Quanta Rewind

by Lola Dodge

  Chapter Twelve

  ALTAIR

  Quanta squeezed my hand one last time before moving to Cipher’s side. Dread bubbled up as we entered the thick crowd inside the club. My instinct was to keep Quanta close, but she had to separate if the plan was to succeed.

  I didn’t have to like it.

  I kept track of her and Cipher as the flow bodies drew our groups farther apart. If the night turned into a shooting match, I needed to be able to get to her quickly. We weren’t yet positive whether she needed my presence to reverse time, and we couldn’t take chances.

  Keeping Devan sheltered in a triangle, Knight, Dex, and I pushed deeper into the throbbing cloud of laser light and electronic music that assaulted my eardrums. We needed to find a vantage point with a clear line of sight to the girls.

  I’d realized that wouldn’t be easy, but now that we were on site, the obstacles were worse than expected. People packed the sprawling bar, mostly milling and calling out for drinks. Deeper inside, the dance floor opened up in a writhing mass. Stage platforms of various sizes—with and without poles—popped up irregularly, and the people who stood or danced on top blocked my sight of everything behind them. Drones balancing drinks hovered above the dancers’ heads, dipping down when their customers waved and creating yet another distraction. Even with eye mods, it was difficult to see through the light, which alternated between darkness and excessive strobe.

  The railed-off second level would give us the least obstructed view, but would put us too far away if the girls needed our help. Knight caught my eye and jerked his head toward the far wall.

  I followed, shepherding Devan through the crowd. She’d made herself appear slightly taller and more mature, with lighter skin and eyes, and blonde hair styled in waves. She blended in with the other women, but the false face made it hard to tell if she was getting tired. Keeping all six of us disguised had to take its toll. I kept an eye on her, even as I searched the crowd.

  I’d already lost Quanta and Cipher in the chaos. As long as Devan had them marked with her powers, she didn’t need a visual to make sure they were safe.

  Not comforting. But it would have to work.

  Thanks to tracking chips, the girls appeared on our coms as two flashing dots. Also better than nothing, but I couldn’t shake my unease when I couldn’t see Quanta.

  We ended up clustered at the edge of the crowd in a small gap between other groups. Leaning against the wall, I forced my muscles to relax. I had to look at ease, even if I was ready to dash across the floor.

  I felt blind. And useless.

  Instead of focusing on my worry for Quanta, I tried to scan for our targets. We knew they were here, but I’d feel more at ease if we could pin down their specific location. Then we’d know where to look for the girls, whose dots were agonizingly stuck in the middle of the dance floor.

  Knight moved to my side, his gaze scanning the crowd. “This fucking plan.”

  “I know.” I jammed my fists into my pockets. If we didn’t get a visual soon, we’d both be rushing out after them.

  “Chill,” Dex said. “They can handle themselves.”

  That was the only thing keeping my feet in place. But it was small comfort. If they had to “handle themselves” the plan would already be screwed.

  “They’re almost at the bar in back.” Devan pointed in their general direction. “See?”

  I caught a flash of glittering blue from Cipher’s top and a hint of Quanta’s long hair before a group of broad-shouldered men converged on them, blocking the girls from view.

  I gritted my teeth. This might be our best chance at luring the targets away, but the longer we were in the club, the more I doubted our decision.

  And our sanity.

  Chapter Thirteen

  QUANTA

  While Cipher looked for our guys in the present, I tried to find them in the future, but pressing against this many bodies sent my inner eye whirling into overdrive. A little girl dressed in black cries soundlessly, holding her father’s hand as they stand in front of a display of flowers; Cipher turns an ankle and spills to the floor, knocking over a girl and her drink; a guy grabs my arm—

  Something tugged my wrist, and I blinked as the present caught up with me. A hulking bald dude with a Black Helix on his forearm leaned down and screamed over the music. “Dance with me!”

  I shook my head and pointed at Cipher. I couldn’t leave my friend, right? Because this creepo wasn’t in our dossier and we weren’t here to mess around.

