Memories from a Different Future: Jump When Ready, Book 2 by David Pandolfe

believe
me.”
    Naomi sniffed hard, then her eyes welled again. “Do you
think he’s really going to die? That’s just not fair!”
    Simon touched the back of Naomi’s hand. “Well,
technically speaking, you’re already dead. Try to keep that in—”
    “Between lives,” Naomi said.
    Nikki narrowed her eyes. “ Simon! ”
    Simon flinched. “What? I’m just trying to cheer her up.”
    Jamie sighed and rolled his eyes. “I know that always
works for me when I’m down. All I have to do to cheer myself back up again is
remind myself that I’m—” He stopped, seeing Nikki’s stare. “—between lives.
Honestly, how cool is that?”
    “I’m not stupid!” Naomi said. “I get it, you know. But I
don’t want Curtis to die again. I hate the dying part! It’s just awful. I still
have nightmares about it.”
    “You do?” Nikki was honestly surprised. Naomi had never
mentioned it.
    Nikki had noticed recently how Naomi seemed to be
changing too. While she remained basically a child in many ways, she also
seemed to be growing up. Just at a glacial crawl compared to how people changed
in the other realm. Still, there were small signs, like the baking she liked to
do these days when, before, Naomi could pass vast amounts of time just watching
cartoons or drawing and painting. To a tiny degree, she had started to assert
herself a little too, especially after discovering her ability to manifest.
    “I just have bad dreams sometimes,” Naomi said. “In my
next life, I’m staying on the ground. I hate heights.”
    Considering that Naomi had chased a butterfly off a cliff
in her last life, Nikki totally understood. She wondered if, when the time
came, Naomi might take that fear into her next life. Henry said that Curtis
told him—just before jumping back in again—how his mother in her present life
avoided driving because she’d died in a car crash. Nikki wondered if she
herself might have a fear of bikes, even though she rode one here. Or busy
streets. Impossible to say, although she supposed one thing definitely held
true—all of these things would change over time. It was dizzying to think about
how much might have come before or how much still might come. But, for now they
had to keep their head in this game.
    “We don’t know how much we can do,” Nikki said. “But
we’re thinking we’ll need all the help we can get.”
    Both Henry and Jamie nodded in agreement. Simon glanced
around, surprised.
    “Really?” he said. “I mean, I’m absolutely happy to help
but I’m not sure exactly what I can do. How did you guys do it before? I mean,
did you just know somehow that the moment was right or that someone might
happen to notice you? I remember one time—back when I was just a kid—that I
could have sworn someone was standing right—”
    Finally, Nikki, Jamie and Henry all turned and said,
“Shut up, Simon!” at the same time. Nikki couldn’t help crack a smile. Henry
and Jamie both laughed and fist-bumped.
    “What?” Simon said, but the look in his eyes told that
part of him understood too. Simon had the whole Simon thing down and he was
definitely good at it.
    Naomi wiped tears from her cheeks. “What can we do?”
    “That’s just it,” Nikki said. “We don’t know yet. But can
you totally stay on the radar?” She shot a look at Simon, then brought her eyes
back to Naomi’s. “When we need you, we might need you really fast.”
    “Of course,” Naomi said. “Anything I can do. We just have
to stop this from happening.”
    Nikki brought her attention to Simon again, which
flustered him a little. She couldn’t deny it—she really did enjoy messing with
him. “So stay focused.”
    “Definitely,” Simon said, his gaze for once serious.
    “Then we go from here,” Nikki said. “That’s all we can
do.”
    ~~~
    They knew what they were in for crossing over with the hope
of intervening. If they got enough involved it could mean days without sleep,
even the possibility of ghosting out.