Dissonance: An Echo Trilogy Novella (Echo Trilogy, #2.5) (4 page)

“It’s a long story,” I said, frustration evident in my tone. I
could only think of one way to set my overactive imagination and buzzing nerves
to rest—I needed to venture into the
At
and examine
the echo in question. When it showed me making my solo, uneventful trip to get
coffee
without
Dr. Ramirez getting hit by a car, then I’d know once and
for all that it had truly been a dream and that I was getting myself worked up
over nothing.

“I have to check the
At
,” I told the
others. Upon taking in my companions’ question- and doubt-filled faces, I
added, “I can’t explain why, but I
have
to do this.”

It was Nik who nodded first, then Kat. Dominic returned my stare,
his dark eyes hard, his expression set. “The
At
is
unstable; I will accompany you.”

I wasn’t surprised and didn’t argue. I was anxious enough about
this particular trip into the
At
not to want to argue,
and it would go a long way to setting my jumpy nerves at ease to have him there
with me.

“Alright,” I said, easing myself down onto the hot pavement and
sitting cross-legged. I reached up for Dominic to join me on the ground,
flashing him what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “Let’s get this over with.”

Because I felt certain that as soon as I proved to myself that all
was as it should be, the mounting sense of waiting for something to happen
would evaporate. All of this echo-dream dread and confusion would be behind us,
and we’d be able to enjoy ourselves, worry free. I felt certain of
it .
 . .
ish
.

4

See & Believe

“Oh my God, Dr. Ramirez!” Horrified and filled with disbelief so
intense it was verging on denial, I watched a past version of myself stumble
toward my graduate advisor’s lifeless body. This couldn’t be happening. There
was no way. Except it
was
happening. Right
before my eyes, some false version of the past was playing out in an echo that
couldn’t
exist.
Unless .
 . .

I froze the impossible echo and turned to face Dominic. Our hands
were linked, enabling us to maintain our connection in the echo—a necessity now
that the
At
was far from stable. “It could be a false
echo,” I told him. “Someone could’ve created the whole thing.”

Dominic pressed his lips together, thinning them further, and scanned
the paused scene surrounding us. “Possibly, but it does not have the feel of a
false echo,” he said. And he would know. We both had the somewhat rare ability
to manipulate the
At
—create cloaks to hide something
in an echo or fabricate whole, new echoes entirely—but Dominic had a lot more
experience with the skill, more than four centuries’ worth of experience.

“
Well .
 . .” I pursed my
lips and moved them from side to side as I thought. A drizzle of rain trailed
within arm’s distance in front of me, and I reached out to tap the delicate
strand of frozen-in-time water, what looked like the most delicate icicle in
existence. “If someone created a false echo in this time and place, for
whatever reason, it’s much more likely that they altered the echo because of my
presence, not because of Dr. Ramirez’s, don’t you think?”

Dominic nodded slowly. “Considering you’re not only
Nejerette
but the
Meswett
, yes,
I’d say that’s a fair assumption.”

“Good, that’s good,” I said, some of the threads of worry that had
wrapped around my heart loosening. This was about me, not Dr. Ramirez. For
whatever reason, that made me feel better. And yet, those strands of worry were
still there, intermixed with doubt and dread. I offered Dominic a wan smile.
“Still, wouldn’t hurt to check how far this thing reaches”

Dominic frowned, just a little, but before he could say anything,
I jumped forward an hour. The echo darkened as the day grew later. It was no
longer raining, but the street and sidewalks were still wet, the red, blue, and
white police and ambulance lights reflecting on their shimmering surfaces.

Because according to this echo, the accident had still happened.
My heart clenched.

Abandoning this location, I switched my focus to Dr. Ramirez
himself. Like my grandfather, Alexander, I was a tracker—if I focused on any
specific person or object, I could track said person or object through the
entire span of time the person or object had existed. Finding when Dr. Ramirez
popped back into existence seemed to me the simplest way to figure out how far-reaching
this mangled portion of the
At
truly was.

Except Dr. Ramirez supposedly didn’t exist during the rest of the
day of the accident, or the day after. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes
and squeezed Dominic’s hand. On our own, we were each extremely powerful
Nejerets, thanks to Set’s almost pristine bloodline, but when our bas worked
together, when we pooled our Nejeret power, our collective control over the
At
was pretty damn flawless. And with the
At’s
current instability, that was something I needed right
about now.

I pushed forward in time, keeping my focus on Dr. Ramirez. He
continued to
not
exist the days following the accident,
and the week after. He didn’t exist a month out, or two
months
.
 . . or three.

“This can’t be happening,” I said, panic making my voice
thready
. “Nobody would go to the trouble to erase him like
this—it would take
forever
to do this.”

“It’s been done before,” Dominic said, his thickening accent
telling me that he was battling his own growing concern.

“Yeah, but that was Hitler.
Apep
wanted
the chaos he would bring to the
world .
 . . but
Dr. Ramirez is just a professor of archaeology. What could he possibly do in
the future that would make someone—
anyone
—want to
hide his actions by erasing his existence from the day of the ‘accident’ on?”