  A grin split his face. He lunged for Cipher and grabbed her by a bare shoulder.

  She jumped, and came down hard, losing balance on her heels. I tried to keep her upright, but her weight knocked me off balance, too.

  The guy swooped in, somehow picking us up and locking each of us in one of his arms. I tried to push away, but he only squeezed me tighter, bathing me in his gross body heat and cologne. Laughing, he started dragging us toward a knot of whooping guys in the corner. “Caught some!”

  Crap. My heart rate kicked up. And if I was panicking, then Cipher—

  Lightning exploded. The boom echoed so loud it drowned out the music, leaving ringing in my ears and stars in my eyes. And then I was falling.

  The guy’s weight smashed on top of me, knocking my breath away. As I gasped to breathe, I caught a whiff of smoke from the charred bit of what used to be his right arm.

  Cipher stood horrified. I tried to knock the guy away from me to reach her, but someone accidentally kicked my ribs in their mad dash to the exit. A lot of people were stumbling away screaming.

  But not all the people.

  The guys’ buddies poured from the corner with weapons raised. I couldn’t spot Tair and the others. They wouldn’t get through the crowd in time.

  Dozens of weapons fired at one target.

  Cipher.

  She didn’t have time to scream. She jerked mid-air.

  Then her body hit the floor, and she caught my gaze as the light faded from her eyes.

  Blood.

  I had to reverse this. Now.

  I couldn’t wait for Tair. Couldn’t even breathe.

  The horrific reality gave me focus. I found my bookmarked scene in time, glowing brighter than any other spot in history. Tair at my side on the hotel room bed. The white comforter. Cipher alive and typing. The scent of the ocean.

  With the right moment fixed in my mind, I gave a mental tug, pulling the image over the present. I can do this. I have to do this.

  It was my power. Mine to control. I gritted my teeth, grinding out every bit of willpower I had.

  Everything stopped.

  Yes!

  The rush of victory gave me the strength to keep pulling. The music faded under the roaring of time as the scene in front of me rewound. The crowd returned, lightning flowed into Cipher, and the guy’s arm char was undone as we all lifted up as if pulled by strings.

  Back, back, back I rewound. We reversed out of the crowd, out of the club, and back to the hotel. The space between my ears pounded and swooped with the effort of manipulating time, but a hit of adrenaline kept me going. I was doing this myself, and that made all the difference. I could do this. I was in control for the first time in longer than I could remember. Or ever, really.

  I gasped as the past became the present again. I was sitting on the bedspread huddled against Tair, who gripped his temple.

  One rewind was enough to spark a bit of nausea, but I barely felt it or the mental strain of reversing time. I bounced on the bed. “Did you see? I did it alone.”

  “I saw.” Tair rubbed his head as his brows furrowed. “But I don’t remember it hurting this much.”

  My glee evaporated. “Are you okay?”

  “It must be another shift in our pairing. It’s not too much to handle.” Tair waved me off, but I wasn’t convinced.

  “Uh. Guys? Something to share?” Dex asked.

  Right. Now I had to explain. “We made it through the club, but I had to rewind us.” />
  “What went wrong?” It made sense that Knight would ask. I just hated to tell him we’d all watched Cipher die—and Cipher definitely didn’t need to know that, either.

  I had to fuzz the truth just enough to warn him without totally freaking everyone out. “A Helix grabbed us and you guys couldn’t get there in time. Cipher had to zap him.”

  “Great.” Cipher sighed. “Well, I’ve got the dummy number set, so all I have to do is message the goons. What should I say?” This time she looked at me.

  “I’m sure Dex can think of something good.”

  Grinning, Dex grabbed Cipher’s com and made us a date at Ocean Heat. Round One had failed spectacularly, but now that I knew I still had my edge, I was that much more confident we could make it through this night and bag our guys.

  On to Round Two.

  Back on the dance floor, we edged around the area where our big buddy was on the prowl. The plus about Cipher’s little flare up was that I’d gotten a good look at the groups of Black Helixes scattered around the room. All the other Helixes had ducked or sprinted for cover while the warrior types stood up to fight. It would’ve been easy enough to message Helix Todd again and ask him where he was, but we’d agreed we’d already left enough of a digital trail.

