Chrysocolla (26 page)

“I don’t remember,” I replied.

Kye did mention something about Logan changing his memories once, but Logan only changed them from a specific time. Miller continued to slowly get me a drink before rummaging through the cupboards to get something else.

“You’re his son, right?” I asked.

Startled, Miller looked up at me.

“He had a chance to tell you?” Miller asked.

“Yes, he told me about you. He said you can’t time travel, but you’re Logan’s son,” I replied. “Why not?”

I had to keep Miller in the room and talking. I got the feeling that he wanted to tell me something, but I needed to be the one to drag it out of him. Logan was nearby listening, or watching, or both. I couldn’t risk Miller. Not for his sake or mine, as he was the only one I had left in Logan’s demented world.

Miller paused at the cupboard. His eyes glazed over for a moment as he thought of the past, and then he focused back to me.

“I couldn’t travel when I was first born,” he replied.

I sucked in my breath. He was born that way. Was this Logan’s doing? Miller didn’t continue talking.

“Will he do that to Kye?” I asked, barely a whisper. Kye might not have remembered me, but I didn’t want more to befall him at the hands of Logan.

“Oh, no,” Miller replied. He bent down in the cupboard and then stood again, holding a bowl. He began rearranging my food and leaving the extra bowl beside all of it. His answer was done.

“Is Logan waiting for the guys to come try to rescue me?” I asked. It seemed Miller could only answer questions from me but not start anything.

“I don’t know. I’m not privy to those plans,” Miller replied with a shrug.

I sighed. I really didn’t want to know about those plans either. Logan wasn’t playing nice, and I had a feeling it was going to be even worse for Seth and Ty. I saw it in Logan’s eyes. He hated both of them with a passion. I had to think it was other reasons, but it was obvious that Logan hated anything that took my focus away from him. I looked over at Sim. He was never going to let her go.

“You’ll want to eat up,” Miller told me as he finished with everything he had arranged on the plate.

“You didn’t drug it like hers?” I asked. It wasn’t nice to accuse him, but I wasn’t sure what I could and couldn’t eat.

“Oh, no. Logan wants you awake. Part of all of this is that you have to come willingly. If he forces you to do something, then fate will interfere. Fate is a crazy thing. There are things that are meant to happen in our lives and fate tries to make it so, but everyone has free will. You have the chance to change things if you want. Logan needs you to be wide awake to make the changes he wants,” Miller explained, going to the doorway.

“What about what I want?” I asked as he opened the door.

Miller didn’t answer as he slipped out.

Yeah, I had gotten that message already from Logan. It didn’t matter what I wanted.

I walked over to the door and tried to turn the handle. If this really had to be about me wanting to go, then I should be able to leave, shouldn’t I? The handle didn’t turn. So much for free will.

My stomach grumbled, and I finally realized I couldn’t remember when I last ate. Sim was still sleeping soundly, so I went over to the food Miller left. I had to hope he wasn’t lying as it looked really good. I remembered what a good cook Miller was, and I had to trust he wasn’t going to drug me.

“Please put back any unused dishes when you’re done and all dirty dishes in the sink,” a note said that was lying next to the food. I looked at the burger, baked beans, coleslaw, corn cake, and the random empty bowl. Was I supposed to share with Sim? Did the bowl mean she would be waking soon? I looked back down and was puzzled. One bowl wasn’t going to hold all the food. It just seemed off.

I read the note a second time and then wondered more about the empty bowl. I saw Miller kneel to get the bowl, so it belonged in one of the lower cabinets. I began to open doors and quickly found the one he took it from. Inside the cabinet was a second note for me.

“Answers come from our pasts. Start at the beginning.”

I looked at the note a second time. What was he trying to tell me about everything? I had to think back about all my conversations with Kye in the past few months. It was hard to think of me as the mother he had talked about, but he had talked about me. I just needed to remember. I knew about their pasts, even if I didn’t remember it firsthand.

“Ugh. I feel like I’m hung over. What was in those drinks Logan gave me?” Sim said from the couch. She was awake. “One of these days I’m going to have to listen to my mother. When will I realize she knows more than me?”

I stood up and looked at Sim. She was rubbing her forehead as she leaned forward with her head almost on her knees.

