Dissonance: An Echo Trilogy Novella (Echo Trilogy, #2.5) (3 page)

3

Was & Is

Dominic drove the Range Rover off the ferry, Neffe in the front
passenger seat, Nik and me right behind them, and Kat in the very back, earbuds
in and iPod blaring something with equal amounts of whininess and yelling and that
was downright terrible. I was eternally grateful for headphones, especially
where Kat’s music was concerned. I just wished I could turn down my heightened
sense of hearing so I wouldn’t be able to hear the ear-sore
at all
.

And then there was Neffe, who’d taken control of the SUV’s stereo
system and was continuing her mission to convert us all into smooth jazz
enthusiasts. It wasn’t that I disliked her taste in music; rather, it just sort
of faded into the background whenever I was listening to it. When Nik started
humming along, I glanced at him, surprised that he was familiar enough with the
tune to harmonize with it perfectly. But he didn’t notice, just kept on staring
out the window and humming softly.

Some twenty minutes later, we were exiting I-5 and making our way
down Forty-Fifth Street toward the north end of the University of Washington
campus. I stirred out of my car coma when Dominic continued straight through an
intersection instead of turning right and heading toward the hospital, where
Neffe would be spending the afternoon in the better-equipped labs running tests
on
Tarset’s
blood, tissue, and saliva samples.

Money, I was quickly learning, could buy almost anything,
including access to world-renowned research facilities via an exorbitant
donation. And if there was one thing
Heru’s
line
wasn’t lacking in, it was money. Being able to see the future and all
that .
 . . But it was the doors that money could
open that might just prove invaluable. Neffe would be using this expensive
opportunity to compare her samples to what
Aset
claimed was one of the most extensive libraries of poisons, toxins, and
pathogens we were likely to find outside of a CDC facility.

I leaned forward and placed my hand on the top of Dominic’s seat.
“Where are you going?”

“To the lot behind Denny.”

“But why? Then
Neffe’ll
be wasting a
solid forty minutes walking to and from the hospital, and she could use that
time in the labs.” I shook my head. “All I’m doing is meeting with Dr. Ramirez,
and that’s not for another hour. At least drop her off first.”

“I don’t mind the walk,” Neffe said. “I prefer it, actually. It
helps me process my findings.”

“
And
this is the best
way to minimize your exposure to danger.” Dominic’s eyes met mine in the
rearview mirror for the briefest moment. “Which is my main priority,
considering your condition.”

“That’s ridiculous,” I snapped. “I’m pregnant, Dom, I’m not an
invalid.” But even as I said the words, I knew that to the other four Nejerets
in the car, an invalid was exactly what I was. The nearly impossible
physiological phenomenon that had allowed a
Nejerette
like myself to even become pregnant muted my body’s natural ability to
regenerate, making me as vulnerable as a regular
ol
’
human. This didn’t seem nearly as worrisome to me as it did to them; after all,
I’d spent two and a half decades as a vulnerable human and barely half a year
as a
Nejerette
. The others’ silence following my
hasty protestation only confirmed what I was just now coming to accept weeks
into the pregnancy. For the next eight months, I’d be weakened, fragile,
vulnerable—an invalid. Damn it.

Instead of arguing, I crossed my arms over my chest, stared out
the window, and kept my mouth shut as Dominic parked in the small lot behind
Denny Hall. The century-old anthropology building was stunning as ever, with
its chateau-like exterior, proud bell tower, and windows gleaming with
reflected sunlight. I wasn’t the least bit surprised that being back here felt
a lot like coming home. Even if I was a tad bit irritated.

Neffe hopped out almost as soon as we came to a stop, not even
waiting for Dominic to turn off the engine. “I’ll text you when I’m on my way
back,” she told Dominic, then started to shut the door.

My half-brother reached across the center console and stopped the
door from shutting completely with a palm on the side panel. “Perhaps it would
be wise to take Katarina with you.” I glanced back, not the least bit surprised
to find Kat staring out the window, apparently oblivious to the
conversation .
 . . or to the fact that we’d even parked.
 “She could assist your work.”

