Chapter Fourteen
Kevin looked at his watch. “Wrong time? What are you saying? It looks early evening, late afternoon-ish?”
I trusted him to know how to read and all, but there was nothing like seeing it for myself to believe. As I finished reading it, Annie’s hand stretched out for me to pass it on to her, and as if synchronized, Kevin and Jay both mirrored her actions.
Their faces scrunched up in matching frowns as they gave each other the side-eye, both clearly itching to grab that note first. They were so eager that when she finally handed it over, they almost bonked heads.
Not wanting to waste a second, they squished together to read it before passing it to Dr. Ryder.
“Righto!” Dr. Ryder gave a single nod, as if this had been more than expected. “Of course. Of course.”
“Here. Charge the phone. It’s dead.”
I took it from Nick and zapped it with purple energy. It took only a second for the bright screen to appear, but a little longer for the system to power up. In the meantime, everyone had settled down and Dr. Ryder stood next to me, looking at the paper, still mumbling about a risked calculation.
“. . . Very surprised indeed at the lot of you. Very surprised you seem shocked.” He looked at Nick. “It’s to be expected. Yes. The calculation itself . . . it isn’t a science, you know?”
“Right. Okay, so . . .” I nodded to avoid saying anyway to Dr. Ryder’s face. “We know we’re way late, but this also looks worn out.” I frowned, not liking the feeling I was getting as I stared at the paper in his hands. “Or is it just me?”
“Well, young lady, this paper is at least a year old.” He raised it to the dimming sun, still inspecting it.
“Are you sure?” I asked, swiping the phone open.
“Oh yes, indeed.” His shoulders slumped.
I could be wrong, but this had to be the first time I’d seen him less than enthusiastic about anything.
Knowing he’d been thinking about Gabby, I felt the despair forming in his heart.
I sighed and turned my attention to the phone.
There were several text messages from unknown numbers.
The notifications came in rapid-fire, and I couldn’t keep up.
But as insistent as the beeps were, I couldn’t pay attention to any of it. I stared at the big numbers in the middle of the screen. I turned the phone for the others to see. The time was 3:47 p.m. and the date was June 5, 2025.
We’d jumped nine years.
And as per the last text a year ago, our friends were convinced we didn’t make it.
I ignored the light drizzle that had started and scanned the messages, opening the last one marked URGENT.
“They left a car under some trees around here. It says if I have to charge it, to do it fast and drive away immediately. Then, under no circumstances should we use our powers beyond that. Powers can be tracked.”
Nick took the phone as the rest of us looked for the car.
He looked up and said, “The Luminaries are ruling the world. Anyone with powers who doesn’t work for them is locked up or killed. Looks like they’re using special satellites to track them. Us.”
“They said not to use our powers, but should I? We need to hurry if they tracked the jump.” I looked up at the sky. “And the weather is getting worse.”
“Yes, do it and let’s get out of here. I’ll text back one of the numbers.”
Even with the power inundating my senses from the falls nearby, it took me two seconds to recognize the metallic essence of the car.
The natural life’s energy and the car’s were distinguishable.
I stopped casting my powers and pointed toward the small opening of the trees.
It took a few minutes to reach. The path was made more difficult by the darkening sky and the rain picking up.
The big SUV was unlocked, so everyone rushed in. Annie looked at me. “I got this one. Can you get a towel or something so we can dry Jack? I don’t want him to get sick.”
She powered up the battery in the car while I quickly rummaged through the stuff in the back. There were several newspapers on the side, the last one from November 2020, which, going by the headlines alone, seemed like it had been a terrible year all around.
“Don’t worry about it, let’s go!” Nick said from the driver’s seat.
Before closing the trunk, I noticed the duffle bag with clothes and took it with me.
I settled next to Jack’s car seat in the middle, and as I pulled out a T-shirt to use as a towel for him, a little pouch fell on my knees.
Written in red letters, it said, “Open first.” Inside, I found nine black bracelets. One was small enough for a baby.
There was another note that said: EVERYONE WEAR ONE. NO MATTER WHAT.
Nick drove off and soon found a road that led directly to the parking area of the campsite. Kevin was in the passenger seat, fidgeting with the GPS unit installed in the car. He found only one address on it, and without knowing what else we should do, that’s where we headed.
I handed the bracelets out and put the small one on Jack’s wrist.
