Aventurine

  “Taking them?” I asked. How could he just take them? What did that mean? Weren’t you supposed to keep your stone when you traveled through time? Weren’t they told to hold onto them? Was he off hunting the world for the stones that lie in wait for the next user? Could that be why he was gone all the time?

  “There’s nothing altruistic behind why Logan is helping many people avoid going back to their own time. He told you the story about his mother. He’s used that excuse for years, but it’s just that—an excuse. Each person he’s saved, he has done so because he wants their stone,” the goddess explained. “He trades their stone to keep them safe.” Like Ty, I thought. Ty traded his stone to Logan to get his friends back in the present time with me.

  “What does he want with all the stones?” I asked. It made no sense to me why he was collecting them. He already had the power to time travel and take a person with him without using a stone. They were essentially useless for him.

  “My power,” she replied darkly. I had no idea what her power was, but I could tell that it wasn’t a good thing Logan was trying to get it. “If Logan can collect all my stones in one place, he can assume the power I had before I changed. Essentially, he can become a god.”

  I sat on my bed where I dropped at her news. I wanted to think Logan was a good guy and just doing things to make it right in his eyes, but I was getting the feeling that my naïve views of Logan were way off. He was using each person he found to collect the stones for power. He wanted to be a god.

  “He’s not a good guy that does a few bad things,” the goddess replied, reading my mind—as usual. “Logan is a bad guy that has one good spot in his life—you. You are the only good he does. I think he even sees that, hence he hangs on so tight to you. You are the last bit of good left in him. You are the only one that still believes he’s good.”

  “What about all the people he’s saved?” I asked. They were all quite friendly. They had asked him to let them stay in the present time.

  “They are all indebted to him, and he makes sure they know that every day of their lives,” she replied. “None of them are free. None of them are living the life they were meant to live. None of them are happy.”

  Was she implying that if you tried to defy fate you’d be unhappy?

  The goddess nodded. “He might think he is doing good to redeem himself. He might honestly believe he is, but he’s robbing them of their true happiness, and instead he’s making them into his personal slaves.”

  There was nothing of that which sounded even remotely good.

  “And when he gets all the stones…?”

  “He will combine them and take their power,” the goddess replied. She wasn’t holding anything back, even if it was hard to fathom.

  Logan wasn’t the good guy I was trying to see him as. What would it mean if he got the powers of the goddess? What would he do with them? What could he do?

  “What are your powers?” I asked. I wasn’t even sure what she was capable of herself.

  “Almost anything,” she answered my thoughts again. “You know how people tell stories of the genie in the lamp?” I nodded. “I am basically that genie without a master. There are a few limitations, but I can do almost anything else.”

  “And Logan would be able to do that, then?”

  She nodded. That wasn’t a good thing. He was already making my life devoid of happiness, it was no wonder Kye didn’t want me to have the life Logan was planning. If he could truly do anything, I’d be lost.

  “And how many more stones does he have to collect?”

  “There’s only one stone left that he has not found,” she replied. I sucked in my breath at her answer. Logan was one stone away from being a god. If he was good enough to ruin my life without powers, what would my life be when he could do anything?

  “And the stones in my arm?” I asked. I technically had two of them now.

  “I’m not sure how he plans to take those from you, but I knew that if they were just left under the skin like the others, he would take it right out of you. I’m pretty sure he has some sort of plan to be able to use them, but I can’t tell you how. I just know that he’s close to getting what he wants.”

  “How close?”

  “When he finally finds the last stone, there will be no way to stop him. I will cease to exist,” she answered.

  My heart stopped a beat, and I looked closer at her. She had been fading for quite some time. I remembered the sparkling form I met only months ago. She wasn’t solid then either, but there was more to her, she was less see-through-y.

  “He’s close to finding it?” I asked. It was a scary thought.

  “Finding it? No. But he’s close to it. If he knew where to look, this would have been done over a week ago.”

