“If you won’t take me out of this building, fine. I can prove it another way.” The words left him in a desperate rush. “Mary Ann has a best friend named Penny. One day she will date a boy named Tucker.” Maybe telling the doctor about the future would change it as irrevocably as altering the past. But he was already on this path and couldn’t stop himself. “Tucker’s a jerk, by the way, and you should put a stop to that before it ever starts. Or maybe she’s supposed to date him. I don’t know. She will—”
“Okay. I’ve had it. I want you to leave, Aden. Right now.” Dr. Gray pointed to the door. “Clearly you’ve been through my personal files. Clearly you’re trying to compare your life to hers. Well, it’s not going to work. I want you out of this office before I do something I’ll regret.”
Compare his life to whose? Mary Ann’s? Or someone else’s? Someone equally close to the doctor? “I don’t understand. Who are you talking about?”
“I told you to go.”
Aden pushed to his feet. His legs were shaky, but he didn’t tumble back into his seat. “Tell me who you meant and I will. You’ll never have to meet with me again.” Well, not here. “Please.”
Before the doctor could reply, Aden’s mind began fading to black. No. No, no, no. He wasn’t ready, had more to say, more to hear. His struggles increased. “For God’s sake, just tell…”
Too late.
The tunnel sucked him back in, spinning him round and round, down…down…
The last thought to drift through his mind was a question. Would Mary Ann still be a part of his life when he returned?
We’re about to find out, Elijah said grimly.
FIFTEEN
“ADEN. Aden, wake up!”
“Oh, thank God, he’s here.”
“He popped out of nowhere. Didn’t he? Did I imagine that?”
“Aden, can you hear me?”
Aden fought his way out of that long, dark tunnel a second time, afraid of what he’d find. His temples throbbed and blood rushed through his veins too quickly. His muscles were stiff, heavy. At least his companions were quiet as they, too, struggled to orient themselves.
He pried his lashes apart. Muted sunlight streamed in from a large bay window, throwing spots in his line of vision. Subdued though that light was, it still proved to be too bright and his eyes teared.
“Give him space,” a deep male voice said. Riley.
Riley was still part of his life, then. That had to mean Victoria was, as well. Please, please let it mean that she was.
Two sets of footsteps shuffled. A girl said, “I can’t,” then white-hot, trembling hands pressed to his cheeks. He turned his head, sinking into the heat. Victoria loomed over him, dark ponytail falling over her shoulder and tickling his neck.
Thank God.
“Hey you,” she said gently. Soft fingers smoothed the hair from his brow.
“Hey. How long was I gone?” He wasn’t sure why he didn’t just reappear seconds—or even the very moment—after he disappeared, as if he’d never left at all. But no, he didn’t. He didn’t know why new memories didn’t seep into his head, if he had indeed changed his past. But again, no. Time travel and its intricacies simply baffled him. “How long?” he repeated.
“A few hours.”
Not good. He tried to pull himself into a sitting position. “Is Mary Ann—” A sharp pain sliced through his head, and he groaned.
“Gently,” Victoria said.
When he was up, he dragged his knees to his chest and rested his forehead against them. He was panting. “Is Mary Ann here?”
“I am. What happened?” she’d asked, concern dripping from the words.
All of his friends—plus Riley—were accounted for. Never had he been more relieved. If he’d had the energy, he would have leapt up and hugged them all. “I need a minute to think.”
Everything was fuzzy. From more than just traveling back to the present, he suspected. A return had never left him this groggy.
Okay, so. What had happened? Obviously, he’d changed the past. He’d told Dr. Gray things he hadn’t told him before. Dr. Gray had flipped, just as Elijah had predicted. Since Aden had still met Mary Ann, Dr. Gray had later taken an interest in him. Which meant one of the souls would soon be freed.
His lips lifted in a slow grin. They’d done it, then. They’d really done it.
Had anything else changed?
“Do I live at the D and M with Dan Reeves?” he asked Mary Ann.
“You don’t remember?”
“Do I?” he insisted.
“Yes. You do.” Mary Ann rubbed her arms. “You’re scaring me, Aden.”
“You will cease scaring her immediately,” Riley snapped. So much for his seeming concern about Aden.
“Tell us what happened,” Victoria pleaded.
