Even though I technically lived to tell the tale, talking about it is still hard. “He...” I snap my fingers, then make a gagging sound and wrap my hands around my throat when Jasper looks like he doesn’t understand.
“But I thought he was dead.”
That theory did get floated around. They never found Mother’s or Indigo’s bodies after the night at the hotel, so no one could ever say for sure. Yet, when there was no further sign of him, some of the media outlets reported that Indigo must have been buried under the hotel when it collapsed too.
“Dead and alive are relative terms right now,” I say.
“Like good and evil!” Jasper’s grin returns once more, but dims when I give him my best flat stare. I can’t believe this is happening. And of all the people I could get stuck with, it had to be this guy.
His stomach growls, and he pats the front of his jacket. “Have you eaten?”
“Excuse me?”
“I haven’t eaten. The first time, on our first date, I was hoping maybe we’d hit it off and drinks would become dinner, so I haven’t eaten. And no matter how much I eat before the day starts over, I’m always hungry again.”
That sucks. I don’t eat much. Don’t have time. We’ve been so busy at the lab that if Clarissa didn’t order lunch in for me, I’d probably eat breakfast and subsist on coffee for the rest of the day.
I stare out the windshield at Wench. With everything, I can’t face going back in there.
“We can’t go to my place,” I say. “Indigo will be there.”
Jasper twists his mouth. If he suggests we go to his place, I’ll say no. That sounds like a surefire way to wind up in some abandoned warehouse or dungeon somewhere, chained up to the wall and with no way to escape.
Instead, he says, “I know somewhere. They’ve got good food, and they might be able to answer some questions.”
“About time loops?” Is that what this is even called?
“About Indigo.”
The idea of going after Indigo makes me go cold. “Oh no. I don’t want to find him again. I want to stay very far away from him at all costs.” If my mother, Vee, and Ezekiel couldn’t stop him, what hope do I have, especially with only Jasper as a sidekick? Indigo can kill with the snap of a finger. Mother believed there was a proximity element to it, that he couldn’t kill someone unless he was close enough. But he could be captured,at least temporarily. That was what their light box was for... until it failed, that is. But I have neither the powers nor the technology to test these theories on my own, and who else is going to believe me besides Jasper?
Speaking of the devil, Jasper spins toward me, and this time he does reach for my hand. His palms are warm, even though the evening is cool. “But isn’t it weird that we get stuck in a time loop and Indigo is suddenly back?”
“You need both those things to happen at once before it gets weird?”
Jasper sighs impatiently. “Do you have a better idea? We’ll get food and ask around. If you want to do something else, I’m all ears.”
I’m seriously thinking about buying a one-way ticket to a remote resort deep in the jungles of Belize, but since it sounds like that plan would only end in a fiery plane crash, I have to admit I’ve got nothing.
“Then let’s see what we can find out.” Jasper squeezes my hand. “Trust me.”
Trusting him can only be the start of a very bad and very fatal string of decisions, but I put the car in gear.
“Let’s go.”
CHAPTER 5
We drive across town, Jasper giving me directions. It’s still early enough in the evening the city streets are busy. Everyone goes about their business like nothing weird is happening. Does anyone else know? The thought that this all hinges on me and my death—mydeaths—weighs uneasily on my mind.
“Are you worried about your presentation?” Jasper asks.
I shoot him a glance as we drive through an intersection. “How do you know about my presentation?”
“You told me about it. A few times, actually. It’s the sort of thing people talk about on a first date, you know? Work. Movies.”
“So, I told you about how I’m going to change the world and you followed up with ‘my boss uses his real estate holdings as a front to launder drug money’?” My hands tighten on the steering wheel. I’m not usually such a jerk. People have called me blunt. Direct. Small talk is never my strong suit. The snark coming out of my mouth right now is fuelled by the ticking clock in my head that says I’m about to die for the sixty-somethingth time in a row, and so far, Jasper’s done nothing to stop it.
He doesn’t answer my question. Instead, he points through the windshield. “That way. Park anywhere past the second light.”
