“I turned back an entire week, once, but that’s as far as I got,” Kallie said. “I think I can push myself further, but there’s something I’m missing that’ll help me access the magic.”
“A week?” Charlie appeared baffled. “We didn’t even notice!”
“You didn’t, because I checked,” Kallie said. “I popped in and out a few times, seeing if you’d spotted that I’d been messing with time, and none of you realized a thing. I’ve been practicing at night when people are asleep, so other demigods won’t notice if I halt time. Then, once I mastered that, I tried stopping time in music class in front of you guys, to see if you recognized it. You didn’t, so I’m learning that I can start moving through time alone, by myself, unless I choose to take people with me. It takes more effort, but I can prevent other demigods from realizing that I’m messing with time if I concentrate hard enough.”
I was glad we hadn’t noticed, because if she’d been able to conceal that she was messing with time from us, that meant any enemies wouldn’t have realized it, either.
“Were you able to go forward, and speed it back up?” I asked.
“I was. I could return to the original moment from when I left, but couldn’t go any farther.”
“Did anything change?”
“Not that I saw. I was too afraid to alter anything,” Kallie confessed. “I didn’t know if it would fuck with the timeline, and didn’t want to risk it.”
She needs to watch herself,Oberi warned.Time travel isn’t anything to do on a whim.
I repeated what he’d said, and Kallie shrugged. “I’ll be fine. I’m not taking any unnecessary risks.”
“That’s dumb, Kallie. You need to be careful,” Charlie pressed.
“I always am! Don’t grill me. I won’t screw anything up,” Kallie hissed.
I looked around the prison yard again. My jaw dropped as I spotted Charlie and me on the other side of the yard, searching for Dante’s grave like we had done earlier… except…nowwas earlier.
Past me glanced over her shoulder, then saw us. She did a double take, but as she did, Kallie snapped her fingers again. This time, a slight feeling of driving forward encompassed me. I watched as the world around me shifted into colors again, and people appearing as fast-moving blurs whizzed ahead.
When we finally came to a stop, I felt like throwing up. I gagged and held my middle.
“You okay?” Charlie said, crouching beside me. He laid a hand on my back, and I cringed away. His touch, as much as I wanted the comfort of it, hurt.
“I’m really sore,” I confessed. “It wasn’t pleasant.”
“Time travel is apparently hard on the body,” Charlie noted.
“I don’t think I’ve got the magic right. The transition should be seamless, like stepping through one room and into another,” Kallie worried. “I’m sorry I hurt you.”
“I’ll be okay. Just need time to rest,” I said warily. I’d gone from fine to in really bad pain in less than five seconds.
“There’s something else. I saw myself, just now, from before lunch,” I stated. “My past self saw us standing there before we went forward in time, but IknowI didn’t see us this morning when Charlie and I were out here.”
“We hadn’t gone back in time yet, not untilthismoment, so that means things can change,” Marcus pondered. “We can alter the timeline and add stuff at will.”
“That sounds dangerous,” Charlie said.
“It is. I’m worried about messing with stuff on the timeline. Do you feel any different, Ava, now that your past self saw us?” Kallie asked.
“No…” I pondered. “I know I went back in time now, at this current moment, but I don’t recall it from this morning. That doesn’t mean I won’t down the line, though.”
I grimaced, and put a hand to my side. This really hurt.
“Let’s get you back to our room,” Charlie said, and he began wheeling me toward the door. Sprigs poked his head out of Charlie’s pocket, to see what was going on.
“No, Sprigs. There are people around. You have to stay hidden,” Charlie told him. Sprigs dropped back into the coat pocket with a peep.
That thing’s gonna cause us trouble, Oberi grumbled.
Kallie checked her watch. “Two o’clock, right on the dot.”
