Ian’s thoughts came at her as they always did, which was part of why Nikki had always enjoyed reading him before. Not that she’d admit it to Henry or Jamie—and she hadn’t allowed herself to overdo it or delve where she knew she had no right to go. But reading Ian was like floating in warm, ocean water on a sunny day, something Nikki remembered well from her last life in California. Stretching out and staring at the sky while the swells rolled under her, both supporting and cushioning her back. Placid. Peaceful. And it was no different now as images came, of Lisa smiling, laughing, hugging. Of friends talking happily, gathered around a table. Of his parents and sister, as he imagined them downstairs starting their day. The words came too, a flow of them, swirling in the air like butterflies, none in those moments troubling or concerning. This time, as always, it amazed Nikki that Ian had once been Curtis. At one time, twenty years had seemed an eternity but now it seemed nearly impossible that someone could change so quickly.
Nikki opened her eyes, knowing it had only been seconds. Still, Henry and Jamie stared at her, waiting. “Nothing,” she said. “At least not now.”
“Nothing at all?” Jamie said.
There it was but Nikki didn’t have time to explain. They didn’t have time. “Nothing that matters. Right now, he’s fine. Nothing is bothering him.”
Henry watched her eyes and it seemed almost as if he got it. But, if anyone would, it made sense it would be Henry. While what he was able to do was essentially the opposite from what Nikki could, the flow had to be similar. Nikki imagined how it would feel to sometimes get through and other times totally fail. All of that, for him, within seconds too depending on what was going on inside the other person.
“We need to do something,” Jamie said.
“Obviously,” Nikki said, “but the question is what and how.”
They watched as Ian got to his feet and looked at himself in the full-length mirror on his closet door. He ran his fingers through his hair, combing it back. He glanced at his shirt, his pants and boots, then again at his face. He raised his eyebrows just briefly, as if to say, “Okay, good enough.” Not a vain person, obviously. Something Nikki already knew about him.
“Speak to him,” Jamie said, even as he glanced at Nikki to be sure.
Nikki nodded. “I agree.”
Henry looked back and forth between them. “What if it freaks him out? We know that can happen.”
“We don’t have time to worry about it,” Nikki said. “We’ll deal with it.”
Henry obviously agreed since a moment later he stood at Ian’s side before he’d even left the mirror, just now adjusting the way he’d notched his belt. Henry Spoke in his normal tone of voice, calmly, evenly.
“Ian, can you hear me?”
Ian left the mirror and crossed the room to his dresser. He opened a drawer.
Henry glanced at Nikki, then Jamie. Nikki already understood. What could he say to get through? Each time before, there had been some way of establishing a connection.
Henry shook his head briefly, as if to clear his mind. “Ian, I’m right here next to you.” He waited, then said, “You need to hear me. Please listen. Something really bad is going to happen. Can you hear me?”
Ian reached into the drawer and took out his wallet. He slid it into his back pocket. His expression didn’t change. He didn’t turn to search for the origin of Henry’s voice.
“I knew you as Curtis. Does that mean anything now? It’s me, Henry. You need to hear me!”
Ian froze, staring down at the top of his dresser. He moved some scattered coins around with his fingertips as he thought.
“He heard Henry that time,” Jamie said.
Nikki rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I got that part.” Even as she said it, she knew it was dicey territory. At the same time, she didn’t doubt Henry knew the same.
Henry drew even closer to Ian, standing just behind him at the dresser, off to one side, their shoulders nearly touching. “Curtis? It’s Henry.”
Ian remained staring down. He whispered to himself, “Okay, weird. I’m thinking about that Henry kid again.”
“I’m right here next to you!”
Ian shoved the drawer closed, wood hitting wood with a clack. He shook his head, turned and walked toward the door.
Nikki met Jamie’s eyes, then Henry’s. She knew they were thinking the same thing. “Should you push a thought at him?”
Henry hesitated, just briefly. “I don’t think so.”
“Why?” Jamie said.
“It won’t work. At least, not now.”
Ian clomped down the stairs, completely unconcerned and totally unaware as they followed.
“First, even if I did push a thought,” Henry said, “and I got through, I don’t think Ian would remember it tomorrow. Second—and I’m just guessing here—there’s nothing for him to latch onto. I’ve been thinking about it and I’ll explain later. We need to just hang for now and keep trying other things. Maybe the push will work but I’m not sure now makes any sense.”
Nikki glanced over at Henry. “You said tomorrow. Are you sure? Martha said three days.”
Henry shook his head. “That was yesterday here. So, it has to be tomorrow when it happens.”
As always, it amazed Nikki how fast that time had gone. It felt like minutes, the baking of a few brownies and a brief nap afterward. She supposed it would never stop amazing her until she jumped in again. Then, of course, she wouldn’t know the difference anymore.
“Shit,” Jamie said.
“Yeah, exactly,” Nikki said.
Downstairs, Ian’s family had gathered at the kitchen counter. His mother was talking to someone on her flexlet, a tiny framed face looking back at her, his sister listening to music through earbuds while scrolling through images on a screen wrapped around her arm and his father stared at a basketball game on another screen angled up from the counter.
