Chip and two or three of the other boys were pushing at Gary’s chest, trying to shove him away from JB, while a few girls tugged JB in the other direction. The other kids stood by in shock, their faces contorted into masks of dismay and disbelief.
“Is this the role-playing part of the seminar?” he heard one girl ask hesitantly. “Are we supposed to do something?”
“It’s not—” Jonah started to scream at her, but then he decided he didn’t have time to explain. “Help us!”
The girl began to crouch down, but it was too late.
Seconds later, Jonah heard the gunshot.
TWENTY-EIGHT
“That’s enough,” Mr. Hodge said.
He was standing at the front of the room, his right arm in the air, something glistening in his right hand. It didn’t look quite like a gun. But Jonah’s ringing ears and shattered nerves told him he’d heard gunfire; the adrenaline had come back and was telling him,That was real! Take cover! Hurry! Before he shoots again!
Had Mr. Hodge shot straight up into the ceiling? Where had the bullet gone? Where would the next one go? Where would it be safe for Jonah to run?
Gary pulled away from JB, giving Mr. Hodge a chance at a clear shot.
JB only sat up, staring back at him.
“You weren’t supposed to bring that into the twenty-first century,” JB said. “You know that’s illegal.”
His voice was calm and resolute, which comforted Jonah somehow. If JB wasn’t afraid, then maybe Jonah didn’t need quite so much adrenaline coursing through his system.
Then JB’s words sank in.
Weren’t supposed to bring that into the twenty-first century…Was that proof that JB and Gary and Mr. Hodge weren’t from the twenty-first century? Jonah wondered. Did that mean that Angela’s theory was right?
He still didn’t want to believe it.
“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Mr. Hodge was saying with a shrug. “Surely you’ve heard that one before.”
“These are desperate times only because of you,” JB retorted.
“Ididn’t choose the century,” Mr. Hodge said, taking a step closer to JB and lowering his arm slightly so his gun—or whatever it was—was pointed right at JB. “Children, get away from the interloper. This doesn’t concern you.”
Before any of the kids had a chance to move, JB reached out and grabbed the girl who’d wondered if the fight was a role-play—Ming Reynoldsher name tag said. The force of his grasp knocked her name tag from her shirt, and it went fluttering toward the ground, showing the name, then the blank side, then the name, then the blank side…. JB jerked Ming upright, so they were both standing. He held her tightly against his chest, like a shield.
“Oh, you wouldn’t hurt one ofthem ,” JB said. “It might cut into your profits. What are you getting per kid—a million? Two?”
“That one’s only a minor Chinese princess from the fourth century,” Mr. Hodge said, keeping his arm steady. “Very obscure. Who says I wouldn’t sacrifice her to keep the others?”
“Minor Chinese princess from the fourth century?” What?Jonah thought. He felt frozen, unable to do anything but watch JB and Mr. Hodge stare each other down.
“Um, hello? This is seeming a little too realistic. I want to stop now,” Ming said.
JB looked down at the girl, frowned, and carefully set her to the side.
Jonah immediately stepped between JB and Mr. Hodge.
“You can’t shoot him!” Jonah shouted.
Mr. Hodge began to laugh.
“Amazing,” Mr. Hodge said. “And you are…” He squinted at Jonah’s name tag. “Jonah Skidmore? So you’re really…” Mr. Hodge peered down at the small silver object in his hand. Jonah wondered if maybe it wasn’t a gun, after all. Maybe it was a Blackberry or a really high-tech, tiny computer with an incredible audio system.
Or maybe his mind was just trying once more to turn something surreal and unbelievable into something ordinary and familiar and easily dismissed.
“Well, that’s very interesting,” Mr. Hodge muttered.
“What?” Jonah said. He wanted to say, “Who am I?” too. He wanted to understand everything. But the words stuck in his throat.
Mr. Hodge had turned his attention back to JB.
“I can’t believe they think you’re on their side,” Mr. Hodge said. “You must not have told them what you want to do.”
“Oh, and you did?” JB taunted.
Mr. Hodge shrugged.
