“As do I,” a deep voice grumbled from the doorway. My heart pounded in fear at the sound of the familiar voice. “Well now, isn’t this just a lovely reunion.”
“Thaddeus,” Dad whispered and shoved us all behind him protectively. “How?”
“I have my ways, don’t you worry about that,” he said, grinning as he glanced from us down to the machine glowing red in Oliver’s arms. “Now then, what’s this about a new addition to the machine? I’d love to hear all about it.”
Chapter 3
Oliver’s hands tightened around the machine. Thaddeus hadn’t taken his eyes off it either, but so far he’d made no move to try and take it away. All he wanted was to get his hands on it and keep it away from us, to stop us from destroying this new timeline he’d created.
But we were going to make it right. We had to.
“Fascinating how much William hid from me during all our years of working together,” he mused. “And so much you kept from me as well, Robert. I don’t understand your reluctance to work with me. Think of all we could accomplish together! You and your kids, we could be famous, everyone would know our names for centuries to come! We could change the very foundations of the science world!”
“No, I told you before, I will not work with you,” Dad insisted firmly. “I will not work with you. Not now, not ever and you will not get your hands on my kids. Get out of my shop, Thaddeus!”
Thaddeus huffed in the doorway, blocking it completely. “Why would I do that? You think you can threaten me? You know who I am in this world, right? There is nothing you can do to me, Robert. Nothing.”
Oliver’s arms gripped even more firmly around the machine. Kate and I sidled closer to him while Dad stepped towards Thaddeus, trying to block his sight. The lights were still glowing bright red, and I didn’t want to lose this chance of resetting everything we’d done. It was a long shot at best, but right now a long shot was better than being trapped in this horrible present we’d caused to happen from bouncing around so much, thinking we knew what we were doing. The trips we took now seemed so stupid. Going back to mess with Jade’s project, getting the chance to put her in her place…I would do anything to take it all back. I’d put up with Jade’s bullying forever if it meant never having to experience what we were going through now.
Slowly, I reached around and placed my hand on Kate’s arm as she grabbed hold of Oliver’s. Dad was still arguing hotly with Thaddeus, demanding he let Maggie out of the facility; promising they’d leave town and Thaddeus would never see them again. But the mad doctor’s cackling was enough to tell me that was never going to happen.
“You are going to come with me now, all of you. We are going back to the facility, and we will work this out.” Thaddeus stared at us with his beady blue eyes.
“You don’t understand what’s happening here,” Dad argued. “The very foundations of time could be unraveling as we know it because of what you’ve done!”
“Or because of what your children have done,” he shot back. “They’re the ones who started us all on this new path. If anyone is to blame, it’s them.”
Dad’s eyes narrowed with hate. “Don’t you dare lay the blame on them! You did this! You were greedy, always wanting more. And when William tried to stop you, you made sure he could never challenge you again. But you’re going to cause irreparable damage if we can’t fix this. Why don’t you understand what’s happening here?”
“I understand quite well,” he snapped back. “You are once again attempting to thwart my plans, my greatness!” he bellowed. “I thought sending you to the future and bringing your older version back would have been enough to teach you a lesson, but it seems, you are due for another. An even harsher one.”
“You can’t do anything worse to me,” Dad stated, lifting his chin in challenge.
“Oh can’t I? How about I start with shutting down your store and locking you up deep in my facility. How about I cut off any access you may have had with your wife,” Thaddeus muttered. “How about—”
“Dad?”
I froze at the sudden sound of my voice, the voice that was coming from my other self. Ducking as low as I could, I hid behind Dad so that the other Holly wouldn’t see me.
Thaddeus’ mouth snapped shut with an audible clack as he whipped around frowning. “You!” he gasped, staring in stunned shock at my other self. “Where did you come from?”
“Upstairs,” I heard myself smartly reply. “Why are you here? Where’s Oliver?”
From my hiding spot behind Dad, I hissed at my brother. “Now! Do it now!”
