by Skye Genaro
Another one shrieked in the row next to me, and then two more. There was no way I triggered the alarms. I'd kept my tele-chaosing under control all day. Little bumps rose on my neck and I took off at a jog into the soccer field.
The mud sucked at my tennies and seeped onto my socks. Stray hairs floated out from under my hood, like the sky was building with electricity. When I opened my car door to climb in, the metal sparked.
Unease trickled down my back. Static shocks didn't usually happen when everything was soaking wet. Something was not right.
I started the car and pressed the accelerator.
I heard the explosion before I saw it. A ball of light hit the pavement in front of my car, sending flames up over the hood. I screamed and slammed on the brakes. I scrambled out of the car.
The rain snuffed out the fire almost immediately. A guy lay curled in a tight ball on the scorched pavement. Smoke rose off his clothing.
"Oh no. Omigod. Are you all right?" My voice shook.
I watched, breathless, as the boy rolled to his hands and knees. He braced a dicey leg beneath him and got to his feet. He was tall and had broad shoulders. I expected him to be hurt from the explosion, but he appeared to come out of it unscathed.
"What happened?" I screeched. "Did I hit you? Did you hit me?"
The guy braced his lower back with his knuckles and stretched. His dark eyes gave me a cursory once-over. His upper lip curled high and smug on one side. A flicker of recognition set in and my lips parted in disbelief. I knew that smirk. I'd wanted to slap it off its owner more than once.
"Jaxon? Is that you? What are you…how did you…"
He knew the questions that scrambled my brain without my finishing them: how did he get here from 160 years in the future? Did this mean the travel portal was no longer permanently shut down?
Jaxon looked down from his six-foot frame. "Well, well. If it isn't the famous Butterfly."
Chapter 4
Ratty brown hair hung in Jaxon's eyes. His cheeks were sunken and his jawline more defined than I remembered, like he'd missed a lot of meals recently. His oversized sweatshirt and jeans smelled like a burning heap of trash. And still, I threw my arms around him in a hug.
"This is an unexpected pleasure," he said and wrapped a hesitant arm around me.
I looked across the empty field for a second figure, one a couple inches taller, one that I ached to see.
"Is Connor with you?" I asked, unable to keep the longing out of my voice.
"Yeah, right. Like that's going to happen."
My arms sagged to my side.
"Oh, that's a nice reaction," he said off the pitiful expression on my face. He brushed mud off his jeans while dark patches of rain soaked his shoulders. Traveling through the portal was dangerous and unpredictable. My first trip had nearly killed me. Even though Jaxon and I had never shared niceties, I was relieved he'd come through unscathed. He was one of the lab workers who helped Connor travel to my time. That is, until Connor's dad cut us off.
Across the field, teachers were turning off their car alarms and heading toward us, probably wondering about the explosion.
"We need to go," I said. "Get in my car. It's this thing, here." I motioned to my BMW because West Region didn't use this kind of vehicle. Jaxon was in a foreign land now.
"Does Connor have a message for me? Is that why you're here?" I asked after we'd driven a couple of blocks. It had taken that long for me to get over the shock of seeing him.
He rolled his eyes sideways. "Everywhere I go, that's all I hear. Connor this and Connor that," he said under his breath. "What would we have ever done without Connor?"
"What do you mean 'would have done'? Did something happen to him?"
"Unfortunately, no. His Highness is back in West Region, in his comfy castle with all his servants, waiting to take over the region."
I cut my eyes at Jaxon. Calling Connor "His Highness" was just a way to mock him. He wasn't royalty, and he didn't care about politics or taking over his father's role when he stepped down.
"How did you get here? I thought the portal was shut down for good," I asked.
"Short answer, because I'm smarter than the rest of them." He shivered and crammed his hands deeper into his soaking wet pockets. "If you want the long answer I'll give it to you, but can we go somewhere warm? It's been a rough trip."
