When All is Null and Void

Chapter One

The icy rain spilling over the edges of her umbrella Rhea James stood with her back straight, eyes focused on the dark street in front of her. She'd been here for hours, unable to leave as she waited for them. Her breaths trembled in the chill night air as her patience wore thinner. The neon lights above her head illuminated everything, casting ethereal reflections into the streaming streets. Having never liked neon in the first place, she'd been glad when NightGlo, a softer form of bright light, had replaced it, but she did admit its usefulness here and now. Though it was deep in the evening, Rhea could still take note of nearly everything within the halo of brightness, even the two men walking toward her from separate directions. Rhea had no reason to fear, as she'd waited so long for them, yet her gloved hands tightened against her umbrella. A third man appeared in the glow of lights, as if mist had shifted to bring him into existence. Rhea was suddenly quite certain that she'd been correct. The Voidsick were coming, and they meant her harm.

Very well then.

Taking two breaths that had little to do with calming nerves, and all to do with perfect timing, Rhea let the men come closer.

"Hello," she called out gently, faking frailty.

None of the men spoke a word, instead continued on an eerily straight path toward her. It was only when the first man reached her that a primal, animal instinct reminded her that something was deeply wrong. These were not simply men out for a bit of debauchery, nor were they the high formed Voidsick she'd expected. It was in the eyes, a darkness that covered the entire pupil. Without strenuous thought, Rhea James gripped time within her right hand. Like a frightened bird, the perpetual motion of it fluttered against her palm.

The rain halted its pelting descent, and the beams of distant cars froze in the middle of an intersection.

But these three men did not.

Heart plummeting, Rhea James maneuvered out of the first man's reach. She wouldn't allow herself to be touched. Infected by the Void, their disposition could do unspeakable terrors with the abilities she owned.

Why she didn't Hop now could only be attributed to her own sense of damning curiosity. She needed the information here, tonight. That was why she'd stood under the stoop of the run-down apartment. Perhaps—she thought, stepping around the second man who'd leapt at her right side with inhuman accuracy—she could figure out a way to bring one of them in to be treated.

The men were of all various shapes and sizes: two heavy Koreans, one blond white man. The Void's disease had no bearing on ethnicity, that she knew of already. It did, however, only afflict Timewalkers. Often, they became lesser, primal beings, filled with frightening rage, as if controlled by a demon beneath the surface.

Rhea took two steps toward the street to avoid one of the men but mistakenly brought herself too close to another. Though he—it—only grazed her glove, an icy snake coiled in her gut. It had only been an instant, but Rhea knew some tiny bit of her power had been extracted.

All at once the men halted. She might have believed her earlier tactic had begun to work, but the three men all spoke in one voice with the gut-wrenching sound of shattering glass, and Rhea's stomach clenched as nausea clouded her brain.

"One name Loss fears above all. One boy determined to destroy her, unblemished by the Void, not yet tainted by Time. The Void must be opened to be closed."

And without another moment passing, the three men disintegrated into dust, as if they'd never been more than ancient relics.

With a shuddering breath, Rhea lifted her right hand and flicked her wrist. The rain once again pelted the earth, and the dust of the Timewalkers faded into nothing as they were washed into a nearby drain. Without a wasted breath, Rhea James bent the world around her and returned to the Estate.

+++

Rhea had garnered incredible skill in the art of Time Hopping, but whatever tiny bit of power the Void had extracted in the split second of contact had affected her balance. On the front steps of the Estate, she stumbled, scraping her knee against the dry pavement. At any other point in the day someone might have been there to catch her, but she'd purposefully returned in the dead of night. Dizzy and unable to think clearly, she wouldn't allow anyone to see that.

Using the porous wall as a brace, Rhea stood as tall as she could and entered the foyer of her home. The lights were low, dimmed to save energy, and she might have snuck to the east wing if Titus hadn't come out of a shadow, startling her enough to slip. "Mom?" his high, boyish tone clamored against the pounding in her skull.

"Titus," Rhea said, covering her mouth as bile crept up her throat. "You're supposed to be in bed."

He patted his stomach. "I was hungry." His hazel eyes widened at her. "Your nose is bleeding."

"I'm fine," she said, although it was unconvincing. She was most certainly not okay, but Titus didn't need to know that. "You need to be in bed. Go." She hugged her thirteen-year-old gently—more due to the lack of energy than motherly stature—and pushed him toward his bedroom on the second floor. He went willingly enough but cast her a backward glance before ascending the staircase.

When Titus was out of sight, Rhea bolted toward the east wing. Her vision blurred further, but she made it through the door at the bottom of the staircase without falling. The lights in her office flickered to life as she scanned her facial features in the reader.

At the far back corner of the room, Rhea unlocked the top drawer of her desk, using her bare, shaking fingertip to draw the Museum emblem as the key. She pulled open the drawer, which held a single, solitary golden ring. Without a thought about the defeat of wearing her ring once more, Rhea slipped it on. Warmth flooded to the depths of her core, and the dizziness fell away like scales from her eyes.

She could suddenly form coherent thoughts again, but the only thought on her mind were the words the three dead Timewalkers spoke to her. Who was the boy they spoke of?

Placing her thumbs to her temple, Rhea sighed. The Void must be opened to be closed. She needed the Void to be opened, that's what this had all been about. It couldn't be a Timewalker child she needed. There hadn't been one in years. Not since her law had been passed. Not since...

So.

A recruit, then.

Timewalkers were susceptible to infection from the Void. Only she wasn't—and if she was correct, nor was Titus. So how was she going to find a boy unblemished by it? Titus certainly had already been blemished by Hopping with her...

Rhea James sat down at her desk and placed her head in her hands. With a deep sigh, she whispered, "I promise we'll get you back." A tear fell to the desktop. Before it splattered, though, Rhea froze it. With a gentle flick of her wrist, the droplet fell to the tile flooring.