I arrived at the library at CU Boulder, and I strolled down the hall to Sharon’s office.

  I pushed into the room. She sat motionless at her desk, eyes on a computer screen, fingers hovering above the keyboard.

  My first thought was that I’d wasted my time, energy, and money riding to her office. Of course, time was relative because I arrived at her office at the exact same time I’d left Tulsa.

  But then I considered the fact that for her, time was frozen, but as a supernatural being, if I touched her, maybe she’d be able to see me.

  I stepped up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

  She nearly jumped out of her chair.

  “What the hell?” she said.

  “Hello, Sharon.”

  “How did you get in here?”

  I shrugged, but kept hold of her hand. “I’m kinda stuck between seconds right now.”

  “Why are you holding my hand?”

  “So we can talk.”

  She looked me up and down. “You look terrible.”

  “Thank you. I suspect I smell bad, too.”

  “My olfactory senses don’t work when time is frozen. Where is Chronos and why didn’t he warn me?”

  “This wasn’t his doing.” I explained what happened.

  “So they’re dead?”

  I nodded. “Turns out they were really just regular guys who found a way to stay alive. They had powers and such, of course, but they were no match for a dragon and Indra’s weapon.”

  “So what do you want?”

  “I want you to pull me to the next second so I can rejoin time.”

  “I don’t have that kind of power.”

  “So take me to Chronos.”

  “Why should I?”

  I smiled at her and let go of her hand. She froze instantly.

  When I touched her again, I had the blade from a paper cutter pressed against her neck.

  “Because if you don’t, I’ll cut off your head.”

  She stared at the blade. “You broke the paper cutter?”

  “I can let go of you, and you’ll freeze in place. I can then cut off your head. One thing I’ve learned is that decapitation will kill damn near anything. Including you.”

  “That blade won’t penetrate my skin.”

  “Then I’ll ride back to Tulsa, get the vajra weapon, ride back here, put it against your head and fire. That ought to do the trick, and if you don’t think I’ll do that, you don’t know me.”

  “Point taken, but if you kill me, how will you find Chronos?”

  “I just need to find another magical being like you who can open a rift and take me to him. Your call.”

  “I’d rather like to keep my head, thank you.”

  “So open a rift and take me to Chronos.”

  “He’s in Egypt.”

  “Then let’s go.”

  “Very well.”

  She opened a rift in the air and pulled it apart. On the other side of the opening, an Egyptian temple stood in the desert. It was dark there, but lights shone on the temple pillars.

  Keeping hold of Sharon, I stepped through and started to pull her through with me. She yanked her hand away from me.

  I laughed because she instantly froze with the rift open. I reached through, grabbed her and pulled her through to the cool desert sand.

  “Damn,” she said. “It was worth a try. Can’t exactly see you swimming across the ocean to get back to me.”

  “I’d row a boat,” I said. “Except that I don’t have to do that.”

  “All right,” she said. “I lied. Chronos isn’t here. I was just going to dump you and go back to my life.”

  “Trustworthy as ever,” I said. “Here’s the thing, Sharon. I’m trusting you to do what’s in your best interest. Get me to Chronos so I can get back into time, and I won’t bother you again.”

  “You killed the Men of Anubis,” she said. “That means you could kill me if I ever let my guard down.”

  “If you try to leave me stuck here, I will kill you. Or worse. And there’s not a damn thing you can do to stop me.”

  She tried to throw a punch to my heart, no doubt intending to rip it from my body, but I simply let go of her and she froze. I stepped around her and touched her shoulder.

  “Shit,” she said.

  “Do you have any idea what all I can do to you right now?” I asked.

  Her eyes widened and I let that play around in her imagination. I had no intention of doing anything to her, but people who are willing to do horrible things to others automatically assume others are just as bad as they are. Her imagination was far better than anything I could have come up with, so I just smiled when she looked aghast.

  “All right,” she said. “I’ll take you to Chronos.”

