"But we know Clark," she insisted.
"I know Clark, but he probably won't even remember you. Just keep the necklace."
But did she listen to his advice? No, of course not. When his back was turned, she tried to sneak backstage. She spotted Bellamy and yelled to him with a wave. He glanced her way, but the security guards stepped in front of her, stopping her from reaching him and hauled her off and told her they had her photo on record. If she showed her face at another concert, she'd be arrested.
"Humiliated, I ran off to find Bryce," she told Kelsey and Lisa as she came to the end of her story. "Never saw him so pissed, and had to hear about it all the way home."
Lisa was still chuckling as she reached for her soda. "Now that is a story you should be telling. It's hilarious. I can't believe you've been holding out on us, Evie." Lisa gave Kelsey a sideways glance with the straw still in her mouth as she spoke. "You've been awfully quiet. What gives?"
Evie glanced at Kelsey, who eyed her with a strange glint in her eye.
"Yours and Bellamy's paths have crossed a few times," Kelsey said with some thought, not really a question, but as if she were thinking out loud. "It could work." She slammed her fist on the table.
"Jesus, Kelsey," Lisa said with a start. "What's with the theatrics?"
"Only the solution." Her lips curved wide as she glanced at Lisa. "You gave me the idea. Never thought to implement such a thing, but you, my friend," she leaned across the table then and reached for Evie's hand, "are the key to this. Please tell me you still have the necklace Bellamy gave you."
"He didn't give it to me."
She waved her off and sat back in her seat. "No matter the rhyme or reasons, do you have a possession of Bellamy Lovel's or not?
"Yes, of course, but–"
"Then it can be done. I'll have to check my mother's book and…" Kelsey once claimed her mother's family practiced voodoo or was it hoodoo? Evie was never quite clear which it was.
"What are you babbling on about?" Lisa interrupted.
Those large amber eyes widened with excitement. "Time travel, my lovelies. We're going to send Evie back in time to save Bellamy Lovel." She rose from her seat and grabbed her purse. "Meet me back at your place," she said to Evie and hurried away as if contemplating time travel was a normal everyday conversation.
"Is she on something?" Lisa asked. "Because that was just crazy talk."
"I have no idea." She chuckled. "I guess I'm heading back to my place. I'll talk to her then."
"I'll go with you. I have the life-size cutout of Lovel in my car. Charged it to my credit card. Wait 'til you see it. It's just about as huggable as you can get."
After Evie ordered a slice a pie to go, they drove back to her place. She and Lisa were discussing the last of the details for the gala when the frantic knocking at the door put an end to the discussion.
"She's here," Evie said and stood to open the door. Kelsey strode inside, holding a plastic bag without so much as a greeting of hello. "Good Lord, Kelsey, what's that smell?" She fanned the air in front of her nose.
"Where is–" Kelsey stopped cold and Evie followed her gaze to where the life size cutout of Bellamy stood, wearing white pants with blue stripes and an open shirt. He was crooking a finger at them as if to say, Slide a little closer. "That is perfect," Kelsey exclaimed. "Loved him in those tight pants, and whoever thought he should wear a button-down shirt and show off that chest should receive a medal. Bring it outside," she ordered. "And Evie, get that necklace. We're going to need it, too." Kelsey was already heading out the back door to the patio, fully expecting them to follow her instructions.
Lisa looked to her for an explanation and Evie shrugged. "You got me. Let me see if I can find the necklace. I can't help but be a tad bit curious. Aren't you?"
"If you say so." Lisa retrieved Bellamy. "I guess we're going to a party," she said to the cardboard cutout.
When Evie and Lisa stepped outside, they froze as they watched Kelsey drawing a circle on the ground.
"Is that blood?" Lisa choked in disbelief as she stood witness to this lunacy. She placed the cardboard cutout of Bellamy next to her.
"Of course it's blood," Kelsey said without pause. "You need fresh blood to perform the ritual."
"What did you do?" Lisa asked as she drew a little closer. "Did you murder someone on the way over here?"
Kelsey harrumphed. "As if I'd have time to kill someone, fill a bottle up with their blood, and hide the body so I could hightail it over here without being caught."
"It's blood, though," Evie said, just as shocked as Lisa was. That had been the scent she'd picked up when Kelsey had strode into her house.
"It's chicken blood, girls. Get a grip."
"Ew," Lisa said.
"What?" Kelsey said sarcastically. "Did you think when you carnivores picked up your chicken pieces that there was never any blood involved?" Kelsey was a vegan and wouldn't dream of harming another animal for food, but here she was with a bag full of chicken blood. "Stop looking at me as if I murdered your grandmother, Evie. I picked up the blood at the butcher shop."
"Tell me again, why do we need blood?" Evie asked, really concerned that Kelsey was suffering from some kind of mental breakdown.
"Time travel requires fresh blood," she answered. "The essence of all living creatures."
"Well of course blood is needed," Lisa's sarcasm didn't go unnoticed. "You do know time travel is not possible."
