TIME & TIED: DESTRUCTION

ARC 3.2 - With The Group

PART 54a: THE MANSION 1

"She's not in the bathroom," Carrie said as she emerged. "However, this was on the floor." She held up a bottle of aspirin.

"Where is she then?" Clarke said, a tinge of panic creeping into his voice. He cupped his hand to his mouth. "Julie? JEWELS??”

"Calm down," Luci soothed. "We'll find her. Whatever happened, she can't have gone far."

"Maybe Jeeves or Mimi saw something?" Frank hypothesized.

Clarke shook his head. "They're not here. Jeeves is out servicing the car, and Mimi doesn't spend much time around the house any more, outside of meal times. She’s not keen on the whole fractured family situation."

"Then let's check the external security system," Luci reasoned. "That will tell us whether Julie left, and whether anyone else came."

Clarke brought them to the security room, where a quick verification confirmed that there had been no activity outside of the mansion. "So where could Julie be?" Clarke said desperately. "And why did we hear her scream?!"

“Is she afraid of spiders, maybe?” Carrie mused.

"Unless..."

"Unless?" Frank said, turning to Luci.

The small girl pursed her lips. “Unless it's not a matter of where she is, so much as WHEN she is."

"You think she was timenapped?" Clarke asked, eyes widening.

“We were here to set a fixed date for starting travel,” Frank agreed. “Yet for someone to take Julie, the time machine would need at least a few minutes to recharge, right?”

“Okay, so it stands to reason that if someone’s trying that, Julie’s still around, but maybe knocked out,” Carrie decided. “We need to split up and search the house, fast.”

"Whoa, split up?” Frank protested. “But what if someone's trying to pick us off one by one?"

Carrie rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll check upstairs with Clarke while you two horror movie maniacs scour the basement. Good enough?"

Frank seemed about to reply to her when Luci broke in. "Sounds good," she agreed, grabbing Frank's arm. "Let's do that."

Carrie nodded and headed for the back stairs with Clarke, even as Frank turned to look at Luci in surprise. "We're going to take orders from her?"

"Come on, Frank," Luci said. "Let's have a talk in the basement."

***

Luci tried to figure out exactly how to say what she wanted to say as they descended the stairs. She finally decided to go the direct route, as usual. "Frank," she began as they reached the lower landing. "Why are you still freaking out about Carrie’s powers?”

He blinked. "Pardon?"

“The earlier comment about things flying through the air?” Luci said pointedly, even as she walked down the hall, opening the nearest door. “The flinching when Carrie talked about losing her mind? I thought we’d agreed that the remark to her father last weekend would be the last reference you’d make to Stephen King’s character.”

“I know. I'm sorry," Frank apologized. "Still, the fact that we discovered that the fire at the cafe occurred when Carrie was there... well, it's kind of a freaky coincidence, don't you think? Like, maybe, subconsciously--"

"No,” Luci countered. “Don’t go there. Our Carrie is not some fictional character with mental issues and telekinesis, Frank. She’s our friend.”

“I know.” Frank peered inside a room where a file cabinet had been tipped over, with papers strewn about. “But we all saw what Carrie was capable of last year. And you know I’m not keen on the horror genre. So if you didn't want me to act this way around her, why did you show me that movie in the first place?"

For a moment, Luci found herself at loss for words. Because she realized that Frank wasn’t wrong - some part of her had wanted him to act this way. What she ultimately said was, “Well, geez, Frank, why do you think I showed it to you?”

"Luci, I'm not a mind reader."

"Who says you have to be a mind reader?"

He gave her a look of confusion. So Luci clasped her hands in front of her chest and fluttered her eyelashes. "Oh, Carrie," the young girl swooned. "Don't go out with Glen, he might be bad news. Don't worry, I'll tail him for you, I'll keep an eye on him, I'll make sure he doesn't do anything inappropriate.”

Frank's eyebrows rose. "This is about me shadowing Glen?"

"Oh for goodness sakes, Frank, don't you remember ANYTHING about our previous conversations?" Luci said in exasperation. Honestly, Frank was a wonderful guy, but how could anyone that smart also be so dense and unaware?

Their basement searching ceased completely as Luci’s boyfriend peered more closely at her. "You mean... you really are jealous?"

“Oh, then you were listening. Amazing."

“And so... you showed me the movie so that I’d be scared of Carrie, and run to you for support?”

So he’d been listening, but not understanding. “I showed you the movie so that you’d remember that someone like Carrie is capable of taking care of herself. So that you’d come to me, not for support, but because... because I’m important too. Even if I’m not the one with powers or a destiny.”

“What? But, of course you’re important, Luci. Why would you think otherwise?”