  She opened a new rift and we stepped through to Club Eternity. The difference here was that a few people were moving. Time didn’t operate here the way it did in the real world. Thor sat at the bar with Chronos downing a mug of beer. But off in the corner, a guy dressed like a jester had a glass of whiskey tipped to his lips, but wasn’t getting anywhere with it.

  As a test, I let go of Sharon for a moment. She froze. The rest of the room was frozen too, except for Chronos, Thor, and a fat Chinese guy at the end of the bar. I recognized him as the guy who once wanted me to rub his belly for luck. He winked at me.

  Chronos and Thor turned to me.

  “Jonathan,” Thor said. “How did you get here?”

  “Charon brought him,” Chronos said. “Sharon, whatever.”

  “Why doesn’t she move?” Thor asked.

  Chronos smiled. “I dare say, ol’ chap, I believe you defeated the Men of Anubis.”

  “Indeed I did, but I’m in a bit of a predicament.”

  Chronos laughed. “You most certainly are. How long have you been trapped in time?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “More than a week.”

  “I could simply leave you there and you’ll never get a second older.”

  I darted forward and grabbed him by the throat.

  “Or I can help you get back to normal,” he said.

  Thor laughed. “We were going to join you after another round of drinks, Jonathan.”

  “You going to try and stop me from strangling him?” I asked.

  Thor shook his head. “Do as you will. I like men of action, and you can write that down.”

  Chronos glanced at Thor, who downed the rest of his beer. Chronos tried to pull my hands away from his throat, but I was too strong.

  “All right, Chronos, let’s make this simple. Help me get back to normal time, and I won’t rip your head off your neck.”

  Chronos grinned. “My dear boy, you’re not that strong.”

  I tightened my grip.

  He patted my hands. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll set you back into proper time. But I want to make sure the Men of Anubis are well and truly dead first.”

  “Then let’s get back to Tulsa.”

  I let go of him. Chronos stood and walked toward the frozen Sharon. As he walked away from the bar, the Chinese guy froze. Thor hurried after Chronos so he wouldn’t be outside the sphere of influence. As Chronos neared Sharon, she resumed movement.

  “That’s disconcerting,” she said as she jerked back.

  “Take my hand,” Chronos said extending his arm.

  I gripped his hand and we stepped out of Club Eternity back to the moment I’d left so long ago where Esther lay on the concrete planter, two versions of Kelly held swords arcing around toward nothing, a sliced leather collar and a line of urine hung in the air, a dragon had a dead god in its jaws, and a broad-shouldered kilted man stood with no head on his neck, but a cloud of blood, brain, and bone fragments hovering over his body.

  “You don’t see that every day,” Thor said. He turned and gave me a light punch on the shoulder. “Nice work.”

  That light punch would no doubt leave a bruise.

  Chronos pulled his hand from mine, took out his pocket watch and fiddled with it. “Need to keep time frozen,” he said. He walked around the scene, nodding.

  “Set me back into the time stream,” I said. “Please.”

  He nodded and snapped the pocket watch closed.

  In an instant, wind blew, swords swept around striking air, a dragon chomped and swallowed a dead god, a strap of leather and a line of urine dropped to the pavement, and another dead god crumpled to the ground with a splash of gore falling on top of the body.

  “What the hell?” both Kelly Chans said in unison.

  “Mission accomplished,” I said.

  Esther popped over to me. “Jonathan!” she said, throwing her arms around me. “You saved me!” She pulled back and grimaced. “You can’t be a sheik until you take a shower.”

  “You saying I stink?” I asked.

  She pinched her nose closed. “And how.”

  Clara reared up and let out a shrieking howl.

  “It’s all right, Clara,” I said, moving over and stroking her. “We won.”

  She settled back to the ground and licked her mouth.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  She responded with a belch that smelled like burned copper.

