Chasing Shadows

by Ashley Townsend

  Karen remained silent for a long time, her expression pained and regretful. “You know I wouldn’t ask this of you if there were anyone else.”

  Sarah stood abruptly, setting the swing in motion. “You’re seriously asking me to come back?” The words were whispered in disbelief. Emotions raged within her; excitement, surprise, fear, guilt. When Karen had appeared on her doorstep and said she needed to come back, Sarah had been too surprised to take her seriously. But now that the request was presented to her again, she knew Karen was dead-set on having her help.

  Karen’s eyes pleaded for her to understand. “I told you, if there was anyone else—”

  “But what about Seth?” she asked desperately. “He has to be a better choice than me. He can help you.”

  Karen shook her head. “I don’t want him to get involved.”

  “But you don’t mind me risking my life?”

  “No, of course I do.” Karen heaved a gusty sigh of frustration, lifting her bangs off her forehead. “It’s just that you’re already involved in all of this, so I didn’t want to include anyone else. Seth doesn’t know half of what I’ve done. He doesn’t even know my theory about the king being poisoned, and I would like to keep it that way.”

  This caused Sarah to pause. Karen’s reasoning made sense, and she also felt a responsibility to her friend to see this through.

  Sarah shook her head and mimicked Karen’s heavy sigh. “How did you even get here?” She had thought that the time watch was broken, or faulty at best.

  “It gained enough energy to get me back to the lab so I could fix it.”

  Sarah stared at her for a long moment and then her gaze drifted to her wrist. The sleek, numberless black face of the watch contrasted against Karen’s fair skin. Sarah wondered how she had missed it before. “So it’s really fixed?”

  Karen nodded her head. She stood, reached into the front pocket of her jeans, and held something out to her. Sarah took it in her hand, taken aback, and slid her thumb over the smooth silver band of the watch.

  “This one is yours,” Karen said, suddenly sounding unsure of herself. “I made some improvements to the watch that the professor and I had planned on before everything went south. This new model is waterproof, so we won’t be having any accidental trips to the past,” she added with a grin. “It also has a larger storage capacity for GPS memory, too.”

  “So that’s how you found out where I live?” There always seemed to be a surprise around each corner. Sarah suddenly felt like she was back at the loft in the Joneses’ barn that first night, remembering Karen’s explanation of the inner workings of the watch and how she had inadvertently pulled them back in time. Sarah recalled that night with perfect clarity, and with that memory came others. She didn’t want to dwell on those thoughts for too long and instead focused her attention back on Karen.

  “Do you remember when we sent Lilly back that last time without her wearing a watch?” Sarah nodded slowly, wondering what she was getting at. “Well, I used coordinates to send her back, since we couldn’t give her our only watch to take back with her. It was kind of wishful thinking on my part, since the watch technically never worked like that with such minimal power.”

  Her eyes brightened like it always did when she spoke of the invention, and she went on. “It uses up a lot of battery power to transfer a person using GPS coordinates, so it can be . . . dangerous if handled improperly.” Sarah’s eyes widened, and Karen hurried to explain. “I was cautious, I promise. She either would have been wholly sent back, or nothing would have happened—no getting stuck in the in-between, I swear.”

  Sarah exhaled. “Okay, go on.”

  “Well, it should have occurred to me sooner, but the watch never had the capability to throw coordinates before it took a swim. After you left the same way Lilly did, I realized the implications of what must have occurred in the infrastructure of the watch when water permeated the mechanism that allows us to travel between times.”

  Sarah held up her hand, sensing that the other girl was about to go into one of her scientific rants that would undoubtedly lose her completely. She couldn’t help but grin, though, at her friend’s enthusiasm over dropping the watch in a puddle. “You’re going to have to slow it down with the wormholes and scientific theories stuff.” She jerked her thumb toward her chest. “Barely made it through high school science.”

  Karen actually laughed at this, causing Sarah to smile. It felt good to have a more light-hearted topic.