  “You know where it is?” I asked, hopeful that it was the key to stopping him. If I knew where it was, I could stop all of this. I’d protect it from him.

  “Yes, but I cannot tell you. There’s still a chance you’ll choose to help him. You need to be sure which side you’re on before you find out the truth.”

  My mouth hung open. Why would I help him? What chance was there in that? He was basically enslaving people and stopping them from their destinies. It didn’t seem like I had a bright future with him. And Kye was working on a plan to allow me to be with Seth. Why would I help Logan?

  The goddess smiled sadly at me.

  “No matter what I tell you, you will still see good in him. You will still give him chance after chance. You want to believe he can be virtuous. You want to believe that your first love was a great guy. He might have been a great guy if he could allow himself to understand destiny. His lack of desire to see the truth clouds everything. I wish it wasn’t that way. He had so much potential. He would have been a great keeper if he could see past his mother. She knew all along that her fate was to return to her time. She accepted that fate. It was Logan who couldn’t. He tried to bring her back to the present. He found out that she would die anyway. Her life was always meant to be short. You can’t change that even with the powers I have. I wish I could, but I can’t keep someone alive past their time. We each have a role, and we each have to play that role. That is fate. You can learn, you can accept it, and you can live your life to the fullest.”

  “Then you know how things will turn out?”

  “No. I know how I want it to turn out, but Logan is messing with fate. If he gets his way, there will no longer be fate. Life as we know it will be Logan’s making. He will decide who gets to live and die. Who gets an easy or a hard life. He will decide everything. One person shouldn’t have all of that power. I understood that, as do the other gods. I don’t even want you to see the world that will exist if he does get that. I hope it won’t, but it is a possibility. It’s all a possibility. I’ve seen many endings. I hope the one where you are happy is the one that comes to pass, but that isn’t the only option. Logan is changing your fate, and if he gets the last stone, he will change your fate to something no one wants.”

  I shivered. I had a clue that my fate with Logan didn’t include my friends. What would he do to them? Would he eventually turn on Kye? Would I be left alone? It was a scary thought.

  “How do I stop him?” I asked.

  “By first accepting fate,” the goddess replied.

  “How can I accept something that I don’t even know what it is?”

  She was confusing. I wasn’t about to try to change my fate, but I had no clue what it even was.

  “You have to accept not just your fate, but that of your friends,” she replied.

  She was talking about Ty now. I understood that much. I thought of my friend. He was a great guy. In my time he was a star football player. People around campus recognized him, and called him by name. He was friends with everyone. Overall, anyone who knew him was lucky that they did. In the past he was a silent slave. He wasn’t even allowed to talk to me in private. How was I supposed to accept that as his life? It didn’t seem fair.

 
The air beside her shimmered, and she didn’t turn to see who entered the space beside her.

  “Accepting fate isn’t about being fair,” she explained. “Fate is realizing that there is a reason things turn out the way they do and accepting that you can’t change the reality of it.” She turned to Kye, who was standing beside her.

  “Did you get it all sorted out? You can get everything set up to give her a chance?” she asked him. I guessed I wasn’t the only one he was talking to about making plans.

  “I can do it,” he answered.

  “Is your planning all done? You can restore the order of the past?” she asked, and Kye nodded. “Then good luck to you.”

  Kye opened his hand and Ty’s brown aventurine sparkled in his palm. The goddess reached down, and even though she was transparent, she was able to pick up the stone. Her ghostly form got brighter as she did so. With the stone in her hand, she walked over to me.

  “I believe in you. I believe you’re strong enough to do what is right. I believe you can save everyone.” Her form was now more solid and she pulled my arm from my lap. Brown dust swirled over my already marked arm. The brown lines sat beside the red carnelian lines, hidden from everyone, but Kye and I saw them as they were laid down intertwining with the green chrysoprase lines. When the last bit of dust had fallen from her hand, her form dimmed even more than before.

