Page 122 of Once a Villain
“I don’t know,” Mum said simply. “I assume it was because she stood outside the timeline when she created it—just like you were outside this timeline when it was made. Butinsidethe timeline, there was another Eleanor.MyEleanor.”
Joan stared at her. She could feel the others staring too.
“Your dad helped me to raise her here,” Mum said.
“Dad?” Joan breathed.
“Maybe it washisdoing. Maybe that’s why she was so different here.” Tears shone in Mum’s eyes. “And shewasdifferent. She was smart and sharp-tongued like your gran. But she was kind too. She helped keep your dad safe from the guards. And... we always knew she’d be Queen. But we didn’t know how or why or when. But then one day, I came home, and she wasn’t herself anymore. She’d been replaced by an identical version of herself who cried when she saw me. Cried when she saw every member of our family. A girl with hard eyes and a heart that beat only for the Graves.MyEleanor had always loved your father, but this new Eleanor hated humans with a passion.”
The hairs rose at the back of Joan’s neck. “Eleanor overwrote your daughter....”
Mum blinked away her tears. “I don’t know what I’m trying to say,” she said. “Except... I know what she could have been in different circumstances. But I also know that circumstances aren’t everything. Eleanor made choices that she didn’t have to make. That she should never have made.” She sighed, looking atAaron and Nick, and then back at Joan. “I release you from the promise I asked you to make earlier. I’m sorry—I shouldn’t have asked it of you. When you get there, do what you need to do. Do it without hesitation.”
Joan took a deep breath. Her mind was whirling. She didn’t know what to say. Nick nodded, though, and Aaron did too.
“We should go,” Jamie said apologetically. “We don’t know how much time we’ll have.”
Mum swiped at her face, nodding. “Yes, of course.”
Joan squeezed Mum one last time before she stepped back.
“It’s your token,” Mum said to Nick. “So you’ll need to jump.”
Nick looked down at the ring still in the center of his palm. He had no idea what to do.
“Can I have your hand?” Joan asked him.
Nick met her eyes. Joan tried the ring on his fourth finger, but it was too small. Itjustfit on his pinky.
“I think you’re married now,” Aaron said. Nick rolled his eyes at him, but it was gentler than the way he’d looked at Aaron before the conversation in the attic, and Aaron’s comment seemed to have focused him somewhat.
“Now what?” Nick said.
“You jump,” Aaron said to Nick, “and I’ll steer.”
“We should hold hands,” Jamie said. “If all goes well, we’ll land together.”
Joan felt a wave of déjà vu as she took Nick’s hand on one side and Aaron’s on the other. Then Ruth, Jamie, and Tom down the chain. The first time she’d time-traveled deliberately, Aaron had guided her through it. They’d been on the run from Nick atthe time. “It’s not a literal jump,” she said to Nick. She bit back a rueful smile. “Ijumped in the air the first time I tried.”
“What,really?” Mum said. She took another step back. She tried to smile.
“Literally, in the air,” Joan said. It had been more scary than funny at the time, though. Nick had been trying to kill them. So much had changed since then. She explained to Nick, “To travel in time, you have to desire it.” And how surreal wasthis—tutoring a former monster slayer in how to time-travel? “You have to yearn for the other time.”
Nick’s gaze went distant, and his face tightened with concentration. A beat went by, and then another beat, and another. He whispered, “I don’t think this is working.”
“Don’t think about it;feelit,” Joan said. “Feel it here.” She dropped Aaron’s hand for a second to touch her chest, before reaching for him again. “Youwantto go back. Youneedto go back so we can fix what we’ve done.”
“Fix what I’ve done....”
Joan saw the moment his eyes focused with the desire to jump. She turned, searching for Mum’s face—for one last glimpse of her.
But the world had already shifted, and they were somewhere else. Somewhenelse.
The night they landed in was even colder than the one they’d left. Joan shivered hard, aching from leaving Mum behind. She was surprised when Aaron put an arm around her, drawing her into the shelter of his body. Her chest fluttered at the almost absent-minded gesture, and she resisted the urge to press closer—theyhadn’t actually resolved anything in the conversation in the attic. Somethinghadshifted between them, though. Nick’s eyes darkened slightly at seeing them touch, but he didn’t seem jealous exactly.
Joan looked around. The field was still empty. There were no cars here now, and no indication of what time it was. It could have been nine p.m. or twelve a.m.
“Is this the right date?” Tom asked.