  “Only one thing left to do,” Chronos said.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “It seems the dragon ate one of the timeless gods, but the other, while dead, needs to be cast into the void.”

  “Why not just feed him to Clara?” I asked.

  “I’m not so concerned about the body,” he said. “If the dragon wants a feast, that’s fine with me, but the crook and flail need to be out of our world. That blend of magic and technology is too great for any of us to wield. We should toss the vajra into the void as well.”

  “Oh, I think I’m keeping that,” I said.

  Chronos shook his head. “Not a chance, Jonathan. It’s an ancient weapon of mass destruction and it cannot remain here.”

  I sighed. “You’re right, of course.”

  Chronos picked up the fallen crook. It was a bit mangled from the bullets, but lightning still danced along the shaft. The flail was on the ground beside Clara, so he walked over and grabbed that, too. “Charon, open a rift to the void, please.”

  Sharon rubbed her hands together, and swept them down, then moved them apart opening a window into the vast nothingness. Chronos tossed the crook and flail into the void.

  “And the body?” he asked.

  “Clara,” I said, “are you hungry?”

  Clara shook her head.

  “Fine. I’ll grab the legs, Thor, you grab the shoulders.”

  Thor and I moved over, lifted the remains of Amenken and we tossed him into the great emptiness.

  “The vajra, too,” Chronos said.

  “You’ll note that it’s not the seventeenth of November,” I said as I retrieved the weapon.

  “So?”

  “You said every way you looked at time, it ended there.”

  He laughed. “Oh, I lied about that. I just didn’t want to be involved in the battle with the Men of Anubis.”

  “You’re an asshole,” I said.

  “Quite true,” he said with the grin.

  I walked over and threw the vajra into the void.

  “Happy now?” I asked.

  “Almost,” he said. “Charon?”

  Before I could react, Sharon shoved me into the void. The last thing I heard was her laughter before the rift to Earth snapped shut. I fell, tumbling over and over into the great nothing.

  “Fuck,” I said.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  You know that old saying of fool me once, shame on you and fool me twice, shame on me. Well, shame the living hell out of me. I never trusted Sharon, but I let my guard down for one second and that bitch betrayed me again. Chronos and Sharon could suck the great dick of the devil himself, those traitorous losers.

  So there I was, floating endlessly. A headless corpse did a slow turn not too far away from me, and several powerful weapons tumbled off to my other side, but I couldn’t move toward them. I was weightless. I found that I could breathe, but that wasn’t going to last because pretty soon, I’d die for lack of food and water. Or worse, I wouldn’t, and I’d float forever in a timeless void or until I got depressed enough to pull my Glock and blow my brains out. Oh well, I’d had a good run. I’d lived a couple of lifetimes. I’d battled sorcerers, gods, dragons, ghosts, demons, vampires, zombies, witches, wizards, and assorted other things that shouldn’t even exist. I’d loved and lost. I’d met King Tut and his wife. I’d done more and seen more than most.

  I didn’t have many regrets.

  It was time to accept my fate.

  And then Esther popped into view.

  “Jonathan!” she called.

  “Go back, Esther!”

  “Not without you!” She spotted me and popped over.

  She wrapped her arms around me and smiled.

  “Good to see you, Esther,” I said.

  “And how. Hang on,” she said and popped away.

  I kept tumbling.

  She popped back to me. “Horsefeathers,” she said. “You’re too big. I can’t take you with me.”

  “It’s all right, Esther. Thank you for everything you’ve ever done for me. Go back and tell both Kellys I love them. You might tell them to kill Sharon and Chronos while you’re at it, though.”

  My words hurt her, and I realized I’d been a fool. “I’m not telling them any of that nonsense,” she said. “You can tell them yourself.”

  “You know I love you too, right Esther?”

  “I know you like me, but love? Go chase yourself. Hold onto me.”

  “You can’t take me back there. I’m too big.”

  She gave me a sad smile. “Shut up and kiss me,” she said.