"Tell that to my mother who's serving 10 to 20 behind bars."
"They arrested her for time traveling?" Lisa asked as she followed Kelsey's progress of carefully making sure the line of blood remained unbroken, adding more blood if it was.
"Don't be an idiot, Lisa," Kelsey snapped. "My mother time traveled back to kill her no good boyfriend before he could beat my sister half to death."
Evie shook her head in disbelief. When she'd first met Kelsey, she told her the story about her mother being in prison, but she'd conveniently left out the part about time traveling. "Your mother traveled back in time to kill her boyfriend?" she repeated just to make sure she'd heard this correctly.
Kelsey paused to peer at her and said, "Am I speaking a different language or something? Listen, she traveled back too far in time. She should have waited for when Barney – the boyfriend – was stinking drunk but she plopped back when he had just arrived home from work. Makes it difficult to claim your life and your children's were in danger when the man bore no weapon and his blood alcohol level was zilch."
"So why didn't she just travel back to the correct time and fix her mistake?" Lisa offered.
Kelsey rolled her eyes as if she were explaining the details of time travel to a bunch of imbeciles. "You can't travel back in time to the same event line twice. It's a one-time shot. We have choices, a fork in the road. Both paths have a different outcome. Doesn't mean the one path will be what you hoped for, but it's an option if you know the other totally sucked." She looked at Evie. "My mother, she meant well, but she used magic to take a life. There's always a hefty price for dark magic, even if the bastard deserved it. Do you understand?"
"Don't kill anyone. Got it," Evie said, even though murder would never enter her mind or at least she would hope not. She found Kelsey eyeing her closely. "What?" Evie asked.
"I know this is a lot to take in. Your journey will be nothing like my mother's." She finished the circle, then placed the bag down and slipped her hand into the pocket of her jean jacket. "Now for the symbols."
"You have to read instructions to do this." Lisa threw up her hands.
"It's not like I've done this before," Kelsey said. "I had to find out how to do the spell from my mother's spell book. Now hush. I need to get this right. You wouldn't want me to send Evie back to a place she shouldn't be, would you?"
"Are you hearing all this?" Lisa asked Evie as if she hadn't been paying attention.
Oh, she'd been listening all right. "Why can't you go back in time yourself?" Evie asked, playing
along for now. "Why do I have to go?" If anyone could talk someone out of ending their life, she'd place her bet with Kelsey.
"'Cause you have all the correct variables to make this a success. You've crossed paths with Bellamy. You were supposed to be with him right before the Fall Fest Tour began and you have something that is his. That's a must if you're searching for a particular point in the timeline. The necklace is your anchor to the past, but you also need an anchor to come back, which will be Lisa and me."
"What if I run into my younger self? What then? Won't that cause a paradox or something?"
"Listen," Kelsey said. "I'd love to give you the complete lesson on time travel but we don't have all night. I have to go to work at eleven, but I'll give you the quick version. When you go back, you'll still be you. You'll merge with your younger self in a way. Both of you can't exist in the same place in the timeline, you sort of merge into one. You'll remember all you know now, only you'll resume your life where your younger self had been."
She blinked as she tried to comprehend what Kelsey was telling her. "And where exactly does my younger consciousness go?"
"Waiting in a kind of limbo, I suppose. That's why you can't stay in the past. You have to eventually come back. Don't know what happens if you don't, but I'm sure it isn't good." She returned to her notes again, mumbling something about special relativity and space-time, and other words she couldn't pronounce. Then she took out a piece of chalk to draw the symbols. "Some of these are for protection," Kelsey explained.
Evie motioned for Lisa and she made her way over to her. "We'll humor her. What harm could it be? She'll do the ritual and when she sees I'm still here, she'll give up the time travel possibility."
"If you say so," Lisa whispered. "She doesn't look like she'll be easily swayed."
"I can hear you," Kelsey said.
They jumped at the sound of Kelsey's voice and turned to find her standing inches away from them. They hadn't even heard her move.
"You have to agree," Evie said, "time travel seems a little..."
"Crazy," Lisa offered.
"I was going to say farfetched," she said hoping to sugarcoat her worry.
Kelsey sighed and folded her arms across her chest. "I forget how closed minded people can be, but I can perhaps see your point. But let us for one moment pretend you do believe in time travel. Would you go back and try to save Bellamy Lovel?"
"In a heartbeat," Lisa said with a nod.
"Of course I would," Evie answered. "I would at least try."
"Then let's give it a whirl, shall we? What's the worse that can happen? You won't go anywhere, and I'll help you clean up the blood before I head home to change for work." Her amber eyes pinned Evie down. How could she say no?
"Okay, let's give it a whirl," she finally agreed.
Lisa gave her a look of surprise and mouthed, "What are you doing?"
Evie ignored her. The sooner they played out this fantasy, the sooner they could all end the charade.
Kelsey turned away to fetch the Bellamy cardboard and place him in the center of the circle. "Evie, you'll need to be in the circle, too."
