I wait until she drifts back to sleep, then I leap even further back in time.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Lidia’s instructions were to be at the meeting point in 1702 at noon, but wanting to give myself some extra time, I’ve set my arrival for ten a.m. As an added precaution, I’ve also adjusted my location to materialize a quarter mile away, just in case any of the others are already there.
Despite my jump-induced migraine, I force myself to look around to make sure I haven’t been observed, given I’ve arrived in daylight. But I’m in a forest, and the only other living things around are the birds calling to one another.
Satisfied that I’m safe, I allow the pain that’s built up over all my hops to run its course. Once it passes, my first order of business is to get out of my colonial outfit and change back into my 2015 clothes. I grab a black T-shirt, but then see the Mr. Peabody shirt Iffy bought me and I don that instead.
As I start to lose myself in thoughts of her, I force myself to focus. I need to stay sharp, and thoughts of a nonexistent Iffy aren’t going to help. Ready now, I sling my bag over my shoulder and head through the woods to the meeting point.
The actual site turns out to be a meadow, not unlike the one Marie met me in, and makes me wonder if choosing places like this is part of some kind of advanced training seasoned Rewinders receive.
So far, no one else is here. Instead of walking out into the meadow, though, I choose a spot under the cover of the trees to wait.
Bernard is the first to arrive, appearing at exactly 11:40 a.m. He’s a tall man, thin but muscular, and if he’s feeling pain from his trip, he’s hiding it well as he scans the area. I have never seen him without a serious look on his face. This time is no exception.
At ten minutes to noon, two others show up, both women I don’t recognize. Bernard clearly does, though, and comforts them while they work through their trip trauma.
A trainee I know named Cole winks in with his supervisor, a man I believe is called Morris. Then Lidia shows up two minutes later, and I’m happy to see she’s as affected by her jump — if not more so — than I was by mine. Her appearance tells me she lied and didn’t leave at the deadline like she said she would. Each of those arriving must have left Iffy’s 2015 before I did, or they would have been erased when I changed everything back.
As it approaches 11:55, I decide it’s time to make my appearance. I adjust the newspaper so that a portion of it sticks out of the flap at the back of my bag. When no one is looking in my direction, I slip out from the trees and stand at the edge of the meadow, my hands to my head.
Bernard sees me first and waves me over. Slowly I walk to the group, making sure the pain I’m projecting is appropriate but less than what Lidia experienced.
When noon hits, there are eleven of us, a few still suffering from the effects of their trips, but most have recovered. Bernard appears concerned as he takes another look around the field.
“They should have been here by now,” he says.
“There are others?” someone asks.
Bernard turns back to us. “Four more.” His gaze locks on Lidia. “You did give them the right time, didn’t you?”
This is the first time I’ve ever seen Lidia look scared. “I did,” she says defensively.
“And you stayed until the deadline?”
“Yes.”
Liar, I think.
“There are others here I talked to.” Lidia says quickly, then glances at me. “Obviously I gave you the right time.”
I nod, but keep my mouth shut.
“Then where are they?” Bernard asks.
“I don’t know,” she replies. “Well, they’re traveling without companions so they could have arrived a little ways away, right?”
Bernard scans the woods. “We’ll pair off, do a perimeter search. Lidia, you’re with me.”
If the missing Rewinders left Iffy’s world even one second after I did, then they’ll never arrive.
“You. Denny, isn’t it?”
I look toward the voice and see it belongs to a veteran named Carter. He was the last to arrive.
“Uh-huh,” I say.
He waves for me to join him. “Let’s go.”
If I don’t say something now, I will likely lose control of the situation. When I say, “Wait,” the first time, there are too many other conversations going on for anyone to hear me, so I repeat it, louder.
This time I have their attention.
“I don’t think they’re coming.”
“What are you talking about?” Carter asks.
“I…I…” Come on. Just like you practiced. “They must’ve not left on time and were trapped when”—I take a breath—“ I fixed everything.”
Stunned silence from everyone but Bernard.
He hurries toward me. “When you what?”
“I figured out when the change occurred,” I said. “So I fixed it. That’s what we wanted to do, isn’t it?”
“You fixed it?” Morris barks. “You’re telling us that everything’s back the way it was?”
I nod.
“So you trapped the others back there?” Bernard says. “You erased them.”
“I waited until the cutoff time,” I lie. “I left right at the hour on the dot. Just like Lidia did. If I left early, she wouldn’t be here.”
I glance at her and see she’s trapped by her lie. When the others look toward her, too, she says, “He must have waited.” When they look away, though, the look she gives me is one of suspicion.
“If they didn’t leave by the deadline, then it’s their own damn fault,” one of the women who arrived right after Bernard says.
Morris moves in until his face is only inches away from mine. “I don’t care when you left. What I want to know is, who authorized you to fix anything?”
His breath is hot and rancid, causing me to take a step back. “I just thought, um, well…”
Bernard grabs Morris by the shoulder and pulls him away. At first, I’m thankful, but then I see Bernard’s anger has kicked in again.
“How did you find out when the problem was?” he asks.
“Lidia said I was supposed to see if I could figure out when it was,” I say.
“Figuring it out is not the same as fixing the problem,” Morris says over Bernard’s shoulder.
“When did it happen?” Bernard asks.
“The problem? Um, it was during the American incident of 1775. One of their leaders was supposed to have been killed. What I realized was that the man who turned him in was prevented from doing so.”
“How?”
It’s time for my next lie, one I spent hours thinking through after my last visit with Iffy.
“He was never born.” The words sound false, but I hope I’m the only one who picks that up.
“And how did you figure that out?” Morris yells at me.
If Bernard weren’t between us, the man’s hands would probably be around my neck.
“Answer him,” Bernard says.
“The era is kind of my specialty,” I explain. “Late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. I’ve read a lot about it so I’m very familiar with the period. When we ended up in that other time…” I pause, and then clarify, “the time that wasn’t supposed to be—”
“We know what you’re talking about,” Morris says.
“Right. Of course. Well, clearly something happened to break North America from the empire. So I studied its history. The rebel movement is quickly squashed in our time, but here it’s referred to as the American Revolution. So I knew that’s when the break must have occurred.”
“I figured that out, too,” another Rewinder said. “But I couldn’t pinpoint the actual event that changed everything.”