Paradox (Travelers Series Book 2)

by Claudia Lefeve

  I make my way back to the car and can’t help but feel truly sorry again for Jaime’s mom. She hasn’t always been the nicest to me—always too self-absorbed with herself to notice anyone other than herself, but today she showed me a side I’d never seen before. She was almost human.

  The only option I have left is to pray Jaime is safe. I hope Oliver isn’t so much of a mad man that he’d hurt his daughter, even if she isn’t his own flesh and blood. She was adopted by the Thornberry’s at such a young age, I’m sure they think of her as more than just a girl they happened to adopt. At least, that’s what I’ll keep telling myself.

  I drive around the neighborhood in my MINI, purposely avoiding my house in a vain attempt to clear my head. That’s when it hits me. If I can’t physically locate Jaime, I can astral to her! It’s worth a shot. Careful to drive within the speed limit, I make my way back to the house so I can turn this plan into action.

  Thankfully, no one’s around by the time I get back. Normally, I’d wonder where everyone is, but now isn’t one of those times as I’m thankful for the privacy. If my dad or Aunt Maggie find out what I’m about to do, I’d be facing some serious trouble. Even though my dad’s the one responsible for my powers, somehow I don’t think he’d be too pleased with me using them on something he’d consider impulsive. Only this isn’t a whim. I’m determined to find out what happened to my friend.

  Even though I’m starting to get the hang of using my telekinetic powers, I’m still a bit unsure of my ability to astral project. My two previous attempts to astral onto another plane left me a bit disoriented, but I’m willing to try it again if it means knowing Jaime is safe.

  I turn off the lights in my room and lie down on the bed. If I remember correctly, I have to concentrate on the person or place I want to connect with and bam, I’m there. Only, I’m not visiting in person, but rather a projected image of me. When I did it the first time, I didn’t know what I was doing. It was totally freaky to be able to be in the same room with someone, but not be able to physically touch them. When I return to my corporeal form, I get the shivers and a hint of nausea. It’s kind of tricky, so I hope with a little bit of self-direction, I can repeat the process.

  I clear all the thoughts in my head and focus on a mental image of Jaime. I think of all the times we’ve ever hung out, in both this reality and the orphan one. I picture us seated at Battle Grounds, our favorite coffee shop, laughing and gossiping over overpriced cappuccinos, remembering when I was too poor for even a simple cup of coffee. The visions I have of my friend slowly make their way to that night at her house when I stayed over for my first ever slumber party.

  That’s when I realize I’m no longer in my room. My body’s all tingly, similar to the feeling you get when your foot falls asleep, and I realize whatever it is I’m doing is working. Instead of my bedroom, I’m on some sort of military base. The walls are adorned with photos of military officers and mementos of past wars. I wander down the hallways, careful not to make a sound. I don’t know if this is a hostile environment or what, but in any event, I think anyone in either scenario would be wary of a teenage girl roaming around their hallways.

  I pass by several doors without handles. In its place are what look like security boxes you need a card key to gain access. This place looks like one of those super top secret facilities where they conduct mad science experiments. It’s exactly the kind of place I imagine Thornberry would retreat to. He got pretty freaky towards the end there when he kept me captive. All his crazy talk of taking over the world really made my skin crawl. I just hope Jaime isn’t subject to any of the ideas he rambled on to me about. As far as I know, she was never a part of the experiment group like me and the others, so I can’t think of any reason he would have to bring her here.

  None of the doors have windows, so I can’t peek inside. Not that I expect them to have windows, but the building itself kinda reminds me of Dominion Hall, where all the classrooms have small glass windows in the middle of the doors so the administrators can keep track of what’s going on in class.

  Okay, enough’s, enough, Etta. I gotta hustle or all of this will be a complete waste of time. I make a left turn down another hallway and still nothing. This place is so sterile and quiet, it’s beginning to give me the heebie-jeebies. Then the momentary chills cease, as I hear a shuffle along the tile floors, and fear kicks in. I move back towards the corner, away from where the movement is coming from and press my back along the wall on the other side of the hallway. I can’t actually feel my back against the wall, but I do my best not be detected by whoever it is.

  I take a chance and take a small peak from behind the corner wall and stifle a gasp. It’s Thornberry. I willed myself to find Jaime, not Oliver Thornberry. But maybe I’m right and this means she’s hiding around here somewhere. Just as I begin to duck behind the wall, my body starts to tense up and the all too familiar tingly feeling takes over.

  I wake up, cold and shivering, to my aunt calling me down for lunch. Thank God she didn’t come up to my room or I’d be in deep trouble. I’m still a little queasy from the trip, so I just lie here in bed until I come up with enough energy to let my aunt know I’m coming.

  “Etta, are you home? It’s time to eat,” she yells again from the kitchen. “April will be here soon.”

  Taking a moment to shrug the lingering effects of astral projecting, I think about the building I ended up in. Is that place in yet another reality? Hard to say, since I didn’t get a good look around. But on my last astral trip, I was able to cross dimensions. I’m almost positive that’s where Thornberry took Jaime. This would explain why Mrs. Thornberry hasn’t heard from them and it also explains why Jaime hasn’t been able to get in touch with me.

