“What if Anna doesn’t believe us?” I asked. “Nicole and Laura are her proteges. We need proof.”
“We might not have time for that,” April said. “First, I need to get past the guards. I don’t want them calling my parents. They’d freak out if they knew I went off base.”
I looked at Oya, and she gave me a knowing nod, reading my thoughts as easily as breathing. The only time I ever gave her a proper command was back when I saved April and the others. We could hold onto Oya as she flew, but I wasn’t eager to push her.
“We can ride Oya again,” I said. April glanced over at her with hesitation, fiddling with her fingers before tightening her coat. The silence seemed to answer me before either of them did. Oya rolled her eyes, looking thoroughly annoyed. She took a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh.
“I can do more than be a transport,” Oya muttered.
“Yeah, last time was rough for me. She’s so small, I was surprised she could carry all four of us,” April said, shrugging, her eyes still on Oya. That last bit clearly insulted Oya, because she rolled up her sleeves in a way that looked way too dramatic to be accidental.
“I’m tired of being underestimated because I lost one battle.”
Without warning, she raised her right hand, palm up, reaching for the sky like she planned to grab it. A dark fog formed from the air. It wasn’t just around us either. The guard booth, the street, everything vanished behind a thick wall of darkness. I couldn’t even see April in front of me.
“Follow me,” Oya said as a narrow path cleared ahead.
We climbed the slight hill toward the guard booth. I heard the guards panicking, but they couldn’t see us, and we couldn’t see them. A few more yards and we’d be in front of my court. Oya shifted left so we wouldn’t have to cross the main street—at least, that’s what my mental map told me. A few more steps, and Oya stopped.
The fog broke apart, dissolving into the night as fast as it had appeared. The sky was suddenly clear again. We stood across from the start of the two courts—the side where April and Javier live,d but right by the gate, so there weren’t any driveway entrances. Just the row of houses facing us and the band of forest with the electrified gate meant to keep everyone safe.
“Oya, how far did the fog reach?” April asked. Her voice had a light, curious bounce to it that made me smile despite everything.
Oya pointed at herself, grinning proudly for the first time since I’d known her. Not like my fake smiles lately—this one was real.
“Well, thanks to Lonnie being able to read your mind, and me being able to read his, I know this: my powers can affect an area of up to 484 yards. The perimeter is about 2.2 miles if you imagine it as a square.”
“That’s really impressive. And we didn’t have to ride her,” April said. “We should get… oh no. Not again.”
The familiar numbness crept into my feet. That stupid metallic taste hit the back of my tongue. April’s voice faded as my vision hazed. A new smell hit me—rust, like cleaning an old tool. My hands turned translucent.
“I’ll tell Anna. Don’t worry about me. I got it,” April said, her words growing softer.
Everything turned to white, the world melting like fresh snow under a floodlight. My body went numb the way a foot falls asleep, then vanished entirely. I really needed to name this. Trouble Seeker, maybe. Because it always dragged me to April whenever she was in danger. I helped her, then somehow got allowed to return to my body in the past. One more puzzle piece in this time-travel mess.
The blinding white dimmed fast, black streaks bleeding in like ink on a wet page. The numbness receded. My eyes moved. My body returned. And when I opened them, I was back in the medical room of Reidlinger’s mansion.
“You made it back without me guiding you,” she said. She sat in a rocking chair, drifting back and forth like she had nothing in the world to worry about. “How long have you had these… blackouts?”
Since Wednesday, I wanted to say that I was hit and ended up here.
She wasn’t wearing the fancy dress from earlier. Instead, linen pants and a cream-colored long-line top that looked like what passed for a bra in this century.
“You can read minds?” I asked, plastering on my fake smile. “The last time I blacked out, I heard you calling me. And when I woke up here, you spoke inside my mind.”
“Ah, yes. My checkmate.”