“She would only get in my way,” Neffe said. “Besides, I’m sure
she’d much prefer to stay with you and Lex
and .
 . .”
She cleared her throat. “With you and Lex.”

I watched Kat in my peripheral vision. She gave no indication that
she’d heard, which wasn’t surprising considering that her earbuds were still in
place. Except I could no longer hear her music. Which meant that earbuds or no,
she could definitely hear Dominic’s and
Neffe’s
mutual attempts to pawn her off on the other.

My heart twanged with sympathy and more than a hint of empathy. I
was no stranger to feeling like an unwelcome burden, either; after all, Marcus
had run far and fast and had stayed away for months as soon as he’d figured out
who I really was. I couldn’t stand the idea of Kat feeling unwanted all day,
not when today was supposed to be our one outing for who knew how long. Not at
all.

“Good!” I said, hoping the single word hadn’t sounded overenthusiastic.
“This’ll give me a chance to show her all my old
haunts .
 . .
maybe convert her into a future Husky.” I didn’t miss the way Nik’s eyes
narrowed the slightest bit, the way the corner of his mouth tensed, like he was
holding back a frown, or maybe a smile.

“How lovely,” Neffe said. “Can I go now? I do have a lot to do in
a short period of
time .
 . .”

In one smooth motion, Dominic let go of the door and straightened
in his seat. Just as quickly, Neffe shut the door and was walking away from the
car.

I twisted in my seat and patted Kat’s knee. “Ready, Freddie?”

She made a show of pulling out her headphones as she turned red-rimmed,
glassy eyes my way. She averted her gaze down to her phone almost immediately.
Oh yeah, she’d definitely heard everything.

Kat and I had to wait a solid ten minutes for Dominic and Nik to
scout the area immediately surrounding Denny Hall. Kat moved up to Nik’s middle
seat instead of waiting in the back.

We were silent for several minutes, her phone forgotten in her
hand and her eyes locked on the seemingly abandoned campus just beyond the
window while I stared out at the small patch of road that had played so
prominently in the dream. Physically being here, so close to the spot where I’d
seen Dr. Ramirez die—real or not—was proving to be even more unsettling than
the dream itself had been.

Gone was the brief blip of comfort I felt at returning to this
place. Now, I felt antsy and on edge. I felt like I should’ve stayed with
Marcus on Bainbridge, like I shouldn’t have been here.
Must be the hormones
,
I thought, shaking my head. Likely,
they were to blame for all of it—the weird feeling, the dream, my irritation
with Marcus for agreeing to let me
go .
 . .

Finally, Kat cleared her throat. “Thanks,” she said quietly. When
I turned my head to look at her, I found her still staring out the window.

I studied her profile, not for the first time searching for the similarities
between us that others claimed were so obvious when they saw us together. I
supposed it wasn’t surprising; we were half-sisters through Set, after all,
though I still had a hard time seeing the resemblance with either Kat or my
other known half-sibling, Dominic. I figured it was psychological—I’d met both
of them thinking they were strangers, unrelated to me in any way. I couldn’t
have been more wrong.

“Thanks for what?” I asked, smiling to myself. I was
glad
I’d
been so wrong, because I adored both of these strangers-turned-siblings more
than I ever could have imagined.

“Just, you
know .
 . .” Kat
shrugged and shifted in her seat, clearly uncomfortable. “For, like—I don’t
know.” She wiped her hands on her cutoffs and looked at me for the first time
since moving up a seat. The usual luster in her eyes was dimmed, her whole
spunky demeanor somehow wilted. Even her crown of a bun seemed a little droopy.

“Hey.” I reached over and gave her an awkward side hug. “I’m glad
you’re here, Kit-Kat.”

She gave me a doubtful look. “Really?”

