I did my best. More than anyone else on Earth could ever imagine. So why do I feel like something horribly important has slipped through my fingers?
Physics passes in a fog. I stumble through the recitations in Spanish, ones I’m sure I knew by heart a couple days ago. Finally, the clock ticks across the last few minutes toward final bell. Bags rustle as my classmates pack up their books, ready to be done.
It’s not done, I think. I stare out the window, over the school’s courtyard to the street beyond.
How am I going to get through another seventeen years feeling like this?
I suppress a shudder, and narrow my eyes. The interlocking stones of the courtyard. Seven bikes chained to the rack. A green van rumbling by. Maybe, if I can just absorb every movement, every detail in my view—
All at once, the frantic buzz inside me quiets.
Win’s outside. Standing on the other side of the street beside the bus shelter, turned toward the front doors, as if he’s meant to be there.
The bell rings. Without any conscious thought, I’m moving. Snatching up my backpack, shoving in my notebook as I’m rushing for the door. When I hit the stairwell, I’m running. Down, and out the front doors, and across the road, toward the smile that splits across Win’s face when he sees me.
“You came back,” I say, breathless, as I come to a halt in front of him.
The first few students are ambling out the school doors behind me. Win draws back behind the bus shelter, and I follow.
“Yes,” he says, and then, in a rush, “This might sound completely ridiculous, but I thought there was a chance, and I can still bring you back so you haven’t lost any more time here, and—”
“What?” I interrupt. The hum that’s filling me now isn’t apprehension. It’s anticipation. “Win, just ask.”
“I talked to Thlo,” he says, slowing down. “Just now, after you left—it hasn’t been long for us, but I came today so you’d have had time to think. She’s approved it. You’ve helped us so much already, and I thought . . . maybe you’d want to come back to Kemya with us. To see Jeanant’s plan through to the end. We can make it work.” He still hasn’t actually asked anything, but the question is obvious. The remains of my anxiety wash away. This is it. This is what I needed. I couldn’t deal with being back because I’m not actually done fighting: for the planet, for my parents, for Angela and Lisa and Evan. I don’t have to be.
I don’t care if I have to go to the other end of the universe to do it. I’m going to see that generator burn. I’m going to know it really is done, for good.
Nothing has ever felt more right.
“Yes,” I say.
“Yes?” Win repeats.
“Yes, I’ll come.”
“Oh. Well.” He breaks into a grin so wide it’s dazzling. “Then we should get going. We’ve got a galaxy to cross.”
He holds out his hand, and I take it.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I have to acknowledge, with gratitude, the books and authors that helped me figure out my own rules of time travel (as unscientific as mine may be): Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku, Time Traveler by Dr. Ronald L. Mallett, and Black Holes & Time Warps by Kip S. Thorne.
Many thanks to the Toronto Speculative Fiction Writers Group, who got the story on the right track; to friends and critique partners Amanda Coppedge, Deva Fagan, and Jenny Moss, who helped me take the book from early draft to finished novel; to my agent, Josh Adams, who found the trilogy not one but two homes; to my editors, Miriam Juskowicz and Lynne Missen, who guided me in bringing Skylar’s story into better clarity; to everyone at Amazon Skyscape and Penguin Canada who has helped bring this book to life; and to my family and friends for their continuing support, and their patience and understanding when I’m deep in the writing cave.
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Crewe, Megan, author
Earth & sky / Megan Crewe.
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