"We must go back."
All eyes turned to River. She seemed perfectly lucid, but her head was cocked to the side as though she was listening to something no one else could hear. She hadn't done such a thing in months, and it sent an uneasy feeling through the others.
"Mei mei?" Simon asked, brow furrowed.
"We must go back now, or else she will die." River stood abruptly, face eerily blank. "I will go to plot the course now."
Mal's jaw twitched. "Who's dyin' and where's my ship going?"
"Ginevra must return to the castle," River said gently. "She will die if we do not assist."
"That don't explain nothin'," Jayne said as Mal stood. He frowned at River. "Did you miss them mornin' meds?"
"Irrelevant. Ginevra will arrive regardless, and the delay may be fatal." She ran to the cockpit, her bare feet making no sound. Mal followed, but wasn't quick enough. River had already plotted the course and locked it in on autopilot.
"Where you takin' my ship?" he asked gruffly.
"To the castle."
"What castle?" Mal asked, annoyed.
"Mr. Universe," River replied softly. "He bought the stones and assembled a well. It is all that remains of the castle. A mistake was made, and Ginevra will arrive at this castle."
"What go se are you talking about? There's nothing left on his moon but metal."
River shook her head, hair flying. "No. The castle is there. You have not seen it or known of it, but that does not deny its existence. The castle is there, and Ginevra is being sent forward. If we do not return, she will die and the mission will fail. We cannot let the mission fail!"
Mal wanted to reach out and shake her. By the wild look in her eyes, he could tell it was a bad idea. "What mission?"
Zoe thundered into the room. "I sent the others away," she said, voice harsh. "Sir?"
Mal knew what she was thinking. If River had gone insane or was threatening the ship in any way, it was better that the others not see Zoe shoot her down. Good thinking on her part, but not necessary. "We're headed to Mr. Universe's, it seems like. Seems to be a girl on a mission there we need to save."
"You're mocking Ginevra," River said, frowning. "That's not right. There's no need to mock her. She receives it enough from the ones that she loves."
"Who is she?" Mal asked. "Some other Academy girl? Are you off to save them now?"
"No. Not us, not our kind. Not like us." River's gaze turned inward. "Magic."
Zoe snorted. The magic in her life was all gone now, and in the past few months she had become nothing but hard edges and bitter spite. "Ain't no magic out here but the open black. Where in all that moon do you think we need to be? We need to get to Persephone and pick up work, not go sifting around through le se left on that hunk of rock." Her voice was harsh, brooking no argument. But River was shaking her head, and Zoe's grip on her gun tightened. They had done everything to set the girl's secret free, and now Zoe had an empty bunk to show for it. She hardly slept anymore.
"Time and space are fluid, they bend and twist according to specific rules. When the force of will can open up a singularity, it no longer follows those selfsame rules."
Zoe wanted to knock her down, place her gun into River's face and force her to make sense. But she did not. She kept her gun in hand, her jaw clenched tight. "Sir?" Your orders, her tone implied. Do I shoot?
"Stand down," Mal said, voice tight. "Our little albatross has this way of knowing things sometimes, doesn't she? We'll play this out, see what there is to see. If that girl we're off to save is a problem we don't like, we leave her there and fly. But if she's truly about to die out there, it's worth a look." He turned to River. "But if it costs us anyone else..." he warned.
"No. We just draw her from the castle well..."
"You fly this boat and you get her out. What happens next is up to her."
Unsatisfied, Zoe holstered her gun and stalked off the bridge without a word.
"You better be right," Mal warned River.
She nodded serenely. The other Ginevras could leave her alone now; their possible realities now were rendered irrelevant and collapsed in on itself. They no longer existed, no longer screamed in the back of her mind. Her thoughts crystallized; she knew where to find Ginevra now.
River settled into the pilot's chair. Wash's ghost settled in as well. "You made my lamby-toes a mite upset."
"No ground beneath her feet, no soul to her sky."
"Don't make her so mad," Wash pleaded. "She's having a rough time of it."
"But Ginevra could not wait. She would join you if they did not allow the journey."
Wash sighed. "River, you're playing with fire there. You're going to get burnt."
River shook her head. "The captain would not allow such a thing."
"She'll snap," Wash said gently.
"I will not break," River assured him. "I will know when that happens."
"Be careful," Wash cautioned.
River didn't answer him, and he drifted away. She knew the probabilities; math and physics were easy. That wasn't hard at all.
Mr. Universe's moon awaited.
