Timebound (11 page)

“Perhaps they would have been happier, Kate. But their feelings, as important as they might be to you, and yes, to me as well, really aren’t the issue here.”

“Yes,” I said. “Prudence. I know—this is about Prudence. But she’s been gone for a very, very long time. I’m sorry for your loss and for my mom’s loss, but I don’t really know what it is that you expect me to do to fix things—and I’m not sure that I’m willing to help. Maybe I’m being a bit selfish here, but someone held a freaking gun to my ribs on the Metro… and I would think you’d be a bit more worried about what is happening in the here and now than—”

Katherine banged her hand against the counter. “You’re missing the entire point, Kate!
Yes,
I would love to learn what happened
to Prudence. I would love for
her
to know that I tried with all my heart to find her, to get her back. But that is not why I tried to get your parents together and it is
not
why I brought you here. The fact that Prudence could change that document you saw—not just my copy, but
every
copy and half a dozen other bits of history as well—
that
is the reason we have to worry. The temporal shifts—you felt them, you
knew
something was wrong, and everyone around you went about their lives as though nothing had changed. Like the problem was with
you,
right?”

I nodded once, still angry.

“But the problem was
not
with you. Changes have been happening for the past twenty years—the two that you felt were just rather… major.” Katherine took several deep breaths, making an effort to calm down. “Despite having the chosen gift, despite the best intentions of the trainers at CHRONOS, Saul was very good at hiding his real views. He and a group of friends, two of whom were connected to CHRONOS, all believed that the technology was not being used as it should be… that it was in the hands of weak individuals who lacked vision. Why simply study history? they asked. Why not make history—
remake
history?

“I don’t know where Saul ended up, but he figured out the same thing that I did, Kate—that parents with the CHRONOS gene can produce children able to bypass the safeguards. Like Prudence did. Like you nearly did yesterday morning. And based on what we are seeing, he has managed to create himself a small army of people who can move through time at his command. All I have to combat that, Kate, is
you.
”

Katherine had clearly hoped that this statement would make me understand, and to some extent, it did. But the enormity of what she was saying—that she seemed to be on the verge of asking me to single-handedly take on an individual she had just described as insane—scared me. “I want Dad in on this. You talk to him, we
make these decisions together. Or I walk out of here and you’re on your own.”

“Agreed. We’ll call him when school is out and—”

The clock on the microwave showed that it was 12:22
P.M
. “No,” I said. “I have class with him in about ten minutes. He’ll worry if I’m not there anyway, and if I leave now, I can make it.” There was a small voice in my head insisting that I should stay put, but I shut it out. All I knew at that moment was that I had to get away, to get out of the house so that I could clear my head.

I headed for the front door, grabbing my shoes from beneath the table and tugging them onto my feet. Katherine followed behind me, still talking, but I was no longer listening. I looked around for my backpack before remembering that it—and my books—had all disappeared into the past or future or some weird alternate version of the present.

“I’ll see you after I talk to Dad.” I closed the door behind me and was halfway to the gate when I heard Katherine running up behind me.

“Kate, come back!”

I turned just in time to see her stop, a few yards away from the house, pulling back suddenly like a dog wearing one of those radio collars when it detects the signal and is afraid of being zapped.

She was holding out the medallion. “Take this. I have another one. I just didn’t have a chance to grab it because you left so suddenly… and I almost forgot about the boundary. The signal fluctuates a bit, but it’s never farther out than the maple.” She nodded toward a tree a few feet to her left.

“Don’t remove the key for any reason,” Katherine said. “Keep it on your person. And be careful. I don’t know what the scene on the train was about and I have no idea what Kiernan’s motives are, but I won’t feel comfortable until you’re back here.”

Katherine looked pale and anxious. I could tell that the emotional morning had taken a toll on her. I took the medallion, putting
the chain around my neck and slipping it inside my blouse. I was still angry, but I forced a smile for her sake. “Relax, okay? I’ll be back this afternoon. With Dad,” I added, as I headed for the gate. “If you’re right, and it really
is
me against an army, then we’re going to need all the help we can get.”

6

I walked at a brisk pace, nearly jogging. I would have to check in at the front desk and make some excuse about missing morning classes, which meant I would probably be late getting to Dad’s class anyway. My toes still hurt, but the exertion felt good otherwise and some of the tension I had been carrying began to melt away.

The morning had been a bit cool for mid-April, but the day was warming up and my hair was hot on my neck as I headed into the building. That reminded me of the fact that my hair was down, in violation of the Briar Hill dress code, and that reminded me of Kiernan. I could see my dark green hair band, vivid against the skin of his wrist as he vanished, looking like a knight carrying his lady’s favor—a scarf or ribbon—into battle. I wiped that ridiculous image from my head and pushed open the door to the main office.