*******
Jaxon and I sat in my car outside Tastee Burger with the heat turned on full blast. We'd gone to the counter to order, but one whiff of Jaxon's scorched, stinky clothes and the manager shooed us back into the wintery night. I kept my window open so I didn’t pass out from the smell.
My time jumping passenger inhaled his third hamburger. "You don't find food like this in West Region. One of the downsides of a great civilization." Sarcasm dripped from his lips. So did a dribble of grease.
"You've got…" I motioned at my own chin. He wiped the grease with a napkin, giving me a clear view of swollen, purple knuckles.
"Have you been in a fight?" I asked.
He chewed methodically, offering a sideways nod that indicated yes, but he wasn't about to divulge any details. He obviously wasn't here on a pleasure trip, and I began to think his jumping to Portland had been hasty. Before getting into that, though, I had one not-so-minor request.
"If Connor's not coming here, you have to take me to West Region. He and I will figure something out once I get there." The walk to his house was permanently etched in my mind. Finding him would be no problem.
"Oh, yeah, that ain't gonna happen." Jaxon crumpled the burger wrapper and shoved it in the bag. He kicked back in his seat and quietly belched.
I'd spent the rest of my allowance on enough burgers and fries for three people, all of which he'd gobbled without so much as a thank you. He was stinking up my car, and now he was acting in that annoying, manipulative way.
I crossed my arms. "Well, why not?"
"You already said why. The portal is officially closed."
"Then do you mind telling me what you are doing here?" Before I kick you out of my car? I wanted to add.
"Avoiding trouble that your ex-lover got me into."
I winced. Connor and I never reached what I would call lover status. Almost. Not quite.
"After President McCabe shut down the portal, he went after anyone who helped your ex travel here. Apparently we should have known better than to let His Highness jump time. Me and Philip and Carina were all going to lose our jobs." He picked at a chunk of gristle lodged in his teeth. Waves of contempt filled the car.
"Oh, no. Jaxon, I’m sorry." I was partly responsible. Every time Connor traveled to be with me, he'd put their jobs in jeopardy.
"You should be. Your precious ex-boyfriend tried to send me to jail. I told the president the truth, that we were all forced to cooperate with Connor, no questions asked. Of course, he found a way to blame everything on me."
"He would never say something like that."
"Oh really? You only knew him for a couple of months, Princess, and he had one thing on his mind where you were concerned." Jaxon's gaze strayed down my body.
I tightened my crossed arms. "That's not fair. You know nothing about us."
"And you know nothing about what Connor would or wouldn't do, so don't tell me I'm wrong. People with that much power have a despicably thin moral code."
"So you came here to stay out of jail?"
"I was on the run in West Region for a while." That explained why he looked and smelled like a homeless person. "I got tired of hiding. And guess who has the backup code for the portal?" One eyebrow lifted.
"How long are you going to stay in Portland?" I asked.
"As long as possible."
"Don't you worry about how the time travel will affect you? Connor kept fading in and out when he first came here," I said.
"Nope."
A few beats passed.
"Oh, well, don't bother to expand on that," I said. He didn't.
God, this guy
was a first class jerk. Connor didn't seem like the kind of person who would punish someone for helping him, not without a good reason, at least. Still, I couldn't turn my back on Jaxon. He was one of the reasons I'd had the most blissful, romantic few months of my life.
I sighed. "I can call my stepmom, Kimber, and see if you can stay at our house for a couple of days. How does that sound?"
He ran a grubby fingernail under another. "Oh, all right, if you insist."
*******
Jaxon stepped into our house's broad entryway and gawked at the huge staircase winding to the third story. His eyes toured the ancient Oriental rug hanging on the wall and the crystal chandelier that was as big around as our kitchen table. His reflection stared back at him from the hardwood floor, daring him to tread on it with dirty boots.
"Royalty attracts royalty," he muttered.
"I know a nice bridge you can sleep under," I replied. "In fact, that's where you're going to end up if you make any more rude comments about Connor. Or me."
