“Not a problem,” he said. “If your grandfather changes the world again, just find me at the school and take off a sock or something. I’ll see it vanish and you’ll have me eating out of your hand again in five minutes flat.”
And then he was gone. I stood on the porch and watched as his taillights receded down the street, thinking that, if he had to go home, it was actually quite nice to have someone exit in the normal, gradual way.
Katherine was waiting in the kitchen with a cup of herbal tea brewing on the table. “Are you hungry? There’s a pie in the fridge… cherry, I think… or I could make you a sandwich.”
I shook my head and sank into one of the chairs in the breakfast nook. I glanced around at the big kitchen where Dad had looked forward to cooking and was almost in tears again.
“I don’t think it’s entirely safe for us to be outside the house for the time being, at least not for an extended period.” She sat down opposite me. “I sent Connor out to the store, however, as soon as we realized what had happened. I can’t guarantee his taste, but there’s a nightgown and a change of clothes in your room that should fit you, along with a toothbrush and other necessities.”
I gave her a weak smile. “Thanks. It occurred to me on the way back from Delaware that I don’t even own a hairbrush.”
“We also placed one of the laptops in your room. It will take a few days to get all of the other financial details back in order, but the credit accounts are all in Connor’s name and they are apparently still active, so you can go online and have whatever you need delivered.”
I stared down at my tea. The scents of chamomile and lavender drifted up from the cup. “How did you know? I mean, I know you felt the temporal shift, but how did you know that Mom… Dad?”
“Connor has a program that monitors relevant information on the internet. He checked, as he’s done after every temporal shift, and Deborah…” Katherine paused for a moment, and her voice was soft when she continued. “Saul has taken both my daughters from me now, although I’m quite sure that Deborah just… doesn’t exist in this timeline. I can only hope that Prudence, wherever she is, is protected by a CHRONOS key.”
I took a sip of the tea, which was still quite hot. “So he’s killed you, right? At some point in time?”
“That’s the assumption we’re going on,” Katherine said, nodding. “The question, of course, is when and where?”
“That’s what Trey and I were saying in the car—”
Katherine broke in. “Do you really think it was wise to pull that young man into this problem, Kate?”
I waited a moment, measuring my words before I spoke. “Maybe not. But I didn’t have much time to stop and think today. I just met him, but to be honest, I trust him more than anyone else I know right now… including you.” I could tell Katherine was hurt by my words, but if we were going to make this work I had to be truthful.
My elbows were propped up on the table and I put my forehead into my hands, rubbing my closed eyes. Despite the nap in the car, I couldn’t remember ever feeling so utterly exhausted.
“I love you, Katherine,” I said as I looked back up at her. “I do. You’re the only family I have left now. Whatever you say I have to do; I’ll do it. I don’t see that I have an option, really. But… Mom’s gone. Dad… well, he’s someone else’s dad now. Charlayne… my other friends… I’m guessing they’ve never met me. I need a friend right now, if you want me to keep my sanity.”
Katherine’s lips tightened, but she nodded. “If you trust him, that’s enough for me.” She got to her feet. “Connor is in the library. Shall we go up and—”
“No,” I said. Katherine looked surprised, and I continued. “Tomorrow, first thing, I want to know the why behind all of this. And then we can move on to how you believe I can change it. But for now, I’m going to finish my tea and then I’m going up to bed. I can’t think anymore.”
I fell onto the bed immediately, hoping exhaustion would take me away as it had in the car. It was soon clear, however, that it would be a while before I could sleep.
To my amazement, Connor had picked out pajamas, jeans, shorts, a few shirts, and even underwear that I actually might have bought on my own. The jeans were a bit too large, but that was better than a pair that I couldn’t get into. The pajamas were a soft green flannel that might have been too warm in Dad’s poorly air-conditioned cottage, but they were just right in this new room. There was a selection of toiletries in a drugstore bag, along with a brush, toothbrush, and disposable razor. Also a bottle of Tylenol PM. The shampoo wasn’t my usual brand, but it smelled nice and he’d bought conditioner as well. Either Katherine had given Connor a list, or he had aspects to his personality that I wouldn’t have imagined.
I took two of the Tylenol, hoping they would help to relax my head. Although I’m usually a shower person, I ran a hot bath, pouring a few capfuls of the shampoo under the tap to make bubbles. Slowly and somewhat painfully, I removed the cheap rubber band from my hair, again remembering the image of Kiernan with my green hair band on his wrist.
I slipped into the big tub, wincing at first when the hot water hit my smashed toenail. Closing my eyes, I slid under the water and allowed my hair to float out around me. I’ve loved that sensation since I was a small child—the feeling of weightlessness, of being surrounded by warmth. I stayed under for as long as I could, and then floated to the surface. Each time a thought about my mother or father appeared, I resolutely pushed it aside and submerged myself again to clear my mind. I refused to think of Mom as dead. If Katherine said that I could fix this, then I would make it happen.
