Haw Shot’s gem worked similarly to Dante’s closet, placing Earl out of all worlds, stopping the passage of time in Settler. The green tint distorted the town with bubbles, pits, and squeezes. It took away the pain knifing through his back, tingling his fingers and toes.
Tonight proved Daelin would be all right without him. He worried less about her than Charming. Charming had the same smarts, but not the same bite. He was glad of it, glad his defective self hadn’t tainted his descendants.
Earl could travel through the town held in suspension, something he couldn’t do in the closet. The scene in front of the Roadhouse had all the drama of a painting. Blood stained faces. Sabina’s mouth frozen in a scream. Trinidad’s weapon shot into infinity with as much effect as dust. Culver huddled over Daelin, tenderly dressing her wounds.
Earl saluted her. Daelin had done as well as a seasoned infantryman. She’d never be the same, but she’d be all right. Maybe. Earl still hadn’t found his way free from the brutality he had embraced in the 1860s. Now Charming begged for him to do it again. The enemy wasn’t human this time, making it easier to deal with, yet he hadn’t decided about it. “I’ll end up in the asylum stealing pills.”
After retrieving the book on outlaws from where he had hid it in the library closet and bowing to Cordelia, he journeyed out to his ranch, fuming. The phantom had shot off its dead mouth, whispering things from the grave that pointed anyone with two brain cells to Earl’s past. Daelin would figure it out. Sabina would make sure of it. Then the town would never see past his notorious history, never again allow him to be who had become, never permit him to become who he had yet to be. If burning the book in his hands would do any good, he’d torch it right now.
His only hope was to become Earl or someone new, someone different, someone whom no one could ever believe was a stagecoach robber. When he figured out how to be different, how to grow into his new name, then maybe he’d come home. Was this home?
The sprawling resort of a house had a pull on his heart nowhere else had. He stood in front of it, poking at the nuances it stirred in his soul. It meant a lot, but wasn’t everything. He walked inside.
Last year he had drawn up papers to put Wilma and Scott in charge of the ranch in case of an emergency. The green light made it difficult to see clearly. In his private office, Earl fished around clumsily in his desk for a pen then let go of the ghost stone. Guests hadn’t arrived, his employees were asleep in their homes miles away, the Rifters remained in town stopped in time. They couldn’t get here fast enough. No one would see him. He set the jewel on the desk within easy reach then continued his work.
He signed the papers and jotted a quick note, a lie about a sick relative. He wrote a second listing Wilma’s good points to insure the ranch’s future. Then he tore it up and threw it in the trash. He had written similar to his wife, never really meaning it. Repeating the pattern he needed to change wouldn’t get him anywhere.
He picked up the crystal and returned to between worlds. How many worlds were there? Were they like this one? Traveling the rift would be fascinating. Earl didn’t think he wanted his life to get that interesting, though. He’d had enough of interesting.
Outside and inside felt no different when the ghost stone was activated. He set the papers on Wilma’s desk, then he headed to the garage. The pickup gleamed in green instead of gold, but it still shone. He pulled out of the garage and followed a dirt track across his property to the little house where Scott and his family lived. Earl set the gem on the dashboard, hopped out, and knocked on the door. A sleepy little girl answered, rubbing her eyes.
She reminded him of his baby Ida. According to the records he had found, she hadn’t lived long after marrying. Earl hoped her husband had been good to her. He squatted to meet Scott’s girl eye to eye, smiling. “Go get your papa, princess.”
A moment later, Scott sauntered outside, thumbs hooked through his belt loops. “Is the herd sick? Wolves?”
Earl gently shut the door. “Nothing is wrong. The cattle are fine. The horses too. I have to go away for awhile. You and Wilma will manage fine?”
“Sure.” Scott squinted. “You on the run? How’d you get so beat up?”
“No, I’ve been cleared of the murders. I helped catch the real killer. It all made me realize I have to take care of some things so I can move forward.”
“Will you ever come home?” Scott’s eyes widened, the tint of sleep leaving his features.
“Honestly, I don’t know. I hope so. Will you do one last job for me? Park the pickup in front of the mercantile at sunrise?”
Scott crossed his burly arms, which made his neck more square than usual. “Si. Do you just want me to leave the truck there?”
Friends like Scott were rare. A plus in Settler’s favor. Earl smiled. “You’ll drive to Bend.” Earl gave him the exact instructions then the truck keys.
He waited until Scott went inside before returning to between worlds. In a haze of green, he hobbled through the brush to a cleft of lava dividing his land. He hopped onto a little ledge a mere two feet down. On it he sat, placing the crystal beside him.
The physical world assaulted him. Pain. Cold. Agony. Gingerly, he felt along his jaw line. He’d be all right. He’d stop in the spa for some healing supplies. Medicine had improved by a mother lode since 1888. From his pocket he slid out the burner phone, pressing Dante’s number.
Dante didn’t sound sleepy. “Is Charming back? Cerin?”
“No, things are still like a heist gone left with your old friends. Very left. I can’t be Earl anymore.”
“Should I quit being Dan?”
“Yes, but not until after Daelin comes to you. I’m sending her with Scott at sunup. She needs to forget again.” Earl told him the story of Haw Shot. “Sabina gave her the oath, and Daelin’s association with us will mark her as an enemy as much as her sister and you are.”
“She’s no use to us if she doesn’t learn to fight the things that come through the rift. I’ll return her unharmed. Swear it. How are you going to get her here unseen?”
Earl explained the crystal.
“Fascinating technology,” Dante said. “I’ll study it and come up with something better for you.”
“You can keep it. I’m going to disappear.”
“Don’t you want to know what Charming’s crystal disc does?”
“Let me guess, I have to come to you to find out.”
“We both need to keep our heads low. Why not disappear together?”
For awhile, Earl could stand the company. Leaning back against the rough rock, he thought about a new name and who the next version of himself should be.
hapter 