  “I wish you both good luck. I will be watching and hoping that you can make it through all right.”

  The goddess faded from my room.

  “I hope you’re ready for the shit to hit the fan,” Kye added as she left us.

  I had no idea what he was planning, or why she just gave me Ty’s stone, but I was sure I’d find out. It was all a bit overwhelming anyway, so I didn’t even try to imagine what was going to happen next. It wasn’t like I could use the stone since I still wore the bracelet from Logan. But Kye and the goddess did seem to be on the same page, and I sure hoped I would catch up soon.

  I looked to Kye who was looking at his watch. He was ready for something. I wished I had time to process everything, but I had a feeling whatever was going to happen next was already in the works. Was I ready to accept fate? I had no clue. I hoped I could.

  Chapter 13

  Returning to the Past

  Logan appeared in my room just popping up from nowhere. That, in itself, was a little disconcerting, since he wouldn’t have known if I was getting dressed or something. But the look on his face was even more startling. He was panicked. He didn’t even acknowledge me as he stood before Kye.

  “The stone is gone,” he told Kye.

  “What stone?” Kye asked back.

  “The aventurine,” Logan responded like there was only one aventurine stone in the entire world. “When’s the last time you used it?”

  “I used it three days ago, as you asked me,” Kye replied. Then he waited. Kye was as good at the game as Logan was, maybe even better. There was no way anyone could tell that he had just had the stone in his hands, and Logan hadn’t asked him that. Even if he did, I had a feeling Kye would be able to get around it.

  “If you had it then, I have to go back and see where it could have gotten to in those three days,” Logan replied. “I can’t teach Mari how to keep Ty here without his stone. This will change everything. They might have gotten to it.”

  Kye coughed a little at Logan’s response, and pointed to me. Logan turned to me, finally realizing that I was in the room.

  “Mari,” he said in surprise.

  “Logan,” I said back cautiously. What was I hearing? There seemed to be more behind everything than even the goddess was letting on. And then there was the fact that I needed Ty’s stone to keep him in the present. I already had Seth’s and Dee’s stones. Did that mean all I needed was my mother’s and I could keep her safe, too?

  “What are you doing here?” he asked.

  “My bedroom,” I replied matter-of-factly, pointing around the room to make him finally see where he landed.

  “Oh,” he said as he realized. Then he turned to Kye. “What are you doing here?”

  It was strange to see Kye and Logan together. I realized there wasn’t a hint a jealously from Logan, and that was strange, too. Ty had told me that Logan had scared away any guy that tried to date me after him, and that he was a very jealous person. I didn’t see that at all. In fact, he was surprised more than anything to find Kye in my room.

  “I just came to ask Mari to supper with me,” Kye replied.

  I raised my eyebrows. I suppose that could be true if he had intended to do that after everything else. How strange it was to find that truth-telling didn’t exactly mean you told the right answer. I was sure going to need lessons if I had to deal with Logan.

  “You can do that at home, in the future,” Logan quipped. He opened his hand showing that he had two stones in it, and handed them to Kye. “Take her to the future where she will be safe.”

  “What…?” I began to object, but Logan continued.

  “It’s only temporary. Until we’re sure they’re not coming after us,” Logan replied.

  “Who?” I asked suspiciously.

  “No one you need to be concerned about. Be sure to keep her indoors. She will be safe there.” Logan turned back to Kye.

  Kye nodded to Logan, and he turned back to me.

  “Stay with Kye. Do everything he tells you.” Logan stared into my eyes to be sure I got the point. “He will keep you safe. Trust no one but him.”

  “What’s going on?” I asked, looking between them. The situation was just growing more and more confusing.

  “Nothing that you need to worry about, just let me take care of everything. I promise I will return to you, and everything’ll go back to normal,” Logan added, like my concern was for his well-being and not that I was just completely confused by the whole situation in general. “Promise me that you will do as Kye tells you to do.”

