangement of shelves seemed exactly right, but that row of computers seemed wrong. Of course, for all I knew, I was remembering correctly, but the computers had been replaced. I hadn't been here in more than fifty years, but this was only a few years difference to the world at large.

Nobody tried to stop us as Kelly and I walked down the hall to Sharon's office, and fortunately, I guessed correctly on the first try on how to get there. I would have felt silly if I'd guessed wrong.

Sharon's door was open, and I saw her before she saw me. She looked kinder than I remembered, in spite of the intense look she had with her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail. She wore a smart blue business suit, and glasses I knew she didn't require.

I didn't bother to knock. Kelly and I just walked right in. Kelly took up a position at the door, which she closed as I sat in a chair across from Sharon's desk.

"You're looking well, Sharon," I said.

She looked over the top of her glasses at me. "Do I know you?"

"Don't play games. Time may change, but it changes around you, and I suspect you have memories of the way things used to be layered beneath the way things are right now."

She gave a derisive laugh. "You should know better than to show up here, Jonathan."

"See, Kelly? She does remember me. For a second there, I was going to get one of my feelings hurt."

"If you want me to slit her throat, just give the word," Kelly said.

On the way over, I'd filled Kelly in on the way Sharon had betrayed us in another layer of time. Twice, actually. Once with Persephone, and once with Chronos and the Men of Anubis.

"You won't be able to get a blade through my skin," Sharon said.

"What makes you think I need a blade?" Kelly asked.

"Now, girls," I said, "let's keep things civil."

Sharon removed her glasses and tossed them on the desk. "Why are you here?"

"I want to offer you a chance at redemption."

"Redemption?" she asked.

"Oh, come on, Sharon. You've read a lot of books. It's a grand theme that runs through so many of them. Someone does something wrong and screws people over, but gets a chance to finally do the right thing to make up for their evil deeds, and save their soul at the end."

"Am I to presume that you think I've perpetrated evil deeds upon you?"

"You did abandon me in my time of need at the Royal Gorge."

"You handled that just fine."

"You also tried to cast me into the void. Not exactly offering the hand of friendship if you know what I mean."

She smirked. "Other than that, Mrs. Kennedy, how was the parade?"

"It was delightful, actually. Nice little motorcade that left you in the grip of some clowns known as the Men of Anubis."

"You're the one on their naughty list."

"Yeah, but once I leave this building, I'm off their radar again, while you are still under their thumbs."

"What makes you think you'll be able to leave the building?"

"I have a Sekutar warrior on my team, and it's in your best interest to help me defeat those time traveling fucktards."

"Such language."

"I figure if I use more respectable terminology, they might try to sue me, but I'm pretty safe calling them assholes and fucktards."

"I don't think they need lawyers, Jonathan. They have ancient weapons of power. They can just kill you."

"They have to catch me first."

"And by setting foot in here, they know where you are."

"All part of my plan. I just have to convince you to not take sides just yet. If I can do that, you can open a rift to another location, and Kelly and I can avoid having to kill anyone to leave the building."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then Kelly gets the fun of killing some assholes."

"Starting with me?"

"You're immortal, aren't you?"

"Nearly."

"We're not here to try to kill you, Sharon. I'm not saying I wouldn't enjoy that, but I like the idea of you betraying me again and being a slave to the Men of Anubis for all eternity. Do you like buddying up on their dried-up old peckers?"

"So you're really here to insult me."

I laughed. "Thought I'd take a few shots while I could," I admitted. "But no. Here's the truth. I know you're on their team, but I also know that wasn't the case originally. And let's face it, if you don't like the taste they're leaving in your delicate little mouth, I'm your Obi Wan Kenobi."

"They're probably on their way here right now."

"Probably?" I asked.

She shrugged.

I smiled. "You have warding spells all over this place, don't you?"

"Of course."

"Huh," I said. "I didn't notice any of them."

"They're well hidden, and they wouldn't affect you anyway."

"Kelly got through."

"They aren't designed to keep anything out."

"You've got this place shielded from their view. Let me guess. You used a spell from the Forbidden Texts, which I suspect you have completely digitized by now."

"I got tired of going to the Stacks."

"So hook me up with a wee bit of information."

"After all your insults you're going to ask me for information?"

I nodded. "Of course."

"It would be more fun to simply kill you."

"I know, but I think you enjoy the banter. And on top of that, I think you want to be your own woman or man or whatever you are."

"You don't have coins for payment." She meant special coins used to pay Charon for passage across the Acheron, or for other favors.

"As the information you provide could be your ticket to freedom, you should consider it an investment in your future."

She considered that right down to rubbing her chin thoughtfully. It was all an act, of course. I knew she was playing both sides of the fence. Giving me information wouldn't hurt her because the Men of Anubis would never know. Anything she'd provide would be from the Forbidden Texts, and as they would know she hadn't accessed the Stacks, she would be free from suspicion. And if I happened to win, she really would be free from them. I knew it and she knew it. To her credit, she didn't ponder for long.

"What do you need?"

"First, I need to know the nature of their weapons. The crook is clearly capable of removing souls from bodies. I don't know about the flail."

"The flail is for punishment," Sharon said. "A strike across the back leaves a wound that never heals. It causes intolerable agony, then fades until it feels normal, then the pain starts up again. You don't want to be struck by that."

"They work on me, so they're technological, right?"

"They're a blend of magic and technology. Ancient technology from the men before the Egyptians."

"Before the Egyptians?"

"The Egyptians inherited the pyramids, Jonathan. The Ancients left this plane of existence around 10,500 BCE. The pyramids weren't tombs. It was a source of power for their civilization. Most of the Ancients left, but a few remained behind. They spread out across the world trying to teach the other people of the world about civilization. The legends of the Viracocha we got from the Inca, the stories of Quetzalcoatl, Enki, Thoth, Vishnu, and on and on. Those were the last vestiges of the Ancients."

"So how do I beat these guys?"

She laughed. "You don't."

"I chucked one of them into the void. Can't I do the same with the other two?"

"They have too much power. They can combine their energy using the sound of their voices in a hum that emanates from their bodies. As long as they can control the frequency of their voices and the level of humming, they can work their weapons together."

"And if I have an ancient weapon too?"

"Which weapon?"

"The vajra," I said. "I got it from Indra."

She studied me for a moment. "If anyone could use the vajra, it would be you. It's loaded with magic, but that won't bother you."

"So you think we have a chance?"

"No."

"Any advice?"

"Run. You don't show up on their timeline, so they can't find you unless you do something stupid."

"Like trusting you?" Kelly asked.

"Exactly," Sharon said.

"I trust you to act in your own self-interest," I said. "You gain nothing by sending them after me, but you can gain everything if I can defeat them."

"That's like expecting a teardrop to vanquish the sun."

"If they're that powerful, they won't need you to help them in the final battle."

"I'm not joining your ragtag little team."

"I didn't ask you to. Just let the Men of Anubis kill me themselves. That's all I'm asking of you."

"Other than the information."

"Yeah, other than that. Just don't lift a finger against us."

"I won't need to help them. They aren't likely to call me in to help anyway."

"They might. I beat Khemet. Is there anything else you can tell me about them?"

"Nothing useful. I can tell you that Amenken is the father, and that Mahu and Khemet were his sons. I can tell you that they want you dead. And I can tell you that anyone you knew in your old life from Kelly here to that cop you used to associate with to those clowns with the remote viewing club are all being watched, so if you make contact, agents will try to kill you."

"Can I ask a question?" Kelly said.

"You can ask," Sharon said. "Doesn't mean I'll answer."

"If the Men of Anubis can move through time, why didn't they just kill Jonathan and my time twin when they first got back from 1929?"

Sharon blinked and stared at Kelly. "This is the second Kelly?"

"Yes. The Kelly I was with when you tried to toss us into the void is working on adding a few more team members for the coming fight."

"Shit."

"What?"

"I thought she was the Kelly without ties to this time layer. The Men of Anubis can track this one."

"No worries. We already took out their agents."

"No, dumbass, they can trace her timeline backward and forward. They know you came here."

"Then why didn't they stop us?"

"Maybe they're testing me."

"Or maybe they can't follow her because she's with me," I said.

"Regardless," Kelly said. "If they can track other people, as soon as Jonathan made contact with his sister, Monica, a few months ago, they should have been there to kill him. They can't follow him, but if at any point in the future they learn he talked to her, they can track her. But they didn't."

"His direct path is hidden."

"But Monica's wasn't."

"I don't know."

Kelly grinned. "But it does suggest they're not as all-powerful as you make them out to be."

"They don't advertise their weaknesses," Sharon said.

"No, but I think we jst figured out two of them."

"Two?" Sharon asked.

Kelly nodded. "Once Jonathan makes contact with someone, they have to be off the radar, so to speak."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that if he goes somewhere, from the moment he makes contact, they can't do anything to them before then because the people he contacts are set in time. Otherwise, he couldn't have gone there. In my case, however, they already had agents watching me, so I wasn't set until he made contact. Now they can't mess with my past."

"Makes sense," I said. What I left unsaid because I didn't want Sharon to know was that if the agents had one of those damned earrings, they could knock back along their own timeline to kill me, but that only meant I appeared elsewhere like I had with Gillian. If I mentioned that, she might wonder about them, and I didn't want her to know that I had one of those devices.

"Makes sense to you," Sharon said. "Not to me."

"Are you familiar with Photoshop?" I asked.

"The computer program? Not really."

I frowned. "How about making a collage? You take pictures, place them where you want, and until you glue them down, you can make changes, but once you've pasted them in place, the picture is set."

"If you say so."

"What it means now is that as long as I'm with Jonathan," Kelly said, "the Men of Anubis can't find me because the collage has been laminated."

"Possibly," Sharon said. "You mentioned two weaknesses. What's the other?"

"Emotions. The father is pissed about his son, and the other son is pissed about his brother. Emotions make people sloppy."

"True," Sharon said. "But they also make people dangerous."

I spotted a four-tiered clear plastic business card holder on Sharon's desk. I reached over, snagged one of her cards, and stuck it in my back pocket as I stood.

"Thanks for the info," I said. "We'll be in touch."

"Not going to have me open a rift for you?"

I grinned. "If your spell is as good as I think it is, and if we're right about those bastards not being able to track us if we're together, I don't have to trust you to open a rift. After all, you might try to dump me in the void again."

"Would I do a thing like that?"

I gave her a salute. "Here's hoping I never see you again."