“Seriously?” Nikki couldn’t help herself—the whole scene was just so peculiar.
“I know,” Jamie said. “We thought mixed tapes were mind-blowing.”
“We had one TV,” Nikki said. “Like the size of a dump truck, the screen the size of a toaster. Black and white.”
“Weird,” Henry said.
Nikki took another look at Ian’s family. “We did talk about things.”
“How did that go?” Jamie said.
She shrugged. “Some days were better than others.”
Jamie nodded. “Yeah. Same here. I would have killed for some of this stuff. Damn, the headphones don’t even have wires anymore.”
“For like ten years,” Nikki said. “You really should be more observant. You do have internet, right?”
“Whatever.”
Still, despite the separation offered by the technology these days, when Ian came into the room his parents and sister looked up and made eye contact.
“How’s it going, guys?”
Ian’s mother waved and smiled. She turned her flexlet toward Ian and said, “Hey, talking to my sister.”
Ian waved. “Hey, Aunt Amelia.”
Ian’s father touched a button on the counter and the basketball game froze in its 3-D image. “Just made some coffee,” he said. “Do you mind filling mine while you’re at it?”
Ian smiled. “No problem.” He turned his attention to his sister, who popped out one of her earbuds. “Need any coffee, Margo?”
Margo kept her eyes on Ian’s for a moment, then smiled. “I think I’m good for the moment.”
Ian nodded. “Glad to hear it.”
Nikki couldn’t help notice that other message being exchanged between them but there wasn’t time to think about much more than what to do next. One thing did occur to her and, before stopping herself, she closed her eyes and called out to Naomi and Simon.
Ian filled a mug for himself and brought the pot to the counter to top off his father’s. He settled onto a stool, a moment later staring at a screen of his own.
“Henry, try,” Nikki said.
&n
bsp; His eyes met hers and she could tell he was thinking the same thing—that there was probably way too much distraction going on. A few moments later proved it as she watched him approach Ian’s family one by one, speaking directly into their ears, each time being dismissed with a shake of the head, a look out the window, or a brief pause of silent thought.
“There’s too much going on,” Henry said. “I can’t seem to make a connection. At least not now.”
“We still have time,” Nikki said, trying to make him feel better. She didn’t have to add “not much” since it went without saying. “I was wondering maybe if we tried—”
At that moment, Simon appeared standing next to them, for once his expression grave with concern.
He took a quick look around. “What’s going on?”
Nikki stopped herself from asking where Naomi was. While she was far from convinced either had the right kind of skill—or sufficient control—to help in this situation. Still, she’d been hoping maybe Naomi could at least cause enough of a distraction to snap Ian’s family out of their self-induced tech coma.
Maybe Simon instinctively knew Nikki’s intention because he said, “Naomi wasn’t around. Not sure where she’s gone off to.”
Nikki wondered if Naomi might have someplace other than her kitchen these days to call her own. Most likely she did.
Jamie took a step closer to them. “Could be she’s talking to Martha.”
“Maybe.” Nikki turned her attention back to Simon. Was it possible? She’d never known him to cause anything other than annoyance and occasional comic relief, at best. “Henry can’t get through to any of them. They just can’t seem to hear him. At least not consciously.”
Simon thought for a moment. “Did Jamie try emerging?”
“That might not be the best way to go right now,” Jamie said. “Traumatizing the hell out of them first probably won’t make them particularly receptive to Henry.”
Simon nodded. “Good point. So, you’re thinking maybe something to distract them from their distractions.”
“That’s kind of what I was hoping,” Nikki said, trying to ignore the sinking feeling. Still, maybe it was worth a try.
Simon nodded and closed his eyes. A moment later, Nikki got her hopes up when Ian’s father and mother both suddenly gasped and Ian shook his head briskly. Sure enough, Simon’s face had appeared on all three screens.
“What the hell?” Ian’s father stared at Simon’s fuzzy image flickering in and out, which stared back at him, occasionally blinking.
Noticing the sudden shift in energy, Ian’s sister popped out her earbuds and looked around. “What’s going on?”
“Say something,” Nikki said.
“It doesn’t work that way,” Simon said.
As he spoke, Nikki saw his mouth moving on the screens although no sound accompanied.
“Oh,” she said. She’d forgotten but now couldn’t help feel bad for him.
“Yeah, I know.” Simon’s face reddened a little. “Maybe over time I can—”
Ian’s sister pointed at the screen in front of her father. “That’s the kid from the news!”
“Oh, my God, you’re right,” Ian said.
Ian’s mother set her flexlet on the counter. “Right, that kid who hacked in somehow. No one’s pulled off a hack like that in years.”
“Okay, no wonder it made the news,” Jamie said. “Not bad, Simon.”
Simon shrugged but couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across his face.
Nikki was about to say they didn’t have time for this but clearly Henry understood. He was already standing right behind Ian’s family as they clustered together now in front of the screen that, moments before, had held the stilled basketball game.
