Page 62 of Once a Villain (Only a Monster #3)

it’s being used by a loved one. If I’m right, and I think I am, you could use this ring to travel back fifty years—to when

the Court gate last opened.Even though that period can’t usually be accessed.”

“Maybe that’s what our counterparts planned all along,” Aaron said.

Nick shook his head slightly. Not denying it, but as if the thought was so sickening to him that it was impossible to accept the premise.

Joan brushed her hand with his, and he took a deep breath.

“How do I even use it?” he said with some effort. “I mean... we don’t even know how much time is left in it.”

“There’s a number etched onto it—three hundred and seventeen,” Joan said.

“We need to go back fifty years,” Aaron said. He turned to Jamie. “What’s three hundred and seventeen divided by fifty?”

“Uh... I’m actually not great with numbers,” Jamie said. “Unless it’s rote stuff. I just do memory.”

“It’s about six point three,” Tom said.

“There are seven of us here,” Aaron said. “That means only six of us can go to the gate.”

Joan looked at Mum, who was already shaking her head. She’d guessed what Joan was about to say. “It can’t be you,” Joan said

to her. It came out in a shudder like her body already knew that meant goodbye.

“It can’t be you ,” Mum said hoarsely back, staring at Joan. Her eyes were the green of trees at night—darker than they’d seemed in the photos

Joan had grown up with.

“You won’t be able to kill her,” Joan said. It was a terrible thing to have to say to her mother about her own daughter. “And

if it comes down to it, we will need to kill her.”

Mum swallowed visibly. Joan could see she desperately wanted to lie and deny it. To be there to control the outcome. But there was no way to control what would happen tonight, and the stakes were too high for hesitation at a crucial moment. The whole world was at risk.

Impulsively, Joan threw her arms around Mum. She could feel tears burning the backs of her eyes.

Mum hugged her back, squeezing her tightly. “I’d rather go myself.”

“I know,” Joan whispered.

“I wish I could stay with you.”

Joan swallowed. She’d only just met Mum, and she was already having to leave her. She could hardly bear the thought. She breathed

in Mum’s perfume. She’d remember this smell, she told herself. If she never saw her again, she’d remember how it felt to be

held by her; she’d remember.

“Wait. Wait ,” Mum said when Joan started, reluctantly, to pull away. “Just give me an extra moment with you.”

“This token might not even work for us,” Joan said. “Won’t we feel stupid then.” But she had a feeling, in the pit of her

stomach, that it would work. That this was what the other Nick and Aaron had planned all along.

Mum’s arm tightened for a moment. She thought it would work too. “When you get there... ,” she said. Joan felt a shudder

go through her, as if she were in pain. “When you see her, don’t hesitate.”

“Mum—”

“No, listen.... There’s something I should have told you earlier. I had a daughter named Eleanor here. Before the other one came.”

It took Joan a long moment to understand what she was saying. Eleanor had had a counterpart here too? She shifted back so that she could look at Mum’s face. “But... Eleanor created this timeline. How could she have had a counterpart?”

“I don’t know,” Mum said simply. “I assume it was because she stood outside the timeline when she created it—just like you

were outside this timeline when it was made. But inside the timeline, there was another Eleanor. My Eleanor.”

Joan stared at her. She could feel the others staring too.

“Your dad helped me to raise her here,” Mum said.

“Dad?” Joan breathed.

“Maybe it was his doing. Maybe that’s why she was so different here.” Tears shone in Mum’s eyes. “And she was different. She was smart and sharp-tongued like your gran. But she was kind too. She helped keep your dad safe from the guards.

And... we always knew she’d be Queen. But we didn’t know how or why or when. But then one day, I came home, and she wasn’t

herself anymore. She’d been replaced by an identical version of herself who cried when she saw me. Cried when she saw every

member of our family. A girl with hard eyes and a heart that beat only for the Graves. My Eleanor had always loved your father, but this new Eleanor hated humans with a passion.”

The hairs rose at the back of Joan’s neck. “Eleanor overwrote your daughter....”

Mum blinked away her tears. “I don’t know what I’m trying to say,” she said.

“Except... I know what she could have been in different circumstances. But I also know that circumstances aren’t everything.

Eleanor made choices that she didn’t have to make.

That she should never have made.” She sighed, looking at Aaron and Nick, and then back at Joan.

“I release you from the promise I asked you to make earlier. I’m sorry—I shouldn’t have asked it of you.

When you get there, do what you need to do. Do it without hesitation.”

