Extracted

THIRTY-TWO

EMBER

A shrill ring echoes in my ears. I reach back and touch the spot where my head connected with the door. No blood. That’s good, at least. Across the distance, Lex looks over, and an expression of surprise is clear on his face for a moment before he turns back to Tesla. It takes me a second to realize why. I’m at the door. Whatever temporal barrier holds the Fixed Point in place has either fallen or let me inside.

Gloves’s words drift back to the front of my mind, driving the ringing away. “You aren’t changing anything. You will go back again because you always have. Your actions are part of the Fixed Point.”

With the help of the doorjamb I climb to my feet. Ethan is taking on Flynn, and Stein and Kara are going at it like rabid tigers. No one is looking at me. I try to step forward to join them but I can’t. Something is holding me back. Behind me, my hands grasp for the doorknob of their own accord. Opening my mouth, I try to call out, but my voice is frozen. Like a puppet whose strings are being pulled by someone else, I push the door open behind me and step backward into the house.

As I turn to go into the room, two young soldiers stare at me, momentarily confused.

“Get her!” one screams in Russian, and they both lunge for me, guns drawn. I fall to my back and kick out, catching them both in the knees. They each scream in agony as they crumple to the floor. I roll to my feet, spin, and kick the gun out of the first soldier’s hand. Then, yanking him up, I pull him in front of me. The soldier on the ground fires a shot, but hits his buddy instead. I throw him at the armed gunman; while he struggles, I deliver a roundhouse kick to his head, knocking him out cold.

The whole thing happens so quickly it’s almost a blur, but I’m still panting as I cross the room toward the stairs. I reach the door and another guard appears. He gets in one good punch to my face and I stagger back. He pulls a mean-looking blade from his boot. Knocking the knife from his hands, I kick him in the groin. Then I kick him in the head, sending him flying backward. Once he’s down I jump on top of him, pulling the gun from his holster. A sound behind me makes me turn, gun pointed.

“Flynn,” I say, surprised. How did he get through the force field?

He cocks his head to the side, staring at me curiously. That’s when I realize he isn’t the Flynn from my timeline. He’s the other Flynn. His clothes are different and his hair is just a bit shorter than the man fighting outside. I lower the gun.

Another guard appears beside him.

“Look out,” I shout.

Without even looking, Flynn turns, steps forward, and delivers a blow to the guy’s neck. Then another quick punch to his face sends him backward into a small table. An oil lamp rolls off and shatters, setting the drapes ablaze.

“How do you know my name?” Flynn asks, rubbing his hand.

What can I say? “It’s a really long story, and not one I have time for right now. Follow me.”

I turn the corner and head upstairs. The fire spreads quickly, racing its way up the walls and across the ceiling. Below us, I hear the remaining soldiers panic.

“Get the other children,” someone yells.

“But sir, the fire.”

“We can’t leave them. The Tsar and Tsarina are dead and their bodies must be moved quickly, before the rebels get here.”

“Sir, they are as good as dead up there. There’s no way out.”

“Fine. You guard these stairs for as long as possible, and be sure they don’t make it out of this house alive.”

I shiver even through the intense heat. We are almost to the bedroom door when Flynn grabs my arm. Inside my head, time slows down. Every kind smile, every reassuring hug he ever gave me, plays back inside my mind. He was my family. I can change things, maybe. I can try. Take him out here and let Gloves take us both. But then I never know him, or Ethan, or even Kara. I swallow.

“Who are you?” he demands.

I frown, putting my hand over his and pushing up my sleeve to expose my Tesla mark. His eyes widen.

“I’m the girl behind that door.” I point to it. They are worth it, I realize, staring into his eyes. Worth the memory loss and the separation from Alexei. They are worth all of it. And even if I can change it, I won’t. “You asked me once to trust you and I didn’t. I’m really sorry for that. Very, very sorry. But right now, you have to trust me.”

He stares in my eyes, then glances back down to my arm and nods.

“The room behind that door is about to collapse. You have to go grab her—me—and get us out of here.”

“But the boy, Alexei—”

I shake my head. “You can’t get them both. You go now, grab the girl, and leave the boy behind. You understand?”

Stepping past me, he rushes into the room. As soon as he disappears, Gloves runs up the stairs, sees me, and freezes. I press my finger to my lips to silence him, and wave him to the door across the hallway. He slips inside just as Flynn emerges. The smoke is filling the hall and I can barely see him. But I can make out my own figure in his arms. She’s reaching back and screaming. A loose chunk of plaster falls from the ceiling and hits them. Pushing him in the back, I direct him to the end of the hall. He nods, presses a button on his Tether, and vanishes.

A fit of coughs wracks my body. I run to the door and scream.

“Gloves! Quickly, this way. He’s in here.”

But he doesn’t answer. Holding my arm above my eyes, I can see that another piece of ceiling has collapsed. He’s trapped under it.

I rush to his side. He’s conscious, but he’s covered in soot and grimacing in pain. “Gloves, are you all right?” I grab the chunk of wood and manage to get it off him. He’s face-down on the floor, gasping for air.

“I’m all right,” he says between breaths. “But I can’t move my legs.”

Tugging my shirt up over my face, I crawl back to the bedroom, trying to stay under the dark cloud of smoke. Alexei falls into my arms and hugs me.

“Where is Father? I heard gunfire.”

I wrap my arms around him, stroking his hair. The contrast between this frail, sickly boy and the one fighting in the garden are nearly unbelievable. “It’s okay,” I whisper. “I’m going to get you out of here. Okay?”

I set him down and he nods, pulling a sword from its sheath at his side.

“You need to leave that behind.”

He shakes his head.

“We have to crawl, baby. To stay under the smoke. Can you leave that so you can crawl with me?”

He shakes his head again, and his eyes are wide in terror. Beside him, some burning rubble falls, hitting him in the face. He screams and falls onto his side. Brushing it off, I can see it’s already left a nasty red burn on his neck and face.

Think, I command myself.

I reach into my pocket and pull out the handful of bottle caps I retrieved from the ground at Wardenclyffe Tower, the ones Lex threw off the roof in a fit. I’d meant to return them to him. I suppose, in a way, I am.

“Alexei, give me your hand.” He obeys and I carefully tip the metal caps into his palm. “These are special for you. Whenever you are scared or hurt, you just touch these and they will make you brave. Now, can you make it to the hall?” I ask. He stuffs the bottle caps in his pocket and nods.

Together we crawl across the hall. I kick a chunk of burning timber out of the way. Looking behind me, I can see Alexei’s eyes are watering from the smoke. The side of his face looks worse; it’s already swelling and blistering. By the time we reach Gloves, he’s nearly unconscious.

“Gloves, the Contra. Where is the Contra?”

He slips his hand in his pocket and pulls out the green pills.

I turn to Alexei. “Alexei. This is my friend Gloves, and he’s going to get you out of here, okay?”

Alexei clutches my hand. I give it a tight squeeze.

“Is Father dead?” He coughs, then winces at the pain.

I’m not sure why I lie. Maybe I just can’t bear to hurt him anymore, maybe it’s just my own wishful thinking.

“Father is fine, Alexei. We’re all going to be fine. But you need to go now.”

Reluctantly he lets go. Gloves takes him by the hand, offering him the pill.

“You hold on tight Alexei, and you don’t let go, no matter what.”

He nods. I lean down to whisper in Gloves’s ear. “You take care of him.”

Then I slip the Contra in the side of Gloves’s mouth and motion for Alexei to take his. They vanish.

Just as they disappear, a huge chunk of plaster falls from above me, crashing through the floor and taking me with it.