TIME & TIED: AWARENESS

ARC 1.4 - Of Herself

PART 21b: SERIOUS MATTERS 2

Carrie nodded. "Yeah, I found the device in the ravine a little over four... no, less than three weeks ago. Seems longer, but what with the time travelling, I guess it has been."

Julie’s eyes went wide. “You... FOUND it?"

Carrie nodded again. “Though Frank said you'd figured that much anyway. Right?"

"Not exactly," Julie admitted warily. "I mean, could the machine have been planted there for you to find?"

"Oh, possibly," Carrie said. She set her pillow aside. "Which reminds me - there could be strange government agent types keeping an eye on things. That's why I didn't tell you anything. It's probably better if you don't tell anyone else about the machine either... you understand, right? For your own safety?”

Julie lifted an eyebrow. "Right. Isn't the point moot, though? You said Luci broke the time machine."

"Yeah. But, maybe not permanently. I don’t know. That girl is so infuriating sometimes, huh? You’ve never been sure how to factor her into your plans,” Carrie said, attempting to change the subject.

"I can understand how troublesome Luci must have been if Frank was involved... speaking of which, are you sure you weren’t being manipulated by him?"

Carrie blinked. "What, by Frank? Please,” she scoffed. "If anything it's been the other way around."

"If he's selecting the destination times though..." Julie said, her voice trailing off.

Carrie shook her head. "Nah, Frank only programs the machine, and even then it’s got some random component such that he can’t do it properly half the time.”

For a second time, Julie stared, wide eyed. “SERIOUSLY? Then you can’t... you haven’t been... how do you know this for sure?”

“Trust me, I’d know if he was faking it. In the beginning, neither of us even knew about the deal with the coins.”

"Coins?"

Carrie gestured vaguely. "Coins, yeah, they power the thing and set the year. It reads the dates... off of them... or something," she finished as she realized that, once again, she was doing most of the talking. Like their lunchtimes lately. "Look, I'm done with all that now," Carrie insisted. "So why are we still talking about it?”

Julie smiled. “I’m trying to get some idea of what would be a good way of striking back at Frank and Luci on your behalf. Perhaps mess up their next trip, assuming they fix the machine?”

Carrie reached again for the pillow. “I don’t know. Perhaps we shouldn’t do anything. I mean, Frank has been pretty patient with me overall, and Luci... okay, she sucks, but she likes Frank and maybe Frank likes her.”

“We are still talking about the Frank who spent a week stalking you?"

Carrie clutched the pillow tighter. “There were extenuating circumstances there too. Look, can we not talk about scheming any more? Or at least, not against them?"

Julie leaned forward in her chair. "Are you sure that's what you really want?"

"I... yeah, sort of," Carrie amended, suddenly feeling like Julie had her under a microscope. She wondered how she could properly justify her request to her friend. Carrie licked her lips.

"It’s only, maybe there’s stuff we don’t know about people, you know? Reasons why they act the way they do? Because there’s stuff about me - us - that they don’t know about either. And I’m now thinking that, after high school, maybe that’s the sort of stuff that matters more.” Carrie swallowed. “What do you think?”

“Interesting theory.” Julie pressed the tips of her fingers together. “Fine, no going after Frank or Luci.”

Julie leaned back in her chair again, and the tension in the air seemed to lift. Carrie let out a sigh of relief. “On to other things,” Julie continued. “At this point, I am in a position to manipulate the situation in a couple of ways. As you may have suspected, one of the outcomes does involve implicating you, since I couldn't be certain I had your full support."

Carrie blinked. "Well, you've got it. I only want things to be the way they used to be between us!”

"I'm sure you do," Julie said. She smiled, scooting the chair closer in order to place her hand on Carrie's knee. “Don't worry, Carrie. I’ll make sure Corry is dealt with.”

Carrie returned the smile, grasping Julie's hand. "Thank you, Julie. I knew I could count on you." Yet at the same time, some part of Carrie warned her that it would be wise to not take her eyes off of Julie in the coming days. Not if she wanted to get through them completely intact.

