“It’s not,” Parker says. His shoulders drop.
“Fuck,” I say, straightening. “Okay, if what you’re saying is right, what other inconsistencies have you noticed between Ella in the past and Ella at Neurovida?”
Parker halts. “Her ex-boyfriend, Glenn.”
He mentioned this before, but at the time, the information seemed trivial. “No. She never had a boyfriend before Neurovida,” I say.
“Yes, she did. His name was Glenn and they met at the start of college, but when I brought him up, Ella said she’d been hanging out with someone called Silas. She never met Glenn.” Parker groans in frustration. “Can’t you see—” He plonks down on the bed beside me. “So many of the memories she used to enter at Neurovida involved Glenn. You trained with her every day and yet you have no memory of Glenn, not even split ones.”
“What are you fucking saying?”
“Rose, your memories aren’t split becausethey’ve been replaced. And the second I go back to our current time, mine will be replaced too.”
I stare at the off-white wall opposite my bed and my stomach turns. “There’s something else.” I hesitate. How has it taken me so long to put this together? “Ella told me she has medication that stops her sub-t. Completely.”
“What?” Parker yells. “And you didn’t say anything?”
I press my palms into my eyes. “I’m so stupid. She said they were sleeping pills, so I didn’t think much of it. And I saw the same drug in McGregor’s book,E24… something, and it sounded familiar, but then you got your powers back and—”
“Did she say who gave her the pills?” Parker asks, running a hand through his hair.
“I can’t remember. No, wait.” I want to kick myself. “She said her friend Silas got her in with some psychiatrist.”
Parker’s face pales. “We need to see Ella. Now.”
35Mariella
I clutch a hand to my stinging biceps and stagger out of Silas’s grip, the empty syringe falling to the floor.
“How could you?” I cry, detesting the quiver in my voice. Detestinghim—and myself, for coming here in the first place. For trusting him, even though I knew he wasn’t being honest with me. Why did I barge in here like a fool, putting myself in danger despite learning he was a time traveler?
In one thoughtless action, I’ve let him take away my past and my future. My choice.
“I’m sorry, Mariella. I can’t let you go to Neurovida,” he says, body trembling.
“That wasn’t your decision to make.”
There’s a sudden shift behind him. The air is distorting, swirling, like melted sugar whirling in a pot. Parker and Rose materialize, Parker pressing a silent finger to his lips.
I try not to react, but from the spike in my heart rate to the heat flooding my veins, my entire body responds to his presence. And I want to grab hold of those sensations and throw them away, because I shouldn’t feel this way about someone who’s been lying to me.
Silas’s eyes widen, and he begins to turn, but Parker lurches forward and shoves something into his arm. Silas slumps to the floor.
“Holy fuck,” Rose mutters, taking in the document-lined walls.
Parker secures Silas’s arms behind his back with a cable tie. “Rose, help me,” he says, and they struggle to shove Silas’s unconscious body into a sitting position against the wall.
“What did you give him?” I ask Parker.
“A sedative. He isn’t who you think he is. This isMatthews,” Parker says, stepping toward me.
“He told me,” I say, and Parker’s brows rise. “He said if I go to Neurovida, I’ll die.” My lip trembles. “Tell me it isn’t true.”
He’s staring at me, his mouth downturned and pain burning behind his golden eyes.
“That’s why Rose made you promise to stay away from me, isn’t it? So you wouldn’t get too close to me. So all your secrets and lies wouldn’t unravel.”
“I never lied to you,” Parker says, his gaze unwavering. “Please let me explain.”
