The moon sat in the western part of the sky, closer to dawn now than midnight. Mara sat on the edge of her deck, feet dangling over the side, and sipped a steaming orange broth.
Hours before, she had joined Anna on the small island in the middle of the lake. The two danced in circles under the night sky, celebrating the successful return of the Shadow to its world. For Anna, this was the end of a months-long journey, and with it came a sense of relief, not unlike the feeling of the last day of school. She flew home and collapsed on her bed in her clothes, the months finally catching up to her as she fell into a sleep as dark and deep as the alien ocean she had left behind.
But for Mara this wasn’t the end. She wouldn’t allow herself room to relax. Not yet. Not until she knew for sure and all the data was analyzed. She waited nervously to hear from SID and only managed two hours of fitful sleep before she gave up altogether and headed out into the cool early-morning air.
SID was still crunching numbers, running models, and scanning the environment. She would know soon whether this was really it. The end of the hiding, the running. She looked out across the lake. The steam from her cup held up close to her chin looked like mist rising from the water’s surface.
<Mara?>
Her heart skipped.
“Yes, SID.”
<Do you want the long explanation or the short?>
“Let’s start with the short.”
<Sensors detected the closure of the final wormhole at 9:32 p.m. local time. Since then, we’ve been unable to detect the presence of a wormhole. No energy signatures. No anomalies.>
“They’re gone.”
<To put it in context, ever since we escaped from our own time and went into hiding, there hasn’t been a single moment we didn’t detect the presence of some energy signal. That is, until now.>
“Meaning?” Mara asked, but she already knew the answer.
<That you were right. This time is different.>
“That we’re safe?”
<I believe so.>
Mara set her cup down on the deck and covered her face with her hands. She breathed in deep, smelling the spices from her drink still on her hands, and cried for the first time in ages.