  She planted a kiss on my lips. She moved her lips over mine and her tongue shot into my mouth.

  “Damn, girl!”

  She winked at me. “If I had my way, I’d do some barneymugging with you for weeks on end. But fate hates me, Jonathan.”

  “Get back to the real world, Esther. Go live and love.”

  “You forget,” she said. “I’m already dead. I’ve carried a torch for you for more years than I ever lived, and you’re the one who needs to keep breathing. I would give anything to be with you.”

  “So you’re going to float out here in the void with me?”

  “No, you big palooka. Don’t you remember what Dr. Ancho said about mass?” She kissed me again. “I love you, and you need to live.”

  “I love you, too,” I said. “But it’s your turn for life.”

  She shook her head. “One more kiss,” she said and this time, when she kissed me, I stayed kissed.

  She popped.

  I popped.

  I appeared in the air over the Center of the Universe and fell to the ground hard. I rolled over to see Thor standing still in the distance beside the unmoving Clara, while two Kelly Chans faced Chronos and Sharon. Neither Kelly moved, but Chronos and Sharon did. The ghost of Esther Carmichael floated in the air above me.

  She’d traded places with me. Her physical form now floated in the void, and rather than teleport her own body, she brought her spirit and my body.

  “Oh, Esther,” I said.

  “How did he get back here?” Chronos asked, as he took the sword from Kelly’s hand.

  Sharon grabbed a sword from the other Kelly. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll just kill the fucker,” she said and stalked toward me.

  “I’ll kill the two Kelly Chans,” Chronos said.

  “Save one for me,” Sharon said. “I hate those bitches.”

  I didn’t like the sound of that.

  I rolled to my feet, and Sharon raced toward me, sword ready. I pulled my Glock, but realized pulling the trigger wouldn’t do me any good because time was frozen.I let go of it, and it hung suspended in the air. I did a shoulder roll to avoid the swinging sword, and charged at Chronos.

  He didn’t expect it, but he was my only chance. If I faced off with Sharon, he’d be able to kill both Kelly Chans before I could reach him, but by going after him first, I had a chance.I slammed into him before he could bring the sword around, and I kept driving, pushing him to the side of the pedestrian walkway.The planters stood between us and the drop to the railroad tracks, but I didn’t care about falling. I drove Chronos right over the edge.

  Time didn’t affect us, but gravity did.

  We dropped to the tracks.It was a good twenty foot drop, but I landed on top of him. The impact dislodged the sword from his hand and it flew away to hang motionless in the air just out of reach of his hand.I rolled off of him, in pain, and tried to sit up.

  He jumped to his feet, unharmed.

  “Sharon will kill you,” Chronos said.

  “Sharon is outside your sphere of influence, jackass,” I said and pushed myself to my feet.My ribs hurt, but they weren’t broken.I wanted to kick him, but the coward took off running down the tracks.

  I chased after him.The first few steps hurt because even landing on top of Chronos didn’t prevent the collision with the ground from beating the shit out of me. But as my legs churned, the pain didn’t bother me.I tackled Chronos, and drove his face against the railroad tracks.I got up, grabbed hold of him and yanked him to his feet. He tried to hit me, but I blocked his punch and drove my fist into his face.

  He sat down hard.

  I launched a snap kick at his face, driving him back to the ground.

  “You should have checked your timeline after all,” I said. “Maybe you’d have seen this coming.”I grabbed him and dragged him back toward the bridge.He struggled, pounded on my wrist and hand. I ignored the pain and kept pulling him. Kelly’s sword hovered ten feet away.I let go of Chronos and grabbed the katana.

  He got to his feet and tried to rush me, but I expected it. I spun and sliced upward with the blade, cutting into his stomach and chest, sweeping outward and sending blood trails flying. They froze in the air and hung there, caught in time. I stepped around and swung the blade again, this time with better aim, and I chopped the fucker’s head off.

 

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