How much longer will I be allowed to remain in this time? Rachel was already dreading the thought of leaving her mom and sister behind—again.
“You were chosen to survive for a reason, Brooke,” Catherine said thoughtfully. “Lord knows what that is, but I’m sure you’ll learn when the time comes.”
Brooke was grateful Rachel had saved her again, but she still couldn’t quite believe Travis’s intention had been to murder her. Although the police had come to the scene, there had been nothing they could hold Travis on, as Brooke had accepted his offer of a ride voluntarily and they found nothing in his car to indicate he planned to abduct or kill her.
But the newspaper articles from the future stated that she had been abducted from the mall on that very day. And since the only time Brooke left was with Travis, there was no one else who could’ve kidnapped her.
Unless Dennis Farrell had somehow been the one planning to force her into his car with deadly intentions.
Brooke dreaded the thought that Dennis—whom she really liked before he got weird on her—would do such a horrible thing. But she now knew people were not always what they seemed.
Or maybe they were.
Travis Pickett was obviously mentally unstable and there was a good chance he was homicidal as well. Thank goodness they had shown up in the nick of time.
Brooke turned her thoughts to this most unlikely reunion assembled in the breakfast room. There was the sixteen-year-old Rachel. And mom. Only dad was missing to make the family complete.
Along with Rachel’s six-year-old alter ego.
But Brooke would settle for her mother accepting this Rachel for who she was, so they could share in this remarkable thing that had happened.
“So, Mom, I know how Rachel made a believer out of me,” Brooke said. “What did she do to convince you—materialize right before your very eyes?”
Catherine lit a cigarette, knowing it was the last thing she needed. But she wanted to calm her somewhat frayed nerves after all that had transpired.
She looked at Rachel. “Somehow I knew it all along in my gut. If that hadn’t been enough, your sister made sure she brought enough items to convince me there was much more to her story than a girl’s silly fantasy—”
Brooke glanced at a futuristic looking Pocket PC and a hoodie with headphones before picking up the article on the terrorists commandeering airliners into the World Trade Center’s twin towers and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. She shuddered, barely able to comprehend the horrific chaos this must have wrought.
“I went to New York City last year on a student field trip,” she said sadly. “We were actually inside one of the towers. It’s so hard to believe that one day soon they’ll be gone forever.”
Rachel recalled wishing she had gone with her big sister on the trip, and wished it even more now. “Yeah, I feel the same way.”
Catherine looked at Rachel as a thought hit her. “Take Brooke back with you.”
“What?” Rachel’s eyes grew large.
“You heard me.” Catherine didn’t back down, believing this was the best way to go. “She’s just not safe here.”
Rachel gazed at her sister. “I’m not sure that’s possible,” she said honestly. “I’ve only traveled alone so far.”
She hadn’t even opened the clockwatch since they got back from the incident at the mall. She had put in her backpack, fearing it would cut short her visit now that Brooke had survived another moment at death’s door. Rachel had succeeded in bringing the backpack and all its contents back in time. But transporting Brooke to the future was probably more than they could expect.
“You have to try,” her mother insisted. “Don’t you see? The Grim Reaper has come for Brooke twice now. What if he tries a third time and you can’t come back to save her again? I couldn’t bear to lose her...not now—”
Brooke considered the scary proposition of going to the future with Rachel. She could understand what her mom was feeling with her own limited lifespan. Maybe Travis, Dennis, or someone else would make another attempt on her life—and succeed this time. She could even become the victim of another out of control driver. But just as scary was leaving the only world she knew and the people she loved—including the six-year-old version of Rachel.
Even if it meant putting her life at risk.
“Mom, I really don’t want to leave you, dad, and Rachel.” Brooke gazed uneasily at the older Rachel. She was certain they would get along well as sisters who were the same age, especially with their unique bonding. But it wasn’t the same as being the older sister to take care of Rachel, as she was used to doing.
The same thought occurred to Rachel. If the situation were reversed, would she want to start over again with her little sister now her equal? Could they coexist being the same age in 2011, weird as that would seem?
Catherine fought back the urge to want Brooke to stay, if only to help her as the cancer advanced to the stage where she could no longer be a mother for her girls. Saving Brooke’s life was the right thing to do.
“You wouldn’t be leaving your father or Rachel,” she told Brooke. “They would be ten years older, but still there for you in the future. As for me...if your sister didn’t already tell you, you’d find out soon enough. I’m dying, Brooke, and there’s no one who can rescue me from the disease growing inside my body.”
“I know.” Tears welled in Brooke’s eyes. “That’s why this is so hard.”
Rachel hugged her, sharing the pain and wishing there was a way to save them both. If only.
Catherine held back tears, trying hard to remain strong. She offered a comforting smile as she touched Brooke’s cheek. “It’ll be all right, sweetheart. If I had just one wish while I was still on this earth, it would be to know that both my daughters would get past 2001 and have a chance to live a normal life for many years after that.”
