Ken leads us down a hallway and into the main lab, past another locked door I don’t have access to. The lights flicker on, buzzing to life as we step inside. I glance around the large room, at the white work counters, the beakers and other science equipment, and the computers in the corner. Against one wall there are cages with rats in them, and against another a freezer with vials stored inside it. There’s no sign that Adam has been here, but I don’t know what to look for either. I haven’t been in his lab in weeks. Maybe months.
“Adam was gone when I woke up this morning. I haven’t heard from him all day. I assumed he was here.” I walk over to the rats, whose cages are all labeled with different numbers and words that make no sense to me. “Do you know if he came by?”
“No, I was taking care of my mom.” Ken frowns and moves to one of the computers, then types something into it. “I haven’t talked to Adam today either.”
“Does he have class today?” I should know this. I thought I knew his schedule, but maybe I was wrong.
Ken’s frown deepens, and he rubs the back of his neck. “No, uh…” He glances at the rats scurrying in their cages, then at the door, like he wants to escape.
“You know something, don’t you?” His eyes widen, but he doesn’t answer. My hands tighten into fists, and he takes a step back. My first reaction is to grab him by the shirt, shove him against the wall, and demand answers. But in the last six months I’ve learned not to rush to violence to solve my problems. I no longer punch first and ask questions later.
I force my hands to unclench. “Please. I’m really worried about Adam. I just want to know he’s safe. Last night, it seemed like you wanted to tell me something. What was it?”
Ken’s shoulders relax, but he still looks wary. I punched him once before, when we were in the future, when he refused to come with me and was planning to kill himself. He rubs his jaw, as if remembering the same moment.
“Okay.” He sighs and sits on one of the stools in front of a microscope. “I’ll tell you what I know. But you’re not going to like it.”
“What is it?”
“First, of all, Adam’s not in classes anymore. He dropped out of graduate school.”
“What?” I practically yell it. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah. He said he didn’t need it anymore and that it was taking too much time. Time he wanted to spend developing genicote.”
I slump onto a stool beside Ken. How could Adam do this, and without telling me? He knows he has to finish graduate school so that we can then go on to create Future Visions together. We have a plan for our lives, and he’s veering way off course already. Not to mention, working on the cure before finishing the relevant classes in school is reckless, maybe even dangerous. What was he thinking? And how could he keep this a secret from me?
“I was surprised too,” Ken says. “But Adam’s become completely obsessed with developing the cure. That’s what I was going to say last night.”
“I know. He barely sleeps. He doesn’t eat. He’s rarely ever home anymore. I assumed he was going to class at least.” I rub my hands across my face. “I knew it was bad, but I can’t believe he’d go this far.”
“There’s more.” Ken’s voice is low.
The air-conditioning blasts cold air on us, but Ken’s words are what raise every hair on my arms. What else is Adam hiding?
“Tell me.”
Ken takes a long breath and meets my eyes. “Last week he had a meeting. With Aether Corporation.”
An icy fist grips my heart. “No.”
“I couldn’t believe it either, but it’s true.”
It can’t be. Adam would never go to our enemy, the source of all our problems, not after everything they’ve done to us. Not when we worked so hard to keep Aether out of our lives for good. And how could he tell Ken and not me? I shake my head, refusing to accept it. “Why would he do that? Is he out of his mind?”
“I don’t know. He told me about the meeting but didn’t say what they talked about.”
I slam my palm against the counter. “You must have some idea!”
Ken’s face is grim as he glances at the freezer on the wall. “All I know is that genicote is pretty much ready to go, but it’s not enough for Adam. He’s copied the sample we had from the future, and we know it works from the tests we’ve done on the rats. But genicote will kill anyone who hasn’t had cancer by mutating their genes, and neither one of us can figure out how to fix that problem.”
“You think he asked Aether for help making it safe?” One of the Future-Adams had done that—gone to Aether for help in developing and distributing the cure, but it hadn’t gone well for him. I thought his younger self would have learned his lesson, but apparently not.
“I’m not sure. But if you can’t find him, then it wouldn’t surprise me if they’re the reason why.”
I stand up, shoving my stool back, my adrenaline already kicking in. “Where was the meeting?”
“At their headquarters in downtown LA.”
“Thanks.” I spin on my heel and head for the door.
“Wait. Are you going there?” Ken asks. “Right now?”
I stop at the door and glance at him over my shoulder. “You got a better idea?”
He shakes his head. “No. Just…be careful.”
As I walk to the car, I’m so mad at Adam that I can barely see straight, but I’m scared too. If he’s in danger, I have to help him. If he’s not, he’s going to be in danger soon—from me.
Adam’s betrayal has cut me right to the core. He’s the only person I’ve let get close to me, the person I trusted above all others, but he’s been keeping secrets from me again. Big secrets. Dangerous secrets.
I’m going to get answers. And there’s only one place to find them.
I’ve never been to the Aether Corporation building in downtown LA—at least, not in the present. I visited it twice in the future with Adam and Chris. The first time, we were guests of Future-Adam. The second time, we broke in to steal something.
