Paradigm (Travelers Series Book 3)

by Claudia Lefeve

  “It’s okay. The whole situation seems rather silly.” It’s not that I don’t want to talk to her about what happened, but I’m just worried that after I explain why I had to break up with Alex, she might think I’m a bit nuts. I mean, to dump a great guy for another guy that isn’t even a thing yet is a bit off-the-wall, even for me.

  “Try me. I’m not so old that I can’t understand.”

  It’s hard to imagine my aunt Maggie ever being young, with her salt and pepper hair and the gentle crow’s feet that frame the wisdom in her eyes. But I can tell she must have been some knock-out when she was my age. She’s still a beautiful woman.

  “I guess I just decided that I wasn’t really suited for Alex. I mean, he’s super great and all, but there was something missing. As much as I hate to say it, but I feel that certain something with Cooper.”

  “The young man –”

  I cut her off, nodding. “Yeah, the guy who was here the other day.”

  “I see. So tell me, does this fellow feel the same way about you?” She seems genuinely concerned. I feel rather bad for doubting that she wouldn’t be able to understand.

  My arms fly up into the air and everything comes gushing out of me. “That’s the problem! He’s supposed to be my husband and I don’t even know the guy. I saw our wedding for crying out loud! How do I know he’s the one I’m supposed to be with? I don’t want my feelings to be swayed by what I’ve seen.”

  Maggie stops right in the middle of eating her apple pie and gawks at me. “What do you mean you saw your wedding?”

  If I’m confiding, I might as well go guns blazing. “Jenny took me. She can travel through realities and she took me to my present and somehow tapped into this other power I don’t even know I have. Apparently, I was supposed to be marrying Cooper. Or still am, I don’t know. It was her twisted way of showing me what could have been had I gone back to my real reality.”

  Her eyebrows raise. “Do you think you missed out by not going back?”

  Despite her questions, it looks like my aunt isn’t fazed by the whole traveling part. It’s more like she’s intrigued. Maybe she knows more of what’s going on that I first thought. Sure, she believed me when I explained I wasn’t from this world, which is more than I can say for myself when I first found out, but she seems to be taking this bit of information without the slightest bit of confusion.

  So I continue with my outrageous story. I don’t know how much information she was able to put together when Cooper was over, so I start from the beginning. “When I was a senior in high school, Cooper sought me out. I was supposed to go with him back to my true reality. Only, I never did. According to Cooper, I did travel back with him. Somewhere along the way, someone messed with the timeline and they’re now trying to get me back. Does this make any sense to you?”

  “Actually it makes a lot of sense. Something, or rather someone, interfered, it seems.”

  The thought never really occurred to me. If in some other timeline, I willingly left with Cooper, but in this one I didn’t, something had to have happened to make me decline. Another piece of the puzzle falls into place. “You think?”

  “I’m absolutely certain of it. After your last visit, I decided to dig a little deeper into some of your father’s old papers and I thought you might want to have a look at them. It might shed some light into your situation.”

  After showing me to pile of boxes my father had left behind, Maggie gives me some alone time to sort through them myself and I’m still just as confused as when I started. I can’t make heads or tails of his research. I might as well just give up. I’d have a better shot of getting struck by lightning or winning the lottery (I should have taken Jenny’s offer to go gambling when we were in Vegas) than figuring this out.

  Maggie pops her head in the office. “How are we doing in here?”

  “Ugh. I don’t even know what I’m looking for.” The files are riddled with math and physics equations. None of which I understand, considering I almost failed both subjects in high school. It’s not that I’m not smart, I’ve just never excelled when it comes to the hard sciences.

  “Yes, I suppose his research does read a bit like ancient hieroglyphics,” she laughs.

  “I wish. At least I could guess what all this stuff said if I had pictures for reference.”

  Aside from names, none of the information in the files offer any clue as to what my father was up to. It’s frustrating, but I’m determined to read every paper in these boxes to make some sort of sense of how or why I ended up here.

  “Want some help, dear?”

  “Would you? I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t want to, but I’d love the company.” This is my aunt. Of course I want to spend time with her. I’m not sure that pouring over my father’s stuff is an appropriate activity for family bonding, but it’s a start. I pat the floor next to me that isn’t covered with files.

  My aunt sits herself down next to me. “I’m more of a bake-cookies-for-my-niece type of gal, but this will do,” she says, pulling out a file from one of the cardboard boxes. “And just in case you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m loving every minute of spending time with you. No matter what we’re doing.”

  I drop the piece of paper in my hand and I give her a quick hug. I’m not one for being emotional, but it seems like the right thing do to at the moment. “Ditto,” I whisper in her ear.

  As I lean over her shoulder, I spot the file she’d been handling that lay on the floor beside her. I wonder how I missed it. I take it from my aunt to examine it further. “Hey, that has Cooper’s name on it.”

  The file weighs heavy in my hand. Not because of its heft, but because whatever’s in this folder may hold a key to whatever we’re involved in. “Telepathy,” I say, reading from the profile. I already know firsthand that Cooper can read other people’s thoughts. What else? I flip through the pages in the folder. I continue skimming through the pages. “Do you know anything about the Prometheus Project?”

