Mantis laughed. Jake scuffed the dirt uncomfortably with his shoe behind the taller man. "Oh, your brother will be fine, you little firecracker. Your mother was with him and I hardly think Marian Beckham will allow her son to be carted off to jail. She's a rare creature when she's enraged. Most attractive, really. I can only imagine, Paul, that your Sandy would also have grown into such a lovely being. That was so unfortunate."

Dr. Ford's hands curled into fists.

Mantis's eyes narrowed as he surveyed Dr. Ford with a slightly appraising look. "I have to admit, Paul, I never really factored you into this. I never thought you'd actually have the guts to use the stones. I have to ask myself...why now? Indeed...why now?" Mantis trailed off as if he were speaking more to himself than to them. The dancers continued their motions on the other side of the pond, apparently unaware of the group watching them from the shadows.

Dr. Ford's eyes had become hooded and slitty. "Indeed, why now, Sylvain? I see," he paused and then nodded at Jake, "that you have found yourself a camel."

Chapter 13.

A Camel for Nowhere

Mantis's left eye twitched slightly, but the mask of composure on his face didn't slip. Instead, he laughed. "Jake, you mean. Jake's just a friend-a trainee, actually. We really need to reinvigorate the Guild and I'm taking it upon myself to play a role in that since n.o.body else seems to be doing much... Anyway, nice to see you. Jake and I have business to take care of. We'll be heading along now."

Mantis stepped back as if to leave, but Dr. Ford inserted himself in front of the much taller man. It was almost comical, really, the little man trying to stop the bigger man, but Simon came to stand behind Dr. Ford. Abbey a.s.sessed the odds. Mantis had Jake, who was tall and quick. Her side had Mark, if he was willing to fight. But that presumed that neither Dr. Ford nor Mantis knew any magic that they could bring to bear. It occurred to Abbey that, despite all the talk about witches, she really had no idea what either man could do.

"We could work together, Sylvain, to our mutual advantage," Dr. Ford said.

Abbey almost took a step away from him. There was something weaselly and desperate in his tone. What was he saying?

"I have Mark," Dr. Ford continued.

Mantis smiled. Abbey hoped to detect some sign of nervousness in the smile, but there was none, at least not that she could discern.

"You're a funny man, Paul. I'm not entirely sure I would say you 'have' Mark, and besides, the portal is open now. As you know, it takes a few hours for the energy to fade." Mantis made a move to step around Dr. Ford.

Dr. Ford's hair appeared to bristle even higher than normal. "Have you explained to your trainee Jake here what it means to be a camel? That it's only because he has no future that he can play that role?" Jake stopped walking and turned and looked at Dr. Ford, then back at Mantis.

Mantis laughed. "You're a real riot, Paul. I don't know what you're on about with camels. I don't see a flock of them around here anywhere. I've never even heard that term. Have you been reading obscure ancient texts again? You know those are pretty unreliable. They've failed you before, with some rather...disastrous consequences." He made a spinning motion with his finger in the air at his temple and arched one thin eyebrow at Abbey. "Come along, Jake, or we'll be late for our meeting." Mantis walked away with Jake following. Dr. Ford made no move to stop them, but he called after them.

"Has he asked you to transport someone from one future to another? Convinced you that you're helping the person? If that's what Sylvain has asked you to do, then you're a camel, and you have a right to know what that means. Just ask him, or come back and ask me if you like." Jake looked back, and appeared as though he might stop, but Dr. Ford probably looked a bit possessed waving his arms with spittle flying from his mouth. Jake's eyes widened slightly and he turned and followed Mantis.

Mantis's and Jake's forms snaked through the trees, following the sh.o.r.eline to the south end of the pond toward the beavers.

"What was that all about? Why were you offering to work with him? What are camels?" said Simon, imposing his scowling form over Dr. Ford.

Dr. Ford's eyes followed Jake and Mantis for as long as their shapes were visible through the trees. He turned reluctantly back to Simon. "I wasn't going to work with him of course. I was just trying to get information from him. Camels are how people like Mantis change the future without getting trapped in Nowhere. Camels can change the future, in the future, and carry people from one time period to another without creating a paradox-because in this future time period, they're already dead. Their ability is a mistake, something the creators of the stones didn't consider. They're like wild cards, or exceptions in the system. Because they don't have a future, they don't have to follow the rules."

