When All is Null and Void

Chapter Nine

 The following weeks passed in unbearable silence. Rhea James was silent, and if Caleb hadn't had a solidified date to start his Timewalker training, he might have thought he'd been forgotten. He might have wondered if it all had been an hallucination. Or, at the very least, he'd been forgotten. Maybe he wasn't so important to Rhea James at all. Except that would then consume him with guilt for even thinking he held some importance at all. Caleb wasn't important, and he didn't need validation—even if he secretly wanted it.

The night before May 6th, Caleb's mind, as per usual, whirred in overtime, imagining what he could possibly do to become a Timewalker. Surely there would be tests. He'd probably have to study a bunch of time periods and give correct answers to them all, proving he could blend into any time period he went to.

Caleb got out of bed at 6am, showered, and donned the nicest thing he owned: a pair of too-small khaki pants and a gray collared shirt that, when tucked in, threatened to come loose at the slightest provocation. He hadn't been told to bring anything, and as he left the apartment dark and empty, he thought of Angelica at work already. She'd come home, and he would be gone. What did Rhea mean that she wouldn't remember him? How was that even possible?

At the bottom of the stairs, outside the apartment building, a pristine black vehicle sat on the idling on the curb in silence. The tinted windows were shiny enough for Caleb to see his hair was unrulier than normal. The passenger side window rolled down, revealing a grinning man in tinted glasses. "You're Caleb, right?" He pointed, as if there were anyone else to be talking to.

"Yeah—Who are you?"

"I'm Ethan Rodinger," he said. "I'm taking you to the James Estate this morning." He smiled again and small dimples pocked his acne scarred cheeks. He was probably in his mid-twenties, and Caleb wondered how someone got a job like this.

"There's a bit of traffic on the way out of the city, so we should get going."

The back door popped open, and Caleb slid inside. Only the smallest warning burst into his head about not going with strangers in unknown vehicles. But this one was powered by electricity, and one of the few that actually drove along the paved roads as well as the magnetic levels above. How dangerous could it be? Caleb practically squeaked with delight as his fingers slid against the textured dark leather of the seat. Never in Caleb's wildest dreams had he expected to wake up this morning and ride in this car. He'd been planning on using one of the trains out of the city, had even been hoping Rhea James might show up on his doorstep and whisk him away to the James Estate. This—this was somehow better.

This had to be heaven, and though Ethan didn't speak to him much along the way, Caleb didn't care. He could forgo any craving for answers about Timewalkers and the James' because the seat reclined ever so slightly and conformed to his back. If this were his bed, Caleb would have understood in that moment what pure joy was.

Thirty minutes later, they were out of the city--which had spread quite a bit north in the last fifteen years--and into farmland areas that were shocking to Caleb who'd barely left New York in his life. While he knew what cows were, Caleb was definitely a little tooexcited to see a whole herd of them grazing in a vibrant green pasture alongside the road.

By ten o'clock Ethan was guiding the car onto a paved driveway that winded up into the hills where the James Estate lay. "Just on time!" Ethan said, and Caleb could have sworn the guy wanted to wipe a bit of sweat from his forehead.

The moment passed, and as they got out of the car, Peggy Landers' dismally familiar face greeted Caleb. "Thank you, Ethan," Peggy said in her emotionless tone. "Caleb, if you'll come with me."

She nodded, turned on her flat heeled shoes and led Caleb up the grand, stone steps leading to the front door which was far taller and wider than even Peggy. The last time he'd been here, Rhea had led him through the back. He hadn't seen the Estate from the front, and this vantage was better than Caleb could have imagined. The foyer was empty again, and Caleb's feet flapped against the marble floor.