The spell had been complex, and Ginny hadn't even understood all of it. But its strands wove around her tightly, and the magic mesh pressed into her skin. It pushed, pushed, pushed into her, as if trying to compress her into a tiny speck. She couldn't breathe, couldn't do anything. It hurt, and Ginny opened her mouth to scream in pain.
Water rushed in. Ginny began to choke.
Dear Merlin, she thought suddenly. I'm going to die.
Ginny flailed, panic burning in her chest.
Just before she passed out, hands closed over hers and pulled her out of the water and into safety.
River cradled the redheaded girl in the Infirmary. They had waited until Simon had declared her fit to move before bringing her aboard. "She dreams," River murmured. "Green sparks, red eyes and a slit nose bring her the same fear as the dark-eyed boy from before her time."
"River, let her sleep," Simon said, gently disentangling her limbs. "She needs rest."
"She needs calm and understanding."
"Let her sleep," Simon said. "Come on."
Reluctantly, River let her go. "Her dreams are most interesting. Her world is so different."
"Let her tell us on her own."
River crept back to the infirmary later, when Simon and Kaylee were occupied in their bunk. River held onto the girl's wand and swished it about playfully. She perched on the edge of the counter as she did so. The girl's meager belongings had been fished out of the well at River's insistence. The pack had been dried, and was currently on the floor. River swung her legs back and forth playfully, swishing the wand in time. "Lumos." Nothing, no changes.
Ginny stirred and opened her eyes. She took in a deep breath as she blinked against the light.
River smiled at Ginny's confusion. She knew this, and could guide the other girl. "You are on Serenity. We rescued you from drowning in the well. What is your mission, Ginevra?"
Startled, Ginny rolled off the table and fell to the floor. "Ah!"
River jumped to the floor and hunkered down on all fours to meet Ginny at eye level. "You are on Serenity. We—"
"What?" Ginny shook her head. "Where am I?"
"You are on Serenity. She is a ship. She likes being lived on."
"What? Where are we going?"
"Persephone. The others want a job."
Ginny was shaking. Nothing was familiar around her. Had the spell sent her to America? She had heard that magic was wild there, but even this seemed impossible.
"I'm sorry, I'm thinking of the right words to say. I know they don't sound the way I planned them to be."
Ginny remained confused. "What's going on?"
"My words sometimes are backward. But you are safe now. You are aboard Serenity. We came to save you from drowning."
"But... I was supposed to be at Hogwarts."
"Perhaps we should all speak? Tea will make you feel better, and we will discuss the tale in full."
Ginny's lip trembled as she nodded, and she pushed herself up to her feet. "Where's my wand?"
River rose to her feet and stretched out her right hand. "Magic does not work here. We don't have control over reality."
Her eyes wide, Ginny snatched her wand in a panic. "Lumos! Alohomora! Incendio!" Each word was said in even more panic, and yet still nothing happened. "Why?" she wailed.
Zoe had come close from the cries, but did not enter the Infirmary. "River?"
"Ginevra has awakened. We should all speak upstairs. She has a mission."
Zoe eyed both girls warily, but nodded and then headed back upstairs.
"Ginny."
River cocked her head at Ginny. "Oh?"
"Not even my mother calls me Ginevra. Everyone calls me Ginny."
"Ginny. We will explain our story and hear yours. All will be well then."
Her lip trembled, and Ginny seemed close to tears. "Nobody will believe me," she whispered. "There's no magic here. Ron ruined the spell."
"I will believe you," River said gently. She reached out for Ginny, who reluctantly took her hand. "They may not believe in anything, but I believe in everything."
"Why?"
"Sometimes it's a girl that's a savior, not a boy."
Confused, Ginny followed River up to the kitchen area, the others were assembled there already, and Ginny almost wanted to shrink back up against the wall. This was too new, too strange and different. Oh get a grip! she told herself fiercely. You asked for this mission. You wanted to be a full part of the Order. This is what the others would have had to have done.
They watched Ginny straighten her shoulders a bit before moving forward to sit in the offered chair. "Thank you," she said. "If not for all of you, I'd be dead right now."
"Well, you can thank our little witch over there," Mal said, pointing at River. "We wouldn't have known about you otherwise."
"How about you start at the beginning?" Zoe asked.
"My name is Ginny Weasley. I'm a member of the Order of the Phoenix." She looked around the table and noted the blank faces around her. "Haven't you heard of us? We're instrumental on the side of Light."
"Sounds like you're in a war," Mal commented.
"We are. Against the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters." She looked around in disbelief. "You haven't heard of him?"
"You'd notice names like that in the black," Jayne muttered, shaking his head. "That ain't subtle, and don't sound like more'n schoolboys scarin' little girls."
