After Eden by Helen Douglas

shaking as the absurd question left my mouth.
    “Wolfeboro,” he said, looking at me with a bemused smile. “I’ve told you before.”
    “Not where,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. “When? What year?”
    The smile faltered, just for a nanosecond, and then lit up even brighter than before. “What are you talking about?”
    “I know you’re from the future. I just wondered how far in the future.”
    Ryan laughed a short, hollow laugh. His pale skin went a shade whiter. “You’re not making sense.”
    “Fine,” I said. “We’ll just pretend then. You’re from the future and I know you’re from the future and you know I know you’re from the future. But we can just act like I’m insane if that makes you more comfortable.”
    Ryan swore. He stood up, opened the door, and scanned the landing, before shutting the door again and sitting back on the bed. He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, head in his hands. I stayed where I was, awkwardly, wondering if I should speak or reach out to touch him or just stay as I was.
    After what felt like forever, he looked up at me. “How do you know?” he whispered.
    I felt a jolt through my whole body. Ryan had, effectively, just admitted that I was right.
    “Lots of little things.”
    He looked at me, his eyes strangely fearful. “What sort of things?”
    “You were clueless about ordinary food.”
    He groaned.
    “And you didn’t know things that everyone knows, like who Hitler was.”
    Ryan rubbed the space between his eyes. “I looked him up after that history lesson.”
    “And then there was the way you asked me lots of things about myself but you were really evasive when I asked questions about you.”
    He nodded, as though making a mental list of how to improve his undercover persona.
    “You told me that an environmental disaster wiped out all the trees in Wolfeboro, which isn’t true. I Googled it. At first I thought you were a member of a cult or a strange religious sect that kept you sheltered from the world.”
    Ryan looked sideways at me and smiled thinly. “So what convinced you that wasn’t the explanation?”
    “
The Journey to Eden
.”
    He swallowed hard. “What are you talking about?”
    “Connor’s autobiography.”
    “You’ve lost me,” he said, but the usual confidence had gone.
    I unzipped my backpack and removed the book. “I accidentally took this home last night. I must have mixed it up with my own books.”
    Ryan reached out, almost snatching the book. “How much of this did you see?”
    “I’ve seen all the photographs and read the first chapter,” I said. “But really, even without the book, I knew there was something not quite right about you.”
    “Is it really so obvious?” he asked. “Do you think anyone else has figured me out?”
    I shook my head. “No one else suspects a thing. Just me.”
    Ryan ran his fingers through his hair, frowning at the floor.
    “So, now that I know your secret, are you going to have to kill me?” It was meant to be a joke and I attempted a laugh, but the sound came out all wrong.
    “No. You’re safe. I’m the one who’s dead.”
    “Why? It’s hardly your fault I figured you out.”
    “Ben and Cassie will kill me. I’m not supposed to bring anyone home. And I shouldn’t have left the book out. I was reading it before you came yesterday and I just shoved it under a pile of school books. I panicked.”
    “They can’t blame you. You didn’t invite me. I just turned up.”
    “I shouldn’t have let you in. I’m supposed to make an excuse if anyone shows up at the door. We have to keep a distance.”
    “So why didn’t you?”
    He looked across at me. “I couldn’t. You’d walked down the lane in that wind with no coat to bring me my jacket. You looked so cold and I just couldn’t …” He trailed off.
    “I would have worked it out anyway,” I said. “There were so many little things that didn’t add up.”
    Ryan looked at me and smiled. “You know, for