When All is Null and Void

Chapter Forty-Six

Full moons reminded Rhea of Carter and the way he'd kissed her for the first time under one as the gentle waves from the lake lapped against the shore, teasing at their toes. As she strode into her hospital, Rhea remembered his face and the way his hair had flopped over his forehead. She'd brushed the strands away, had stared into those brown eyes. And she'd loved him.

She still loved him, and it had all been for him. Every moment, every breath, in the last ten years had been for him.

Even what she was about to do was for the husband and father she had lost.

The fireplace was long since cold and empty. Striding up the stairs, the fabric of her pants swishing together in the silence, Rhea reminded herself again:

This was all for Carter.

The door at the end of the hallway wasn't locked by key. She'd specially designed this cell for the sentient one. Jacob rarely moved when Rhea entered his cell now for he knew her intentions, but he never failed to scare her. To set her heart racing in her chest.

Rhea knew the danger of her next actions.

The door clicked open after she'd pricked her finger, and Rhea slid inside. She'd come prepared, with the sleeping draught she'd made from Natalee's blood.

Just in case.

"Jacob," Rhea said, even though it curdled her insides and shrank her down.

Jacob Paulson did not respond, and Rhea knew that she wouldn't be speaking to her old friend tonight. She'd expected this, but hope was a fickle thing that clung to her no matter how hard she tried to shake it off. Hope had driven her here.

Or was she wicked?

"Loss." The voice was unmistakably Jacob's, but deeper, somewhere in his gut, came the rumble—the groaning—tone of the Void's keeper. "I am Loss, and I will consume all of time."

The same damned reality. And Rhea was here to bring that reality to fruition, if only because she loved Carter. If only because Caleb needed to take this seriously.

And after this, he would.

"Loss," Rhea said. She steadied the shaking as she stared at the corpse of her friend, now possessed. "You wish to consume all of time, but you have no way to do this."

Jacob's eyes shone black in the dim light of the room. The flames in his own fireplace flickered, and the darkness of his soul set her heart fluttering like a caged bird. "You think Loss has no way. Yet you bring a way."The wicked upturn of his lips numbed Rhea. Her fingertips tingled, and her ring pulsed.

Rhea slid a hand into the pocket of her jacket, and she pulled another gold ring out. It did not glow as most rings did, but she'd spent many nights observing Jacob. Many times she'd done this very thing.

Jacob's eyes flashed as a flame jumped in the grate.

Rhea gripped time in her hand. Loss may have taken over Jacob's body, but it was confined to that form. The world shook around her, struggling to break free of her grip. Loss fought against her, but she would be quick.

With as much care as she could, avoiding direct contact with Jacob's skin, Rhea slid the ring onto his finger. The scent of charred flesh slid into her nostrils. Rhea retreated to the far side of the room, she loosed time again. The flames fluttered, and though Rhea had prepared for Jacob to lunge at her, he didn't. He growled, feral.

"You—" Rhea stuttered. "Loss," she started again, "I command you to find Caleb Carlisle, and bring him to me."

"You will regret this," Loss hissed.

Rhea saw Jacob's wicked grin before he Hopped from the cell, leaving Rhea alone.

+++

She had been too rash, freeing Jacob—Loss—on Caleb and Alexander. Perhaps she was guilty of an egregious crime. In her haste, perhaps she had made a mistake. Opening his holding cell had been wicked of her, but she hadn't been expecting this.

Every moment had been for Carter.

But this—

Rhea James knew she wasn't evil—desperate maybe—but entering Alexander's home after he'd been murdered shook everything she thought she knew. She'd lost her sister, her husband. Titus blamed her for Carter's death...but when he discovered this...

The entire living room lay in disarray, the stacks of books toppled, glass shards dusted in a fine layer. The kitchen was destroyed, and when she turned her eyes to the base of the stairs, Rhea's lungs contracted.

Alexander and Carter looked so similar that seeing Alexander pale and lifeless dropped the weight of a house on her shoulders. She fell to her knees, and narrowly missed the wood swollen and puffed with slowly drying blood. It had flowed from his chest and covered the edge of the carpet. This was her fault, of course. If she hadn't been so hasty to pronounce judgment. If she hadn't lost her temper, then Alexander might be alive.

A slip of paper caught her attention. It was caught in Alexander's clenched fist. Where was his ring? Squatting, and being sure to keep her coat from the pool of dried blood, she reached out to pull the paper from Alexander's cold, stiff fingers.

Remember that all things pass as they were intended. I'll be seeing you, Rhea.

She held the paper loosely, trying to keep from trembling. Alexander knew this would happen. He'd seen it somehow, been prepared for it, even.

But he was dead.

What did he mean that he would see her soon?

Rhea steeled herself before standing up and walking toward the front door again. "Please ensure the house is cleaned up," she told Anthony, the Timewalker who'd come with her. She'd asked him to stay outside, and Rhea was thankful she had. Before he stepped inside, though, she held up her hand. "Alexander is to be buried with my sister." The gaping maw in his chest, burnt and shriveled as it was, stared up at her as an all seeing eye.

"Please also let news travel that Caleb Carlisle is wanted for the murder of his mentor."

Anthony nodded resolutely and left her sight.

Caleb hadn't murdered Alexander, but she needed everyone to be on the lookout for him and Danielle. She needed him to be found, and though she could have found him herself, she was grateful for the amount of Timewalkers who could search. She wouldn't have to over exert herself in finding him.

Eventually, Rhea knew, Caleb would be found, and she would close the Void.