“Then the extraordinary happened,” he continued. “I realized not only were you able to travel in parallel form, but you had no restrictions with regard to time. Unfortunately, a father’s pride got in the way. I made the mistake of telling Oliver about our excursions and your unique ability to time travel. It was enough that he knew you were blessed with the active power of telekinesis, but to be able to glimpse into the future—well that had us both floored.”
“That’s what your research was about wasn’t it? It wasn’t about psionics or my ability to move objects. It was time travel.” It now makes sense that someone like Mr. Thornberry would be interested in something like that. As Secretary of Defense, he can then easily glimpse into the future, or even the past, and mobilize troops knowing in advance who would be victorious.
“Yes. Now, don’t misunderstand. Developing powers such as yours is nearly impossible. To be able to recreate a similar portal into the future is what motivated my research from simply jumping realities towards the study of time travel. We’ve always been able to travel to other universes, but only within the same timeline. So you see, your gift opened up a whole new realm of possibilities.”
“So you can manipulate the future,” I say solemnly. It always seems to come down to this: power.
“Of course not, on the contrary. That however, is what caused the rift between me and Oliver. He wanted to exploit it, use it to his advantage. While I saw an opportunity for the advancement of science, he viewed it as a means to an end. It was at that moment I decided to send you away. Once you were taken from this reality, his knowledge of you and your abilities would be erased. Unfortunately, now that you’ve returned, everything has reverted back to its original course.”
“How did he figure out I was plucked from this reality into the other?”
“Oliver’s a smart man. Apparently he had his ways of keeping track. It’s one of the reasons he abducted me in the first place. He wanted me to tell him where I had taken you, in order to bring you back,” he explains. “By the way, how were you able to return?”
“A guy named Cooper brought me back. He said that it was important I come back to this reality.”
My father shakes his head. “The Council. I was afraid that would happen. He shouldn’t have risked everything to bring you back here, but I’m glad he did. You needed to know the truth. Even though I had you safely hidden, no one was aware of what I had done. But I always knew. As a traveler, I am able to keep all memories and all altered events.”
“Everyone keeps talking about travelers. I just found out I have an advisor, whatever that means. Is Cooper a traveler too?” That would explain the older version of Cooper I met at the party.
I keep right on talking, not giving my dad a chance to answer. I’m on a roll now and slowly beginning to understand. “I think I dreamt of my life in the other world. Even though I ceased to exist because I was living another life at Dominion House, when I resumed my place in this world, I found my journal. I’d been dreaming about myself there.”
“You, Etta, are a very special girl.”
Whatever I have to do, I’m ready for it. “Tell me what I need to do to get us out of here,” I say.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Everybody Wants to Rule the World
My dad gives me instruction and with enough concentration, I’m able to return to my body. It’s a lot like having your mind sucked into a vacuum mixed in with a bad case of vertigo. Astral projection is something I’m definitely going to have to master. I certainly hope the feeling gets better with experience. I’m both happy to be back and sad at having to leave my father in the basement.
Raising my head, I do a quick survey of where I’m being held captive. The room isn’t very large, so it must be a small bedroom. Judging from the window, I’m still somewhere on the second floor of the Thornberry house. My arms and legs are bound to a chair.
There’s really no point in screaming or making a fuss. I know I’m trapped in here until Oliver comes back. Maybe then I’ll be able to get myself out of here. But my mind isn’t bound; I can use my powers now that the drugs have worn off.
I sit quietly, running over all the different outcomes that can occur once I get my chance to escape. But I don’t have enough time. Oliver enters the room and assesses my condition.
“I see you’re awake. You were out for awhile,” he informs me.
“Yeah, well, drugs will do that to a girl.”
“I’m sure you can appreciate circumstances that require necessary measures,” he says.
“Why are you doing this?” I ask, knowing full well he isn’t going to tell me anything.
He’s now standing a few inches away from me. “Your father did this country a disservice by sending you away.”
“A disservice? He’s only a scientist.”
“Yes, but a scientist with secrets that could have turned this nation into a supreme super power.” He keeps talking. His ego can’t help himself.
“I thought we already were a super power.” I struggle in my chair. Getting him to talk isn’t such a bad idea after all. It gives me an opportunity to distract him as I attempt to wiggle out of my bonds.
He takes a step back and paces the room, oblivious to my struggles. “We were well on our way. The path to transforming our military endeavors was well within our grasp.” He pauses to look at me. “All we were missing was a little foresight and power.”
“What are you talking about?” This conversation is nuttier than when Cooper tried to convince me that alternate realities existed. Taking over the world? This guy is totally crazy.
“Your father holds the research that could turn young soldiers into fighting machines. All he had to do was turn over his research and we’d be in a position to win any war. With his serum, normal teenage boys can be manipulated to control and destroy the enemy. And being able to predict the future, well, that would set us over the top.”
The visual invokes an inner fear within. He’s talking about building an army of psychic psychotic youth. He wants to reduce my dad’s life work into turning our country into a dystopian society with a lobotomized military. “You’re crazy.”
