Edge of Time (3 page)

Riley was too shocked to even yell. They hit the ground with a thud then rolled in a heap against the wall next to an outside rail. Riley was momentarily winded. Darius and the boy fell against her. Panicked that she might touch the live middle rail of the subway, she pulled her feet up as fast as she could. There was no time to worry about anything else as her attention was diverted the moment she looked upwards.

The bright light of the subway train was hurtling towards her. She was seconds away from certain death.

A jagged, tingling sensation ran through her body, starting where Darius held her and spreading outwards. There was a sharp tug, as if she were jerked by invisible hands.

Then everything around her disappeared.

R
iley tumbled to her knees and fell over. It took several seconds before her mind started working again. The first thing she noticed was that her hand was wet. She blinked several times to clear the fog. Her hand was in a puddle of water. Carefully, she raised it to eye level. Not blood. She looked around.

Darius was sitting behind her. His head rested on his upturned knees. The boy that had followed them down into the subway was lying on his side a short distance away and curled into a fetal position. His eyes were tightly shut.

They weren't in the subway any longer.

The corrugated metal ceiling of the empty warehouse stretched high above. There were no windows in the dingy metal walls, yet there was enough light to see. The concrete floor was dirty, and here and there small puddles had formed in the depressions. The air smelled of cold metal and something unfamiliar. A small group of people walked quickly towards them.

Riley struggled to her feet. She swayed for a moment until her legs found their strength. A cold shiver ran down her spine.

A young woman approached, followed by several teenagers. She was tall and slim with white-blonde hair pulled severely back in a tight ponytail. It flipped from side to side with each step. She was quite pretty in a cool, understated way and wore dark, form-fitting trousers, a white tee shirt and running shoes. Around her neck a silver chain winked in the half-light above her collar. She wasn't smiling. In fact, she looked downright annoyed.

Of the five teenagers behind her, three were boys. All were wearing jeans, tees and hooded jackets. All had looks of intense interest.

The woman stopped two paces away from Riley. She looked her up and down silently as if examining a specimen on a slide. Then she turned her gaze to Darius. “I assume you have a good explanation for this.”

Darius didn't lift his head. His voice was muffled and tired. “I'm thinking of one as we speak.”

“Not surprising.” The woman turned her frosty gaze towards Riley. “What happened? Were you cornered?”

The snooty tone of voice had to go. Riley pointed at Darius. “He threw me in front of a train.”

Several of the onlookers raised their eyebrows but no one spoke.

“A train?” The woman raised one finely groomed eyebrow before turning her gaze back to Darius.

Riley raised her voice. “A subway train. As if that matters. How did I get here? Who are you? And where am I anyway? I've got a VIA train to catch.”

The woman shrugged. “You
had
a train to catch. Not now. Grab your bag.” She turned to the tallest boy on her right. “Gino, help Alec to his feet, will you?”

A skinny boy with ringlets to his shoulders and far too many pimples nodded as he walked over to the boy on the ground and shook his shoulder. Riley couldn't hear what he said but it didn't matter. That kid was not her concern. Darius was not her concern. Getting back to Union Station was.

“Whatever,” Riley said curtly. “Just point me in the direction of downtown, lady, and I'll get out of your hair.” She swung her knapsack up and over her shoulder. She adjusted the straps. Her knees wobbled.

The blonde didn't reply. Behind her, Darius was slowly getting to his feet.

She was not going to waste another minute with these weird people. Without a word she strode towards the far wall. The blonde was talking again, but her voice was indistinct in the cavernous building the farther Riley walked. Riley heard Darius reply, “Anna, listen. I'm not.”

There was no door. Riley stopped and bit her lower lip. She was sure she'd seen one. She blinked several times. With an impatient sigh, she turned and inspected the walls on either side. Nothing. She turned on her heel and squinted at the farthest wall. Angrily she headed back. She refused to look at the woman, the teenagers or Darius as she stalked past.

There was no door at the far wall, either. Riley's heart gave a little jolt as she came to an abrupt halt. Who built a warehouse with no door? She spun around. Someone was yanking her chain and she
so
did not like that.

