Paradox (Travelers Series Book 2) (2 page)

“Yeah, sure,” I mumble in-between bites of my breakfast. I don’t know all the rules that pertain to traveling within alternate realities or time travel, but if I’m the one responsible for sending April here to teach me this stuff, I need to make a mental note to kick myself.

My dad clears his throat, preparing to speak. “So, Cooper, please indulge this old man and tell me more about the Council and how you came about assisting with this rebellion.”

It’s so weird having breakfast with my dad. I only really met him yesterday when we were both held hostage by Oliver Thornberry, the man who used to be my father’s partner and who apparently takes over the world—in another reality, of course. While some of the memories of me and dad are slowly starting to surface, they’re merely snippets of events I’ve forgotten since childhood. The man seated in front of me at the table is more like a stranger to me than a dad. I haven’t had a chance to fully consider my feelings towards him. Last night was pretty emotional, being held captive together, but now, I don’t know how I really feel about him, now that I know about the major role he played in harboring me in another reality.

Caught off-guard, Cooper does his best to swallow what’s left of his food before answering. “Well, sir, it’s like I said last night. Etta is the leader of the Council in my reality. In fact, it was her idea to send me back to bring present-day Etta to her true reality. She’s the driving force behind our rebellion,” he says with a hint of pride. He’s not ignoring me anymore, probably because I didn’t blab about the being married part, so he’s in the clear as far as me spilling the beans.

“Humph, that’s not what I’ve learned about the Council,” my dad says.

“The Council is a bit different than the one you probably know about. Then again, I don’t know how much you actually know about the Council, sir, but rest assured, we are doing everything we can to put an end to Thornberry and his militia.” Cooper says this with such conviction, I look over to my dad to see if he is taking this seriously.

“Nonsense. Oliver has been here this whole time. When would he have had the time to take over another reality?”

Cooper doesn’t mean to disrespect my dad, but he smiles at my dad’s stubbornness. “Oh, he had plenty of time, sir. By the year 2016, in another reality, Colonel Oliver Thornberry does exactly that.”

“That seems awfully fast,” I say. How can one guy do all that in just a few years? Thornberry must’ve had something already in place, seeing he failed to capture me and my powers.

“Yeah, it was. With the information and resources he had, it didn’t take long for him to destroy a major part of the other reality. It would’ve been a lot quicker if he was able to successfully tap into your power.”

My dad shifts in his seat. “I still don’t understand how all of this came into play. I have refused to participate in any of Oliver’s schemes. All the research I had, I destroyed, less he get his hands on them.” My father nods his head in my direction. “I sent my only daughter away to ensure he never got the opportunity to use her for his ridiculous plans to take over the world.”

“With all due respect sir, his plans were far from ridiculous. What he’s done to my world is quite serious,” Cooper says. “We don’t know how he managed or what information he was able to secure from your past experiments, but whatever he had access to was enough to destroy our home.”

My dad is totally being stubborn and I can’t blame him. To find out all the precautionary measures you took was a failure can be a pretty tough pill to swallow. While I’m still struggling with the fact he had to send me away, I can almost understand why he did it. Almost.

“If I may speak freely,” April started. “Cooper is right. Our world has ceased being inhabitable due to the efforts of Colonel Thornberry. He has reduced our quality of living and has everyone in fear. To what gain, I cannot comprehend, but I believe there is more to Thornberry’s agenda we have yet to discover.”

“Well, then, perhaps I misjudged the situation. I’ll do my best to assist you in any way I can. Although I still don’t understand how Etta became a
driving force
, as you so eloquently put it, in your plan of action.”

Cooper doesn’t say anything for a moment as he considers what my dad said. “Sir, I think you understand more than you are willing to admit.”

Whoa.
Is he implying my dad knows more than he’s letting on? That’s a pretty big statement, but I don’t say anything. I’ll leave it to them to hash things out. I still have things to consider myself.

Like what the hell have I gotten myself into.