“It is impossible to see that which has been hidden,” Dominic
said. “I do not mean to trouble you further, Lex, but is it possible that
something has since happened to your Dr. Ramirez, and that only a small period
of time was altered in the
At
?”

I shook my head adamantly. “He’s not really dead, Dom. I mean, we
just exchanged emails a few days ago.” I fought my rising panic. “He’s the
whole reason this day trip turned into a group excursion rather than just Neffe
coming out here to do her research alone.” I was fully aware that Dominic knew
all of this, but some part of me was convinced that if my words could banish
the doubt in his midnight eyes, everything would be alright.

Dominic hesitated to speak, but his lips eventually parted, and
the words that left his mouth elicited a whole new maelstrom of panic. “Anyone
can send an email,
Lex .
 . . they just need
access to the account.”

5

Bad & Worse

“Lex, wait!” Dominic yelled after me as I raced across the small
parking lot toward the pathway that edged around the side of Denny Hall.

“I have to know,” I shouted over my shoulder, my sandals slapping
against the asphalt.

“Know what?” Nik asked a moment before his hand latched onto my
arm and he pulled me to a halt. I was still a few strides from the curb,
couldn’t even see the steep steps leading up to the anthropology building’s
front doors, and acting on instinct I yanked to free my arm. The attempt was
pointless; Nik’s grip was unyielding.

“I have to make sure he’s okay,” I told my ancient friend,
pleading with my voice and eyes and more useless tugs against his grip. “Let
go, Nik, please.”

“Do
not
let her go,” Dominic said as he strode toward us,
Kat close behind him. “She could be running into a trap. I can’t believe we
were so careless.”

Nik’s expression hardened. “What did you find in the
At
?”

“Let me go and I’ll tell you,” I said, feeling both obstinate and
defeated. Dominic was right—my instinctive reaction had been reckless and
would’ve endangered not only myself but Marcus and our unborn children, as
well. I pressed my free hand against my lower abdomen in silent apology.

Not a heartbeat later, I caught the eye of a lone coed crossing
the mouth of the small lot. She pulled her phone out of her back pocket, her
face an open question. Did I need help? Should she call the police? Considering
Nik’s appearance and the way he was restraining me, not to mention Dominic and
Kat’s presence nearby, almost looking like they’d come over to
suss
out the situation, I couldn’t blame the young woman
for jumping to such conclusions.

I shook my head at her, offering her a small smile of thanks.
Between clenched teeth, I said, “Let go, Nik, before someone tries to play
hero .
 . .”

Nik’s eyes tensed, but he did let go. After he’d stepped around me
to block my access to the pathway, of course. Despite my title of
Meswett
, prophesied girl-child and savior to our people,
and my honorary position on the Council of Seven, sometimes I felt more like a
prisoner than a leader. And by sometimes, I meant most of the time. How well
the Council had ignored my input this morning about their debate over Re-Nik
joining them being an exercise in futility was further proof of that.

Nik leaned in closer to me, his words as sharp and heated as the determination
in his pale blue eyes. “Everything I do, I do to keep you safe. Everything.”
His unwavering gaze shifted from me to Dominic and back. “Now tell me what
happened in the
At
.”

I quickly relayed what we had—and hadn’t—discovered, making sure
he understood just how important it was to me to make sure Dr. Ramirez was
okay. One way or another, I was determined to get eyes into Denny Hall to check
on him.

Nik was quiet for a long moment, then let out a heavy sigh. “Sorry,
Lex, but I’m inclined to agree with Dom here, and so is Re. There’s no way
you’re going in there now.”

“But—”

Nik crossed his arms, flashing me one of his fresher tattoos—an
evergreen tree line ringing his forearm in an array of black and grays.

Shoulders slumping, I slunk away from him toward our car and
settled, once more, on the sun-warmed asphalt. Part of me was starting to
wonder if they were right, if something had happened to Dr. Ramirez, something
hidden under the apparent cluster of false echoes, and the person I’d been
emailing with to set up this meeting had, in reality, been an imposter.

Dominic followed me and stood between me and the midday sun, his
shadow a cool contrast to the warm asphalt. “Do you still have his number,
Lex?”

I looked up at him, eyebrows raised in question. “Dr. Ramirez’s?”

He nodded.

“Yes.”

“Well, it’s simple then.” Dominic sat on the ground beside me. It
was the perfect balm for my agitated mood—his presence always had an almost
magically calming effect on my troubled soul. “Call Dr. Ramirez,” he said. “If
he answers, then we’ll know he’s alright and that the meeting is benign
enough.”

I searched his eyes, the blackish-brown hue of his irises speckled
with bronze in the sunlight, seeking answers he couldn’t know. “But the
At .
 . . even if he answers, something’s still
wrong with what the
At
thinks
happened last
winter.”

Dominic’s shoulders rose and fell and his head moved from side to
side. “It’s something we’ll have analyzed when we get back.”

“But—but—”

“It’ll be okay, Lex,” Kat said, sitting on the ground on the other
side of me and taking my hand in hers. “We’ll figure this out.”

