Chapter 26

26

XAVIER

I hit wet grass, my spine taking the brunt of the crash landing, winding me. Nothing seemed to have broken, but that didn't make it hurt any less.

Rain pattered my face, the cold air a shock from the previously warmer temperatures. And the Lemon Drop continued to assault my senses.

I rubbed the golden haze from my eyes, looking up into a night sky smothered in rain clouds. The sounds of the city echoed around me, as did the grunts of a human.

"Roman?" I said, managing to sit up.

If it weren't for the Lemon Drop, the pain in my back would be more tolerable.

"Bloody fucking hell." He lifted his head, splayed on his front.

Nearby, the naked humanoid body of Tanith quivered, a series of pants coming from it. She'd shifted forms on her way here, apparently.

I mustered as much strength as I could, which wasn't much, and crawled over to the teenager.

"Are you okay?" I asked, wincing under the relentlessness of the Lemon Drop.

He groaned, pushing himself up onto his knees. His cheeks were smeared with dirt, some dead leaves in his drenched hair.

I stopped crawling, rolling onto my back again. Breathless. Spent.

"Think we're in Hyde Park," Roman said.

"You do?"

"Yeah. Looks like it. And… What the hell is that?"

I lifted my head to see him pointing at the sky. About twenty feet or so above him, a golden pool-like spot rippled in the air.

"Is that another time door?" He got to his feet.

Tanith sat up, pushing wet hair from her face. The jewel on her choker glinted, sending pain into my skull. I moaned, my head far too heavy to lift now.

"Shit. What's wrong?" The boy loomed over me, rainwater dripping from his face onto mine. I couldn't let him die. I couldn't lay here and fail him. I'd lived a life of too much failure, never the hero, always too late.

You are there for him… the distant Xavier spoke. You must get that back.

"Is this your doing?" Tanith hissed at me.

Roman's Synth magic came to life, lighting up his face in a menacing scarlet.

"What do you want me to do?" he whispered.

Excellent question. "Break the jewel on her neck."

"Got it." He spun and blasted her with a Synth beam. It crackled and exploded with an aggressive fizz, Tanith's screams equally loud.

"Bingo!" Roman yelled, pumping a fist in the air.

The suppressing energy of the Lemon Drop fell, my strength returning in a rush.

"Good work," I told him, getting to my feet.

Now I could push through the throbbing in my spine.

"You little shit!" Tanith spat. "I will choke you until—" She swallowed her words as a figure stepped out from behind a tree, taking us all by surprise.

The man wore a dirty green raincoat along with a black beanie hat on his head. Grubby green jeans clung to his legs, his black trainers caked in mud. The scent of an unwashed body wafted at me.

"Who is that?" Roman said, moving closer to me.

White buttons covered the man's eyes, stirring memories of the future in the strange cauldron of my mind.

"What are you doing outside in the rain?" the man asked.

Buttons where his eyes should be, which stirred my unease. This man wasn't safe to be around.

The button-eyed demon, my distant voice whispered.

A demon. A big part of the future. Indirectly to me, yet a massive spoke in the wheels of fate. Complicated.

Wasn't everything?

"And with a young witch boy, no less," the button-eyed demon added, sending a shiver through me. "Tell me, witch boy. Why do you keep the company of demons?"

Roman blurted out, "What time is this?"

An eyebrow cocked from behind the left button. "The time? Isn't that a watch on your wrist?"

Roman's throat bobbed. "Erm, I meant…" He shook his head. "Shit."

The demon came closer, ignoring the hissing threats from Tanith. "What did you mean?"

I didn't like this situation one bit. "Come along, Roman. We're leaving."

The demon's button eyes landed on me. I felt them boring into mine as if they held a dark, penetrating power. "But he didn't finish his answer. I'm curious. I smell something wrong."

"Enough of this!" Tanith snarled, lunging at our button-eyed visitor.

His hand moved fast, sticking her in the neck with a dagger before she could grab him. Black blood leaked from Tanith's mouth. She released a gargling sound, clawing at the demon's arms.

He drew a second dagger, driving it into her belly. "I smell the snake on you. I really hate snakes." He cut upward, spilling gore, her weak screams barely audible. "Too wriggly." He proceeded to butcher her, stabbing her repeatedly until she fell over.

Roman hid his face in his hands. I directed him away from the horror, positioning us beneath the pool. It brought us here, it would take us back. Clearly, it'd taken us to a different, future time where this unsettling demon did whatever he did.

Time really was in a confused mess.

The button-eyed demon wasn't done. He jumped on Tanith's twitching body, stabbing her some more without a word or a sound other than the fleshy squelching of his strikes.

"Is she dead?" Roman asked with a shaky voice.

"No. Her recovery will be long, though."

"Stupid snake," the button-eyed demon muttered. "So rude. So rude. So rude."

He wasn't incorrect.

I part-shifted, immediately firing silk into the pool, a series of demon towers bursting to life. The strand hit something on the other side.

Tugging the silk taut, I grabbed Roman, clutching him to me. "Hold on."

He wrapped his arms around me, asking no questions, clearly terrified at my change in appearance.

"The red lights again," the button-eyed demon grumbled. "Always the red lights. Always so much light like the bright one. He shines so brightly."

We were done listening to this. I climbed the silk at full speed, leaving no trace of it behind for him to follow.

"Goodbye," he called after us. "I'll look after the snake."

I heard him stab Tanith again the moment before the golden light swallowed us again.

We arrived on the other side, my silk glued to a lamppost.

"Thank God for that," Roman said.

Time and memories filled me in a mighty rush. I swayed under the impact, any confusion of myself and my purpose chased away. I straightened, throwing my head back, reveling in the sensation.

I became Xavier again, the one from the future. The correct me.

"What's wrong?" Teenage Roman asked.

"Xavier!" his adult version cried.