Paradigm (Travelers Series Book 3) (19 page)

Since I know this isn’t the place I want to be, not to mention risk being seen by someone who recognizes me, I walk over to a safe place behind the school and try to refocus. If I want to get this right, I’m going to have to concentrate on where, when, and who I want to see. My eyes close and the dizzy feeling creeps in, letting me know I’m about to astral again.

This time, I awake to the sound of clinks and bells. There’s no question where I landed this time. I’m in Las Vegas again. What is it with this town? Before anyone can spot me, I hide behind one of the larger slot machines. That’s when I see myself round the corner towards me near one of the smaller sections of the casino. She stops to watch an elderly woman play one of the slot machines.

I wonder what’s so interesting about the old lady. I momentarily forget about my other self and watch the elder woman with interest. Does she have a family? Is this her yearly solo trip to Vegas or did she come here with a group of other retired seniors, riding a cramped tour bus from some Midwestern state, hoping for a chance to win the jackpot?

I now begin to imagine her winning and being able to retire in some snazzy retirement community in Florida, the kind where old men spend their days playing golf and pinching women’s bottoms, with grandchildren visiting during their summer vacation.

This is obviously not where I want to be, so I figure I might as well have a little bit of fun. I have no idea if my telekinetic power works while I’m in astral form, but here goes nothing. I concentrate on the slot machine until the little mermaids line up in a row, and then –

Sirens. Lots of them ringing. It’s like the sounds are coming from every direction. Everyone around the slot machines stop what they’re doing to see what all the fuss is about, me included.

JACKPOT.

WINNER.

I did it! I can’t believe I actually made the slot machine win! Not caring about who notices me, I watch the old lady squeal with excitement over her big quarter of a million dollar win. Good for her. I hope she has a blast spending all that money. It’s just too bad I didn’t know my powers would work in my astral form. I could have totally messed with Jenny after the lacrosse incident.

That’s when I see someone from the corner of my eye, headed straight for my other self. I do a double-take. It’s Moose and he looks totally pissed off about something. He’s demeanor is totally different than the Moose I met earlier. And it looks like it’s directed at the other me. I wonder what she did?

“What the hell did you just do?”
He barks, grabbing a hold of her arm.

I listen to them arguing over the woman winning the jackpot and the other version of me being responsible, when Cooper shows up to break it up.

Whoops. I think it’s time for me to get out of here and pronto. If either of them catch me here, there’s no telling what’ll happen. It’s bad enough I just landed my other self in trouble over the whole jackpot thing. I should feel worse about getting myself in trouble with Moose, but he’s such a nice guy, I figure they’ll work it out. I’ve got other places to go, other people I need to meet.

I sneak back to the large Wheel of Fortune slot machine and try to concentrate—which is kind of hard with all the clinks, clanks, and cha-chinks—but I focus again to the right moment in time.

I really hope that my next leap will be the one to take me where I want to be so I can make things right, and hopefully I can figure out how to get back home—God that sounds like a re-run of
Quantum Leap
—and get on with my life. My destined one.

I concentrate on where I could possibly be when things got turned around in time. I dig deep into my soul and try to concentrate on the exact moment where my life changed—although I’m sure the course of my fate has changed countless times by all the people who’ve made decisions for me without my consent.

The next thing I know, I’m walking down the street. Bingo! Not only do I nail it this time, but I’m in my current reality, only in the past. Four years, to be exact. I’m at the exact point in time. And I spot the person I’m so desperate to meet—my past me—walking down the same street ahead. I traveled this road once before—the one headed straight to Battle Grounds.

No one has to tell me that interfering can cause some major consequences, but I run after my past self anyway. It could totally cause some serious repercussions if my plan doesn’t work. I’ve seen enough sci-fi shows to understand that this might not be the most brilliant plan I’ve had to date, but it’s the only shot I have.

“Hey, wait up!” I call out.

She turns around and notices my familiar appearance instantly. I can see her tense up and start to turn back around, but in the end, decides to stop until I catch up.

