Timebound(77)

“So that’s why he was there, at the door! I was scared I’d have to hunt him down. But you said we shouldn’t…”

“I said you shouldn’t,” he corrected. “But the more I thought about it, there wasn’t all that much risk if I called him.”

“You couldn’t have told me? I’ve been chewing my damned knuckles off!”

He shrugged. “What was I supposed to do? Pass you a note? Katherine has been in here all morning. And speaking of…”

As he trailed off, I could hear Katherine’s footsteps on the stairs. I picked up the diary and pretended to focus, while Katherine and Connor argued about the significance of some bit of “prophecy.”

When the phone in my pocket rang about twenty minutes later, I jumped up so quickly that my copy of the book fell to the floor. Katherine muttered something about how I should be careful with sophisticated CHRONOS equipment, but I was already out the door.

As soon as I reached the bedroom, I answered the phone. I knew it had to be Trey, since the only other possibility was a wrong number, but I was still tremendously relieved to see his name pop up on the screen. And then it occurred to me—it might be Eve or some Cyrist security guard calling to say that they were holding Trey or that—

“Trey?” My voice was shaking. “Is it you? Are you okay? Where are you?”

There was a brief pause, but it was his voice that answered. “Yes, I’m okay. I’m a few blocks from the Beltway.”

I sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled in a long breath. “I was so scared, Trey. I heard you running toward me and I didn’t know if you turned around in time—or if Eve had called security. Did you get my text?”

“No, but I see I’ve got one waiting. I called as soon as I could. I got Connor’s message this morning, but he said not to tell you. I’m not sure I would have agreed if I’d known what you were walking into. Are you okay? That dog was huge, and he looked like he was going straight for your throat.”

“He was. He only got me the once, in the leg—not very deep because I kicked him pretty hard. I’m just glad you kept running.”

He gave a wry laugh. “I don’t think it would have mattered even if I’d waited. He hit the floor pretty hard and he was, uh—let’s just say I don’t think either of them had much experience with their prey vanishing into midair. I didn’t hear them start barking again until I was almost to the parking garage—and they were behind the door, so…”

“Are you sure you’re not being followed or anything?”

There was a pause, and I suspected he was checking the rearview mirrors. “I don’t think so.”

“Well, I’m not hanging up until you get here.”

There was a long silence on the other end and my mind immediately kicked back into panic mode. Was someone else in the car with him? Was he still in danger?

“Trey? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he said. “Really, Kate, I’m fine. I’ll stay on the phone if it makes you feel better—but don’t tell Katherine, okay? I promised I’d make a stop on the way over and pick up your birthday cake, and I think she was counting on it being a surprise.”





The birthday party was fun, despite the occasional lump in my throat when I remembered that this was the only birthday that my mom or dad had missed. We had pizza—I couldn’t tell Katherine that Trey and I had eaten it just a few hours before—and Katherine opened a bottle of wine for a toast. She hesitated before pouring for Trey, although he assured her that his family had a very European view of wine consumption. Then she shrugged. “Given the fact that I’m not technically alive in this timeline, I doubt the authorities are going to be concerned about my corrupting a minor.”

The cake was sinfully decadent, dripping with chocolate, exactly the way a birthday cake should be. Trey gave me several T-shirts with funny sayings and a gold chain made of delicate little interlocked hearts. Katherine and Connor’s present was a small video camera, which we used to record the rest of the party, including some silly footage of Daphne trying to pull the little cardboard birthday crown off my head.

I still felt horribly guilty that I’d put Trey in danger. It was hard to shake the panicked feeling I’d had before he arrived. I think he was feeling the same—we both kept finding little reasons to touch and reassure ourselves that we were both really there.

Once we’d eaten and finished our celebration, Connor showed Trey the Book of Prophecy. At least Trey didn’t have to fake his surprised reaction—he hadn’t realized that I’d actually managed to get something substantive out of our adventure.