This Time

Chapter 15

I woke up shivering and looked around. The fire has died out and everyone was fast asleep.

Did we not assign a guard? I asked myself sleepily. There was something tugging at the back of my mind and I tried to recall the dream I had. A few minutes later I had remembered every detail. My heart was pounding as I tried to squirm out from underneath Niall’s heavy arm that draped over me. He groaned a little and curled it back around my body, but I tapped it until he woke up.

‘What?’ He whispered, sounding irritated.

‘Niall something’s wrong.’ I said my heart pounding faster. With every second, my senses woke up and I became more aware of our surroundings.

Niall groaned in response and I turned over to face him, his eyes were closed again so I lightly slapped his face. They flew open and he stuttered out

‘I’m up, I’m up.’

‘Niall, I know why they want to kill me.’ I said frantically, making him wake up fully.

‘What, why?’ He shot up, looking around as if they were right there.

I grabbed either side of his face and made him look at me.  I could feel myself getting hysterical but looking into his eyes always calmed me down. I took a deep breath to steady myself.

‘They want me for my power, they want time travel.’ I said feeling queasy.

Niall frowned and I watched as the cogs in his brain ticked over, trying to figure it out.

‘Why?’ he asked finally, giving up.

‘because-‘ I dropped my hands from his face and buried my own in them.

‘because with my power, they can go back. All the way back.’ I said in a muffled whisper.

‘to where?’ Niall asked, pulling my hands away and gripping them tightly.

‘to the beginning,’ I choked out, feeling the human emotions completely take hold.

‘they want to go back to before the race split into two. They want to stop Atars from ever existing.’

Niall gasped quietly and I tried to bit my lip to keep it from trembling. I even tried to bite my tongue but that seemed to make it worse.

Before I knew it my whole body was shaking and the only words I could manage were

‘they want my power... to take over the world.’

Then I collapsed in tears.

‘Lucy, calm down.’ Rachel said in a hushed tone. I had woken everyone up with my sobbing and when asked what was going on, Niall explained my theory.

Both Louis and Harry refuted it, but I think that was out of fear. Neither Zayn nor Liam said anything, but Rachel said it made sense, which caused Harry to glare at her.

‘Look, regardless of what they want... we’re in this together, right?’ Zoe asked, looking around.

‘Absolutely!’ Harry and Louis said in unison

‘Without a doubt.’ Niall answered from behind me.

Zayn nodded furiously and Rachel just raised her eyebrows at me with a smile.

Liam cleared his throat and everyone looked at him. I felt my heart drop as he looked at me.

‘Lucy, what happens if they get to you?’ He asked slowly.

Rachel immediately piped up with a loud ‘That won’t happen!’

Liam ignored her though and kept staring at me intently.

I felt my stomach clench as I prepared to say it. It was painful to even think about, but putting it into words was a whole other story. It brought it into the realm of reality.

‘Well, if they gain my power.’ I held up a hand to keep Rachel from interrupting.

‘Then that means they would travel back and stop the race from splitting. Which means the Giddians would probably still rule the world and humans... well.’ I stopped and looked around at the face of my friends, who all just pledged their lives to stick with me.

‘Humans wouldn’t exist right now.’ I said in a high pitched voice, not being able to keep away the hysteria that had been building. Niall pulled me into his chest again and I cried for a few minutes.

When I was done, I looked back up to see nobody had moved, but were looking gloomily into the distance, mulling over the possibility that they might not exist.

 Niall rubbed my back soothingly whilst I calmed down.

‘Well then.’ Zoe said finally. ‘That means it’s not you we’re protecting. It’s the entire world basically.’ She chuckled darkly.

We all knew it she was right and it was a haunting thought.

Rachel relit the fire and suggested that we should have somebody on guard. I volunteered but everyone immediately told me to get some rest, and Liam took my place.

Everyone else lay back down and fell asleep quickly but I watched Liam, through the flames of the fire. He sat on the nearby log and looked at Zoe sleeping.

There was something about the way he watched her, something very odd.

‘You love her, don’t you?’ I said, making him snap out of his trance.

‘You should be asleep.’ He said, picking up a twig from the ground.

I got up, careful not to wake Niall, and made my way over to Liam.

It was much colder by the log, as we were further from the fire. Nevertheless, I sat down and curled my knees up to my chest, trying desperately to keep my body temperature high.

‘I see the way you look at her. I know you love her Liam.’

He snapped the twig into little bits, throwing them at the ground and not replying.

Just when I thought he would stay silent forever, he whispered.

‘Don’t tell anyone?’

I watched him snap the last piece of twig in two, but before he could throw them away, I grabbed his hands. Liam looked at me, confused, but I just slid the twig bits from him.

‘No matter what you do.’ I held them up in front of us.

‘If something fits together.’ I connected the broken pieces,

‘It will always fit together.’ I looked at him and smiled.

‘Even if they are apart.’ I threw the sticks onto the ground and got up.

Ruffling his hair, I said goodnight and made my way back to Niall, who was sleeping peacefully by the fire. Sliding in next to him, I soaked up the warmth, feeling the goosebumps fade away as I did so.

‘You and Niall fit together, you know?’ Liam said quietly.

I looked at the blonde haired boy next to me and smiled.

‘I know.’