“I’m not the one pretending to have ethics,” he said. “AndI’m taking them to a better place. A better time.”
“If the future’s still there after we release the ripple,” JB said.
Jonah wondered if, on top of developing claustrophobia, he also might have begun to hyperventilate. JB and Mr. Hodge’s conversation seemed to be making less and less sense.
“Oh, that’s right. I forgot.You’re allowed to play with time, even if no one else is,” Mr. Hodge said.
“We have to protect it,” JB said. “You wounded it so badly, we can’t follow any of the old rules anymore.”
Jonah’s head began to throb. He didn’t know if it was from being slammed into solid rock so many times, or from the strain of having a gun pointed at him—if it was a gun, or from the effort he was making to come up with an explanation for everything he’d witnessed. But it was getting harder and harder to think straight. He glanced over his shoulder, hoping JB could give him some directions.
JB was gazing past Jonah, past Mr. Hodge, even, into the darkness beyond.
Backup, Jonah thought. Of course. JB wouldn’t have planned to overpower Mr. Hodge and Gary all by himself. He would have brought the other janitor from the FBI, the one who’d given Jonah the Mountain Dew. Maybe he’d even brought Mr. Reardon—maybe he was in on this too.
The person who stepped out of the shadows was Angela DuPre.
Gary evidently saw her at the same moment that Jonah did, because he screamed, “Watch out! Behind you!”
Mr. Hodge whirled around, pointing his gun at Angela now, instead of JB. But Angela had a gun too. Or, no—hers looked more like a toy, all black and yellow. Then she pointed it at Mr. Hodge and a stream of light shot across the room, jolting him. Mr. Hodge let out a scream and fell to the ground, twitching. The silver object in his hand hit the ground too and skittered across the floor, toward Jonah.
Jonah reached down and scooped it up. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see JB bending over Mr. Hodge and Angela fiddling with the front part of her gun. And Gary? Where was Gary? Jonah turned his head, and there was Gary racing toward him, ready to slam into him yet again. Jonah took a step back, but it wasn’t necessary. Before his second step, Gary was on the floor, screaming and twitching like Mr. Hodge.
“Is that a ray gun?” Jonah asked, in awe, because this, finally, would be proof he couldn’t ignore.
“Nope,” Angela said. “Just a regular twenty-first-century Taser. I ordered it off the Internet.”
“But the lights,” Jonah said. “And—”
“That’s just the laser tracking system,” Angela said. “The electrical charge goes through the barbs.”
Jonah saw that JB had looped thin silvery bands around Mr. Hodge’s wrists and ankles and was pulling little barbs that looked like fish hooks out of Mr. Hodge’s chest. Then he rushed past Jonah to do the same with Gary. Both men had stopped screaming and twitching, but they seemed too dazed to put up much resistance.
“Quick, Angela, get the ropes,” JB said. “So we can tie them up firmly.”
Angela rushed back toward the dark section of the cave.
“I’m a Boy Scout,” Jonah said, turning toward JB. “I can help with that.”
Instantly, he felt humiliated for saying that—how nerdy could he be? He didn’t have to look back at Katherine to know that she was probably rolling her eyes, mouthing the words, “Really, we’re not related. Not by blood.”
JB grinned as he straightened up.
&
nbsp; “Thanks, Jonah,” JB said. “You’ve beenvery helpful today. You just hand me that Elucidator, and then we’ll let you tie some knots.”
He had his hand outstretched, his fingers so close to the object in Jonah’s hand that he easily could have grabbed it. But he was clearly expecting Jonah to pass it over without any problem. He waited patiently.
“This thing?” Jonah said, pulling back a little. He looked down at the object, which seemed more like a remote control to him now. “This is an Elucidator? What’s that mean?”
“It means it’s not something you want to mess with,” JB said. “It’s very dangerous.”
Jonah remembered Mr. Hodge looking at it, muttering about Jonah’s identity.So you’re really…Well, that’s very interesting….
“This ‘Elucidator’ is from the future, isn’t it?” Jonah asked, holding it even more tightly.
JB hesitated.
