Future Shock (10 page)

We step outside the library and the rain’s picked up again. I flick my hood over my head as we venture down the steps, taking care not to slip in a puddle and break my neck, since that’s the last thing I need right now. Except I already know that won’t happen, because that isn’t my fate. I just hope we can find a cab or something, because this downpour will not be fun to walk in.

But when we get down the steps, there’s a car waiting for us: a Mercedes that looks like it could have been from our time. It has a normal hood and trunk, plus all the side mirrors and brake lights, and its boxy shape stands out among the other egg-shaped cars driving past.

A man waits beside it, holding an umbrella with lights inside, illuminating him in a soft, blue glow. “Get in!” he yells.

He’s speaking to us. He knows who we are. Is he from Aether Corporation? Have they finally sent someone to meet us?

But as we step closer, I recognize the familiar face, the knowing eyes behind the black glasses, the shape of his strong jawline and broad shoulders. The crinkle of his smile, only with a few more wrinkles at the edges. The dark-brown hair now peppered with gray.

The man standing there is Adam.

Future
-Adam.

07:48

I glance back and forth between the two Adams, trying to make sense of what I’m seeing. Future-Adam must be in his late forties by now, but still looks so much like his younger self. And it’s more than just how they look—it’s the way they stand, their voices, the expressions on their faces. Even their flexis are the same, both clear and without decoration.

I shouldn’t be surprised—
of course
Future-Adam would be here. He’d know exactly where we would be at any given moment because he’d lived it himself. But I don’t know what his presence here means. Is he going to reveal my secret? Can he help us change the future?

“I heard you’re looking for me.” Future-Adam stares back at his younger self for a moment before sweeping his gaze across the rest of us. His eyes seem to linger on me, but maybe I’m imagining things. “Get in the car and I’ll explain everything.”

None of us move. Adam just stares at his older self, while Trent keeps muttering “dude” over and over.

“Well, you wanted to talk to him…” Chris says, glancing at Adam.

“I know.” He adjusts his glasses, which I’ve noticed he does whenever he’s nervous, and turns to me with questioning eyes.

For a minute I debate telling Adam and the others that we should turn around and leave. To forget Future-Adam and try to figure this out on our own. My motive for doing so is purely selfish—I want to protect my secret, and Future-Adam could reveal it at any moment. But I need answers, and he might be the only one to give them to us. And maybe the others should learn the truth about who killed them. They deserve to know.

I’m just not sure what they’ll do to me once they find out.

“You guys coming or what?” Future-Adam asks. “I know you want to get out of this rain. And don’t worry about that whole paradox thing—that’s obviously not true.”

“It’ll be fine,” I say to Adam, trying to sound certain. “It’s you, after all.”

Adam nods, but he doesn’t look convinced. We start walking toward the car, but Future-Adam holds up a hand to stop us. “Hang on,” he says. “Take your flexis off and dump them in the trash over there.”

“Huh?” Trent asks.

“Your flexis. The police can track you through them.”

I peel the flexi off my face and feel a tiny jolt in my brain as it disconnects. Once the flexi is off, I’m free—no maps floating in my vision, no voices in my head, no videos recording everything I see and do. I chuck mine in the nearest trash bin and the others do the same.

“Damn,” Chris says as he throws his flexi in last. “I’m gonna miss this thing.”

Future-Adam thrusts something at Adam’s chest. “Put this on.”

Adam blinks at the baseball cap, but then shoves it over his head. With the rim pulled low, it’s harder to see his face.

Future-Adam throws open the door to the backseat and gestures for us to get in. “It’s a bit tight back there, so you’ll have to squeeze in. Chris, you should probably sit up front with me.”

Chris snorts, but it makes sense because he’s by far the largest. The rest of us cram into the backseat, and somehow we end up with Zoe squished between me and Trent, and me on Adam’s lap.

“Sorry,” I say to him. I try to scoot over, but Zoe’s in the way. I get that she doesn’t want to snuggle against Trent, but I’m on top of Adam here.

“It’s okay. Maybe I can move over.” Adam tries to adjust in the seat, but that just pushes us closer together. His hand brushes against my thigh. “Sorry, sorry.”

A wave of heat washes over me. I’m not sure if it’s from the stuffy air in the car or from the way my body is pressed up against Adam’s with only our wet clothes between us. We stare into each other’s eyes, our faces only inches apart, and something passes between us—that same connection I felt with him earlier.