She gave me a nod. "Right back at you," she said.

Kelly opened the door, and we slipped out of the office.

"She might call them," Kelly said.

"She might not."

# CHAPTER FIFTEEN

No one attacked us when we left the library. No one attacked us on the way to Kelly's truck. And, you guessed it, no one attacked us when we left the campus.

I pulled out my phone. The battery was at fifty percent. I'd need a charger eventually, but it was fine for now. I hopped online and got the number for The Steam Room, which Rayna Noble owned and operated. A moment later, I was on the line with their front desk attendant.

"Thank you for calling the Steam Room, where you can gain without pain."

"I thought it was 'no pain, still gain.' Is my memory shot?" I asked.

"On the billboards and TV, but we prefer the alteration for answering the phone. What can I do for you, sir?"

"I'd like to speak with Rayna Noble," I said.

"Concerning?"

"Just tell her Jonathan needs to talk to her. We're old friends."

"I've heard that one before, sir."

Rayna was a beautiful woman with long dark hair and a perfectly sculpted body who appeared on their television ads, so I knew I needed a bit more to get past this guy.

"Tell her Jonathan needs to talk to her about Clara."

"Who's Clara?"

"Rayna will know. Just tell her that. I'll hold."

Music played in my ear: Chuck Mangione's "Feels So Good."

Kelly drove off the campus, took a few side streets through residential areas, barely made a red light at a busy intersection then pulled into a Safeway parking lot and drove around as if searching for a space even though there were spots open. She took another exit, turned left onto another side street.

I was still on hold.

"No one's following us," Kelly said.

"Unless they put a tracker on your truck."

Kelly shook her head. "Amanda cast a spell on my truck. Someone puts a foreign object on it, that object drops off. Means I don't need to go through a car wash very often."

"Must help with the bird shit, too."

"I hate birds," Kelly said. "That's why I had her cast the spell."

The guy came on the line again. "Ms. Noble is in a meeting right now, sir. She said to call her back in fifteen minutes. I'll put you right through to her then."

"Sounds good," I said. "Thank you."

"Have a nice day, and don't forget to let off a little steam."

"Had to work in that last little bit, eh?"

"Company policy, sir."

"Of course it is. Thanks." I hung up. "I'll call her back in a few minutes. For now, let's get over there so we can meet up with her." I gave Kelly the address for the spa.

We found a spot behind the spa. Kelly parked by a Dumpster. I remembered fighting members of the Marshall Clan on the roof and around the building. There used to be a stack of pallets against the wall, but today that was not the case. I stared at the roll-up metal door that led to their receiving area. The door was closed. Nobody else was in the alley behind the building.

"I think I saw something on the news about this place a few years ago. The family who owned this business was murdered. Or am I thinking of another place?"

"Same place. In my reality, we saved Rayna."

"So her counterpart died here?"

"Yeah."

"So how did she explain coming back?"

"No clue," I said. "Want me to ask her?"

"Oh, I don't care. I was just curious."

"Has it been fifteen minutes?" I asked.

"I'm not your timekeeper."

"Close enough," I said and pressed the number to call again.

"Thank you for calling the Steam Room where you can gain without pain."

"Jonathan calling back for Rayna as per instructions."

"Please hold."

This time the music selection was "Rise" by Herb Alpert.

Rayna answered thirty seconds later. "Hello, Jonathan, I always thought I'd hear from you again."

"I didn't know you were a seventies jazz fan."

"Sorry?"

"The hold music," I said.

"That's from a service. I don't choose it. If I were choosing the music, you'd be hearing Celine Dion, Lady Gaga, and Katy Perry."

"Because you kissed a girl and you liked it?" I asked.

"I've got another business meeting in ten minutes. I'm not as enamored with your cute little lines these days. What do you want?"

"For starters, I need to warn you that the Men of Anubis probably have agents watching you."

"Tell me something I don't know. I spotted three of them with ease. One is a regular customer, one is the assistant of one of the corporate types who does his workouts here, and the third is one of my employees. There may be others, but I doubt it. I'm not worth their time. What else?"

"Right to the point," I said. "You're still mad."

"I was never angry with you. I was hurt. There's a difference. Now I just don't care. You're running low on time because I need a few minutes to pull up a file before this meeting."

"Okay. I was wondering if I could borrow Clara for a few days."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because you might get her killed. Please don't ever call me again."

"But—"

"Goodbye, Jonathan," she said and hung up.

I sighed. "That went well."

Kelly shook her head. She held up her own phone and showed me an archived article from the Denver Post website with a click-bait headline: Millionaire Heiress Returns from the Dead.

"Says here she claimed to be in Europe when her family was slain, and she's now the sole owner of Noble Enterprises after taking over from her cousin, who was on the verge of selling the company. Details of how she took over the company aren't here, but she's worth millions. You should have married her."

"Woulda coulda shoulda," I said. "She won't let us borrow Clara."

"So what do you suggest?"

I grinned and raised an eyebrow. "How do you feel about stealing a dragon?"

# CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The Steam Room closed at 9:00. We wandered through a hardware store and I picked up a few items that would work as makeshift lock picks. I got a variety of sizes because I wasn't sure what I'd need.

"Why don't you just get a power drill?" Kelly asked.

"I don't want to leave a trace."

"Because your ex won't suspect you of stealing her dragon if you don't drill through her lock?"

I shook my head. "This way is cheaper. And she won't have to replace her lock."

"So you're saving her a few bucks when she's a millionaire. How nice."

"I just want to do it this way, okay?"

"You've been practicing your lock picking skills and you want to show off," Kelly said.

"Maybe."

"Whatever," she said. "I'm just along for the ride."

We hit the drive through at Burger King to get some cheap food. Kelly and I ate our hamburgers and watched The Steam Room from across the street in a grocery store parking lot as the last employee closed up the spa and locked the doors at 10:37. By 11:05, we had crossed the street on foot and returned to the back alley.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Kelly whispered.

"We need a nice surprise for the Men of Anubis," I said. "Something they won't expect."

"Nobody would expect a dragon," Kelly said.

"Or the Spanish Inquisition."

She rolled her eyes. She'd gone on and on about the dragon over dinner and in the truck while we waited, so I was tired of talking about it. She couldn't wrap her head around the concept of a real live dragon. Gods from ancient Egypt were no problem, but a giant fire-breathing reptile was just going too far.

We stuck to the shadows, and tried to be quiet as we approached the rolling delivery door at the back of the spa.

I went to work on the lock box beside the door. It took longer than it should have, but I wasn't a professional. She was right, though. I had been studying. Just not on this type of lock. It clicked, and I unlocked the door. "You want to do the honors?"

"This whole thing is your stupid idea. Why should I be the one who has to break and enter?"

"Stealing is okay, but breaking and entering is beneath you?"

"All of this is beneath me. Your ex-girlfriend will never forgive you for stealing her dragon."

"She's never going to forgive me for being an asshole either."

I slowly lifted the door.

No alarms.

Good.

Kelly and I slid inside. I used the flashlight on my phone to get the quick layout of the room.

I'd been in The Steam Room many times, so I knew my way around. We were in the receiving area, and several workout machines stood along one wall. Four pallets of boxes sat along another wall. I swept the light over them, then aimed at the massive metal doors in the floor.

"Clara is down there," I said, keeping my voice low.

"What are the odds the dragon remembers you?"

"It's from another dimension, so the odds are pretty good. Time will have shifted around her, but as the dragon wasn't born in our dimension, we should be okay."

"And if you're wrong?"

"Then when we go down there, we'll be flame-broiled, like our dinner was. Dragons like their meals either raw or extra crispy."

"In that case, before we go down there, I should ask how long it takes to stoke its fire."

"I think it keeps it stoked, actually."

"So we won't have much warning?"

"If it reels back and opens its mouth, we'll have maybe two seconds to know we're about to be cooked."

"I should go back to my truck for my sword."

"A sword won't do you any good. Don't worry. She'll remember me."

"So now it's a she? You've been saying 'it' up until now."

"The great Kelly Chan is nervous?"

She glared at me. "I don't fancy throwing my life away, but I'm not nervous. What are its weaknesses?"

"It's a dragon," I said. "It doesn't have weaknesses."

"And it's an it again."

"She," I said. "Tell you what. You wait up here. I'll go down and talk to her. Get her warmed up, so to speak."

"How are we going to get her out of here?"

"We'll ride her, of course."

"Of course."

I crouched, dug my fingers between the large metal doors and lifted. The doors didn't budge.

"They must be electronic," I said. I moved the flashlight over the walls by the receiving desk. A switch box with two buttons was attached to the side of the desk. One button was green, the other red. I hoped it didn't require a key. "Press the green button."

Kelly moved to the desk and pressed the button. We were in luck. The hydraulics kicked in and the doors opened up and out. I moved around to the front. A metal ladder led down into a basement. The sound of approaching footsteps in the darkness made me turn the flashlight downward.

"Hi, Clara," I said. "Remember me?"

The dragon's gold, green, and brown scales glittered in the light, and her golden eyes gazed up at me. She was bigger than I remembered, and when I'd seen her she was a good twenty feet tall. She rose onto her hind legs and sniffed the air.

She chuffed at me. Her breath was hot and smelled like roasted pork.

"It's good to see you, too," I said. "How would you like to fly to Tulsa and burn up some bad guys?"

Kelly tentatively moved over to look down at the dragon. "Holy shit. It's real. Nice dragon," she said.

Clara's eyes shifted to look at Kelly. Again, she chuffed and Kelly's hair blew back a bit in the hot breeze.

The dragon was loose in the basement. While I couldn't see it from up top, I knew there was a huge swimming pool with an open shaft in the ceiling above it. Clara breathed fire on the water, turning it to steam, and evidently, there were chemicals in her fire that drifted up with that mist and eased the lactic acid in people's muscles. So the whole "No pain, still gain," slogan was accurate.

"Come on up here, Clara," I said and stepped aside to make room.

Her leg muscles bunched and she folded her wings down on her back. She jumped out of the basement. The bay doors stood open, and she tossed a look at me then padded outside, holding her tail off the ground as she went. She didn't swish the tail, so I followed her. Kelly walked behind me.

"I think she remembers me," I said.

"How nice for you."

"And you thought stealing a dragon would be difficult."

When I stepped outside, Clara stood with her head low. A shadowy figure stroked her under the chin. The figure stepped away from the dragon into a soft pool of light. She had long dark hair, and an athletic body clad in tight sports bra and yoga pants.