“Yes,” he finally said.
Jonah took a step back. JB still stood there waiting, but he was squinting now, getting anxious. Beyond JB, Jonah could see all the other kids watching him, wondering what he was going to do. Moments before, some of the kids had been shrieking as loudly as Mr. Hodge and Gary, but now they, too, had gone silent. It seemed like they were all holding their breath.
“Jonah,” JB said. “Give me the Elucidator. Now.”
Jonah raised the Elucidator, but only to point it at JB.
“No,” he said.
TWENTY-NINE
“Angela!” JB called. “The Taser!”
Instantly, Jonah saw his mistake. In a second, Angela would turn around and aim her Taser at him, and they’d just re-enact the scene from a few moments ago. Except this time it would be Jonah writhing on the floor and then passing out, and JB scooping up the fallen Elucidator. And then…what would happen then?
Jonah didn’t know, but he could still hear Mr. Hodge’s words echoing in his brain:I can’t believe they think you’re on their side. You must not have told them what you want to do. What did that mean? What should Jonah do? Was there anyone he was sure he could trust?
That was one question he could answer.
“Katherine!” he called out. “Catch!”
He tossed the Elucidator in the air, an easy toss, easier than passing a basketball. He knew without turning to look that Katherine would catch it, that she would hold on tightly, that she wouldn’t betray him. She might make fun of him, she might roll her eyes and call him an idiot, but she wouldn’t let go. She’d already proved that.
As soon as the Elucidator was in the air, Jonah took off running. JB made no attempt to stop him because he was spinning around, following the arc of the Elucidator. So Jonah had a clean, fast sprint to the back of the cave. He needed the speed; he needed the element of surprise if he had any prayer of wrestling the Taser out of Angela’s hand before she aimed it at him.
He was too late.
Even in the dimness of the back of the cave, Jonah could see that Angela had already turned around. In one smooth quick move, she pulled a cartridge from her pocket, reloaded the Taser, and pointed it back toward Jonah.
Jonah took a stumbling step to the side, just in case he had a chance of dodging the laser light and the barbs and whatever else the Taser was about to send zinging at him. He hoped it wouldn’t hurt too badly. He hoped he wouldn’t scream as loudly as Gary and Mr. Hodge had. He hoped…
Angela held the Taser steady, aiming past Jonah. Aiming toward Mr. Hodge and Gary.
“Shoot Jonah!” JB was yelling helpfully.
Thanks a lot, Jonah thought. He didn’t have any hope now. He was too close to Angela, too close to reverse his course, too close for her to miss. Just as soon as she corrected her aim and squeezed the trigger, he’d be on the ground.
Angela spun toward Jonah, but she didn’t squeeze the trigger. She stepped forward and glanced out toward the brighter part of the cave, though that made no sense—surely Jonah was blocking her view. She turned the Taser sideways, not pointing at anyone anymore. Then she reached over and slid the Taser into Jonah’s grasp.
She was handing over her weapon.
“What?” Jonah demanded, dumfounded.
Angela pressed a finger to her lips, then she moved the finger and began to scream.
“No! You can’t have it!”
Jonah’s ears were reverberating with all that lung power released in such a small space. But already Angela was expecting him to listen. She leaned in close and whispered in his ear, “I really am on your side. Completely. You deserve to know the truth. So pretend that you captured me.”
Jonah just stood there. He was so stunned he almost dropped the Taser.
“Maybe you should shout something about getting the ropes?” Angela whispered, bending down to pick up looped coils from the floor of the cave.
“Move it! Get those ropes now!” Jonah hollered. His voice cracked; surely that wasn’t a convincing yell.
But Jonah could hear JB calling from the lighter part of the cave, “Angela! What happened?” before breaking off to warn Katherine, “Young lady! Really—you can’t press any of those buttons! You don’t know what they do!”
“What’s going on?” Jonah hissed at Angela. “Tell me!”
She grimaced.
“There isn’t time to talk. Besides, you should hear it from the experts, not me.” She nudged him. “Go on.”
Jonah started to back out of the darkness.