I walk into the lobby, noticing all the ways it’s different from the version I visited before. That’s one thing my eidetic memory is good for: remembering tiny details. The floor is different—pale-gray marble floors instead of dark slate. The walls are a different shade of beige, and the potted plants in the corner have white flowers instead of blue. Everything else is the same: wall-to-wall windows, revolving doors, and a row of elevators in the back. I’m not sure where to go, so I walk up to the desk at the front.
“Can I help you?” a security guard asks. Her hair is tied back in a severe bun, making her forehead tight.
“I need to speak to Vincent Sharp.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“No, but he won’t be surprised to know I’m here.”
Her scowl only deepens. “I’m sorry, but—”
“Tell him Elena Martinez is here to see him, and if I don’t get answers, I’m going to the police.”
She picks up a phone and speaks quietly to someone on the other line, her eyes never leaving my face. I can’t make out her words, but I lean forward on the desk and refuse to look away. If Adam is mixed up with Aether, I’m not leaving here until someone tells me what is going on and where he is.
The woman hangs up the phone. “I need to see your ID.”
I dig around in my bag until I find my wallet, then pluck out my driver’s license and hand it to her. She scrutinizes it for way longer than is necessary, jots something down on a clipboard, and then hands me a plastic security card with the Aether logo across it. It’s attached to a lanyard that I slip around my neck.
“Keep that with you at all times.” She gestures toward the elevator. “Fifty-first floor.”
“Got it.”
I swipe my card and brush past the other security guards, who stand by the elevator with their arms crossed behind them and their eyes always watching. The elevator’s empty and silent, except for an instrumental version of some song from the eighties that p
lays in the background. I lean against the back wall as we travel up, up, up to the very top floor of the building, high enough I have to pop my ears. The door opens to a large room with a pretty woman sitting behind a glass desk. Plush leather couches line the walls under tasteful but immediately forgettable modern art. I step forward.
The woman stands and smiles at me. Her lipstick’s bright red, her blond hair’s perfectly styled, and she wears a white blouse and a black skirt. “Elena Martinez? Please follow me.”
She knocks softly on the door behind her, then opens it for me. Her smile stays plastered on as I walk into Vincent Sharp’s office.
It’s huge. Big enough to fit my entire apartment in it. Way larger than any one person would realistically need for an office. Most of it is empty space, but there’s also a large seating area with a TV, a long bar with mirrored walls behind it, and a shining silver desk.
Vincent sits behind the desk, facing away from me, looking out the floor-to-ceiling windows at the city below him. Los Angeles stretches out on three sides of the room, the view clear and impressive and never-ending. The ocean on the left, the mountains in the middle, and the endless city reaching for the horizon on the right. It’s easy to forget how large the city is until you’re standing above it, looking down at all the tiny cars below.
Vincent’s chair swivels around. He’s a good-looking man in his early fifties, with thick auburn hair, a strong jaw, and intelligent eyes. The kind of person who exudes confidence and power, but also manages to come across as charming, although his eyes have dimmed ever since his own son shot him.
I’ve only seen Vincent once since I killed Jeremy and blew up the accelerator. Adam and I visited him in the hospital after he’d recovered, and he agreed that the slate between us had been cleared because we saved his life. Vincent swore to leave us alone from then on, and in return, Adam and I would keep Project Chronos a secret.
But Vincent didn’t keep that promise.
He leans forward in his black leather chair and takes me in. “Elena. I should have known you’d come by.”
“Where’s Adam? What have you done with him?”
His eyebrows slowly rise. “You don’t know then?”
“Know what?”
A deep frown settles over his face, making him look older. “Oh, Adam.”
I slam my hands on his desk, leaning forward. “What is it? Tell me!”
He shakes his head. “It’ll be easier if I show you. Come with me.”
I start to protest, but he’s already walking toward the elevator, his strides long and self-assured. I quickly follow and slide into the elevator after him. We stand beside each other in silence while the elevator plummets, until I finally break down and ask, “Is Adam okay?”
He gives me a long, even look. “I don’t know.”
The door opens on Level B4. It’s darker down here, blocked off from the sun, lit entirely by man-made lighting. There’s something large in front of us, something metallic and dome-shaped, with tubes and wires coming out of it. Something I never wanted to see again.
“No,” I whisper, taking a step back, pressing against the wall of the elevator. How is this possible? We destroyed the accelerator. We stopped them. Didn’t we?
Vincent walks out of the elevator. “Status report!”
“Still nothing, sir,” a woman answers.
I stumble after him, each footstep heavier than the last as I approach the machine. Now that the initial shock has faded a bit, I can tell it’s not the same accelerator. It’s smaller than the one we destroyed. The metal is a slightly different shade of silver. But it’s still a time machine.
They made a second one.
“You told us Project Chronos was finished,” I say as I get closer. “You swore you’d never interfere in our lives again. We had a deal!”
Vincent leans over a computer, checking something on the screen. “And we kept up our end of the deal. We didn’t contact Adam. He came to us.”
“Why? Why would he do that?”
“He asked for our help. I told him we’d built another accelerator, but he said he wasn’t interested in time traveling again. Until this morning.”
