Hexad: The Ward (29 page)

"But the madness never ends?" asked Dale.

"No, never. Come on, Dad, we have to go." Peter helped Tellan to his feet, a frail old man who had no fight left. It suddenly felt very hard to imagine him as The Caretaker.

"Wait." Amanda tried to stand but her legs felt too weak. Her whole life was exposed as a lie and she couldn't believe it. "What happens if I come, and I stay with you, wherever that place is?"

"Then you are out of the loop. We are outside of time there, it will all unravel without you. No future as you have seen it, no past either, just us, and no Hexads. No pain."

"And no Dale?" Amanda turned to the man she loved, looked into his eyes and saw the pleading, the confused thoughts. He wanted her to go, be safe, but he wanted her with him too.

"Correct. No Dale, not with you."

"I can't do that, I could never leave him. Can he come too?"

"It doesn't work like that, Amanda, that's not part of how it is."

"Then I stay."

"We know this. Why do you think we have been trying to help?"

"So what's the alternative?" asked Dale. "There's always an alternative, right?"

Peter and Tellan exchanged worried looks, neither of them willing to speak.

"Just tell us," whispered Amanda, trying to maintain her tenuous grip on reality and not look at Wozzy. "TELL US!"

"You give in," said Peter.

"Give in?" asked Dale.

"What do you mean?" Amanda was bone-weary, she didn't know if she had any fight left in her, yet maybe giving in wouldn't be so bad after all?

"Yeah, just accept it and give in." Peter bent and whispered to Tellan, looking concerned for the frail old man.

"Well, come on then, what do you mean? Bloody hell, Peter, you're as bad as him." Dale pointed at Tellan, in no mood to start treating him gently after what they had just been through.

"You are my daughter, Amanda, and I love you as much as your brother, and it saddens me no end to know that you don't remember, but that is the price you paid for leaving us, for wanting a life here. We have done all we can, have tried to help you more times than you could imagine, but it keeps getting worse. There is always some slip, some little thing that wasn't done right that means time is warped once more and the Hexads come back. This, this latest episode, it's mild compared to some of them. Not that it means it isn't terrible for you to endure, I know it is, but the Universe has rules, and you broke them. This is the consequence. In case you haven't noticed, we are not just ordinary people, and that means extraordinary things happen to us. If you want to stay here then the only thing we can recommend is that you give in."

"What does that mean? I'm getting seriously pissed off with you guys now," said Dale, anger bubbling over.

"Watch it, Dale, remember who you are talking to." Peter stood and frowned at Dale, the jovial geek personality gone, replaced with something Amanda would never have thought Peter possible of: menace, the threat of terrible things.

"Fine," said Dale, deflated, as close to the edge of nervous exhaustion as Amanda. "Just tell us. What can we do to stop this? You said give up?"

"Exactly. I don't mean give up as in let yourself be used and abused, I mean give up as in accept that it will happen and keep on fighting to try to stop it. You've done it before, many times, so you can do it again. What Dad means is give up trying to stop it for good, because you can't. What's more important, staying together, or finding peace? You will never have both."

"Why not? Why can't we beat Hector and get rid of the Hexads and just wake up and for it to all be over?"

"Because it's already happened, hasn't it? You let him get a Hexad and it all started from there. That's done now, you can't go back. There's always something like that to trip you up. Something you forget, something you do that you shouldn't, and off we go again on the time travel merry-go-round. This is your life, your future... If Amanda stays. Did you put the Hexad on the swing? No. There you go, always something."

"So, um, if we can put right what we've screwed up this time then we have a chance? If Hector never gets a Hexad, if we could change that, then everything that has happened will be wiped out, poof and we are back to normal?" Dale edged forward on the sofa where he'd half collapsed, eyes shining as if pleading for the answer he so desperately wanted, what they both wanted.

"Well, um, yeah, I suppose."

"Yes, it would set things right, for now, but the chances of it working for good are slim. You may have some time, but it's doubtful it will be much." Tellan brushed at invisible dirt on his clothes and stared out the window. "Such a beautiful world, I can see why you chose to stay."