“Because, I don’t know, it’s like our relationship was stuck in second gear all summer,” Luci said. She found she couldn’t look at Frank directly any more. Was she perhaps in the wrong? “I thought coming back to school and studying together would reignite things, but instead you’re more interested in Carrie’s life than you are in mine.”

There was a pause. “I’m sorry, Luci, I never meant to give you that impression,” he said softly. “If you thought I was ignoring you, why didn’t you say something?”

“Oh, what the hell was I supposed to say?” Luci felt tears shimmering behind her eyelids. “A girl can’t simply tell a guy to dote on her, otherwise she’ll know he’s doing it because she told him to, not because she’s actually worth it.”

“You are worth it.”

“See? Now you’re only saying it because I told you to.”

“I’m not.” Frank reached out to tilt Luci’s head back in his direction. “I’m really not. I’m sorry, Luci. I guess it’s just, you’ve always seemed so independent. Heck, ever since you stopped holding back at school, your marks have been in the top five percent for our grade level, even above mine. So it never occurred to me that you might be feeling insecure."

“Don’t say that. I’m not insecure!” Luci swallowed. “But okay, I guess for your birthday at the start of the month, I still had to go up on tiptoe in order to kiss you, and I... I’m two years too young for our grade, and wonder if maybe you’re getting tired of that age difference. I know I am."

"Oh Luci, Luci, dear sweet Luci, no.”

“No? You’ve never found yourself holding back because of my age? Hell, would you even still be going out with me, if you hadn't seen how good I’d look at twenty one?"

She knew he couldn’t have forgotten about the time when she had been artificially aged, prompting Professor Linquist to grab her off the street for experimentation. After all, it had been that Luci who had first made her feelings clear to Frank.

“Oh, Luci," Frank said, brushing a tear from her cheek. "I would still go out with you even if you broke out with a terrible case of acne. This isn't about physical appearance. It's not even about intellect. I love you, Luci, because of who you are. You know I do."

Luci looked up into his eyes, and she saw the sincerity in them, and she felt like a total idiot. Why had she tried to use a horror movie to make her point? She leaned in towards him, her arms moving around him and her cheek resting on his chest as she let out a small sigh.

"I know," she admitted. “But maybe I need to hear it more often? Is that okay?”

His arms encircled her back. "Of course it is," he said softly, hugging her close. "Of course it is, my lovely Luci. I'm sorry if I've made you feel at all neglected. I'll make it up to you somehow... in fact, guess what. I got Joe to handle the business club’s snack table for the upcoming school dance. And rather than simply assume, I should ask - Luci, will you be my date for the evening?”

"Oh, Frank,” Luci said happily, looking up, then hugging him tightly. “Of course! Thank you.” They remained that way for a short time, before she finally pulled back.

“Actually Frank, you know what else didn’t help with this whole mess?” Luci admitted. “Carrie complaining to me at the start of the school year about how much her chest was interfering with her cheerleading, and her other athletic pursuits. I mean, really? All I could think about during her WHOLE rant was ‘So when am I due for a boost in MY cup size?’. Damn it, I’ve seen Grade Nines who are more developed than me.”

Frank swallowed. “Oh. Um. Well, you know, I’ve never meant to imply you were devoid of physical attributes?"

Luci eyed his expression. Perhaps she’d over-shared with that one. “Never mind. That’s a topic I should be discussing with Chartreuse. We should get back to looking for Julie.”

“Yes, please,” Frank said, visibly relieved. “Lead the way."

***

Julie moaned as consciousness returned. She blinked her eyes open, saw nothing but darkness, and felt a jolt of panic. It subsided as her eyes began to adjust, identifying a partially furnished, albeit windowless room. She sat up, reaching her hands out to confirm that she was in a small alcove in the wall.

She suppressed the urge to sneeze at the dust tickling at her nose. "Mimi's really let this room go," Julie murmured. Was she even still in the mansion?

She thought back. She had been in the washroom, getting the aspirin bottle from the cabinet behind the mirror - and had slipped on a wet patch on the floor. Left behind when she’d splashed water onto her face after bandaging her hand.

Julie held her palm up to her face, peering at the bandage. Her hand still hurt. Right. Because to try and stay upright, she had seized the metal ring on the wall where they hung hand towels. And twisted it. And then, inexplicably, the floor had given out, and she’d fallen... which meant she was... where?

Julie struggled to her feet, trying to peer through the darkness. She stepped outside of the wall alcove. A cobweb or string dangled against her face, and she pulled at it, to get it out of the way.

An overhead bulb clicked on. Julie blinked the spots out of her eyes, then let out a low whistle as her location became more clear.