"No means no, Jonathan," Rayna said. She glanced over at Kelly. "Imagine that, his pet Sekutar crime companion extraordinaire taking orders without question again."

"Rayna, we need Clara for this. We have a chance to stop the Men of Anubis once and for all."

"Do it without my dragon."

"She wanted to come outside," I said.

"This is the time I normally take her out to relieve herself."

And on that note, the dragon squatted and released a thick stream of steaming yellow fluid on the pavement. It smelled like rotten eggs.

Kelly and I retreated to avoid the splash back.

"See?" Rayna said.

"Ask Clara what she wants," I said.

"Don't be stupid."

"You keep her locked up in the basement. She's little more than a slave to make you money. So rather than you forbidding me to borrow her, ask her if she wants to go on a fun adventure."

"Fun? You'll get her killed."

Clara chuffed, and lowered her head to my level. She nudged me with her nose, and blew out a soft breath. The wind was warm, but it was also gentle.

I patted her on the snout. "Clara," I said. "I think you can understand what we're saying."

"She's just an animal," Rayna said. "I love her, and I don't want to see her get hurt."

Clara swung her head around to Rayna and chuffed. Rayna put her arms around the dragon's neck as far as she could. Clara pulled away from her and looked at me again. She raised her head slightly.

"Can you understand me?"

Clara nodded.

"Did you feel time change around you?"

She just stared at me.

"Okay, maybe you don't understand the concept of time. How about this? Do you understand the idea of good people and bad people? People who treat others well are good. People who cause pain and hurt others are bad. Do you understand that?"

Clara chuffed, only it sounded like laughter.

"There are some very bad men who need to be stopped. We can really use your help to stop them. Would you like to help?"

Clara lowered her head and moved close to me. Her eyes gazed deeply into mine and I saw a deep intelligence in her. Granted, we all want to believe such things, and we'll anthropomorphize pets and animals, but when her head bumped gently against mine, a thought burst into my head.

You are Jonathan.

"And you are Clara," I said.

That's right.

"What are you saying?" Kelly asked.

Rayna frowned. "Clara is communicating with him."

I felt the disruption, Clara told me. It has happened many times.

"The Men of Anubis are doing that. We can stop them."

I will help you.

I smiled and stroked her chin. "Thank you."

You must give me three gifts.

"What kind of gifts?"

You must let me fly. You must let me breathe my fire. You must keep Rayna out of harm's way. She will insist on going with us. You must not allow that. I do not wish to see her hurt.

"You've got yourself a deal, Clara."

"What did she say?" Rayna asked.

"She agreed to help," I said. "She wants to fly, to breathe fire, and she doesn't want you to come along."

"You're not taking her."

"It's her decision, Rayna."

"If she goes, I go."

I shook my head. "She doesn't want you to go."

Clara moved her head over to Rayna.

"No, Clara," Rayna said.

She was silent for a moment then nodded.

"I understand." More silence. "I will abide by your wishes."

Clara rubbed against Rayna for a moment, pushing her back a step. Then the dragon rose up and stretched her wings.

Rayna walked over to me and glared. "If anything happens to Clara, I'll kill you."

"If something happens to Clara, you won't have to kill me because I'll already be dead."

"I don't ever want to see you again," Rayna said. "Get the hell out of here."

# CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

What's cooler than flying a dragon from Boulder to Denver? Flying a dragon from Boulder to Tulsa.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Before we climbed aboard the Dragon Express, I placed a quick call to Kelly. The Kelly with Thor, that is, not the one scratching Clara behind the ears. This time it didn't go to voicemail and she answered on the second ring.

"Where are you?" she asked.

"Boulder."

"What the hell are you doing in Colorado?"

"Smoking weed, of course. It's legal here."

"You don't smoke."

"We're on our way back."

"We could have used Esther's help earlier."

"Esther isn't with you?" I asked.

"I thought she was with you."

"She was, but yesterday she popped away, and I haven't seen her since then."

"We were in Asgard for part of the day, so there was no way she could have found us."

"Did you recruit anyone?"

"This is where I get to tell you I told you so. Loki refused to help. Odin refused to help. A couple of warrior women were pissed because I was with Thor, and evidently the son of a bitch is still married to Sif, so it was a wasted trip."

"On a positive note, I got us a dragon, and your time twin."

"But you lost Esther."

"I didn't lose her," I said. "She popped away. Maybe she's waiting at the hotel."

"That's where I am now. Thor is in the bar trying to pick up a waitress. Somehow, I don't think the fact that he's still married will come up in the conversation."

"I thought you didn't like him."

"He almost started to grow on me a bit when we fought a couple of giants, but that feeling faded fast when we got to Asgard."

"Okay. We have some more info about the Men of Anubis," I said, and filled her in about their weapons and shared what I'd learned at the meeting with Dr. Ancho.

"He mentioned the Center of the Universe?"

"I think he was talking figuratively."

"No he wasn't. There's a place here in Tulsa called the Center of the Universe. It's an acoustically arranged area on a sidewalk near downtown where you can stand inside a circle and speak. It acts like a microphone and the sound is echoed back at you louder."

"Sounds like as good a place as any to die. Can you and Thor go check it out? That may be where we can face the Men of Anubis."

"We'll look into it. When will you be here?"

"I don't know. Depends on the airspeed capabilities of an inter-dimensional dragon that didn't come from Africa or Europe."

Clara's route to Tulsa wasn't quite a straight line, and her speed varied from forty to fifty miles per hour. She stopped to eat a few sheep on a farm. All in all, the trip took fifteen hours and change. You'd think riding a dragon would be cool, and it is in both senses of the word. In fact, it was downright cold. I liked feeling the rhythmic flexing of the wings beneath me. Kelly and I held tight at first, but as the journey continued, we relaxed, and Clara made adjustments to try and keep us as comfortable as possible.

The most impressive parts for me were in the country beyond the city lights at night. The Milky Way spread out above us, and a dark ocean of grass and rock invisible beneath us. It was like flying in a dream. I'd never seen so many stars.

I knew we were heading to a showdown that would likely cost me my life, so I appreciated the view that much more. I'd lived enough for two lifetimes, and I'd faced things few people would even believe. I'd known good times and bad, love and danger, despair and grief. But overall, I had to say I didn't have many complaints. I wish I'd been nicer to some people. I wish I'd taken the time to get to know others better. I wish I'd been smarter about how I went about things. Life can change on a dime, and you have to be ready to adjust to those changes.

One minute, things are fine. The next, the country is at war in a foreign land. One moment, you're driving along an open highway, the next someone falls asleep at the wheel and crosses the center line and you can't react in time to stop the head-on collision. One day your friends are all living their lives, the next someone is dead and you have an empty space that can never be filled.

We all face those changes. We all react differently to them. Some people curl up and try to hide from life. Others face it straight on and ready for battle. Others just roll with the tide and see where things carry them. Most of us do a little of everything. Some days, we're ready for the challenge, and others we just want to stay in bed, and still others we face with a sense of ennui.

Fifteen hours on the back of a dragon leaves you time to think. It wasn't easy to talk to Kelly because of the wind noise, so we tried to simply enjoy the ride, each lost in thought. I don't know what she thought about me. I wondered if she liked me. How did I compare to the Jonathan she'd known? I know I was more jaded because I'd seen so much more. I know I was less idealistic. And I also know that I was in a place where I didn't really care if I survived the coming fight. I'd been fighting for so long, and I was tired. I was ready and willing to lay down my life to save my friends. And part of me hoped it would come to that. As long as I could stop the Men of Anubis, and my friends were safe, I'd call it a win.

If anyone died in the coming battle, I would never forgive myself. All of it came back to one decision. I'd been sent back in time to kill a man named Henry Winslow, and because I no longer trusted the powers that be that sent me after him, I decided to talk to him and find out who he was and why he was doing what he was doing. I didn't trust him, but I didn't trust Chronos or Sharon either. I'd been betrayed by Sharon. I expected her to betray me again now. I fully expected Chronos to betray me, too. It wasn't in his best interest, but people get caught up in the way things are, and it's hard to make big changes.

If I'd followed directions, the Men of Anubis wouldn't exist. If I'd followed directions again in 1877, my Kelly would still be alive. And I would have faced the events in 1926 in a much different manner.

Of course, if I'd trusted Sharon and Chronos, I'd be floating in a timeless void right now, so there's that.

But maybe that's what I deserved.

"Buildings," Kelly said, pointing.

We'd just flown over a lake, and could see the houses and shops spreading out to the sides of the Cimmaron Turnpike below us. "I think that's Sand Springs," I said. "We're coming up on Tulsa."

And that meant we needed a good place to keep a dragon until it was time to face the Men of Anubis. Where do you keep a dragon in a city? The answer, of course, is anywhere it wants to stay.

# CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

We arrived in Tulsa around one in the afternoon on Saturday. Clara landed gently on the roof of our hotel. Kelly and I slid down her side and stretched. We each stroked Clara's face and chin, thanking her. I wondered if anyone reported a dragon to the Tulsa Police Department, and if so, how long it took for the dispatcher to stop laughing. Yeah, I know, dispatchers are more professional than that, but don't go shattering my daydreams.

"I need some sleep," I said. "Clara, feel free to go get some food, water, whatever in the countryside around the lake we passed earlier, but if you can be back here by nightfall, that would be great."

Clara gave me a nod and launched into the air, flapping her mighty wings. She wheeled around and pushed higher into the sky heading west.

"I don't need to sleep," Kelly said, "but I wouldn't mind resting a bit."

"We'll meet up with the other Kelly and Thor first, then we can rest. But we do need to plan. My first stop, however, is my room because I need to piss like a Russian racehorse."

"As opposed to a shire?"

"Shire horses are for hobbits," I said.

Kelly rolled her eyes and shook her head. "In some ways you aren't any different from my Jonathan."

I liked the sound of my Jonathan. "That's a good thing. Right?"

"I haven't decided."

***

We met up with the other Kelly and Thor in the hotel bar. I was a little surprised he was still there since Kelly wasn't sleeping with him, but I wasn't going to complain about it. In the early afternoon, the bar itself wasn't open for business, but we could still seat ourselves around a table to talk. We stepped into the slightly darkened room. Thor sat with the other Kelly toward the back of the place. She had a plastic bottle of water in front of her on the table.