“Kate Pierce-Keller. I’m checking in late,” I told the rather stern-looking middle-aged woman who was one of three who worked the main office at Briar Hill. The two who usually handled the front desk were much more personable, but they were probably at lunch. I waited while the woman pulled up the attendance log on the computer. “I don’t have a note. There was an emergency this morning and I forgot to get my mom to write one before I left the
house. I’ll bring it tomorrow. And… I forgot to put my hair up. Do you have a spare rubber band?”

The woman raised her eyebrows and then rummaged around in one of the desk drawers. After a moment she found a large manila-colored band, which she held out silently toward me, along with a pink hall pass.

“Thanks.”

I pulled my hair back into a loose knot as I walked down the hallway. I reached the classroom several minutes late and peeked in through the small window on the door, hoping to enter when Dad was between sentences and get to my desk with minimal disruption of the class and with as few people as possible staring at me. Dad was standing near the Smart Board, pointing at an equation… and then I felt the same gut-wrenching sensation that had hit me twice before.

I leaned forward, my arm inadvertently pushing down the door handle as I did. The door swung inward. If not for the fact that I have a decent sense of balance, I would have landed in a heap on the desk in front of me, but I caught myself and looked upward toward the spot where my father had been standing.

Dad was no longer there. He was no longer anywhere in the classroom. A plump, middle-aged woman was at his desk. The woman wasn’t anyone I knew. Another stranger, a good-looking guy with dark blond hair, was in the desk where I usually sat, with a trigonometry textbook open in front of him. I was pretty sure he was new as well. The other faces in the class were familiar. They were, however, all looking at me strangely. I caught the eye of Carleigh Devins, a girl with whom I was friendly although not quite friends, and tried a weak smile—only to receive a quizzical look in return.

I couldn’t breathe. I looked at the woman behind the desk, who was not Dad, and back at the guy who was sitting in what was usually my desk. I opened my mouth to say “Wrong class…,” but
it came out as a hoarse whisper. Then the classroom began to spin and I slid to the floor.

As I came to, the first thing I noticed was a chubby, pale hand with a faded pink lotus tattoo patting my arm. After a moment, my eyes began to focus and I followed the hand up to the face of its owner, who was apparently the teacher. She and the tall blond guy who had been occupying my desk hovered over me anxiously. I looked around the room again. This was definitely Dad’s classroom, and with the exception of the blond guy, this was my trig class.

“Are you okay?” the woman asked.

I wasn’t. The dizzy sensation was much the same as it had been during the previous two time shifts, although it seemed more subdued this time. Perhaps that was due to the CHRONOS key? The wrenching sensation in my gut was worse, however, and that was definitely due to the fact that Dad had just vanished in front of my eyes.

“Wrong class. I’m okay—really. Sorry for the interruption.”

But… what if Dad was sick today? And she was a substitute? Even though I knew it was probably wishful thinking, I needed to go to the cottage and check it out.

I pushed myself upward and the blond guy helped me to my feet. “I’m Trey. You’re new here, right? Careful… you still look a bit unsteady. Maybe you should sit down.”

“Sorry,” I repeated. “I need to go.” I was still feeling a bit dizzy, but I pulled away and headed out of the classroom.

“Wait,” the teacher called. “You shouldn’t be up so quickly. Trey, follow her. Make her see the nurse.”

And so, as I hurried down the hall, Mr. Tall Blond and Handsome followed, only a few steps behind. “Wait, where are you going? The nurse’s office is this way.”

“I’m fine.”

I continued out the building exit, with the guy still following me. He grabbed my arm. “Hey, be careful. You don’t want to faint again on these stairs.”

“Look, it’s Trey, right? You seem nice enough, but please, go away. I have to find my dad.”

“Your dad?”

We continued across the parking lot, toward the soccer fields. “He’s a teacher here,” I said. “Harry Keller? We live across the campus, near the edge. In one of the faculty cottages. That’s where I’m headed. Please, just let me go.”

He released my arm. “Okay, we can go to the cottage if you want, but then we go see the nurse.”

“No—I’ll just lie down. I’m fine. I should have eaten lunch…”

I kept walking, and so did he.

“Sorry, no can do. I told Mrs. Dees you would see the nurse. I can’t go back to class until…” I turned to glare at him and saw that he was smiling—a wide, friendly grin. “Listen,” he said, “I don’t know what game you’re playing, but unless you enrolled today, you’re not a student here. I would
definitely
have remembered you. I haven’t been here long myself, so I keep an eye out for newbies—it’s a bit hard to fit in with those who have been here since seventh grade. And I’m pretty sure there’s no Harry Keller on the faculty.”

I shook my head. “He has to be… and if you think I’m not who I say I am, why don’t you trot back to teacher and tell her to alert security?” I picked up my pace. “If I’m not a student, I shouldn’t be here.”