“Do you think we can get away with using the gravity chamber?” I ask. “It’s only a few blocks from here.”
Yellow shakes her head. “I wouldn’t risk it. They probably have it rigged so they’d know when we used it.”
I nod in relief. Because obviously they have it rigged. I only offered to be polite. I suggest we head into an alley to get some privacy before we project.
“Hang on,” Yellow says. “I want to duck back into Shreve, Crump & Low first.”
“The jewelry store? What, do you have your eye on a necklace or something?”
She shoots me a dirty look and walks into the store. A few minutes later, she’s back, holding a small velvet satchel.
She shakes it as she walks up to me and smiles. “Gold. I bought two ounces of it with the rest of our money. It’s going to be worth significantly more in 1963. Instant money in our pockets.”
I open my mouth to say something, then close it. Because that was a genius idea. I wish I’d been the one to think of it.
We duck into an alleyway where there’s not a soul around.
Yellow tucks the satchel inside her dress and turns to me. “Is your watch set?”
“Yep.”
“November 21, 1963?”
“I said yes, Yellow.”
She huffs. “I was just checking. There’s no need to get pissy.” She grabs both of my hands and takes them in hers. “Let’s do this together.”
“That’s a charming sentiment and all, but I can’t close my watch face if you’re holding both of my hands.”
Yellow lets out a giggle and releases my right hand. I reach up and grab the pendant hanging from my neck, and Yellow does the same, then squeezes my hand.
My dad. We’re going to see my dad. I have the image of him from his Annum Guard file in my head as I click the lid shut.
We’re shot up into darkness, and I instantly know something is really, really wrong. A loud screeching sound erupts in my head, and light explodes in front of me. My body is pulled and stretched, and the screeching is getting louder. It’s going to rip open my eardrums. It tears down my body and penetrates my heart. I feel the screeching echo in all four chambers, and it’s going to kill me. I try to clutch at my chest, but we’re going too fast.
Yellow and I land in the same alley, sixty-nine years later. I drop onto my knees and grab at my chest with my hands. I feel as if I’m having a heart attack. Deep pains throb inside my chest and shoot down the left side of my body. I’m dying. My heart is going to give out, and I’m going to die.
“That was kind of awesome,” I hear Yellow say above me. “That wasn’t bad at—Iris?” Her voice is panicked now, and she drops down next to me. “What happened? Are you all right?”
I keep breathing, forcing the pain away. I try not to inhale too deeply.
“Iris!” Yellow shrieks.
I just keep focusing on my breath. Inhale the pain. Exhale it all away. Inhale the pain. Exhale it all away.
“Iris, say something!”
“I’m okay,” I whisper, keeping my eyes closed. “It’s getting better.”
“What’s getting better? What are you talking about?”
I open my eyes. Everything seems to be fading now. “That wasn’t the worst projection you’ve ever made?”
Yellow scrunches her nose. “No. That was the best projection I’ve ever made. Well, apart from the chamber ones. I barely felt a thing.”
My head starts to shake, back and forth, though I have no idea I’m doing it. “No. That was terrible. That was like every projection I’ve done over the past couple days added together and multiplied by ten.”
Yellow presses her lips together. “That doesn’t make sense. Why would I feel nothing and you feel—” And then she gasps. “It’s not just a rumor!”
I sit up and lean my back against a brick wall. I still can only manage the short breaths. “What’s not a rumor?”
She drops down next to me. “Dual projection! It’s real.”
“English, Yellow. Speak English.”
“Dual projection. It means force another Guardian to project with you. I could have my watch set to some completely different date, but if you were to grab on to me, you’d force me to come on your projection.”
“I don’t understand.” I take another slow breath and lean my head back.
“The rumor was that if one of us was really strong and really focused, we could dual project. I mean, we’ve all tried it, but it’s never worked. But you just did it.”
“But we just traveled to the same date,” I point out. And then I bend forward. Breathing still hurts.
“No, don’t you see? I must have transferred all my energy to you, so you took the full force of both of our projections, while I felt nothing.”
I take a slow breath. “All I know is, you’re staying far the hell away from me the next time we project.”
“Deal.” Yellow stands and takes the satchel out of her skirt pocket. “I’m going to go sell this, and then I’ll get us clothes. You stay here.”
I don’t argue. I close my eyes and keep breathing. It takes a few minutes, but finally the pain subsides and I feel like myself again. And then Yellow’s back. Her face is contorted into a frown. “Problem. Turns out gold really wasn’t worth that much more in 1963 than it was in 1894.”
“What?” I push up off the wall to stand. It takes me longer than it should. “How is that possible?”
Yellow shrugs. “I don’t know. But I bought this for thirty-seven dollars, and that guy in there is telling me it’s only worth seventy dollars. That’s not going to get us to Dallas. I asked the guy. He said a round-trip plane ticket should set us back about seventy-five dollars.”
“So we’re close.”
“Seventy-five dollars apiece.”
“Shit.”
She cocks an eyebrow at me but doesn’t say anything, and I think of Abe. How many times he’s teased me about the “small-vocabulary” thing. Oh, Abe. Where are you right now? Do you still think of me?
“Um, hello.” Yellow waves a hand in front of my face.
I snap out of it. “Sorry. Okay, so we need to come up with another hundred dollars or so.” I can’t help but stare at the remaining diamond stud hanging in her left ear.
Yellow catches me staring and reaches up to finger it. She sighs and starts unscrewing the back. “I know; it’s our only option. My dad is going to kill me. He gave me these when I joined the Guard.”
An image pops into my head. Zeta handing over a small box. In my mind, it’s Tiffany blue with a white ribbon on top. Indigo stands beside them, beaming. A perfect little family.
“Where’s your mother?” I ask her.
Yellow’s head snaps back. “What?”
“Your mom. It’s something that Blue said to me. He said Indigo had a perfect little family with two functioning parents.”
A snort escapes Yellow’s lips. “Well, that couldn’t be further from the truth. My parents are both still alive, but they’ve been divorced forever. My mom lives in Manhattan with her new husband and family.” There’s more than a hint of hurt in her voice. “She knows about us. Of course. What we do. But she never mentions it. We don’t even talk unless I call.”
“Wait, you talk to your mom?” Alpha made it sound like we would never have contact with our friends and family members again. Was this a lie, too?
Yellow scrunches up her nose like I just asked the dumbest question in the world. “Um, yeah.”