"They kill them, too," Ginny replied tartly.
"Whoa! Nobody's killing anybody on my boat!" Mal cut in. He pointed at Ginny. "You. Start over, and this time explain, 'cause we don't know this Order you're talking about."
Ginny sighed, then started again. "I was a student at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry until two years ago. At that time, Voldemort had grown in power, and so had his followers. I was working with the Order of the Phoenix to stop him. We've recently suffered heavy losses at Stonehenge, so my brother Ron was working with Hermione to send someone forward to gather crucial information. It was meant to be like a Time Turner in reverse. I volunteered. But something must have gone wrong with the spell, because I ended up in a well instead of at Hogwarts."
Mal was staring at River throughout her speech. "This Hogwarts... what did it look like?"
"It's a castle in northern Scotland."
He wanted to smack himself in the head. River had been talking about the castle stones that had been turned into a well. He mulled it over for a moment, then turned back to Ginny. "Wait a minute. What planet is Scotland on?"
Ginny blinked. "What?"
"Is it Londinium? Ariel? Osiris?" Mal looked at the others around the table. "Somehow I don't see a castle standing on the Rim worlds."
Ginny shook her head. "Scotland's a country on Earth."
The entire table had fallen silent.
"Earth," Zoe finally said. Her voice was brittle. "As in, Earth-That-Was?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Ain't no planets called Earth no more. Unless you count New Earth, and nobody does," Jayne said thoughtfully into the stunned silence. "What year d'you think it is?"
Ginny blinked in surprise. "It's 1998."
"That's impossible," Simon said, shaking his head. "It can't be."
Ginny pushed herself to her feet. "What in bloody hell are you all on about?!"
River touched Ginny's hand and motioned for her to sit down. "After the Earth was used up, long ago, a new solar system was found. Hundreds of new 'Earths' were terraformed and colonized. It took a few dozen planets to get it right, but they finally did. The central planets, the Core planets, form the heart of the Alliance. There are the middle planets and the Rim worlds, and it's not considered so civilized as the Core. There was a war between the Independents and the Alliance several years ago. The Alliance won. Whoever was left of the Independents had drifted away from the Core and Alliance control."
"I don't understand," Ginny whispered. "What are you telling me?"
"It's not 1998," Zoe said. Her voice was surprisingly gentle. "It is now the year 2518."
Ginny's eyes were as round as saucers. "No. That's not possible..."
"You said Ron ruined the spell," River said gently.
"No. No, he wouldn't have done this to me, he couldn't have screwed up so badly. He couldn't have, Hermione told him what to do, he couldn't have..." Ginny brought a hand up to her mouth as she looked around at the other faces at the table. "There was a scream, just as he finished the spell. I remember that now. It hurt, and there was a scream but it wasn't me. I was here already and drowning in the well." She sank down into the chair, though her gaze was turned inward. "We didn't have much time."
"What were you supposed to find?" Kaylee asked. Her expression was one of sympathy, as if she had known this strange girl and could feel her pain.
"They were hiding too well, and they kept finding us." Ginny gulped. "There have been spies before on both sides. I was supposed to find the other cells, try to find out who it was and then go back and tell them. I wasn't supposed to go so far, only five years."
"Looks like you went five hundred," Jayne added helpfully. He ignored the scathing look that Simon shot him and kept his eyes fixed on the redhead. "D'you know how to get back?"
Ginny's lip trembled for a moment, and she slowly began to shake her head. Her eyes scanned the strange faces and the odd kitchen she was sitting in, and she burst into tears. River was the only one that dared to comfort her; the others were too busy taking it all in.
"We have to help somehow," Kaylee said, looking around. "We can't just leave her here, all orphaned and such."
"How are we gonna do that?" Mal challenged. "We ain't got no magic."
"There's a sage on Shinon," Inara began, voice soft. "They said she could do magic."
All eyes went from Inara to Mal, who looked uneasy. He took in Inara's placid face, River's earnest eyes and Ginny's tear-stricken expression. "We still need coin. The boat ain't gonna fly if we can't fuel it up."
"We can find a delivery job in Persephone that'll take us to Shinon. Kill two birds with one stone," Kaylee offered. "I can look for that."
"All right, then," Mal said with a sigh after a long moment. "All right. But nobody's turning anybody into a toad, got me?" he added to Ginny. He waited until the tearful girl sniffled and nodded. "Okay. I guess you can bunk in the guest quarters for now. Our Albatross can show you the way." He stood and nodded at her. "Welcome to Serenity."
***
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