Paradigm (Travelers Series Book 3) (7 page)

“Impossible. Besides, isn’t that Chase’s ability? We’re talking about how this will affect the future, not the past.” Everyone on their team had special abilities. The twins were sort of a yin and yang combo. Chance could see into the past and Chase could see the future. Too bad Chase wasn’t here to counter his brother’s grim outlook.

“Correction, it’s improbable. And no, we’re trying to set the past straight in order to cement our future, and I’m telling you, I’ve seen the past and our plan fails.”

Undeterred, Etta tried to convince Chance, as well as herself. “I’m not entirely convinced. Don’t get me wrong, I completely trust your abilities and they certainly have merit. You’ve rarely steered us wrong, but I’m here. In this future. Which tells me that whatever we end up doing works.”

He nods in agreement. “Realities, as well as futures, are simply snapshots into the different paths available to us, this is correct. There is only one true future, only we don’t know which is the correct one, until you reach it. Perhaps if I took you to a particular point in time… take you to a moment that is bound to get your attention.”

It was worth a shot, she thought to herself. Even though her reality, not to mention destiny itself, veered off course, they were still aware of the different patterns throughout the multiverse. “Now you’re talking.”

Present Reality

A
fter much hugging and a few shed tears, Maggie and I decide that talking about alternate realities and how I ended up here isn’t an appropriate conversation to have at Battle Grounds, so we decide to continue our talk back at her place. So we make arrangements to continue our talk after I get off work. She promised to pick me up at the office and now here we are.

The short drive from the office to her house is silent. It seems like neither of us wanted to waste time over idle chit-chat when there are more pressing matters to discuss once we got to her place. I recognize the neighborhood as she maneuvers the car onto one of the streets that boasts some of the largest homes in the town.

I have to say, I’m immediately drawn to the old colonial as she drives up to the gated property. To say that I’m in total awe is an understatement. As I follow her up the path to the house and through the front door, I find the interior is even more impressive than the outside of the house. I totally feel like I’m out of my element, but at the same time comfortable, being here with Maggie.

“How do you know all this?” I babble on as I continue to follow her through the house, still not believing that my aunt seems to understand what Cooper’s been trying to get me to believe. None of this makes sense, but I want to know, now more than ever, just exactly what’s going on.

We settle into the kitchen, where Maggie appears instantly at home—duh, it
is
her house. If I thought the house was impressive, the kitchen is to die for. It looks like what those shows on HGTV would call a “chef’s kitchen.” It has everything a professional chef could possibly want. It even has one of those pasta faucets directly over the stove. It’s no wonder Maggie has a great set-up, she is a cooking instructor after all.

I seat myself on the massive wood table and watch Maggie dance around the kitchen. Seriously. Watching her move around the room, opening cabinets, closing drawers, reminds me of a slow but professional ballet in progress. After a few moments, she finally places a carafe of coffee on the kitchen table, right next to a batch of freshly baked scones, and begins to explain what she knows of my predicament. Clearly, she certainly doesn’t waste any time and continues where we left off back at the coffee shop.

She begins by answering my question. “My brother, your father, was a renowned physicist. Now, I’m not a scientist by any means, but I paid attention to his work. After my husband Robert died, my brother graciously allowed me to live here with his family. As a result, I was constantly surrounded by his work and while your father never talked about what he did, I knew enough to know what he was up to.” Her eyes drop down. “When you… ” She stops to look at me. “Excuse me, when the version of you and her parents died in the crash, I just kept on living here. It was my job to go over the boxes of paperwork your father had kept over the years. I can’t say that my curiosity didn’t get the better of me.”

My father.
The one who died with the alternate version of me in this reality along with my mother. It’s hard to keep it all straight. I know the man that died in this reality isn’t really my father, but still.

“What does any of this have to do with me? Now, here, in this world I’m not supposed to be in? Did his stuff mention any of that?”

