The Children Who Time Lost (15 page)

Kevin gave me a bewildered look.

“His name is Tristan.”

Kevin waved my words away. “Whatever. Let’s just imagine he had some crazy news from the future. Don’t you think everyone involved with the Lotto might already know about it? Carrie. Her husband. That Angela woman. All of them. Hell, they might be a part of whatever the shocking news is.”

I frowned. “Aren’t you being a bit paranoid here? We don’t even know what the message was.”

“Exactly. And until we do, we can’t say anything.”

I turned toward Dylan. Kevin moved in front of me. “Rachel, promise me you’ll leave this alone.”

I met his gaze but didn’t speak.

“Rachel,” he hissed.

I backed toward the door, still without saying a word.

“Rachel!” He punched the wall with his fist. I stood still and stared at him, trembling. He walked toward me. I knew he wouldn’t hit me, but I hated seeing him like this. He sighed when he reached me and caressed my hair. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to shout.”

I held his right hand and kissed his palm. Then I looked into his eyes. “Fine, we’ll do it your way.”

He kissed me on the forehead and walked toward the door. “Dinner is on the table if you still want it. I’m going to have a shower.”

I didn’t blame Kevin for losing his appetite. How could either of us eat after seeing that? I turned and sat on the floor beside Dylan’s crib and watched him sleep. But my mind was filled with fear and uncertainty. What was Dylan’s father trying to tell us?

Chapter Twelve

I
can’t remember how long I sat still. I thought of standing up numerous times but just couldn’t get myself to. This should have been one of the happiest days of my life, but I was plagued with worry. What if the message would have turned out to be as severe as he’d made it sound? How could I just ignore it? My father always used to tell me that responsibility doesn’t stop with family and friends but extends to everyone we have the power to help. Kevin might have been prepared to ignore what Tristan had said, but it kept nagging at me. I wished I hadn’t gotten the message. But I had. Being ignorant wasn’t a bad thing, but knowing and playing the role of an unassuming bystander was almost as bad as committing the atrocities that followed. I had to do something, regardless of what Kevin said.

I stood and walked toward the door. Kevin’s shower was still running. I pulled my cell from my pocket, inserted the silver headset into my ear and dialed Suzanna. My heart raced as it rang. I contemplated putting it down, but she answered.

“Hi, Rach,” she said. “How’s the little rascal?”

I sat back down and started to speak, but couldn’t form any words. But she must have heard my heavy breathing.

“Rachel? What’s wrong?”

I sighed. “I don’t know. It might be nothing, but …”

“Honey, what’s the matter? You’re not making sense.”

“Is that Rachel?” I heard someone shout.

I ruffled my hair and spoke firmly. “Who’s that?”

“It’s Jenny. She and Rob are staying over tonight. But what’s the matter?”

“You know what? It can wait.”

“No,” Suzanna snapped. “You can’t do that. You can’t call up acting all weird and then tell me not to worry. This should be the happiest day of your life. You just got a new baby.”

I grimaced, a tear on the verge of falling. “I know. I should be, shouldn’t I?”

“Then tell me what’s wrong. Is it Kevin? Are you two fighting again?”

“No. It’s not Kevin.”

“Then what is it? And don’t tell me it’s nothing.”

“I saw something.”

“What, honey? What did you see?”

“With Dylan’s things, there was a memory chip. It had a message. A message from the future.” I didn’t hear anything from the phone for a few seconds. “Suzanna, are you there?”

“I’m here, honey. What did it say?”

I told her everything that had happened after I found the chip, including Kevin’s reaction. About halfway through telling the story, she told me she was putting me on speaker so the others could hear. After I finished, there was only silence at the other end of the line.

“So what do I do?” I asked them.

After a few seconds, Jake said, “Don’t tell anyone yet. Sleep on it. No matter how bad it might turn out to be, people are still soft on you, so you might need to play on that. Maybe you can get to someone powerful because of who you are. But you’ve got to look out for your family first here.”

“Who’re you on the phone to?”

I froze. I could feel Kevin’s steel eyes looking at me. I wanted to just curl up into a ball. I hung up, shoved the phone into my pocket and stood up. “Don’t be mad, baby. It was only Jenny, Suzanna, Rob and Jake.”

He growled and stamped his feet. “Why? We agreed not to tell anyone.”

The cell rang in my pocket. I knew it must have been them calling back. Kevin shook his head, anger in his eyes. I pulled the phone out and turned it off. He continued staring at me without saying a word. The anger in his eyes changed to a look of betrayal. I wished I could take the phone call back.

“But they’re our friends,” I said. “And if you must know, they gave some good advice.”

“I don’t care what they said. I told you we should deal with this. Now with Suzanna’s big mouth, all of L.A. will know.”

“She won’t do that. Not for something as serious as this.”

He slumped to the floor and seemed to sob, but I didn’t see any tears. “You’ve messed it all up,” he said. “We’re done.”

I rushed toward him and embraced him. “Don’t say that, baby. We’re in this together, remember? For better or for worse.”

He looked into my eyes for a moment. Then he embraced me again, this time squeezing tight.