Oliver fumbled with the machine, and I saw the worry on his face. He was struggling with the idea of leaving the other Holly behind even though I was technically going with him. “Here goes nothing,” he whispered, and I heard a click as he flipped the switch on the machine.
Instead of a blue glow flowing out and surrounding us gently, the entire building shook violently as a bright red light exploded outward. I heard myself scream as she…my other self…was thrown back into the shop and the office door slammed shut, trapping Dad and Thaddeus inside with us. I cringed as my gut rolled and nausea rose to my throat. Dad fell backward into Oliver, grabbing hold of his shoulder. Thaddeus fell right behind him, clutching at Dad’s arm. Dad tried to shake him off, but Thaddeus dug his fingers in deeper. As the objects in the office swirled around us in a tornado of shape and color, I knew we were in serious trouble.
A popping sound filled my ears, making me partially deaf as my feet left the ground. The five of us were thrown through a tunnel of light, soaring through space and time. I had no idea where we were going, or where we’d land, but all I could hope for was the basement of our house, back to the very first time Oliver used the machine.
My head and my mind spun wildly as I gripped a firmer hold of Oliver’s arm. And then, with a thud, everything around me stopped spinning, and my feet hit the solid floor again. I blinked in confusion to find us back in Thaddeus’ office at the facility.
It was the last time I used the machine. “No…no this can’t be right,” I muttered, horrified by where we’d landed. “Oliver! We can’t be here!”
Thaddeus beamed as he fixed his jacket. “Well, that worked out very well now, didn’t it?”
He’d barely spoken the words when Oliver let out a yelp of alarm, and the red light burst outwards again, catching us all in its grasp.
“No!” Thaddeus tried to break free.
But the light tugged him back towards us as we yelled then disappeared with another loud pop. It seemed that we were all in this together until the machine decided it was finished with us.
We were thrown through time once more, and I clung to Kate’s hand as she did the same to mine. I had a brief moment of regret that I had ever brought her into this mess now that we had no idea how it was all going to end. Then, with another loud thud, we landed hard once more, this time in our dilapidated and broken down living room, covered in rips and dirt and stains.
I frowned seeing the house so damaged and in such disarray, but there wasn’t much time to linger on that thought. Thaddeus grunted and covered his mouth as Dad tried to steady himself and remain upright. But the machine wasn’t finished with us yet.
“What’s happening?” I managed to gasp just as it hummed loudly in Oliver’s arms and we were sucked up yet again, out of that timeline and tossed around like leaves in the wind.
There was no answer to my question as we touched down again and again…in our living room in the future, then back to the basement, over and over it picked us up and flung us around until I couldn’t see straight anymore. I felt as though I’d been squashed by a massive weight.
When we landed in the janitor’s closet of the school, we all hit the floor, holding our heads and our stomachs. Music played from outside the room, and I realized it was the night of the concert when we’d gone back to mess with Jade’s project.
“It’s going back to every occasion the machine was used,” Dad mumbled, hi
s voice shaky as he quickly sucked in a breath. “I hadn’t realized how many times you’d used it.”
“Back to every time?” Oliver gasped. “Why…why would it do that?”
“William…must not have finished working on it,” Dad replied and shook his head as he grimaced. “I can’t take much more of this, kids. How many times did you use the machine?”
“We should be…should be almost finished,” I promised, counting off all the separate occasions on my fingers and figuring where we had left to go. “What happens when we reach the end of the line?”
“I don’t…I don’t exactly know. Your grandpa never told me if his experiments were a success or not. I have no idea what’s going to happen.”
“I do,” Thaddeus snapped and lunged for the machine. “Give that to me!” He struggled towards it as Oliver attempted to yank it away. We tried to shove Thaddeus off while music blasted from the gym through the hallways of the school.
Oliver kicked at Thaddeus, desperately trying to keep him away, but then the machine hummed and the light shifted from red to blue and back again. Dad’s arms bumped the knobs, and I heard them clicking before they began spinning crazily in all directions. The humming grew louder until I heard nothing else.