I tried to focus instead on the few pleasurable aspects of the day. In the past, I had generally avoided guys at school, preferring to concentrate on my books. The two boys I’d been on dates with were nice enough, but I had few common interests with either of them. With one guy, the feeling was clearly mutual after our first evening out, and I found a polite excuse when the other boy asked me for a second date.
In the space of this single traumatic day, I had gone from a girl who had never been kissed at all to one who had been thoroughly and passionately kissed by Kiernan—I still felt a bit dizzy thinking about it—and who had been given just enough of a kiss by Trey that I was now very curious about how it might feel if we really and truly kissed.
Twenty minutes later, I dried off with a fluffy blue towel. I then wrapped another towel around my hair and pulled on the new pajamas. The big bed looked plush and comfortable—far nicer than my twin bed at home or the sofa at Dad’s. I would, however, have gladly traded it for either of the other options. After drying my hair for a few minutes with the towel, I crawled under the covers, turned out the lamp, and curled up on my side. And much, much later, I slept.
9
I was awakened by a light tap at my bedroom door. “Kate? Are you awake?” I opened my eyes to unfamiliar surroundings, and it took a moment before I realized where I was.
The clock on the nightstand indicated that I had slept away the better part of the morning. “I’ll be down in a minute, Katherine.”
“No rush, dear. I just wanted to be sure that you were okay.”
“I’m fine. I was just really tired, I guess. I’ll be down in a few.”
I splashed some water on my face and pulled on the jeans and shirt Connor had bought the day before. My hair was a chaotic mess. Usually I would have just pulled it back, but I only had the rubber band and I shuddered at the thought of trying to get that out of my hair again. So I spent several minutes trying to work out the assorted tangles that always developed when I went to bed with wet hair.
A few minutes later, I walked down the stairs. Katherine and Connor were apparently in the library. I heard a whimper and a tap on the screen door in the kitchen and went to let Daphne in. There was a new addition to Daphne’s collar—one of the CHRONOS keys had been sewn onto the top. I was confused for a moment, but then it occurred to me that, in this timeline, Katherine wouldn’t be around to own a dog, and Daphne would belong to someone else.
“I guess you’d just disappear in the backyard without this, wouldn’t you, girl? Or is another version of your tail wagging in someone else’s kitchen?”
After several minutes of hugs (from me) and kisses (big wet ones from Daphne), the dog was calm enough for me to scavenge around the kitchen for some breakfast. I was glad to find Cheerios, a banana, some milk, and a half-full pot of coffee. Katherine must have made it, since it was far more palatable than the stuff Connor had produced the day before.
I had almost finished the cereal when Connor walked in. “Thanks for making a department store run for me yesterday, Connor. You chose well.”
Connor nodded curtly, pouring more coffee into his mug. “You scared Katherine half to death. And she doesn’t need the extra stress.”
I took the last bite of Cheerios and looked at him for a moment. “I’m sorry. I was preoccupied with the discovery that my parents no longer exist.”
He caught the sarcastic tone and turned to face me. “All the more reason to get yourself back here to safety, rather than driving all over the countryside with your boyfriend. I’m not sure of the range on that medallion, you know. If you trip over a gap in the sidewalk, and it swings away from you, you’ll like as not be just as gone as your mother. Finish your food and get up to the library. There’s work to do.”
I fought a childish urge to stick out my tongue at his retreating back.
Reluctant to give Connor the satisfaction of following him quickly, I took my time with the last bit of coffee and then stopped by my room to brush my teeth. I sat down at the desk chair and looked at the new laptop. I thought of checking my email before remembering that the account I had would no longer be active. Daphne rested her auburn head on my knee. “I guess we should go see what the grump wants us to do, right, Daphne?” The setter waved her tail back and forth and I gave her another hug.
I looked up to see Katherine in the doorway of the bedroom. Her skin had a bit more color than the evening before; like me, she had apparently managed to get some sleep. “I take it you slept okay?” she said.
I shrugged. “It took a while. But I seem to have made up for it this morning.”
“Connor was worried about you as well, Kate. If he was a bit gruff, it’s understandable.”
“He’s always a bit gruff. I think it’s just his nature.”
Katherine nodded slightly. “I suspect that wasn’t always true, but he has as much at stake as any of us here.”
“I know,” I said. “It’s not easy to lose your entire identity…”
“It’s more than just his identity, Kate. He also lost his family—and I don’t just mean that his sister is different or that he has a brother now. Those are minor details for him. His wife—she died about ten years ago, a brain aneurism totally unrelated to all of this. But his children disappeared during the time shift last May. He was already working with me, and… they were both off at college. His son and daughter—they both ceased to exist, just like your mom. For whatever reason, when we trace the records back, Connor never met his wife in this timeline.”