by Ryan Dalton
I don’t want to hurt him. “I already—”
He nodded, as if he’d expected it. “John.”
Heat spread across her cheeks. She nodded.
Fred gave a wistful smile. “Thought that was coming. It’s okay. He’s the better man—I’ve always known that. Deserves you more’n I ever will.” He sighed. “I promise I won’t get in the way. It’s just, I needed you to know how I feel. Once.”
Valentine gave him an appraising look. He really is more than I thought.
Fred stepped away from her. “I’ll see you guys ‘round soon, right?”
Valentine nodded. An impulse came over her, and she rushed forward to hug the lanky boy. He gasped, then wrapped his arms around her.
“What’s this for?”
She smiled and stepped back with a shrug. “Because you’re a good guy, Fred. Really.”
“Well, that’s something. I’ll take it.” He walked back to the limo, his usual swagger returning. “Oh, one thing.” He put on ridiculously blinged-out sunglasses. “I know you’ll tell Mal, but please don’t tell anyone else I came spillin’ my guts like some drama major. I got a reputation. ‘Kay?”
She chuckled. “You’re safe with me.”
“Cool, see ya.”
Fred hopped into the black monstrosity and disappeared down the street. She stood in the driveway, dumbfounded.
The sound of Fred’s car faded, and Valentine’s real purpose for the morning sprang back into her head. Her face grew serious again as she refocused on the task. It would take some maneuvering to keep Oma Grace in the dark, but it had to be done. If her theory was right, what she might find would change everything.
Malcolm shivered and pulled on his jacket. His phone bleeped on the desk.
Winter: Guess the hostilities are over. Movie night, take 2?
He stared at the message with furrowed brow. Did something happen that no one told him about?
Malcolm: Sounds fine, but what do u mean?
Winter: You haven’t heard? Fred came to your house, talked to Val. Said they made out and everything’s fine now.
A shock jolted through Malcolm. He gaped at the phone.
Malcolm: He said they WHAT?????????
Winter: ?
Winter: Oh sorry, they MADE UP and everything’s fine. Stupid autocorrect.
Malcolm: going to kill your phone
Winter: LOL. So you in for tonight?
Just then, he heard Valentine’s feather-light footsteps padding down the hall. She moved with a dancer’s grace, but he could feel her presence with his mystical twin powers.
Malcolm jammed a hand in his front pocket, then leapt onto the bed and pulled a thick book about the French Revolution under his nose. He’d bought it after learning it was Madame LaChance’s favorite, which Valentine had teased him for mercilessly. Denying the reason had only made her laugh harder.
Valentine rushed into his room and set a map on his desk. “You’ve got to see this.”
“Hey, can you give me a few minutes? I was, uh, just about to change.”
She unfolded the map. “Can you wait? This is important.”
“Actually—”
The phone beeped.
Winter: How about Fred’s house?
Malcolm: Yeah, no prob
“I haven’t changed since I got up. Winter invited us to Fred’s just now, and I don’t want to go in pajama pants. Just give me five minutes?”
“Wow, you keep it cold in here.” Valentine fixed him with a curious look. “Aren’t you wondering where I was? I’ve been gone with Oma for hours.”
Malcolm faltered. “Well, yeah, of course. But—”
She grabbed his arm and pulled him to the desk. “Just look!”
They stood over a map of Emmett’s Bluff. His sister had drawn lightning bolts in a dozen spots and scribbled notes next to each.
“After the lightning up in the hills, we found that round hole without a bottom. Right?”
“Yeah.”
“Remember how it was scorched?”
“Yeah.” He raised his eyebrows, impatient.
“I searched local news online and found something, then went into town and saw for myself.” She pointed to the lightning bolts. “There are eleven more places where the identical thing happened. Four would’ve been way out in the woods, so I’m only guessing about their location, but eight were right in town. I saw a burned-up hardware store, a broken front porch, a melted truck that they tossed in the junkyard.” Valentine locked onto him with a significant look. “The guy who owns the hardware store said his dogs burned up inside, and someone was in that truck when it melted.”
Malcolm felt a heavy weight press on him. Now he realized the point she’d been building to.
“This guy may not be looking to hurt people, but he sure doesn’t care if it happens. I mean, look at—”
“You’re right,” he broke in, his insides twisting. She had to go now! “Can you please just go get ready or something?”
“What’s the big deal? We can be five minutes late.” She went to sit in his desk chair and then glanced around the room, puzzled. “Hey, where’s your chair?”
A timed alarm rang out from Malcolm’s phone. “Move!” He grabbed Valentine and dashed toward the window.
A glowing red sphere flashed in front of the desk, right where they’d been standing. The sphere spun for a half-second, collapsed into a point of light and winked out of existence. A cold wind rushed over them. Malcolm’s chair now sat in front of the desk, spinning gently.
Valentine yanked from his grasp. “What did you do?”
He looked away embarrassed and pulled the watch from his pocket.
“I, uh, may have sent my chair ten minutes into the future.” He put up his hands in defense. “I tried to leave it alone, but after what happened to you, I couldn’t resist. I was just going to use it once and hide it again, but, well, that’s when you came home.”
