Chrysoprase (The Chalcedony Chronicles) (11 page)

I turned back to Ty to tell him what happened when the shimmer of Logan traveling into the room caught my eye.

“There you are,” Logan said, like he had been searching for us.

“I saw you leave your house, and when I came here, you weren’t anywhere to be found. I looked around the house first in case you ended up in a different room, and then went back to your place. What happened?” Logan asked, brushing Ty aside and looking me over, like I could get hurt from the time traveling. Once he was satisfied I was okay, he backed up and waited for an answer.

“I got distracted at the last moment when we left. We ended up in my grandfather’s library, not this one. Once we realized that, we came here. But we can’t go anywhere else.” I held up my arm. The lines were growing again, but they still weren’t fully to where they should be.

“That was much better than what I was picturing,” Logan admitted. “I knew you were a natural at this time travel thing, but I was still worried. I think I prefer that you practice taking me places from now on, at least until you get the hang of it.”

Ty raised his eyebrows at me from his position beside Logan. Logan couldn’t see it, but since I was facing both of them, I could. There was nothing about Logan’s worry that made me feel like he was interested in me. We had decided to be friends. I would be just as worried about
Sim if I were teaching her time traveling and lost her.

“Do we stay here or go back to Mari’s place?” Ty asked, changing the subject.

“We can go back to Mari’s house so that her grandfather doesn’t get worried,” Logan replied. “I’ll take you both back. I can only take one person at a time.”

“I’ll go first,” Ty suggested, probably trying not to get left behind.

Logan placed a hand on his shoulder and was gone without a goodbye. I turned around and looked at the book. It didn’t hum for me anymore after getting zapped, but I was surprised that I could read the text. I skimmed over a little bit before the tingle of someone coming distracted me. That was new. I could feel Logan coming back, and I could read an ancient text that had just been illegible.

Logan was standing where he left. He walked a few steps to be right in front of me. He looked me over again. I had no clue what he was searching for.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Logan asked. He was really concerned. “Maybe we should put off this afternoon’s lessons.”

“Logan, I’m fine,” I replied, looking down at myself. Why would anything be wrong?

“I should have been more careful,” Logan answered back. He was still overly concerned. “Maybe we should just practice more by going to a location you want to go to.”

“Logan. I.AM. FINE.” I pushed his chin up so that he looked me in the eyes as I repeated it again, slower for him.

“I know,” Logan said quieter. “But if something happened, I’d feel bad. I shouldn’t assume you can do all this when your first travel was only less than a month ago. I keep forgetting she didn’t teach you.”

“Why are you worried?” I asked.

“It is dangerous to time travel, Mari. You should already be aware of that. I just worry that you might end up somewhere you don’t intend to be,” Logan replied, holding out a hand for me to take. “The world is not always a forgiving place to be in any time period.”

I took his hand and was instantly in my own bedroom.

“You should get some rest,” Logan said, pointing to my bed. “Time travel can be draining when you’re doing the work. I’ll be back later this evening for another lesson.”

Logan gave me another once over and then disappeared. Ty stood in the open doorway.

“I figured he’d take you back to your own room,” Ty replied as I looked to him. “Why is he worried?” Ty asked.

“I have no clue,” I replied. I really didn’t. Yes, time travel was dangerous, but I could already travel within days without a problem. And if he was worried we went somewhere dangerous, I had Ty with me. Just his size alone was imposing.

“Do you need some rest?” Ty asked.

“Actually, I think I do, and I don’t think it has to do with time travel,” I replied. “That book. I think touching it gave me the ability to read it, and my mind is on an overload right now.”

“See, not too weird that a book called to you. It just wanted to be read.” Ty winked at me and walked away. “I’ll keep reading, or rather looking at pictures,” he called from down the hallway.

