“They’re looking for you.”
She grabs my shoulders. “Ella, listen to me. That wasn’t the police. They don’t know Neurovida exists, or anything about time travel.”
“I promise you it was the police.” I storm into my room and return with the photo Silas gave me. “The officer showed me this.”
Her face stills as she takes the photograph from my hand. “What did you tell them?”
“Nothing. I’ve been waiting to talk to you first because I don’t know what to believe.”
“Thank fuck. Never tell anyone we were here.”
I throw my hands up in the air. “Great. So now that I’m lying to the police for you, I need answers. I’ve been having this dream, and I think I’m sub-ting.” I shake my head. Dark visions flash before my eyes and goosebumps rise along my skin. “Something about it iswrong, Rose. What happens to me?”
“Nothing,” she says, a little too quickly. Judging by the firm set of her jaw, she’ll never give me the answers I’m looking for.
I sigh. “What do you want?” The words have far less fire than I’d intended.
“I need more of your blood,” she says.
I laugh. “You’re joking. Why should I help you if you won’t even be honest with me?”
Rose closes her eyes and exhales through gritted teeth. “Because if you don’t, Parker might die. Don’t you get that? Without his powers, he’s in danger, Ella.”
So, he doesn’t have his powers back.Then where is he? “Why? Why are the police after you? I don’t understand—”
“Which is the way it should be.Jesus, Ella. Wake up. People have come here questioning you, which means you’re being watched,” she says, and the hairs on my skin prickle. “Not knowing could save you. Fuck, can’t you see I’m trying to protect you? If anything happens to you or Parker—”
She abruptly turns away from me, pressing the back of her shaking hand to her lips. “Fuck,” she whispers. “It’s this.” She gestures around herself. “Traveling, I mean. It’s notnormalto spend so much time in the wrong year. It’s messing with my head. I wake up, and I don’t know where I am anymore. I can’t get more than an hour of sleep at a time because my sub-t is out of control. It’s always worse when you’re in the wrong time. I have nightmares all night long and when I wake, I’m in a different kind of hell, and there’s never any break.”
Rose is killing herself for Parker, but with her hard exterior, it’s so easy to forget. “Wait here.”
I duck into my room and grab the sleeping pills I found at Silas’s place. “Maybe these will help?” I say when I return to the living area and hand them to Rose.
She rotates the bottle to read the label. “E2409. Take once at night.What are these?”
“Sleeping pills. It’s a long story, but my friend Silas booked me in with a psychiatrist. He misdiagnosed me witha sleep disorder. Drowsiness is obviously a side effect, but it also stops my sub-t. They’ll help you sleep.”
“I don’t want them,” she says, wiping her eyes.
“Take them,” I insist, stuffing the pills into her hand. “Even if you only take one every now and then—to get a good night’s sleep.”
She smiles, offering me a glimpse through her rock-hard exterior. “You know, the only reason I agreed to help Parker was for you? Because of what he meant to you, or will mean, in your future. You were the first true friend I ever had.”
“She doesn’t like accepting help.”The words Parker spoke when Rose was unwell. But all she does is help Parker. When was the last time she put herself before the needs of others?
“We might not be besties yet, but I’m still here for you, Rose. And so is Parker. He’d want to be with you.”
Rose shakes her head. “I can’t carry him with me anymore. And it’s better this way. It will be easier for us, when—” She draws in a sharp breath. “When we split.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean… after Parker gets his powers back, we’re going our separate ways,” she says, keeping her gaze low.
I step toward her. “I don’t understand. Did you two have a fight?”
Rose stares at me with wide eyes. Her voice lowers. “Not yet.” She shakes her head. “We always planned to go our separate ways, and when Parker realizes the damage we’ve done… It’s not good, Ella. He’ll leave.”
“How can you say that? He loves you, Rose.”