Thor did a double take when we stepped in. He slowly grinned and raised a single eyebrow. "Time for a T-god sandwich tonight," he said."Write that down."

"Kelly Chan," I said, "meet Kelly Chan."

They wore nearly identical black pants, boots, and shirts. They studied one another for a moment, then nodded.

"Let me clean off a place for you to sit down," Thor said as he ran a hand over his mustache and beard.

"I don't swing that way," I said and sat beside him so he wouldn't hit on my newest Kelly.

"I almost called you once," Kelly said to the new arrival.

"This is too much like looking in a mirror," Kelly said.

"Tell me about it."

"Your hair is a little different."

"I think you're both gorgeous," Thor said, "and I think we should plan a wild and crazy adventure in my bed tonight."

Both Kelly Chans looked at him. "No," they said in unison. I realized I needed to think about them as Kelly One and Kelly Two. Kelly One was the Kelly I'd been with since coming back from the twenties, and Kelly Two was the Kelly I'd just met.

I shook my head. "Still no sign of Esther?" I asked.

"No," Kelly said. "She does like to wander sometimes."

"Yeah, but she normally checks in."

"She's a ghost. It's not like she can be killed."

"I know, but I'm still worried about her," I said. "I wish we had a way to contact her."

"I'm sure she's fine," Kelly said. "Now, how are we going to handle the Men of Anubis?"

"Did you check out the Center of the Universe?"

"It's just a small area on a walkway not far from here." She pulled out her cell phone and showed me a couple of pictures. "The sidewalk expands outward, and there's a concrete circle in the middle of a bigger brick circle. If you stand in the main circle and talk, the sound is a bit distorted to those outside it. If you're inside the circle, and you speak, your voice echoes back at you. Aside from giving us a bit of room to fight, it's not really suited for our purposes."

"I was hoping it would be a magical sound barrier, but it will have to do."

"How are you going to make that work?"

"I could call my friend Amanda," Kelly Two said. "She's a witch, and she could magically enhance the circle to block sound."

"Can she open a rift to get here quickly?" I asked.

"No. She'd have to catch a plane unless one of the wizards at DGI could help her."

"I don't trust anyone who works for DGI," I said.

"Your sister works for them."

"As I said, I don't trust anyone who works for DGI."

"So what do you suggest?"

"We'll find a way to keep one of the Men of Anubis in the circle so they can't communicate as well and if they try casting a verbal spell, it will bounce back at them. Then we'll kill them or have Chronos open a rift to the void and we'll cast them into it."

"Do they cast verbal spells?" Thor asked.

"Sort of. They have a humming power with their voices and their weapons, but I don't know if we can alter the frequency enough to matter," I said. "But what choice do we have?"

"That's not much of a plan," Kelly One said. "I thought you said these guys control time."

"To a degree, but they can't go over the places they've been, so I think we can do it."

"And if we can't?" she asked.

"Then we die."

"Then you die," Thor said. "Should things not go the way we like, I'll simply leave. I don't fancy being trapped in the void for all eternity."

"So you're a fair weather fighter?" Kelly Two asked.

"I'll show you some fair weather."

"You show me anything, I'll cut it off," Kelly Two said.

"I like the way you think," Kelly One said.

"All I know is that I'm with Jonathan," Kelly Two said, and put a hand on my arm.

Kelly One stared at the touch for a moment, then turned to Thor. "Can you go fetch Chronos?"

"Now?"

"Not right now," I said. "I need some sleep."

"We'll need to coordinate with him."

Esther popped into sight above the table. She was semi-translucent, and therefore visible to all of us.

"Esther!" I said. "Where have you been?"

She pointed at a collar around her neck. It was a brown leather strip with glowing hieroglyphs. My stomach flipped.They'd gotten to her and it was my fault for making her feel unwelcome, for letting her go.

"I'm sorry, Jonathan," she said. "They're going to bump me off if you don't bring them the vajra weapon and turn it over to them without a fight."

"They can't kill you," I said. "You're already dead."

"Don't be a sap. This collar will destroy me."The lights on the collar flared brighter and Esther winced in pain.

Kelly Two reached out and tried to touch Esther, but her hand went right through her.

"The collar is a blend of magic and technology, isn't it?" I asked.

She nodded. "I'm scared, but don't give in to them."

"Tell them we'll meet them on the pedestrian bridge between West Archer Street and North Boston Avenue," Kelly One said.

"But—"

"Just tell them."

"We're on our way," I said. "We're not going to let them hurt you."

"Too late," Esther said and popped away.

"So much for advance planning," Kelly One said. "Where's the dragon?"

"Clara flew off to get something to eat."

"So we go as soon as the dragon returns," Kelly One said.

"They'll destroy Esther," I said. I couldn't let that happen. I considered all that Esther had done for me. She deserved better.

"If we go now, they'll kill us all."

"If they wanted to kill you all, you'd be dead already," Thor said. "They sent the ghost here, so they clearly know where you are. I wonder why they didn't just show up here to kill you. They'd have surprise on their side."

"They don't know where we are," I said. "Esther can teleport directly to me no matter where I am, and that's why they're using her."

"We need the dragon," Kelly One said. "It can burn them up from a distance, right? Magic fire? Maybe you could hold one of them while the dragon flames them, and the fire wouldn't harm you."

I shook my head. "Clara's fire isn't magical. I'd be burned alive. And even if I didn't die from that, the air around me would be heated up, and that would burn my lungs or keep me from breathing, so I doubt that's the issue. We're wasting time. I'll get the weapon, and I'll meet you in the lobby."

"I'll check the roof," Kelly Two said, "on the off-chance Clara is already back."

"Cool."

As she stood, the light from the lobby reflected off her earrings, and I realized that maybe, the Men of Anubis had been tracking us. I didn't say anything about it because Kelly and Thor would tell me what a moron I was for keeping the jewelry. But I'd examined them and didn't find any kind of tracker. It didn't matter now. We had a mission, and by god, I was going to destroy those sons of bitches or die trying.

"Well," Kelly One said, "at least we'll have honorable deaths."

"I believe I'll head to Club Eternity for a drink first," Thor said.

"Backing out on us?"

He laughed. "No. I'm going to fetch Chronos. I'll see you at the Center of the Universe." He twisted his bracelet and disappeared.

When I returned to the lobby with the vajra, Kelly Two gave me a smile. "Clara is back, so let's go kill us some gods."

# CHAPTER NINETEEN

The Center of the Universe didn't impress me.

It was just a pedestrian bridge stretching over some railroad tracks. Off to one side, was a parking garage, and to the other were the buildings of downtown Tulsa. The BOK tower stood tall – well, comparatively speaking. It wasn't really a skyscraper. After spending some time in Manhattan, it was harder to be impressed.

I carried the vajra weapon in my left hand. I had my Glock in my shoulder holster. The weather was warm, so I wore a light jacket simply to conceal the gun. I knew the gun was useless against the Men of Anubis, but I brought it along anyway. If I got chucked into the void, I could blow my brains out and end my suffering right then and there. I hoped it wouldn't come to that.

The sidewalk led to the central area where the walkway fanned out to knee-high planters that circled around the expanse. In the center was a concrete circle surrounded by a bricked circle. The planters were filled with bushes, flowers, and a few small trees. According to the internet, some folks claimed the echoing microphone effect of the Center of the Universe was caused by the sound waves bouncing back from those raised walls.

I moved to the center of the concrete and said, "Welcome to the show."

My voice came back at me amplified.

Kelly One and Two kept their distance. They each had swords tucked behind their backs, and they looked to be ready for action. Clara circled high overhead

A soft wind gusted, rippling through my jacket and messing up my hair. I took a deep breath. A mother and her eight-year-old daughter wandered along the sidewalk. I stepped out of the circle so the kid could have a go at it. She whooped and hollered and laughed as her voice bounced back.

"Don't get carried away, Meghan," her mother said. "There are other people here."

"It's all good," I said. "Let her yell. She's having fun."

She smiled and nodded, but took her daughter's hand. "We mustn't be late. Your father is waiting."

"But Mom," Meghan said.

"Don't 'but Mom' me," she said and dragged her along the sidewalk.

I turned to Kelly Two. "Call them, I said. "Let's get this over with."

We'd discussed this on the way over, so she touched the earring and opened a channel. "Olly olly oxen free," she said. Then she took the earring out, dropped it on the ground and stomped on it.

The wind gusted again. Traffic noise sounded in the distance.

"Jonathan," Kelly One said.

I glanced over at her and she nodded toward the parking garage.

Two shirtless men in kilts stood on the edge of the roof of the garage. They wore jackal masks. Esther floated above them, unmoving. One of the men carried a crook, the other a flail. Both looked like they could have battled Arnold Schwarzenegger in a Conan movie.

They stepped off the building in unison and walked across the air down to where we waited, but they remained positioned in the air and out of reach.

One of the men said something, but it sounded like gibberish.

"A gerbil says what?" I said.

The man touched the side of his jackal mask, nodded, then spoke again, this time in English. "I am Amenken."

"Good for you," I said.

"This is my son, Mahu."

"Gesundheit," I said. "Come on down here and take what you've got coming."

"Hand over the vajra weapon, and we shall release your ghost friend."

I smiled at him, and adjusted my grip on the weapon. It hummed in my hand, spikes out, ready for deployment. "What happens then?" I asked.

Amenken turned his jackal mask toward the two Kelly Chans. He pointed toward Kelly Two. "I believe those belong to us," he said and made a come hither motion with his fingers. The time loop earrings popped out of Kelly's earlobes and shot through the air to Amenken's hand. "Time is our domain, not yours."

"Can't blame a girl for trying," Kelly Two said.

"We do not blame you. In fact, we will allow you to leave here alive and return to your life."

"What about them?" Kelly Two asked nodding to Kelly and then to me.

"They will come with us because they do not belong here."

"You tried to kill me once," I said.

The sound of dragon wings flapping drifted downward, but the Men of Anubis glanced up and saw nothing because she was above the clouds. They might have taken our chance for a do-over with the time loop earring, but we still had a dragon.

"We are impressed that you survived, Jonathan Shade. Your name is writ large in the Halls of Amenti."

"Does it say, 'For a good time call'?"

Head tilt from Amenken. "I do not understand why you jest."

"Of course you don't. Are you cowards going to come down here and fight or are you only here to taunt us?"

"We should kill him now, father," Mahu said.

"I want the vajra, and I want him to kneel before us."

