I nodded, vaguely remembering the discussion from history class and, more recently, from one of her trip diaries.
“Well,” she continued, “I looked out and saw Frederick Douglass arguing with Susan B. Anthony and Sojourner Truth, all three of them just a few feet away, near the entrance to the building. And like a gawking tourist catching her first sight of the Statue of Liberty or the Capitol Building, I forgot what I was doing and somehow managed to slam the carriage door on my wrist.”
“Oh, dear.” I chuckled. “Sorry—I hope you weren’t hurt.”
“Not really—a minor cut from the door latch, but Mr. Douglass was carrying a handkerchief that he very kindly donated to the cause. That’s one souvenir I would love to have had in my bag when I got stranded in 1969.” She sighed. “But the main injuries were to my dignity and this little chip on the hourglass charm. I don’t think I’ve ever told this story to anyone—not even Saul. I was worried that anyone at CHRONOS would laugh at me for being ‘starstruck.’”
She took another sip of tea and glanced back up at me. “And now, the other thing.” There was a long pause, and then she continued. “I’m worried about you, Kate. Not about your work with the medallion,” she added quickly. “You’ve made truly unbelievable progress. I was nearly two years into the program before I could pull up the data as quickly as you do. You have a wonderful ability to focus.”
“Then… what?” I asked.
Another pause as Katherine stirred her tea, clearly trying to decide how to phrase what she wanted to say. “It’s about Trey, Kate. I’m worried that the two of you have gotten much too close, and certainly you know this relationship can’t last?”
I was stung, and yet I couldn’t help but feel that there was some truth in those words. I myself had questioned why Trey would be interested in me—he was handsome, smart, funny… and I was just me, just Kate. “I know,” I said, looking down into my teacup. “He’s really great, and I’m sure there are lots of other girls who—”
Katherine reached over and grabbed my hand. “Oh no, sweetie. No, no, no.” Tears had risen to her eyes. “That’s definitely not what I meant. There is every reason in the world for that young man to be interested in you. You are beautiful, intelligent, witty—why wouldn’t he want to be with you?” She shook her head and smiled at me. “It’s true that you may lack self-confidence, but… I seem to remember that being a rather common problem at age sixteen—excuse me, seventeen.”
“Then why did you say…?”
“I don’t think you’ve been thinking this through clearly. I agreed to allow Trey to spend time with you because you were right—you needed a friend. I was so worried you would slip into depression with Deborah and Harry no longer… in your life.” She paused. “But if you manage to fix this timeline, your parents will be back and we’ll be returning to life as it was before. Trey—well, he won’t be at Briar Hill, based on what you’ve said. He took your slot at the school, correct? Trey is not going to remember any of this. He won’t remember you, Kate.”
I thought back to Trey’s comment our first night on the porch—that I could just toss a sock or an earring on the ground, and he’d believe everything again. That might have been a good remedy several weeks ago when we had spent only a day together. But now? I would remember all of our time together and Trey wouldn’t. Even if I did find a way to meet him again, it wouldn’t be the same. That idea hurt a whole lot more now than it had at the beginning.
“Why can’t he just be here when I make the jump?” I asked. “Like he was when I did the test jump? He’d be protected then, just like Connor and you are—and he’d remember, right?”
“Yes,” Katherine answered. “He would remember. But I cannot allow that, Kate, for two reasons. First, it is a violation of CHRONOS rules—” She held up her hand as I began to object. “Please let me finish. It is a violation of CHRONOS rules to disrupt the timeline in that fashion. We are trying to repair the damage that Saul created and I cannot condone changing the timeline simply because you’ve allowed yourself to become so attached to Trey.”
I narrowed my eyes. Katherine made it sound like Trey was a stray cat. “You said there were two reasons?” I asked, keeping my voice level.
Katherine nodded. “If you really do care about this boy, then you will understand my second point—even if you don’t agree with the first one. Trey will eventually have to leave this house and when he does, he will have two entirely different sets of memories to reconcile. That’s hard enough for those of us who have the CHRONOS gene,” Katherine said, shaking her head slowly. “You said it was disorienting when he saw the picture of your father disappear. That was a few small memories that didn’t coincide. Do you really want to subject him to that on a much, much larger scale? There would be thousands of points of disconnect—Connor and I really don’t know what effect it might have on the boy. There could easily be a risk of permanent mental damage.”