The Edge of Forever (33 page)

“Hey, did Professor March happen to leave a Chronoband in here?” I ask, remembering the whole problem I had with free shifting.

Zed pipes up, “Yep, it’s up here with me. Safe and sound. And he left a comm-set, too.”

He tosses them back to me, one at a time. I fasten the Chronoband to my wrist and place the comm-set on the seat next to me.

So Professor March thought of everything. I should be glad. Instead, a sense of dread descends over me. I have to make myself say, “Okay then. Let’s get to Georgia.”

Two hours later we land behind the inn-slash-museum. Nobody from the DTA is there. I guess they were recalled after my capture. We make our way into the forest. I don’t have a cloak, so I need to materialize where nobody will see me.

“We’ll wait here for you,” Elijah says. “Good luck.”

“Yeah, ditto that,” Zed says. He play punches me on the arm and then grows serious. “Just make sure you
do
come back.”

I start to make a smart remark about Zed getting sentimental, but it suddenly hits me—I could die. Just like my dad.

But I’ve got to try. I place the comm-set on my head and force a smile as I say my goodbyes. Then I activate the Chronoband and shift.

45

ALORA

JULY 4, 2013

P
almer notices I’m looking behind him. He glances back and hisses, “Who are you?”

The girl smiles—a cold smile that doesn’t reach her eyes—and raises her arm. A small, silvery object glistens in her hand.

“Drop it or I’ll shoot,” Palmer says.

“I don’t think so,” she replies in a clipped voice with a trace of a weird accent. Her eyes close, and she vanishes.

Palmer yells, “What the hell!” He circles in place, while holding the gun ahead of him. I try to shrink myself into a ball on the floor.

“Who is she?” Palmer asks, now pointing the gun at me. I can’t speak. All I see is the tip of the barrel. I imagine the bullet speeding out and hitting me. “Is she your sister? Answer me!” He yanks me up and drags me to the foyer, his head swiveling back and forth.

She suddenly reappears next to him. Palmer doesn’t have time to react. She slams her fist into the side of his face and snatches the gun from his grip as he staggers.

Palmer quickly regains his balance and charges at her. A bright blast flashes between them, and then he collapses to the floor, twitching.

“That was wild.” The girl kicks Palmer hard in the ribs. He grunts but otherwise doesn’t say anything. “Don’t worry,” she says. “He’s not going anywhere for a while. Furing psycho.” She kicks him again, then looks at me. “Do you know he’s murdered fifteen girls over the past five years? You were supposed to be number sixteen. All because he flirted with two of his former students and they turned him in.”

I clutch my arms to my stomach as I stare at the scene. At the girl who just saved me. Who is she? How does she know all of that about Palmer?

I really look at her. She’s dressed in my clothes. I hadn’t noticed it until now, but she’s wearing the same dress I wore to Levi’s party back in April. I’d hid it in the back of my closet.

“It looks good on me, doesn’t it?” she asks as she twirls. “Nice for something so archaic.”

“Why are you wearing it?”

She gives me a flippant shrug. “Maybe I wanted to see what it felt like to be the favorite daughter.”

Okay, now she’s starting to freak me out. I take a few steps back, but she fixes me with a frosty gaze, her eyes narrowed to slits. “Stay where you are.”

The words are a slap. “What? I don’t understand.”

“Of course you don’t. You’re blank.”

“I’m what?”

“Blank. It means you’re empty up here,” she says, tapping the side of her forehead with the silver object. “You don’t know anything.”

I hate feeling like a trapped animal for the second time in the same night, for not understanding her. “What do you mean?”

The girl rolls her eyes. “This is so tedious. I’ll say this so even a Null could get it. You are not from this time. You are from the future.” She says each word slowly, like I’m too stupid to understand. “Our father broke the law. He brought you here and abandoned you to his sister. Our beloved aunt.”

If anybody said this to me before I met Bridger, I would’ve laughed in their face. Not anymore. Remembering what he said about traveling in time and waking up in different places after blacking out . . . yeah, it doesn’t sound so strange now.

“If that’s the case, why are you so mad at me? I don’t even know you,” I say.

She fixes me with a contemptuous gaze. “That’s because we’ve never met.”

