OMG, A CUL8R Time Travel Mystery (17 page)

“Is anything wrong?” Kelly asked with growing alarm.

“Probably.  I mean, I’m sure everything’s okay.  But I
feel like it’s my duty, as your guardian, to have this talk with you.”

This sounded bad.  Kelly hoped her aunt wasn’t sending her away or something awful like that.  Was he
r aunt regretting letting Kelly come live here?  Was it too much of a burden?  Kelly resolved to be more helpful around the house.  She suddenly realized how desperately she wanted to stay here.  It wasn’t home . . . yet.  But she didn’t want to live anywhere else.

“I’m sorry if I’ve been too much trouble,” s
he rushed to say.  “I’ll try to . . .”

“Oh no, it’s nothing like that.”  Her aunt looked startled that Kelly had thought that.  “It’s just that looking at you last night, I realized that you’re quite grown up.  I mean, you’re going to be sixteen next week.”

Kelly was silent, but she didn’t relax.  She still had no idea where this conversation was going.

I’m very glad you’ve made friends so quickly, but watching those two boys around you last night . . . well, I thought we’d better have
the talk.”  Her aunt’s cheeks were much pinker than normal.

“The talk?”  Kelly’s eyes widened.  “Oh, you mean
the
talk?”

“Yes, the talk about sex.  I didn’t know if your mother had ever gotten around to it.”

“Well, yes, she did.  We had a book about reproduction as part of my health section.”

Her aunt heaved a relieved sigh.  “Oh good.  Do you have any questions about . . . anything?”

“Yeah, why would you think I needed the talk because of Scott and Austin?”

“I noticed how they were looking at you last night.  They were very aware that you’re a mature young lady.”

Kelly blinked.  “Scott and Austin?”  She couldn’t believe they were talking about the same two boys.

“Yes, Scott and Austin.  They never left your side.  I just don’t want you to rush into something too quickly.  You’re young, and you have a long time before you want to confine yourself to just on
e boy.  At your age, you should have fun and enjoy friendships with everyone.  It’s so sad to see girls get involved with one boy and miss out on getting to know lots of people.”

“My mother started dating my dad when they were in high school, and that turned out really well,” Kelly pointed out.

“Yes, but their relationship was one in a thousand.  Look at me.  I married while I was still in college, and then I worked to help my husband get his Ph.D.  As soon as he did, he decided he didn’t want to be married anymore.”

“I’m so sorry.  I didn’t know.”

Jane shrugged.  “I don’t talk about it much.  I thought I was in love, but I guess I was wrong.  And actually, I wasn’t all that sorry to see him go.  By the time we both got our degrees and established our careers, we realized we were different people.  We married too young, before we had developed our personalities.  The one thing we had in common, our ambition, wasn’t enough to make a happy marriage.  That’s why I don’t want you to make a mistake . . . or get too involved too soon.”

Kelly frowned as she considered all she had heard.  She thought her aunt was way off base about Scott and Austin being interested in her . . . in that way.  They were just friends.  But she appreciated her aunt’s concern.  “I promise I’ll be careful.  I’ve had a couple boyfriends from church, but I’ve never been on an actual date.  I’m not going to rush into anything.  Besides, I really don’t think Scott and Austin even realize I’m a girl.”

“I can assure you, they do,” her aunt stated.  “But maybe the bro code will keep them from acting on it.”

“The bro code?”

“When two friends like the same girl, there’s a silent agreement that neither of them can date her,” her aunt explained.

“Oh.”  Kelly didn’t know what to say about that.  It gave her plenty to think about.

“Whew, I’m glad we got that out of the way,” her aunt said as she snapped shut her laptop.  “I’m going to turn in early tonight.  I’ve got a busy day tomorrow.”

Kelly almost said, me too, but instead she said, “Thanks for your advice.  But I’m in no hurr
y to get serious about anyone.”

“
Good.”  Her aunt’s relief was palpable.  “Night.”  Jane put her glass in the dishwasher and, with her laptop tucked under her arm, she headed toward her room, making her rounds of checking the locks on the front and back doors on the way.

Kelly turned off all the lights and went to her room.  She had taken a short nap that afternoon, so she wasn’t really sleepy.  Instead, she puttered around her room, gathering all the things she thought she migh
t need for a few days in a rugged duffle bag she had used to carry things when she had taken Scarlett out for a long ride.  She didn’t have a backpack because she had never had to carry her books outside her house to school.  She decided she would look for one the next time she went shopping.

She took another nice long bath, more to give herself time to think through all the possibilities and probabilities of the next few days.  As much as she admired Scott’s intelligence and the creativity of his inventions, she honestly didn’t believe in time travel.  She wasn’t confident enough in her friendship with him to tell him the truth.  Rather, she decided to let it all play out, and when they didn’t
“travel”, then that would be the end of it.  But on the outside chance that it could happen, she wanted to be sure and take clean underwear.

TUESDAY

KELLY WAS UP
before Nico arrived.  She was already in the pool when the large, colorful bird flew across the yard and perched on the back of one of the deck chairs and watched her.  Kelly swam to the edge of the pool and rested her folded arms on the rock ledge that circled the pool.

She whistled just like she had when she had called Scarlett, and Nico cocked his head, listening.  When she stopped, he ruffled his feathers and, with perfect pitch, repeated her whistle, note for note.

“So, you’d rather whistle than talk,” she spoke aloud, more to herself than to him.  For the next half hour, she whistled every tune she could think of until her mouth went dry.  Nico didn’t like them all, but when he heard one that struck his fancy, he would copy her whistle perfectly.  Finally, tiring of the game, he gave her a farewell squawk and flew off.