"You knew what Mrs. Forrester was trying to tell us then, with the drawing of the camel." Abbey's voice was icy.

"Yes, I'm sorry. I did." Dr. Ford seemed slightly contrite at least.

"Why didn't you tell us? Were you just waiting until you and Mark were alone so you could sneak up here?" accused Simon.

"Not exactly. I'd hoped to lure Mantis here, find out what he was up to, and flush out his camel so we could get more information. Which was obviously successful."

"Even if so, you had no reason not to tell us what you were doing, unless you didn't want us along."

"My dear girl, I didn't want to endanger you." Dr. Ford's skin had taken on a rather clammy sheen.

Abbey wondered if it was because he was lying, or if he was about to go into cardiac arrest.

"What do we do now?" said Simon.

The ceremony on the other side of the pond appeared to have drawn to a close. The dancers were forming a single file line, and those at the front had started down the path that circled the pond. Abbey kept glancing over her shoulder. Unless they branched off the path, the dancers would be upon them in ten minutes, maybe less.

"We follow Mantis and Jake, of course. Sanome is an expert tracker."

"And then what?"

"We find out what they're up to, and convince Jake not to do it. The things I said will already have put doubt into his mind. He needs to know how Mantis is using him. Once he knows that, I'm sure he'll come over to our side."

Abbey was about to ask what Dr. Ford meant by 'our side', when Mark spun suddenly away from the pond and vomited all over her shoes.

"Ewwywah!" Abbey yelled. The pieces of pastrami were even less appealing in this form. Mark hung his head like Farley did after he'd done something particularly egregious, but his stomach was still heaving slightly, as if it threatened to expel more of its contents. Abbey stepped back and scuffed the tops of her shoes in some gra.s.s. Then, thinking better of it, she plunked them directly into the pond and let the water carry away the bits that had coated them.

"Are you okay?" Simon asked.

Mark shook his head, put his head down near his knees and started to weep in big, shuddering gasps.

"He's probably too close to himself," said Dr. Ford.

"Say what?" said Simon.

"Too close to his future self. This has to be Mark's future, or he and I wouldn't have been able to get here. My guess is that his future self is among the dancers and they've now come too close to him, making him sick. We need to move on, or it's only going to get worse. You don't want to see the sorts of nastiness that can occur if one comes face to face with one's future self. I've heard of people going pop and just exploding." Dr. Ford threw his arms in the air for emphasis and then set off after Mantis and Jake.

Simon and Mark wasted no time following, Mark trotting half doubled over.

Abbey splashed out of the pond after them and pondered the absurdity of the ungainly Mark engaged in the graceful dance they'd just observed. Sanome led the party, weaving through the trees, her white fur reflecting the moonlight.

Dr. Ford was obviously up to something, Abbey was sure of it. She feared he hoped to steal Jake away to try to get Sandy back. But the only way that could happen was if Dr. Ford and Jake followed Mark to Nowhere, and that would depend on winning Jake away from Mantis and convincing Jake to help. It all seemed too implausible for Dr. Ford to even try-and yet, she supposed if someone had lost their daughter, they would try almost anything.

She edged past Simon and Mark and fell into step beside Dr. Ford, trying to ignore the sloshing of her sneakers. "Dr. Ford, can you tell me what it means to be a witch? I'm sorry to be asking, but-do you have special powers? I just want to know what we might be in for when we catch up with Mantis." And if you might be able to protect us, Abbey thought to herself.

Dr. Ford appeared unperturbed by the question.