It hit me then. Listen to your mother. I had been the one to teach Kye to time travel. Not Logan. If he erased Kye’s memories back to the first time Kye had traveled with him, then Kye was still Kye. Was that what Miller was hinting at? There had to be more. And that meant I had to go back and see it all. It was time to break out of Logan’s prison. I just didn’t know how.

I jumped up from my spot and ran to the front door to try the handle again. It didn’t even budge.

“Mari?” Sim asked, like she was seeing things.

“Hi, Sim,” I replied briskly as I hurried back to the opposite door in the back of the kitchen. I wiggled that handle, and it didn’t move either.

“What’s going on?” Sim asked as she tried to stand. She was a bit wobbly and quickly sat down.

“Logan drugged you and kidnaped me,” I replied, cutting to the chase. Did it even matter if she believed me? I planned to go back and change the past again anyway.

“He did what?” Sim was getting her energy back, and her face was contorting in anger. I was surprised by how fast she believed me.

“Drugged you and kidnaped me,” I replied again as I stopped in front of her. “And also locked us in this pool house together so that we can’t leave.”

Sim looked to the coffee table and then looked up at me. There was fire in her eyes that I only saw on the rare occasion that someone had really pissed her off. And it took a lot to get her mad.

“What an ass,” she said as she stood, all wobbliness gone. “Well, what are you waiting for? Why don’t we just break out of this joint?”

I felt the pulse of Seth getting near. My heart sank. He had figured out time travel enough to get near. He needed to stay away. I didn’t want him anywhere near Logan.

“How?” I asked. I needed out, but there was no way to go quietly. It was going to take some sort of distraction, and I needed to leave immediately.

Yelling outside the window made both me and Sim run to the only window facing the house. Was Seth here already? Outside near the back patio doors Miller stood with a shocked expression on his face. Logan was standing and yelling at someone we couldn’t see, but he was frozen in place, only his mouth moving. Soon enough we saw who it was. Mr. Singh walked right past Logan.

“Simardeep, you are coming home right now,” he boomed. The mousey father that I had met on my first day in college was a stark contrast to the man marching our direction. “You didn’t have permission to run around to a boy’s house of all things. You’re in a lot of trouble,” he kept talking, his voice radiating through the door as he approached.

As he neared he didn’t even stop to touch the handle. He just waved and the door popped open at his command. Sim bowed her head and walked toward the doorway.

It was my chance to leave, but what was I supposed to do? If Kye wasn’t really on my side, and I remembered wrong about teaching him how to time travel, Logan would still have my grandfather. He had other targets here that he could take. I needed a plan but didn’t think I would need it that quickly. I wished I had Seth and Ty, and regretted sending them home. And there was the fact that Logan could trace me anywhere I went.

“I left the boys at your house. Just make sure to take that with you as you go,” Mr. Singh said to me, pointing to the small jade figure that hung on the wall as decoration.

I wrinkled my eyes in confusion. Who was he and what did he mean?

“I never doubted the goddess like others had. When she told me to leave my statue there, I did what she asked. I see now why she asked. You need to be able to hide yourself from him. He’s too strong otherwise. I can’t directly help you without going against the other gods. Some are still set on letting everything play out. But since I didn’t bring that with me, I’m not giving it to you; you’re just taking it from where it has sat for the past eight years. I think that works.” Mr. Singh rubbed his beard as he thought. “Yeah, that works.”

I continued to stare at him.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Sim’s father, of course,” Mr. Singh replied, winking at me before grabbing her arm and pulling her to the doorway with him.

Sim rolled her eyes as she passed me.

“You didn’t think you were the only one that had a parent related to the gods now did you?” Sim grinned. “Call me when you get all this mess straightened out.”

“But…” I didn’t know what to say. Sim grinned and patted her father’s hand to make him let go.

“This changes nothing. I’m still your roommate Sim, and you’re still Mari. Just make sure it stays that way. Don’t let your jerk of an ex-boyfriend ruin the future.” Sim gave me a quick hug. “And take my father’s amulet.”

Mr. Singh looked impatiently at her but turned to me with a kind smile.

“We aren’t allowed to interfere, but I still am on your side. Your father is the last descendant of my best friend. I’d hate to see his line die out because some little mutt is selfish. The jade will mask you, but act quickly for that boy might be annoying, but he’s smart.”

