“I’m afraid she’s in isolation at the moment,” Ward said.
“You have to take me to her.” Seth walked toward the window, looking Ward in the eye. “Right now.”
“You are not in charge here, Seth. Seeing Jenny is a privilege you’ll have to earn.”
“Earn how? By obeying you? Being your pet dog?”
“I’m giving you the chance to redeem yourself by serving your country, Seth. I’m only going to offer it once.”
“I’m not going to work for you, General Kranzler. I’m not going to kill for you.”
Ward’s eyes widened at the name. “What did you call me?”
“I called you General Kilpatrick,” Seth said. “That’s your name this time around, isn’t it, Kranzler?”
“You said it again.” Ward’s voice was a low growl. “Why? Where did you get that name?”
“Do yourself a favor, Kranzler, or Ward Kilpatrick, or whatever you think your name is,” Seth said. “Let me and Jenny go now. You’ll wish you had, I promise. And I do keep my promises, lifetime after lifetime. All of them.”
“You’re in no position to threaten me!” Ward snapped.
“Maybe you’re the one who doesn’t understand your position, Kranzler.” Seth stepped even closer, looking hard into the man’s eyes. “Because it looks to me like you’re the one who’s trapped. Like Alexander. The same life, again and again.”
“Who is Alexander?”
“He’s dead, so it doesn’t matter. I killed him. It was a long time coming...but, like I said, I keep my promises.” Seth grinned at Ward through the thick window.
“You just blew your only chance.” Ward’s face turned a dark crimson.
“My one and only chance?” Seth asked, even as Ward and the guards departed down the hall. “Not like my last one and only chance, in 1933? Or my next one and only chance, when you bring us all back to the same place again in another hundred years? How many times are you going to set up this same situation, Kranzler? Hello? Is this thing on? Where’s Jenny, Kranzler?”
Ward and his guards continued on out of sight.
“That went well, I think,” Seth said, wondering if the man could still hear him. He looked around the room, wondering whether he’d been in this exact cell before. It didn’t look like it had been cleaned since 1933.
Seth felt a giddy high from having so many of his memories restored, as if he’d been sleepwalking all his life and finally woken up. He could see how Kranzler, or Ward, was trapped in the same drama, creating the same situation again, apparently unaware that they’d all been here before. Jenny, and their unborn baby, had to be here somewhere. To understand the present, he needed to study carefully his memories of the past...
* * *
Sebastian walked into the dining room where the test subjects ate at a long table. Evelina, the dark, quiet Slavic girl, sat alone at the end, and he greeted her, as he did every time. She mumbled something back without looking up from her boiled beef and potatoes, which was actually a big response from her.
He thought the tests were going well. He’d healed animals and human subjects with a variety of afflictions, and he’d even healed Dr. Wichtmann of a persistent bladder infection, though that wasn’t an official test. The scientists seemed pleased with the work but still clueless about how his touch actually worked, except that it put out a lot of heat and electromagnetic energy.
The worst part was how rarely he saw Juliana—just meals and the occasional film night, no private time. He hoped he would be included in the girls’ activities more now that Willem had apparently returned home to Holland over the weekend. Niklaus was always on his official duties and still took his meals with the other S.S. officers, so Sebastian found himself spending hours alone on his hall at night. Not that he particularly wanted to spend more time with Niklaus—the guy had a strange, threatening way about him, but at least he always had beer or schnapps. The scientists had instructed Sebastian not to drink alcohol, but what else was he supposed to do with all his time?
Sebastian took a platter of potatoes and beef from the open dumbwaiter, then sat at his usual place near the middle of the table. He greeted Roza and Vilja, who flanked the head of the table where Alise would inevitably sit. The blond girls waved back at him and whispered to each other, giggling.
Mia, Juliana’s roommate, arrived and hurried over to sit next to Sebastian.
“Hi, Mia. Where’s Juliana?” Sebastian asked.
“She’ll come.” Mia leaned close to him and whispered. “She’s very upset today. I hope you can comfort her.”