  As I continue to get my bearings, I realized I totally forgot about my afternoon meeting with April. She’s begging to be a major thorn in my side and I don’t even know why she’s always so hostile towards me. But the sooner I can get this over with, the better. I mean, if I’m the leader of the Council, I eventually learn what I need to know, right?

  Chapter Six

  Long Live the Queen

  I hustle down to the kitchen where both my aunt and April are waiting for me. Neither women take note of my rumpled appearance—astral projecting can take a lot out of you—nor do they inquire as to how I spent my day. Somehow, I have a feeling that telling them I went over to visit Mrs. Thornberry this morning, then decided to astral project and found Oliver Thornberry’s hideout, will not fly very well.

  “So,” I say, taking my seat at the kitchen table, “what’s on the agenda for today?” At this point I figure it’s no use arguing or fighting April. It just makes her even more ornery than she already is. If I just play by her rules and don’t ask too many questions, we can get through the lesson faster. And the quicker we can get this over with, the better. Besides, I can always ask Cooper questions if I don’t understand something. Which unfortunately, is almost everything April tries to teach me.

  “Today we’re going to go over the history of traveling. If you recall from yesterday, the mechanics of traveling is often overlooked, but an essential part. Though, I think you’ve got a handle on the properties in which traveling works.”

  I also discovered that if I keep my mouth shut, April assumes I’ve understood everything she’s gone over. Little does she know I’ve pretty much forgotten everything she discussed yesterday about quarks, planck lengths, and time-loops.

  April is expecting me to respond, so I nod my head in agreement. Yeah, sure, April. “I think so. You did a good job of explaining things yesterday.” And little brown nosing doesn’t hurt either. If this is the only way to get her off my back, then so be it. This is also the part I’m most interested in, so I want to make sure she covers it.

  “Good. I’m happy to see you’ve managed to pay more attention here than in class. Anyway, as I was saying, it’s the history of travelers that’s particularly interesting, as it’s the cornerstone of our abilities and exist
ence.”

  Why does she always have to sound so sterile and impersonal? I wish she’d just get to the good stuff and quit acting like she’s a visiting professor from NYU, doing a lecture on boring. “I thought you said traveling wasn’t about abilities. Isn’t it just about being able to navigate between alternate universes?” The way she explained it yesterday, we didn’t actually possess the power to travel between realities, we simply know how to travel through the use of fancy technology, very much like the computer program my aunt developed to coordinate jumps for my dad.

  By the look on April’s face, I’m aware of my mistake. I ignored my own rule about remaining silent during her instruction. “It’s a little more complicated than that Etta,” she says.

  “Sure, I know that.” Whew. She doesn’t end up going on a tangent on the significance of being able to travel with the use of the existing technology and how it’s nothing to sneeze at, yada, yada, yada.

  “Not everyone has the ability to travel, Etta. Yes, while the essence of traveling as a whole does not boil down to powers such as yours or Cooper’s, there is still skill and aptitude involved when it comes to being able to call yourself a traveler. It’s akin to being an astronaut. Not everyone has the physical capability to go into space. These are things you have yet to learn and master.” April manages to spit out about half the words as she chides me. Like yesterday, she seems to be annoyed by my talk of powers.

  I decide to be the bigger person and ignore the biting edge in her voice. “But you’re going to teach me, right?” Nothing short of stroking her ego a bit. “You were sent here to make sure I knew how to be a traveler, so I’m guessing they, or whoever it was, sent the best person to teach me.” There, that should do it.

  April readjusted herself in her chair and smoothed her cropped blonde hair. “Yes, I suppose that’s why you sent me. Now, where were we?”

  So it was the future me that sent April to serve as my guide. I make another mental note to remind myself not to repeat the same mistake twice. I don’t know if the universe works on some kind of loop, like the kind she was rambling on about yesterday, but I will certainly chose a better guide in any other future time-loops. It’s not that I don’t want to learn about being a traveler, I just don’t want to take instruction from her.

  “The cornerstone of our abilities,” I respond back. I’m kinda proud I’m able to retain some of what she said earlier. Maybe her instruction is beginning to rub off on me after all. Now we’re getting to the good stuff, I bet. “So how did traveling come about? I mean, is this only something people can do in the other reality?”

  April actually smiles. It’s a shame she wastes her good looks by being surly all the time. “Very good question, Etta. Yes, travelers are restricted only to the reality in which I come from. Others, like your father, have managed to integrate themselves into our ways. He’s not a true traveler, but he has the knowledge to travel through realities, much like we do.”

  I desperately want to ask her how my dad learned about traveling, but I figure that’s a topic I can ask him personally. It also explains how he has some knowledge of the Council. No use ruffling up April’s feather’s with more questions. As far as I know, my dad has never been a part of that reality, so there has to be a good reason behind it. The wheels in my head start to churn and I’ve now come to the conclusion that the whole reason for me being in this position in the first place is due to my dad discovering the secrets of traveling.