He huffed quietly.
Kimber was out, thank goodness, because it would have been hard to explain why he looked like he'd been sleeping in a sewage drain. I lent him some of my dad's clothes and stuffed his in the washer. Then I showed him the guest room, pointed him toward the shower, and went to my bedroom on the third floor.
I never lost the desire to smack the smirk off Jaxon's face, but having him land in front of my car had snapped me out of my gray mood. He was my sole connection to a place and a boy I loved, and I was grateful for that.
I stripped off my magnetic bracelets, dumped my book bag on my bed, and flopped down next to it. My life was erratic enough to make a sane person's head spin. Between the time jumping and attempted suicide and the just-in-case note I'd left for my parents, who had time to be a normal teenager?
I reached for the envelope that I'd left under my alarm clock. It was gone. It wasn't on the floor or under the bed or anywhere.
The mere possibility that Kimber might have found it made me sick to my stomach. She would be worried sick. I dismissed that right away, though. If she had found the note, she'd have misinterpreted it as a declaration of suicide, met me at the front door, and dragged me to a late-night appointment with her therapist.
My anxiety tumbled across the room and tossed a stack of books off my desk. The envelope sat behind them, still sealed. I let out a deep breath of air, figuring the housekeeper had moved the letter while she was cleaning and forgot to put it back.
"So this is your bedroom." Jaxon barged in without knocking. He was showered and shaven and wore the sweatpants I'd given him. He'd skipped the shirt.
The day I'd first met Jaxon, I'd noticed his swimmer's physique, but I never gave it a second glance. Until now. His broad shoulders weren't muscular, but they were strong. His upper body tapered, leading my eyes south to a narrow waist. The sweats were a size too large and hung low, showing a whole lot of toned stomach muscles. What was it with these West Region guys and their six-pack abs?
He tossed me a lazy smile. "Like what you see?"
My neck warmed. "Do you always barge into people's rooms half-dressed?"
He grinned. "Don't try to change the subject. You're acting all innocent but your eyes are wandering."
My cheeks burned. I yanked my gaze above his waistband, and then to, well, anywhere but him. It figured that this killer body had to come with Jaxon's personality.
I fanned myself with the envelope, to cool my face and diffuse the odd tension between us. "Well pardon me for looking," I said in a Scarlett O'Hara drawl. Not that he'd get the cultural reference.
"Whatcha got there?" He nodded at the envelope.
"Oh, nothing," I said a little too quickly and shoved it into the drawer.
Our eyes held, and for a fleeting second, I wondered if he was psychic. Most people from Connor's time had at least one paranormal gift. He had game in his eyes, though, like he wished he could read my mind. He tapped a finger against his chin.
"Doesn't look like nothing to me. Looks more like a whole lot of something. Is it a love letter? A private fantasy? What would Echo fantasize about, I wonder?"
He crossed the room in rapid strides and before I could react, he snatched the envelope out of the drawer.
I hopped to my feet. "What do you think you're doing?"
He held it high overhead. "Two things I can never get enough of: secrets and intrigue. From the way you're reacting, I was right about the fantasies, wasn't I?" He pursed his lips. "You don't seem like the kinky type, and Connor always preferred his girls innocent and vulnerable."
"You're disgusting. I never should have let you in my house."
"Fantasy letter," he taunted. He slipped a fingernail under the envelope's seam.
"It's a letter to my parents," I said in a rush, before he could open it.
"That's not very titillating."
"It's not meant to be." I sunk my elbow into his stomach, hard. He let out a puff of air, part laugh, part grunt, and handed me the envelope.
Jaxon watched the conflict on my face. He tossed himself onto my bed and meshed his fingers behind his head. "Let me guess. Why do girls write notes to their parents and hide them? Hmm. Because the news is too big to announce in person? Yeah, definitely, but it's got to be so huge…" His thoughts trailed and he pinned me with a gaze. "His Highness got you pregnant and you don't know what to do with your half-royal baby."