  I raised my shoulders and nodded my head. I had no clue what he meant, but I was sure he didn’t know about Kye or his intentions. Would he find that out by going into the past? Would he find out that Kye took the stone? I looked past Logan and to Kye. Kye was keeping his grin to just the very corners of his mouth. He wasn’t worried at all. I sure hoped he had some sort of plan because as soon as Logan found out that Kye had taken the stone, I was screwed. Kye was my last hope to take control of my life back.

  “Good,” Logan added, leaning down to kiss me. I was shocked by the unexpected show of affection and kissed him back, though not very convincingly. It was a good thing Logan thought I was just startled by the situation.

  Logan faded out of the room without saying anything else to either of us. Kye waited a second, and then his grin lit up his whole face.

  “You suck at the acting thing. Good thing I have a plan to get you out of here. Logan is pretty blind when it comes to you, but I’m sure he’d figure out you didn’t want to be with him sooner rather than later,” Kye teased.

  “What’s going on?” I asked again. I didn’t care if I sucked at acting, or that my return kiss stunk. I wasn’t prepared for it, and I knew I could do a much better job acting if I had the chance.

  “Nothing much. Just Logan freaking out that the gods are coming for him,” Kye replied, waving his hands in the air with a look of mock horror on his face. “He does this every now and then. He’s so sure, every time he gets closer to collecting the stones, that the gods will come and stop him. I’m living proof here from the future to tell you that no one is coming to stop him.”

  “Oh.” It wasn’t much, but it was the best reply I could give him. Up until now, I didn’t really give much thought to the goddess, or even considered that there could be other gods in general.

  “Are you ready to go back to the past and meet your father?”

  “What?” I asked.

  “We don’t have much time before Logan tracks the stone. I need to get your mother to the past first, and then we can get the guys all back at one time,” Ky
e answered. “Tell them to meet us at the clock tower right away, and I’ll come back there once your mother is safe.”

  Kye took out his cell phone and handed it to me.

  “But what about…?” I began, but never got to finish. Kye disappeared from my view.

  I looked at the cell phone in my hand. The guys didn’t have cell phones. How the heck was I expected to contact them? And once I did, what I was supposed to tell them? It seemed like Kye had a plan, but he didn’t elaborate with me. I looked back at the phone. I had two choices now. I could stay with Logan and hope that he came to his senses and realized we weren’t meant to be together, or I could do as Kye asked. It would have been a whole lot easier to go with Kye if he had told me more. Now I felt like I was blindly leading the guys, who were just as clueless as me. I flipped on Kye’s phone and scrolled through the contacts. Lucky for me he only had a couple, and one was listed as Ty. Ty had a cell phone?

  I pressed the button and called Ty. At least I hoped it was my Ty.

  “Hello,” the voice on the other side answered. Yep, it was my Ty.

  “Hey, Ty, it’s me, Mari,” I said quickly. “Kye has a plan, and it’s already in motion. He wants us to meet him at the old clock tower.”

  “Right now?” Ty asked.

  “Yes. I don’t know how long Logan will be gone, but we’re meeting right now,” I replied as I looked around the room for my shoes.

  “We’ll meet you there,” Ty said before hanging up.

  I found the shoes and speedily got dressed. As I hurried down the hallway, I paused at Sim’s door. She had been my first real friend in college. I really kind of missed her. In each of my new pasts, it sucked that we grew further and further apart. It was best that way, though. I had no clue what was going to happen with my life, but by not being part of it, she was safe from all the trouble.

  I hurried out of the house and across campus. How long would it take for Logan to realize what had happened? I didn’t want to be around when he did. He was going to be mad. It was going to be even worse when he found it was Kye. There was something between the two of them, but Logan trusted Kye completely. It was strange, actually. I never really saw anyone that Logan trusted like Kye, and now Kye was betraying him. I sort of felt bad for Logan. This was going to crush him.