I could almost see the questions racing around in Luc’s mind—yet I wasn’t unhappy he had heard us. Perhaps I had wanted him to. I hated keeping the truth about my time-crossing from him.
As Mama closed the curtains on her berth, I climbed out of mine and stood face to face with Luc.
He stared at me, but it was impossible to know what he was thinking.
“Should we go outside?” I whispered.
Nodding, he set his things aside and followed me down the aisle to the door.
The morning sun was low on the eastern horizon, painting the fairgrounds and train in muted reds, yellows, and pinks.
I had forgotten to put on my slippers and didn’t realize it until I stepped out of the sleeper car. The metal was cold and rough on my bare feet, so I took a seat on the steps, my legs weak from all the emotions running through me. What would Luc think about what he had heard? Would he believe me?
Luc followed me silently, coming out of the train a little slower.
“Will you sit with me?” I asked him.
He took the spot next to me, though it was tight. He smelled of soap and aftershave. “Are you going to tell me what you and your mother were discussing?”
I took a deep breath. Outside of Mama, Daddy, and Hope, I had never told anyone else the truth about my time-crossing.
“My family and I have a special gift,” I began slowly, watching him for his reaction. “My mother has it, her mother and father had it, their parents, and so on. This gift means we are born as time-crossers.”
He frowned as he stared at me, confusion in his gaze.
“I have a mark.” I turned and lifted my braid to show him the sunburst birthmark on the back of my head, then faced him again. “It marks me as a time-crosser. Every night when I go to sleep here, I wake up the next day in 1692. And when I go to sleep there, I wake up here—without any time passing while I’m away. I only have twenty-five years to decide which path I want to keep and which one I’ll forfeit.”
He continued to stare at me, and I could see he was processing everything I said, though he made no attempt to ask questions.
“I have two identical bodies and one conscious mind that goes between them.” I paused, knowing this part would be even harder to believe. “Hope has the same mark, and until she died at the air meet, she and I traveled back and forth together. Now she is only alive in 1692.”
Luc’s face revealed nothing—no indication if he believed me or not.
“On my twenty-fifth birthday, on October 12th, I must decide if I am going to stay here—or if I will stay with Hope in 1692. If I decide to stay in 1692, my body will die here, and my consciousness will remain there.”
I finished speaking and waited for him to respond.
It took a few moments, but he finally said, “Grace, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I’m explaining what you heard.”
“I heard your mother say, ‘I think you should tell her that you’re in love with Luc.’”
My eyebrows lifted high. “That’swhat you heard?”
He nodded.
“You didn’t hear us talking about the problems I’m having in 1692? Or what Hope suggested we do?”
He looked really confused as he said, “No.”
I moaned as I lowered my face into my hands. “I can’t believe I told you all of that.”
He was so quiet, I lifted my head to look at him.
“It’s really true?” he asked, this time with less skepticism and more amazement.
I nodded. “Do you believe me?”
