“How can you be so sure?”
“Because he would have done so by now.”
“So he can’t. Your girlfriend can’t. But you can. Guess that makes you rather unique.”
Cayn gave a wry grin. “I guess you can say that.”
“What about sending people forward in time?”
“When we jump, it is always forward,” Cayn confirmed.
“No, I meant with your ability. Why not send them forward?”
“It only works backwards.”
“How do you know?”
“Goen told us. He recognized the region where he was sent.”
Conroy held up a forefinger. “Let me get this straight. When you use your ability, it’s always forward in time, but when you use your ability on someone, they always go back to the past?”
“Yes.”
Conroy tilted his head. “Where are you from? Your accent tells me you’re a stranger from another country.” He pointed to Juda. “In fact, the both of you have that same kind of accent and strange way of talking.” He grinned. “Makes it easy to tell you two belong together.”
“I was born in Mesopotamia,” Cayn informed him. “And before you ask, I do not know what year. But I do know the pyramids did not exist at that point.”
The sheriff’s eyes widened. “The pyramids in Egypt?”
“Correct.”
The man scratched the back of his neck as he averted his face for a moment to gather his thoughts. Cayn took advantage of the pause.
“Sheriff, you must release me and let me reunite with Juda now. Please! If Goen returns, and I am not able to defend her… You have seen how she has already been brutalized by that man!”
“Just a few more questions. I promise. Then we’ll reunite the two of you.”
Cayn struggled with the cuffs on his wrists. “You will release me so I can protect her?”
“You have my word,” the man solemnly promised. Cayn sensed truth in it.
“Go on.”
“If you were born thousands of years ago, how did you end up here?”
“It is a long story,” Cayn admitted with a partial smile.
“Then give me the short version.”
Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself for the emotional upheaval the confession would bring. “My parents were Nomads. Whenever we jumped, we held tightly onto each other to make certain we all landed together. It was after—” He noticed the sheriff had held up a hand to stop him.
“Sorry,” Conroy apologized. “I just need a little clarification. Why would you jump? I take it that’s what you call traveling through time?”
“Yes. Most of the time, whenever we had to jump, it was to escape death. A fire. An oncoming army. Rampaging beasts.” Seeing the man nod, Cayn continued. “On our last jump together, my parents and I met several more Nomads. One of them was Goen.”
Another raised hand. “How can you tell if someone’s a Nomad?”
“It is a sense we get when we are around them.”