She half-grinned. “You little sneak. I went through all this to get you back in the game, and you were already there?”
“No!” Pushing away the chair, Malcolm stared down at the map. He sighed. “I was going to hide it and never look at it again. Part of me thinks I still should.”
“Before you decide, look at this.” Valentine grabbed a pencil and a ruler. “See how the marks are arranged?”
Malcolm nodded. “A perfect circle, like a twelve-pointed star.” He rethought that. “Or a clock.”
“Exactly. Now watch this.” Valentine drew a line between the northern- and southern-most marks, then drew another from east to west. “Right there, where the lines cross. Look familiar?”
Malcolm’s jaw dropped. “That’s our street!”
She pointed out the window. “That house is dead center in the middle of everything. If he can do this, what else can he do? Something bad is coming, Mal. I can feel it.”
Malcolm knew exactly what she meant. He suddenly felt as if their whole future boiled down to this one choice. Was he ready for that? Was this what the point of no return felt like?
Staring down at that map, he knew he couldn’t turn away. Someone had to do something, and there was only them. The choice had already been made. They had to see it through, to whatever end.
He gave a resigned shrug. “I guess we should figure out what to do next.”
With a relieved sigh, Valentine embraced him. “I don’t think I could do this alone. I have the next step figured out, but first we have to convince the others we’re not crazy.”
Malcolm stepped back. “Whoa. Others?”
She looked at him as if it were obvious. “Yeah. John, Winter, and Fred need to know, and we need help.”
“Val, this isn’t some piece of gossip we can spread around. It may get dangerous.”
“Have you forgotten what they’ve gon
e through? The lightning hit them worse than it did us. They deserve to know and to have the chance to help.”
She had a point.
“You know they’re going to freak out,” he said.
“They’ll come around. Both of us did, right?”
He nodded grudgingly. “I guess it would help if we could show them one of the holes.”
“Got that covered. This spot?” She pointed to one of the northern markers. “Guess whose giant property it’s on.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Valentine grinned. “You remember how big his estate was, right? I don’t know why I was surprised.”
“Unbelievable.” Malcolm shrugged like a man going to the gallows. “Okay, now can I change so we can go to Fred’s?”
Chapter 14
The black limousine turned onto Fred’s driveway. Lounging in the backseat, the twins spoke softly in the presence of Fred’s driver. Malcolm folded the map, refolded it with trembling hands, and slid it into his backpack.
“Nervous?” Valentine said.
“Well, we’re kind of in uncharted friend territory. Hey guys, I know we just met, but can you help us defeat a time-traveling super villain?”
The driveway felt twice as long this time. There were still hundreds more trees and some low foothills to wend through before the house would rise into view.
Valentine nodded agreement. “So, how did you do that with your chair? When I jumped through all those times, the watch stayed in the middle of that bubble. As long as I was near it, I jumped with it. But you didn’t jump with the chair, and neither did the watch.”
Malcolm pulled out the device and showed her the jewel mounted in the cover. “I poked around in the Options menu and realized I could channel the energy through the jewel instead. Like a remote emitter, sort of. It shot out a beam that touched the chair, then there was a bubble, then the chair was gone.”
“Why would he build it to do that?”
Malcolm’s mind flashed back to his encounter with the shadow. “I can guess one reason.” He shivered. “He could use it on a person. I think he tried to with me.”
Valentine pursed her lips. “Why would he do that?”
“Maybe it’s part of his experiments. Or just a convenient way to get rid of someone without killing them.”
They fell silent as the implications sank in. If they kept on this course, a confrontation seemed inevitable. Were they ready for that?
The limo rolled to a stop. Calling a thank you to the driver, the twins climbed out of the car and shuffled slowly to the giant front door. Given what they were about to do, Malcolm didn’t mind taking their time.
“I found something else, too,” he said. “No clue what it means, though. When I jumped my chair, I could’ve sent it thousands of years into the past, but ten minutes was the farthest it could go into the future.”
“That can’t be. I traveled a lot farther into the future than that. I do think the red color is based on forward travel, though.”
Malcolm held up a finger. “That’s what I thought at first. I mean, you’re probably right about the color. You said it was blue when you traveled backward, right?”
“Yeah. I mean, it makes a weird kind of sense, if you look at the whole cosmic redshift and blueshift thing.”
He shrugged. “I’ll take your word for it. But you also said the menu read ‘Present: Home,’ which means you traveled to the watch’s present. Since you came back to this time, that must mean the watch’s present is also our present.” He held up a second finger. “So technically, you just traveled from the past back to the present, not really the future.” A third finger raised. “I’m guessing it’s because the watch was built sometime in our past, not our future.”
“Hmm,” Valentine said. “So if the watch was built in our past, then this may be the farthest forward in time it’s ever been. This would be its present, just like it’s our present.”
They stopped at the door and faced each other. Valentine bit her lip, pondering the theory. “If it was built in our past, would that mean he’s done this at other points in history?”
“Maybe. Who knows? And why is it so much harder to move forward in time?” He touched a hand to his temple. “This is so far beyond my level.”
