“We have to tell him,” I say to Adam, who barely nods. Chris could be in danger now, along with his family. The time for keeping secrets is over. “Meet us at that twenty-four-hour diner near your place in fifteen minutes. We’ll tell you everything.”
As we walk into the diner, I check out everyone inside, looking for any signs of trouble. Two people are on an awkward date in the corner. A college kid works on his laptop with a textbook beside him. A tired-looking woman sits at the counter with a milk shake. None of them look like threats, but you never know. It’s not paranoia when people are really out to kill you, after all.
I pick a seat in the corner where I can keep an eye on everyone and watch the windows. Adam slides into the booth with me, but he doesn’t study the other people here or look for the nearest exits like I do. His brain doesn’t work that way, and he’s too depressed about the loss of all his research. Good thing I’m here to look out for both of us.
Chris walks in, spots us across the room, and then scoots into our booth. “Hey.”
We order some drinks from the waitress. As soon as she’s gone, I ask, “What happened exactly?”
Chris scans the room with the same suspicion as me before speaking. “Shawnda and I took Michael to visit my mom. We were gone maybe three hours. When we got back, the place had been broken into, but nothing in the rest of the house was touched. Just the stuff you gave me, Adam. That was it.”
“Did you call the police?” I ask.
“No. I wasn’t sure if you’d want me to.”
“Good. What about the security cameras Zahra installed? Did they get anything?”
“Unfortunately no. I checked them, but all I saw was a dark figure, maybe a woman, and only for a few seconds. Whoever it was got into my house without tripping the security alarm either.”
I wish we could narrow down the suspects some more. Future-Zahra could easily hack in and deal with his alarm, since she set it up in the first place. Future-Paige was a master of stealth, and even her younger self is known for stealing. But it could also be Nina, working on her own or for Vincent, especially since he’s known about the cure all this time.
“They did the same thing at the lab,” I say.
Chris turns toward Adam. “Is that it then? All your research just…gone?”
“Not quite,” Adam says. “I have another backup in a storage unit outside the city. No one knows about it but me. It’s small and not quite up to date with all my most recent work, but it’s something.”
Chris nods. “Who else knew about the stuff at my place?”
“The three of us. That’s it.”
The waitress brings our drinks. All of us ordered coffee, since it seems like it’s going to be a long night.
Chris takes a quick sip of his coffee. “I told Shawnda to take Michael and go stay with her parents for a few days. Seemed like the safest move. Now I think it’s time you two tell me what exactly is going on.”
I run my finger along the rim of my mug. I’m not sure telling Chris anything is the best idea, but he is our oldest and most trusted friend. He’s been with us from the beginning, and he has a family to take care of. If there’s anyone who deserves to know, it’s him.
“We went to the future again,” I say.
Chris practically chokes on his next sip of coffee. “You did what now?”
“It’s my fault,” Adam says. “All of it.”
We tell Chris everything that happened. The fate of the world. Meeting his son. My trip to the near future with Ken. Everything.
He runs a hand over his shaved head when we’re done. “Holy shit.”
“I know,” I say. “It’s a lot to take in.”
He stares into his coffee mug for a long time while he absorbs everything we told him. A week ago, we had a party to celebrate the anniversary of our first time-travel trip, but we were also celebrating being done with time travel and Aether Corporation forever. Now we’ve just told Chris that not only are we not done with those things, but that he and his wife have only ten years left to live.
“Thank you for telling me. About Michael and everything else.” He downs the rest of his coffee and slams the mug down. “Who do you think came back from the future with you?”
“It’s either one of Vincent’s people or Zahra or Paige. Everyone else was dead in the future.”
“Why would Zahra or Paige attack you or destroy the data about genicote?” Chris asks.
“Maybe they think it’s the only way to stop what is coming,” Adam says, his voice glum.
“You said Vincent knows about genicote. Could he be behind the attack on the lab?”
“It wouldn’t surprise me,” I say. “Except the same person seems to have destroyed his accelerator too.”
Chris snorts. “Hard to be sad about that.”
I take a long sip of coffee before answering. “Unfortunately, we needed that accelerator. But we’ve learned there is a third one we can use instead.”
He stares at me for a beat. “Please tell me you are not going to the future again.”
“We have no other choice. We think we know who is responsible for developing the virus, so we’re hoping if we go to the future again, maybe five or seven years from now, we can destroy it before it’s released.”
“That’s a terrible plan,” Chris says.
I spread my hands. “We’re open to suggestions.”
He shakes his head. “I thought we were done with Aether and time travel and all this bullshit. I’d hoped we could move on. But it’s going to haunt us for the rest of our lives, isn’t it?”
“That’s why we didn’t want to involve you in this,” Adam says. “You have a family to look after. You can put this all behind you.”
“Not if the world is going to end in ten years. I can’t sit back and let that happen.”
“We’ll let you know if we need help,” I say. “At the moment, there’s nothing you can do but look after your family and let us know if you see something.”
“All right. But once you have a real plan, let me know.” Chris checks the time. We’ve been sitting here for over an hour. “I should get going.”
