So while my internal clock would swear it’s nearly midnight when I arrive back at Katherine’s, the microwave clock begs to differ. It’s 10:32 a.m., exactly one minute after I left for that last jump to Dallas. Katherine, Connor, and Dad are still at the kitchen table, drinking coffee. Daphne is still chasing a squirrel in the backyard, happy to have a door and a few hundred feet between her and an activated CHRONOS key.
“So?” Katherine is the first to speak, but all three of them are leaning forward.
I pull the two medallions out of my pocket and toss them on the table along with the diary. “Two down. That makes fourteen if we count the two that Kiernan has, so ten to go, right?”
She nods and then pulls the diary toward her. “I haven’t been collecting the diaries, but that’s a good idea.” She flips it open and then looks back at me, an eyebrow raised. “This isn’t from Evelyn and Timothy. It’s one of mine.”
I hadn’t thought about that when I tossed the diary on the table. “Um . . . yeah. I stopped in Boston to get the information Kiernan said that they had gathered. In the other timeline.” I point toward the diary. “Her notes are in there.”
“So you stopped in Boston and kept us waiting?” Connor says.
“You were waiting a sum total of sixty seconds, regardless of whether I stopped in Boston. And now we can start planning our next moves. I’m still worried that we’re going to trigger some change to the timeline that will alert Saul and Prudence to what we’re doing before we finish. And I’m even more worried now, because Kiernan says the next jump is to Russia—or at least that was the next one we attempted last time.”
Katherine is about to say something else, but Dad cuts in. “They were okay with all of this? What did they say?” He takes a sip of his coffee and tries to look nonchalant, but I know what he’s thinking. I just saw his parents, the ones he can’t even remember. He’ll want to know every word they said, every expression, every gesture.
“Oh, Dad. I’m sorry. I wasn’t even thinking.” I sit down with him at the breakfast nook, giving him a big hug. “I don’t know if this is CHRONOS protocol,” I say, glancing over at Katherine and Connor, “but I brought back a few minutes of video. Before you watch it, though, I need to make sure I didn’t mess anything up. You were still adopted by John and Theresa Keller, right?”
He nods, and I continue. “You still teach math?”
Another nod.
“And your name is still Alphonse?”
Picking on my dad at such a vulnerable moment is probably kind of evil, and if there’s really a karma police, I’m sure it will earn me a demerit or two. But the look on his face is truly priceless.
“I’m joking, Dad. But it was a pretty close call, apparently. You were very nearly named after your grandfather. I’m not sure why they decided to switch.”
“Please tell me it’s because you stood up for your helpless, unborn father and insisted that they reconsider,” Dad says.
“Nope. I don’t owe you anything on that front, since you stood by and let Mom name me after Prudence.”
Dad grins. “Touché. Although I really think Alphonse is worse.”
“I don’t know.” I hand him the phone with the video and head for the coffeepot. “I could see you as an Alphie. Or you could have been the prototype for the Fonz.”
“I wasn’t alive in the fifties,” he says. “And if I’d walked around in a leather jacket saying ‘Aaay’ in the eighties, I’d have gotten my band-geek ass kicked on a daily basis.”
When I turn back to the table, Katherine is holding the diary and has clicked to activate one of the video links. A holographic image that looks a lot like me appears above the diary and starts talking.
“Katherine! What are you doing?” I cross the kitchen in two steps, sloshing a bit of coffee on my saddle shoes. I snatch the diary from her hands and turn off the video. “That’s private!”
“I don’t see why,” Katherine counters. “It’s my diary, after all, and there may be some things in those entries that I need to know.” She glances around the table. “Although, maybe we should watch it upstairs. It’s a bit rude to do it down here, since Connor and Harry won’t be able to see and hear what—”
I press the diary closer to my chest. “No. I haven’t even seen the videos yet. I will watch them upstairs, and if there’s anything you need to know, I’ll tell you. It will also take twice as long if you’re doing it.”
Katherine can see and hear the videos in the diaries and even preview some of the jump sites in the Log of Stable Points, but the CHRONOS gene seems to mutate and degrade over time, or maybe it’s due to the tumor and the medicines. Holding the signal for very long is difficult for her. In the past, she’s joked about it being like going through a tunnel while talking on a cell phone, but her eyes narrow a bit when I mention it, so she’s apparently not in the mood to joke about it today.
“What if you don’t realize that something is important?” Katherine asks. “I’m far more familiar with what we’re doing here than you are. Something could easily slip through the cracks. And may I remind you that you viewed mine—at least the ones that were relevant to your jump to 1893.”
Okay, that part is true. I watched Katherine’s private entries in preparation for the trip to the World’s Fair. But she knew what was in those diaries when she handed them to me. Furthermore, the Katherine I viewed in those entries was part of her distant past.
I, on the other hand, have absolutely no clue what I’ll find in these videos, aside from Kiernan’s caution that there might be some things I don’t want to share. Even though the Kate in this video isn’t exactly me, the idea of sharing her diary bothers me. This Kate isn’t part of my past but part of some alternate present and future. I’m not even sure I want to watch these clips, and I’m completely and totally positive I’m not watching them in the same room as my grandmother, especially when Kiernan said it’s full of rants about her.
I match Katherine’s stubborn expression with one of my own. “This is not negotiable, Katherine. When I’ve determined which of these entries are relevant to our work, you’ll be welcome to view them. While you’re waiting, maybe you should order me a Russian language course. Kiernan said Moscow is next if we follow the same order as last time, although I’m inclined to skip ahead to Australia. He said that one was pretty easy.”
Katherine grimaces. “Adrienne . . . I can’t imagine she’ll be cooperative, although easy sounds about right.”
I have no idea what she means by that, but she doesn’t respond to my questioning look.
“And I already have a language course,” she continues. “I’m well aware that Wallace’s Moscow trip is on the agenda.”
The criticism in her voice sets me on edge. “There’s an agenda? Maybe you could print me out a copy of that? It might come in handy since I’m the designated traveler.”
Katherine glares at me and pushes away from the table, then storms out of the kitchen. Connor shoots me a reproachful look and follows her.
Dad’s expression is pretty much the same as Connor’s. “You should go a bit easier on Katherine, you know.”
“I’m sorry, Dad. But . . . it’s like she wants to control each little thing. She doesn’t give me the information I need, and then ten minutes later, she expects me to know every detail. I’m not a mind reader. And this diary is private.” I grab a blueberry muffin and napkin from the table and then lean over and give him a quick kiss on the cheek.
“What was that for?” he asks.
“Apology for the Alphonse joke. And just because. Aren’t you heading out soon to pick up Sara?”
“Yeah, I need to get a move on. Sure you don’t want to come with?”
I shake my head. “You know I like Sara, and you know I like art museums. But I do not like Sara and art museums together.” His girlfriend teaches art history, and while she’s a lot of fun anywhere else, she goes into docent mode when there are paintings or statues around.