I lay in bed with my unblinking eyes fixed on the ceiling. Kevin was snoring so loudly; I wished I were in as deep a sleep. The sound of traffic, a hundred feet beneath us, was sporadic, but nothing could distract me from the pain I felt. My mind had been racing everywhere for the last few hours since we’d watched the video. But as I calmed myself, I tried to put things together.

I stood up and peeked into our en-suite bathroom. Fudge was sleeping soundly. I put on jeans and a gray-hooded sweater. Then I tiptoed toward the bedroom door but stopped when I heard movement from our bed. I saw Kevin fidgeting, and then he sprawled across the bed. I tried not to move. When he started snoring again, I sighed and continued. In the corridor, I gently pushed Dylan’s door open and peeked in. He slept peacefully. I tiptoed to his crib and watched him. He looked so cute and peaceful. I just wished he were all I was thinking about.
What was your father trying to tell us?

I walked into the living room and booted up the laptop. I started scrolling to the video file but stopped and glanced at the door to the corridor. I didn’t want Kevin to know how much the message still bothered me. I promised him I’d drop it. I picked up the laptop and put a pair of flat shoes on. Then I walked toward the curtain. After drawing it, I placed my palm against the top right corner of the glass. It rose fifteen feet into the air and a cold draft followed.

The dim glow of the moon greeted me when I stepped outside with the laptop in my hand. I closed the curtains and tiptoed to my left. Two floating stools hovered in front of me, along with a floating table. After putting the laptop down, I pushed a switch on the wall and the glass door closed again. I peeked through a small gap in the curtain, but nothing moved. Even Fudge wasn’t running around, which was good. He always made a racket when I came out to the balcony.

I started the video and watched it again, listening to every word. I rewound it many times, hoping it might continue past where it always stopped. But it kept cutting out at the same spot. I kept at it, trying to find something, a clue that could give me more information than I had. But there was absolutely nothing. No background noise, no sign of anyone else in the room. Nothing.

I thought about calling Angela, but I also understood Kevin’s worry. I might have been reading too much into the message, and risking everything without knowing the facts was stupid. Maybe Kevin was right. Maybe all I needed to do was forget about the message and enjoy the significance of the day. For all I knew, Tristan might not have had any severe news to share. I also didn’t know what kind of man he was or how credible anything he had to say would be. Yes, I’d been lucky enough to win his child, but risking everything for a fragment of a message seemed stupid, even if I’d seen genuine fear on his face.

I heard a loud sound, like glass smashing. I stood up and looked around. It happened again and seemed to come from my apartment. As I headed back to the door, I heard running feet and a loud grunt. I rushed toward the button on the wall to open the door, but then I heard a small explosion, followed by loud moaning. I crouched in fear. My whole body trembled.

Then I heard different types of footsteps, some getting closer and closer to where I lay on my side, curled up like a ball. They didn’t all sound like they came from human feet either—probably Lypsos and possibly even Kysos, too. Whoever was in my house was now in the living room. I moved my hand toward the small hole in the curtain. It was all I could do not to jump back in fright when I peeked through.

Two armed Lypsos stood by the door to the kitchen. Two men in plain brown uniforms stood by the corridor. There was no mistaking the uniform. They were law enforcement. But I didn’t understand what they were doing in my house. I looked into the night skies. Fear permeated me to the bone. I looked back in and saw that the men hadn’t moved an inch. One had his brown cap pushed back high on his head, revealing steely blue eyes. The other had his hat pushed down low, masking much of his face. All I could see was his large nose.

They remained still as if they were under some kind of spell. The Lypsos occasionally twitched and checked the guns attached to their arms but generally didn’t move. I heard more footsteps. It sounded like more than one person. A moment later, a tall, broad man with long dark hair and sharp cheekbones walked into the room. He paced for a moment before settling his eyes where I was. His long Mackintosh jacket almost touched the floor.

I froze, scared that the slightest bit of noise would alert him to my presence. It was completely dark outside. It would have been as good as impossible for him to see me. He took a step in my direction. My heart beat faster and faster. He continued walking until another man entered the living room. This one wore a white jacket that hung just past his waist. It looked like a lab coat.
Who are these people?
His long blond hair was almost the same length as the other man’s.

“There’s no sign of her,” he said.

The man with the sharp cheekbones continued staring at the glass door that separated me from them, a scowl etched on his face. Then he slowly turned around. “And the husband hasn’t said anything?”

“He said he woke up when he heard us come in and she was already gone.”

The other man slammed his right foot on the floor and hissed. “How could we have lost her? We have armed Lypsos all over this building. You tell me how she got away.”

I shut my eyes for a moment and hoped a Kyso wouldn’t join them in my apartment any time soon. With only the glass separating me from them, the Kysos would be able to find me telepathically within seconds.

The blond man shrugged.

Are they just here to protect me?

“Bring him in here,” the man with the sharp cheekbones said. “I think it’s about time I had a word with him.”

“And the boy?”

The man with the long dark hair ruffled it. “Just get the husband out here. Let’s feel him out and get what we can out of him first. We’ve got to find out what he knows before planning our next move.”

A chill went through my body.
Could they know about…No, that’s impossible. How could they? Unless… Oh no. Why didn’t I listen to Kevin?