We pay our bill and then head out into the parking lot. Our cars are parked next to each other. Mine’s a little Honda I bought used, while Chris has a big SUV, decked out with all the options and shining silver rims.
“Tell your family we said hi,” Adam says, as we stop beside the cars.
“Will do.” Chris gives Adam a man hug, slapping him on the back. “Wish we could have hung out under better circumstances, but it’s always good to see you two.”
“Be careful, okay?” I give Chris a quick hug. “Watch your back.”
“You know I always do. Always have.”
He turns toward his car, but then he pauses, his eye catching on something behind us. Adam and I both turn to look as a bullet whizzes past our heads and slams into Chris’s car.
“Move!” Chris yells, shoving us both aside with his powerful arms. I manage to scramble behind Chris’s car, but Adam is slowed down by his injured side. Chris moves to help him.
Another shot rings out. It hits Chris in the chest, making his entire body go rigid, before he stumbles back.
“No!” I yell, my heart lurching into my throat.
Adam and I grab Chris’s arms and help him behind his car, which offers some protection from the shooter. But once there, his legs seem to give out on him, and his head lolls. He slides down the side of his car to the ground, leaving a trail of blood across the door.
“Chris?” My voice is high-pitched, almost shrieking. I don’t recognize it at all.
Adam rips off his own sweater to press against the blood rushing out of the wound. I glance over the car, looking for the shooter, but the roof is clear. They’re gone.
Chris’s eyes are glazed, his mouth open slightly. Oh God, oh God, oh God. This is so much worse than when Adam was shot. I scramble for my phone and dial 911. But then the phone slips from my trembling fin
gers as Chris reaches for me.
“Tell…” Chris stops to cough, wincing at the pain. “Tell my family I love them.”
“We will.” A tear rolls down my cheek.
“Love you guys too,” he manages to get out, and my heart twists even more.
Adam clasps Chris’s other hand. “Hang on, man. Help is coming.”
But Chris is already fading away.
There’s nothing we can do but watch as our friend bleeds out in front of us. His eyes go from bright to dim, and his chest stills. A choked sound escapes me, and the tears flow freely, for both me and Adam.
It’s not the first time I’ve seen Chris dead, or even the second, but it’s the only time I can’t fix it. When he died in the future, I still had hope. I knew I could change his fate. But not this time. This is the present, and there’s no going back this time. What happens here is final.
Emotion fills my lungs and I have a hard time breathing. “Oh God, what are we going to tell his family?”
“I don’t know,” Adam says softly, then wipes at his eyes. His fingers are coated red, and he leaves a streak of Chris’s blood across his eyebrow. “I don’t know.”
The ambulance shows up two minutes later, but it’s too late. As people come out of the diner to gawk at the scene; the police arrive and section off the area. Photographs are taken. Chris’s body is removed. And we’re questioned for hours, for the second day in a row.
When they let us go, we make it back to the car and climb inside, but both of us are such a mess it takes a minute to find our keys. Adam’s driving this time, but he can’t seem to turn on the car. He just sits there, staring ahead at nothing.
I place my hand over his. “Let’s go.”
He snaps out of it and glances at me, then inhales sharply. “Where?”
Good question. Our apartment isn’t safe. Not if the attacker is willing to shoot us out in public. But we can’t go to any of our friends’ places either. I won’t risk any of their lives.
“Just drive.”
We stop at an ATM and get as much money as we can. Then we drive across town, to some area I’ve never been to before, and get a cheap motel for the night. It faintly reeks of mold and has sheets with yellowing edges, but neither one of us cares.
I flop onto the bed, and Adam sinks into a chair. We’ve barely said a word to each other since Chris was shot. Maybe because there are no words. Not for this.
I stare at the ceiling and try to struggle with the fact that Chris is no longer in this world anymore. He was one of my best friends, and now he’s just…gone.
Because of us.
The police must have told Shawnda by now that her husband isn’t coming home tonight. She’s going to be a single mom. Michael will grow up without a father. Exactly what Chris was trying to prevent all this time. And now there’s no way to prevent it, because there are no do-overs anymore. The present is permanent. The past is impossible. And the future…the future seems hopeless.
Adam’s voice rouses me from the darkness. “It’s my fault. All of it. The pandemic. The future. And now Chris’s death too.”
I roll onto my side to face him. His hair is a mess, his shirt is covered in dried blood, and his eyes are red. God knows when the last time he shaved was. “You couldn’t have known any of this would happen.”
“Maybe not, but it all comes back to me. I brought the cure back to save my mom. I took the other sample from Jeremy. I rushed to develop genicote as fast as possible. I went to the future to try to make it safe.” His voice is haunted, and his eyes stare at nothing. “Now someone’s come back to stop me. They destroyed my lab. Then they used Chris as bait to get us out in the open.” He bows his head. “He took a bullet meant for me.”
I open my mouth to reply, but then I play through both attacks in my head again. He’s right. Both times the attacker went for Adam. The first time, I managed to get him out of the way so the bullet only grazed him. The second time, Chris protected him, sacrificing his own life to save his friend.
Adam was the target all along.
“Maybe this attacker has the right idea,” he says.
“What?” I sit up quickly. Something in his voice scares me.
