Chapter Twenty-One

We landed near a metallic dumpster in an alleyway. It was the same alley we'd been in not long ago. I glanced at my watch to see if we were in the primary state or if we'd travelled back in time slightly. I knew we were in the year 2105, but without my watch, I wouldn't know exactly what day of the year. My watch let me know we were in our primary time. It was the 96th day of the year 2105.

NorthStar was right around the corner. Or at least the remnants of NorthStar were around the corner.

This was the first time I had jumped back to this place and time. I still hadn't seen the destruction we had left behind when we set off several explosive devices inside the large research facility, but I remembered clearly the deafening sound of the building crumbling to the ground. We had done the right thing destroying the facility. Troy and Luther were being reckless going back in time and taking healthy humans. At some point it would have caught up with us, causing too many ripples in time.

The air was thick, and a lingering burning smell made it feel like a piece of sandpaper had magically appeared in the back of my throat, scratching my skin. My eyes began to water. Instantly, we all coughed from the dust.

Gave covered his mouth as he leaned over, trying to control his coughing. He remained hunched as we tried to acclimate.

Samuel put his finger to his lips. "Stay here," he whispered as he crept forward, pausing every few steps to listen. When he finally made it to the corner, he leaned against the brickwork and carefully peered around the building's sharp corner.

His lanky body looked like a snake as it wrapped around the edge. He stayed there for what seemed like an eternity, while we all hung back in the middle of the alley, looking around at the other buildings to see if we had been spotted.

A creepy feeling settled in around us. It felt as if someone was watching our every move, or maybe it was just my imagination because I knew we were close to an enemy. Too close. Luther and Troy were somewhere around here. I had no doubt that they had come back to salvage NorthStar. Troy had too much invested into the facility to let it disappear.

The only sound at the moment was that of helicopter rotors, off in the distance. With each passing second, the sound grew more and more faint.

Gave let out another little cough, and I turned to him to put my finger to my lips, just as Samuel had done a few seconds ago. Gave looked back at me with pleading eyes. He was trying to get control of his cough, but couldn't seem to find a pocket of clean air.

"Samuel!" Audrina whispered loudly, trying to get his attention. "Samuel!"

Samuel's shot around as he looked back at us, and then he reluctantly waved us over. Again he put his finger to his lips. Audrina rolled her eyes this time.

Great, I thought as I followed behind her. This was just what we all needed right now: Audrina and Samuel to be at odds about something. It wasn't the first time things had been tense between them; it was becoming part of my new normal. They loved each other, but they also got on each other's nerves...a lot.

"I thought I asked you all to be quiet," Samuel said as we got closer, his eyes never leaving Audrina's.

Audrina shot an icy glare back at him. "We were quiet, while you took all the time in the world to check out the scenery."

Samuel stared back at Audrina before finally responding in a hesitant voice. "Okay. Sorry."

Audrina put her hands on her hips and rocked back and forth, as if trying to calm herself down before saying anything else.

Samuel nodded at her and then turned back in the direction of the main roadway. "You guys will want to see this."

We peered around the corner, unsure what scene would greet us. NorthStar had once been a very large building, with many stories above ground and many more below. It had been massive, with few windows and even fewer opportunities for anyone to escape.

Right before we had set the chargers, we had seen a number of people inside, but Paul had said we didn't have a choice, we had to destroy the compound. Destroying the building meant we had to kill or severely injure everyone inside, except for the normals in the holding room.

Now, before us stood a crumbled mess. The once-massive building was nothing more than a pile of debris, with chucks of concrete exterior lying at odd angles.

"Gah." I couldn't help but let out the odd noise. I knew we had placed a number of explosives around the building—enough to destroy it—but actually seeing the remains was surreal. It felt like we were on a movie set. This didn't happen in real life.

The area around the building was empty. My eyes widened as reality set in. Had Paul tricked us into killing so many innocents?

"It's too quiet," I said.

"I know," Samuel responded. "That's what I was thinking. It's eerie."

"Oh my God. What did we do?" Audrina gasped. "We killed them. We killed all of them. I knew we couldn't trust Paul. I knew it."

I looked at Samuel. "We can travel through time, right?"

"Yes."

"Then how did we not see this happening?" I asked; although, I had a feeling he was wondering the same thing.

He shook his head and stared back at me. "We can't travel into the future, but still, we should have traveled to NorthStar more often, to keep an eye on it and what Troy was doing. We had Intel from the normals living in the tunnels. Unfortunately, I think most of it was wrong."

"Samuel, this is on us. We are responsible. We killed more humans." I threw up my hands, growing angrier by the second. I had seen so much devastation since my return to this time two months ago. Sometimes it was overwhelming to see how different things had become in the future. "We did this!"

"I know!" he yelled back at me, running his hand through his chalky-white hair. Finally, in a softer voice, he said again, "I know. We should have done more recon."

"Do you know something you're not telling us?" I demanded.

Samuel's eyes looked tired. "Esa, we're being played."

"What does that mean?" He had to give me more than that.

"This scene doesn't feel right. Nothing feels right anymore. Too many people are being hurt." His shoulders sagged as if the weight of the world had suddenly fallen on them.

"We're going to figure it out." I hoped I was right.

I looked toward the hazy blue sky and wondered where Luther and Troy were hiding. Then I thought back to Theo. He was still at Artek. It was time for us to go and get him. We needed him on this team.

"Esa, I recalled what you said about Paul and Troy. I think they're all working together, but they don't know it. I think Mom might be a bigger part of this problem than we ever thought," Samuel said.