Deep down Brooke wanted this, too. Seeing her chance to go to college, get married, and travel the world would all go down the drain if she were to die this year. But leaving her own time meant she would be leaving her friends behind. Especially Natalie. Brooke imagined she would never see her again, while missing out on the normal progression of a sixteen-year-old into adulthood.
None of that could be helped, though. Not with her life in jeopardy. Whatever uncertainties the future held, it was worth the risk, considering the alternative—with her mom’s blessing.
But could it be done?
“I’m willing to try, if you are,” she told Rachel nervously.
Sucking in a deep breath, Rachel felt the pressure. The last thing she wanted was to let either of them down. But it was largely out of her hands as to whether this could actually work.
Would the Sisters of Time be angry if she took time into her own hands and changed history and the future as a result?
Or maybe this had been the plan all along. If Brooke were doomed to die this year no matter how many times Rachel tried to save her—with a different executioner each time—perhaps the only way to break the cycle and right the wrong was for Brooke to escape death by leaving 2001 altogether.
But what if I’m wrong and this only makes matters worse for everyone—especially Brooke?
Rachel regarded her sister lovingly. “I’d be happy to have you in my time any way I can, Brooke. I only hope there’s room for two to travel with the clockwatch, which I have yet to master.” If it worked, they could deal with any future implications together as sisters.
Brooke smiled, fighting back her anxiety. She wondered if maybe in a strange way it had been her destiny all along to jump ten years into a life where she would have to share center stage with a sixteen-year-old version of her little sister.
I always wanted a sister closer to my own age who could also be my best friend. Here’s my chance to make that wish come true. Even if it means this will be the last time I see mom alive.
She looked at Rachel. “So what do we have to do to make this happen?”
* * *
&nb
sp; They gathered in the attic, which seemed to Rachel like a good place to experiment with time travel, considering this was where she first made the journey ten years into her past. She had no idea if this joint ride back to the twenty-first century would work. Rachel put it entirely in the hands of the Sisters of Time and their powers through the clockwatch.
If it failed, then Brooke could still die this year. And what would Rachel find to be the cause of death this time once she got back to the future?
Rachel stuck her cell phone in a pocket. It was the only thing she was taking from the items she’d brought there in her backpack to support her claim of being from the future. The other things would be keepsakes for her mom to remember the sixteen-year-old version of herself.
She put her arm around Brooke’s shoulder. “I know this is scary—for both of us. We just have to keep the faith and whatever happens will happen.”
“Okay.” Brooke swallowed and prepared herself, still finding it hard to fathom that she might actually be going a decade into the future.
She had not bothered to change clothes or pack any belongings. After all, how did one know what to take on a trip to a different time where everyone she knew would be ten years older?
Except her mother.
Brooke wiped tears from her eyes and focused on her dying mother. “Are you sure about this, Mom? You really want me to go when you need me the most?”
Catherine did not hesitate in responding. “I’m sure. I’ll have your dad, Nana, and...little Rachel, who’s always been stronger than her small stature might suggest.” She looked at Rachel lovingly. “I’ll be happy to know that my two darling girls are together...safe from harm. Please always be there for each other. Don’t let anyone stand in the way of that.”
Catherine hugged and kissed Brooke and Rachel, wishing she could hold onto them forever.
“Go,” she urged, praying that their destiny as sisters was indeed in the future, no matter the oddity of facing it when they were now the same age. “I’ll always be with you.”
Rachel sobbed, fearing she might not see her mom alive again, but refusing to say never, all things considered. She took the antique watch out of her backpack and placed the chain around her neck. Opening the watch, the date on it read July 3, 2011.
Taking Brooke’s hand, Rachel felt her heart pounding. “Let’s see if the clockwatch does what we want it to.” She eyed her mother. “I love you, Mom.”
“Me, too,” Brooke echoed the same sentiments. Would that watch really transport her in time? Could it handle two people at once? Or just Rachel?
Guess I’m about to find out.
She held her breath for the ride, if it happened...and life ten years from now.
“I love you both.” Catherine prayed that Edwin would welcome Brooke back as his daughter, though the circumstances would be more than a little unusual to say the least. And that Virginia would also be a mother to both girls since Catherine could not be.
Knowing there was no turning back, for better or worse, Rachel pushed the button activating the music. She felt butterflies at the thought of how her future world would be impacted by bringing her sixteen-year-old sister there.
Only time would tell.
The irony of the words was not lost on Rachel.
She felt slightly dizzy, but wasn’t sure if it meant something was happening or she simply had a huge case of nerves.
* * *
Catherine watched with incredulity as Rachel and Brooke vanished before her very eyes. It really had happened. The girls were together in the future and nothing bad would happen to Brooke in the present. Catherine cried tears of joy that out of something bad had come something good. She could live out the rest of her days more peacefully now knowing Brooke had been given the gift of life that had twice been taken away from her.
Catherine coughed and headed out of the attic, turning back to look once more at the spot where Brooke and Rachel had stood before they disappeared. She wished she had been able to accompany them. But it wasn’t in the cards. Besides, she needed to be there for the young Rachel for as long as possible.