  “Prometheus. Like the Titan who created man out of clay?”

  Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of the Modern Prometheus—Frankenstein. “I guess. Sounds creepy when you put it that way.” I go back to the file that outlines Cooper’s involvement in my father’s work. “Says here that he was selected as a test subject back in 1967. That would make him almost fifty years old. That doesn’t sound right.”

  Maggie pulls the file from my hand. “Yes, that does sound odd. I wonder if it has anything to do with time travel.”

  “Maybe.” What I find more interesting is that he was part of the same study as I was. That we were both subject to the same project my father and Thornberry had conducted. And it wasn’t just us.

  I sort through the other folders in the box. “There are more names in here. Jenny Prado, Chance and Chase Dyson… ” I already met Chance when he took me to the past and I already know of Jenny’s involvement, although I have a sneaking suspicion that the Jenny that took me to Vegas isn’t the Jenny I know from this reality. “… and Moose Espinoza.” This is someone I haven’t met yet. I flip through the rest of the files, catching random names. There were at least another dozen files. Others who have powers like mine and who was part the so-called Prometheus Project. I’d spotted my own file earlier, but put it aside to read later.

  “And look at this, Etta.” She points to a sheet of paper wedged between some of the files. “I don’t think any of this happened here.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “From what this says, I gather you weren’t the only thing that came from another reality. I think this box came along for the ride.” She points to a letter wedged between two files.

  The thought of my father’s research papers accompanying me to this reality infuriates me. “So, this box of crap ends up here in your house, but I get stuck in an institutionalized girls’ home.” How did these files manage to find their way here, while I floundered around from foster home to foster home?

  Maggie
picks up on my frustration immediately. “I’m so sorry, Etta. I didn’t know about any of this until now, or I would have intervened to have you here with me. I don’t know about the man from the other reality, but the brother I knew here in this one was more concerned with his work than putting any thought or consideration into the feelings of others.”

  “So you two weren’t close?”

  She smiles, recalling the memory of my father. “On the contrary. We were very close. Like I said, I don’t know much about the Victor that created this mess,” she says, dropping the folder onto the floor. “But I imagine they were very similar, judging by his research.”

  “I thought you said –”

  “Yes, I know. My little brother was a very complicated man, even as a child. Once I knew I could relate to him in his language—science, it became easier to forge a relationship with him. He used to tell me everything about his studies and research. I never understood a lot of what he said, but over time, I began to understand your father and his fascination with his work.”

  That’s great and all, but what I’d like to understand is how me and this box ended up here in the first place.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  No One Doesn’t Live Here Anymore

  Present Reality

  The Future / Alternate Timeline

  The guy is obviously waiting for me as I step out of my tiny efficiency apartment. What is it with guys waiting for me outside my door? If they haven’t already, the neighbors are certainly going to start talking now. Not that I’m vain enough to think that everything and everyone revolves around me, but the guy leaning against the fence across the street flicks his cigarette and looks both ways before crossing the street to catch up to me. Yeah, I’d say he was waiting for yours truly.

  “So, let me guess. You’re here to show me my future,” I say, with a certain degree of sarcasm as he follows along behind me. I’m still not entirely sure what I plan on doing knowing all this information about my past. Okay, being able to catch a glimpse of my wedding is enough to convince me to break things off with Alex, but the truth of the matter is, if I buy into all this going back to the future stuff, it means I have some major decisions to make, ones that I’m not entirely sure I want to make.

  “Perceptive,” he says, finally catching up to me.

  “It’s what’s left, right? Chance shows me my past, Jenny takes me to my present, and you, well, that just leaves the future.”

  “Ah, come on Etta, let me show you what’s in store,” Moose pleads. “Besides, it’s not so much your future I’m here to show you, but the state of affairs. Think of it as a warped future events presentation.”

  I should feel afraid, the guy’s well over six feet tall and he’s pretty scary looking, menacing even, but for some reason I’m not scared. The pockmarks and scars on his face only make him appear more approachable, rather than having the opposite effect.

  I don’t know how much more information about the life that I never led I can take, but I give in to his request. I’m already late for work as it is, having spent the entire evening with Maggie, poring over my father’s files. I don’t think I slept at all last night, wondering what other secrets lie in those papers. What’s another couple of hours? So what if I get fired? I can always drink the Kool-Aid and succumb to Plan B, right? I’ll just think of this as getting the grand tour of my future employment as leader of the Council I still don’t know anything about. “Fine. Lead the way.”

  He leads me around the corner where he stops short in front of a vintage Indian Chief—just don’t ask how I know this. My chariot awaits.

  “A motorcycle?” Oh, what the hell. I guess traveling into some unknown future on an Indian is better than being drugged by Jenny, or ambushed by Chance.

  The guy hands me a spare helmet. “Hop on.”

  “Um, not to be a big baby about it, but can you at least tell me your name before we ride off on this big boy? I’d like to know who to curse in case we crash.”

  The big man laughed. “Moose.”

  So this is the elusive Moose. His name fits his burly exterior. “Nice to finally meet you,” I mutter between my teeth as I hop on.