"In this modern day and age, we witches are just more, shall we say...attuned to the universe. And the universe responds to that attunement. We've lost the old ways of spells and enchantments because we no longer have teachers, and as our people have dispersed all over the world and intermarried, the bloodlines have grown more diluted. But most of us still have our connection to the universe. Things happen because we want them to happen, and the more you develop your powers, the more you can affect what happens around you. Have you ever noticed that when you really want something and believe in it, it happens? That people or ideas come to you right when you've been thinking about them, or need them? That you have an intuitive sense of what many people are going to do or say, and you can affect what they do or say? Witches just know how to manifest reality." The moon drifted back behind the clouds, reducing the bright night back to semi-darkness and the trees to shrouds. The wet from the pond had now seeped up Abbey's jeans, and she once again wished for a coat. She wondered if she could 'manifest' a coat and dry shoes. And why she couldn't manifest a date with Sam. Dr. Ford continued talking. "Most ordinary people, non-witches that is, have a vague sense of it. Some people call it coincidence or serendipity, and some people try to package and sell it in all sorts of forms like that G.o.d-awful book The Secret. A bunch of charlatans, all of them. But, really, it's just good old-fashioned witching."

"Then why can't you bring your daughter back?" The words were out before Abbey could check them.

Dr. Ford's shoulders slumped. If he wondered how Abbey knew he'd lost his daughter, he didn't show it. "It would seem I'm not a particularly powerful witch. I blame myself for that. Maybe I don't believe enough. When she disappeared, her mother and I hoped, and prayed, and believed for a long time. But we never got any signs. We don't even know if she was killed on this side of the stones, or in a more pedestrian manner on our own side of the stones. We had our suspicions, of course." Dr. Ford turned to examine Abbey with speculative and not entirely friendly eyes. "There was a police investigation, but they came up with nothing, and eventually I just stopped believing. Her mother and I...grew apart under the stress, and separated."

They proceeded in silence for a few minutes, Abbey's thoughts in turmoil. Should she tell Dr. Ford of meeting Sandy in Nowhere? Had Mark already told him? Should she pa.s.s on Sandy's message? It seemed cruel not to rea.s.sure him that his daughter was alive. But there was something about his behavior that concerned her. Why had he convinced Mark to come through the stones? And why was he so interested in Jake being a camel? But if he found out later that they'd met Sandy in Nowhere and hadn't told them, wouldn't he be upset?

"What exactly are we trying to do here, Dr. Ford, by following Mantis and Jake?" she asked tentatively. "Shouldn't we be getting out of here? It seems to me that this is where the blood and arrows are, and where Mark creates a paradox, and ends up having to go to Nowhere. Wouldn't it be a good idea to remove him from this situation? And ourselves?" Unless you want him to create a paradox, Abbey thought.

Dr. Ford's fuzzy eyebrows were raised as he looked at Abbey. "Don't you want to know what Mantis is up to? I thought he was trying to kill one of you."

"Yes, of course I do. But I just don't know what we're going to find out. Mantis isn't going to tell us anything." Abbey stopped abruptly as Dr. Ford threw his arm across her chest. Sanome had sunk to the ground in front of them. Ahead of them-or fifty meters below them, rather-in a small treed ravine, stood Mantis and Jake. They appeared to be waiting for someone.

Abbey and Dr. Ford dropped to a crouch and Simon and Mark followed suit. A stream that drew water from the pond ran through the center of the ravine, creating enough noise that their approach hadn't been heard. The man and boy stood by an old, unlit fire pit circled by stumps, discussing something in low tones.

Dr. Ford motioned them away from the edge of the ravine. The underbrush was lusher in this part of the forest, probably because of the pond. Wild blackberry and s...o...b..rry bushes grew up all around them. If not for the path, they wouldn't have been able to make their way around the pond. There was an opening in one of the bushes and they pushed their way into it. The thorns tore at Abbey's skin and hair. They found themselves in a small clearing, like a little room, large enough for the four of them to stand within arm's reach.

Once they were all huddled in the clearing, Dr. Ford spoke softly. "Now we wait, and see who they're meeting. Probably best to stay hidden, in case the person they're meeting approaches from this direction."

"But won't Mantis figure we followed him?" Simon said.

The wild tips of Dr. Ford's hair almost seemed to quiver in the dim light. "Sylvain doesn't believe me capable of a lot. He probably a.s.sumes I took you home, or had an anxiety attack or epileptic seizure on the spot. But the good news is I think Sanome stopped us before he could've seen us."

"And is there a reason he should be thinking one of those things might have happened?" asked Simon.

Abbey noticed the medic alert bracelet dangling from Dr. Ford's wrist.

"Don't worry. I should be fine. We'll get through this."