Nik took several steps toward the nearest pine tree in the foliage
bordering the lot and placed his hand against its rough bark. “I have, in rare
occasions in the past, noticed an odd occurrence when certain of my more notable
and powerful descendants manifested.” From the accent and cadence of his words,
it was obvious that Re had taken over. “They create something of a disturbance
in the
At
surrounding the first few echoes they
viewed. It happened with Nik, of course,” Re-Nik said, touching his own chest,
“as well as with all of my direct children and some of their children, such as
Heru
,
Aset
, and Set. Over time, I
came to believe that it meant those individuals would have a distinct effect on
the events to come, that their presence in the
At
would be disproportionately significant.”

My eyebrows drew together. “So you think because that echo with
Dr. Ramirez getting hit by a car was the first one I viewed, I might have
disrupted it to the point of changing all of the following related echoes as
well?” It sounded like a stretch to me, but then, so did my whole life.

“I have never seen such a far-reaching disruption, but considering
your significance to maintaining ma’at—universal balance quite literally
depends on the fates of you and the children you carry—I can’t bring myself to
believe that such a large disturbance in the
At
is out
of the realm of possibility.” The answer was so much like Nuin—
Re’s
original Nejeret host—that my heart warmed. Nuin had
always had the
damndest
time admitting that he simply
didn’t know something.

I smiled to myself and reached into my bag to fish out my phone.
“Okay, so I call Dr. Ramirez, and let’s say he
answers .
 . .
then what?” After unlocking my phone, I scrolled through the contacts until I
reached the Ds. “Are we still suspicious of foul play at that point, or can we
assume this is simply a harmless meeting and we can all go into Denny?” I gave
Kat’s hand a squeeze. “Does Kit-Kat still get the grand tour?”

I watched Dominic and Nik exchange a prolonged glance, watched
Nik’s irises bleed back to their usual pale blue hue. Finally, Nik shook his
head. “It’s not worth the risk, Lex. Ask him to meet you somewhere
else .
 . . somewhere crowded with humans.”

Nodding slowly, I thought about where to propose Dr. Ramirez meet
with me, my thumb hovering over the green call button. I considered the HUB and
By
George, the two main places to eat on campus—it was
after noon, and we’d planned to eat before the meeting anyway. A hungry Nejeret
is a grumpy Nejeret, after all.

The Husky Union Building, affectionately called the HUB by anybody
who knew anything at all about the U, would likely be more crowded, since it
was lunchtime and there were more dining options in comparison to
By
George—aptly named due to its proximity to a rather
prominent statue of George Washington—and its cafeteria-style dining. But the
HUB was also clear across campus, which I doubted would please my not unwanted
but very overprotective bodyguards. There was also the nearby Burke Café, but
it was tiny and rarely crowded.

Suddenly, an idea struck me and I sat up straighter, smiling
broadly. It was so obvious; I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it right
away. “I know just the place.”

It had been ages since I’d been in
Suzzallo
Library—okay, maybe only months, but it felt like ages when I was used to
spending hours there every day, hunting through the stacks or hunched over a
wooden desk with a wall of rarely opened books blocking me off from the world.
The café on the first floor would serve our dining purposes well enough—it had
a full-service coffee bar and grab-and-go sandwiches, pastries, and snacks—but
it would also give me a chance to show Kat around one of my favorite places on
campus. One day all of this universe-at-stake hoopla would be over, and she’d
go to college like a normal kid, and I’d be damned if I didn’t try my hardest
to convince her to become a Husky.

I pressed my thumb to the screen and called Dr. Ramirez.

After three rings with no answer, I held my breath. After the
fourth, I squeezed my eyes shut, and after the fifth, my heart was beating so
hard it felt like it was pounding against my ribcage.

“You’ve reached the mailbox for 206-555-0173,” said the
emotionless automatic recording. “The caller you’re trying to reach is not
available. Please leave a message at the tone.”

Panicking, I ended the call before the beep. I looked at Dominic,
then up at Nik, knowing they’d heard the impersonal recording as well. “At
least the number’s not disconnected,” I said softly. It was the only thing I
could think to point out that didn’t lend further credence to the possibility
that something had happened to Dr. Ramirez and that this whole “meeting” was
just an elaborate ruse. A trap.

“I think you should get back into the car, Lex,” Nik said, turning
his back to me so he could scan the countless trees and shrubs scattered nearby
for potential dangers.

I didn’t even consider arguing. There was no point, and he was
right—the situation was looking grimmer and grimmer with each passing minute. I
was on my feet, my hand on the door handle, when my phone buzzed twice to alert
me of a text message.

Hastily, I unlocked the phone and opened the message. It was from
Dr. Ramirez. Or, at least, it was from his number.

Sorry I missed your call, Lex. Is everything alright? Do you need
to reschedule? I had a cancellation, so my whole afternoon is free, if another
time works better for you.

I stared at the phone’s screen, dim in the bright sunlight, my
hands shaking. I could feel Kat behind me, reading over my shoulder.

“
Um .
 . . why didn’t he just
call you back?” Kat’s voice wavered a little. “Am I the only one wondering that?”

“No,” I said under my breath. “No, you’re not.”