The bright light filled the interior of the small closet, blinding all of us before an ear-splitting pop resounded in my head. I winced as I was thrown away from everyone else. I couldn’t see, I couldn’t hear, and all my strength disappeared. I sank down and allowed myself to drift.
***
“Oliver!”
I bolted upright in bed, drenched in a cold sweat as the early morning sun poured through my window. I blinked against its harshness as I reached down to feel the familiar comforter that covered me. I glanced around my bedroom frantically. Everything appeared normal.
“What?” I whispered as I tossed the covers off and carefully opened my door to see the hallway. The house wasn’t falling down around me, and it looked just as it had before this whole mess started. Just remembering it all made my head ache and I winced as I hurried to the bathroom to splash some cold water on my face. But then a sudden wave of dizziness hit me hard.
A time machine? Had I really just been thinking that was real? The house was fine, and I was here like I always had been.
“Crazy dream,” I whispered and shook my head as the last bits of sleep left me feeling weirdly off kilter. My headache worsened, and I blinked and rubbed at my temples. “Wow, did you have to leave me with such a bad headache?” I muttered as if my dream could be held accountable.
When I stepped out of the bathroom a few minutes later, Oliver was just opening his bedroom door, running a hand through his messy hair and yawning,
still in the sweats that he’d slept in. I stopped and stared at him, watching his face shift from what he looked like now, to the way I swore I’d seen him recently. The Oliver in my dream looked different to the version standing in front of me. I continued to stare and his brow furrowed.
“Holly? What’s up with you this morning?”
“Huh? I uh…nothing, nothing at all,” I said quickly but didn’t look away.
“Holly…I have to use the bathroom.”
“Yeah, sure,” I said and moved away from the doorway. He was about to close the door when I called him back. “Oliver? Do you, uh, do you remember anything weird from the past few days?”
He rubbed the back of his neck as he yawned again. “No, why?”
“Nothing you were working on in your room?”
“Working on?” Now he looked downright confused. “What would I be working on in my room?”
“I don’t know, some new invention or another…a machine maybe?”
He blinked as he stared at me blankly then burst out laughing. “Good one, sis, really funny.” He closed the bathroom door leaving me standing in the hallway feeling like I was missing something major, but I had no idea what it was. I stood there a few minutes longer, rubbing my forehead and wondering what was wrong.
My dreams had been crazy, so much running around with Kate and Oliver…and Mom, she’d been there too, mixed up somewhere in the middle of it all. Then there was this old guy who kinda resembled Oliver, a much older version of him. And that other old dude. I shrugged it off as I wandered down the hall, peering into Oliver’s room as I passed.
“Messy as always,” I whispered and rolled my eyes.
He was going through what Mom referred to as his obnoxious rebellious stage. Posters covered his walls, and his guitar sat against the far wall. Music sheets were everywhere, and dinner plates were stacked high on the floor. Mom would have a field day if she came up here to see this mess. I ducked back into my own room to get dressed in jeans and a black hoodie. I pulled my hair back in a braid and grabbed a pair of heavy black boots along with my ragged backpack that was covered in stickers of skulls and crossbones. I bounded down the stairs and dropped my bag by the door before hurrying into the kitchen for breakfast.
“Morning,” I said to Mom as she glanced up at me.
I stared at her, caught off guard. The mom in my dreams had been completely different from the mom before me. That one had been put together, not falling apart, well for at least part of the dream. She was nothing like the woman who stood before me at the counter, her brow furrowed with worry lines and gripping a cup of coffee like it was the only thing keeping her alive.
“Your brother up yet?” she asked.
“Yeah, he is.” I dumped cereal into a bowl, still trying to piece together my dreams as I poured in some milk. “Hey, Mom? Did Oliver ever invent anything?” I asked around mouthfuls of flakes.