Logan returned
that
evening, but he was a bit hesitant to teach me anything. He wanted to wait to teach me more, but I still didn’t see the danger he was worried about. I had a moment of distraction, and I was sure not to repeat that again. I didn’t want to end up in some rainforest with giant bugs somewhere. Logan had to know I was serious, but he seemed too worried to notice.

“I need to practice all you taught me, but I still need to learn how to travel back in time further than a few days,” I told Logan to remind him why he was even stopping by.

Logan nodded. “We can do that, but I’m holding onto you from now on. I’m not letting you run off alone.” Surprisingly, Ty seemed to like that idea. It must have been his protective side winning over his teasing side at that point.

“How about we try two weeks?” Logan suggested.

“I have no idea what I was doing two weeks ago exactly,” I replied. He had just picked an arbitrary time.

“I meant two weeks ago somewhere else. I think two weeks ago in Key West would be nice. We could arrive right at sunset. The tourists go to the pier on one side of the island to view the sunset. There’s an old fort on the other side of the island that closes at that time. Most people clear out before, so it should be fairly empty,” Logan explained what had appeared to be a random choice.

“Okay. How we do this, then?” I asked.

Logan walked over and took my hand in his. It had been two years, yet his touch was all too familiar. The concern Logan was showing was closer to how I remembered him, and I was having a hard time keeping
in mind that he wasn’t the same now. His hand was warm, and his touch was still familiar. My heartbeat increased a little, like the first time he took my hand in his. I closed my eyes, waiting for him to give me directions, and to allow myself to calm down. I didn’t like Logan any more. He was not the same. He was different. I liked Seth.

“Okay, we need to do the map again. You need to picture where to go. Think of Florida and the islands that jet off the bottom of the state. Follow those islands to the last one in the chain,” Logan explained, unaware, thankfully, of my heart beating faster. I forgot about my heart and listened to him. I had to concentrate. “Go to that last island and look closer. On the north side of the island you will see lots of people. Head to the south, to the point that jets out into the ocean on the southeast side of the island.”

I followed exactly what he explained. I could see that the north side was filled with tiny little people. They stood around groups of performers. I let the map move and went south like he directed me, toward the south. Pedestrians strolled through the street. We passed over a black-topped lighthouse. I reached the water and moved east. Soon I was hovering over a large stone fort. It looked old. South of it was a bunch of trees and a beach. I found where we wanted to go, but I was pretty sure it was in present time.

“Now that you are there,” Logan continued as if he saw the same thing as me. Who knew? Maybe he could, since I was still holding his hand. “Look at the fort. It has four little pieces jetting out. Find one of those and focus there. That’s where we will end up. Please don’t put us in the moat. Now, concentrate on that one spot and will time to change, feel it rewind the two weeks you want.”

I looked at one of the points on the fort and waited. Two people still stood around until a park ranger ushered them away. Sure enough, the scene changed. It grew brighter and then darker as night set in and day came back. Time picked up and flew by. It became a colorful whirl. Suddenly it stopped. It was still dusk, but now there were no people standing around, and no ranger ushering them away. Soon my body began to fade and reappear exactly where I was looking.

Logan was beside me, holding tight to my hand. He looked around, surprised. The sun was almost set and casting a pretty purple glow across the sky. I felt the magic of being there and being able to just jump anywhere in time. Happiness tingled in me from head to toe. I was different. I could travel through time. I could see the world. This was magical.

Logan held my hand more gently as all my realizations set in. The world was not as scary as it once was. I was afraid college was the last time I could get to be me. I’d have to join my grandfather in his business, and live out my life never having really lived it. Now I didn’t have to worry about that. I could live life and have any adventure I wanted. I had the power to go through time and be anywhere in the world in the blink of an eye. It was amazing to feel the power within me. My life had just changed completely. I wasn’t afraid anymore. I was in control.

“Magical,” I said quietly as the last rays set. It was a perfect sixty-five degrees even though we had just left snow.

“It sure is,” Logan replied. I didn’t turn to look at him, but I sensed he wasn’t staring at the sunset.