  “Okay,” Karen conceded, a slight grin still on her face. “Basically, I realized that the watch was able to store and focus GPS coordinates—sort of like throwing them across the room at a specific object or person. When the watch got waterlogged last time and brought you and Lilly back, it registered only the last coordinates that it pulled someone from. I just followed the trail back to you, and then it gave me the idea to alter the storing process on the sort of ‘motherboard’ for the watches. Thus, here I am.”

  Slowly, her smile faded. “I wouldn’t have come for you unless I truly needed your help, but there’s no one else I can trust to help me stop Cadius from becoming king. And we have to go back before too much time passes there.”

  Sarah bit her lip, still having difficulty believing that any of this was happening. A part of her wanted to go with Karen without a backward glance and have another adventure, regardless of the consequences. But the more logical side of her held her back from throwing caution to the wind. She shook her head. “But won’t Prince Adrian become king now? I mean, isn’t that how it works?”

  Karen was silent for almost a full minute before she spoke. “That’s part of what I’m afraid of. If Cadius was able to so easily kill his own brother for the throne, I don’t think he will have much of a problem dealing with the next obstacle in his way. It’s becoming harder for me to sneak around unnoticed, since some people believe I’m a witch who escaped a deserved fate.” She cringed. “Not that many people were there when Dunlivey arrested me, but it’s starting to get more risky for me to go into town if someone recognizes me. That’s why I need your help.”

  “What about the Shadow?” Sarah asked anxiously, though the words were hard to say. Part of the reason she had such a hard time complying with Karen’s request was because of the way she had left, but more specifically, whom she had left behind.

  Karen shrugged. “He disappeared almost four months ago. No one has been able to find him, and believe me, they’ve tried. Both to kill him and to get his help.”

  Sarah’s blue eyes jerked up, staring at Karen as though she were crazy. Four months? That wasn’t possible.

  “But he saved you from the dungeons a few weeks ago,” she said, finding her voice. “I remember you telling me the story. And I saw him just before I left, so there’s no possible way he’s been missing for that long. I’ve only been back a few weeks!”

  Karen appeared surprised and then her eyes softened in sympathy. “Technically, you left Serimone a little over four months ago. I told you a while ago that when you travel back and forth, the continuity between time in the real world and wherever we disappear to isn’t consistent; they aren’t parallel to each other or linear, like time zones, and it’s impossible to say how time passes in one world while we’re in another.”

  Sarah remembered a conversation like that, but vaguely. How could it have been such a short time for her and so long for the others? Then she recalled Karen’s words about the Shadow’s lengthy absence and gnawed on her lower lip. Gone for several months? She couldn’t believe that anything would prevent Will from his self-appointed duties as the elusive protector of Serimone.

  Her breathing stilled for a fleeting moment of alarm. Had something happened to Will? She almost shook her head at the absurd thought. Though Karen didn’t know Will’s secret, she did know how Sarah felt about him and would have told her if he were in danger. Wouldn’t she?

  Karen was motioning with her hand to the watch Sarah clung to absentmindedly. “I still have n
o idea how exactly the lapse in time between our world adjusts, but when I modified the watch, somehow it seems to have slowed the rate of time in your world.”

  Sarah wrinkled her brow, trying to follow as she pulled her thoughts to the present. “So time in the other place has always moved faster?”

  Karen lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “I don’t know, exactly. I’m not a scientist, but it seems like use of the time watches affects how time flows between worlds.” She began to use her hands animatedly as she tried to convey her ideas to Sarah. “Maybe using them speeds things up when we go to the past, or maybe when we travel back to the present, we get dumped close to the same instant we left. It’s just a theory, though.”

  “Or it could be like moving through molasses when we jump a thousand years,” Sarah added absentmindedly. “Like it slows us down when we’re trapped in the in-between world or space-time continuum, or something.”

  Karen’s hand stilled mid-motion, and she was grinning. “Who’s the scientist now?”

  Rolling her eyes to disguise her own grin, Sarah retorted, “Well, I read a lot of sci-fi, so my ideas are mostly based in fiction.”

  “Then come back with me and decide for yourself,” Karen urged, suddenly serious again. “You know I would never ask this of you if there were someone else. Please, Sarah, I really need your help.” Karen’s earnest plea hit its mark, though Sarah was still hesitant to agree.