Darius' smile slipped away as she approached. He spoke before she could. “You can't get out. Sorry.”

Riley dropped her bag at her feet. Her nostrils flared. “And just why not? I want to leave. Now.” She stopped herself from stamping her foot, just in time. “What kind of idiot builds a warehouse without a door, for heaven's sake?”

Darius held up a hand. “I can explain everything. But it'll be a lot safer if we go down to do it.”

The boy who had been thrown in front of the subway train with her shuffled forward and touched Darius on the arm. “Why was she going to shoot me?” he asked.

“Hey, bucko, stop interrupting,” Riley snapped, her eyes narrowing.

“Shoot both of you,” Darius corrected, speaking to the boy first. “She was after Riley as much as she was after you, Alec.”

So his name was Alec. Riley stared at him as he stared back. He was tall and thin, and probably younger than her. He had that gawky look of someone who had grown a lot in a short time but he moved with athletic grace. His hair needed cutting. He had dark brown eyes with long lashes and dark fuzz over his upper lip. Someday, he was going to be very handsome. Right now, there was mostly potential.

Riley shifted her gaze back to Darius. “Just who are you, anyway? Why did that woman want to kill us? Why isn't there a door?”

The woman Darius called Anna interrupted. “Protocol states the Potentials need to be informed within one hour of contact. I assume from their lack of knowledge that you were wasting time roleplaying again.” She pulled out a glass ball, slightly larger than a golf ball, from her pants' pocket. She stared intently at it for a moment and then looked up. “They're on their way. Several. We need to move.”

“What the hell is going on?” Riley demanded. Everyone looked very serious all of a sudden.

Darius grabbed Riley's knapsack and walked several steps away before she could even think to reach for it. Everyone followed, except for Alec who stood still and pale as if rooted to the spot. He glanced over at Riley as if for instructions, but she paid him no attention.

“That's my bag,” she shouted at Darius. “Give it back.” Furious, Riley reached him quickly and grabbed at her bag, tugging it impotently. Darius didn't even break his stride.

“I mean it. Leggo.” Riley yanked again but Darius was extraordinarily strong. He didn't even look at her. With his free hand he reached into his jeans pocket. He pulled out a glass ball similar to the one that Anna had looked at a moment ago. Riley had only a moment to notice his focused attention on the glass before she fell to the ground. Darius had let go of the bag at the same time she tugged and the force of her pull knocked her off balance. She landed on her butt with an “oof.”

Suddenly the floor beneath her began to move.

“You might want to get behind me,” Darius murmured, with a nod at the cement floor, which had developed several seams and was now pulling apart like an aperture of an old-fashioned camera lens.

Riley scuttled backwards. Her eyes widened with disbelief.

A gaping round hole now existed in the middle of the warehouse floor, and inside it, a long set of polished stairs led downwards. Riley leaned over the edge for a better view. The stairs, fashioned out of some kind of dark metal, seemed to glow. The base of the stairwell was shrouded in shadow.

The teenagers streamed around her and quickly descended the stairs, their heads disappearing downwards. No one spoke. Alec appeared with Anna at his side. He balked at the top.

“Where does this go?” he asked in a shaky voice.

“Down to our quarters, Alec. Anna will show you the way. There's nothing to be frightened of,” Darius answered.

Alec flushed to the roots of his hair. “I'm not scared,” he muttered. As if to prove it, he almost ran down the stairs. Anna exchanged a quick look with Darius before she followed.

Darius swung Riley's knapsack over his shoulder and stepped down to the first tread. He raised one eyebrow. “In less than one minute, several Emissaries are going to show up, just outside of this compound. They are all after you. My job, Riley, is to protect you. And I would very much prefer if I'm not killed because you are too stubborn to save yourself.”

Someone began pounding on the outside warehouse wall. Darius' gaze never left her face. “You know that I speak the truth. You can feel it, in the same way you've known when you were a target. You don't know why yet. But you know you're in danger. Trust your instincts, Riley. They saved you in Yarmouth and in Halifax. They'll save you now.”