Future-Adam gets in the driver’s seat and looks back at us with a grin, like he enjoys seeing us all squished inside. “Everyone in? Good.”

“Where are we going?” Adam asks. That’s the first time he’s spoken directly to his future self.

“Aether Corporation headquarters.” Future-Adam starts the car, and it pulls away from the curb. Unlike the other cars we’ve seen, this one has a dashboard and steering wheel and everything you’d expect in a normal car—although he doesn’t seem to be using them.

“I got this car converted to driverless so I could use it on the road,” Future-Adam says over his shoulder. “The government banned regular cars about five years ago. Now you can only actually
drive
cars on special tracks or in certain rural areas. But I had someone put in an override system because I miss driving. Check this out.”

He presses a button on the center console and takes control of the steering wheel. The car speeds up and suddenly whips around a corner. I grip Adam’s shoulder to keep from flying across the seat, and he puts an arm around my waist to steady me.

“Sorry.” I avoid looking at him, but I don’t let go. And he doesn’t either.

“Man, they sure don’t make cars like they used to,” Future-Adam says with a laugh.

The car takes another sharp turn, tires squealing on the wet pavement. Adam holds me in place, his arm tightening around my waist. Is Future-Adam driving like a maniac just so his younger self can cop a feel on me? Then again, I’m not exactly pulling away from Adam either, so maybe I’m just as guilty.

“Sorry,” I say again. I’m stuck on repeat, my brain fuzzy. Maybe because I’m burning up in this hot car. Or maybe because of the way Adam’s looking at me, like he wants to kiss me. This time I don’t want to punch him.

“All right, I’d better put it back in automatic before the police come after me.” Future-Adam presses the button again. The car slows down and Adam releases his grip on me.

Zoe and Trent are staring at us, and I want to jump out of this car and forget this moment ever happened. I pull away from Adam and try to move off his lap to escape his eyes and his lips and the heat between us. Zoe attempts to scoot over, but she only gets an inch closer to Trent, who’s already slammed up against the car door. There’s nowhere for me to go.

“Comfortable back there?” Future-Adam asks. I glare at him. Oh yeah, he’s definitely doing this on purpose. “Relax, we’re already here.”

The Aether Corporation building is impossibly tall, with black granite walls and sleek, silver windows reflecting the dark, cloudy sky. The car takes us down into an underground parking structure and parks itself in a spot labeled
RESERVED: ADAM O’NEILL
. The doors unlock and Future-Adam jumps out to open the door for us.

“Sorry about that,” he says and offers a hand to help me out.

I ignore it and hop out of the car, giving him a look that says, “I know what you were doing there.” But he just smiles and steps back so the others can get out.

Future-Adam leads us past rows of parked driverless cars to an elevator with the Aether logo. As we walk, he pulls something out of his pocket that looks like a thick metal pen, except there’s a red light glowing at the end and buttons along the side. He presses one of the buttons, and the light switches from red to green.

“What’s that?” Adam asks.

“It’s a jammer. It blocks audio and visual recording devices within a twenty-foot radius.” He hands the device to his younger self, who begins to study it.

“Why do we need that?” I ask. Isn’t he working for Aether? Will they be expecting us?

“I don’t want Aether’s cameras recording us.”

Adam examines the jammer and then hands it back. “It looks like a sonic screwdriver from
Doctor Who
.”

“That’s not an accident.” Future-Adam grins at him. “A friend made it for me. Same person who designed the flexis.”

“You were wrong,” Trent mutters to Chris. “Adam is still the biggest nerd here.”

“And now there are two of them,” Chris says.

I shake my head as we step into the elevator. The two Adams stand side by side, the younger one sneaking peeks at his older self. It’s freaky seeing them together and noticing how similar they look, except for the thirty years added to the future version.

“Why do you still wear glasses?” Adam asks his older self. “Flexis can auto-correct your vision, right?”

“A girl once told me I look cute in glasses. But you need to pay attention.” Future-Adam checks his watch, and I’m surprised to see it’s the same twenty-four-hour watch we all have on now. He kept it all these years.

The door opens, but he blocks us with his arm so we can’t exit. “Get ready to run.” He peers outside the elevator, then checks his watch again. “Wait…wait for it…”

People in suits enter in a huge group from the revolving doors and head to the front desk where a security guard is waiting. They crowd around, completely blocking our view of the desk.

