When All is Null and Void

Chapter Forty-One

"How do you know Caleb and Alexander?" Danielle asked. "Where are they?"

Lydia gave a sad smile. "I know them, though they don't know me. Eventually, that will change. I sent them away, locked them out of the next few hours in order that you and I might speak."

"How do you know me?" Danielle took a sip of the piping hot tea in front of her and cringed as it scorched the tip of her tongue.

"Like I said... I am you." Lydia sniffed her tea with a luxurious inhale, as if the very scent sustained her soul. "When you Hopped here, I knew instantly. I've spent many long years searching for the seven of us."

"Seven?" Danielle asked. "I'm sorry, but I don't know what you mean. We don't even look alike."

"You wouldn't, of course." Lydia smiled in a way that told Danielle her lack of knowledge was a tragedy. "There are seven of us," Lydia started. "Same substance, different function. Born not of the Void, but of Natalee Pendergast."

"Who's that?" she asked.

"At the moment, unimportant. To be sure, you and I are not the same, but we are the same as Natalee. Scattered through time upon her birth."

Danielle almost wanted to laugh. She must have fallen and hit her head at the parade. This wasn't real. Glancing around, though, Danielle noticed how solid everything seemed.

Seeming to know her thoughts, Lydia said, "This is actually happening."

"Why does it matter that we're the same?"

"It matters because the Void, which all Timewalkers pass through, is opening wider every moment. You and I are not the cause of it, but we're the catalysts. Our existence opens the Void further and further."

"I don't understand." Danielle hated it, but she felt stupid. Her fingers were still on the smooth china of her cup, and the heat burned the pads. She pulled her hand away and nearly upended the liquid.

Lydia's calm demeanor was enough to set Danielle on edge. "Caleb has been tasked by Rhea James to deliver you to her. Her goal, is to unite you to Natalee in order to close the Void. She believes that this will stop what has been set to occur."

"Will it?" Danielle blinked heavily, warmed by the fire in the hearth.

"When Natalee awakes, you will cease to exist. The Void's entrance to the world will be exacerbated, worsening an already dismal situation."

"So Rhea is attempting to make the situation worse?" Danielle knew nothing about the Void outside of the small details Caleb had supplied her with over the last few days. He hadn't said anything about the Void leaking into the world, or what that even meant.

"She is doing what she thinks is best." Lydia took a sip. "When Caleb offers for you to go to Rhea, you must say no. Refuse.There are events that must play out from that choice."

"What events?" Danielle asked.

"Time is set in a preordained motion. All things that come to pass must." Lydia's voice took on an ethereal huskiness, and Danielle wondered if she was somehow watching the woman descend into insanity. "They will play out. But what must not happen is you being connected to Natalee Pendergast, at least not before the seven of us are united."

"How do I even... control that?"

Lydia leveled her gaze at Danielle. "This is all that I am allowed to tell you."

"All you're allowedto tell me?" Danielle stood. "You just told me a wack job story about you being me, you chucking Alexander and Caleb out of this time, locking them out. And that's all you're allowed to tell me?"

Lydia seemed unperturbed by Danielle's sudden outburst. "I think it is time that we head to bed."

The woman stood and Danielle sat in her own chair again, crossing her arms and legs. "You can't hijack me and then leave me in the dark."

"I assure you," Lydia said, "I haven't left you in the dark." She gestured to the fire.

"That's not what I meant."

"I know. Now, bed."

Danielle almost flipped Lydia off, but the woman from the entryway returned and beckoned Danielle forward. Grudgingly, Danielle followed out of the sitting room and up the stairs. She was placed in a large, ornate bedroom with a comfortable looking four poster bed on the far wall. The carpet beneath Danielle's feet squished, and when the door closed behind her, she was certain she heard a clunk.

Testing the door, Danielle found that she'd been locked in. A note slid under the door.

I have locked you in to keep you from running off; London is not safe for you. Caleb and Alexander will return tomorrow, and I will take you to them. Think on what I've told you.

LYDIA G. MORGAN

Danielle stomped off to the bed and sat on it. She wouldn't be sleeping. Her mind whirred like an angry motorcycle. What the hell had happened tonight? Danielle attempted to remember the moment before Caleb and Alexander were sent away. She couldn't recall it in vivid detail.

Head aching, Danielle flopped onto her back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. She wasn't supposed to go with Rhea James, whatever that meant. She was one of seven—somethings—that shared the same substance but different functions? What did that even mean?

For an hour, Danielle lay there, until the small of her back ached and she was forced to curl into a more comfortable position. Soon after making the change, Danielle fell into a fitful sleep.

The quiet clinkof the door being unlocked woke Danielle. Blurry eyed and confused, she watched Lydia walk into the room. "Caleb and Alexander have just landed on the Thames. I will take you to them now."

Danielle was up in a moment, scurrying out the door before Lydia could lock it again. "Did you think on what I told you?" the woman asked as they went down the stairs.

"I definitely came to the conclusion that you're probably nuts, but so is time travel." Danielle said nothing else as they walked along the early morning streets of London. The streets today were full of jovial people enjoying the holiday.

Soon, they came to the Tower Bridge again and the cloudy sky hung low over the city, dirty plumes from factories polluting the air. "They will be 700 yards that way," Lydia said. She handed a strip of paper to Danielle. "I will see you again in the future. Mention me if you'd like, but I'm sure they won't believe you yet."

She disappeared into the growing crowds.

"Danielle!" Caleb's voice jolted her from the moment of confusion.

He was there in a moment, hugging her and asking her if she was okay. "I'm so sorry, Danni," Caleb said. "I'm so sorry. We didn't mean to leave you. It was an accident."

Danielle cherished the moment of Caleb's arms around her before pushing him back. "I'm okay. I know it wasn't your fault."

Alexander materialized out of the crowds. "Can we go back?"

He said nothing, but they were back in the darkened streets filled with Christmas festivities and heavy falling snow. "I'm—" Danielle stopped. "I don't feel very well, so I think I'm going to go home." She did feel a little dizzy.

"We can take you," Caleb said.

"No, no it's okay. You guys just go have fun. I'll be okay."