And how she’d ended up here, alone on a dirt road outside the old boundaries of the relocation center.
Was that the clue?She was definitely Asian, but why had the time anomaly decided to sweep her into the present?If they were in the present.So far there had been no sign of anything—car or otherwise—to help them fix their time.
She studied the horizon.If she had to guess—which she supposed she did—she’d put the time in the early morning.
Ness was pretty, Alice decided, possibly even beautiful if she lost the pinched look.
“Were you in the camp, Ness?”she asked gently.Ty jerked at her side, but it was too late to object.“The relocation camp?”
Ness looked her, then at Ty, her eyes wide in her pale face.She nodded slowly.
“And then?”Alice prompted.
“There was this wind, so strong I couldn’t see, and it all just vanished.Everyone and everything gone but me.”
She didn’t sound happy, which was interesting.
“You didn’t belong there, did you?”
Ness shook her head.
“Would you like to talk about it,” Alice hesitated, “to two people who will believe you?”
“Why would you believe me?”She was wary, but there was hope in her eyes now.
“We saw the wave, too,” Ty said.
“It changed things around us,” Alice added.“It’s unsettling.”
The girl half laughed at that.“Unsettling.Yes, it is that.”She looked down at her clasped hands.“I didn’t think I’d ever leave it.I thought I was…stuck.”
She was close, Alice decided, very close.She didn’t prompt her further.This part, she needed to do on her own.
She licked her lips, glanced up once, then kept her gaze downcast.
“I was getting tutored in advanced physics at Toby Graven’s house.”
Alice managed to keep the squeak inside, but her hand gripped Ty’s.TobyGraven?
Her story was matter-of-factly told, but Alice sensed this was a learned skill.High school.The accident, getting separated from Toby and her arrival smack in the middle of a group of Japanese citizens being relocated to Wyoming.
“Mrs.Kimura helped me, her and her son.”Ness’s cheeks pinked.
Please tell me she hasn’t attached to a boy,Alice mentally prayed.
Ness glanced up fleetingly.“Haru is the son.He’s serving in Europe.He—they will be distressed that I am gone.”
I asked you not to tell me there was a boy.She bit back a sigh.Distressed or maybe they wouldn’t remember her.Which would be worse for Ness?For them?
There was almost too much information for her to process.She noticed Ness looked exhausted.
“Would you like to lay down for a bit?”Alice offered.“We need to figure out where we are,” she swallowed, “in time.”
She glanced out the window.“How?”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Ty said.“I’m going to try the radio.”
Ness and Alice rose, close in the confines of the camper.Alice lightly touched her shoulder.“We’re going to figure this out.”