“Now!” Future-Adam runs out and darts across the lobby toward a section of elevators labeled
FLOORS 2–15
.

I give Adam one quick glance and then we run after his older self, although I’m still not sure what the hell is going on. Our footsteps are drowned out by the chattering of the people in the lobby, who also hide us from the view of the security guard.

“Hurry up!” Future-Adam ushers us inside another elevator, his arms waving frantically. We crowd inside and the doors close. The elevator starts to rise and he turns to us with a grin. “That worked perfectly. Good thing I remembered how this all went down. I hope you’re keeping track of all this,” he says to his younger self.

“Um, yeah.” Adam looks at me like
Is this guy for real?

I shrug. I’ve given up trying to figure out what Future-Adam is doing. We put our faith in him once we got in that car, and all we can do is go along for the ride now.

“Okay, get ready to move,” Future-Adam says. “Adam, keep your hat down.”

The elevator opens on the sixth floor, and we quickly follow our leader down a row of offices with closed doors. Most of them have dark windows so you can’t look inside. We only see two other people. They both have their heads bent low over their desks and don’t seem to notice us as we pass by.

We stop at an office labeled with Adam’s name, and the older version uses his thumbprint to unlock it. Once we’re inside, he darkens the windows to opaque, and then his shoulders relax.

“Now we can talk safely.” He rests the glowing jammer on his desk beside a Rubik’s Cube that’s already been solved and a silver spinning thing that floats an inch off his desk.

His office is huge, with a couple of sofas and expensive-looking leather chairs on one side of the room and a mini-fridge and bar on the other. The floor-to-ceiling window behind his desk has an impressive view of downtown and the Hollywood sign in the hills.

Chris crosses his arms. “Okay, what the hell is going on?”

“Yeah, what’s with all the cloak-and-dagger stuff?” Trent asks.

“Hang on a sec.” Future-Adam grabs a golf club from the corner and starts to poke at the ceiling vent above him, which bounces with each hit. “Stupid thing. I’ve asked them ten times to fix my air conditioner. I’d do it myself, but I’m too big to fit in the vents.”

“Future you is kind of weird,” Trent whispers to Adam.

Adam scowls. “Tell me about it.”

Seriously, what is
with
this guy? Who cares about the stupid air conditioner? First he drives like a maniac, then he makes us run through Aether’s building like criminals, and now this. Did he lose his mind in the last thirty years? Maybe that video was right about him…

“Enough messing around,” I say to Future-Adam. “You told us you have answers.”

“Right. Take your jackets off and relax, and then we’ll talk.”

He grabs each of our wet coats and hangs them on a rack in the corner, and then brings a bunch of sodas over to the table. I wish he’d get to the point already, but it is a relief to dry off a bit. We all dump our backpacks around the room and find a place to sit down. Adam picks one of the sofas, and I think about joining him but take one of the leather chairs instead.

Future-Adam sits in the other chair and watches us for a long moment. “I’ve been waiting for this day for the past thirty years. Now I don’t know where to start.”

“Start with who’s gonna kill us,” Chris says.

The older Adam sighs. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t
know
?” Chris asks. “What about the girl who’s going to shoot us?”

“I don’t think she did it.” Future-Adam’s eyes flicker briefly to me. He knows. And he’s trying to protect me.

“Me either,” I say. I need to talk to him alone to find out what he knows and what he’s hiding from the others.

Chris slams his empty soda can on the table. “Then who did?”

“I’ve always suspected Aether Corporation,” Future-Adam says. “But I never found any evidence and the police closed the case quickly. They had their killer, and she was conveniently dead. They didn’t want to look any further than that.”

“No surprise there,” Trent mumbles. “Like they’d care about four dead foster kids.”

Future-Adam stands and walks to the window, resting his hands on the frame as he stares outside. “There’s something we discovered—something you’re going to discover—about what happened to the other people who went to the future. I believe Aether killed all of you to protect this secret.”

“Wait—what other people?” Trent asks.

“I thought we were the first,” Zoe says.

Future-Adam shakes his head. “That was a lie. Aether sent teams of scientists and other people to the future before our group. But they all came back…damaged.”

I
knew
it. I knew there were others before us. “Damaged how?”

He turns back to us, his face grim. “Brain damaged.”