I grinned. "Mahu. Sounds like a variety of fish to me. Let me clue you in on something, you ignorant piece of camel shit. You guys have already tried to kill me. Your brother, Kermit, tried to best me as well. Look where it got him."

"Khemet."

"Khemet, Kermit, same thing. He's dead as a frog in a blender now."

"Father?"

Amenken motioned for him to be quiet. "No mortal has ever defied us the way you have, Jonathan Shade. No mortal has ever bested us either."

"Yeah, I know," I said. "I'm a pain in the ass. Come down here and face me, you cowardly prick. I'm tired of your bluster."

Amenken shrugged. "We have studied you. There's absolutely nothing you can do to harm us, and I want to crush your skull with my bare hands for what you did to my son."

My eyes swept the area behind them. Where the hell was Thor? He was supposed to bring Chronos. I wasn't sure how much longer I could stall.

"Maybe I should just blast you with the vajra."

"Feel free," Amenken said. "The crook will protect me. One more thing you should note. At its current setting, the vajra blast will be wider than you think and you'll vaporize at least one of your allies before the crook absorbs the energy."

"Then we're at an impasse."

"Incorrect," Amenken said. "Give us the weapon."

"You're welcome to try and take it from me," I said.

Amenken laughed. "Fool, I can destroy you from here." He aimed the crook at me.

"But before you waste your time trying that," I said with a smile and confidence I didn't really feel, "let me tell you how this is going to go down."

I moved sideways to stand in the center of the concrete circle.

"I'm listening," Amenken said. Lights danced around the hieroglyphs of his crook. He was ready, but he was also cautious. I'd survived their attempt to kill me before, and I'd bested his son in single combat. He wasn't taking any chances.

"First," I said, "you're going to let Esther go. She's a ghost and can't influence anything here."

"She is not a mere ghost. She can attain physical form."

"But she can't change time."

"She does not belong here."

I raised the vajra, but didn't aim it at Amenken just yet. I made a show of twisting it up a few more notches. The spikes at this level turned inward, which would give it a more focused beam. He didn't react, so I suspected the crook could absorb that power level too. "None of us belong here, jackass. I don't, she doesn't, Kelly doesn't, and you and your steroid addicted son don't either."

"Let me slay him," Mahu said.

"Patience, my son," Amenken said. "This one amuses me. He stalls for time, which is ironic as we are untouched by time. He believes he stands a chance against us when we have ruled across millennia. We are beyond their reach. It costs us nothing to let him play his game."

"Could cost you your life, buddy boy," I said.

Amenken laughed.

"Kermit laughed, too," I said.

"Khemet."

Still no sign of Thor. My heart hammered my chest, threatening to break free like an alien from John Hurt's chest. But I remained still and outwardly calm. "Tomato, tomahto," I said.

"Enlighten me on your plan to slay us when we are immortal."

"I've killed gods before," I said, "and I suspect I'll do so again. One thing you morons all have in common is that you believe your own press."

A man and woman strolled along the sidewalk toward us. Kelly Two blocked their path, and I knew she was telling them to go around.

Amenken finally lowered himself to the ground and planted the crook on the concrete. Blue lightning danced around the base of the staff and the hieroglyphs glowed brighter. "Then slay me, Jonathan Shade."

I raised the vajra weapon. With my left hand I pointed at Mahu. "Now," I said loudly. My voice bounced back at me, amplified. I'd know soon enough whether or not the sound carried into the sky. "Round one is between me and your father."

"Mahu will not interfere as long as your warriors don't," Amenken said.

He was right about that because Clara had heard my signal and as she swooped down, she saw my finger aimed at Mahu. She unleashed a fiery blast at Manu's back.

Mahu screamed and staggered forward, engulfed in flames.

Clara landed and skidded into him, she snatched him up in her mouth and chomped down hard, breaking the skin and crushing his bones in her powerful jaws. The screaming stopped.

"Dinner is served," I said as I switched the vajra to my left hand and yanked my Glock from its shoulder holster with my right.

Amenken spun toward the dragon, raising the crook. Blue lightning swirled along the staff, and I could tell he was triggering something with his fingers. I knew that blast could kill Clara, but I aimed my gun and fired three quick shots.

The bullets struck the staff, shattering Amenken's thumb and fingers. While the bullets didn't hurt him, they did knock the crook from his hand. Now that he was within reach, both Kellys raced toward him, swords drawn. I fired three shots into Amenken's chest and mask, but they didn't have any effect. The crook hit the ground in a shower of blue sparks and slid across the concrete.

Amenken spun around, saw the swords arcing toward him and he barked a command in ancient Egyptian.

Time froze.

Clara halted in mid-chew, the blood hanging from her mouth like a frozen crimson fountain.

I rushed up to Amenken before he could react, jammed the vajra to his head, and fired. It was a weapon forged for the gods, and the time-freeze didn't prevent it from going off.

The jackal mask exploded and the headless corpse of Amenken stood impossibly in one place as the blood and brains and skull fragments hung in the air and didn't drop.

I was about to quote Arnold in Terminator 2, but that red and white cloud didn't go anywhere, and the body didn't fall, and nothing moved around me at all. I turned full circle.

Mahu was dead.

Amenken was dead.

Time remained frozen.

"Shit," I said.

I looked at Kelly One and Kelly Two. Neither moved. I walked around them, then moved over to Clara. She remained still as well. The blood didn't drip from her jowls. A droplet of red held steady in the air beneath her head on its stalled journey to the pavement.

Esther hovered motionless in the air with the glowing collar. There was no wind.

Leaves didn't rustle.

I had killed the Men of Anubis.

But I was stranded in a frozen moment of time. With Amenken dead, I thought time would restart. But unless a second could tick forward, the world wouldn't know he was dead, and the magic of the time-stopping spell would never end.

Maybe I should have thought that through, but I didn't really think he'd be that easy to kill. Now what the hell was I supposed to do?

"Fuck me running," I said.

# CHAPTER TWENTY

I sat on the edge of one of the planters and sang "Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall" several times, then switched to "Henry the Eighth" until I was tired of it, then "Wasted Time" by the Eagles, and would have tried "Wasted Time" by Skid Row, but I couldn't remember the words, so I launched into "No Time" by the Guess Who.

And in all of that time, no time actually passed.

I sang "Time" by Pink Floyd, then "Time" by the Alan Parsons Project. I started "Time is on My Side" by the Stones, but it wasn't, so I considered switching to "Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper, but I was sick of singing.

"Okay," I said. "Thor will bring Chronos, and everything will be all right."

Except that Chronos would open his rift to whatever time it was when they arrived, which was clearly after the moment I was trapped inside, so I was stuck here for all eternity except that no time would ever fucking pass.

I drew a breath, released it. On one level, that was cool because I could breathe. Must have had something to do with the magic that froze time, but didn't affect me.

Still, there had to be something I could do. Esther hung in the air, and as I couldn't see through her, she had to be in physical form. I climbed on top of Clara and tried to reach Esther, but she was too far away.

Well, I had time. I looked around. The parking garage wasn't going to be any use. Cars weren't moving, and the cars in the garage weren't running, and even if they were, they wouldn't drive. I needed some way to climb up to Esther. Maybe I could free her. And maybe as a ghost, she wouldn't be stuck in time. She wasn't moving, but that could have been due to the collar. Maybe if I freed her from the collar, she'd be able to help.

It was a long shot, and I knew it, but I had to try something.

I walked to the bank a half block away. I was able to open the door, and when I let go of it, the door remained open. People stood motionless in a roped off line leading to the tellers in the bank. I wandered down the halls in search of a storage closet. There had to be a ladder somewhere.

Long story short, I found a ladder in a janitor's closet, and carried it outside and back to the Center of the Universe. I opened the ladder, steadied it, and climbed up to Esther. I had to stand on the top of the ladder, balanced precariously while I reached up to her. The ladder held steady, and I managed to grab Esther's foot. I tugged her downward.

A moment later, we were face to face. Her expression didn't change. She stared blankly downward, a look of concern frozen in place. I pulled her down to the ground, and she didn't float away. The collar around her neck wasn't fastened by anything. It was a solid strip of leather with no seams or buckles. I had no idea what the hieroglyphs said, but it was obviously some kind of magical spell. It was tight, but not too tight. I could dig a finger between the leather and Esther's flesh. I needed a knife.

I walked over to Kelly Two. Kelly One would kill me if she thought I felt her up trying to find a knife. Kelly Two would forgive me. I didn't need to run my hands over anyplace inappropriate. Kelly had a knife tucked in her left boot. I snagged it and returned to Esther.

The blade sliced through the leather without any trouble, and I didn't even cut Esther in the process. Mission accomplished. I tossed the collar aside, and as soon as I let it go, it stopped moving and hung in the air.

Esther didn't react when I turned her toward me.

"Can you hear me?" I asked.

No response. She kept looking downward, concerned.

"Strike two thousand six hundred and forty," I said.

I didn't want to leave Esther where she was because in physical form, she'd fall over or get smacked by Clara when time started again.

If time started again.

I carried Esther to the opposite side of the planter and laid her down so she wouldn't fall.

I tucked Kelly's knife back into her boot, then set out toward the hotel where Club Eternity was once aligned.

Decima said she was going to realign it, but maybe she hadn't bothered. After all, I wasn't ever going back there. Right?

"Please still be there," I said.

I walked to the hotel. I found the door that led to the basement bar. The alcove looked the same, and the glass door remained as it had been. I tugged it open. Inside was a normal bar with a single bartender drawing a glass of beer for a customer. I could stand there forever and that glass would never fill up.

So Club Eternity really had aligned itself elsewhere.

Now what?

Other than Chronos, who did I know who could operate between seconds?

Sharon? Or was she able to do so only with the help of Chronos?

Regardless, Sharon was in Boulder, Colorado, and I was in Tulsa, Oklahoma. That was more than seven hundred miles away. Walking that distance at thirty miles per day would take more than three weeks. I couldn't drive a car because cars were frozen in time. But I could ride a bike. If I could ride seventy miles a day, I could get there in ten or eleven days.

But what if I got there and Sharon couldn't see me? What if she needed Chronos to freeze time for her in order to move between the moments?

Maybe Chronos would still show up here.

I'd seen a bicycle shop on North Boulder Avenue, so I walked over there. I entered the shop, found a nice brand new bicycle. I checked my stash of cash. I had a couple thousand dollars in my pocket and another sixty in my wallet. I tossed enough money on the counter to cover the price of the bike and a tire repair kit, then I rode back to the Center of the Universe.