This morning. Our fight. His note. He said he was going to fix things. But surely he didn’t mean this?
“Where’s Adam?” I have to hear them say it out loud before I allow myself to believe it. My heart is racing so fast it feels like it might tear out of me. How could he? What was he thinking? Why would he do something so reckless?
“Sit down,” Vincent says. “I’ll tell you everything.”
“I don’t want to sit down. I want to see Adam. Where. Is. He?” My voice is too loud, but I don’t care. I’m going to tear down the walls of the accelerator until I find him. And when I do, I’m going to murder him myself.
Vincent gives me a level stare. “You know where he is. He’s in the future.”
Something snaps in me, and I lunge for him with a roar. I’m not sure if I intend to punch him, choke him, or shove him into the accelerator to make him get Adam back. I’m stopped by a woman with a tight ponytail, who steps between us and raises a gun at me. I halt, forcing my emotions under control, and glare at Vincent behind her.
“It’s okay, Nina,” Vincent says, waving her gun away.
She scowls and lowers the gun an inch, although she doesn’t put it away. She has dark hair and pale skin, wears little to no makeup, and can’t be much older than me. Her clothes are all black and utilitarian, like something the military would wear, along with matching combat boots.
I turn away, dragging my hands across my face, trying to make sense of all this. Adam went to the future again. Without me. How could he do this without even consulting me first? He knew I’d never let him do it; that’s why. So he went and did it on his own, keeping it a secret from me. If I thought I was upset at his betrayal before, that doesn’t even come close to the rage and hurt I feel now.
“When is he coming back?” I ask, trying to keep my voice steady.
“He was supposed to come back a few hours ago,” Vincent says, his voice sympathetic.
Sheer terror pushes aside the rage and hurt and takes control of me. “What?”
“Adam had us send him thirty years into the future for five hours, but he missed his scheduled return time. We’ve opened the aperture numerous times since then, but there’s been no sign of him.”
“Wait,” I say slowly. “He went alone?”
“He did. He refused to let anyone else go with him, and he made us promise not to contact you or any of your friends. I told him it wasn’t a good idea and begged him to let me send Nina with him, but he wouldn’t listen.” He glances at the accelerator with a frown. “I never should have sent him to the future again.”
My God. I had no idea Adam’s obsession with developing the cure had gone this far. He must have gone to the future to talk to his older self or to figure out if he ever made genicote safe. But in doing so, he brought Aether back into our lives. He kept secrets from me. He went behind my back. And worst of all, he put his life in jeopardy.
That settles it. I’m going to find him. I’m going to bring him home. And then I’m going to demand some answers from him.
A door opens, and two older men in lab coats walk in. The first man, Dr. Walters, has a full head of gray hair and sadness etched into every one of his wrinkles. The other is an Indian man with tufts of gray in his black hair and shrewdness in his eyes.
“Elena?” Dr. Walters asks.
I’m so shocked to see him that everything else momentarily disappears. “What are you doing here?”
Shame clouds his eyes behind his glasses. “I’m so sorry.”
“You’re a part of this?” I ask. “Seriously?”
“I had no other choice.”
“She shouldn’t be here,” Dr. Kapur says from beside Dr. Walters. Him, I’m not surprised at all to see. He never had a problem doing what Vincent wanted, even if it involved drugging teenagers and locking them in a ti
me machine.
But Dr. Walters, of all people, shouldn’t be helping them. He created the original accelerator, but after our first time-travel mission resulted in death, he tried to destroy the machine and was fired by Vincent. Later, we coerced him into fixing the accelerator so we could save Chris and Ken from the future, but after that, he helped us blow it up. Yet now he’s here, working for Aether again, sending more people to the future.
“This accelerator was built right after the original one,” Vincent explains. “Dr. Walters left before it was finished. We convinced him to return and complete the project.”
Dr. Walters looks miserable, and I wonder what they did to him to make him change his mind. At least Dr. Campbell, the other physicist involved in Project Chronos, isn’t here. She quit working for Aether after she secretly helped us destroy the accelerator, but I’m not sure what happened to her after that.
I cross my arms. “Fine. It doesn’t matter. Turn on the accelerator and send me to the future.”
“No, I don’t think so,” Vincent says.
“You don’t think so? You sent my boyfriend to the future by himself and now you expect me to just let him stay there?”
“Sending him alone was obviously a mistake, since he hasn’t returned. Which is why we won’t be repeating the same mistake by sending you after him.”
I stab a finger at his chest. “You’re going to send me, by myself, right now. I will bring Adam back. And if you’re lucky, I won’t tell the whole world about the shady experiments you’re running in the basement of your office building.”
“We need to run some tests on you first,” Dr. Kapur says.
“Screw your tests. The longer we wait, the more likely the future will change before I get there to save Adam. You need to send me now.”
Dr. Kapur gives me a disapproving stare. “You’re almost nineteen. The risk of future shock will be higher now. Especially since you’ve been to the future so many times already.”
“I’ll take that risk. Just like Adam did.” He’s older than I am, by about six months. That idiot. When I find him, I’m going to strangle him.
Future Lost Page 3