A Time Traveler's Theory of Relativity

by Nicole Valentine

  “I know you’re still worried about what’s next. Will is not going to be a problem. He’ll be leaving Dorset, and Aunt Billie left for New York today.”

  That didn’t comfort him much, especially when he considered what Aunt Billie might know. It was more than just the way she hid her Traveler powers; it was the way she had been afraid of him in the church. For that brief second, she’d suspected he could Travel, too.

  “Aunt Ev and your father will run ISTA now, and maybe in time”—Gran gave him a hopeful smile—“you’ll take over?”

  “If that’s what you want, Gran.”

  She sighed and let go of his hand. “It’s my time, Finn. I want you to know I’m so proud of you.”

  Finn jumped up out of the chair. He wanted to stop her, hold her back from going anywhere.

  She did not rise. She lay there calmly and smiled. She began to glow, but not with the white light that Finn knew so well from his few travels. The light was bluish and calm. It started at Gran’s heart and was growing outward in all directions.

  “Gran, I don’t want to do this without you. I—I love you.”

  He could no longer hear the words coming out of her mouth, but he could read her lips. She mouthed the same three words back to him and then, just like that, Finn was standing there alone, looking at an empty lounge chair.

  Chapter 35

  It was another week before Gabi was able to be outside on her own. Her arm and shoulder were held in place with a sling. She had to walk slowly, but they could finally enjoy a visit to the Union Store and maybe get the last of the morning bagels.

  “You should fear and respect me now. I’m part machine.” She pointed to the place in her arm where the metal pins had to be inserted and waggled her eyebrows at him. Finn gave a weak smile. He couldn’t laugh at Gabi’s injuries.

  “I know what you’re thinking and you’re wrong,” she said.

  “Oh? Why don’t you tell me what I’m thinking?” He wasn’t as perturbed as he sounded—this was part of their regular game. Life was returning to some semblance of normal.

  “You’re thinking this is somehow your fault, and it’s not. It’s Faith’s fault. No one else’s. Besides, I knew what I was getting into.” She jutted her small, sharp chin forward defiantly.

  None of that made him feel any better. It only meant he had to be more careful. “Your mom knew about me, Gabi. All along.”

  “She told me.”

  Finn was stunned. “When?”

  “Not until I woke up in the hospital. She told me how you appeared in my living room back in the third grade. It freaked her out. Don’t worry, she realizes how important it is to keep the secret.”

  “Do you know why I was there? It was the night of your dream. The ball of light dream.”

  “What? How could you possibly know that?”

  “You brought me home, Gabi. Your ball of light, your third-grade dream. That’s how I found my way back.”

  He had never seen Gabi at a loss for words before. It was fun to witness.

  “Huh,” was all she said, but he could see her mind was hard at work, trying to solve an equation of her own.

  They were quiet for a few moments more until Finn changed the subject. “So I guess your mom has been secretly helping my mom for a long time.”

  “Yeah, she made all her Traveling clothes, for when she’d go to different times. Mom wasn’t just working for the theater.”

  “I figured that. They acted like good friends. But how? She’s not even part of ISTA.”

  Gabi stepped closer to him. “We should probably take the volume down a notch.”

  Finn looked around. The green was fairly empty this morning except for a few straggling leaf peepers. He waited till an old woman limping toward the post office was well out of earshot before he spoke again.

  “I’m just saying, our moms barely ever hung out together.”

  “Mom said that was part of the arrangement. She didn’t want anyone to know about their friendship. It gave her a secret ally outside of ISTA. They actually met in New York, and your mom got my mom the job at the theater. She’s why we moved here in the first place.”

  Finn’s mouth hung open in surprise.

  “I know. Sneaky, huh?” She said it with pride though. She clearly had a newfound respect for her mom.

  They walked past the historic society and the post office. The marble sidewalks were not as impressive in the daytime, and here the slabs were uneven due to the shifting of the soil. Tourists would often trip. Locals knew where the hazards were by heart.

  “You know, Gabi, you were right.”

  “Of course I was. About what?”

