Read Online Blue Abyss: Timewalker Chronicles, Book 3 (The Timewalker Chronicles) by Michele Callahan - Free Book Online
Authors: Michele Callahan
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wait.”
Mari nodded and wandered toward a view screen. She had no idea if it was an internal screen or a true window into space, but Earth hung suspened in outerspace below her. Beautiful and surreal. Mari leaned her head against the cool screen, staring at her home, trying to come to grips with this new reality, but Celestina wasn’t finished with her yet.
“One last thing, Timewalker. Should you succeed, I doubt that I will remember this conversation. In my experience of time, this may or may not have happened. I don’t know what I will recall or what might have changed. Therfore, I need another promise from you. I need you to find me or Bran after you’ve rescued Raiden and give us a message.”
Mari turned away from the view to study the petite Seer. “How do I find you? I don’t exactly have a spaceship I can use to fly up here and say ‘hello’. And if you don’t remember me, you won’t come looking.”
“This will summon me.” Celestina walked to her and placed a small metallic disk on her palm. “When you are ready, depress the small button at its center and hold it in until the disk glows. It’s a personal beacon, set to my private frequency. As to the message, tell us what happened here. Tell us there is a traitor on board our ship.” Celestina rubbed her eyes, her tears a sign of true distress. “Tell us to trust no one but each other.”
Mari grabbed Celestina’s hand and squeezed. “If I survive this, I promise. I will find you.”
Celestina pulled her into a hug and Mari hugged her back with every ounce of strength she had.
“Thank you, Celestina. Thank you for saving my life.”
Celestina pulled back, a sad smile on her pixie face. “Find me.”
<><><>
Mari said her goodbyes, nodded to Bran and stepped through the portal floating a few inches above the floor. Immediately she felt the sucking sensation of being a fly in the vaccum cleaner’s hose again. Her body felt torn apart, disintegrated into nothing, taken apart one piece at a time like a sand statue in a windstorm, and put back together again somewhere else. White light blinded her senses for an unknown length of time until the wild ride finally dumped her flat on her back. Naked.
“Naked? Really?” Mari rolled onto her side, the communication disk still safely in her clenched fist. “Celestina, you are sooo going to hear about this.”
Panting and in pain, Mari looked around and blinked a few times to clear her visioin. It appeared that Bran had been true to his word and sent her backward in time. She was lying on the deck of her forty-foot boat in the faint predawn light. Her ship, The Huntress, was tied up to the docks at the Royal Naval Dockyard marina in Sandys. Her original dive to the caves, where she’d found Raiden and died, was scheduled to take place in a couple of hours.
The Challenger Bank was only twelve miles off shore. If she fired up the engines now, she could be back in that cave before the sun rose.
Mari looked over at her gear lining the side of the boat, fresh and perfect, unused. Did she dare believe this? Did she have a choice? She remembered going down on that dive. She remembered finding the cave with the alien markings. She remembered dying in that room with two of the scariest bastards she’d ever seen. She remembered that kiss. She remembered everything.
She’d left her dive suit behind on Celestina’s ship, her swim suit had mysteriously vanished, but the communication device Celestina gave her was still in the palm of her hand. Figures.
And her left shoulder still burned.
When the Triscani had killed her this time, with Raiden writhing in pain on the floor and black ice piercing her heart, she’d known it was all too real. It hurt too much, both the blades and the thought of him lying there. She’d never kissed him in a dream. Never learned his name.
So, where did that leave her? With terror clogging her throat with bile and her head spinning. The side of her left shoulder
Mari nodded and wandered toward a view screen. She had no idea if it was an internal screen or a true window into space, but Earth hung suspened in outerspace below her. Beautiful and surreal. Mari leaned her head against the cool screen, staring at her home, trying to come to grips with this new reality, but Celestina wasn’t finished with her yet.
“One last thing, Timewalker. Should you succeed, I doubt that I will remember this conversation. In my experience of time, this may or may not have happened. I don’t know what I will recall or what might have changed. Therfore, I need another promise from you. I need you to find me or Bran after you’ve rescued Raiden and give us a message.”
Mari turned away from the view to study the petite Seer. “How do I find you? I don’t exactly have a spaceship I can use to fly up here and say ‘hello’. And if you don’t remember me, you won’t come looking.”
“This will summon me.” Celestina walked to her and placed a small metallic disk on her palm. “When you are ready, depress the small button at its center and hold it in until the disk glows. It’s a personal beacon, set to my private frequency. As to the message, tell us what happened here. Tell us there is a traitor on board our ship.” Celestina rubbed her eyes, her tears a sign of true distress. “Tell us to trust no one but each other.”
Mari grabbed Celestina’s hand and squeezed. “If I survive this, I promise. I will find you.”
Celestina pulled her into a hug and Mari hugged her back with every ounce of strength she had.
“Thank you, Celestina. Thank you for saving my life.”
Celestina pulled back, a sad smile on her pixie face. “Find me.”
<><><>
Mari said her goodbyes, nodded to Bran and stepped through the portal floating a few inches above the floor. Immediately she felt the sucking sensation of being a fly in the vaccum cleaner’s hose again. Her body felt torn apart, disintegrated into nothing, taken apart one piece at a time like a sand statue in a windstorm, and put back together again somewhere else. White light blinded her senses for an unknown length of time until the wild ride finally dumped her flat on her back. Naked.
“Naked? Really?” Mari rolled onto her side, the communication disk still safely in her clenched fist. “Celestina, you are sooo going to hear about this.”
Panting and in pain, Mari looked around and blinked a few times to clear her visioin. It appeared that Bran had been true to his word and sent her backward in time. She was lying on the deck of her forty-foot boat in the faint predawn light. Her ship, The Huntress, was tied up to the docks at the Royal Naval Dockyard marina in Sandys. Her original dive to the caves, where she’d found Raiden and died, was scheduled to take place in a couple of hours.
The Challenger Bank was only twelve miles off shore. If she fired up the engines now, she could be back in that cave before the sun rose.
Mari looked over at her gear lining the side of the boat, fresh and perfect, unused. Did she dare believe this? Did she have a choice? She remembered going down on that dive. She remembered finding the cave with the alien markings. She remembered dying in that room with two of the scariest bastards she’d ever seen. She remembered that kiss. She remembered everything.
She’d left her dive suit behind on Celestina’s ship, her swim suit had mysteriously vanished, but the communication device Celestina gave her was still in the palm of her hand. Figures.
And her left shoulder still burned.
When the Triscani had killed her this time, with Raiden writhing in pain on the floor and black ice piercing her heart, she’d known it was all too real. It hurt too much, both the blades and the thought of him lying there. She’d never kissed him in a dream. Never learned his name.
So, where did that leave her? With terror clogging her throat with bile and her head spinning. The side of her left shoulder
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