Timeless by Stephen Cole by Timeless (by Cole Stephen)

Author:Timeless (by Cole, Stephen)
Language: eng
Format: epub

Twenty‐​one

Things change

Around lunchtime, Chloe wants to go back to the start of the universe. She thinks this might cheer up Jamais who is still not himself.

The two of them sit slumped against the mountain of diamonds in Chloe’s special room. Jamais’s nose is hot and dry and crusty. Chloe licks her finger and wipes it against the shiny skin but it does no good. His eyes look glassy and clouded. Like the mist in his belly is finding its way out.

‘Oh, Jamais,’ Chloe whispers helplessly. ‘Tell me you’ll be all right.’

Jamais says nothing, of course, but bravely presses his smooth head against her hand.

‘If only we could find your home,’ she sighs. ‘Find others like you, who might know what to do. But your home’s gone, like mine. Like Erasmus’s.’ Like so many homes have gone, she thinks. The myriad rivers they used to cross have run dry. Maybe Jamais is sick because the voids he has crossed so many times are collapsing down, dwindling out. How can he exercise, how can he run, if he has nowhere to go but this tiny universe? He will get fat. She thinks of him as a big fat lump and smiles. Jamais tries to smile too, seeing that she is happy.

‘I wish Mum was here,’ whispers Chloe.

Jamais closes his eyes and seems to nod. It’s like someone invisible is stroking him, soothing him. Easing his pain.

She thinks of the book. This morning she saw a picture of someone who looks a little like D’Amantine, the thief from St Raphael. She knows who that is. But beyond that point, the page won’t turn. She knows there is something marked there that doesn’t want to be read.

She can’t help but picture the design on the front of the book: an arrangement of interlocking triangles. The pattern glows and burns red in her mind. Its sharp points want to poke out her strange eyes.

‘Let’s go back to the start,’ Chloe whispers, with a shiver. ‘Where no one can find us.’

Her heart sinks as she sees Jamais struggle up arthritically, readying himself to go back. Normally he would be bounding playfully about, but not now. Chloe wishes her friend were well again.

For her, he rallies.

Jamais breathes in and out, slowly at first then in swift, panting breaths; his body is an engine, the ancient molecules of the air all around his fuel. She grips his collar and laughs wildly as she feels him go. This is the old Jamais, who’s always young and full of fun and who can devour the distances of deep time like snack‐​treats.

And they get there, at the start of the universe, but it’s been too much. Jamais coughs and his dark, glossy legs splay beneath him. As Chloe hovers in the void Jamais closes his eyes and floats slowly up and past her, a big black balloon. She tugs him by his tail, his eyes open and he stares around as if not recognising where he is or who holds him.

Then he sees it’s her.

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