chapter Twenty-Nine
Bliss followed Lawson into the mouth of the serpent, Ahramin and the boys following close behind. The path was narrow and dark, the air dusty. Ahramin started coughing again; Bliss felt almost like she needed to cough herself. She could hear Marrok's wolves battling the hounds behind them, but the further they walked down the passages, the fainter the noises became. The wolves must have been doing their job well, though, because no hounds followed them.
"Stay close," Lawson warned. "It's only going to get darker as we move away, and there's more than one path underground - we have to make sure we stay behind the hounds and find the actual entrance to the timeline. I don't want to lose anyone."
"I've got the scent," Edon said.
"Me too," said Rafe.
Bliss moved to the side and let them pass her. She ended up just ahead of Malcolm, and turned around to check on him. "How are you feeling? Still nauseous?"
"A bit," he admitted. "But I'm used to it. I don't follow scent as well as they do, so it's kind of good that I have my own way of telling when they're around, you know?"
They were now deep enough into the path that Bliss couldn't hear the wolves at all, and she could barely see. Fortunately, Lawson had brought some matches, and every so often he'd light one to make sure everyone was nearby.
The brief flicker of each match revealed that there were occasional openings to paths stemming off the one they were on. Occasionally Lawson would veer in one direction or another, and Bliss could feel that they were heading deeper and deeper into the earth. The group walked silently for what felt like hours. How deep in the earth did the timeline start? Bliss wondered. They might as well just walk to Rome.
"Everyone, brace yourselves," Lawson warned. "I think we're getting close to the passages." He explained that once they entered the timeline, they would be moving through time itself, from moment to moment, where everything happened at once, and it could be disorienting at first.
"The Praetorian Guard kept the timeline safe," he said to Bliss as they walked down the narrow space. "Time is sacred. It must not change, and the wolves saw to that. Those who tamper with the timeline are doomed. Time must be allowed to flow, the sequence of events must remain fixed."
Bliss nodded. "Otherwise ..."
"Paradox, chaos, disorder. Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it," Lawson said, smiling.
Bliss did not smile back. "Marrok said he didn't know how to use the chronolog ... and you've never traveled through time before, have you? You said the passages were closed ... lost to the wolves."
"Are you asking me if I know what I'm doing?"
"Well, yes."
Lawson grinned. "Then the answer is no. But when do I ever?"
They walked a few more steps, and the space was suddenly flooded with light. They were no longer in the serpent mound but in the timeline itself.
Bliss shielded her eyes while Lawson yelled, "HERE WE GO!"
For the first few steps, Bliss couldn't see a thing - the light was so bright it had blinded her. Then everything changed - it was as if she had stepped on a roller coaster. She could feel her stomach drop. With each step she was in a different place, a different time. It was like moving through a movie screen but with the events of the movie actually happening. It made her feel as nauseous as Malcolm seemed.
"Look to the horizon," Lawson said. "It's a constant - like being in the sea. It will make it easier."
She nodded, trying to focus on the blue sky ahead. All around her, images and memories swirled, from many moments in time, not just from her life but from the history of the entire world. She could hear everyone around her, so at least they'd arrived safely, wherever they were. The light changed, slowly fading until she could see more comfortably. She saw Edon holding on to Ahramin as if she were about to fall; Rafe helped Malcolm. Lawson was at the head of the group.
"Bliss - the chronolog," Lawson called.
She pulled the handkerchief-wrapped object out of her pocket and carefully unwrapped it. It was a beautiful object, a pocket watch, heavy and silver.
"You'll have to do it, none of us can touch silver."
Bliss looked at it closely. There were tiny scratches on the side that looked as if someone had tried to pry it open. She recalled Allegra's hand reaching toward it, and Bliss did the same, pressing a hidden button on the side of the watch. A small round disc appeared in midair. It looked like a spinning globe, with lines moving around it.
"What is that?" Lawson asked.
She shrugged. "I have no idea."
"I think maybe you need to tell it where you want to go," Malcolm said helpfully.
"Take us to Rome," Lawson ordered, and a passage opened before them, shining bright in the darkness.