The Year 2018

Council Headquarters

W
hile everyone was asleep over at the Fleming house, Cooper took the opportunity to check in with Etta in the other reality. Every time he takes the jump between realities, he’s taken aback at how perilous his reality is. Torn and worn from Thornberry’s destruction, his heart pangs for the world it used to be. In such a brief period of time, Thornberry managed to reduce his home to chaos. But no matter how perilous his reality is, there’s always a reason to go back; his only reason.

He finds Etta working in the warehouse that served as their headquarters. She must have gone straight into defense mode after Oliver’s attack on herself from the past. Even though he was well aware of his wife’s strength and knew she could take on anything thrown her way, he still felt it was his job to protect her.

Etta didn’t even turn to greet him. It’s as if she could always sense his presence in the room. “It’s started hasn’t it?”

“Yeah, darlin’. I’m afraid so. Do we know anything on Thornberry’s whereabouts?”

This time, she did turn to address him. “We think he jumped over immediately after being ambushed. As far as we are able to tell, everything is still the same here. If he had gone a different path, I supposed I wouldn’t be here, pouring over war tactics and schematics.” If Thornberry had changed his path back in 2011, there would be differences in their reality here. The fact that nothing had changed, at least by their estimation, is proof the timeline had not been altered.

“No, I suppose not. And the girl?” By the time he arrived at the Thornberry residence, Cooper realized his daughter, Jaime, has also gone missing. For both her and Etta’s sake, he hoped she wasn’t in any danger. Even in this time, they still don’t know what happened to her. It’s as if she somehow got lost in the shuffle within realities.

“No, no word yet.” Her eyes softened. “I miss her you know? It’s been years since I last saw her…since that night at Thornberry’s. And here we are, seven years later and we still have no intelligence as to her whereabouts. So my best guess? Everything goes as planned.”

“Well, I suppose that’s a good thing. We’ve plotted and planned for so long, it’s nice to know where we stand.” Any disruption in the timeline could have been detrimental to their plan of attack. Things would certainly be different and the Council would have had to scramble to come up with a new plan—not that they would know if the timeline of events had been altered, of course.

“Hmm,” she murmured. “You informed my past self about us.” Etta quietly rose up from her chair and slipped her arms around Cooper. “Did I take it well?” She teased. To her, it seemed like it was just yesterday, Cooper telling her about their marriage. She remembered how scared and excited she was to hear he was more to her than just a man sent to rescue her.

Even though he couldn’t see her, with her face nuzzled against his chest, he could feel her smile. “I think she’s in denial. But I’m not concerned. I know how it plays out,” he said this with a grin of his own.

“You could have waited to tell me you know. You didn’t have to spring it on me after a night like that.”

He chuckled. “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. Besides, I knew no matter what surprises she,” he kisses the top of her head, “I mean, you are dealt with, I’m always positive about us. No timeline or reality can change that.”

Etta untangles herself from his embrace and looks at her husband. “You’re so sure of that, huh?” Her face showed no emotion, pretending to be annoyed.

“Yup. There’s nothing I’ve ever been more sure of,” he said, calling her bluff.

He was rewarded with a smile and the feel of her warm hand as it slipped behind his neck, pulling him closer to her. Their lips touched gently at first, then fervently, as if they could somehow make time stand still, for at any moment, their world could soon collapse.

“Good. ‘Cuz I’d have to whip your hide if you ever thought otherwise,” Etta finally said, breaking her hold on Cooper. “Now, back to the business end of things, I think it’s time to activate the troops.”

A
fter breakfast, everyone goes their separate ways, which only leaves me and Cooper to clear the table. I’m grateful for the chore, as it gives me an opportunity to bombard him with my usual litany of questions. I’m still having trouble looking him straight in the eye, after what he told me last night about being married, but I still want to take advantage of the time we have together, since I have roughly twenty minutes to freshen-up before my first session with April.

“So you’re from the future, huh?” I ask. Over pancakes and bacon, my dad was still apprehensive about the whole “from the future” discussion, so Cooper gave up trying to convince him after awhile. But even if he is from the future, it still doesn’t explain why the real Cooper in this reality is older; then he’d be from the past. This truly is going to be a dizzying conversation if he ever gets down to explaining things to me.