“But I can’t time travel out of this room,” I said. I didn’t want to walk out the front door and have Logan see me leave.

Sim smiled.

“The jade will listen to you now since he gave it to you. It was what was keeping this place safe all those years. Don’t worry about traveling.”

Mr. Singh waited a moment for me to grab the amulet from the wall before he nodded to me. He began to walk back out of the pool house. It was time to change everything, and I had an idea where to start. I needed some answers, but more so I needed to see the past and look into how to change it.

Chapter 13

Righting the Past and Future

I pictured my
grandfather’s home and appeared there instantly. Ty jumped up from the bed to crush me in a hug, and Seth continued to lean against the wall. He wasn’t glaring at me, but he was mad.

“Never do that again,” Ty told me, finally setting me down.

“I won’t,” I replied sheepishly. “He was going to hurt Sim.”

“And you thought we wouldn’t let you go,” Ty filled in what I didn’t want to say.

Thought? No. I knew they wouldn’t let me.

“But that’s all fine now. She’s with her father, and we better get out of here quickly before Logan comes looking for me,” I added. Seth still didn’t say anything.

“What bargain did you strike with Logan to get free?” Seth asked as he continued to hesitate.

“Logan didn’t free me.” I held out my hand and waited for Seth to take it. “Sim did. It seems she didn’t need rescuing, and her father is a god or something.” I wasn’t quite sure, but I’d have to figure it out later. “He brought you guys here, and then he came over to take Sim away.”

“Wait.” Ty pulled back as Seth took my hand. “You mean Seth is her father?”

I looked at Seth.

“Not Seti. Seth. The god Seth,” Ty answered.

“The god Seth brought us here after you sent us home,” Seth explained.

Kye popped into the room in front of us. I defensively moved in front of the guys, ready to be off before he could make a move on either. The vacant look in his eyes was gone.

“Get out of here now,” Kye whispered urgently. “I’ll keep him at bay as long as I can.”

Ty reached for Kye.

“I can’t leave with you. I have to stay with him; otherwise he might learn the truth. I can’t let that happen. Fix all of this, Mari, please,” Kye begged. Tears were welling in his eyes.

“What happened?” I asked. Something was up.

“Logan saw the message Miller left you. He killed him.” Kye wiped the lone tear that made it out of his eyes. “I don’t know what he told you, but you need to do it. Logan is worried that his future won’t hold up. Do what Miller said.”

“But he didn’t…” I heard someone walk through the door downstairs.

“Kye, check all the rooms,” Logan yelled up to him.

I looked at Kye one last time before disappearing. I wasn’t sure where I needed to go exactly, but I needed to get away from Logan. We appeared back in Egypt. I had been thinking of Miller and how he was dead now. Was Logan really that bad of a person? I needed to find a younger Miller and make sure he never ended up with Logan.

“Why’d we come back here?” Seth asked. “Isn’t our fight in the future?”

“I don’t know. I was looking for Miller.” I looked up. We were in Egypt, and in my father’s palace for that matter, but I had no clue where in the palace we were.

“And we’d find him in the cells?”

I looked at Seth and my eyes widened. At least that was why I never knew where I was.

“Hello, Princess,” a guard greeted me as I walked toward where I was being pulled. “We didn’t expect you.”

“I’m just giving her a full tour,” Seth commented from beside me. “If she’s expected to rule one day, she kind of needs to know where everything is at.”

The guard nodded and bowed to me.

I continued to walk down the hallway and finally stopped outside one of the doors.

“Who’s in here?” Seth called down the hallways to the guard.

“The girl lying about you, sir,” the guy replied.

“Melissa,” I said quietly. I knew where Miller was now. He was inside her. “And Miller.”

Seth stared at me, and I nodded. I knew where Miller was. Now I only needed to find out why he was born without time travel powers.

I stared at
Melissa, and she stared back. I could see her as the mean girl who met and judged me before ever talking to me the first day of college, and I could see her as the girl who sat beside me in Chemistry and kept the semester fun. Both memories of Melissa felt real, yet I knew nothing about her. What I didn’t have was memories from this time. Who was she really and who was she supposed to be all along?