I’m almost left breathless as I run up to her. “Don’t go. Please, before you say anything, here it is in a nutshell –”

The past version of myself looks me over, from the top of my flyaway hair to the tips of my chipped pedicure, exposed by my flip-flops. “Are you me?”

“I said listen for a second! Jeez, am I always this stubborn? Wait, what am I saying, of course we’re always this stubborn,” I ramble. “Are you on your way to meet Cooper? Because if you are, go with him. Do whatever it is he asks. No matter how crazy it sounds, no matter what Jaime says, just go.”

She’s still looking me over, no doubt confused. “What are you talking about? Let’s forget for a moment that you look exactly like me, only older, but how do you know Cooper? And for the record, I’m not meeting Cooper. I’m just going for coffee.”

I should have known this wasn’t going to be this easy. “I don’t have much time to explain. Look, I’m you, only from another reality in the future and before you interrupt me again, yes there’s such a thing as alternate worlds. I had a hard time believing at first, too, but if I know you, and I do because you’re me, you’re smart enough to know what your instincts tell you.” I say this so fast, I’m not even sure if I’m making any sense. “I don’t know if I’m too late or not, but if you do see him, trust him.”

She’s just standing there gaping at me in disbelief. “I… what… ”

I can tell I’m overwhelming her. “I can’t stand here all day, arguing with you. Just listen to what I’m saying and trust him, okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” other me says, not entirely convinced, I can tell.

Even I understand that the longer I stay talking with the past me, the more chances there are to mess with the timeline. Any more information and I could seriously jeopardize not only this world, but other realities as well.

While as cool as it is to talk to myself, I can’t ignore the warning bells going on in my head. “I gotta go,” I say, though not really wanting to.

“But, wait –” She tries to reach out to me.

I really wish I had time to explain everything, but I can’t. I’m just going to have to trust myself, or rather, her. I turn and run back the way I came, leaving her standing there, struggling to figure out just what exactly happened. I actually hide behind a car, slowly following her, making sure I stay several feet away, waiting for her to make her move. We were only a few yards away from Battle Grounds, and from where I’m hiding, I have a pretty good view of the scene that’s about to take place.

I creep closer to the coffee shop, and I see Cooper and past me talking. I don’t have to get any closer to know what they’re saying. It’s been four years, but I remember every word of that conversation. And out of the corner of my eye, I see Jaime sprinting up to meet them. This is it. The moment of truth. The moment where everything changes. But she’s still far enough away for me to interfere.

I instantly block Jaime’s path, hoping to gain a few precious seconds of time before Cooper convinces the other me to go off with him. “Hey, Jaime. Where are you off to in a hurry?”

She looks stunned to see me, but not exactly surprised. “Etta, hey. You weren’t back in the room, so I thought I might catch you at Battle Grounds. Glad I caught you.”

“Well, here I am.” I stand my ground and continue to block both her path, not to mention view from the scene that’s carrying on ahead. No need to alert her that there are two Etta’s running around.

As I stall, from behind Jaime’s shoulder, I see Etta following Cooper out into the side of the building. I had my doubts, but it worked! The younger me listened and is now off with Cooper going to her true world. Now I can blow off Jaime and head back to my own time.

“Hate to chat and run, but I got something I have to take care of. You good to grab coffee on your own?”

Jaime looks bewildered for a second. “Uh, yeah, sure. Anything I can help with?”

I shake my head. “No, but thanks. I’ll meet up with you later back at the house.” Ha, fat chance of that. If things continue to work itself out the way I plan, Jaime won’t be seeing me or any other version of me anytime soon.

Now it’s time to head back home. Wherever that is. I’m not entirely sure how this whole time-travel, messing with realities, changing the course of history, will affect where I end up, but I know it’s time for me to go. The longer I stay in the past world, the more I’m liable to screw it up.

Too hyped up over the possible repercussions of my actions, my breathing relaxation techniques are failing me. I’m so anxious about what transpired that I can’t concentrate. I take in a deep inhalation of air and do my best to focus on getting back home.