I waited there for hours and hours. Of course, the sun remained in the same spot in the sky. Nobody moved. No wind blew. Nothing changed. No sign of Chronos.

I lost track of time.

Easy to do when time doesn't move.

What do you do when you have all the time in the world and no way to get anything done? For starters, you take care of bodily functions.

You want to see and feel something strange? Take a piss when time isn't moving. You shoot the liquid out, but the stream remains in the air when you zip up and walk away.

I didn't want to ride all the way to Colorado. There had to be another way.

Dr. Ancho!

He was here in Tulsa. He could open rifts. He had some interesting abilities. Maybe he was able to move between moments of time. He had other gifts, that was for sure. He also had the added benefit of being maybe an hour away by bicycle. I hopped on the bike and pedaled toward ORU.

I rode around motionless cars and trucks. Drivers with mouths open to sing with the radio, or lips flared back to yell at other drivers, or just sitting still with hands at ten and two.

There were only a few students in sight on the campus grounds as classes were in session, so I didn't have to dodge many of them on my way to Dr. Ancho's building. The hallway was empty, and when I pulled the door open, it remained open as I stepped inside.

Dr. Ancho stood still at the front of his classroom, pointing a piece of chalk toward his students, most of whom seemed focused. The exception was a guy at the back with his head tipped forward napping.

As he was clearly frozen in time, I knew I was screwed. I sighed and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Thanks, anyway," I said.

"—elson Chapter Two for—"

I jumped back and he stopped.

What the hell?

I stepped up to him again and reached down to touch his shoulder once more. He came to life again, only now he looked up at me. "—tomorrow, oh my goodness."

"Hello, Dr. Ancho."

I moved to sit down at his desk, but as soon as my hand left his shoulder, he froze again.So I had to be touching him to converse.Okay.I could do that.

I pulled a chair over to sit in front of him so our eyes would be at the same level, then I reached out and took his hand. "I'm in a bit of a pickle," I said.

He started again. "You don't say," he said then looked around at his frozen students. "What did you do?"

"I killed the Men of Anubis, but not before they stopped time."

His eyes held mine, and I saw empathy and disappointment and sadness in equal measure there. "You didn't listen to me. Revenge is not the answer."

"Maybe not the right answer, but here I am."

"I can't restart time."

"Who can?"

"Chronos."

"Can you take me to him?"

Dr. Ancho shook his head.

"Can anyone else take me to him?"

He hesitated, then nodded. "Why didn't you listen to me?"

"About?"

"The Men of Anubis were not your enemies."

"They wanted to kill me."

"They would never have found you, Jonathan. Your real enemies are the ones you don't recognize as such. I would say more, but that would only make things worse."

"Worse than being trapped in time?" I asked.

"You sought revenge."

"They took Esther captive."

"Because you went looking for them and found them."

"Well, yeah."

"And you put your friends in danger."

"They're used to that."

Dr. Ancho sighed. "No one should be used to that, dear boy. We should endeavor to keep our friends out of danger, wouldn't you say?"

"If possible."

"You went looking for it. Even after I warned you."

"So you're telling me straight-up now?"

He gave me a sad smile. "I can't very well make things much worse at this point.As I said before, Ahogado el niño, tapando el pozo. After the child drowns, they close the well."

"So what do I do?"

"Any path you choose at this juncture will lead you to lose someone close to you, or perhaps even to lose everything."

"Dr. Ancho, if you can't make things worse, why don't you just shoot straight with me? Tell me what to do."

"I said I couldn't make things much worse, but if I say too much, your path will lead you to lose everything."

"I've already lost everything."

"Your friends will lose everything, too, Jonathan. I can't say much more without endangering all of them. I tried to warn you, and you were so fixated on hate and revenge that you missed the chance for love and happiness. That door is now closed to you. Do you understand that? I fear that I share some responsibility. I should not have let you go. I should have spoken more to your ghost friend. She adores you in spite of the pain you inflict upon her. My mistake was thinking she was dead and you were alive when the truth was the reverse on a spiritual plane."

"I know I've ignored Esther, but I'll make it up to her."

He shook his head. "You can never make it up to her, Jonathan."

"Okay, I realize she's frozen in time right now."

Again, Dr. Ancho shook his head. "You are the one frozen in time, Jonathan."

"Can you come with me and help me?"

"No. And whatever you do, please don't move people around in your current state."

"Why not?"

"Because the shock to their system could kill them."

"I moved Esther."

"She's a ghost. The harm you've done to her is not physical."

"Oh no, please don't tell me that by touching you, I'm killing you."

He smiled. "I'm standing in the same place I was, so I can mitigate the damage with magic. I suspect I'll be sore, but I'll survive. That holds true for any of us who are more in tune with the world, and have enough power to experience reality in this manner. Have you determined your true enemy yet?"

I nodded and jammed a thumb into my chest. "Yeah, yeah, I'm my own worst enemy."

"That could be said for all of us, and it would be true, but that's not what I meant."

"So tell me."

"I can't do that. Too many people will die, and I refuse to have any more blood on my hands. Ponder this. Who set you on this path?"

"I did."

"For a reasonably intelligent man, you can be monumentally stupid."

"I'll figure it out. In the meantime, I need to reach Chronos so I can get back into real time. Thor was on an errand to fetch him, but they hadn't arrived when time froze. If I touch Sharon, will she come to life the way you have?"

"She will. I would recommend a different course of action."

"I've gone over everyone I can think of and she's the only one I know who can take me to Chronos."

"There are at least three others here in the United States who would come alive at your touch. You have not met them, but all you have to do is find them. They appear to be human, but they are more than that, and as such, they can operate on this level if you touch them."

"Finding them would take forever."

"You have forever."

I shook my head. "I know Sharon can take me. I also know not to trust her. Open a rift for me, Dr. Ancho. I've got this."

"Impatience in the face of forever," he said. "I fear you're beyond my ability to save. But one thing I will not do is speed you on your course to destruction. I will not open a rift for you, Jonathan. You're on your own. This is my final attempt to give you the gift of knowledge. Please consider what I've said."

"Fortune cookie logic is not helpful, Dr. Ancho," I said. "Thanks for nothing."

# CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

It took what felt like an eternity to ride a bicycle from Tulsa to Boulder, but in reality not a second passed.I rode until I got tired, then I found a place to sleep for a while. Sometimes that was on the side of the road. Sometimes I broke into someone's house and slept on a sofa or in a bed. I couldn't take showers because the water wouldn't flow. But I could use a straw to drink water.I ate packaged foods because I couldn't cook anything. Sandwiches and such. At a few convenience stores, I could eat a hot dog or a slice of pizza because they were hot in the warmer. Once I ate them, my immunity to magic allowed me to digest them.

I left dozens of piss sculptures hanging in the air between Oklahoma and Colorado, and I spent my time thinking about what Dr. Ancho said. It didn't help. I knew I'd disappointed him again, and while I certainly understood that I had forever, there was no way in hell I was going to go from person to person in the entire fucking country until I found one who would come to life at my touch. I already knew Sharon would work, so to take another course seemed like a waste of time and energy even though I had all the time in the world. Impatience is a virtue.

I arrived at the library at CU Boulder, and I strolled down the hall to Sharon's office.

I pushed into the room. She sat motionless at her desk, eyes on a computer screen, fingers hovering above the keyboard.

My first thought was that I'd wasted my time, energy, and money riding to her office. Of course, time was relative because I arrived at her office at the exact same time I'd left Tulsa.

But then I considered the fact that for her, time was frozen, but as a supernatural being, if I touched her, maybe she'd be able to see me.

I stepped up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

She nearly jumped out of her chair.

"What the hell?" she said.

"Hello, Sharon."

"How did you get in here?"

I shrugged, but kept hold of her hand. "I'm kinda stuck between seconds right now."

"Why are you holding my hand?"

"So we can talk."

She looked me up and down. "You look terrible."

"Thank you. I suspect I smell bad, too."

"My olfactory senses don't work when time is frozen. Where is Chronos and why didn't he warn me?"

"This wasn't his doing." I explained what happened.

"So they're dead?"

I nodded. "Turns out they were really just regular guys who found a way to stay alive. They had powers and such, of course, but they were no match for a dragon and Indra's weapon."

"So what do you want?"

"I want you to pull me to the next second so I can rejoin time."

"I don't have that kind of power."

"So take me to Chronos."

"Why should I?"

I smiled at her and let go of her hand. She froze instantly.

When I touched her again, I had the blade from a paper cutter pressed against her neck.

"Because if you don't, I'll cut off your head."

She stared at the blade. "You broke the paper cutter?"

"I can let go of you, and you'll freeze in place. I can then cut off your head. One thing I've learned is that decapitation will kill damn near anything. Including you."

"That blade won't penetrate my skin."

"Then I'll ride back to Tulsa, get the vajra weapon, ride back here, put it against your head and fire. That ought to do the trick, and if you don't think I'll do that, you don't know me."

"Point taken, but if you kill me, how will you find Chronos?"

"I just need to find another magical being like you who can open a rift and take me to him. Your call."

"I'd rather like to keep my head, thank you."

"So open a rift and take me to Chronos."

"He's in Egypt."

"Then let's go."

"Very well."

She opened a rift in the air and pulled it apart. On the other side of the opening, an Egyptian temple stood in the desert. It was dark there, but lights shone on the temple pillars.

Keeping hold of Sharon, I stepped through and started to pull her through with me. She yanked her hand away from me.

I laughed because she instantly froze with the rift open. I reached through, grabbed her and pulled her through to the cool desert sand.

"Damn," she said. "It was worth a try. Can't exactly see you swimming across the ocean to get back to me."

"I'd row a boat," I said. "Except that I don't have to do that."

"All right," she said. "I lied. Chronos isn't here. I was just going to dump you and go back to my life."

"Trustworthy as ever," I said. "Here's the thing, Sharon. I'm trusting you to do what's in your best interest. Get me to Chronos so I can get back into time, and I won't bother you again."

"You killed the Men of Anubis," she said. "That means you could kill me if I ever let my guard down."

"If you try to leave me stuck here, I will kill you. Or worse. And there's not a damn thing you can do to stop me."

She tried to throw a punch to my heart, no doubt intending to rip it from my body, but I simply let go of her and she froze. I stepped around her and touched her shoulder.

"Shit," she said.

"Do you have any idea what all I can do to you right now?" I asked.

