Timestorm by Julie Cross Page A

us to know things that happened a certain way and watch them change. It would be like if we had the ability to read minds and then we were ridiculed and hated for not telling people what went on in the heads of their own family members and loved ones.” He wiped sweat from his forehead, staring off into the distance. “It isn’t fair to accuse us of anything when we can’t help having this God-given ability.”
    “Your ability might be God-given,” I said, wiping my own sweaty brow. “But mine sure as hell isn’t. I’m completely man-made.”
    “Regardless,” Blake said. “The origin has nothing to do with you. You didn’t ask for this.”
    “Those are all valid points,” I conceded. “Why don’t you try explaining that to Holly?”
    As if it were that easy.
    “I will,” Blake said, looking dead serious.
    Suddenly I felt that tiny bubble of jealousy boiling to the surface again, threatening to spill over. I didn’t want Blake alone with Holly long enough for him to have this talk with her. I didn’t want Blake alone with Holly at all.
    “She was my girlfriend,” I blurted out against my better judgment. “Before I went back and erased us. Then everything changed and what I did, the sacrifice I made to keep her safe, meant nothing. Her life went completely to hell and I can’t just tell her, oh by the way, I’ve succeeded in getting two out of three versions of you to fall for me, so the probability that it could happen again is very high.”
    I channeled the aggression into chopping and split another large piece of tree trunk in half. Then I wondered what kind of hidden anger Blake must have to be so damn good at chopping wood.
    “I’m not going to tell her,” Blake said quietly after several long moments of silence. “And I already knew that you were in love with her. It’s pretty obvious.”
    My arms were ready to fall off so I dropped the ax and lowered my hands to my side. “I want to deny that so badly, to tell you that I was in love with a different Holly in a different universe, but before we left 2009 there was something … something that made me realize that although she’s different now, the core of her, the basic foundation that makes up a person … it’s always going to be the same no matter what happens. And that’s what I love. That’s who I love.”
    “Thomas would disagree with you on that,” Blake said. “And to some extent I agree with him. Holly’s life might have changed, if she went from a normal eighteen-year-old in 2009 to being an Eyewall agent, but her childhood hasn’t changed at all, has it?” I shook my head, knowing she had the same mother, the same house. “The way she was raised didn’t change. But if that was altered somehow…”
    I let that concept sink in for a minute or two, and then Blake and I were interrupted by Dad. Finally.
    “Stewart is still insisting that she can’t reveal her partner in crime or the plan will backfire,” Dad said. “But she’s ready to tell us her idea.”
    *   *   *
    All eleven of us crammed into the small reproduction room minutes after Dad came to find us. Emily and Courtney sat on the floor. Stewart occupied the chair. She looked a little rattled but overall okay. The rest of us leaned against the wall. I took the spot next to Stewart’s chair.
    “I still can’t believe you’re here,” I whispered to her. “What did they do to you?”
    She shrugged. “I’ve had worse. And why the hell are they so serious about every damn thing? Are we starting a political system here? Will there be an election later?”
    I glanced down at her and grinned. “I missed you.”
    “Of course you did, Junior.”
    Grayson clapped his hands together. “Agent Stewart, you have our attention.”
    It was very subtle and maybe only I could see it because of my proximity to her, but Stewart drew in a nervous breath before speaking. “The invisible field, the one that doesn’t allow you to leave the area, it’s