  And if he saw our faces, he’d realize we hadn’t met last night. We didn’t need him or his buddies running any background checks on us.

  Nerves jangling, I tugged Cipher along. There were plenty of horrific futures fluttering around to keep my expectations reasonable.

  Finally, I caught sight of our targets. The eight of them sat at a VIP table right across from the back bar. We only needed six DNA samples, but we had to take all of them out of commission. I still couldn’t match all the names and faces, but I definitely recognized Commander Todd, who had the lightest hair color.

  I swallowed down nerves. This mission was about to get real.

  I’d feel better if I could see Tair, but at least he was nearby. And everyone had our backs. Knight and Dex and Devan.

  We were a team. Maybe not the best team ever, but when Cipher could fry anyone who screwed with us and I could pull us back through time, I liked our chances.

  I just had to ignore the bloody failure futures.

  Tugging my hem down one last time, I glanced at Cipher. She’d taken out her lip ring because Helixes didn’t appreciate facial piercings, and was chewing at her bottom lip. I nodded toward our guys. She followed my gaze and then nodded back.

  My heart thumped. We were doing this thing.

  Shoulder to shoulder, we headed for the bar. Cipher tried to wave the barkeeper over—to buy drinks?—but even in stilettos, she was still the shortest person in the club and she couldn’t get the lady’s attention. I tuned out for a second, trying to figure out how to play this.

  Hypothetically, I was a pretty good actress. I’d spent way too much of my life as a professional liar. I just hadn’t gotten any practice picking up guys.

  I mean, I’d picked up Tair okay, but our genetic pairing had made mutual attraction a given, so we’d skipped the awkward flirting stage. I could approach these Helixes with the same smile and attitude I usually saved for Tair, but that felt icky.

  Better to get them to come to us. I checked in with the future, trying to find options. A drunken partier stumbles into Cipher, knocking her into one of our target’s arms. The guy in the shiny shirt—Marcus?—scoops her up and sets her down in his lap, sliding a fat hand across her bare back to her stomach. Lightning crackles.

  I wrinkled my nose at the hint of char that wafted from the future. That path wasn’t gonna fly.

  I shoot the closest guy a saucy wink, but he winces instead of waving me over.

  And my charm was in full effect.

  Cipher waves for the bartender, but still can’t get service. I catch the eye of one of our guys and point to Cipher. “Can you help?”

  His name is Pasha if I’m remembering the dossier right. The boxer?

  Either way, he saunters over in his khaki shorts. Instead of grabbing at one of us, he smiles a genuine smile. “What are you ladies drinking?”

  Golden.

  I found Pasha through the haze of lights and pointed at Cipher. “Can you help?”

  Sure enough, he sidled right over, leaning in so we could hear his question. “What are you ladies drinking?”

  “French seventy-five,” Cipher said. “Qu—” She choked halfway through my name, but recovered on a dime. “Quagmyre for her.” She nodded my way.

  We really should’ve planned out fake names. With our disguises, I could call Cipher Emma without much risk, but there weren’t that many Quantas around.

  Pasha pushed through the people at the bar, although maybe pushed wasn’t the right word. They mostly made a path for him, which made sense. The guy was way over six feet and had arm muscles bigger than my thighs. Definitely the boxer, but I needed more than a name and a handful of facts if I was going to lure the guy anywhere.

  When Pasha came back balancing two cocktails and a beer, I smiled as genuinely as I could set my fingertips against his arm.

  “Pash! Pash! Pash!” A crowd roars his name as a shirtless, sweaty Pasha circles an opponent in caged boxing ring. Sweat drips from his skull-shaved head. He bursts into motion. Punches fly again and again, and his opponent falls to the ground. Screaming his victory, he thrusts his arms above his head.

  The image faded, but I dug deeper.

  Pasha leans back, beaming, as a laser tattoos his Black Helix onto his forearm.