Joan took a deep breath. Her mind was whirling. She didn’t know what to say. Nick nodded, though, and Aaron did too.

“We should go,” Jamie said apologetically. “We don’t know how much time we’ll have.”

Mum swiped at her face, nodding. “Yes, of course.”

Joan squeezed Mum one last time before she stepped back.

“It’s your token,” Mum said to Nick. “So you’ll need to jump.”

Nick looked down at the ring still in the center of his palm. He had no idea what to do.

“Can I have your hand?” Joan asked him.

Nick met her eyes. Joan tried the ring on his fourth finger, but it was too small. It just fit on his pinky.

“I think you’re married now,” Aaron said. Nick rolled his eyes at him, but it was gentler than the way he’d looked at Aaron

before the conversation in the attic, and Aaron’s comment seemed to have focused him somewhat.

“Now what?” Nick said.

“You jump,” Aaron said to Nick, “and I’ll steer.”

“We should hold hands,” Jamie said. “If all goes well, we’ll land together.”

Joan felt a wave of déjà vu as she took Nick’s hand on one side and Aaron’s on the other.

Then Ruth, Jamie, and Tom down the chain.

The first time she’d time-traveled deliberately, Aaron had guided her through it.

They’d been on the run from Nick at the time.

“It’s not a literal jump,” she said to Nick.

She bit back a rueful smile. “ I jumped in the air the first time I tried.”

“What, really ?” Mum said. She took another step back. She tried to smile.

“Literally, in the air,” Joan said. It had been more scary than funny at the time, though. Nick had been trying to kill them.

So much had changed since then. She explained to Nick, “To travel in time, you have to desire it.” And how surreal was this —tutoring a former monster slayer in how to time-travel? “You have to yearn for the other time.”

Nick’s gaze went distant, and his face tightened with concentration. A beat went by, and then another beat, and another. He

whispered, “I don’t think this is working.”

“Don’t think about it; feel it,” Joan said. “Feel it here.” She dropped Aaron’s hand for a second to touch her chest, before reaching for him again.

“You want to go back. You need to go back so we can fix what we’ve done.”

“Fix what I’ve done....”

Joan saw the moment his eyes focused with the desire to jump. She turned, searching for Mum’s face—for one last glimpse of

her.

But the world had already shifted, and they were somewhere else. Some when else.

The night they landed in was even colder than the one they’d left.

Joan shivered hard, aching from leaving Mum behind.

She was surprised when Aaron put an arm around her, drawing her into the shelter of his body.

Her chest fluttered at the almost absent-minded gesture, and she resisted the urge to press closer—they hadn’t actually resolved anything in the conversation in the attic.

Something had shifted between them, though.

Nick’s eyes darkened slightly at seeing them touch, but he didn’t seem jealous exactly.

Joan looked around. The field was still empty. There were no cars here now, and no indication of what time it was. It could

have been nine p.m. or twelve a.m.

“Is this the right date?” Tom asked.

“Of course it is,” Aaron said. “I was steering.” He turned to Nick, who was staring into the darkness now. “All right?” he

murmured.

Nick blinked, as if Aaron had drawn him out of his head. “Yeah.” He ran a hand over his face. “I don’t remember their deaths,

but I could feel them with me when I jumped.”

“We might end up saving the world because of them,” Joan whispered, reaching to brush his hand again. “We won’t let them have

died in vain.”

Nick took a deep breath and nodded, squeezing her hand back for a second.

“And now,” Aaron said, “we’re going find the person who’s actually responsible. The person who ordered your family’s murders in the first place. Who’s been fucking with us all for lifetime

after lifetime now.” It was his coldest tone—his father’s tone—and for the first time, Joan was glad she’d never get on the

wrong side of him.

“ Look! ” Jamie whispered. He pointed at a pair of lights in the distance. A car was approaching.

“Back!” Joan whispered to them all. “Back behind the trees!” The tree line was thinner here, fifty years earlier, but the night was still dark enough that the shadows should shield them.

Aaron and Joan quickly found a tree to hide beyond. Ruth and Nick settled behind the next tree, and Jamie and Tom, with their

pets, just beyond, with Tom crouched at Jamie’s feet. None of the trees were thick enough to conceal his giant frame, but,

low to the ground, he seemed less visible.

An old-fashioned, bulky car crawled onto the road and drew to a stop right in front of them—so close that Joan held her breath,

afraid to move, as the driver’s door opened.

A tall man got out. He wore a wool frock coat with polished brass buttons. In his hand was a black top hat with the soft sheen