***

"Laurie? Are you, like, asleep?" Chartreuse whispered quietly. There was no answer. Upon standing up, Chartreuse could see her friend dozing peacefully. Chartreuse, on the other hand, found herself unable to do so.

The unrest she had sensed all last week, despite being mostly dispelled by Friday's dance, was building again. Being in the Veniti house seemed to be amplifying the disquieting vibes. The turning point she had foreseen, that was now in the past, yet somehow, it was as if the worst was yet to come.

"I guess I have no choice then," Chartreuse murmured aloud to herself. "I have to do it." Moving her sleeping bag aside, she reached into her overnight bag and pulled out a few curiously shaped and highly polished stones.

Chartreuse idly recalled the way Tim had brought up her 'abilities' on Friday. Her reply, that she couldn't purposefully tap into any visions without serious meditation, was true. But there was more to it than that.

In fact, using her powers that way was something she preferred to avoid whenever possible. Because even positive events could be painful for her to foresee.

In retrospect, however, perhaps doing a vision would have helped her to prevent what had happened at the dance. The cursory probing to find her group of helpers had certainly been insufficient. So, given the sensations she was having now - yes, she had to do this. Surely a vision would help to minimize the damage that would occur within the coming weeks. Surely.

Having rationalized this much to herself, Chartreuse placed the stones out in a circle around her. She then sat in a lotus position, bringing her hands together in front of her, palms touching.

It was verging on midnight, so it was very quiet, helping Chartreuse attain the necessary tranquil, meditative state. She figured that being able to do it here in the Veniti household, and in Laurie's room, would help even more in terms of focusing her mind towards their role within the coming days. Chartreuse closed her eyes.

"Ohm, ohm, oh my," Chartreuse murmured quietly to herself. "Spirits from beyond... show me... what is to come."

Seconds passed, turning into minutes. Chartreuse remained sitting quietly on the floor, breathing regularly, waiting for the divine guidance she required.

It was impossible to rush these things. Sometimes they didn't even work at all. But given all the vibes she'd been sensing, it seemed likely that...

***

Chartreuse's eyes snapped open, wide, unseeing. The school was there before her. She felt herself being drawn into it, the scene blurring around her.

Now she was in front of a locker. Corry was there too, though Chartreuse had the feeling that the locker was not his. Yet he was putting something into the locker.

Then it was later, and Julie was there, removing something from the locker. Then, even later, someone Chartreuse recognized as a teacher was at the locker. He was also removing something. That was the source of the upcoming disturbance.

Yet at the same time, it wasn't.

The events surrounding the locker seemed to be merely another spike on the "roller coaster ride" everyone now seemed to be on. Chartreuse wondered if she dared to push forwards towards the true climax.

The lure to do so was powerful, not simply in terms of an attempt to find a solution, but because of the forces with which Chartreuse was currently playing. They had a way of drawing you in. It was a potentially dangerous addiction, as Chartreuse had once found out the hard way.

Indeed, even as Chartreuse contemplated pushing on, she found that it was already happening. The days after the locker incident slipped into weeks, events and people blurring as Chartreuse homed in towards the final outcome, the ultimate source of all the chaos she was sensing. Her eyes fell upon an object.

It was a gun. A gun in someone's hand. Someone she knew, possibly even someone from her homeroom. But who? Who was holding the gun? Where were they pointing it?!

Chartreuse lifted her eyes to see, but even as she did so, she realized that knowing any more than this would be too much. Too much, too soon, more than she could handle.

Teetering on the brink of a metaphorical cliff, Chartreuse desperately tried to wrench herself back away from the scene at hand, to avoid seeing the face. The body sitting on Laurie's bedroom floor twitched visibly as Chartreuse forced her spiritual form to return to it, fast.

The gun went off.

Letting out a soundless scream, Chartreuse collapsed back onto the floor of Laurie's room, dead to the world.