“A-hem,” Angela said. She stepped in front of him and moved her hand over his so that the end of the Taser was pressed into her ribcage. “Don’t you dare set that off now—you’re too close,” she whispered. “Butplease , make it look like it’s possible that you captured me.”
“Angela?” JB called again, sounding even more worried.
Angela dropped her hand from the Taser. Together, Jonah and Angela stepped out into the light.
“He got your weapon?” JB said incredulously. “He overpowered you?”
“He’s a very strong young man,” Angela said defensively. “Stronger than he looks.”
Well, that was an insult, wasn’t it? Jonah dug the Taser more deeply into Angela’s ribs. He shoved her forward, more roughly than he’d intended.
“Maybe not quite so realistic,” she muttered.
“Give the ropes to Chip,” Jonah ordered.
“Uh, Jonah, I’m not a Boy Scout,” Chip said. “My dad said he didn’t have time for all those camp-outs, so I don’t know anything about tying knots, and—”
“Here,” Jonah said, slapping the Taser into Chip’s hand. “Shoot her if you have to.”
Anguish spread over Angela’s face. Jonah could tell she wasn’t acting now, either, because it was Chip holding the Taser, and there was no way Jonah could signal Chip to let him know that she was really on their side, without JB’s seeing as well.
Jonah tied Mr. Hodge’s and Gary’s wrists and ankles. They lay calmly now, their eyes half-closed. Jonah couldn’t tell if they were still dazed, or if they were faking it, biding their time. He tied the knots as quickly as he could.
He walked toward JB, ropes still dangling from his hands.
“Not me, too?” JB asked, with an ingratiating grin. “I think you’ve gotten confused. Remember—I was the one trying to save all of you.”
“What were you saving us from?” Jonah asked in a dull voice. “What were you saving us for?”
“Tell your sister to give me the Elucidator, and I’ll explain,” JB said.
“Explain, and maybe we’ll decide that you deserve the Elucidator,” Jonah said.
He looped the rope around JB’s wrists and tied his firmest knot yet. JB didn’t resist. Then Jonah tied JB’s ankles and Angela’s ankles and wrists.
Someone was sniffling behind him.
“Oh, please.” It was Ming, the girl who’d temporarily been a human shield. “Just open the door and let us go to our parents. My cell phone isn’t working—I’ve been trying and trying to call the police—once we’re out of t
he cave, I’m sure it will work right….”
Jonah hadn’t even thought about cell phones, but now he noticed that just about every kid had one out. One boy near the back bench kept stabbing a finger at his phone three times, waiting, stabbing three times again, waiting….
Nine-one-one, Jonah thought.Of course . His knees almost gave way at the thought that a bunch of police officers in dark uniforms would soon come swarming into the cave, saving them all, saving Jonah from having to make any more choices, any more mistakes.
Then Jonah realized that the reason the boy kept stabbing at the phone was that none of his calls was going through.
“Sure,” he told Ming. “You find a way to open that door; we’re all out of here.”
“No! Don’t!” JB shouted.
“Oh, let them try,” Gary said groggily from the ground. “There’s a keypad by the entryway. The code is twenty-one ST.”
Was it a trick?
Jonah turned back to JB.
“What will happen if we try that code? If we open the door?” he demanded.
“You’ll see…. You’ll find out too much, all at once,” JB said. “It might scare you.”
“It might scare you”? After everything that’s already happened, JB’s worried about scaring us?
Jonah decided to take his chances.
He rushed toward the entryway, and it was as ifhe’d become the Pied Piper now. Most of the other kids shoved in behind him. His finger shook as he pressed in 2 1 and then ST. An image was growing in his mind of what he might see when the door slid back. Maybe, somehow, Gary and Mr. Hodge had already slipped them into the future. They’d step out of the cave, and all the trees would be gone; the newly built houses would be ancient and falling down. Thatwould be scary, but Jonah was braced for it.
The door began moving, slowly this time, like it was an ancient boulder covered with a thousand years of moss. As soon as there was a crack between the door and the wall, Jonah darted toward it, peeking out. He peeked out and saw…
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