Logan pulled me over to the edge of the fort we stood by and up on the top of the fort roof that had warning signs.

“Um, we’re not supposed to climb on this,” I replied, pointing to the signs.

Logan gave me boyish grin that told me he didn’t care. I still didn’t move. “The rangers won’t look for us. We didn’t enter the park from their point of view. Once they have their head count correct, they closed up. Trust me. No one will know.”

“What if it’s dangerous?” I asked. I wasn’t afraid of heights, but climbing on a slightly crumbling structure never seemed like a good idea.

“Then don’t let go of my hand. If anything happens, I’ll just send us home,” Logan replied.

“Why don’t we head home now?” I asked.

“Because I want you to try going forward, too. And I know you’ll need time to re-energize,” Logan replied, squeezing my carnelian hand to remind me. “Come on. We can sit and watch the stars a bit. It is a beautiful night, not a cloud in the sky. I’d say we’re safe to sit here a little bit.”

I let him lead me forward. We climbed up past the warning signs. They were there for a reason, but I guess we didn’t need to follow rules. I held tight to his hand. I didn’t know if I could get myself home if I got in trouble. I basically had no choice. We sat down on a ledge, and the sky darkened. Nighttime was completely upon us now. The park was silent, and all you heard was the water and occasional wildlife. It was actually quite peaceful.

“Mari, have you ever wondered if I had told you the truth about who I was, would you still be with me?” Logan asked.

I was startled by the question. I hadn’t thought of that.

“I mean,” Logan added, seeing my hesitation. “We were quite good together, if you ask me. We never fought beyond me leaving for work. I was always happy, and I thought you were, too. We had so much fun. Remember that time that we convinced Amy that they were making space trips to the moon?”

That was kind of funny. She didn’t spend any of her allowance for two weeks as she thought she would get a seat on the moon plane we told her about. I smiled. Yes, we had fun times, but I remembered the rough times, too, like when he would leave me alone somewhere, and I’d be left waiting for him to return, if he ever did. There were many times I drove myself home in his car. He always came back apologizing and bringing me a gift, and I always forgave him. That was the problem with our relationship to begin with. I always forgave him, therefore he never changed. I slid my hand from his. It wasn’t completely safe, but I feared I was giving him the wrong idea. I’d be safe where we were sitting if I didn’t move.

“I never once meant to hurt you,” Logan said gently. I turned to look at him and felt the stones beneath me wobble a bit. Logan slid his arm around my waist to keep me on the edge and from slipping away.

“But you did,” I replied. Tears began to well up in my eyes. I had cried enough over Logan Jones, but now everything came right back to how I felt two years ago. “Again and again. I told you it hurt, and you promised to never do it again. Yet, you always did.”

“And I will regret that for the rest of my life. I’m sorry about everything, especially prom. I’m hoping in some form I can make it up to you. I miss you. I miss your smile. I miss your humor. I miss your kisses.”
Logan used his free hand to brush hair out of my face. “I’ll do anything to win you back. And if that isn’t possible, I’ll do anything to make you happy.”

My heart beat harder in my chest. I waited two years to hear him say those words. Two long years of not looking for someone else. Two long years of not trusting any guy. Logan had turned my life upside down when I dumped him. And now he was finally telling me he was sorry. But it was too late. I had moved on.

“Then help me find Seth. I love him, and he makes me happy. If you truly want me to be happy, help me,” I replied, turning around to get off the unstable wall where I was forced to touch him and remember a past that was completely different now that I knew the truth. “All I can be with you is friends.”

“Have you ever thought of what Seth might be doing in the past?” Logan asked. There was no malice or hate, it was just a simple question. Yes, I had thought about it, and often wondered. “He doesn’t live in a time where he can wait around years until you come back. His father had already made an arrangement for him before he brought you back. He will be expected to marry and carry on his lineage. He will be expected to love and have children with someone else. You are not of his time. He can’t sit around waiting for you.”