Chapter Thirty-Two

I felt like a hardened soldier, ready to go into battle, as I stood off to the side, practicing creating a ball of electricity between my hands. I watched in wonder as it grew bigger and bigger. The electricity jumped and intensified with each move. It was beautiful. Powerful.

Gave and I had been practicing over the past few hours. It had paid off and I had once again become a perfect marksman. At least in practice. Now, I had to see how good I could be in a real situation. There was no doubt I was confident, but was I good enough to defeat my creators?

"I need to tell you guys something," I paused. "I saw Dr. James and Paul leave Artek. They disappeared somewhere. I'm really not sure what to expect when we arrive."

The two of them together seemed dangerous. Dr. James had the code for time travel and the serum to make someone invisible. There was no telling what other new experiments she had been working on over the years. Paul, meanwhile, had the codes to the largest research facility on the planet.

"Okay. We have no choice but to go and find out." Audrina looked down at her hands and created her own ball of electricity. Her eyes danced with mischief.

"Theo! Catch!" She threw the ball toward Theo. He put up his right hand like a baseball pitcher and caught the charged sphere. The electricity instantly disappeared into his body.

"Nice try, Aud. Better luck next time." He winked.

"Esa, can we make him disappear again?"

Theo rotated his shoulders and then shook out his arms as he waited for my response.

"It was a little boring around here without him."

"The quiet was good, not bad," Audrina quipped.

"All right guys. Let's get focused," Samuel said.

"What are we going to do with all of the bodies that are being held in those pods?" I asked, but what I really wanted to know was what we were going to do with Troy and Luther? Should we destroy them or save them?

"We don't have anywhere to put them, and we definitely don't have enough bags to transport them on the Jump Line. If we blow up Artek, there will be casualties," Samuel shook his head. He hadn't seen the bodies, so I knew he couldn't fully understand what he was saying. These were human beings...and they were apparently still alive.

"We kept them alive last time."

Samuel shrugged. "Yeah, and that didn't work out so well for us. They've all been gone enough time now that if there were changes in time, they would have already occurred. There's no sense in returning them and risk them remembering this place."

"Okay."

"Esa, are you sure you're ready?" Samuel cocked his head to the side.

"Yes. I've never felt stronger."

"Do you have a plan for if we need to make a quick exit?"

"If we get in trouble, let's meet in 2010 at the bridge," I said. That had been one place to which we had returned on several occasions. I knew I could easily find the landing spot.

"Too obvious. They will have that place monitored." Theo paced. "We have to go someplace new. Someplace they are unfamiliar with, so they can't find us."

He was right. 2010 had become too well-known, and obviously Dr. James and Paul had both been tracking me while I was lost in that century.

"I think it's pointless to plan anything." Audrina huffed. "Let's just see what happens when we get in there. There's a lot of stuff up in the air right now. Gave, do you have the remotes for the detonators?"

A thin smile came to Gave's lips, "Yep, sure do. I'm ready to rock 'n' roll."

I looked at both of them. "Gave, did you already place the bombs around the facility?"

He paused as an uncomfortable look crossed his face. "We put them there a couple of days ago. Actually, I had Theo do it when he was still invisible."

"That was a good move." It had been the right decision on the part of the team. "Anything else that you guys have done recently that might impact this mission?"

"No. That was it," Gave said.

"Fine. I'll take the lead."

My statement caused Theo's back to stiffen. "Esa, are you really ready to live up to that statement? You were our leader, but you haven't exactly been around for the past few years."

It only took me three seconds to wrap my hand around Theo's neck and push him against the wall. His eyes widened as the realization set in that I was physically very strong—stronger than he had ever thought.

I held him in that spot for several seconds before finally releasing him. "Stop questioning me and disobeying orders."

I didn't wait for Theo to respond. I was tired of talking. Instead, I pushed past him and marched down the hallway to try and find a quiet spot. I needed time to think right now. "Give me a couple of minutes," I yelled back at them.

Memories of the car accident flooded my thoughts. It had been more than three years since that day, but I could still hear the sound of the metal crushing metal. Several people had died in that accident. Maybe their time had been up. Maybe not. The rest of the team had gone back to fix the situation once they'd found me. I had never asked what had become of the people in the accident. Had they gone on to live long, prosperous lives, or had they died the next day? Whatever had happened, those people, at some point, had also lost three years of their lives—they just didn't know it. That was the thing about time travel; there was always the ability for a do-over.

"Hmm." I sighed as I sat alone, lost in thought. Time travel definitely had its pros and cons. It was too easy to make slight adjustments to get things to go your way. Maybe it was lucky that Dr. James hadn't been able to change more of us. If there were too many of us roaming around, we would be doomed. There was no doubt in my mind about that.

I looked at the floor beneath my boots. I was probably to blame for numerous deaths over the past few years. I just couldn't remember what life had been like before the accident. Many of those who had died were probably innocent and should still have been alive.

Images of Luther filled my head. I could identify with him. He had spent the past few years mad at Dr. James because of what she had done to him. His anger led him to become a traitor, and eventually it pretty much led to his death. He was now floating inside a large cylinder in of a research laboratory, hooked up to several hoses. A part of me wanted to think that he deserved his fate, but that seemed so harsh.

I should be even more upset about my situation, but instead I hated my parents so much that I felt separated from them. After all, I didn't really know them. I had no emotional connection to them. The only one on our team who might have any connection to them was Samuel.

Something was missing. I could feel a sense of uneasiness ignite inside my body, sending my nerves dancing. Like always, things seemed to point to Dr. James. Who was she? What was her end game?

And then I got it.

"Let's go." I motioned to the rest of the group as I pulled out my medallion, getting ready to open the Jump Line.

"Wait!" Theo said.

"For what?"

"We need to talk. I need to tell you something," he whispered.

I paused for a second, "Is this urgent? If not, we can talk when we complete our mission. Please don't confuse any of our previous feelings. We are on a mission."

A look of defeat crossed Theo's face for a brief moment and then he rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Fine. I agree. I'm kind of over it as well." The look on his face was almost a dare. He was challenging me.

"That was a completely jerk thing to say," I snapped back. "With everything going on, this is the time you want to talk?"

"Nope. Guess not. Let's go."

"Fine." I had one thought in my mind, and that was to get to Dr. James and put a bullet in her head.