"Is Mantis a powerful witch, Dr. Ford?" More powerful than you? Abbey thought.

Dr. Ford's temporary good mood evaporated. He sighed and rubbed the s.p.a.ce between his eyes. "Yes, he is. Because he's an egomaniac, and egomaniacs are powerful witches because they believe everything good should come to them and so it does. But the universe can turn on them sometimes. We just need to wait for that to happen to Mantis."

"Let's hope it happens at a convenient time for us, then," muttered Simon, his mouth set in a narrow line. "I'll go do a quick check of the ravine." He vanished through the small entranceway, scarcely disturbing the briars on either side of him.

Mark had seemingly recovered from his nausea and stood with his back to them, drawing patterns in the dirt with a stick. Abbey shook her head. It didn't make sense that Mark had been sick because his future self had been among the dancers. If this was his future, how could his future also be in Nowhere?

She decided to voice her confusion aloud. "I don't get it, Dr. Ford. If this is Mark's future, how can he also end up in Nowhere? He has two futures?"

"Actually, yes. This is where the stones get confusing, because they show many possible futures. This could be his future, until his current younger self does something to create a paradox, and then this will cease to be his future. Both remain possible futures at this point. "

"So, the first theory you were talking about is the right one. There are multiple universes and timelines?"

"No, I don't think so. I myself subscribe to the second theory," said Dr. Ford. "Right now your timelines and future, and mine for that matter, are not set-not completely, anyway. They're evolving based on our choices and the choices of those around us. Once you make those choices, some futures cease to be possibilities, and others open up. The stones are meant as a learning device, to investigate possible futures."

Simon re-emerged through the opening and shook his head to indicate that Mantis and Jake remained alone. "I'm going to take up a watch in the shadows just beside the briar patch here," he said. "I can hear you if you need me, but otherwise keep your voices down."

Abbey turned back to Dr. Ford. "So, are we in the future then? The actual future?"

"Well, there's the rub, really." Dr Ford clasped his hands together as if he were giving a lecture in a cla.s.sroom and enjoying it. "Is this the future, or a projection of it? What we do know is that you can only change your future timeline with the choices you make for yourself in your present timeline. Changing your present timeline is always an option open to you, just as it's always an option open to everyone. But if you interfere with future timelines, then you create a paradox. The rule of the stones is 'look but don't touch'. If you were to die or be killed on this side of the stones, would you show up dead in your present time, simply disappear, or reappear in your own timeline unharmed? That we don't know. We're pretty sure those who create a paradox go to Nowhere to stay. We have witnesses who've seen them there in their own future visions."

Abbey rubbed her forehead. She wished she had a paper and pen so she could sketch out the timelines. Or write out some equations or something. She didn't know what kind of equations, but something that could at least be balanced and solved would be comforting right now. "But if we can do something that affects the future timeline, then surely we are in the future, the real future. Because otherwise how could we affect the timeline?"

Dr. Ford pursed his lips and lowered his eyebrows at this but didn't reply.

Abbey continued, "How does Mantis have a meeting set up in this future? He has to have been here before, which means this must be one of his possible futures, too, and Jake was also in Simon's future, so is that Jake's future too? I thought you said he was dead in the future."

Dr. Ford stepped to the side as Mark started to draw some wide arcs with his stick. "Camels can go wherever they want as long as they're dead in the futures in question. In theory, Jake can open portals to a whole bunch of futures for Mantis, which would be exactly what Mantis wants. Camels are rare because you have to find someone who has witch blood, who's dead in the future, and who's willing to help you-and most witches wouldn't be willing to help. It's taboo in witching circles to be a camel, and it was forbidden by the Witching Guild long ago because it means you're interfering with the timeline. We used to have a slang saying a few decades ago-'Don't smoke'. It's a play on Camel cigarettes... Smokes, get it? It means don't break the rules. But it also means don't die. Witches used to send each other off with that saying." Abbey recalled the scrawl in her mother's yearbook: Don't smoke. And Sandy's words: "You have to smoke on the docks."

"But now," Dr. Ford continued, with a grave heave of his small chest, "we've lost too much of our heritage. We've all but died out. A lot of witches never had children. Knowing the future is apparently an effective form of birth control. Others went into hiding and tried to lead normal lives, never telling their children about their heritage. Most of the remaining witches don't even know they have witching blood, and they certainly don't know the rules or conventions, leaving them open to manipulation by people like Mantis."