“Look, I’ll tell you what, I’ll finish clearing the table so you can finish getting ready before you meet up with April. I’ll come back when you’re done and answer any questions you have,” he offers.

“Promise? You aren’t exactly known for understanding the concept of full disclose,” I argue. When I first met him, he was all half-truths, but when you were brought up thinking you’re an orphan and a hunky guy comes along to whisk you away to a whole new world—literally—you’re willing to take a few things on faith. Not so much now, I suppose. I want answers and I don’t care if he is my boyfriend (he has to be my boyfriend if he’s going to be my husband, right?), I’m not going to give him the chance to blow me off anymore.

“I promise.” He gives, what I assume, is the Boy Scout honor salute. “Oh, by the way, the pajama’s you have on are sexy as hell.”

I glance down at my p.j. bottoms. They have cartoony yellow stars and clouds with smiley faces. I can feel my face turn red from total embarrassment. While I made sure my p.j.’s didn’t have holes in them, it didn’t occur to me to check for the childish factor. How is he ever going to consider me an adult, if I look like a little kid? It’s not like I picked these out myself. They just happened to be in my drawers. Maybe this is the catalyst that changes the timeline and we don’t get married after all.

He sees my horrified expression. “Ah, I was just kidding around. You look totally cute,” he assures me. “Go on, I’ll hold the fort down here while you get dressed.”

I ignore the last few seconds and pretend he didn’t say anything at all. “Okay, well, I’ll see you when I’m finished up with April. Hey, how long do you think she’s is going to hold me up anyway?” Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for the instruction, but I have a feeling it’s not going to be much fun spending the day with her. If it was up to me, I’d rather keep our relationship strictly academic, as in, within the confines of Dominion Hall Academy—at least there, the bell signals the end of class.

“Don’t know, darlin’, but try to be cooperative with her. She’s here to help you.”

“I can’t promise anything, but I’ll do my best.” How can I be cooperative with April when she obviously isn’t making an effort. But for Cooper’s sake, I’ll try. I’ve always had problem with taking the moral high ground and being the better person. I learned the hard way; you have to fight back when confronted and don’t take crap from anyone, or they’ll walk all over you. It’s a tough way to grow up, but it’s all I know.

I head out of the kitchen, leaving Cooper to finish clearing the table. I take a quick glance at the clock on the microwave on my way out.
Great.
I only have about fifteen minutes before I have to meet April and I haven’t even gotten out of my stupid happy cloud pajamas.

As much as I’m dreading my meeting with April, I do want to make a good impression. At the very least, to let her know I’m taking her position as my advisor seriously. I hope throwing on a pair of jeans is acceptable for my first session with her. I have no idea what she plans on covering today, but I think jeans are appropriate attire for any given situation. I’m pretty sure she’s not expecting me to change into my school uniform.

After another go around of washing my face and a second pass at brushing my teeth, I’m starting to feel a bit more human. I stare at myself in the mirror and take a deep, long, hard look at myself. I don’t look like a girl who’s just spend the last week adjusting from a life in an alternate universe, nor do I look like a girl who was kidnapped and then rescued the night before. It’s just me, the same old Etta, with cheeks slightly pink from scrubbing. I know I’ve gone through some major life altering events, so maybe the changes are all on the inside.

I stop staring at my mirror image, knowing I have to be downstairs soon. Now, where did I put my jeans from yesterday?

With a few minutes to spare, I hurry down the stairs, taking two steps at a time. If April is anything like she is in class, I know I’ll be in big crapola if I’m late for our session. I’m in such a rush I almost eat it on the second to last stair, but I quickly steady myself just before I fall face first onto the main floor.

“Etta, is that you?” I hear my dad’s voice coming from his study.

“I’m alright,” I shout out, not knowing if he heard me fumble down the stairs. Talk about an embarrassing morning this is turning out to be.

“Can you come in here for a moment?”