I felt my powers instantly die. “It’s a power dampener.”
“Ah, yes, yes. David finished them. Right on time. Right on time, indeed.” Dr. Ryder put his bracelet on. “Although I don’t need it, I quite like the design.”
Inside the glove compartment, Kevin found two driver’s licenses for Annie and Nick.
He also found car registration and insurance documents, all registered under Nick’s false ID information.
No other explanation was provided. We set off for the eight-hour drive, but it wasn’t long before we passed a set of police cars on their way to the campground.
Kevin turned to us. “Let’s hope we can get away with this.”
Luckily, we weren’t the only ones on the road. Being close to a tourist area helped us blend with the rest of the cars as we arrived at a police checkpoint.
“They shouldn’t recognize me,” I said, hoping the years helped for something.
Nick gave the officer his license and the other necessary documents. The man looked behind Nick, pausing when he saw Jack, then motioned for another man to join him. “Roll down all your windows, please.”
They reached into the car with a couple of batons to screen us. The rods contained a long strip of white light in the middle that buzzed when it scanned us. The light blinked a few times but remained white. “You’re good to go.”
“What was that?” Annie asked after we’d driven away.
“I think they were checking to see if we had powers. Ryan must be right about the bracelets,” Nick said.
It wasn’t until that point that I realized I was the only one in tune with the powers, and they did not—could not—feel the difference it made in our bodies. I had always experienced it as naturally as my own heartbeat, as essential as breathing. Now, without it, I felt stifled. It made me uneasy.
A few hours into our road trip, night fell and Annie swapped into the driver’s seat.
It had been pouring when we left the campsite.
But now—stuck in the wrong time with the threat of our powers being tracked—the rain seemed like a distant memory.
We made a quick pit stop at a drive-thru, then ate on the move as we pushed through the long-ass drive.
The jarring sound of the phone ringing pierced the night around 11:00 p.m., jerking Nick out of his nap next to Jack.
He let out a curse, his voice still raspy from sleep, as he scrambled to answer.
And, of course, the commotion woke the baby, causing him to fuss.
A lot. I tried to calm Jack while we all leaned in, straining to hear the conversation.
“Yes. I realize we’re very late . . . No, we didn’t time-jump anywhere else. We just got in . . . We’re all fine . . . Yes, we are wearing the dampeners . . . We figured out the GPS and we’re going to the address, is that . . . Yes, we’ll meet you there.”
“Who was it?” Annie asked.
“Chris.” Nick yawned. “They’ll meet us at the house. It’s a vacation home in the Hamptons that they set up for us.”
“They kept it for so long, even though we didn’t make it?”
“The house, the phone, the car.” Nick yawned again. “I guess they still had some hope.”
We found a dusty but furnished beach house. After arriving in the wrong year and needing power-dampening gadgets, I was grateful we at least had security.
We took turns taking showers. The long drive had been draining, and no matter how secure we felt, we still needed of some kind of normalcy. I heated some of the canned soup while Annie fed the baby. I was still worried about him, even though I could see he was fine.
It hadn’t been too long before we heard a car pulling into the garage. We braced ourselves as the door opened. Gabby came running in with Chris behind her, shopping bags in hand.
“We bought food.” Gabby smiled as tears ran down her much older cheeks. In reality, she was only nine years older than when we last saw her, but there was something extra. Lines that only years of pain and stress could carve on someone’s face.
She put her bags down and took a few measured steps toward Dr. Ryder. His lips quivered silently as he studied his daughter. She’d gone from the girl we knew to a grown woman. He opened his arms and let her break down on his shoulder, his own tears falling.
I felt like I was intruding on their moment, so I turned my attention to Chris. He stood, one hand on his chin, the other on his hip. “I thought I’d never see you two again.”
There he was, our partner in crime, with the marks of having lived a couple lifetimes more than us.
I could see the agony our disappearance had caused him.
I tried to swallow, but there was a lump stuck in my throat.
I reached out and just held his hand. He squeezed it gently, almost as if making sure I was real.
“I guess I can’t use my age and experience to prove seniority anymore, can I?” Kevin joked.
Chris didn’t react to something he’d have had a blast with before. He went straight to business. “So. First things first. Ryan, I assume you remember everything now?”
“Yes, but didn’t the others fill you in? They knew—”