“Two, at most. I’ve already jumped here and then back to the theater to check on Simon and Pru. But I’d rather keep those as an emergency escape, after what we’ve just seen. Boudini can wait for now.”
I nod and give him a little smile, because I don’t want to admit why it bugs me to leave this hanging. It’s not because I think it’s a risk—I honestly don’t know one way or the other. The real reason is that it hurts my brain to think about a theater full of people, just sitting there, suspended in time, while Kiernan is either in or not in that tank on the stage.
Or maybe both at the same time.
∞12∞
I’m at the townhouse and have just finished watering the plants when Trey rings the bell, a few minutes before two. I open the door and laugh at the look of surprise as he takes in the round black glasses and pale blue shirtwaist dress I’m wearing. I’ve added a few streaks of gray to my hair with a temporary dye Connor picked up at the drugstore. It won’t fool anyone if I come under close inspection, but it’s better than nothing.
“Your dating-an-older-woman warning from last night came true a lot quicker than I’d imagined.” Trey takes my glasses off and looks through the clear plastic lenses, then kisses me before putting them back on my nose.
“Hopefully this will keep anyone from mistaking me for Prudence and falling down to worship at my feet.”
“Good. Can’t have them stealing my job.”
I roll my eyes. “Seriously, Trey, how many hours a day do you spend thinking those up?”
“Is it my fault if you keep feeding me straight lines?”
He follows me into the living room, which is uncharacteristically neat now that Mom and I aren’t in here on a regular basis to clutter it up with books, papers, and assorted junk. “You want something to drink? I swiped some sodas from Katherine’s fridge. And some of Dad’s energy drinks. Or I can make coffee, but we threw out the milk before Mom left.”
“A soda is fine.”
Trey is standing in front of the fireplace, looking at the pictures on the mantle, when I come back with the drinks. He’s holding a framed photo of me when I was about six. I’m sitting on the front stoop of the apartment we lived in on campus for a few years while Mom was finishing up her degree, and I’m wearing a pair of hot-pink Supergirl roller skates. Both knees are bandaged, but I’m grinning from ear to ear, clearly displaying the gap where my two front teeth are growing in. “Cute,” he says. “I’m going to need a copy of that.”
“I’ll get right on it.” I hand him his drink and put the picture back on the mantle. We sit down on the sofa, and he puts one arm around me and then reaches over to pull my legs across his lap. My heart catches in my throat at how easily we fall back into old patterns. How many movies did we watch this way in my room at Katherine’s house?
“So, I was supposed to meet you at Katherine’s. Why the change of plans?”
I shrug and take a sip of my Red Bull. “I knew Katherine would have a hissy if you came over during a jump. I don’t know if it’s the tumor or the meds making things worse, but she loses it over the tiniest things now. I didn’t want to set her off about something so easily remedied.”
“Hey, I’m not complaining. No chaperone, all alone with a beautiful older woman—”
“Who is getting the dye from her hair all over your T-shirt.”
“True,” he says, and we both try to brush it away, but it just makes a gray streak against the black.
I give him a wicked little smile and tug upward at the hem of his shirt. “I know a very obvious solution to this problem.”
He inhales sharply as I press my lips against his collarbone. “Yes, but that solution is likely to create an entirely different problem.”
After a long discussion in the car last night, we decided to take things slow and gradually work toward the point we were at last time. While it’s a little frustrating for both of us, I know it’s the right decision.
A few minutes later, Trey gives me one last kiss, this time on the nose, and says, “You need to get going. Otherwise . . .”
“Yes. I know.” I chug down the rest of the energy drink, making a face at the end.
He laughs. “Why drink it if you don’t like it?”
“It’s bitter, but I need the buzz,” I say, crossing over to the mirror to repair the damage to my hair. Trey follows me and reaches around to put the fake glasses back on.
“You look very librarian.”
He’s right. The blue dress falls just below the knee and is probably the frumpiest-looking thing I’ve ever worn, but at least it’s loose enough that I can fight in it if I have to.
“Personally,” he says, “I prefer the red dress from last night, but I’m guessing it might raise some eyebrows in the thirties. And since you’re going to be hanging out with this other guy instead of me, I give the librarian costume two big thumbs-up.”
There’s a smile on his face, but it’s not exactly a happy smile. I step toward him, slipping my arms around his neck. “Hey, I’ll only be gone for a minute. Promise.”
“Yeah, a minute here, but a lot can happen in that minute on the other end.”
“Well, if it’s any consolation, he’ll hate that my hair is up.”
“Because of this?” His finger traces the edge of my scar.
“Partly. He feels guilty, although that’s beyond stupid. I could have died. But even before the scar, he said I don’t look like his Kate when my hair is up.”
“Then you should wear it up all the time.” He makes a face and shakes his head. “That came out all jealous-boyfriend, didn’t it? And while that’s kind of true, what I meant to say is hair up, hair down, doesn’t matter. You’re my Kate, either way.”
I offer to set a stable point in the living room, since the current one is in my room and Trey is likely to crack his head on my sloped ceiling. But he wants to see my room anyway, so he follows me up the stairs and stretches out on the twin bed, propping his feet on the headboard.
“I like your room,” he says as I sit on the edge of the bed beside him. “The skylight, the glow-in-the-dark stars. They’re very you.”
I laugh. “Thanks, I think. Charlayne used to say the skylight spooked her. She felt like someone was going to jump through it and land on top of her. But I miss it when I’m not here. It’s my built-in night-light.”
I remove my CHRONOS key from the little leather pouch. Trey reaches over and touches the medallion, running his fingers over the hourglass in the middle.
“It looks so ordinary. Hard to believe it’s going to yank you all the way to Georgia and nearly a century back in time.”
First it will be yanking me back to Katherine’s so that I can meet up with Kiernan, and then we’ll be going to Georgia. But this is confusing enough as it is, so I just smile.
“I think the skeptic needs a demonstration.” I lean over and give him a quick goodbye kiss and then set this spot as a local stable point.
Trey, who of course can’t see the interface my fingers are touching, gives me a crooked grin. “Are you having fun texting on your imaginary phone?”
I nudge him with my hip. “I’ll be right back—one minute.”
“Too long.”
“I could make it thirty seconds.”
He smiles, settling his head into my pillow. “Better.”
I’m waiting in the kitchen for Kiernan when Daphne sticks her cold nose into my hand, then runs to the back door, tail swishing. I open the door, and she bounds out over the patio, heading straight for the trees behind the storage shed where the squirrels hang out. I doubt she’d know what to do if she ever caught one, but her endless quest keeps her in shape, despite the fact that everyone in the house is guilty of slipping her too many people-food snacks.
Katherine is there when I turn around, still in the robe and slippers she was wearing when I came running into the library earlier with the news about Moehler. She seems to have a bit more color in her face than she’s had in the past week or so, although the dark circles are still under her eyes.