  “But what can two teenage girls do about a medieval tyrant?”

  “Two teenage girls that can travel through time,” Karen amended, eyes twinkling as she waved her wrist in the air.

  Sarah smiled reluctantly. “Yeah, how could I forget?” She sucked in a deep breath, staring at her legs as she spoke. “Is there a guarantee that I can get back?”

  She could hear the surprise and relief in Karen’s voice. “So long as we keep our watches with us.”

  “How long would we be gone for?”

  When Karen didn’t answer, she glanced over at her. Karen pressed her lips into a thin white line. “Like I said, I can’t say for certain. I know it’s a lot to ask of you. You probably thought that you would never have to come back, and you don’t—the choice is up to you.”

  Sarah let her eyes wander the backyard for several long minutes, wondering what she should do. Though she was still intimidated by the prospect of facing whatever, and whoever, awaited her, she still felt this crazy, desperate need to flee from the stress of real life for a time. Maybe she was being impulsive, since most normal girls would just go to the mall for an afternoon reprieve, but this seemed like as good an excuse as any to escape. Besides, Sarah had never fallen into the “normal” category.

  Karen, seeming to sense that she needed time to process everything, remained silent while Sarah weighed the pros and cons in her head. What better way to forget about real life than to immerse herself in a life of the past?

  “Fine,” she said at last.

  Karen started. “Fine?”

  “Fine, I’ll go back with you.”

  Karen visibly brightened. “Really?”

  “Yes, but I can’t give you any guarantees. If things are really bad or we get into trouble, I think we should just abandon ship, regardless of whether or not the real killer is put away. That’s my one condition, but it’s a deal breaker.”

  Karen hesitated briefly, and then nodded her head in acquiescence. “Okay. I can live with that. Then we will have tried our best.”

  Sarah nodded. “I guess we should go, then, huh?”

  Karen watched her intently for a moment, looking like she was trying to read the feelings she was hiding. “You don’t have to do this, you know. You have a choice.”

  Sarah nodded her head, suddenly reminded of a conversation she’d had with Will about choices. She wasn’t sure if she was making the right one, though she tried not to dwell on that for too long as she fastened the sleek watch around her wrist.

  “No, I’ve made my decision. Now let’s go before I change my mind and start to question my sanity.”

  Karen actually smiled slightly as they left the swings and stepped onto the patio. “What are you going to tell your mom?” she whispered.

  Sarah shrugged, sounding more certain of herself than she felt. “I’ll just tell her that I’m staying over at your house, which technically I will be.” She took a deep breath and pulled the door open, making her way into the kitchen and sending up a silent prayer that all would go as planned.

  Her mom was just shutting the oven door when they entered the kitchen. Sarah took an appreciative sniff of the sweet aroma that permeated the room before clearing her throat to get her mom’s attention. She glanced over her shoulder at them and smiled.

  “Hey, girls. If you don’t mind waiting, I’ll have some treats coming out of the oven for you to taste in a little bit.”

  “Um, no, that’s okay,” Sarah began. “I mean, they smell great, but I was wondering if I could spend the night at Karen’s house? You know, one last hoorah before school starts.”

  “Oh.” Sarah tried to not feel guilty over the dismal look that crossed her mom’s features. She knew her mom wanted to spend every last second Sarah had left at home together, especially since it was just the two of them tonight.

  “I mean, we could camp out in my room.” Sarah spoke with calculated slowness.

  Her mom made an obvious effort to paste on a brave smile. “Honey, it would be a crime to sleep in a room that the W.H.O. wouldn’t go into, even if they could find some new species of bacteria to study.”

  Sarah rolled her eyes, but was unable to contain her grin. “Ha-ha. Very funny.”

  Her mom’s smile was more genuine now, though a hint of nostalgia still hung in her blue eyes. “Of course you can go. Have fun.”

  “Thanks.” Sarah hugged her mom for longer than a typical goodbye required. She pulled away reluctantly and saw the tears that pooled in her mom’s eyes, though she quickly blinked them away.