“Dad, you knew about that, right?” Ian said. “This thing got like three million hits on YouTube.”
Ian’s father didn’t take his eyes off Simon on the screen in front of him, despite the fact that, at times, he became all but invisible behind electronic snow before appearing again. “I can see why. There’s just something eerie about it.”
“Kill it,” Nikki said.
Simon closed his eyes and exhaled loudly.
“Damn, he’s gone,” Margo said. “You know, you’re right, Dad. There is something kind of creepy about it. It’s totally different when it’s right in front of you. All I saw was some stuff online.”
“I don’t know if it’s creepy,” Ian said. “More hypnotic. It almost feels like it’s coming from someplace else entirely. I wonder how they got that effect. You have to admit, it’s—”
Ian’s mother reached over and pushed a button on the counter. The screen blinked out. She stared at Ian. “Are you going shopping today?”
Ian turned to her and shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe. I was thinking I might.”
Henry remained behind Ian’s mother, his hand on her shoulder as he spoke into her ear.
“Do you mind not going?”
Ian shrugged and reached for his coffee mug. “Sure, I guess. Right now, I was thinking about taking a ride on my bike. Then later maybe hanging with Brent and Doug for a while if that’s—”
“What’s this about, honey?” Ian’s father regarded his wife, head cocked at an angle.
Ian’s mother shivered and hugged herself. “I don’t know. I just got this weird feeling that maybe Ian shouldn’t go to the mall.”
Oh, shit, Nikki thought, even as Henry and Jamie exchanged knowing glances.
“At least not today,” Ian’s mother added.
“Okay, sure. I’ll go tomorrow,” Ian said.
13
I Know You’re There
Ian put on his jacket and left through the back door off the kitchen. He crossed their yard to a detached garage, where he took a bike down from where it hung on hooks screwed into the ceiling. Ian checked the tires, then got a bicycle pump from beneath the workbench and began to fill his tires.
Nikki understood why no one could think of a thing to say. Was it possible that through their actions they’d caused the very event they’d come here to prevent? She told herself it wasn’t that way—that what Martha had first told them about had already been destined before they’d tried to intervene. Still, she couldn’t shake off the feeling that she never could be absolutely sure about anything anymore. Nikki didn’t doubt that the others were experiencing similar questions and conflicting feelings.
“What now?” Jamie stood watching Ian ready his bike for a ride and something in his eyes made Nikki wonder if maybe, just sometimes, he missed being an actual teenager, the years fleeting rather than being a perpetual teenager in the realm they shared. She wondered too, as Jamie watched Ian screw the caps back onto his tires, if he might even be travelling back to some distant point in time when his dark hair had fallen in boyish bangs across his forehead, eyes sparkling, and he’d been loved each day in a house like the one they stood behind, by a family not unlike Ian’s. Once upon a time, a little boy had ridden a bike while his parents watched and clapped, beaming with pride.
Nikki shook her head to dispel her thoughts and focus on what was in front of her. “I guess we stay with him,” she said. “Look for another opportunity.”
Jamie nodded but Henry kept his gaze averted as he looked out into the yard, although Nikki suspected his eyes weren’t focused on anything out there.
Someone had to say it so she did. “We didn’t make it happen.”
Henry turned to her, his jaw set and eyes piercing. “You can’t know that.”
Wasn’t it just like Henry to take things on, to carry the burden. Nikki stepped toward him. She wanted to reach out, to touch him. But that wasn’t her way with him. She also suspected it would just confuse things. “Henry, listen. It was already happening. Martha told us.”
“Sure, she told us Ian was going to Transition. That much is definitely true. Then we went and experienced it directly. Twice. That still doesn’t mean we didn’t make it happen.”
Nikki shook her he
ad. “Listen, I know what you’re feeling but we don’t have time for this right now.”
Henry took a breath and stared at the ground for a moment. That’s all it took for him to reach a point of resolve. That too was so like Henry. His eyes met hers. “You’re right. What’s next?”
Ian rolled his bike outside and went back to close the garage door.
“Like I said, for now, I think the best thing to do is stay with him,” Nikki said. “That’s all we can do.” She turned to Simon who also hadn’t said a word since that moment. So unlike Simon, come to think of it, not to prattle on and try to fill the air with words whether they mattered or not. She knew he felt bad about things. “You did great, Simon.”
He shrugged and couldn’t quite meet her eyes.
“No, you did. You got their attention, okay? Don’t feel bad.” Nikki almost added that he’d allowed Henry to get through but she stopped short. After all, that might have been a huge mistake.
Simon looked at her. “Thanks for that.”
You’re welcome. But I wonder if right now you should get back for Naomi.”
“Are you sure?”
“I think Nikki’s right,” Henry said. “About both points. You did get their attention and it proved that you could. We might need you to do that again very soon. On the other hand, Naomi might be worried about what’s going on if you’re not there. We’ll let you know as soon as we need you again.”
Memories from a Different Future: Jump When Ready, Book 2 Page 10