"But is there some future in which Jake isn't dead? Like near futures, say?"

"Yes, but not many. The best camels are those who are already dying of a disease, even if they don't know it yet. That way they won't be around for many futures. And besides, the stones tend to send you at least ten to twenty years into the future to some pivotal moment in your life."

Abbey shivered. "That's horrible. Is Mantis even going to tell him?"

Dr. Ford shrugged. "The use of camels is forbidden."

They stood in silence for a few minutes while Abbey tried to tie the strands of what she understood together. But she couldn't quite wind them.

"I don't get it," she said finally, crossing her arms over her chest. "Paradoxes have to involve some contradiction. Paradoxes in time travel usually involve someone going into the past and negating their own existence-or preventing the time travel from occurring in the first place, like if they went back and killed their grandfather and then were never born. What we're talking about is just changing the future, in the future. It may be against the rules, but it is not a paradox, not technically. Why is it called a paradox? I'd call it the timeline rule or something like that."

Dr. Ford drew himself up to his full height and smoothed down his clothing, making sure everything was in place.

"Well, young lady, I'm not sure when you think you became an expert on the stones. I, for one, quite like the name. It's elegant and everybody knows what we're talking about when we say it. It only just got named a few years ago, based on a drawing I found in the ancient texts. The drawing was of a pair of docks, much like the one you showed me that Mrs. Forrester did for you. It may not be as technically sound as a physics major would have it, but it works, and it was obviously the name the ancients intended."

Dr. Ford paused to give Abbey a huffy look and continued, "We just figured out the rule in the last several decades. There are lots of gaps in knowledge between the ancients and us. We've only recently found some of the old texts. Witches had disappeared for years in the stones, but n.o.body knew why, or where they went. Because you can't stay in the future, you realize-the stones kick you back to your own time. You probably already experienced this."

Abbey nodded.

"It wasn't until someone had a future in Nowhere, like Mark here, and found all the missing witches, that we finally realized what was happening, and could make the rule, and name it."

"Are you sure it's right, though?" Abbey asked.

Dr. Ford appeared as though he'd been struck between the eyes with a mallet. "Am I sure what's right?" he repeated.

"The paradox rule. Do you have enough data to support your conclusion? Have you run an experiment, or at least collected some qualitative data? Do you know for sure that all the witches in Nowhere tried to alter the timeline? Do you know if some witches have successfully altered the timeline and not gone to Nowhere? There could be a lot of other explanations. Aren't we, just by virtue of being here, changing the timeline somewhat? We fixed a computer on a s.p.a.ceship in Simon's timeline. And even if we do nothing, there's still the observer effect. Things change when you watch them. It just seems to me you might need to do some more data collection..." Abbey trailed off, as Dr. Ford was beginning to look as if his head might explode. Veins stuck out all over his forehead and his hair appeared almost electrically charged.

"Young lady, a paradox is not you simply showing up in the future and fixing a s.p.a.ceship," he said severely. "A paradox is you killing someone that would've otherwise remained alive. A paradox is you deliberately messing with some major political action or giving someone vital information. A paradox is big, and as a result, it's generally obvious. You could even potentially dispatch some minor thug and not create a paradox if that person wasn't important in the larger timeline."

"Says the man who's never used the stones." Abbey knew she was being impertinent, but she didn't care.

Dr. Ford drew a breath and was about to speak when Mark poked him with the stick and gestured at his drawing on the ground. Dr. Ford's eyes widened when he saw it.

"It's the map. The map of Coventry Hill on my office wall. He's replicated it line for line..." Dr. Ford paused and studied the map. "It's identical, except here where Coventry Hill Stream normally runs...he's put a circle."

Mark nodded and tapped that spot on the map. The circle in the dirt was neatly labeled BP. He gestured at the beaver pond just beyond them.

"I think he's trying to say that the BP on Mantis's photocopied map of Coventry Hill stands for Beaver Pond," explained Abbey, "and that it is in fact this beaver pond. Are you trying to say you think we're on Coventry Hill in the future?"