She set a stack of papers down, probably her latest manuscript of some dark story or other that her publisher was hounding her for. Mom was known for her creepy, horror stories that gave her quite a reputation around town, though I wasn’t always sure it was a good one. “Invent anything? Besides how to drive his mother crazy and be totally messy all the time? No, course not. Why?”
“Dunno, had a bunch of weird dreams last night.”
“And your brother was an inventor? Huh, that’d be interesting, I guess.”
“Yeah, yeah it would.”
I held onto my cereal bowl as I shut my eyes, trying to remember what else had happened in that dream. But all it did was give me more of a headache. I finished eating and ran back upstairs to brush my teeth, passing Oliver on my way. He was dressed all in black; his jeans, t-shirt, shirt, and boots all blended into one dark color. His hair was gelled, and he had a confident smirk on his face.
For a split second the image of a completely different version of my brother flashed into my mind. I stopped at the top of the stairs, watching him play air guitar before he disappeared into the kitchen. Within moments, he and Mom were bickering about something or other, and I rolled my eyes. He was the usual Oliver. Just like normal. Not sure what I was thinking, but those dreams had thrown me for a loop. I brushed my teeth, checked my hair one more time, then called goodbye to Mom as I raced out the front door so I could wait for Kate like I did every morning before school.
The weather was chilly, and I shoved my hands into the pouch pocket at my front. When I reached the end of the street, I danced around on the sidewalk as I looked back for Kate. A cold wind whipped by and I shivered, mentally begging Kate to hurry up so we could get to school before I froze my feet off. I bounced on the balls of my boots, wishing I’d worn thicker socks. Finally, I saw her blond head of hair as she ran down the pavement and skidded to a stop right by me.
“Hey, sorry,” she exclaimed as we took off again, walking into the wind. “I had the weirdest dreams last night, slept through my alarm. And I was in such a hurry; I forgot to grab my jacket.”
I glanced down at what she was wearing, thinking how cold she must be when I realized what she’d said. “I had some really weird dreams last night as well!”
“Really? What did you dream about?” she asked me curiously.
I told her as much as I c
ould remember about the strange dreams that still filled my mind. “We were time-travelers or something; it was crazy. But this morning, I woke up and felt like it was real; like it had really happened.”
“Right, because time travel is possible,” she scoffed with a smirk. “You’re just crazy yourself.”
“You never know, I guess.” I was suddenly feeling very uncomfortable, so I asked her about her dream to get off the topic.
She blushed and looked away. “Oh come on, it can’t be that bad!” I grinned.
“It’s not that it was bad,” she murmured. “It’s just kind of embarrassing…I dreamt about your brother.”
“Oliver?” I said laughing. “Oh man, he’s really got into your head lately.”
“Can’t help it, he’s so cute looking, and those songs of his are cool.” She gave a dramatic sigh, holding a hand to her chest as if she was going to swoon. “I could listen to him sing all day long. And guess what…he gave me a thumb drive with all his songs on it, yesterday.”
“Yeah well, I’m pretty sure he likes you,” I informed her and watched her cheeks redden further. “But no matter how good his singing is, it’s not like Mom’s ever going to support him. She thinks he’s wasting his time and that he’s going to end up ruining his life.”
“He’s always been a bit wild.”
“That’s what happens when you grow up without a dad I guess.” My steps slowed as we neared our school. I whipped around, squinting back down the sidewalk past the other kids arriving. I could’ve sworn I’d heard someone calling my name, but there was no one there.
“Holly? Come on; we’re going to be late!” Kate yelled from the front steps.
“Right, sorry,” I said and ran to catch up to her.
We darted up the steps into the warm school building and moved through the crowd to our lockers. Most of the students stayed clear of Kate and me, and I was just fine with that. Oliver had set a reputation for both him and myself when he was here, and I let everyone think I was just as wild as he was. It made it easier to get through the day. There was less drama when I only had one friend to worry about. I crammed my backpack in my locker as I chatted with Kate about our classes for the day. We were both dreading another day filled with boring classes we had no interest in.
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