“Really,” I said, pulling back but keeping my arm partially draped
over her shoulders. “It’s a relief to have a break from Serious, Serious-
er
, and Serious-
est
out there. At
least with you here I know I’ll have someone to laugh with.”

She perked up visibly. “Why
are
they all always
so
serious, anyway?” She
smiled wanly and tucked her phone into her jeans pocket. “I mean, what’s the
point in living forever if you’re allergic to fun?”

I snorted and rolled my eyes. “I’m not positive”—I met her gaze
conspiratorially
—“
considering I’m only eight months
into forever, but I’m starting to think that the definition of ‘fun’ changes
several centuries in. We’ll catch up eventually.”

“Or we’ll remind them of how they used to be,” Kat said, her eyes
twinkling. All signs of glassy-eyed sadness were gone, her luster and spunk
returned in full-force.

At a tap on the window on my side, we both jumped. Nik gave the
“all clear” thumbs-up, and Kat and I pushed open our doors.

“In the future, maybe try
not
to give the pregnant invalid
a heart attack,” I muttered to Nik.

He blinked, his expression blank. “I never said you were an
invalid.” He shut the Range Rover’s door as I adjusted my patchwork leather
shoulder bag and looked around for Dominic. “I believe that was your
word .
 . . that you’ve now used twice.”

“I said I wasn’t one and that’s not the point,” I said in a huff,
crossing my arms over my chest.

Nik paused, his hand still on the side of the car, and gave me a
curious look. He cocked his head to the side and took a step toward me, his
irises fading from pale blue to opalescent white as Re took over. “Are you
feeling alright, Alexandra? You seem unusually agitated today. Is it the
hormones?”

“
Duuuuude
,” Kat said as she rounded the
back of the Range Rover. “You did
not
just tell a pregnant lady she’s
being too hormonal, did you?”

I looked from Kat to Re-Nik to Kat and back, then blew out a
breath. “He did, but it’s okay—he’s right.” I relaxed my arms at my sides and
shook my head. “I don’t know if it’s the hormones, or what,
but .
 . .”
I shrugged. “The past few nights I’ve had this
dream .
 . .
about an accident that happened right there,” I said, pointing to the spot by
the road some fifty yards away. “I had the same dream last year—it was my first
echo, and it was of a possible future that never actually happened, but
still .
 . . the dream was troubling and I’ve been
on edge ever since, like I’m waiting for the accident to really happen, which
is ridiculous, because it was supposed to happen last winter, and
it never did
.” I hiked my bag up higher
on my shoulder. “And I guess being here is just making me antsier. So,
yeah .
 . .”

“You dreamed of this bygone possibility last night, you said?”
Re-Nik asked.

Biting my lip, I nodded.

“Was it simply a regular dream, or an At-dream?”

“
Well .
 . .” I frowned.
“Honestly, it felt like an At-dream.”

Re-Nik’s eyes narrowed, the corners of his mouth turning down in a
frown. “Such a thing should be impossible, and I do not use that word lightly.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, not sure I wanted the answer.

Re-Nik took his time, filling the silence with more thoughtful
squinting and a several-thousand-mile stare. “All unfulfilled future
possibilities disappear from the
At
the moment they
are passed by.” He paused for several heartbeats, and it felt like forever. “I
know this may sound confusing, but that echo—a bygone possibility of a future
that never happened—should not exist anymore.”

“So it was just a dream then,” Kat said. “Case closed.”

Both of them stared at me, waiting for a response I couldn’t give
them. Because I felt fairly certain that it
had
been an At-dream, and
that was precisely why it had been bothering me so much. According to Re, I
shouldn’t have been able to view an echo of Dr. Ramirez being hit by a car last
December because Dr. Ramirez
hadn’t
been
hit by a car, and the echo should have winked out of existence when the moment
passed. And
yet .
 . . “I, um—I’m not sure.”

“You are not sure of what, Lex?” Dominic asked as he jogged around
the front of the car.