  “You were the difference this time. I think the reason I’m even here is because you were with me. You found the tree, you brought me home. I owe you.”

  “Phsh.” She nudged the grass seam between the marble slabs with the toe of her sneaker.

  “Anyway, I want you to know, you can back out any time you want. This isn’t going to get easier.”

  “No. Absolutely not!” She raised her good arm and made a fist. “We’re going to beat her together, Finn!”

  Finn took a deep breath. “What if I told you we’re not supposed to beat her? That we have to win her back?”

  “Ha! Like that’s possible!” She kept walking and Finn held back. Realizing he was no longer by her side, Gabi turned. “You’re not serious?”

  “I have to try. I can’t give up on her, Gabi.”

  “Finn, she’s horrible! You saw what she did! Mr. Wells and then . . .” She winced at the memory. It had to have been painful, so much so that she couldn’t finish her sentence.

  Finn jumped in where she stopped. “I know. I’m furious at her for everything she’s done. Especially to you. But there are reasons she’s turned out this way. If Traveling is this hard for me, I can’t imagine what it’s been like for her.”

  Gabi clearly wasn’t convinced. Finn needed her on his side. It would take time, that’s all.

  “Gabi, there’s one more thing. Something I haven’t told anyone.”

  “You promised you’d tell me everything!” Finn was sure if her arm wasn’t in a sling she’d have both hands on her hips.

  “And I am! Listen, I can tell when someone is doubling in their own timeline.”

  “You mean the stutter-step thing?”

  “No, only the Traveling version does that, and only if they’re too close to their initial. Aunt Ev and Aunt Billie, when they were each doubling, or visiting their own timeline, their initial would get all shimmery. They would get surrounded by waves of energy. It looks like the waves of heat that come off a street on a summer day. While we were up there, by the tree, Faith started to shimmer the exact same way.”

  “I didn’t see that.”

  “Well, I think I’m the only one who can see it. Aunt Ev didn’t mention it and neither did Gran.”

  “What can that mean, that Faith shimmered?”

  “Well, I think it means that another version of Faith was there. Watching. I think she’s working against herself. I think she’s the one who closed the node for Mom. Everyone thinks it’s me, but I didn’t close the node, Gabi. I haven’t been able to do anything.” He looked around cautiously, noting how many people were close enough to overhear: a family with a toddler, the thin elderly woman in front of the bank. He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Somewhere or somewhen, there’s a version of Faith who’s trying to do the right thing.”

  Gabi looked skeptical. “Maybe. I mean, I hope that’s true. But you can Travel, Finn. You can see people shimmering where others can’t, and you’re still doubting yourself? What more proof do you need?”

  “I don’t know, how about actually Traveling when I want to? I’ve been trying and nothing’s happened.”

  “We should go back to the mountain. It might work for you up there.”

  “Maybe. I don’t know if that’ll be enough. I don’t know if I’m enough.”

  “No one ever
knows that! Apparently not even time travelers.” She gave him a sympathetic smile. “C’mon, I’m starving and all this walking is making me tired.”

  He’d forgotten this was her first outing. Even though it was a short walk to the green from her house, she was probably pushing herself.

  They headed toward Union at a slower pace. Finn’s mind was still a bunch of cogs turning in opposite directions. It was like he was missing something in the equation, something obvious. Maybe it wasn’t all about genetics and equations—what if it was a combination of factors? He began to think of all the things that had moved him the last few weeks. Every time, he felt a shiver or deep connection to something bigger than himself. He pictured Gabi in the field of ferns, the changing carpet of leaves under his feet, the marble, the stars in the night sky and the ones in his dream. Aunt Ev’s voice echoing in his head: “Much further back.”

  Suddenly, everything shifted. He found himself unsteady and reached out to Gabi for balance. It was as if the ground were sinking slightly with every step. He started to feel a bit queasy.

  Gabi’s eyes were wide with shock. She was staring at the ground below them. “Uhhh, Finn?”

