"So what do we do?" His body was burned and ragged, but he felt no pain. The explosion around him was like a giant ice sculpture. Only the ragged white hole from which all of that destruction poured continued to move and flicker ominously.
The one behind him spoke, increasingly assertively. "Some of what happened before must happen again." He pointed to one of the others, about four Jons behind him. That Jon stepped out of line with a questioning look on his burnt and mangled face.
The penultimate Jon, the one who had summoned him, looked at his opposite in the eyes, and the summoned one paused, eyes glazing over. He began walking to the rift. The last Jon, the one who had been stopped, started to grab his arm, but the Speaker stopped him with a look.
As the zombie-like boy approached the rift, his body shifted. He shrank an inch; his hair went from a dirty blonde to a bright red; and his body morphed from that of a teenage boy just on the edge of manhood into a teenager who was beginning to truly develop into the woman she would be.
She looked so much like Karyn had for so long.
And then she was gone.
--
Lisa Tierney was born to John and Mary Tierney. John had dark blonde hair as most of the men in his family had for years. Mary, nee Kelly, had the same fiery red hair almost her whole family had had since County Monaghan. Like every other Kelly woman going back generations, she had a somewhat boyish figure, but a smile that could strike a man dead and eyes that could raise him from the grave. She'd passed on all of those things to her daughter.
Until that rift opened and reality altered, Lisa Tierney had never existed. John and Mary had never had a daughter, only two sons.
As he came to, Lisa looked at his body first. He had no idea how he was going to be Lisa
but the memories and knowledge and sense of self were starting to grow
He just knew that, looking in that mirror, he looked so much like Karyn had before that wish
and then reality wavered
Lisa Tierney was born to John and Patricia Tierney. John had dark blonde hair as most of the men in his family had for years. Patty, nee Johanson, had the same full blonde hair almost her whole family had had since before leaving Sweden. Like every other Johanson woman going back generations, she had a nearly perfect hourglass figure, with full but not overlarge hips, a firm rear, a tight waist, and breasts that no one could miss, complemented with a smile that could strike a man dead and eyes that could raise him from the grave. She'd passed on all of those things to her daughter.
Lisa shook her head. Why had she thought she'd had red hair?
She looked at the assortment of New Wave and other 80s band posters -- always with hunky boys in tight jackets and dreamy looks in their eyes -- and really took stock of what had happened. She had no idea how to be Lisa
be yourself
but she had a job to do, and she would do it.
--
She held Richard Jr. in her arms. He was so perfect, so beautiful, sleeping and awake. When she nursed him, she smiled; when he cried, she smiled; when he didn't sleep and so she didn't sleep, even then, she smiled.
Right now, he was sleeping, and so her cell was on vibrate. She almost missed it, simply starting at him. Picking it up, she recognized the number. She walked out of the nursery and slid to pick up. "Andrea," she said.
The voice on the other end was different, haunted at some level. "Cheryl summoned me," was all she said.
Kat had expected something like this. Andrea had always been the most talented with some things of the three of them; and it had been almost a certainty that she would be trained and brought to bear. She waited and then had her first bad moment of the day, the first since Cheryl had voluntarily extended her maternity leave.
"She told me who my target is," Andrea continued, and the airport noise behind her seemed to recede into the background. "It's Zoe."