"I stayed for Dale, not the world. At least I assume I did?"

"Yes, you did. And Dale, yes, if you can stop Hector getting the Hexad then there will be no Ward, why would there be? But be warned, it has already happened, will happen, and that is the course you are set on. Those events have happened, you did them, and although you have undone certain things before, it is nothing compared to what you are talking about. It won't work, can't work, that series of futures is yours."

"Well, it can't be, can it? I don't care what you say about this whole business, if we stopped it before then we can stop it again. And anyway, it's all your fault, Tellan. You started this whole thing. You came to us, you brought the Hexads to us."

"Dale, my dear boy, only because you left things unfinished. Do you think if I hadn't arrived that one of you wouldn't have been out in the garden getting your knees muddy, digging under the apple tree?" There was no answer. "Exactly."

"Okay, okay, I get it. It's all impossible and it will all come back and bite us on the arse. But maybe this time it will be different, or maybe it won't. Maybe if we stop this then that's it, we stay together and we never touch a damn Hexad again. No Hexad for Hector, no Ward, no crazed timelines and parallel universes and it will just be us."

"Go for it, buddy," said Peter, smiling his cheesy grin like the old Peter they knew.

"How are you my dad?" whispered Amanda, unable to stop herself. How could he be? What about her parents? Was her whole life a lie?

"I know it's a lot to take in, Amanda, and I'm sorry, but it's true. An explanation would take longer than you would care to listen at the moment, but maybe, once all this is over, and things work out how I know they will, then maybe we can talk, I can tell you everything. Okay?"

"Okay."

Tellan put his hat on and frowned at mid-air Wozzy. "I think we will be all right for a few moments, Peter, don't you?"

"Sure, Dad, and I'd like to say goodbye to the little guy. He's been a real pal."

"Wait, answer me one thing first." Amanda took a deep breath. She had to calm herself, try to find a balance so she could continue. "Has all this been a lie, Peter? You being our friend, acting like you didn't know we were mixed up in different universes, pretending you had no idea what was going on all this time?"

"Amanda, and you too, Dale, I'm sorry for any deception, but no, I love you guys. You are my friends, and more. Heck, you're family. I may have acted a little daft to try to steer you on the right path, not that it worked anyway, but I wasn't pretending to like you, I love you both."

"And he really is very messy," added Tellan, smiling at his son. His son! It was too much to take.

"Okay. Love you too, Peter. Brother. Gosh, that sounds weird."

"Now, it's time for us to go," said Tellan.

"Wait, what about jumping? We don't have a Hexad here, not one that works, anyway," said Dale.

"Dale, they work because of Amanda, you don't even need one.... Oh, never mind, will this help?" Tellan nodded toward the coffee table, still covered with rings from Peter's sleepover. As they watched, a Hexad appeared and rattled slightly as it settled from where it appeared a millimeter above the wood.

"Thanks."

They were gone. Peter never did say goodbye to Wozzy.

Wozzy landed on the floor and padded over to Amanda, jumped in her lap and clawed at her arm. "Hey, Wozzy, nice to see you, dude."

Amanda was so exhausted she didn't even yelp as Wozzy dug his claws in by way of greeting.

"Well, some things never change," said Dale.

"So, what's the plan?" asked Amanda, half asleep.

"Rest."

"No, Dale, no rest. We do this now or who knows what the hell will happen?"

"Okay then. So, here is what I was thinking..."

Looks Familiar

Present Day

The only thing worse than losing your parents was finding out they were never your parents at all. Amanda had a million and one questions to ask Tellan, and Peter, her brother, but had frozen when they revealed who they were, who she was. She couldn't think straight, failed to accept what she was being told as fact. How could she? She had grown up as a normal girl, had a ballerina's costume, stole makeup, grew ever more obsessed with her hair and making it shine, and became interested in boys — all the usual stuff. How could that be a lie?