  The timeghosts evaporated again. I kept my hand on Pasha’s arm, waiting for more images to blur into place, but nada. Pushing a little with my brain, I leaned into his timeline. There had to be more. I should be able to read his life’s highlight reel at least—the highest highs and lowest lows.

  A few weak every-day images popped up, like Pasha riding in a pod, doing push-ups, and sparring, but that was it. Not a whiff of Cass, either. I drew back my hand.

  Nothing special meant something, too.

  Pasha read like a company man. He fought and fought some more, and his job was his life. Otherwise, I’d see his important people instead of a fight and his tattoo.

  That was sad. Just… pitiful.

  Not thinking, I sipped my drink. The booze stung my lips and throat and I almost spat it out, but smooth chocolate overpowered the alcohol. Perking up, I turned to Cipher. “What’s this?”

  “Mostly whiskey and chocolate milk.”

  Wow. I took another sip. This was—

  The futures rolled.

  I stumble and slump, struggling to stay on my feet. Cipher tries to hold me up, but Pasha tears me away from her. “I’ll take her in back. There’s a couch she can—”

  “Hell, no.” Cipher grabs his arm, her fingertips crackling blue, but the light yet isn’t noticeable over the club’s lasers—unless you’re looking for it.

  Knight and Tair push through the crowd. Tair tries to grab me away, but I’m already dead weight and Pasha means to keep me.

  “Asshole!” Not even caring anymore, Cipher looses her power. Knight grabs her, cutting off the light, but the damage is done and Pasha falls to the floor extra crispy. Scorch-marks mar my dress as I fall into Tair’s arms and Helixes close in.

  The glass slipped from my fingers and chocolate milk splattered my toes. Cipher and Pasha jumped back.

  I already drank it. I’m already drugged.

  And I already felt light-headed.

  Not good. I wouldn’t be able to bring us back in time if I wasn’t on my game, and this timeline was going dark fast.

  Focusfocusfocus.

  My panic was enough. I found the Zen place and reached for my bookmark in time.

  Round Three. I fudged another explanation. Tair knew I’d rewound time from memory and his headache, but I didn’t mention the drugging part. I did give Cipher a thumbs-up for frying Pasha in the maybe future. It made her look at me like I was in need of counseling—which, honestly, all of
us could benefit from—but it didn’t bother to explain.

  I was just glad she had my back.

  “Stay away from Pasha,” I reminded her as we made our way to our targets one more time.

  “Got it.” She tugged me through a knot of dancers. “That’s them?”

  “Yup.”

  Cipher straightened her shoulders, getting ready to go over, but I grabbed her hand, keeping us at the edge of the dance floor. “New idea.” I made eye contact with one of the Helixes who hadn’t tried to grope or drug us, and waved him over. Commander Todd. I hoped their leader was less of a creep than the rest of them.

  Either I was pulling off a sincerity I wasn’t feeling, or Todd was just super eager to dance, but he jumped off his barstool and beelined my way, slapping his buddies’ shoulders on the way.

  Barnaby—or was it Kendrick?—appeared at his side, then Pasha oozed over, and suddenly all eight of them were headed to us in a knot of testosterone, cologne, and bad decisions. I hoped I was smiling. The knot in my stomach was telling me to run.

  Todd wore all black and had the longest hair of any of them—blond locks just touching his ears. Their faces all looked the same to me with really square jaws and too much symmetry without enough character. His eyes were so dark I couldn’t spot his pupils, and just being near him gave me the shivers.

  I wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley. Or in an open space. Or at all, in any other circumstances.

  Flirt. You’re supposed to be flirting.

  Right.

  Making sure my mental walls were firmly in place, I grabbed Todd’s arm. “Dance?”

  He didn’t need any more invitation.

  Another guy grabbed Cipher, but it wasn’t Pasha, so I figured she had it under control. I had plenty to worry about already.

  Todd drew me close, wrapping his arms around my lower back and moving us both in time with the music. I tried to bop along, but disgust rose at the back of my throat and my fight or flight instincts wanted me to book it for the door.

  I really didn’t like being touched.