  The white stone had begun to bend and morph under his weight like putty. His shoes had created indentations in the rock that should have taken years of wear to form. He took two more experimental steps and looked back. The soft depressions sprang back up, as if the footprints were made in foam, not stone. He stopped, bent down, and studied the marble, tracing the pads of his fingers across the cold, smooth surface.

  As his fingers trailed across the stone he had the feeling that the world was suddenly rendered into focus.

  It was sharp. Clear. It was like someone had finally turned the lenses the right way. His edges were no longer blurry.

  He looked up at Gabi. Her mouth finally found the words, “How did you . . .?”

  He had no answer for her. It was nothing he could put into words. It wasn’t magic, it wasn’t science. It was . . . everything. Elements, electricity, love, air, hope, atoms—he was aware of it all. That was the key: you had to accept it all.

  He realized something else too, the all-too-familiar feeling that he was being watched. He stood up and scanned the scene around him. The leaves picked up and whirlygigged around his feet, swirling up around him to his shoulders like an embrace, then floated away. He watched them whirl down the sidewalk, toward the bank. Toward the old woman he had seen earlier.

  They locked eyes. He knew those eyes as well as his own. She said nothing, but her words echoed inside his head just the same.

  Happy birthday, Finn. I left you a present.

  She gave him a smile that Finn instantly recognized. He had seen it with Gran, with Mom, and in flashes of childhood memories. I moved it, by the way. It’s in your closet. I thought it would be too hard on Dad.

  He knew what the present was. He had already found it, held the picture in his hands.

  It was like she read his mind and showed him the timestamp in his memory. In some of our timelines we spend more time together. I wanted you to know.

  New vague memories filtered into his brain. A Faith, five or six, playing with him at the quarry. Both of them much older, laughing in the backseat of Dad’s old car. A happier Faith was shown to him before a flash of the one he met on the mountain.

  Steer clear of her, will you? It’s a long time till she becomes me.

  She turned toward the alley between the bank and the post office, though Finn still heard her thoughts.

  I have to go back to my own world. It’s up to you now. You are the first boy Traveler—but more importantly, you are Finn. And that on its own is enough. I couldn’t have asked for a better brother.

  She disappeared into the alley. Finn instinctively took one step forward, but stopped when he saw a calm bluish light glow briefly from between the two buildings.

  He turned back to Gabi. She was still on her knees examining the fading marble footprints with her good hand. She hadn’t seen Faith at all.

  “So are you going to explain to me the science behind this?”

  “I . . .” he looked back at the alleyway and then back to Gabi. “No, it doesn’t need explaining. It just . . . is.”

  Gabi beamed at him.

  He grabbed her good arm and led her up the Union’s wooden stairs as casually as if it was any other day.

  He could swear the light of the world was glowing amber. It was as if he could almost see it, hear it. Universes were expanding, stars were being born, and people’s hearts were changing in each and every world.

  Faith didn’t know. She had no idea for the longest time, and when it finally dawned on her, it was too late. You may be wondering, how can there be such a thing as “too late” for someone who has the command of both the past and the future?

  It’s very simple. You can’t stop what grows inside of you. Regret and shame settle and fester. What grew inside me, more powerful than either of those, was love. I finally recognized that’s what I was getting from Finn all these years. He never stopped trying to save me, in every timeline, in every universe.

  So here I stand, watching that horrible young woman I once was stomp around the wood in a rage. She is still in disbelief that someone has bested her.

  “It’s impossible! No one is more powerful than me!” she hisses as she kicks up dirt and leaves in her wake. And the amusing thing is, she’s right. The only one who could truly fool her was me—herself. Finn wouldn’t have been able to do this part all on his own. Not yet at least.

  You want an ending, don’t you? You want to know what happens to Finn and Gabi. Silly, you’re assuming I know! The thing is, we never truly know, do we? As Gran said, time is stubborn, but the hearts change. Oh, if I could only show you. They swell, they burst, they grow, and like stars, they sometimes burn with a brilliant white heat and die. Sometimes they even change in one universe and not another. I could tell you what is probable, but there’s no fun in that. Why discuss math and probability when you can watch an entire lifetime unfold instead?