“I don’t know, dear, but like you said, you’re here now and that’s all that matters to me. To be honest, I stopped reading what he had in those boxes of his after a couple of weeks of trying to figure out what it all meant. I couldn’t bear to surround myself with his work after a while.”

Those boxes must contain something about why I’m here in this reality. I’m not totally surprised that Maggie didn’t root through most of his belongings. It must be hard losing your family so suddenly, like the plane crash that killed Etta and her parents in this reality.

“Well, one thing’s for sure, I’m some freak from another reality and I’ve been stuck in this place thinking I was an orphan.” The thought of this not only sinks in, but angers me. “How did I get here?” My statement isn’t aimed at Maggie directly, but the question still lingers in the air like bad company that refuses to leave.

Maggie gets up from her seat and hugs me for what feels like the hundredth time today. This one’s a hugger, I realize. So not like me, but I like it. If she never stops doing this, I could get used to it.

“I’m so sorry this has happened to you, but I’m sure we can figure it out,” Maggie says, finally letting go.

The knock on the door makes us both jump up from our seats.

“Are you expecting company?” I brace the arms of the chair, causing my knuckles to turn white. I don’t know why I’m so jumpy, but it is kind of suspect having someone at the door during a conversation like this.

Maggie shakes her head. “It’s probably just someone trying to sell me something. We get a lot of those around here. Let me go check.”

I hear muffled voiced coming from the foyer and after few minutes pass, I can detect two sets of footsteps as she walks back into the kitchen with Cooper in tow.

“What are you doing here?” My surprise over seeing Cooper walk into the kitchen couldn’t be more blatant. I think even my jaw dropped. How’d he track me down here? Forget the case of the jumps, call me shocked.

“This young man says he’s here to clear up some things,” Maggie says, looking unsure as to why he’s here.

I’ve warmed up to the idea that there are things beyond my control. The fact that I’m sitting in my aunt’s home is proof of that, so while I’m surprised to see him here, I can’t very well get too upset that Cooper’s followed me. I’d like to get some answers. The first being how he knew to find me here.

“How did you know I was here?”

He shrugs, as if it’s no big deal. “I told you. I’m from the future. It’s kind of a long story, but I knew you were here because I knew where to find you.”

See? Riddles. That makes absolutely no sense, but whatever. “I’m not even going to pretend I understand any of this, so you might as well try and explain. You’ve obviously left some things out, and you’re not leaving until I get some answers.”

“Fair enough. May I?” He points to the kitchen table.

Maggie ushers him to the table where I’m seated. “Please. Why don’t I go into the next room so you can have some privacy?”

“No, Maggie, you stay here.” It’s her place, after all. Besides, even though I feel as if this conversation has played out before, I want another set of ears to help me sort all this out. It’s not like she doesn’t already know about the alternate reality part. Another wave of déjà vu hits as I stare into Cooper’s eyes, the second time this week. “Okay, so spill.”

He looks over to me and then to Maggie. “Looks like you’ve reconnected with your aunt.”

“Yeah, well, it would have been nicer if you had forewarned me.”

“Things aren’t always easy, especially when it comes to you, darlin’.”

There’s no doubt there’s some sort of chemistry between us, but I fight the urge to find him charming and sexy as hell, which of course, I obviously do. “And what’s up with that, anyway? Why do you insist on calling me that?”

Cooper shrugs. “Habit. You don’t seem to mind it so much in the future.”

“Well, we’re here now in the present,” I grumble, still not relenting to his charms.

“Touché. Now that we’ve got all that cleared up, where would you like me to start?”

I didn’t think it be this easy getting answers from Cooper, but I have a feeling we’ve done this before. “Why don’t you start from the top?”

“As I told you back at the coffee shop, you’re not from this reality. You were brought here as a young girl by your father to protect you –”

“Wait,” I interrupt. “Maggie said earlier my father is dead.” She told me he died in the same plane crash that took the Etta and her mom from this reality. Wouldn’t my real father from my own reality have met the same fate? I look over to her for confirmation, as she nods in response. I can tell she’s trying to keep out of this discussion. Which is probably a good idea as Cooper tends to talk and answer in riddles.