She rose from the chair with effort, her knees buckling before she steadied herself. “To answer your question, no, not really. I have what’s called empathy. Not the dictionary version. I can read thoughts only when tied to strong emotions. I know all about your disgust, sadness, anger, and fear. The things you hide behind joy. Well, at least when you’re with others. With us, your fear and disgust are very prominent. You don’t feel like you belong here, though I can’t see why.”
I thought about how easily April accepted my time-travel story. How I was from her future, traveling back to her past. Telling Reidlinger felt dangerous. Different timeline is dangerous. Ripple-the-future dangerous. The geeky paradox stuff I usually avoided because time travel plots gave me headaches.
Then another thought hit me: what if this was the actual timeline? The real one? My head throbbed.
“Are there checkmates that involve…” I hesitated. “Time travel?”
She snapped her head toward me, studying me like I’d suddenly grown fangs.
“Ah, there’s your fear again. Afraid of what I’ll find. Afraid of the answer.”
She motioned for me to follow her, so I did. April was safe for now. Pat, Laura, Antwain, and Nicole probably thought she drowned. She could make it to Anna’s. Brenda was safe here at Reidlinger’s. So maybe I could relax and figure out how to return my physical body to my own time. It was still Saturday night. Time moved linearly for me during the jumps. If it was 7 PM Saturday when I left, it was 7 PM Saturday here when I arrived.
“I don’t belong here, Reidlinger,” I said quietly.
We entered the hallway. The mansion was quiet except for a few Black workers tidying up the living and dining rooms. The pine smell reminded me of the forest. We descended the stairs.
“Yes, time travel is possible for a checkmate,” she said. “But it’s more like manipulating time. Some who have it can speed it up or slow it down. To others, it looks like speed manipulation. I had a student who did exactly that. I also heard of another mage whose checkmate allowed her to teleport five seconds into the future. It looked like she froze time and reappeared. Upon further study, it was time manipulation.”
She glanced at me. “So you fear that you are a time manipulator?”
I took a deep breath. I wanted to go home to my parents, help them through their divorce. But after seeing my mom moving on, after realizing my dad wasn’t even with her after I’d been missing for two days… I knew their divorce was happening no matter what. I was technically dead to authorities in my time. But maybe, if I could return with my physical body…
“I’m not sure,” I said. “Every time I white out, I end up here—what’s the past for me. And when I black out here, I wake up back in my time.”
“What time is that?”
“2024.”
She didn’t even blink.
“That would be a powerful time manipulation ability. But you’re doing it through astral projection?”
“That’s what my mage friend Daniel thinks. Anna—the grandmaster—”
I stopped, thinking of the paradox.
She smiled, almost tiredly. “I sense your fear. And yes, I can hear your thoughts. Telling us about the future is dangerous. And yes, this may already be a paradox. Time manipulators struggle the most, especially those who truly travel. But you’re the first I’ve heard of who travels by centuries. If you are a time manipulator, you’re a strong one. Maybe that’s why you do it through astral projection. Usually, time travelers move with their physical bodies.”
“But if that’s true, how is my physical body here?”
“My boy, I don’t know.”
We stopped at a door. “But if Curtis knows you can do this… perhaps that’s why he targeted you. Imagine he could have you research what happens to him.”
“Help him change the future,” I whispered.
She nodded. “Exactly. It’s still a gamble. Time is finite for the living but infinite as a force. You can’t control time. You can only work with what you have.”
She opened the door to a small room: twin bed, dresser, a window overlooking the courtyard, a closet, a desk and chair. Beautifully carved. Cozy. Too cozy.
“This is your room. Rest. And try not to have any more blackouts. We’ll discuss the grandmaster and your abilities tomor—”
She stopped as Brad, Morgan, and Krystal came sprinting down the hall. They halted in front of her, panting but not from exhaustion.
“We can’t find her,” Morgan said, hands on her hips. Krystal practically vibrated with excitement. Brad looked worried.
Reidlinger lifted her face slightly and closed her eyes. For a moment, I didn’t want to ask. I already feared the answer.
“Who?”
She opened her eyes and looked straight at me.
“Brenda.”