“Mine too.” Valentine rested a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s just concentrate on getting through tonight. We can worry about that stuff later.”
As usual, she was correct. They had to take this one problem at a time or it would overwhelm them. He turned to the door and reached for the bell. His hand stopped inches away, trembling again.
“Remember why we’re doing this,” Valentine said. “They deserve to know, and we need their help.”
Malcolm nodded. Counting down from three, he jabbed the button. When Fred came to the door, he was still holding his breath.
“S’up, y’all!” Fred pulled them into a vigorous hug. “Just in time for the movie.”
Malcolm offered a stunned half-hug in return. When Valentine had told of Fred’s confession, she’d made him sound so normal. Modest, even. Now it seemed the loud-but-friendly oaf that they knew had returned, decades-old slang and all.
“Thanks for having us again, Fred.”
“Um, yeah thanks,” Valentine said.
Fred grinned. “For friends, it ain’t nothin’. Come on, everyone’s already here.”
They followed Fred down to the gym-sized expanse that had served as a dance floor during his party. Now dotted with furniture, expensive art, and the biggest TV Malcolm had ever seen, it felt more like a regular living room. A giant, opulent, museum living room.
Winter and John lounged on a plush white sectional. Monty Python and the Holy Grail played on the TV, and the two were practically in tears from laughter. They called greetings to the twins, John’s eyes lingering affectionately on Valentine.
“Don’t know how you can watch that mess,” Fred complained. He plopped onto the couch next to Winter. “Ain’t even funny.” That only made them laugh harder. “Can we pick a real movie now?”
Malcolm didn’t sit. If he relaxed, he’d never have the guts to do this. Apparently Valentine felt the same, so they stood on the opposite side of the coffee table, facing their friends.
“Would you like a seat, Valentine?” John indicated a space next to him.
“Yeah, take a load off,” Winter said. “We’re supposed to chill out tonight.”
Malcolm exchanged an uneasy glance with his sister. Her eyes shared the same conviction, and the same fear. It had to happen now. He picked up the remote and paused the movie on Brave Sir Robin.
“Aw, that’s my favorite scene!” Winter cried.
She quieted as John placed a hand on her knee. He leaned forward and examined the twins.
“Are you two all right?”
Malcolm moved to speak, and hesitated. Winter and Fred sat forward now, too. Valentine’s presence was tense at his side.
“What’s wrong?” John prodded.
Swinging the bag from his shoulder, Malcolm set it on the floor and pulled out the folded map. With a deep breath, he met their eyes.
“We need to talk.”
“No way,” Winter said. “It’s not possible.”
Malcolm gestured to the map. “Valentine saw several with her own eyes. Trust us, they’re real.”
“This is so awesome.” Fred pointed to a southeastern lightning bolt on the map. “I think this one is—”
“No!” Winter snapped. “Everyone knows this stuff doesn’t happen in real life. Why are you doing this?”
Malcolm paused to gather his thoughts and shake off Winter’s attack. As he and Valentine had explained their discoveries, each of their friends had reacted in drastically different ways. Fred had seemed excited by it all, like he was watching it happen in a movie.
John had fallen silent from the first moment and hadn’t uttered a word since. He just listened with his brow furrowed. As cerebral as John seemed to be, that wasn’t a surprise. Malcolm had expected him to take in everything before reacting.
Winter had shocked him. She was their resident conspiracy theorist. Yet, after listening to Valentine recount their discoveries, she’d repeatedly implied either a naïve misunderstanding or outright deceit on the twins’ part. Now her eyes took on an almost frenzied anger.
“Well?” Winter demanded. “What’s this really about?”
Valentine held up her hands in a placating gesture. “I know this is crazy. But why would we lie?”
Winter leaped to her feet. “That’s what I’d like to know!”
“Hey.” Fred touched her arm. “Chill out, girl. What ‘bout the lightning we saw? Few months ago, that woulda seemed impossible, too.”
“Totally not the same thing!” She shook his hand away and narrowed her eyes at the twins. “We were all there for that, so we know it’s true.”
“Here, look at this.” Valentine pointed at another symbol. Malcolm could hear her struggling to stay soft and reasonable. “Someone died here. We couldn’t make that up.”
“I don’t care—” Grimacing, Winter looked away and put a hand to her bandaged ear. Her eyes welled up. “I don’t want to hear this right now. I can’t! I jump at every sound. My ear won’t stop hurting, and every day I’m terrified it’ll never work again.” Angry tears spilled down her face. “How are we supposed to move on when you bring up stupid stuff like this? I thought you were our friends!”
Malcolm cast a pleading look at John. Why wasn’t he saying anything? Usually he could even Winter out, but now he just stared at the map.
“They must be tellin’ us for a reason,” Fred offered. “Just hear ‘em out.”
“No! They’re lying, and I want to know why!”
Sighing, Malcolm stood and reached into his pocket. “Set a timer for thirty seconds.”
Valentine nodded and pulled out her phone. They had known it would come to this eventually, but Winter was forcing them to show everything at once. When everyone saw, there would truly be no going back.