“Unfortunately he is. In both realities.” He can see the confusion on my face, so he continues. “The Victor Fleming from this reality died in a plane crash along with Etta and her mother. The Victor from your true reality died several years back.”

“Oh.” For a second, I was a bit hopeful that I would be able to reunited with my parents in my other reality. That is, if I believe him and chose to go back. I’m slowly starting to get used to the idea of alternate worlds and if I’ve already traveled to this reality, I guess I hoped I could go back to my real one. “And my mother?”

“I’m afraid she’s gone too. She died in the same plane crash in that reality as she did in this one.”

Seems like I was right. History repeats itself, even if it’s in another universe. I wonder why it was only my mother that died in the other reality. I decide to save the tougher questions about my family for later. I don’t know if I can handle the answers to those just yet.

“So what else? I’m brought to this reality and now what? Why are you here exactly?”

Cooper shuffled in his seat. “That’s where things gets complicated.”

“Like it’s not already?”
Okay, Etta, enough with giving him a hard time.
“Sorry. Go on with what you were saying.”

Undeterred by my childish behavior, he continues. “It’s the timeline shift I told you about before. At first, when you were seventeen and still living at Dominion House for Girls, I went to retrieve you in order to take you back to your rightful world. Everything was set back into place, but then the timeline got skewed. You stayed in this reality and now here we are.”

“That’s what you were doing all those years ago? Trying to get me to go back with you?” Boy, things would totally have turned out differently if I had. I don’t know if things would have been for the better, but I’d be lying if I wasn’t intrigued by the prospect of leading a different life these last four years. “And you’re saying that in another reality, I actually did go back with you.” Yeah, it’s complicated, all right.

“Yes. It was only when you didn’t come with me that timeline shifted. Since you never went with me, this reality, not to mention your true reality, have been altered. I don’t know what happened to make you change your mind, but you did. So now here I am, trying to set the past right.”

I don’t really remember anything specific about that day except for when Cooper came and asked me to leave Battle Grounds with him. Only I didn’t know then that what he meant was to leave with him for good. There really isn’t anything else I remember after that. Except Jaime. She showed up right as he was trying to convince me to go. Then she proceeded to lecture me about meeting up with him.

After a brief glimpse back into the past, I finally speak. “So you still want to take me back. But why?”

Both my parents are dead in that reality. There really isn’t any incentive for me to want to go back now. If I’m to accept everything at face value, which isn’t easy by the way, this is my life now. I can’t just decide to pick up and leave everything I know and love behind.

“Because everything ties into the reason you were sent here in the first place.”

“And that would be?”

“Oliver Thornberry. He was your father’s partner in a new field of psionic study. Testing the extrasensory abilities in children. Later on, your father stumbled into time-travel while at the same time Thornberry became ruthless in his pursuit to change the world. You got caught in the crossfire and so your father brought you here. You were the key to everything.”

It’s an improper moment, I know, but I burst out laughing. “That sounds like a really bad storyline for a series pilot that doesn’t even get picked up. What you just said makes absolutely no sense. Psionics? I don’t even know what that means.”

“You should. You have the ability of telekinesis and astral projection. Those are psionic or rather, paranormal abilities.”

My attention quickly shifts towards Maggie. I’m completely horrified that she now knows my secret. One I’ve spent my whole life trying to suppress. I slowly get up from my seat and back away from where he’s seated at the table. One thing I learned from working in a law office, not to mention watching countless legal shows, is to deny everything.

The last thing I want is for her to know about my time in foster care. All of the disciplinary actions against me because I was considered a troubled kid. None of that was really my fault, but every time I was afraid or felt threatened, people got hurt. So I’m well aware of the freak powers Cooper’s talking about, but I’ll be damned if I ruin this new relationship with her over her knowledge of it.