  Just like the other travels through time and dimension, the trip is instantaneous. One second, we’re turning a corner and here we are. But the difference is notable. After driving only a block through Old Town, passing overpriced townhomes and local shops, the street suddenly becomes dilapidated and empty.

  The roar of the engine abruptly stops and Moose plants his feet on the pavement. I blink my eyes several times to make sure I’m not dreaming. Even after all I’ve been through these last couple of weeks—being kidnapped against my will to Las Vegas to see my nuptials, being told about my sordid past—somehow this desolate place that I know of as my home has me speechless.

  “So this is the future,” I say, stepping off the bike.

  “It’s my unfortunate pleasure to introduce you to the way the world ends up, yes.”

  “The streets are so… empty. Are you sure we’re in the right place? When exactly are we?”

  “Twenty-twenty. The year Thornberry succeeded in destroying not only our world, but our livelihood.”

  “Does that mean there’s no one here?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying, but I’m also here to show you.”

  Moose starts to walk slowly down the sidewalk, expecting me to follow. Since I have nowhere else to go, or even a way to get back to my own time, I have no choice but to follow. He settles on an old weathered bench and pats the seat next to him. “Sit and I’ll explain.”

  “I’m sure you’ve been over this ad nauseum… the others telling you about the ripped timeline and how you were supposed to have returned to your rightful reality several years ago, so I won’t go into that. I will say that things got pretty f’ing messed up without you taking that path. As it stands now, we had no hope in defeating Thornberry or his genetically engineered army.”

  “Do you know what would have happened if I had followed the timeline?”

  “It’s not so much what would have happened, but what could still happen if you’re on board. That’s why having you as part of our group is so vital.” He stares into the barren street. “At least we’d have a fighting chance. We can change this.”

  “Tell me.” For once, no riddles, no half-assed responses. Looks like I’m finally going to get some real answers—from a guy I don’t even know. It might not be information I’m ready to hear, based on my surroundings, but at least this Moose guy seems to understand how much I need to know things. Even if know I’m not going to like what I hear.

  “When you allowed Cooper to take you to your true reality, you were fated to one day join us in our world, this reality in fact, to fight against the new government lead by Oliver Thornberry. Our numbers were small, but we had strength in our abilities and a great leader.” He looks over to me. “You.”

  “That sounds like a nice way of saying you’re insurgents.” I don’t know why I stutter, but I’m trying to comprehend what he’s telling me.

  “You say it like it’s a bad thing.” Moose’s smile extends to the glint in his eyes as he says this, obviously messing with me, but he still manages to breathe a heavy sigh. “Seriously though, it’s not always a negative thing to be against a regime, especially when fighting an army set to destroy the world. But yes, in essence that’s what we were. That’s the world we live in.”

  “So this is my future?”

  “No. This could ultimately be the future we face without you in it. This is the result of you never having jumped realities with Cooper. By our estimation, at least. I can’t tell you whether the outcome would be any different if you had joined our rebellion, but I can say with certainty: it couldn’t be any worse.”

  “What the hell happened here anyway?” Moose obviously isn’t afraid to bring me to this world, even though it creeps the bejeezus out of me. There’s no one around. The buildings are dilapidated, the streets are voi
d of traffic; the only signs that this city had a past is the litter strewn about. “Where did all the people go?”

  “Gone.”

  A big lump forms in my throat. I’ve always considered myself tough, unmoved by tragedy, but here I am engaged with a man who is about to tell me the fate of the people who lived here. I’m almost afraid to ask. A single flyer lay on the ground. I take a moment to pick up the piece of paper from off the pavement, so he doesn’t see the fear in my eyes.

  He continues to talk as I read over the discarded flyer. “Some evacuated, others stayed put, and the rest are dead. This is the direct result of Thornberry’s control.”

  I only half listen to what Moose is saying. I stare at the sheet of paper I held in my hand. “This says all residents are to report for testing and decontamination? What is this? What happened here, Moose?”

  He gets up off the bench and continues to walk up the street, signaling me to follow. “It was all a lie. Thornberry convinced everyone that there had been an outbreak of some sort of super-flu. A special strain, he told them. Not surprisingly, everyone got into a huge panic and followed instructions to get tested for the virus. Others, who weren’t quite convinced, fled. You’d think people would be wary of anything labeled a super-flu. It’s so cliché.”

  “I don’t understand. What super-flu?” A choice few statements by Moose has my mind flooded with questions. “Where did they go? Those that fled.”

  We only go up another block before Moose brushed off debris and trash from one of the benches on the sidewalk and sat back down again. Neither of us bothered to look at each other as he continued to explain. Instead, we focused our attention on the graffitied walls from the abandoned buildings across the street.

  “It’s not that complicated, really. Thornberry arrived in this reality in 2011, and in nine years’ time, he managed not only to destroy this place, but most of the major cities in the United States and abroad.”

  “Why Alexandria? The District’s just across the Potomac,” I point out. “I would think attacking Washington would be on his list of priorities.” I can totally picture someone trying to take over the world from our nation’s capitol. But to what end?