Blood.
What the fucking hell?
“Charlie, get up!” Kallie barked in my ear.
I grabbed for her, not worrying about the blood on my hands. “Do you remember what we just did?”
“I remember everything, but something went wrong. There are dead bodies everywhere!” Kallie panicked.
My guts twisted into horrible knots. She yanked on me again, and I quickly followed. I heard the sound of Ava whimpering from beneath me, and my heart shattered into a million pieces. I dropped to the floor beside her and felt around. I expected to touch her, but my hands met something else. It was cold and round…
The wheel of her chair lay on top of her. I felt around, and I found the footrest and the handle. Ava’s chair had been smashed to pieces.
Help me with this!Oberi barked, nudging his nose into my arm.
I flung the remnants of the chair off of Ava, then touched her warm, trembling skin. “Ava, you with me?”
“It hurts, Charlie,” she croaked. “It hurts so bad.”
She shook as she sobbed, and I feared drawing her into my arms, because I didn’t want to make her pain any worse. I ran my fingers down her body, but I found no blood or wounds. Whatever pain she felt must’ve been internal. What the hell had happened here?
“Pidge, where does it hurt?” I asked, but I felt her consciousness shudder against our bond before becoming silent. She’d passed out from the pain and fell limp against the floor.
I went completely still as I surveyed our surroundings. I had to figure out what was going on.
“Keep the cafeteria doors locked, or I’ll shoot you with noxite myself,” Mad Dog sneered from nearby.
Across the hall, Esther shouted her own nonsense. “Join my uncle in The Mission, and you will be granted a place in the heavens for all eternity!”
I forced a gust of air to sweep through the hallway, and I felt bodies brushing against my magic. People shouted obscenities at one other, and others screamed as they fled the scene.
Oberi, what’s going on?I demanded.
Mad Dog and his gang incited a prison riot. They stole noxite guns and overpowered the guards. They’ve trapped them in the cafeteria,Oberi rushed to say. He didn’t sound like he was guessing, but like heknew. He must’ve grasped the scene instantly, unlike Kallie and me, who didn’t have a clue.
I shook Kallie’s arm. “Take us back! We went too far. Take us back!”
If we could go back to our real time, we could stop this from happening.
Kallie turned her wrist around, and her tone became hollow. “It’s three-forty-seven, Charlie.”
I felt all the blood drain from my face. “The same time we left.”
“We returned back to the proper time, but in thenewtimeline,” Kallie stated.
I told you this was a bad idea!Oberi growled.You don’t know how changing something small can affect the big picture outcome!
My mind raced as it rushed to fill in holes. We’d stopped Mad Dog from punching Thaddeus, but Esther had continued toward the cafeteria, where we’d seen the protestors earlier. If I knew anything about Esther, she no doubt started preaching.
That’s exactly what happened, Oberi confirmed.The protestors got angry, Mad Dog threw a punch, and it turned into a riot. The Mission got the upper hand, and they took the guards hostage and killed the protestors.
In our original timeline, the guards were busy investigating Thaddeus’ death. In this one, they hadn’t been sent to the great hall to deal with it. Mad Dog had the perfect opportunity to corner them in the cafeteria, steal their guns, and lock them inside.
Kallie yanked at me, but I shoved her off. “I’m not leaving Ava,” I told her.
“We can fix this,” Kallie hissed. “We have to go back and try again. If we succeed, this won’t happen.”
No!Oberi cried.You could make things even worse!