“But all is not lost. Now I have you. I’ve been waiting for you to come back. Oh, don’t look so surprised,” he says, noting my expression. “Not everyone was blind to the changes in this reality once you returned. I kept copious records and read them every day. A reminder of what to expect should you ever return. I know full well what it was like before you took your leave in this world, just as well as my understanding of the world that could have been.
Do you recall your little restroom incident at Senator Stewart’s? I had to be sure it was you, so I locked you in. I was pleased to see you had command of your powers. Thank you for obliging me.”
I knew I should have just called Alex to get me out of the bathroom. In the end, all I did was tip him off. “My dad isn’t going to help you now, so why don’t you just let us go.”
Oliver stops pacing and returns to where I’m seated. He strokes my cheek. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that. You see, I’ve been doing a little experimenting on my own.” His smugness is making me sick. “All I need is you.”
Let me go.
Oliver takes a cautionary step back as I internally commanded him to release me.
Let me go.
He takes another step back, getting closer to the door.
“I know what you’re doing. I’ll be back.” With that, he exits the room.
I remain motionless in the chair and cry. Oliver Thornberry isn’t as easy to manipulate as the butterflies in my backyard. I’m just going to have to figure out another way to get me out of here.
That’s when it dawns on me. Cooper! If anyone can get us out of here, it’s him. I slowly repeat the ritual my father showed me before I left him. Breathe and think of the place or person I want to be with.
• • •
“Etta! What are you going here?” Cooper is momentarily stunned to see me standing
in front of him. “More importantly, how did you get here?”
I find Cooper working in some kind of old dilapidated office building. It’s obvious I interrupted him while he was working. Who works in the middle of the night? Not to mention working in a place like this. He never mentioned what he did for a living, other than bringing back teenage girls from alternate dimensions, but this isn’t the appropriate time to ask.
“I’m not really sure.” I quickly explain my newfound ability to astral project and how I found my father. “You have to help us get out of there.”
“You can astral project? You never told me that,” he says, still in awe of my presence.
“Of course I haven’t. How could I? I just found out I could. So are you going to help us or not.”
“I’ll be right over,” he says, not wasting any time. “Do you know how to astral back?”
“Yeah, I think I can do it again. Just hurry!”
• • •
My eyes pop open as I take in a deep breath. The ride back into my corporal body isn’t as bad the second time around. As my body begins to adjust, I strain my ears in order to make sure I don’t miss Cooper’s arrival. I don’t even know how far away he is. When I astral projected to him, it never occurred to me to ask him where he was.
The minutes that tick by are endless. Where the hell is he? Surely he can’t be that far away. Worry begins to set in. My fear is that any second now, Oliver will return, and move me from my present location before Cooper has a chance to find me.
I hear the door knob jiggle. I’m prepared to shove Oliver out the door with my mind the second he sets foot over the threshold. Only it’s not him. Cooper bursts through the door with my father not far behind.
“Where’s Oliver?”
“There’s no one in the house,” Cooper says, untying the knots that bound me to the chair. “After I went to get your father, we did a thorough search of the house.”
As I’m released from the binds, I look over to my father. “Dad, are you alright?”
“I’m fine.” He turns to Cooper, “I know you have something to do with the Council. I’m not sure what you’re planning, or how you knew where to find us, but thank you for coming.”
Cooper’s scent tickles my senses as he unbinds me from the chair—licorice and cloves. Even after being rescued from a hostage situation, he still manages to give me goose bumps. I hope he didn’t notice them when he was untying me.
“What about Jaime? Is she safe? Where is she?” She’s my best friend and I don’t care if her dad went all psycho on me. All I care about is her safety.
“If she was here, she isn’t anymore. He must have taken the family with him,” Cooper says.
I’m positive Jaime had nothing to do with her dad abducting me, but there’s a little part of me that can’t help but wonder what role she played by asking me over in the first place. Could she have known that inviting me over would put me in danger? I momentarily push those thoughts from my mind, as I focus my attention on the two most important men in my life.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Mobilize and Strike
Cooper was floored. He still didn’t understand how Etta was able to astral project to where he was. It was something he, nor the Council, expected. Of everything they knew about Etta, they were not aware that she had the ability to astral project.
What he wasn’t surprised over was the fact that Oliver had gotten around to figuring out Etta was back in his world. It was expected and it was only a matter of time before he caught up with her. Cooper only wished he had prepared Etta better. Then again, she seemed to be doing just fine under the circumstances.
Cooper picks up his cell phone and called one of his most trusted operatives.
“You need to get over the Thornberry household immediately. No, not this one, the Etta reality. Do a clean sweep of the house. I want Oliver off the property. Do whatever you have to.”
He listened to the voice on the other end of the line as he himself prepared to travel over to the Thornberry residence. “No, don’t worry about that. She’ll be out of it for awhile. Just get there as fast as you can.”
