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“I’m not going to Valora,” I say tauntingly, the soles of my boots dragging over the stone as the vortex sucks me in. “And not in the present.”
I see the second my meaning becomes clear. Vaeront’s eyes go wide, his chest puffs up with a breath, and he lunges forward.
He reaches for us, but he’s too late.
His hand misses us by at least a foot, and he falls ungracefully to the floor while Hannah and I tumble into the abyss, away from him and closer to freedom.
ELLISTER
The grasp I maintain on Hannah’s precious, vulnerable body is firm and unyielding as we free-fall through the vortex.
Time travel takes longer. The process is more brutal, tossing us around as if we’re caught in a cyclone for what seems like minutes.
Finally, the force slows.
When we land in a familiar forest, I know my trip was a success.
The full moon peeks through the leaves above us. Humidity of a summer night saturates the air. A cricket’s song hums around us, coming from all directions.
I recognize the younger-looking trees and the plot of land where many maples have yet to be planted.
I glance to the home where Waylon Wildwood and his parents live. The wooden shingles are falling off, the white-painted siding is rotten in some places, and the porch structure is damaged, leaning slightly to one side.
Honestly, it looks worse in 1928 than it will ninety years from now, but the dilapidated state of the building is a true representation of what’s currently happening inside.
A crumbling home for a fractured family.
Even from outside and fifty feet back, I can hear the yelling from the kitchen. A deep voice hollers a few obscenities, and a higher one answers back with equal ferocity.
Oh, yeah, it’s the right night. The night I took advantage of Waylon’s desperation for a better life, he was ripe for the picking.
Still carrying Hannah, I creep to the side of the house.
When I peer over the windowsill of the smallest bedroom, I see Waylon lying on his side, his face scrunched up with his hands pressed to his ears. A familiar pocket watch sits on his nightstand, and I quickly form the idea to make the exchange for the heirloom instead. It’s an object of great importance. True, it’s not worth a property of this size, but there’s enough sentimental value in it.
Vaeront won’t see it that way, but his opinion doesn’t matter. Besides, shortly after this deal, the dark fae are caught by the authorities, so he won’t have much time to be upset about a shitty exchange.
The crash of glass breaking joins the shouts, and Waylon whimpers as he cowers. The blue blanket covers him like a protective shield, but he can’t block out the fighting. The misery. The sound of destruction and slapping as his parents come to physical blows.
The conversation I’d had with him so long ago is cloudy in my mind, but I remember he’d been frightened of me at first. When he’d asked me who I was, I’d countered with asking why he was crying. And like gullible children do, he’d confided in me.
Money problems had caused his father to turn to alcohol, and his mother was deeply depressed. They were workers on the maple farm, toiling from sunup to sundown, but their wages weren’t enough to make ends meet.
The owner was an old miser, on the verge of death, and all it took to give Waylon what he wanted was a simple change to the man’s will—an easy enough task for someone like me who could get into an office without signs of breaking and entering.
I’d warned Waylon that owning the farm was one thing and making it a success was another. Once the property was theirs, they’d all have to work even harder. But he was determined to change their circumstances. He promised me he could make the business flourish, and he succeeded.
Now to find my other self and intervene.
If memory serves, the vortex had spit me out at the back of the house. As I traipse that way, a twig snaps to my right.
I freeze and glance around.
Apsstsound quickly follows, and I do a double take when I see myself standing behind a thick trunk, frantically beckoning.
Well. That was easier than I thought it’d be.
Shifting Hannah in my hold, I blow out a relieved breath as I approach the man I quickly dub Number Two.