Riley swallowed convulsively. Darius, whoever he was, was right about one thing. She had known she was in trouble both times in the last month. Instinct, superstition, gut reaction – whatever you want to call it. The back of her mind had screamed in fear and she'd run.

But, now, the threat she could feel inching up the back of her spine was less clearly defined. Did it come from the gorgeous man in front of her, or from outside the warehouse?

The pounding got louder.

Trust this guy or wait to see who was trying to get in?

Something heavy rammed up against the wall with a resounding crack. A second later, it happened again.

Her mouth was dry, her heart pounding.

Another crash. Louder.

Riley raced down the steps, Darius right behind her. The aperture closed above, encasing them in darkness.

A
lec looked around with a mixture of curiosity, fear and forced bravado. The stairwell stopped after nearly thirty precipitous steps at a small landing. He stepped through a narrow doorway into a rather large, rectangular room constructed entirely from the same metal as the stairwell. A huge table, surrounded by chairs, dominated the centre of the room. There were several metal bunk beds, two low sofas and two desks. There were two other doors but both were closed.

The other teenagers were settling themselves around the table silently. Several gave him appraising looks but Alec pretended to ignore them. There'd better be answers about what had happened. He'd landed almost underneath Darius and had the breath knocked out of him. He'd heard the scream of the train's wheels and felt the rush of air signalling sudden death. Then, before he could even think, they were somewhere else. It defied belief.

Anna touched his shoulder. He turned. “Have a seat. As soon as Riley arrives, we'll begin.”

“Riley?” Alec asked.

“Your companion. The dark-haired girl with the metallic pin in her eyebrow.”

“I never met her before–” Alec began, but Darius and Riley's arrival interrupted. The door slid shut behind them as they entered the room.

“Let's get right to it, shall we?” Darius said. He pointed to the table. “Take a seat, Alec. You too, Riley.”

“I'm not sitting anywhere.” Riley was standing with her back against the wall, where only a moment ago there had been a door. Her arms were crossed and her eyes were narrowed.

Alec tried not to appear to be giving her the once over, but he couldn't quite drag his eyes away from the tiny Goth girl. Her black hair was cut into a wild geometric design and striped with fuchsia and blue. Her black jeans fit like a second skin and the heavy studded belt slung low over her hips emphasized the fact she was definitely female. Indigo eyes stared out from beneath her fringe with the kind of glance that cut boys into ribbons. She was hot, no doubt about it, and really pissed.

Anna crossed the room and took Riley's arm. She pulled her to the edge of the table, yanked out an empty chair with her free hand and shoved Riley into it. “Sit down before you fall down,” she advised, placing both her hands on Riley's slim shoulders to prevent her getting up again.

“I'm–” Riley sputtered as she squirmed.

“About to feel the effects of teleportation,” Darius interrupted smoothly as he pulled out a chair, swung it around and straddled it backwards. “And, when you do, your legs will turn to jelly and you'll get the shakes. Falling down is the usual response. Gino, please get our newest companions some juice.” He smiled at Alec. “The sugar in the juice counteracts the effects. You'll feel better after you drink it.”

Alec was already feeling shaky and it was a relief to know that it wasn't his nerve deserting him.

Darius leaned his elbows on the table and smiled. “Welcome to Tyon Training Station Number Seven. Most of what I'm going to tell you won't make sense yet. Anna and I know that this will take time to comprehend. Unfortunately, time is something we don't have a lot of right now.

“Gino and Mary Beth have been here the longest, and they'll help you settle in.” He raised his hand at Riley's sudden inhalation. “Yes, you will be staying here. Nothing you say, nothing you do, will change our minds about this. Your safety, as I mentioned above, is our main priority.”

The tallest boy carried two narrow, metallic beakers over to the table and placed one in front of Alec, the other at Riley's elbow. He gave Alec a quick smile, then took his seat at the other end of the table.

“As we speak, forces are attempting to end your lives,” Anna said. “The one who tried to kill you over the last several weeks will not give up. He cannot be dissuaded. You have no other protection, but us.”

