Page 89 of Kiss Across the Universe
Veris settled in the big chair in the corner. “Someone haul Rafe out of the kitchen. We have time. Let’s hear it now.”
“This should be interesting,” Alannah heard Kit murmur from his corner.
Everyone assembled in the frontroom. Most of Nyara’s people emerged from the kitchen, swallowing hasty mouthfuls of food, for it was supper time. Rafe came in wiping his hands on a kitchen towel.
Alannah had no appetite at all and hadn’t responded to Rafe’s suggestion that she come and eat, and bring Kit with her.
Kit had not spoken to her directly since telling her to go and see Aran and Jesse in the surgery. He had stayed at the house, just as everyone was, making the house overcrowded and privacy minimal. He had not come to her room to sleep, either. Marit had shared Alannah’s bed instead, giving up her own room for some of Nyara’s people. Alannah had no idea where Kit slept. Possibly, he had dossed down on the straw in the shed, as some of the others had done. His pack was in the basement, along with the minimal supplies he needed to stay warm, dry and comfortable through a long night in the open.
Alannah didn’t have the courage or the energy to seek him out and try to speak to him. Her heart was heavy with dread and sadness. Even though Aran and Jesse would live on, she mourned the loss of their humanity. And she wondered how Aran would cope with not being able to time travel anymore. Male travelers couldn’t jump through time once they were turned. Neven had been a superior traveler, once, but he had lost the ability when he had become a vampire.
Aran was the real traveler in the family. Hehadbeen the real jumper. He would hate not being able to travel anymore.
But he would still get to live, and Jesse would be alive with him. Alannah hoped that would be compensation enough for him.
The room grew quiet as it filled with people. They squeezed in. Some sat on the floor. Many more settled on the window seats, crowding around Alannah. Her mother and Brody shared the armchair, Brody settling on the arm and holding Taylor’s hand.
David Pallas stood by the door to the mud room, one shoulder against the wall, his hands in the pockets of his trousers. Even though he was as close to imperial royalty among the vampires as one could get, he was not grandstanding or demanding attention. The few times Alannah had glimpsed his face here in the house, he had been wearing a worried, pinched expression.
The only person missing was Marit. Even Jesse and Aran’s children were in the room, each sitting on the lap of an adult, perfectly content to receive one-on-one endless attention and cuddles and care.
Nyara stood in front of the fireplace, which wasn’t burning right now, for the weather had turned sunny and warm. She held up her hand for silence, even though the room was already quiet.
“Go ahead,” Veris told her. “We’re listening.”
Nyara gave him a strained smile. “Let’s start with you, Veris. The events that sent you jumping back to sixth century Britain to find Rufus Shore were a ruse.”
Alannah could feel her jaw slacken, but her father just nodded. “We were there for eight months. We chased ghosts of Rufus Shore in all directions, but nothing panned out. Wheredidhe go?”
“We don’t know,” Nyara said. “But we have a strong suspicion that he is dead and turned to ashes, somewhere back in time.”
Veris raised a brow. “This Gore Mixon arranged it.”
“We think so.” Nyara held up her hand. “We were putting this all together and preparing to jump back here when Jesse’s call pulled us here. We are fairly certain we’re right, but some of what we think we know is unproven. Once we return to our own time and can investigate further, we will obtain the proof we need.”
Veris crossed his arms. “We are listening,” he repeated.
Nyara nodded. “Thank you.” She looked around the room. “Those of you who belong to this time are unique in history. I’ve told you this before. Taylor’s generation and your off spring are the first DNA-developed natural jumpers, and through superior survival skills, some of you live long enough to seemytime.”
Sydney nodded. So did Brody.
“What you may not have correlated from that is that there are hundreds of versions of you, across every timeline. Thousands, for each separation point creates new versions of you. This is a cross-over point in history, right here and now. Man has evolved enough to grasp time and use it. Only, the gene that makes you time travelers is recessive.”
Alexander leaned forward. “And there’s too few of us to pass it on…” he said.
Nyara nodded. “The gene self-corrects and disappears, a few generations from now. You might find it interesting to know that we think the gene mutated and became the gene that defines natural psi-filers like Kieren. He and his cohort are direct descendants of yours.”
No one reacted, not even Kieren.
“We at the Agency have become deeply interested in monitoring you and your times,” Nyara said. “Not least because of the role you play inourfuture. It is vital to us that you survive. What we didn’t realize was that we were not the only group who had spotted the significance of this time.”
“Mixon,” Alannah said.
Nyara nodded. “He was not a lone operator. The group that he brought with him, that we took care of two days ago…they are just a small unit of a much larger group. Wethink. This is where we are still investigating.” She cleared her throat. “TheMultaj Lunojbecame known to us only a short while ago. The name is Esperanto.”
“Many Moons,” Alexander, the linguist, interpreted.
“Yes. The Many Moons Cult,” Nyara confirmed. “They are a group of…well, slavers, essentially. Neven…”