She finished her laps, showered and dressed for the day.  She opened the garage doors and was digging through the box of clothes when Scott and Austin arrived.  They got a good laugh at most of the vivid colors, wild patterns and styles, but she found a couple
of dresses and several blouses and skirts, none of which she looked forward to wearing because she really hated anything with a skirt.  They looked through the yearbooks and decided the boys could get by with button-down shirts and plain t-shirts.  They would wear jeans, since, other than style, they were relatively ageless.

Kelly made
a pile of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and they sat around the pool, finalizing their plans.  The day flew by, and late in the afternoon the boys left to go to their houses for dinner and to get their things.  Kelly made one of her favorite dishes, chicken and rice and had it and a salad ready when her aunt got home from work.

“This is just like my mother used to make,” Jane said as she cleaned her plate.  “I can’t remember when I last had chicken and rice.”

Kelly beamed under the praise.  She shooed her aunt off to her study and cleaned the kitchen and loaded the dishwasher.  With an exaggerated yawn, she told her aunt that she was turning in early.  Her aunt told her a distracted goodnight.

The house was quiet when
Kelly slipped out the front door a couple of hours later, carefully locking it behind her.  Luckily, her aunt usually went to bed early during the week and slept soundly.  Austin’s truck was parked across the street.  He was sitting in it, waiting impatiently for her and Scott.  She heard the click of Scott’s gate and looked over to see him sneaking out from his backyard.  They met in front of her house and crossed the street silently together.  No one said anything as they loaded their bags in the backseat and quietly shut their doors.  Even the ride to the beach was quiet.  Austin didn’t even have the radio turned on.

Austin parked in the empty lot, and they got their bags out.  Scott’s backpack was bulging
. Austin’s was only about half full.  Kelly’s duffle bag was stuffed her personal items and the old clothes they had discovered but not very heavy.  She looped the strap around her neck and arm as they made their way with military precision to the deserted beach.  Scott pulled out his cell phone and Kelly and Austin followed suit.  Scott was so serious that Kelly struggled to keep her face expressionless.  The last thing she wanted to do was to laugh out loud at the ridiculousness of their situation.  She passed a surreptitious glance at Austin and saw that he, too, was biting back a grin.

“
First, you need to hold down the star key and the pound key at the same time for at least five seconds.”

Kelly looked down at her phone curiously.  “Why?”

“
We need to download the satellite coordinates for this location so when we come back, we all come back to this spot.”  Scott held out his own phone.  “Ready, set, hold them down.  One . . . two . . . three . . .  four . . . five.”

They all pushed the star and pound keys and waited.

Scott held up his phone to demonstrate.  “You should have the coordinates up on the screen.”

Kelly and Austin both nodded.

“Okay.  Remember the process we followed in our test?” Scott checked for a visual confirmation.  Satisfied, he none the less reviewed what they needed to do tonight.  “Press the
CUL8R
app icon.” Scott verified they had each done the first step.  “There are two icons in the center of the screen.  You have to press and hold both icons at the same time, and we all have to do it together . . . for safety reasons.  Ready?”

“Ready,” Kelly said.

“Ready,” Austin echoed.

W
e’ll stand facing outward with our shoulders touching and with our arms extended in front of us.  Got it?”  Again Scott verified they were with him on the procedure.  “We have to be touching.  That’s very important.  If there’s a break in the connection, it won’t work.”

Kelly and Austin nodded.  They were both getting a little bored with the pre-flight checklist.

“With the screens facing upward, press the top icon and then on my count, we’ll all push the bottom one . . . okay?”

“I got it,” Kelly said.

“Ready to go,” Austin confirmed.

“Okay . . . and guys,” Scott said, “thanks.  You
’re good friends . . . best of luck.”

Kelly wasn’t reassured by the word “luck”, but it was too late to back out now.

Austin, Kelly and Scott positioned themselves so that their backs were toward the center and their shoulders touched, forming the actual triangle. They held their phones out.  With the precision of NASA’s Mission Control, Scott started the countdown.

“Okay.  Press the
top icon.  I’ll count down from three.  Ready?”

Austin and Kelly both said
, “Yeah.”

Three . . . two . .
.one.”

They all pressed and held the bottom icon.

Suddenly, out of the darkness of the night, a voice said, “Austin?  Is that you?  Oh my God . . . what are you doing here so late?”

“
Zoey?  Holy crap!  Go away,” Austin ordered her as the sand and wind began to rotate clockwise around their feet.

“You gu
ys are standing in a dust devil.” Zoey spoke louder as the sound increased.

“
Seriously, you’ve got to leave . . . now,” Austin demanded frantically.

“
Okay.  Let’s get out of this wind and go for ice cream,” Zoey said as the wind and sand swirled faster, and it became harder to see the three standing inside the now darkened funnel.  “Come with me,” Zoey yelled louder, trying to be heard over the roar. She reached out and grabbed Austin’s arm, trying to get his attention and pull him out of the dust storm.

Kelly and Scott were unaware of the conversation between Austin and Zoey.  They continued to hold their arms out, pressing their icons and bracing themselves for the tumult.

The sand swirled faster.  Kelly squeezed her eyes closed and ducked her head like she had before.  Being in the middle of the dust devil was even noisier and more violent than being on the outside.  She tried not to, but she knew by the sudden blast of sand in her mouth that she had opened it and, even though the sound had been absorbed into the roar of the wind, she must have involuntarily screamed.  She couldn’t hear the others or even feel if they were still beside her.  All she was aware of was the pressure pounding against her eardrums like a pulse and the burning sting of the fine beach sand against her skin.  She tried to keep standing, but when the sand gave beneath her, she dropped to her knees.  Someone fell against her, and she tumbled the rest of the way to the sand.  Someone else collapsed on top of her, almost knocking the breath out of her.  Finally, just as it had before, the wind stilled and the sand hung suspended in mid-air for several seconds before it fell straight to the ground.