  That wretched fool has no idea what her brother is capable of. I’ve kept her busy looking in all the wrong directions, and maybe, just maybe, I have bought myself a small sliver of redemption?

  No. I mustn’t hope for that. All that matters is that Finn’s secret is safe. She never finds out what he can do. Well, not until she becomes me.

  And oh, my dear girl, I know what lies ahead for you. That transformation is going to hurt. Regret is a harsh tutor. But how utterly eye-opening it is to discover that all through time, in every permutation of every universe, in defiance of all probability, you were unconditionally loved by one person.

  That kind of knowledge changes you.

  Author’s Note

  And you, dear reader, I bet you want to know how much of this you can believe. Well, I’ll tell you this much. Dorset is a real place, with real people. The tree with two doorknobs exists at the top of a scarred marble mountain. You can find it at the crossroads of two trails near the summit. Only a handful of people know it’s there.

  And now you know.

  If you look hard enough you’ll also find Aunt Ev popping up where she shouldn’t. You can find all sorts of things, no matter where your particular universe happens to lie. You must work for your knowledge, though. It takes time to see the whole picture.

  And while you may never have as much time as Faith did, there is always enough time to look again.

  Acknowledgments

  I am lucky enough to reside in a universe full of brilliant and kind fellow Travelers. This book would not exist without my agent Linda Epstein, who believed in my work from day one. To my editor, Amy Fitzgerald, who skillfully navigated every timeline with me, and to everyone at Carolrhoda and Emerald City Literary who decided to take this journey with me, thank you.

  Thank you to the wonderful people of Dorset, Vermont, who welcomed this flatlander with open arms. The Barrows House and The Dorset Inn, where many of these
words were written. A special thank you to the lovely people at Dorset Union Store and Jon Mathewson of the Dorset Historical Society, who provided me with space to research and answered all my tedious historical questions with unending enthusiasm. Vermont Department of Public Safety Search and Rescue Coordinator Neil VanDyke and Trauma Surgeon Dr. Kris R. Kaulback for helping me get Gabi off the mountain. Special thanks to Dr. Colin Bischoff for answering the finer points of physics and time travel.

  Thanks to my Highlights family: Jennifer Jacobson, Amanda Jenkins, Nancy Werlin, Melissa Wyatt, and finally, the sparkling Sarah Aronson, for being the best mentors (yes, I said mentors) and friends I could ask for. Thank you to George and Kent Brown, Jo Lloyd, Alison Green Myers, and everyone at the Highlights Foundation for giving this weary Traveler a second home. To all my workshoppers who trusted me with your worlds, thank you.

  My Vermont College of Fine Arts mentors who traveled to untamed universes with me, Rita Williams-Garcia, Coe Booth, Susan Fletcher and Leda Schubert, I hope I have made you proud. And to Franny Billingsley, who was right about so many things, thank you.

  To my Secret Gardeners and VCFA family, especially Kekla Magoon, Jess Rinker, Miriam McNamara, Laura Sibson, Cordelia Jensen, Laurie Morrison, Katie Mather, and Melanie Fishbane, thank you.

  To my friends and first readers who cared for Finn from the beginning: MaryWinn Heider, AmyRose Capetta, Mike Waxman, Christine Danek, Joanne Fritz, Laura Parnum, Amy Beth Sisson, Nicole Wolverton, Hilda Burgos, Martha Bullen, The Book Babes of the Main Line and the indomitable Jenny Gill, who literally climbed the mountain with me, my unending gratitude.

  I am forever indebted to my fellow Highlights workshop teacher, VCFA classmate, beta-reader and friend, Rob Costello. Your friendship, deep insight, unending empathy, and brilliant advice are invaluable to me. You are a true Traveler.

  Thank you to my mother, Margaret Valentine, my grandmother, aunts, mother-in-law, and all the strong women I call family, for passing on formidable mitochondrial DNA. I get my power from you. A special thank you to my aunt, Elizabeth Steinach, who made it possible for me to write and study by covering for me at home.