Reading Online Novel

Timebound(130)



I thought about it for a moment. “Maybe we could pass it off as an idiot with hot coffee on the Metro? I could tell Mom that I just had a cab bring me here, rather than trying to find Dad on campus. And you took me to an urgent care…?”

“If we give it another day or maybe two, to heal, I think that might be plausible,” she said. “And then, once you’re settled with them, I think it might be best if Connor and I made ourselves scarce for a few weeks—fewer points of overlap for you and for us. We’ll tell Harry and Deborah that there was a last-minute opening with an experimental drug trial in Europe.”

“I’m going to tell Dad everything, Katherine. I mean, he’ll be living here, so we’d be lying to him constantly. I’m not good at that, so we can tell Mom the cover story, but—”

I broke off suddenly. Her comment about a drug trial had finally reached my brain, and it reminded me of my conversation with Kiernan. “You’re cancer-free in the other timeline, Katherine. Kiernan was certain of it. Can you think of any reason why you’d be sick in one timeline but not in the other? I know that there are some environmental causes for cancer, but they don’t develop suddenly, do they? I thought something like that would take years to develop.”

“It should,” she agreed, looking a bit stunned. “The only time I was outside of the protection of a medallion after Prudence disappeared was during a hospital stay when they were doing a biopsy. I was adamant that I needed to keep it on me at all times—I told them it was a religious medal. But when I came to, the medallion had been placed in the plastic bag with my other belongings.”

She was silent for a moment and then shook her head as though to clear it. “Just one more thing to think about when Connor and I go on our little vacation, I guess. Do you think you could keep an eye on Daphne for us?”

Daphne thumped her tail once at the sound of her name and then went straight back to her nap. I laughed. “I don’t know, Katherine. She’s a real handful. Of course, we’ll watch her. Dad won’t mind staying here on the nights I’m with Mom. The kitchen might actually get some real use for a change.”

Just the mention of food started a rumble in my stomach. “Speaking of food… I’m starving. Is there anything to eat?”

“I saw half of a large deli sandwich, if that sounds okay?”

“Yes,” I said, thinking that Connor must have already raided the fridge at least once if all that was left from O’Malley’s was half a sandwich. “That sounds amazing. And chips. And a banana or anything else you can find. It’s been at least twenty-four hours since I’ve eaten.”

Katherine started toward the door and then turned around, crossing back to the couch. She opened the cover of the book she’d been reading and took out a computer disk. It was sealed in a white disk envelope, with my name in large letters across the flap.

“I found this on the porch, right next to the door. I’m guessing it’s from Trey?” She walked back over to me and placed the disk on top of the computer. “I really am sorry about Trey, Kate. But I still think it was for the best.”

I closed my eyes until I heard the door shut behind her and then picked up the disk. I was pretty sure it was just the Cyrist financial information that Trey’s dad had promised to give him, but I held it against my lips for a moment before opening it. My hands weren’t very steady as I opened the envelope and placed the disk in the drive. I expected to see a file directory, but after a couple of seconds Trey’s face popped up, and my breath caught in my throat. He was wearing the same shirt that he’d worn that last night. His gray eyes were a bit red around the edges, and he looked dog-tired, but he smiled into the webcam.

“Hey, pretty girl. If you’re seeing this, you’ve successfully saved the world, just like I knew you would. And if you’re seeing this, I’m probably only a few miles away, but totally oblivious to the fact that I made this video and that the most beautiful girl in the world is watching it. But I’m missing you, Kate. Even if I don’t know it, I’m missing you.”

He took a deep, shaky breath and then continued, looking down at the keyboard and typing in a few strokes. “So—what follows is a brief video compilation of Trey and Kate’s greatest hits. All those nights when I’d come home and then we’d end up on a video chat for half an hour or more? Well, I saved them, all except that first time, ’cause I didn’t have the software yet. I don’t really know why I saved them. It’s not like I ever had a chance to rewatch them, since I was always with you. But they’re all here, on my hard drive. I’m going to burn them to disk, along with a couple videos I took on my phone and the ones we recorded at your party. Everything I can find. Oh, and if you check out the file directory, the stuff Dad promised is there as well.