A moment later, Catherine tried to remember why she was in the attic. Normally Rachel was the only one who ever came up there. And she was currently visiting her grandmother.
After climbing down the stairs, Catherine decided to call her six-year-old. She missed her. Rachel was no doubt wishing she had a big sister to play with. Only it hadn’t worked out that way.
* * *
Ethereal forms of two beautiful women with long, flowing hair appeared in the attic. The Sisters of Time studied the surroundings and then locked eyes.
“The next stage has begun,” said one.
“Will they be capable of averting tragedy?” asked the other.
“We will see. Only the chosen ones will know in the end if they can survive the test and difficult challenges of time.”
“One can only hope.”
“Yes, one can, but the strength of two is even more potent in that regard.”
They eyed each other with uncertainty and took one last glance at the attic before disappearing and reappearing downstairs. Hovering over the items Rachel had left behind, the Sisters of Time gazed upon them thoughtfully. A wave of an arm and all evidence of Rachel’s presence vanished, gone with the gust of wind left behind as the sisters moved on.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Duncan was starting to worry about Rachel. It had been three hours since she supposedly went on her out of body experience through time and he hadn’t heard from her. Several text messages had gone unanswered. Did time barriers make it impossible for text messages to be received? He still couldn’t believe Rachel had actually already gone down this road before. This type of thing just didn’t happen in real life, in spite of the theoretical possibilities of time travel.
But Duncan couldn’t ignore what he’d read with his own eyes about the antique clockwatch Rachel had and the Sisters of Time, Angelina and Octavia. Add that to the incredible story Rachel told him and the strange things concerning her dead sister and her parents’ altered take on it, and Duncan was convinced Rachel really had been chosen to save Brooke’s life. He could only wonder what it meant in the long run for his girlfriend and the sister she’d saved—if she was able to do it. And what did it mean for him as someone who knew what was going on, but couldn’t exactly shout it to the world right now?
Feeling restless and in no mood to hang with friends, Duncan went to his computer. He wondered what else he could learn about Octavia and Angelina.
He found some stuff that was basically a rehash of what he and Rachel had uncovered at the library. Then something new came up. It said that in closing the gaps in time that threatened the past or future, legend had it the fabled Sisters of Time often made their presence felt at points of relative importance to time itself. They were not concerned with averting general catastrophes or natural disorders, but focused their energies on specific individuals whose lives were shortened erroneously and their survival crucial in the balance of time and space.
Like Brooke Crane.
Duncan got that. Sort of. But why use Rachel to save her? He wondered if the two Crane sisters were meant to be the modern day version of the Sisters of Time. Would Rachel and Brooke be recruited to travel back and forth through time to save individuals from whatever troubles they faced? If so, was there any way for him to travel with them?
The notion appealed to Duncan. Who wouldn’t want to see different places in history or the future if given the chance? Especially if he could somehow make an impact in the scheme of things.
What if Rachel had failed to keep Brooke alive? Maybe the Sisters of Time were not powerful enough to interfere with the course of time whenever it suited their fancy.
Duncan went to the local newspaper online archives and looked up the name Brooke Crane and July 4, 2001—the day after Brooke had died the second time around, according to Rachel.
There were no records of a Brooke Crane to
indicate she had been murdered or killed in a car accident.
It must have worked. Rachel had saved Brooke again. Only this time she had apparently avoided running into harm’s way through some other means.
Duncan smiled at the thought that the natural order had been restored. He needed more to go on before getting too comfortable with it. He typed in July 4, 2001 and the word “crime” to see if anything of note came up. He ran across a subject heading pertaining to a local bank robbery and a burglary; then one that read: Local Girl Murdered.
Duncan’s heart sank as he realized that maybe Brooke had been a murder victim after all. He clicked on the article.
“A body was discovered in a ditch at 10:30 last night. Identified by authorities as Stacy Fuentes, a seventeen-year-old senior from Lake Melrose High, she had been bludgeoned to death. So far no leads on the perpetrator....”
Duncan shivered. It sounded an awful lot like the murder of Brooke as Rachel had described it. If Brooke had been saved, he wondered if this girl had taken her place—as if someone had to be murdered on that day. Or maybe the girl killed wasn’t the first victim of the killer?
Or the last.
Not that there was anything that could be done about it today. It happened ten years ago and, unless Stacy Fuentes could talk from the grave or travel through time, her voice had been silenced for good.
At least Brooke had avoided such a death sentence. Hadn’t she?
Duncan tried the years 2002, 2003, and 2004 to be sure her death had not simply been postponed. Again there was nothing on a Brooke Crane.
He Googled Brooke’s name nationally for the years 2001 till 2010 to see if there were any results. Nope. As far as the search was concerned, Brooke did not even exist insofar as her name having any significance such as being a victim of anything, which was good news. Brooke had apparently remained just a normal teenage girl ten years ago whose life had been spared twice because she had a bigger role in the world than never making it past her sixteenth year.
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