The feeling of astraling is now familiar to me as I feel myself coming back to my body. Only, as I wake from my trip, I realize something isn’t right. I thought I finally mastered the art of astral projection only to find that I screwed up again somehow. The room is all wrong. Looks like I was right; I’ve ended up somewhere other than where I started.

So the only question remains—if this isn’t my apartment, where in the hell am I?

I
hear a shuffle coming, then footsteps closer to the door.
Oh crap!
What if I really messed things up and am stuck in this strange place with someone I don’t know? I begin to panic and get teary-eyed at the prospect of fouling things up.

My attempt at astral projection is beginning to look like a complete failure. I thought for sure going astraling back to the past would secure my future, but turns out I was wrong. I take another look around the room and realize just how bad I screwed things up.

“Okay.” I hear, coming from the other side of the door. It sounds like Cooper!

I wiped the tears that are beginning to form due to my disoriented state. It’s not the time to focus on what just happened, so instead I concentrate on Cooper’s voice. Maybe I haven’t messed things up entirely if he’s here.

“Now don’t peek until I say so,” I hear him say.

I’m somewhat consoled that it’s Cooper entering the room and not some random stranger, but what’s Cooper doing here, anyway? And furthermore, what’s he doing bearing gifts? But I play along and close my eyes, keeping one eye slightly open. I don’t even have to guess what he has in the gift wrapped in newspaper. I’d know that smell the tantalizing aroma of coffee anywhere.
What in the world
?

“You can open them now! Happy twenty-fourth birthday, Etta darlin’.”

Twenty-fourth?
He’s acting like there’s nothing wrong. And apparently my life has been set to fast-forward. What the hell is going on here? But I don’t want to cause a scene, so I open the gift as excitingly as I can.

Leave it to Cooper to know exactly what kind of gift I’d love. “A pound of coffee!” I exclaim, which ends up coming out more confused than excited.

Cooper’s eyes glinted with pleasure at seeing my reaction. “Darlin’, you know I always make it a point to surprise you with my little secrets.”

Oh, I’ve got secrets of my own.
I wrap myself around him, as I have no idea what else to do. “Thank you so much!” It really is a cute gift, even if it seems kind of odd. I wonder why Cooper would get me something silly like coffee. Sure, it’s my favorite food group, but as a present?

He laughs, taking my nervous excitement as pleasure at receiving his gift. “Yeah, I know. This is as much a gift for me as it is for you,” he joked. “You tend to get awfully cranky in the mornings.”

How would he know that unless we’re living together or something? Then again, it’s a pretty fair guess since he told me my future was with him. And it doesn’t really matter what time of the day it is, I’m usually pretty ornery without caffeine.

“Yeah, I guess I am. This is the best present ever, thank you.”

“Oh, that’s not all. I have another surprise for you.”

I’m not sure I can take any more of this before I blurt out that I’m not where I’m supposed to be. He’s supposed to be giving gifts to another Etta. Not me. My birthday already passed. This Etta deserved her own day and I’m the one stuck here.

I watch him reach into his back of his pants and pull something shiny out of his pocket. “Here. I thought you might like to have this back.”

I gently take the necklace he was holding up for her to see. Cooper holds his breath for my reaction. My hand goes straight to my bare neck. “My locket! You found it!”

He nods. “Waiting to be reclaimed.”

It’s the locket that holds the picture of me and my mother. “I don’t understand… ” I look up at Cooper with tears in my eyes. This was the only thing I owned of the mother I never really knew. And now Cooper is giving me my locket again for a second time.

“I told you, I have my little secrets.”

“Oh, Cooper.” The rest of the words get caught up in my throat. I don’t know what else to say.

“You could start by telling me the truth. About how confused you are about why you’ve suddenly ended up here. And before you freak out, remember, I can read your thoughts.”

Crap
. I forget he can do that. But I’m surprised by his admission. “So you know that I’m not supposed to be here.” I say this with my head down, embarrassed that I couldn’t pull it off. “It all started out so simple, then things got a bit out of control. I thought I could fix things by going back to the past and I guess I messed things up. Nothing went the way I thought it would.”