He sighed. “I went back in time, to a therapy session I had when I was eleven.” He raised his head, fought the dizziness as he pinned Mary Ann with a tortured gaze. “It was with your father.”
She blinked in confusion. “My father? I don’t understand.”
“He was my doctor for a time, in one of the institutions I stayed at. I don’t remember which one. And I didn’t realize he was your dad until today. He was nice, truly listened to me. I liked him. I, well, I told him what had happened, that I lived here and you were my friend. That you had dated Tucker. He kind of freaked out, tried to throw me out of his office.”
She was shaking her head before he finished. “That doesn’t sound like my dad. He would have considered you delusional, but he would never throw a patient out.”
Aden let that go, knowing it would do no good to insist or tarnish her image of her father. “Does he keep records of his patients?” he asked, though he already knew the answer. All doctors did.
“Of course.”
“Then he’ll have a record of me. I’d like to read his thoughts about me.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s not only illegal, it’s unethical. He would never give the files to me.”
Aden met her stare, unwavering. “I didn’t want you to ask for them.”
Her mouth floundered open, closed. “That would be stealing.”
Victoria’s hand traveled the length of his spine, up, then down, a soothing caress meant to comfort him. “Actually, that would be helping a friend in need.”
Mary Ann licked her lips and gazed up at Riley, perhaps searching for support. He just shrugged. As innocent as she was and as uneventful a life as she’d probably led, the thought of stealing must frighten her.
“Please, Mary Ann,” he said. “Get those files. Something I said caused your dad to compare me to someone else and I want to know who it was. And, because of my confession to him, I could have changed something here in the present. Maybe it was only his mind. His thoughts. But there’s only one way to find out.”
Still she was silent.
He tried another approach. “Did he ever ask you about a boy named Aden?”
She thought for a moment, gasped. “Not by name, no, but once, right after I introduced him to Tucker, he sat me down and asked about my friends, if I had any new ones and if one liked to talk to himself. At the time, I didn’t think anything of it. I thought it was a joke.” She scrubbed a hand down her face. “I’ll do it,” she said in a soft whisper.
“Thank you.” His relief was palpable, he was sure.
“It’ll be hard, though,” she added. “His old files are in storage. And those he’s actually put in his computer are in password-protected archives.”
“All I ask is that you try.” He pushed to his feet, his legs a bit unsteady. Victoria kept her arm around his waist. He didn’t need to, not to remain standing, but he leaned against her. “What time is it?”
“Seven-eighteen,” Victoria said.
“PM?” He almost moaned. “I need to get back. Dan said my chores and homework had to be done before bed. Otherwise, I’ll never be allowed to go anywhere after school again.”
“I’ll go with you,” Victoria said. “I’ll change his mind.”
Riley sighed, flicked a regretful glance to Mary Ann. “That means I have to go, too.”
Victoria gazed at him pleadingly. “I’ll be fine. Promise. Besides, you need to look after the human.”
With another look to Mary Ann, Riley shifted from one foot to the other, popped his jaw, then finally nodded. “Fine. You’ve got one hour to return for me.”
“Thank you,” she said and ushered Aden forward. “Hurry, before he changes his mind.”
They quickly reached the line of trees that separated neighborhood from forest. This far away, even someone with Riley’s supercharged hearing couldn’t detect their words.
“Thank God he stayed behind.”
“I know,” Victoria said, grinning. “I expected him to balk. As he is charged with my protection, if something were to happen to me, he would be executed.” Without breaking her graceful glide, she bent down and picked up several fallen acorns. “He must like Mary Ann more than I realized.”
For the first time, Aden was glad about that.
Victoria glanced around. “We have an hour before I have to return. Want to spend it here?”
“Dan—”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of him.”
“All right.”
She stopped, the acorns balanced perfectly in her hand, not even rolling. Aden stopped, too, facing her. Waning sunlight filtered through the treetops, a haze of pink, violet and gold that worshipped her pale skin.
Skin that couldn’t be cut, he recalled. “What could happen to you that would cause Riley to get into trouble?”
“I can be kidnapped,” she said, dropping one of the acorns. “Held for ransom by someone who dislikes my father.” Another acorn fell. “And I can be hurt.” The rest slammed into the ground, forming a pile.
