The Indigo King - James A. Owen [109]
“Blood for blood, and a life for a life,” Rose said, nodding her head in agreement. “Your companion stayed on Avallo, so it seems right that I return with you.”
“And if no one has any objections,” Hugo added, “I’d like to take Archimedes back as well. Chaz asked that we care for the bird, and Arthur has enough advisers, now.”
“Good enough and done, then,” said John, looking at the rising moon. “We’re running close. We’ll have to ride hard to make it.”
With horses and best wishes given to them by Taliesin, the companions arrived at Grandfather Oak just as the projection was starting to waver.
“The badgers will be frantic,” said John.
“Badgers?” asked Rose.
“You’re going to love them,” said Hugo. “Ready?”
Rose nodded, and together the foursome stepped through the projection and into the future.
Once more they were back in the projection room on Sanctuary. There was a brief flurry of greetings and explanations to satisfy the badgers’ questions—mostly about why they had brought back a sick bird in a bag, and why Chaz seemed to have been turned into a girl.
“I’m not Chaz, I’m Rose,” she said. “Pleased to meet you both.”
“First things first,” said Jack. “We need to know if it worked this time.”
From inside the room, nothing seemed different at all.
“Well,” John said. “I guess we’ll just have to go outside and take a look again, and see if this time it did the trick.”
“John!” Jack cried out. “Look! In the corner! The burlap bag is gone! We have changed things, after all!”
“Did you move the bag?” John asked the badgers. “Set it aside, perhaps? Or did Reynard move it?”
Uncas shook his head.
“No, we never touched it,” answered Fred. “I never realized it was gone until you mentioned it just now.”
“Where’s Reynard?” Jack said, looking around the room. “We need to have him check outside, to see if the giants are still lurking about.”
“He went out a while ago,” said Fred, heading for the door. “I’ll go ask after him.”
The little badger opened the door and stepped outside—and disappeared with a yelp.
The companions ran over to the door, which opened not into the hallway they expected to see but into an endless black void. Fred had fallen when he stepped over the threshold, and he was desperately hanging on to the door frame by a single paw.
Jack reached down and grabbed him up, holding him tightly. “Don’t worry, little badger,” he soothed. “I’ve got you.”
“Thank you, Jack,” Uncas said gratefully. “I couldn’t bear t’ lose my boy!”
“What in Hades is out there?” John said to no one in particular.
“It’s Nothing,” Hugo said simply. “The door opens into Nothing.”
John closed the door and stepped away from it, thinking. “We’ve changed something,” he said, gnawing on his fist in thought. “I think we did change the world, after all. Because the one we came from, Chaz’s world, is no longer there. At all.”
“But this room still is?” asked Jack. “How is that possible?”
“Perhaps we’ve changed things again,” John said morosely. “We left Chaz, centuries ago, in a world that didn’t turn into his. And we took away someone who was already there.” He gestured to Rose. “Who’s to say we didn’t do exactly the wrong things?”
“Do you believe that?” Hugo asked. “Do you believe either one of those choices could have been different?”
“No, I don’t,” John answered. “That’s what confuses me. I don’t see any other path to have taken other than the one we have.”
“Then we should follow it the rest of the way,” said Hugo. “We can’t go out of this room by the door—so I think we’re meant to go through a projection one more time. Why else would it still be here, waiting?”
“I think you’re right, Hugo,” said John.
“Should we try to take the projector with us again?” asked Jack. “It might be useful.”
“To what end?” John replied. “We’re out of slides. And unless another one magically appeared, we couldn’t use it anyway. No,” he said with finality, “I think the room was still here because the projection tied us to the other timeline. It kept it intact, for as long as there’s a projection.