It couldn't be, could it? How? If that wasn't her then whose memories were they, and how had she really been raised? It made no sense, and now she doubted she would ever find out the truth. If Dale's plan worked then all of this would be forgotten, like it never happened. But what then? Would it happen all over again, on and on in an infinite loop of jumps and new universes created, layer upon layer upon layer of confusion and contradiction just to support the ability to jump through time? And all because she wasn't where she was supposed to be?

Such a revelation was too much to deal with, to accept. Could it really all be her fault, all that misery and suffering, just because she wanted a normal life and to be with Dale? Surely not? Was it selfish, to want to be happy, have a life with him? Wasn't that what everyone wanted? Wasn't that what she had? How much was real and how much was made up, and how did she have these memories? There were too many questions and no answers.

Nothing made sense, nothing felt real, her whole life a lie, some kind of fake existence to mask her true identity. How did it even work? Had none of it been real, her childhood, growing up, any of it? No, it couldn't be. She must have come as an adult and everything else was a fabrication.

Amanda stood in the kitchen staring out the window at the apple tree. That damn squirrel was at it again, creeping along the branch to get the seed that cost them a fortune. The robin watched from the ground, waiting for the bounty to fall, too scared to consider battling the squirrel in the tree, but ready to snatch a mouthful as soon as the food fell.

The familiarity was a comfort. Something real, tangible. But then she ruined it by looking at the ground, the spot where the message had been put and was probably buried in a million different versions of their past, just waiting to screw with them and the Universe in some sick and twisted way that was supposed to see her find a solution to the nightmare her life had become.

Maybe Dale's idea would work. It was worth a try, right? What alternative was there? Go back to a father and brother she didn't know, and live a life of impossible strangeness? No, she wanted to have a lie-in on the weekends, listen as Dale made a fry-up, make up names for squirrels, go to the pub and moan about crap beer, not dance through universes and be locked in asylums and chased by giants.

Would she ever see her kitchen again? Her beautiful kitchen with the lovely tiles and the few pieces of furniture she had so meticulously researched and sought out for bargain prices? Or was this it, the end of the line?

"Only one way to find out," she said out loud, the words giving her confidence.

"What's that, honey?" asked Dale, walking in from the hallway.

"Nothing, just thinking out loud. I love you, Dale, more than anything."

"Good, because if you don't then I gotta say I'm not too keen on my plan otherwise."

"Haha, come on, let's do it. Let's finish this once and for all."

"Okay, you ready?" Amanda nodded.

Meow.

"Oh, Wozzy, sorry dude, we'll see you soon, at least I hope we will. I never thought I'd say this, but I do kind of like you." Amanda bent and stroked Wozzy's back. He arched and pushed against her hand before waddling off in that arrogant way of his.

"See ya, Wozzy," said Dale, then he grabbed Amanda and went, "Whooooooooooooooooooosh."

Wozzy turned as they disappeared, then wandered over to the cupboards, jumped up onto the counter and started eating the HobNobs Peter had left behind. He felt a little funny, but shook it off and carried on munching.

Not You Again

8 Years Future

"Who the hell are you?"

Dale turned at the voice. Hector. He grimaced and held on tight to Amanda.

"Dale?" said the other Dale.

"Oh, hi, um, you won't like this. We have to be quick, and I'm sorry, but trust me when I tell you there is no other choice. Hi, Amanda, er, other Amanda."

"Um, hi. What's going on here? Amanda," said the other Amanda, "what are you two doing here?"

Amanda tried not to let the insanity overwhelm her. She had to stay strong, in control, be calm. "This is where it ends. Dale's right, there's no other choice, we have to do this. It should make everything all right, and we all want that. We want to be together."

"Laffer not like this, too many people, and people all the same."

"Stay calm, Laffer, it's all right," said Hector. "What is the meaning of this? How did you all get in here, and... Look, is this some kind of a prank, what is happening?"

For a moment Amanda actually felt bad for them. It must certainly be a little bit of a shock to suddenly find yourself confronted by four strangers comprising two pairs of identical people holding bizarre devices and talking gibberish in your living room. It soon passed. This was the man that would ruin countless lives. They had to do this, there was no other choice, was there?