  “It was nice meeting you, Mrs. Matthews,” Karen said, speaking for the first time since they had reentered the house.

  Sarah’s mom smiled. “You are welcome here anytime, sweetie. Give me a call if you girls need anything.”

  “We will, Mom.” Sarah sent a small wave over her shoulder as they walked to the front door. She hoped her mom wouldn’t notice that she didn’t bring an overnight bag.

  The two girls stood just outside the front door. “So, what exactly are we supposed to do now?” Sarah asked, shoving her hands into the pockets of her shorts and rocking back on her heels. She let her gaze wander the yard and stiffened.

  Her sister Lilly stood frozen in open-mouthed shock on the pathway leading up to the house, pointing with a trembling hand. Her wide eyes were fixed on Karen. “But you—how—”

  “Hi, Lilly!” Karen greeted brightly, looking like nothing were amiss.

  Oh no, Sarah inwardly moaned. This had seriously come back to bite her in the seat meat. Walking forward slowly, she held up her hands as if she were moving towards a startled kitten. “Don’t freak out, Lil.”

  Lilly’s swallow was audible, and she stuttered unintelligibly until she at last managed to shriek, “Holy cow!” Then she skipped excitedly past Sarah and started doing that hunched-shoulders dance she did whenever she was positively giddy, fingers jabbing the air to punctuate her excitement. “It was all true! Holy smokes, this is awesome!”

  She stopped suddenly, oblivious to Sarah’s grimace and the way Karen balked at the gleeful girl. “I have to tell someone. This kind of stuff doesn’t happen everyday. I traveled through time!” Lilly giggled, seemingly on cloud nine. So much for the heavy guilt Sarah had been harboring for weeks.

  “Whoah, hold up there.” Sarah gripped her sister’s shoulders to still her jittering, needing her full attention. “Lil, you can’t tell anyone about this.”

  The younger girl laughed, as though the idea was absurd. Then she gaped at her sibling’s grave expression. “You can’t be serious.”

>   “Dead serious. Nobody can know about this.”

  Lilly’s excited gaze darted between the two girls. “You’re going back, aren’t you? Can I come? I just walked back for my toothbrush. Give me two seconds.” She made a move for the house, but Sarah held her back.

  She cringed, knowing her sister wouldn’t like what she had to say. “You can’t come with this time.”

  Crestfallen, Lilly whined, “But why not? I can sleep over at Kacey’s another night.” She threw her arms wide and practically yelled, “We’re defying gravity! Or whatever!”

  Sighing, Sarah wiped her sweaty palms against her shorts. She would not miss the heat, that’s for sure. “You just can’t.” She held up her hands in self-defense at Lilly’s suspicious glare. “I know that’s a lame excuse, but it’s too dangerous to bring you along again if I don’t have to. Hopefully, I’ll be back before anyone has a chance to miss me, but just promise me you won’t make a peep to mom or anyone else.” Lilly chewed on her lip, and Sarah narrowed her eyes. Her sister wasn’t exactly known for sealed lips. “I’m serious,” she said slowly.

  Lilly’s shoulders sagged. She kicked a pebble and watched it skitter down the path. “Okay, fine,” she huffed dejectedly. “But it really stinks to be left behind. Nothing exciting ever happens here.”

  Pulling her in for a hug, Sarah exhaled. “I know, Kiddo. I know. But I promise to bring back stories.”

  “Can I at least write about it in my diary?”

  Sarah leaned back to shoot her a look, and Lilly backed towards the door. “Fine, but I expect really great stories if I have to keep my mouth shut. And tell Leah I say ‘hi.’”

  Sarah smiled. “Deal.” She suddenly wondered how long it would be until she saw her baby sister again and swallowed. “I love you, Kiddo.”

  Brow furrowing nervously, Lilly said, “But you’ll be back soon, right? You promised.”

  “Yeah.” Sarah nodded her head decisively. “I’ll always come back.” Her sister looked relieved by the oath, but realization twisted Sarah’s insides. She was forever destined to live in Bethany, Oklahoma—maybe as a wife, or she might someday manage the pet store in the small town. But she would always return to her normal life and leave the extraordinary behind.