46

BRIDGER

JULY 4, 2013

I
t’s dark when I appear in 2013. Moonlight streaks through the trees, giving me just enough light to see. I was aiming for around eight o’clock. The article detailing Alora’s death pinpointed it happening between nine and ten.

The smell of smoke and burning wood envelops me as I push my way through the branches and brambles. An orange glow flickers through the forest. It has to be the old abandoned house. My mouth grows dry. That’s where Alora’s body is supposed to be found.

I start to head in that direction, but my skin crawls with the feeling I’m not alone. I activate the comm-set and scan my perimeter. A Time Bender is here. And he’s heading my way.

It’s Dad.

And he looks pissed.

I’ve never been so glad to see him in my entire life. My legs fly as I run to meet him, and I practically tackle him. I want to laugh and cry. He’s real. He’s here. He’s still alive.

Dad is rigid at first, but then he embraces me. I feel safe, like I did when I was a kid. He pulls away too soon. “What’s going on, son? What are you doing here?”

“Where’s Alora? Is she safe?”

“Whoa, wait a minute.” Dad rubs the back of his head like he does when he’s thinking. “First off, I just arrived here myself from July third. I’ve been following Alora to see if I can figure out a way to prevent her death. And second, how do you
even know
about Alora?”

I give him the abbreviated version of how I got dragged into this mess.

Dad’s face morphs from shock to anger to disbelief. When I’m finished, he runs his hands along the sides of his face. “Bridger, I don’t understand. I’ve never been to the Foster Assassination. I just found out about Alora a week ago from her mother. She gave me this.” He extracts a DataDisk from his pocket.

“I know. I found it in your desk back at the apartment.”

“I never left it in my desk.” Dad closes his eyes. “I don’t know what’s going on, but you’ve got to go back to our time. Now.”

I shake my head. “No. I’m not going anywhere. I’ve got to make sure Alora’s safe.”

“That’s what I’m here for, son.”

We stare at each other. I want to tell him he won’t. Not if he’s alone. But how do I tell him that from my perspective, I’m talking to a ghost? That he’s been dead for two months?

A scream pierces the silence. Our heads jerk toward the inn. Dad whispers, “Alora.”

47

ALORA

JULY 4, 2013

I
feel as if I’m outside my body, watching the scene in front of me. The girl takes three steps forward and grabs my arm. I try to snatch it back, but I can’t. She’s stronger than she looks.

“Why are you doing this?” I ask, trying to stall her. “Why would you want to kill me if we’re sisters?

“I have no attachment to you. I didn’t even know you existed until a few months ago.”

“What?”

“Let’s just say I’ve had access to some interesting info lately. That’s how I found you. How I found that our father always took you to Green Zones to play and gave you gifts when you were little. You know what he did for me? Nothing.”

I take in her crazed expression and Palmer’s gun shaking in her hand. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was jealous.

“You know, I shifted back here once before. I wanted to get to know you before you were supposed to die, but then I saw you making moves on
my
Bridger. So don’t expect me to feel any love for you.”

I blink a few times.
Her
Bridger? “What are you talking about? I never tried to hit on him.”

“Don’t lie. I saw the two of you getting all cozy at the river once, when I did a free shift.”

I wonder if she’s talking about the time he kissed me or one of the other times we were at the river. And then it hits me. Bridger must be her boyfriend. Bridger claimed he wanted to help me recover my memories, but I knew he liked me. What if he kissed me because I look like her?

I feel sick. I wish this was a nightmare and I’d wake up and find Aunt Grace making me hot chocolate and blueberry pancakes. I’d tell her about the nightmare and everything would be rainbows and sunshine again. Except this isn’t a nightmare.

I should be afraid. I should beg her for my life. It’s not my fault our father was involved in my life. And I can’t even remember that. It all happened so long ago.

But you can’t reason with someone who’s nuts. I know that from dealing with Trevor. What can I do? She has a weapon. I have nothing.

Something beeps. The girl checks a band on her wrist, one that looks like Bridger’s, and groans. “We have visitors.”

I take the only chance I might have. I reach behind me and grab the flower vase on the foyer table. She turns back as I hurl the vase at her and she fires the gun. I drop to the floor, wishing I was outside. I picture it perfectly in my mind. Me in the front yard.

