His mom had raised him right.
As she stepped inside, he noticed the men in black had reappeared down the street.They looked hotter than they had before.Were they looking for a cold drink or them?
Well, if they followed them inside, they could multitask.
He stepped inside, letting the door swish closed behind him.It wasn’t a whole lot cooler out of the sun, though the desultory fans turning over their heads did help.
As he followed her through the aisles toward the fountain, he watched Rita—when he should have been coming up with a plan.
Her hips now swayed with a bit of sassy emphasis, making the full skirt of her dress swirl and move around her very nice legs.
His to-period shoes weren’t great, but they had to be better than her shoes.The thought of both of them dealing with period clothes made his lips twitch.
She hooked a hip on the stool and pushed herself into a secure perch on the bright red circle.He settled himself next to her, studying their images in the mirror that ran the length of the fountain.
Were they both out of time.And if they were, what would that do to the timeline?
It was late evening, the sun a curve on the horizon in front of him.The occasional air car buzzed by, but lower, staying in the air spaces designated for them.
Alastor Cessair sat very still and waited.It used to be hard to spot a Palos Verdes Blue butterfly, but conservation efforts in the early twenty-first century had worked and now clouds of them could be observed.
One hand lay on his knee, the other resting on his tablet.It would take only the slightest movement of a finger to adjust the dial.
He watched the fluttering movements slowly come closer.It wasn’t magic.All he had to do was sit amidst or near their prime food source.
He wasn’t supposed to be here, of course.Nature was preserved by keeping humans away from it.Now it could be enjoyed with images or cams, but there was nothing like sitting in air that was both warm and cool in turns and waiting.
Finally one of the small insets came close, hesitated, then settled on his arm.
Was it his imagination that it looked at him for several long seconds?In his mind, Nessa sat next to him, a small child again.Even when she’d been a child it was illegal to sit where he sat.But if—he’d bring her here.
The butterfly lifted and he adjusted the dial, now watching the way the patterns in the time vortex changed.
He frowned.He’d used a little too much force, sending the change back through time.
Oops.
Things were going to get a little uncomfortable for someone.
Chapter4
The huge bulletin board was old school for something as high tech as time travel, Mel thought and not for the first time.And she didn’t know how or why it worked—when it did.She wouldn’t soon forget what it felt to almost get wiped out of existence.
But this time was different, wasn’t it?Instead of trying to figure out the mystery of Alice’s father, they were tracking their own guy—a guy who had been briefed to be very careful and not interfere in any way with established time.
Because telling someone to do something always worked so well.
They had to do something though if they were to have any hopes of learning how to track the opposition.
She was watching, looking for signs of change or a desirable outcome—assuming she’d recognize it when she saw it—in the visuals while Jack, Alice, and the team worked on developing a device that would let them track this girl back to where she started.
Ifshe were their time traveler.Alice kept reminding them that nothing was certain in science.Even the things they thought they knew could change without warning.And there was a lot they didn’t know already.
The thought of trying to create something that would send a signal from the future made her want to hide under a blanket and suck her thumb.
Since she couldn’t do that, she turned to the bulletin board to see what was happening with Con.
It was weird and unexplainable how it worked.She’d tack up photos and such and sometimes they’d change right before her eyes.At other times, nothing would happen until she came back the next day.