"Out. Get out of my bedroom."
"No? No baby?" He didn't budge from my bed.
I planted my fists on my hips. "Not even close."
"The only other reason for a note like that is suicide."
I blinked twice.
"Ohohoho…that's it, isn't it? Well, what did you write?"
"It's not what you think. I wrote this in case something happened to me. In case…" I shook my head and massaged my fingers into my eyes.
"Sorry if I hit a nerve," he said. His brow creased like he meant it.
"If I tell you something, will you promise not to be a jerk about it?" I asked.
"I'll do my best."
I recited the note from memory. "If anything happens to me, know that I love you. I never meant any of the mean things I ever said. I always really did love you both."
Jaxon watched me carefully. "Sounds like a suicide note to me."
"It's not." I told him about the girl who was going to jump to her death and what she'd told me. The rush I got from spilling the events was worth the risk of being laughed at. I felt lighter, as if whoever heard the story was obligated to help carry its considerable weight.
When I finished, he said, "Yeah, I know about the factions. So?"
"So, they're out there looking for me, and I have no idea who they are or how to protect myself against them. I'm tired of living in fear every single day!"
"If you’re anywhere near as powerful as they say, why are you so afraid? Guess you're not the legend Connor says you are."
This got the tiniest of smiles out of me. Connor had told his dad that I was more talented than anyone who existed in my time. Even if I bought into this praise, what good was it? My gift was good for changing the color of clothing and other low-level party tricks. I was no match for soldiers who were trained to maim, kill and enslave.
"If you're so brave, then you take them on," I said, plopping down next to him.
"You'd have to be an idiot to volunteer for a job like that. Why don't you figure out who they are? Then you'd know who to stay away from, and if anyone bothers you, you send them to the police. Wouldn't you feel safer then?"
I let out a biting laugh. "Gee, I tried to look them up under Supernatural Psycho Killers but I guess their website was down. By the way, a website is a part of what we call the Internet, which is the old-fashioned way we communicate."
"You don't need to translate anything for me," he said, not unkindly.
"I appreciate the suggestion but you don't know anything about my world. If you had any idea what I was up aga
inst, I don't think you'd be so judgmental. Besides, Connor already tried to find the factions."
"I can offer something your ex never could." He wiggled his eyebrows and smirked and I knew he was about to make another inappropriate comment about my personal fantasies.
"That's it. Get out of my house." I pointed at the door.
"Princess, you're trying to kick me out when you should be throwing me a Welcome Home party. Portland is my home turf. I was born a few miles from here."
Chapter 5
My jaw went slack. "You mean you were born a few miles from here in your time, 2173."
"Listen closely and see if you can follow along: I was born the same year as you, right here in this city, right across the river."
I didn't know what the heck to say, so he kept talking.
"I was a foster kid in a crappy situation. I used to get beat up on a regular basis by my foster dad. Still with me? Good. One night, I left. I was wandering around on my own when this weird guy in a freaky-looking tunic asked me if I needed help. That was Philip."
I remembered Philip, the kindly older man who I met on my first trip to West Region. "He worked with you in the lab."
"Yeah, that guy. He decided I'd be better off living in the future with him than with whoever had bruised me up, and I became one of the original time jumping guinea pigs. I was eight years old."
"Connor never said anything about this."
"Seriously, you need to stop talking about him. Nobody except Philip ever knew where I originated from. I got really sick after he took me to West Region, but he transported me back and forth through the portal until I eventually acclimated. Philip adopted me but I was little more than a lab experiment to him."
"He made you stay in the future all these years?"
Jaxon shrugged. "It's a pretty cool place for a kid. Aside from watching my body parts fade in and out for the first year, I was fine."
Color me surprised, but I may have just gained a little respect for Jaxon.
"Didn't you ever miss your life here?" I asked.