And then I am, still on my hands and knees.

I scramble to my feet, stunned to realize that I really can go where I want just by thinking about it.

The girl has the same abilities as me, but she knows how to control them. She’ll kill me for sure if she catches me again. I have to get help. Now.

A booming sound like a cannon echoes behind the inn, and I jump. The sky over the treetops erupts in a kaleidoscope of red sparkles. The fireworks show has just started. Everyone is at the rec department.

That’s the answer.

The rec department is on the other side of the river. All I have to do is get there.

If the girl—my so-called sister—doesn’t find me first.

I close my eyes and concentrate on wishing myself there.

But it doesn’t work this time.

48

BRIDGER

JULY 4, 2013

D
ad gives me a stern look and says, “Stay here.” Then he takes off for the house.

I stare after him for a few seconds before I follow him. Like hell I’m staying put. My feet pound across the grass. I gasp for air, trying to ignore the squeezing in my chest.

I catch up to Dad on the back porch. He glares at me. “I thought I told you to stay put.”

“Couldn’t do it.”

We enter the house and find a man lying stunned on the floor in the foyer, surrounded by broken shards of glass. It’s the guest who was here in April, Mr. Palmer. I wonder why he’s here now. What he saw.

Dad activates the tracker on his DataLink. “Alora’s in the woods behind the inn. She’s moving fast toward the river.”

He looks grim.

“What’s the matter?” I ask.

“She’s not alone. Someone just appeared ahead of her. I have a feeling whoever it is isn’t here to help her.”

“Let’s go,” I say, stepping toward the hallway.

“I don’t want you to go. You don’t know how serious this is.”

I feel my face growing hot. “Yes, I do. More than you know.”

“I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean, but you are
not
to follow me. I’ve got to be able to concentrate. I don’t have time to worry about your safety.” I start to argue, but Dad holds up a hand. “Enough. Stay here and I’ll be back soon. With Alora.”

“Well what about him?” I ask, pointing to Mr. Palmer.

Dad extracts a Mind Redeemer from his pocket. “Erase his last three hours.”

49

ALORA

JULY 4, 2013

E
verything is a blur as I race along the forest path. I don’t know why I couldn’t wish myself to the rec department. Maybe there’s a trick to it, something I haven’t figured out yet.

I’m almost to the dock, ready to dive into the river, when a voice calls out, “It’s about time you got here.”

I skid to a stop and slowly turn around. The crazy girl steps out from the shadows, smiling in a way that makes me want to punch her. She’s still holding the gun.

“What do you want from me?” I ask.

“I already told you,” she says, sauntering closer to where I’m standing. “I’m here to make sure you die. That’s your fate.”

If I was smart, I’d try to stall her. But I’m pissed. I close my eyes and suck air through gritted teeth.

“Don’t even think about shifting. I’ll put a bullet in your brain before you figure out what to do.”

“What does it matter? You’re going to kill me anyway. For no damn reason.” My voice snaps out in a snarl.

“Oh, but there is a reason. You’re
supposed
to die today. But you know what, I’m feeling generous. I think it was cruel for our father to dump you in this hellhole, all alone. Poor little Alora having to grow up in a strange place away from her mommy and daddy.” She lets out an eerie-sounding giggle. “Yeah, I’m going to be nice. You really should thank me.” She advances closer and extracts a small black circular object from her pocket.

I step back.

“Stay still,” she commands. The gun is now pointed at my heart. “It won’t hurt. I promise.”

“What is that thing?”

“This will help loosen up those old brain cells. It’ll make you remember
everything
you’re about to lose.”

Ice-cold fear crawls over every inch of my body. All I can do is watch helplessly as she extends her other hand and holds the object in front of my forehead. A bright green light blinds me, and a searing pain builds behind my eyes, burning into my skull. I try to scream, but I can’t.

Just as quickly as it started, the pain vanishes, and forgotten memories start to emerge.

At first it’s just fragmented images. Me as a little girl, squealing as my dad chases me through a Green Zone. My mom—the dark-haired woman from my dreams—helping me with a drawing. Both of them tucking me into bed at night. Birthday parties. So many memories consume me.