Her eyes widened and I let that play around in her imagination. I had no intention of doing anything to her, but people who are willing to do horrible things to others automatically assume others are just as bad as they are. Her imagination was far better than anything I could have come up with, so I just smiled when she looked aghast.

"All right," she said. "I'll take you to Chronos."

She opened a new rift and we stepped through to Club Eternity. The difference here was that a few people were moving. Time didn't operate here the way it did in the real world. Thor sat at the bar with Chronos downing a mug of beer. But off in the corner, a guy dressed like a jester had a glass of whiskey tipped to his lips, but wasn't getting anywhere with it.

As a test, I let go of Sharon for a moment. She froze. The rest of the room was frozen too, except for Chronos, Thor, and a fat Chinese guy at the end of the bar. I recognized him as the guy who once wanted me to rub his belly for luck. He winked at me.

Chronos and Thor turned to me.

"Jonathan," Thor said. "How did you get here?"

"Charon brought him," Chronos said. "Sharon, whatever."

"Why doesn't she move?" Thor asked.

Chronos smiled. "I dare say, ol' chap, I believe you defeated the Men of Anubis."

"Indeed I did, but I'm in a bit of a predicament."

Chronos laughed. "You most certainly are. How long have you been trapped in time?"

"I don't know," I said. "More than a week."

"I could simply leave you there and you'll never get a second older."

I darted forward and grabbed him by the throat.

"Or I can help you get back to normal," he said.

Thor laughed. "We were going to join you after another round of drinks, Jonathan."

"You going to try and stop me from strangling him?" I asked.

Thor shook his head. "Do as you will. I like men of action, and you can write that down."

Chronos glanced at Thor, who downed the rest of his beer. Chronos tried to pull my hands away from his throat, but I was too strong.

"All right, Chronos, let's make this simple. Help me get back to normal time, and I won't rip your head off your neck."

Chronos grinned. "My dear boy, you're not that strong."

I tightened my grip.

He patted my hands. "Fine," he said. "I'll set you back into proper time. But I want to make sure the Men of Anubis are well and truly dead first."

"Then let's get back to Tulsa."

I let go of him. Chronos stood and walked toward the frozen Sharon. As he walked away from the bar, the Chinese guy froze. Thor hurried after Chronos so he wouldn't be outside the sphere of influence. As Chronos neared Sharon, she resumed movement.

"That's disconcerting," she said as she jerked back.

"Take my hand," Chronos said extending his arm.

I gripped his hand and we stepped out of Club Eternity back to the moment I'd left so long ago where Esther lay on the concrete planter, two versions of Kelly held swords arcing around toward nothing, a sliced leather collar and a line of urine hung in the air, a dragon had a dead god in its jaws, and a broad-shouldered kilted man stood with no head on his neck, but a cloud of blood, brain, and bone fragments hovering over his body.

"You don't see that every day," Thor said. He turned and gave me a light punch on the shoulder. "Nice work."

That light punch would no doubt leave a bruise.

Chronos pulled his hand from mine, took out his pocket watch and fiddled with it. "Need to keep time frozen," he said. He walked around the scene, nodding.

"Set me back into the time stream," I said. "Please."

He nodded and snapped the pocket watch closed.

In an instant, wind blew, swords swept around striking air, a dragon chomped and swallowed a dead god, a strap of leather and a line of urine dropped to the pavement, and another dead god crumpled to the ground with a splash of gore falling on top of the body.

"What the hell?" both Kelly Chans said in unison.

"Mission accomplished," I said.

Esther popped over to me. "Jonathan!" she said, throwing her arms around me. "You saved me!" She pulled back and grimaced. "You can't be a sheik until you take a shower."

"You saying I stink?" I asked.

She pinched her nose closed. "And how."

Clara reared up and let out a shrieking howl.

"It's all right, Clara," I said, moving over and stroking her. "We won."

She settled back to the ground and licked her mouth.

"Thank you," I said.

She responded with a belch that smelled like burned copper.

"Only one thing left to do," Chronos said.

"What's that?" I asked.

"It seems the dragon ate one of the timeless gods, but the other, while dead, needs to be cast into the void."

"Why not just feed him to Clara?" I asked.

"I'm not so concerned about the body," he said. "If the dragon wants a feast, that's fine with me, but the crook and flail need to be out of our world. That blend of magic and technology is too great for any of us to wield. We should toss the vajra into the void as well."

"Oh, I think I'm keeping that," I said.

Chronos shook his head. "Not a chance, Jonathan. It's an ancient weapon of mass destruction and it cannot remain here."

I sighed. "You're right, of course."

Chronos picked up the fallen crook. It was a bit mangled from the bullets, but lightning still danced along the shaft. The flail was on the ground beside Clara, so he walked over and grabbed that, too. "Charon, open a rift to the void, please."

Sharon rubbed her hands together, and swept them down, then moved them apart opening a window into the vast nothingness. Chronos tossed the crook and flail into the void.

"And the body?" he asked.

"Clara," I said, "are you hungry?"

Clara shook her head.

"Fine. I'll grab the legs, Thor, you grab the shoulders."

Thor and I moved over, lifted the remains of Amenken and we tossed him into the great emptiness.

"The vajra, too," Chronos said.

"You'll note that it's not the seventeenth of November," I said as I retrieved the weapon.

"So?"

"You said every way you looked at time, it ended there."

He laughed. "Oh, I lied about that. I just didn't want to be involved in the battle with the Men of Anubis."

"You're an asshole," I said.

"Quite true," he said with the grin.

I walked over and threw the vajra into the void.

"Happy now?" I asked.

"Almost," he said. "Charon?"

Before I could react, Sharon shoved me into the void. The last thing I heard was her laughter before the rift to Earth snapped shut. I fell, tumbling over and over into the great nothing.

"Fuck," I said.

# CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

You know that old saying of fool me once, shame on you and fool me twice, shame on me. Well, shame the living hell out of me. I never trusted Sharon, but I let my guard down for one second and that bitch betrayed me again. Chronos and Sharon could suck the great dick of the devil himself, those traitorous losers.

So there I was, floating endlessly. A headless corpse did a slow turn not too far away from me, and several powerful weapons tumbled off to my other side, but I couldn't move toward them. I was weightless. I found that I could breathe, but that wasn't going to last because pretty soon, I'd die for lack of food and water. Or worse, I wouldn't, and I'd float forever in a timeless void or until I got depressed enough to pull my Glock and blow my brains out. Oh well, I'd had a good run. I'd lived a couple of lifetimes. I'd battled sorcerers, gods, dragons, ghosts, demons, vampires, zombies, witches, wizards, and assorted other things that shouldn't even exist. I'd loved and lost. I'd met King Tut and his wife. I'd done more and seen more than most.

I didn't have many regrets.

It was time to accept my fate.

And then Esther popped into view.

"Jonathan!" she called.

"Go back, Esther!"

"Not without you!" She spotted me and popped over.

She wrapped her arms around me and smiled.

"Good to see you, Esther," I said.

"And how. Hang on," she said and popped away.

I kept tumbling.

She popped back to me. "Horsefeathers," she said. "You're too big. I can't take you with me."

"It's all right, Esther. Thank you for everything you've ever done for me. Go back and tell both Kellys I love them. You might tell them to kill Sharon and Chronos while you're at it, though."

My words hurt her, and I realized I'd been a fool. "I'm not telling them any of that nonsense," she said. "You can tell them yourself."

"You know I love you too, right Esther?"

"I know you like me, but love? Go chase yourself. Hold onto me."

"You can't take me back there. I'm too big."

She gave me a sad smile. "Shut up and kiss me," she said.

She planted a kiss on my lips. She moved her lips over mine and her tongue shot into my mouth.

"Damn, girl!"

She winked at me. "If I had my way, I'd do some barneymugging with you for weeks on end. But fate hates me, Jonathan."

"Get back to the real world, Esther. Go live and love."

"You forget," she said. "I'm already dead. I've carried a torch for you for more years than I ever lived, and you're the one who needs to keep breathing. I would give anything to be with you."

"So you're going to float out here in the void with me?"

"No, you big palooka. Don't you remember what Dr. Ancho said about mass?" She kissed me again. "I love you, and you need to live."

"I love you, too," I said. "But it's your turn for life."

She shook her head. "One more kiss," she said and this time, when she kissed me, I stayed kissed.

She popped.

I popped.

I appeared in the air over the Center of the Universe and fell to the ground hard. I rolled over to see Thor standing still in the distance beside the unmoving Clara, while two Kelly Chans faced Chronos and Sharon. Neither Kelly moved, but Chronos and Sharon did. The ghost of Esther Carmichael floated in the air above me.

She'd traded places with me. Her physical form now floated in the void, and rather than teleport her own body, she brought her spirit and my body.

"Oh, Esther," I said.

"How did he get back here?" Chronos asked, as he took the sword from Kelly's hand.

Sharon grabbed a sword from the other Kelly. "Doesn't matter. I'll just kill the fucker," she said and stalked toward me.

"I'll kill the two Kelly Chans," Chronos said.

"Save one for me," Sharon said. "I hate those bitches."

I didn't like the sound of that.

I rolled to my feet, and Sharon raced toward me, sword ready. I pulled my Glock, but realized pulling the trigger wouldn't do me any good because time was frozen.I let go of it, and it hung suspended in the air. I did a shoulder roll to avoid the swinging sword, and charged at Chronos.

He didn't expect it, but he was my only chance. If I faced off with Sharon, he'd be able to kill both Kelly Chans before I could reach him, but by going after him first, I had a chance.I slammed into him before he could bring the sword around, and I kept driving, pushing him to the side of the pedestrian walkway.The planters stood between us and the drop to the railroad tracks, but I didn't care about falling. I drove Chronos right over the edge.

Time didn't affect us, but gravity did.

We dropped to the tracks.It was a good twenty foot drop, but I landed on top of him. The impact dislodged the sword from his hand and it flew away to hang motionless in the air just out of reach of his hand.I rolled off of him, in pain, and tried to sit up.

He jumped to his feet, unharmed.

"Sharon will kill you," Chronos said.

"Sharon is outside your sphere of influence, jackass," I said and pushed myself to my feet.My ribs hurt, but they weren't broken.I wanted to kick him, but the coward took off running down the tracks.