Even though Cooper was taken aback by Etta’s new abilities, he had a pretty good idea of how it worked. If he was right, astral traveling left a person in a deep sleep after returning to their corporal body; it was the body’s way of recuperating. Upon waking, the person would feel as though the trip back was instantaneous.
Knowing this, he needed someone to jump over the Etta’s reality to buy him some time. He had to warn the Council that Oliver had Etta captive in order to make all the necessary preparations. His operative would ensure Oliver didn’t harm Etta in the meantime.
In a way, Cooper was glad Oliver had finally made his move. Now they were able to mobilize their revolt against his regime here in the reality. While Oliver was aware of Etta and her powers, he didn’t know about the Council and everything that has occurred here in this world.
In Cooper’s reality, Colonel Thornberry must be stopped.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Family
Aunt Maggie insists that everyone settle in the kitchen while she makes a fresh pot of coffee. It’s obvious she’s beside herself about agreeing to let me spend the night over at Jaime’s. I reassure her that Oliver would have gotten to me eventually. Then she makes a quick call to April, asking her to come over immediately.
Now that everyone is here, it’s a full house: me, Aunt Maggie, Cooper, dad, and April. We all gather around the kitchen table. Despite everything that’s happened the last couple of hours, I look around the table and I’m floored over with emotion. I realize that I’m happy for the first time in my life. Here I am, surrounded by people who care about me—well, the jury’s still out on April. She still looks annoyed.
It’s clear no one wants to be the first to speak up, so I go first. “Am I finally going to get some answers around here?”
“I suppose I owe you an explanation,” my father starts off. “But first, I’d like to hear from this young man. Why did you bring my daughter back?”
Cooper clears his throat. “I’m a traveler sir and yes, the Council is responsible for her return. Oliver kicked off a chain of events that made it imperative that I bring Etta back. Without her, we have no chance in changing the course of events.”
“What do you mean, without me?” I ask.
“Let me start of by saying that when the Council decided to bring you back, it never occurred to them that you would be in any real danger here in this reality,” Cooper began. “In my reality, Oliver succeeds in using your powers to his advantage. That’s why it was important for us to have you back here.”
“So what is Etta’s role in all this?” My father, with good reason, seems genuinely concerned.
Cooper looks over at me and takes in a deep breath. “Well, sir, Etta is the leader of the Council and—”
“Wait, hold up there,” my father interrupts. “Now, I’m very familiar with the Council and Etta is certainly not—”
Now it’s my turn to interrupt. “What’s the Council?”
Before Cooper can answer, my father explains. “The Council oversees a faction of travelers. We do not have a Council here in this reality, but they are prevalent where Cooper comes from.”
“There’s a little bit more to it than that, but yes, the travelers from my reality have banded together to overthrow Oliver and his regime,” Cooper says.
“And I’m their leader?” I ask.
“Yes,” Cooper says. “Without you here in this reality, you never find out about Oliver and help lead the resistance against him in our dimension.”
“Wicked.” It’s kinda scary, but cool to find out your the head of a council of travelers. “Why me?”
Cooper hesitates. “Because you feel responsible.”
I guess he doesn’t really have to explain further. I suppose I would feel guilty if I was the cause of Oliver’s power trip.
My dad shakes his
head. “I’ll admit I messed up when it came to my research and how best to protect it. But my biggest failure is with regard to you Etta,” he says. “You shouldn’t have to carry the burden for my mistakes.”
“Well, after everything that went on this last week, I’m just glad I’m back, no matter how or why I got here. I still don’t understand everything that’s happened or is supposed to happen, but I have a family now,” I reassure them. I look over at Maggie and I can see tears in her eyes. I’m pretty sure she’s happy to have me back as well.
“Where do you suppose Oliver went? Surely he didn’t just abandon his plan to take advantage of Etta.” April finally contributes something to the conversation.
I shudder at the thought of Oliver using me for his military experiments. But it must happen or Cooper and the Council wouldn’t have risked everything to bring me back. And to think he was once my foster dad. Did he have similar goals in that reality? It’s doubtful or he never would have thrown me back to the system. Joke’s on him.
“What about Jaime?” I refuse to believe that she has anything to do with Thornberry’s twisted plan. Wherever they were, I only hope she’s safe.
“I don’t know honey. But I have a feeling we haven’t heard the last of Oliver,” my father says.
Aunt Maggie has kept silent ever since we arrived back at the house. I’m not sure if it’s because she’s confused, still kicking herself for letting me go to Jaime’s in the first place, or if she’s just giving everyone the silent treatment for what could have happened to me.
“I think it’s time we all went to bed,” she finally says. “Cooper…April, you two are welcome to use the guest bedrooms.”
“Thanks,” Cooper says.
“Yes, thank you Maggie. I don’t think I want to drive back home at this hour of the night,” April says.
“Wonderful. Then it’s settled. We can talk more in the morning. I’ll whip up some blueberry pancakes,” Aunt Maggie offers.
Once everyone said their goodnights and retired for the night, I meet Cooper outside on the deck. “Guess I need a bit more practice using my powers,” I joke.