Lia looked around a large open area. There was sunlight streaming in, but it was night outside and she saw no visible source that could be producing an artificial glow. Everywhere she gazed there was solid stone and carefully manicured plants. Troll led her to one of eight platforms that were arranged in an arc and stood on top of it. She followed although she wasn’t sure why they were standing here.
She didn’t get the chance to ask. A stone balustrade rose from the sides of the dais, not stopping until it reached about waist height. As soon as it was in place, the entire platform began to rise like an elevator. She grabbed on to Troll.
They reached the top and he silently brought her to a second elevator. When they got off that one, he took her through a door thatled outside to the flat top of the pyramid. The wormhole was there, glowing and throbbing in some rhythm that only it understood. Home, she thought, taking a step forwards, but Troll put an arm around her and stopped her.
“If you’re going to leave, at least think about it first, don’t walk mindlessly into that thing.”
“I wasn’t,” she protested, but he was right. She’d been mesmerized by it.
“You can’t even be sure this is going to take you back to 2010. For all you know, you’ll end up in Alpha Centauri seven thousand years in the past.”
Lia shook her head. “It’ll take me home. I feel it.” She shrugged, uncertain how she knew this, only that she did. “Maybe it’s trying to correct its mistake. After all, I’m not supposed to be here.”
“Bullshit. That’s a force of nature, not a sentient being who’s trying to balance the universe. And I think youaresupposed to be here; that’s why it appeared to begin with.”
“Sometimes it’s not destiny, just an accident. I don’t belong in this time.”
“Lia, give us a chance. If you leave, what do you think the odds are that you’ll be able to come back here? I’d say zilch. That particle accelerator was probably locked down immediately once they realized they had a wormhole big enough for travel. Do you think they’ll let you near it again?”
“No,” she admitted in a small voice.
“Just a chance.” He moved, standing in front of her, and clasped her shoulders with his hands. “You told me you don’t have any family left, so what’s back there for you? Nothing much that I can see. Here you could have something important –wecould have something important – but if you leave we’ll never know. Isn’t it worth some time to find out?”
She looked past him at the vortex. Was it pulsing a little faster now? Lia took a step forwards, but Troll tightened his hold just enough to grab her attention.
“You’re frightened, I get that, but you know what scares me more? The idea of spending the rest of my life wondering what we might have had if you’d stayed. Wondering if Gram was right and you were my destiny. Can you walk away and live with those questions?”
“But this might be the only opportunity I have. What if I pass on it, things don’t develop between us, and I can’t get home? What then?”
Troll framed her face between his hands. “I promise you, if you want to go back to 2010 later, I’ll get you there somehow.” He shook his head. “Hell, if the wormhole is tied to the pyramid in some way, Kendall can probably control it. If not, I’ll break us through security for an accelerator in 2050 if that’s what it takes.”
The vortex flickered and Lia sucked in a sharp breath, afraid for an instant that she’d lost her only chance. Troll made staying sound easy, but it wasn’t. “Your colonel thinks I’m a spy. He’ll lock me up or torture me or something if I remain here.”
“Sullivan is a problem, but we can figure out what to do with him. We can enlist the rest of my team and their wives if we have to. Someone will have an answer.”
Again, Lia looked over his shoulder at the vortex, then returned her gaze to Troll. His blue eyes were intense and she could see he meant every word he said. “But what if—”
“There are no guarantees in life, but sometimes you have to take the risk anyway. Stay with me, take this chance. We could have everything.”
“Or nothing.”
“That’s a possibility,” he admitted. “But we’ve got this on our side.”
Troll’s kiss made her toes curl and Lia clutched at him, hanging on as ifhewere the one who might leaveher.She wanted him to distract her, to keep her occupied until the wormhole was gone and she didn’t have to make a decision, but long before she was ready, he broke free.
“It has to be your choice,” he said. And then he stepped aside, leaving her path to the vortex clear.
His actions paralysed her and Lia stared at the lights, watching them spin faster. She wanted to stay, but how could she? Troll was gorgeous, funny, smart, interesting, sexy – everything she wanted in a man – but even if he didn’t feel like one, he was a stranger. How could she turn her back on her home when this time was foreign to her? When she was under suspicion? When either she or Troll could decide that they weren’t meant to be?
The wormhole began to contract and she stepped forwards.
In that moment, Lia realized she was more like her parents than she’d known. They’d been afraid to risk anything, afraid to go for broke, and she was about to leave the only man who’d ever made her feel alive because of the fear. Maybe it wouldn’t work – he was right, there were no guarantees in life – but if she left, it was over right here, right now.
Lia stared at Troll, then at the gateway home.
Her job, her car, her apartment, a life that was familiar and safe. Or a man with whom things might not work out, a possible charge of espionage held over her head, a horrible colonel who thought she was guilty, and a world that was mostly strange to her. Just the thought of staying made her nauseous.
The vortex shrank farther, and with a gasp, Lia rushed towards it.