I chased after him.The first few steps hurt because even landing on top of Chronos didn't prevent the collision with the ground from beating the shit out of me. But as my legs churned, the pain didn't bother me.I tackled Chronos, and drove his face against the railroad tracks.I got up, grabbed hold of him and yanked him to his feet. He tried to hit me, but I blocked his punch and drove my fist into his face.

He sat down hard.

I launched a snap kick at his face, driving him back to the ground.

"You should have checked your timeline after all," I said. "Maybe you'd have seen this coming."I grabbed him and dragged him back toward the bridge.He struggled, pounded on my wrist and hand. I ignored the pain and kept pulling him. Kelly's sword hovered ten feet away.I let go of Chronos and grabbed the katana.

He got to his feet and tried to rush me, but I expected it. I spun and sliced upward with the blade, cutting into his stomach and chest, sweeping outward and sending blood trails flying. They froze in the air and hung there, caught in time. I stepped around and swung the blade again, this time with better aim, and I chopped the fucker's head off.

The body took a few steps, then crumpled to its knees and toppled forward. A flash of light shot out from the corpse as the magic left his body.

I glanced up and saw the pocket watch floating in the air a few feet from the edge of the bridge. As long as it was open, time would be frozen. I rubbed my aching ribs, and climbed the embankment back to the pedestrian walkway.

The scene was unchanged except for Sharon who now stood motionless in mid-step, sword in her right hand. She once said that steel couldn't penetrate her skin. I stepped up to her and swung Kelly's sword in a grand arc. The blade cut right through Sharon's skin, and lodged in her neck bone. With a normal person, the blade would have hacked the head right off. Sharon was wrong about the steel not penetrating her skin, but as with Sekutar warriors, the magic inside her made her bones a lot stronger. I took a few whacks to cut through her neck bone.Her head remained on top of her neck, but it wouldn't remain there once time kicked back into motion.

Speaking of which, I needed to close the watch.

I walked to the edge of the bridge, and the damn watch was just out of reach.

"This is going to hurt," I said. I set down the sword then jumped out, caught the watch, and dropped twenty feet to the hard ground.I bent my knees and went into a roll to try and absorb the impact. The pain stabbed through my feet, ankles, and legs, but nothing broke.And one more time, I climbed back up the damned embankment.

It was worth it, though.I snapped the watch closed and time kicked into gear.

Sharon took three steps before her head fell from her neck and bounced on the concrete.

The two Kellys swung empty hands toward a nonexistent foe then stared at their hands.

"What the hell?" Kelly One said.

I tucked the watch into my pocket. I wasn't taking over the job of Chronos, of course. The magic that would bind someone to the job can't affect me. I just didn't want anyone else messing about in history. Besides, you never know when something like a watch that can control time might come in handy.

"Hello, ladies," I said.I picked up their swords and handed them back.

"Thanks," Kelly Two said. "What happened?"

I filled them in, as Esther drifted over.

"All of it was only possible because of Esther," I said.

"She's a peach," Kelly said. "Where is she?"

I wasn't sure which Kelly said it because I was staring at the ghost who loved me. The ghost I kept taking for granted. She remained translucent.

"She's right here. Are you unable to make yourself seen?"

"It's all berries, Jonathan." She made herself visible.

I smiled. "Excellent."

"But it's time for me to scram for good."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

She made herself invisible so her words would be for only me. "I can't compete with yourKelly's memory, and I know you're never going to walk down the center aisle with me. I'll always carry a torch for you, Jonathan, but I can't stay with you when you don't even see me."

"I see you," I said.

She gave me a sad smile and placed a ghostly hand on my cheek. "I wish that were true. But it's time for me to accept reality. I was a dumb Dora and while the torch will always burn, I can't stay with you anymore. It hurts me too much. Just know that I'll always love you."

With that, she popped away.

"Esther, no!"

But it was too late. She was gone.

"We might want to get out of here before the cops show up and find the bodies," Kelly Two said.

"We can handle the cops," Kelly One said.

"I won't hurt the police," Kelly Two said.

"Not even a little?" "As long as the dragon is sitting here, I don't think anyone's going to dare approach us," Kelly Two said.

"Where's Thor?" I asked.

"He went in search of an ATM while you were talking to Esther," Kelly said. "He figured we should celebrate, but he was out of cash."

Sirens sounded in the distance. "I suspect he made another withdrawal." I glanced at Kelly Two. "Care to join us?"

She smiled. "I think I need to get Clara back to Boulder. I have classes to teach. My girls need me, and if I'm honest, I kinda need them too. Don't be a stranger, Jonathan. If you ever need me, you call me. Got it?"

"You think I need more than one of you?"

She gave me a wink. "You couldn't handle either one of us." She embraced me, holding me tightly. She kissed my cheek. "Stay well, my friend."

She turned to her time twin and gave her a nod of respect.

Kelly returned the nod.

Kelly Two climbed aboard the dragon. She gave me a salute. The dragon bowed her head and nudged me playfully.

Thank you for the wonderful meal, Clara told me. I love Mediterranean food. She then pulled back and launched herself into the air.

Thor walked down the path with a trail of twenty dollar bills floating behind him. "We need to feast, we need to drink, and we need to fuck!"

"I'm with you on the first two," Kelly said.

"Then I shall have to keep plying you with ale until you give in."

"That's not going to happen," Kelly said.

"We shall see. There are restaurants in this direction," Thor said, pointing. "I shall lead the way."

Kelly and I followed him.

"I have to ask," I said. "What did you think of your time twin?"

Kelly pursed her lips for a moment. "She's beautiful, of course. And she's a fast and furious fighter."

"Your equal in every way," I said.

Kelly shook her head. "No she's not."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Kelly frowned. "She's too human."

Two police cars screeched to a halt in front of Thor. He bent down, picked up the front end of the first car and turned it ninety degrees then dropped it. "Let us pass, mortals, we have slain gods this day, and by all measures that matter, we deserve to celebrate."

"Sir," one of the officers said. "We have a report that you broke an ATM off the wall in a bar for the second time this week."

"They should not have attached it," Thor said.

"Sir, you're under arrest."

Thor turned, and raised his hammer high. Thunder boomed and lightning flashed in spite of the clear blue sky.

"Don't hurt them!" I called.

"Very well," Thor said. "I shall smash their vehicles."

"No!" I yelled.

Thor frowned. He stepped up to the officers. "Today is your lucky day," he said. "My friend does not wish you harm, so I will spare you."

"You're under arrest," the closest cop said and reached for Thor's forearm, slapping handcuffs on him.

Thor snapped the cuffs and handed them to the officer. "This will not end well for you, mortals."

Kelly stepped up behind the officers and quickly pinched their carotid arteries closed. They stiffened for a moment, then a few seconds later, they went limp and she draped them over the hood of the perpendicular cop car. She took their guns and tossed them in the front seat. They started coming around, but she took handcuffs from a cop's belt, cuffed them together and shoved them into the backseat of the car.

She closed the door, turned to me, and said, "No lives lost, no property damage."

"Except for the handcuffs," I said.

"That was Thor," she said.

I smiled, but my heart wasn't in it, and we walked off in search of food and drink.

I thought back to what Dr. Ancho had said about how I'd lose someone if I stayed on my path. Esther was now gone, and I knew the empty space in my heart could never be filled by anyone else. We all carry ghosts with us, and we all have regrets. My biggest regret is that I had been so hung up on a ghost who wasn't there that I couldn't see the ghost who was. My life was diminished without Esther. There's always a price to pay in life, and my account was currently overdrawn. Maybe someday I'd find her again. Maybe then I could make it up to her.

But when you're holding out for someday, you're stuck existing between the seconds, and trust me, that's not a fun place to be.

Kelly's hand slipped into mine, startling me.She leaned her face toward mine and her breath tickled my ear.

"Don't get too excited," she whispered."I'm just trying to throw off Thor."

I squeezed her hand anyway.

The thunder god looked at our clasped hands and huffed."She insults me yet again.Choosing a mere mortal over the pleasures of Gamanbjodr."

Kelly smirked up at Thor."You think too much of your hammer."

I laughed."Yeah.Write that down."

THE END
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gary Jonas grew up in a military family, so he moved a lot as a child. His original plan was to be a comic book artist, but in college things changed. He took a creative writing class for the easy A, and found that when he wrote stories, people were affected emotionally by them in ways they weren't by his artwork. He switched from art to writing without ever looking back. Well, he might have looked back a few times, but by then it was too late. He sold his first short story to Marion Zimmer Bradley for the anthology Sword and Sorceress VII. Many short story sales followed to various magazines and anthologies including Robert Bloch's Psychos, It Came from the Drive-In, 100 Vicious Little Vampire Stories, Prom Night, and many more.

His first novel, One-Way Ticket to Midnight, was published in 2002, It made the preliminary ballot for the Bram Stoker Award. While the novel was well-reviewed, it didn't sell diddly squat, so Gary turned to writing screenplays for a few years. A couple of Hollywood options led to nothing, and the notes from producers, while sometimes spot-on, were also sometimes way out in left field (if they were even in the ballpark). Gary returned to novel writing with Modern Sorcery. You can visit him online, and sign up for his mailing list on his rarely updated blog or on his website at www.garyjonasbooks.com

Books by Gary Jonas

The Jonathan Shade series:

Modern Sorcery

Acheron Highway

Dragon Gate

Anubis Nights

Sunset Specters

Wizard's Nocturne

Razor Dreams

Vertigo Effect

Club Eternity

Timeless Gods

Spirited Christmas (a Jonathan Shade holiday story)

The Kelly Chan series

Vampire Midnight

Werewolf Samurai

Subhuman Resources (w/Rebecca Hodgkins)

Zombie Rising (w/Rebecca Hodgkins)

Vendetta Blues (w/Rebecca Hodgkins)

The Half-Assed Wizard series

The Half-Assed Wizard

The Big-Ass Witch

The Dumbass Demon

The Lame-Assed Doppelganger

The UFO Conspiracy Files series:

Guardians of the Sky

Stand-alone novels:

One-Way Ticket to Midnight

Pirates of the Outrigger Rift (w/Bill D. Allen)

Novella:

Night Marshal: A Tale of the Undead West

also available in Night Marshal Box Set (the first three Night Marshal tales in one bundle--includes Night Marshal by Gary Jonas, High Plains Moon by Glenn R. Sixbury, and This Dance, These Bones by Rebecca Hodgkins). The set kicks ass.

Collection:

Quick Shots

Cover design by Robin Ludwig Design Inc.

www.gobookcoverdesign.com

edited by Rebecca Hodgkins

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