The sky brightens with aurora bands, washing us in an unearthly glow of emerald light. A tangle of emotions knots in my chest, and I’m brushing away a stray tear when William steps closer.
“I suppose this is farewell.”
A lump forms in my throat. “It never gets easier.”
He tips his head skyward, features contemplative. “Perhaps it’s how you know it was all worth it.” His gaze latches on mine. “Every single second.”
Tears stream down my cheeks. He offers his hand, and I’m met with a sturdy shake only a nobleman could possess. The oncoming loss hits me hard. I can’t help but break through his good-mannered poise, flinging my arms around him as he releases a short gasp of surprise. He recovers, pulling me close. When I step back, streaks of purple and green light up in his eyes.
“Seven minutes,” Lionel announces.
A wash of déjà vu rattles me as I back away, watching as heshakes Sumner’s hand. He secures his hat atop his head, a mix of wonder and awe playing across his face. Then he moves regally toward the isoborometer, full of graceful composure. I’d expect nothing less.
“It’s all right,” William reassures me, lifting a hand in a final wave.
I match it, sparing one last glance before turning away.
Sumner’s hand slips into mine, and my grip tightens. A heaviness settles in my bones as the three of us sprint across the snow.
It doesn’t take long. As we break through the trees, stumbling into the clearing, the lampposts begin to pulse at odd integers. The sky could be confused for sun-drenched daylight if it weren’t for the hues of ruby and violet and green flowing above us. No—not flowing. The streaks begin to coil. Instead of trailing along the sky like rivulets of water, they slowly churn into a spiral pattern. Almost like a cyclone. The pattern winds in an unusual demonstration of nature. I’ve never seen anything like it.
It’s not accidental. This swirled sky tunnel made of light and particles and energy is forming right over William at the core of the vortex. Here, in the darkening night, lies real hope.
Will we remember any of this? Will I remember him?
We don’t slow until we’re in the open space between Hyde and Segner. Wind thrashes through our hair as the aurora continues to curl and rotate above us. I’m struggling to suck down breaths when Sumner removes a compass from his pocket, brows furrowing as he takes it in.
Before I can ask, he holds it out so Lionel and I can see. My skin prickles. Cold unease sifts uncomfortably in my stomach. The needle continues to glitch, jerking in unnatural movements, then spins aimlessly without finding direction.
Every piece of hope I’d tried to hold on to melts away like tissue paper in a rainstorm.
Something is terribly wrong.
40
We’re not out of thevortex’s perimeter.
“This isn’t right.” Panic rises in Sumner’s voice. “It can’t—Imeasured. The calculations proved this is the end of the boundary.”
Sumner is meticulous. I have no doubt he’s correct. Lionel measured the same boundary earlier in the year, and it hadn’t changed. Either it’s spreading or—
Our gaze connects. We’ve come to the same realization, and I’ve never seen him look so afraid.
I unearth the words from my throat. “It’s me.”
He’s shaking his head, disbelief in his eyes. “It’s not.”
Lionel glances between us, but we both hear it. The denial in his tone. So I loosen my hand from his and test the theory. One step backward, then another. Putting distance between us as I leave them outside the invisible border while I remain in.
Sumner’s eyes jump to the compass. I keep moving farther, and it’s only when I’m several yards away that he locks eyes with me. He doesn’t need to say it. It’s readable in his collapsed expression.
Somehow, I’m part of this.
I was within the magnetic vortex’s limits the night I collided with William, because he’s the one who unknowingly set them. Whatever cosmological phenomenon occurred must have bound us to this place—or perhaps to each other. Maybe William was right all along. There is a connection between us. The evidence stands. I can’t escape the vortex without expanding the boundaries, inviting anyone into the zone of no return and diminishing any chance of this timeline’s survival.
What happens to me? I’m supposed to remainhere.
We’d done everything right, hadn’t we? Resolved to get him to his correct time. Reset everything to how it was. Unless—