  • • •

  I’m still getting used to my dad’s habits, so I don’t know if interrupting him while he’s working is a good idea or not. I saw him settle in his study after dinner, so that’s exactly where I go to find him. In the end, I decide he probably won’t mind, so I lightly knock on the door to his study. “Victor, can I come in?” I peek through the crack in the doorway and see my dad sitting at his desk.

  He looks up from the stack of papers and notices me at the door. “Etta, of course, please come in.” I make my way into the room and take a seat in front of his desk. “You know my door is always open to you.”

  “Thanks.”

  “How are your lessons going with April? She seems like a very formidable young woman. While I still don’t understand everything that’s going on, I think she will do well by teaching you what you need to know. I’m still not keen on you getting mixed-up in all this, but if you are determined to learn, I am certain she will steer you in the proper direction.”

  Of course my dad would think April is such a good influence. They’re both well versed in the study of science. There’s no point in explaining to him she’s awful to be around. I don’t want him to think I’m being petty. “Yeah, I’m learning quite a bit.”

  “Good, good. Now, what is it you want to talk to me about?” He watches me with interest, curious as to why I came to see him.

  “Well, it’s funny you should ask. It’s about my studies with April. She mentioned traveling was pretty much restricted to the reality she comes from and I was just wondering how you came about traveling.”

  He’s taken aback by my question, but he recuperates quickly. “To be quite honest, I found about traveling because of you. This was about the time I had successfully completed my research on inter-dimensional travel. My work was still in the beta phase at the time, but once I realized travel between realities was relatively safe, I began to take you on little trips. We went to places that don’t exist in this world.” He gives off a nervous laugh. “Why, I remember taking you to the Grand Canyon in one reality. You thought it the most amazing thing in the world. A big hole in the earth, you said. Then there was the time I took you to Buckingham Palace. You were so disappointed when you didn’t get to see the Queen.” He says this like they’re fond memories he’s reminded of.

  But they aren’t for me. I don’t remember any of it. Sure, there were some small things, little details, buried in the back of my mind I do remember. Physical locations, like the zoo, museums, trivial things like that. But my memory as far as actually traveling with my dad is limited at best.

  “In any event, it was through these travels with you, I realized you were not only capable of traveling across dimensions, but through time. I began to study your ability in earnest and in short, I discovered the travelers of Cooper’s reality. At this point, I had pretty much perfected traveling to other realities, but to be able to time travel, was something entirely different. By simply having you with me, we were able to travel in time, to the future, which is where and when I met the travelers of the other reality. They were very willing to share their technology so I could further continue my research in the study of time travel.”

  It seems weird that they would just tell him about traveling. Wouldn’t they have guarded their secrets? I mean, if I belonged to a reality in which traveling was possible—which in the future, I guess is my reality—I wouldn’t go around telling strangers from an alternate universe. “So, they didn’t try to hide the fact that they could travel?”

  He just stared at me blankly for a second. Like he knows the answer, but is hesitant—nervous almost. “You know, I never thought of that. It seemed to me they were very impressed with my research in the study of time travel that they didn’t question me when I inquired about their methods. I believe they respected my work in the field and were very open to communication with respect to the subject. Once I brought back the information, I made sure Oliver would never get a hold of it. He already knew about traveling to alternate universes, but the information he knew pertaining to time travel was limited. I did my best effort to keep that from him. I learned the more information he gathered, the more dangerous he’d become.”

  “Too bad that plan didn’t work.” I know my dad still blames himself for everything that’s happened to me, but whatever, it’s the truth. “It’s not your fault, you know. He would have gotten the information no matter what.” I try to soften the edge in my bite.

  “Yes, you are probably right,” he says with a weary tone. “Whil
e I always knew I was taking a chance working with Oliver, I never in a million years imagined he would betray me in this way.”

  I think I’ve added enough stress to my dad for one evening, so I excuse myself and head up to my room to get some sleep. I hate the idea of having to go to school tomorrow, but I know I have to go, no matter what pressing issues I’m currently involved in.

  It isn’t until I settle into bed that I wonder what Cooper was doing all day. He didn’t come over for one of his usual visits and I realize that I miss him. Maybe he freaked about our almost kiss last night and decided to stay away for awhile. Or maybe he had some things he had to take care of in the other reality. As I ponder all the reasons why he didn’t stop by, it doesn’t take long for sleep to take hold.

  Chapter Seven

  Heart of Glass

  The alarm goes off and I end up pressing the snooze button about three times before finally getting out of bed. That’s how much I’m dreading having to go to school today. Over dinner last night, I tried to convince Aunt Maggie I was still traumatized over the experience with Oliver and should stay home and rest, but she insisted that keeping a regular routine was healthy after a trauma like that. And to make matters worse, I still haven’t heard from Jaime. I’m pretty certain she’s being held by her dad in another reality, but just the same, I must have called about a dozen times before I turned in last night, just to make sure.

  My body goes through the motions of getting ready: brush teeth, shower, and change. I’d like to believe that if I perform every action in slow motion, someone, either Aunt Maggie or my dad, will stop me before I have to leave for school, coming up with some reason to keep me home. But no such luck. There’s no knock at the door, or yelling from downstairs, telling me I don’t have to go.