“He? Who's he? I only saw some businesswoman with a seriously bad attitude. Unless she is a he?” Riley scoffed. She was very pale and her hands were trembling. She glanced towards Alec and shoved them under the table.

“Actually, we have no idea if Rhozan has a gender.” Darius' eyebrows rose into his hair. He gave Anna a quizzical look. “We think he's male, but ...”

“Who's Rhozan?” Alec took a sip of his juice and swallowed. He looked from Anna's face to Darius, then back again. He avoided Riley's gaze and hoped he wasn't blushing.

Darius turned in his chair to face Alec. “The Tyon Collective, of which Anna and I are members, seek out and protect individuals who harbour a gift that was bred into your world several generations ago. It is just now, with your generation, that the gift has manifested itself. We are the harvesters of that initial dissemination.”

“Huh?” said Alec. What gift? No one had given him any gift, except for his fifteenth birthday last September, and, of course, Christmas. And then all he'd gotten were new soccer cleats.

“Not a present, Alec, a gift. A special ability. Something you were born with.”

Alec frowned. Why would someone want to kill him because he was athletic?

Darius smiled. “Bear with me for a minute, okay. The Others – that's what we call them – figure they can take over anywhere they want, and armed with that idea, they travel around looking for new civilizations to conquer. The Tyon Collective was formed to deal with the problem.”

“And you're part of the Tyon … whatever it is.” Alec raised a skeptical eyebrow. The whole thing sounded like something from one of Peter's sci-fi novels.

“Collective. Yes. We are. And soon, with a bit of training, you will be, too.” Darius smiled.

“And this Rhozan guy?”

“Is one of the Others, yes.” Darius replied.

If this Darius guy thought he was gullible enough to believe that crock of garbage, he had another thought coming. There had to be another explanation. Alec glanced over at Riley to assess her reaction. Her lips had thinned to a dark purple line. She wasn't drinking her juice. Maybe it was poisoned? His stomach dropped at the thought. How much had he drunk?

“There's nothing in the juice except juice. Don't worry.” Anna must have noticed his expression. “Finish it and you'll feel better. You too, Riley.”

Darius continued. “We tried to get here first, sow the seeds of resistance, so to speak. And, unfortunately for you, we were right. He's here.”

“The woman in the red dress,” Riley muttered almost to herself.

“Yes, in a manner of speaking. And this is where it gets a bit weird. The woman you met at the concert, and the other one at the drive-through, are puppets, a figment of Rhozan's will that manifests itself in innocent bystanders and is capable of killing.”

“Hang on there a minute.” Riley had pushed her juice to one side and was leaning over the table, peering at Darius with frank incredulity. “What do you mean, a puppet? She blackened my eye and broke two of my ribs. And who the hell is Rhozan?”

“Rhozan is the one who wants you dead,” Darius said.

The room was completely silent.

“How long have you been off your meds?” Riley leaned back in her chair and folded her arms. With her eyebrow piercing she reminded Alec of a skeptical Vulcan.

“Rhozan is no joke. Sorry,” said Darius.

“Oh, come on. This is ridiculous.” Riley's voice rose. “I've never met anyone named Rhozan. There is no reason on Earth why he wants me dead.”

“The reason isn't on Earth. That's what I've been trying to tell you.” Darius sighed. He looked up at Anna. “You try.”

Anna let go of Riley's shoulders and walked to the side of the table so that she could look both Riley and Alec in the eye. “The Tyon Collective is a secret intergalactic agency concerned with maintaining the balance between self-direction and interference. The Others, of whom Rhozan is a member, are pan-dimensional beings that feed off negative emotions, such as anger, despair and misery. They travel from place to place and devour weaker worlds. We try to stop them within the boundaries the Celestial Council permits.

“In simple terms, Riley, we're the good guys. Rhozan and the Others are the bad ones. And you and Alec, like the rest of the individuals here, are the rare humans with the inborn strength to fight his invasion. That's why he wants you dead. And that's why we need to protect and train you.”

“Train me for what?” Alec interrupted. He was almost afraid to ask.

“To fight Rhozan and save your world,” Darius said softly, “because you are the only ones who can.”