Evie complied.
"Once I start the spell, visualize where you were on the day you were asked to be Bellamy's personal assistant. Do you remember the date?" she asked.
"It was my nana's birthday, August 3, 1997."
"Keep that date in your mind. Don't think about anything else." She paused. "Where's the necklace?"
She held up her hand and dangled the hippocampus from its chain. "Shouldn't I be visualizing the hotel where Bellamy died? I could step in and–"
"It doesn't work that way," Kelsey interrupted. "You can't just pop in where you've never been. There's no connection there."
"But I was only asked to be with Bellamy until the tour started. That was the contract presented to me. Bellamy didn't end his life until three weeks later."
"You'll have to give him reasons to go on living."
Evie laughed with annoyance. "So I'm to act like a crazy person and just say, Hey Bellamy, I'm from the future and –"
"No," Kelsey again interrupted and appeared alarmed. "You can't tell him he's going to commit suicide. If you do, you'll be snapped right back here so fast your head will spin. You can only shift events, not shout on a soapbox as if you're a prophet. Bellamy, in the end, will still have to make the decision without you spelling it out for him. It's all about balances in the universe." She sighed. "He may still end up dying, but on the off chance, he was leaning the other way, perhaps your subtle influences will be the factor that keeps him from making that fatal decision. We're all connected in some way, Evie. We never know who might be influenced by something we said or something we've done."
Evie stared at her as she tried to wrap her mind around all Kelsey was saying to her. She could almost believe Kelsey knew what she was talking about, that she could somehow truly send her back in time.
"Hold on tight to that necklace," Kelsey told her. "Now…" She clapped her hands and rubbed them together. The action reminded her of a mad scientist, and she was the science project. "Let's get started. I'll need your full name, middle name and all."
"Emerson Violet Reid," Evie said.
"How in the world did you manage the nickname Evie from Emerson?" Lisa asked as she took her spot next to Kelsey.
"Bryce, my brother. It's my initials. E for Emerson and V for Violet. E. V., Evie.
Kelsey cleared her throat and they both looked at her. "Can we get started now?"
"You're cranky when you have to cast a spell," Lisa grumbled, but then fell silent.
"Remember," Kelsey said, "the spell is temporary. It's like we're boomeranging you into the past but you'll eventually come right back again. So don't tarry."
Easy for Kelsey to say when she had to figure out a way to influence Bellamy in a positive way, and give him something to take with him when he checked into that hotel room on September 22, 1997, that will stop him from ending his life. Sure, don't tarry. It's all good. "How much time do I have?" she asked.
"How should I know? I've never time traveled."
Evie rolled her eyes and wondered why she even asked the question. It wasn't like she was going anywhere. Right? "Fine, I'll do what I can before it's too late."
"Exactly," Kelsey said, and then looked at Lisa. "I need you to stand on the other side of the circle and grasp my hands."
"Why?"
"It's to keep the magic contained and it's stronger when there is more than one person's energy propelling the magic."
Lisa made a big production about complying with an over exaggerated sigh and a roll of her eyes, but she reached out her hands and Kelsey clasped them. Evie stood in the center of their clasped hands like they were going to play a game of London Bridge is Falling Down. The nursery rhyme seemed almost fitting. However, she wouldn't be repairing a bridge, but a life. Making it stronger in hopes that despair didn't weaken the mind where irrational decisions lay in wait to destroy. Evie stood nose to nose with the cardboard cutout of Lovel. It seemed creepy to be staring into those baby blue eyes and smiling face when she was about to take on a mission to save him from killing himself.
"If you zap us to oblivion, I'm going to be so mad at you," Lisa grumbled.
Kelsey ignored her and began the spell, "Send Emerson Violet Reid back to August 3, 1997, before Bellamy Kendrick Lovel drew his last breath." She went on and recited something that Evie didn't understand, something old and foreign, but as Kelsey spoke the words, the air around them felt different, heavy and charged. She gripped the necklace tighter and her gaze shifted to the cardboard Bellamy lookalike. The world tilted, making her dizzy and Kelsey's voice grew farther away. Then she felt a surge of wind around her, and a light so bright she shielded her eyes. Darkness blasted her senses next, and her body felt weightless as it zoomed through a black void. Sounds blasted her from every side and she wanted to cover her ears but couldn't move. She was at the mercy of whatever force was driving her aw
ay from her friends.
Just as fast as she traveled, because she couldn't think of another word for what was happening to her, it all stopped. Halted as if someone had pressed on the brakes at top speed and she'd forgotten to wear her seatbelt. She jerked forward then back with such force she feared her neck would snap. Her breathing came in short quick breaths and managing anything deeper into her lungs hurt too much.
"Nurse Evie? Are you all right?"
She blinked a few times before her surroundings came into focus. She realized she was sitting on a linoleum floor, not her patio, not in a circle of blood. She turned her head to find a wrinkled-faced woman peering down at her from a hospital bed.
Had she really time traveled?
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