“What happened?” Charlie asked, clearly lost at our silence.
“There were two different Kallies in here, at the same time,” I rasped. “And I don’t think one was an illusion.”
Charlie’s expression immediately darkened in rage. Kallie strode toward us, her steps sharp on the marble floor.
“You guys don’t know what you saw.” Kallie’s voice was ominous, warning Charlie not to go there.
“This is bullshit, Kallie! Have you been time travelingagain?” Charlie yelled.
“It’s not any of your concern,” Kallie growled.
“You promised me you wouldn’t!” Charlie cried. “You swore to me!”
“Ipromisednobody would get hurt,” Kallie snapped viciously. “And so far, nobody has.”
“Yet!” Charlie screamed. “You’re fucking around with shit we swore not to mess with again. I trusted you not to go there, after the last time we tried!”
“You act like you don’t know me,” Kallie seethed.
“Clearly I don’t, if you’re just going to lie to my face!”
Kallie shifted into a wolf and launched at Charlie. Her paws hit his shoulders with a snarl and knocked him to the floor. Charlie siphoned her shifter strength out of her and threw her off, tossing her across the room. Kallie rolled as she fell before she got up again, charging at Charlie and tackling him to the floor. The two of them wrestled, while Marcus and I looked on in shock. What the hell was going on here?
Oberi changed into a unicorn and charged between the two of them. She forced them apart with brute strength before she cried,Time travel isn’t anything to toy with! I warned the two of you consequences like this could happen!
I was completely lost. Kallie morphed back. She and Charlie stood at a distance, both breathing heavily and ignoring the other.
“Okay, what’s going on?” Marcus demanded. “Ava and I are in the dark. Did you two do something you weren’t supposed to?”
“We tried to fix the past,” Kallie said heavily. “And I’ve been trying to fix it ever since things went wrong.”
Kallie and Charlie had gone behind our backs and done something huge, without telling Marcus or me about it. We needed to know what was going onnow.
Charlie paused. He was contemplating telling us the truth, until I gave a harsh nudge across our bond that told him I was hiswife,and I needed the fucking truth.
Charlie took a breath. “When Thaddeus died, Kallie, Oberi and me went back in time to try and stop it. We relived the day several times, but whenever we tried to change something to save Thad, things got worse.”
“Are you kidding me?! You did this without us?” Marcus burst. Rishi gave an indignant yowl.
“Yes. We saved Thad the first time, but then Ava got hurt, and Mad Dog took guards hostage inside the prison,” Charlie said harshly. “We tried changing things again, and lost Marcus.”
“Lost?” I squeaked. I didn’t have memories of any of this.
“Hedied,” Kallie said harshly. “So we went back again to put it right, and had to leave things as they were, and let Thad die so everyone else could live.”
“But you weren’t good with that, huh?” Charlie demanded, rounding on Kallie. “You decided you had to keep trying.”
“Wouldn’t you, if you had this kind of power?” Kallie asked.
“You need to start from the beginning,” I said. “Tell us everything you remember, and don’t leave anything out.”
Charlie told us everything. Kallie leaned against the wall and looked surly as he recounted it all. The story was confusing, and I could barely keep the facts straight. According to Charlie, his memories of that day were muddled, and running together.
“When we got back, everyone was sick, especially you, Ava,” Charlie said. “We saw how much pain you were in, and Kallie vowed not to do it again, because time travel obviously causes consequences for all of us.”
“I had the flu for a week. Or at least, Ithoughtit was the flu,” Marcus accused. “What you guys did seriously fucked with my health.”
And mine. I’d wanted to die that night from pain. “I haven’t had any symptoms lately, though, and Kallie’s still time traveling,” I objected.