He runs a shaky hand through his hair. “If I die now, the cure will never be finished. The virus will never be created. No pandemic. No end of the world. That entire timeline will never happen.”
My throat tightens. “What about all the millions of lives you’ll save by curing cancer?”
“It’s not worth it. Not with the potential for it to be used as a weapon that wipes out billions.”
I grab his hand, but he won’t look at me. “But that future isn’t set. We can still change it. We have time.”
“Every time we try to change the future, we only make it worse.”
“That’s not true. We stopped Lynne. We stopped Jeremy. We can stop this too.”
He stands up and begins pacing the tiny room. “I don’t think we can. We saw this happen in every future we went to. Every single one. I always make genicote in order to help people, and it always ends up being used as a weapon. And each time we change the future we speed things up, so it happens sooner and sooner.” He stops and meets my eyes. “The only way to stop it for sure is with my death.”
I’ve never seen him like this before. Guilt hangs over him, mixed with grief and desolation. He’s talking like he’s given up completely. Like his own death would be a better solution than trying to fight back.
“No.” I stand up and clench my fists. “I refuse to accept that your death is the only way out of this.”
“Elena.” His voice softens, and he touches my face. “If I have to die to prevent that future and save you and everyone else…so be it.”
My heart breaks at the thought of losing him. I rest my hand over his, pressing his palm to my cheek. “No, Adam. I can’t do this without you.”
“You’ve always been the stronger one. Once I’m gone and the last traces of genicote are destroyed, all of this will end. You’ll be safe again. Everyone will.”
“What about Ava?” I ask softly.
“I…” He falters, his eyes full of memories. Ava is the gift we never imaged we’d receive. A perfect mix of Adam’s intelligence and my strength. I know he would never do anything that would jeopardize her life.
He buries his head in his hands. “I don’t know.”
I dig my fingers into his shirt. “If you die, our daughter will never be born. I can’t accept that. Can you?”
“No.” His breath rushes out of him. “But I don’t know what else to do.”
I press my forehead against his. “Don’t give up yet. Not on us. Not on our future. And not on yourself. Please.”
His fingers tangle in my hair, holding my head close. “I don’t want anyone else to die because of me.”
“I know, but we’ll find a way. We always do. Together.” I press a kiss to his cheek. “And maybe it’s time we got some help.”
THURSDAY
Getting out of bed the next morning is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I spent most of the night crying or passed out in a tangle of sheets, and when I finally get out of bed, I’m still a wreck. I don’t think Adam slept at all. Every time I glanced over at him he was staring at the ceiling with a haunted expression. But once the sun shines through the motel’s dingy yellow curtains, I make him get out of bed too. I don’t know how we’re supposed to move on after Chris’s death, but we can’t sit around and wait for the shooter to find us either.
I get dressed and eat something from a vending machine, but my movements are routine and I’m not really in the present. I’m stuck in the past, watching Chris get shot over and over again. Wondering if there was something I could have done to prevent it. Wishing there was a way to redo it all.
As much as I’d like to mourn Chris longer, we don’t have that luxury. Especially because our friends might be in danger. They need to know what’s going on so they can protect themselves, both now and
in ten years. And maybe, if we’re lucky, they can help us figure out how to stop the pandemic from happening at all.
By the time Adam and I arrive at Zahra and Paige’s apartment, Ken is already there. He’s sitting next to Paige with his arm draped over the top of the couch behind her. He’s not touching her, but he’s not exactly being subtle either. As we spread out around the living room, I feel a pang of homesickness for our apartment and for Max. I miss our life before all of this happened, when I thought I was done with time travel forever.
“Is it true?” Paige asked, her eyes glistening. “Is Chris really dead?”
Word travels fast, it seems. I lower my head as grief wraps itself around my heart again. “He is.”
Paige buries her face in Ken’s shoulder and cries softly, while he pats her back. Zahra simply looks stunned, her eyes wide, her mouth open.
“I can’t believe it,” she manages to say. “We didn’t know Chris as well as you did, or for as long, but he was still one of us.”
“His poor family,” Paige says, wiping her eyes.
“Was it the same person who shot you?” Ken asks, glancing at Adam’s side with a frown.
“We think so, yeah,” Adam says. “Both times the person was trying to kill me. Chris…” His voice breaks. “He saved my life.”
“What are you talking about?” Zahra asks, her head snapping back and forth between Adam and Ken. “Who’s trying to kill you?”
I draw in a breath and begin to explain it all, leaving nothing out from the time Adam went to the future to Chris’s death last night. It gets easier to tell this story every time, even though the story itself keeps getting worse. But our friends are our only hope. If anyone can figure out what to do next, it’s them.
Paige and Zahra ask questions along the way, and then they fall into stunned silence as they absorb it all.
Paige breaks the silence first. “Why didn’t you tell us any of this until now?”
“We wanted to tell you, but we thought you would be safer if you didn’t know,” I say. “We planned to tell you eventually though.” My stomach twists as I realize these are the same words Adam said to me to justify keeping his own secrets. I’ve done the same thing I’ve been unable to forgive him for, for the same reasons.
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