Chrysoprase (The Chalcedony Chronicles) (6 page)

“Then every person he helps travel, he knows what they are doing and when they will go back?” I had assumed it was more you stayed until your mission was done. It changed everything if people were given a set time. I had to wonder who set the time. Was it the goddess, or the person bringing them back?

“I guess,” Ty replied. Then he realized my question and added, “Why?”

“Do you think if I bring someone back that they will have a limited time if they don’t go through Mr. Sangre?” I replied. Could I keep Seth and my mother in the future, and not have to worry about them disappearing?

“You’re going to go get them?” Ty asked.

“Yes. I can’t leave them in the past,” I replied. “I need to learn how to time travel.” I wanted to see how Ty would respond. He leaned over to the side table and grabbed something.

When he turned back, Ty grinned. “And I’ll be beside you the whole way.” He held up his own piece of chalcedony.

I grinned back at him. At first I had some doubts that Ty would want to time travel. I had only a glimpse of his life in the past, and he was far better off here in the future. In the past he was a slave to Seth’s family. Here, he was free.

He must have seen the relief on my face as he set down the stone and joined me on the window seat.

“What? Did you think I’d let you go off on adventures on your own? I promised Seth I’d take care of you, and you’re the best friend I’ve made in this time. I couldn’t let you run off alone. You have the power to direct travel, and I have the power to go with you,” Ty explained. “I think it works out perfectly.”

“I know I can direct travel, but that’s the main problem. I have the ability, but I don’t know how,” I complained. At least he was on board with my plan to time travel again. Now I just needed to learn how.

“Couldn’t you talk to Logan?” Ty asked, looking out the window behind us. Someone was standing on the snow covered beach.

“Logan?” I repeated. There was only one Logan I knew, and I had happily left him back in Chicago, or so I thought.

“Logan Jones, as in Mr. Sangre’s son,” Ty said as if it were obvious. He knew something I did not, but I got the feeling I was supposed to. “You know, the one that is going to school here now in place of Seth.”

Memories flooded my mind instantly. I hadn’t thought of the fake past since it wasn’t mine, but now I saw it all. Instead of Seth leading the football team, it was now Logan. Instead of Seth pursuing me through my first semester in college, it was Logan. And then my sense of déjà vu over Thanksgiving at the party was suddenly clear. When Logan asked to start over as friends, he had already asked me that once. I just hadn’t remembered then that Logan had moved into my life in place of Seth. He had to have known, but I didn’t. Thins had just gotten a bit more complicated, but it did explain more to me.

Pain and anger filled me as I wrestled with the two pasts in my mind. I didn’t want replacement memories, and I didn’t want any with Logan Jones in them. I wanted my memories of Seth back as the only memories. I didn’t like Logan anymore. I liked Seth. Logan was playing with fire if he thought he could weasel his way back into my love life, because it wasn’t going to work. If Logan swooped in and took my memories away, he should be able to fix it. I hated having to talk to him, but it looked like I would have to set him straight.

“Where is he?” I asked Ty. Ty pointed to the window and the frozen shoreline outside.

I began to put my jacket, hat, and scarf back on to brave the winter weather. Ty stood beside me and watched while he was debating what to do.

“I’m going to head back to the dorms after I talk to him. Sim will be wondering where I am,” I told Ty. “Do we still have a tutor session tomorrow?” Old past and new past were a bit complicated, but most of everything with Ty was still the same.

“Yea,” Ty replied, still carefully watching me. He was unsure if he should stop me going out to confront Logan or not, or if he should come with me. Full protection mode was on.

“Don’t worry,” I replied to his look. I had to smile. It was nice to have at least one thing the same. Ty was still my friend, and was still protective of me. “I know Logan Jones quite well. I need him to understand that no matter what memories he gave me, or anyone else, I still love Seth.”

Ty seemed to relax a little.

“Fine, but don’t do anything to piss him off. I don’t need him sending you off to some other time, I’d have to follow to rescue you,” Ty replied in all seriousness. “I heard stories and have seen Mr. Sangre yell at him more than once for doing things like that. It seems that whenever someone did something Logan didn’t like, he’d just whisk them away and drop them off in a different time. Mr. Sangre has spent a large part of the past two years cleaning up his messes. I don’t need you turning into another mess.”

It was my turn to give him the questioning look. Logan wasn’t like that, at least never around me. I hadn’t seen him get mad once in the two years we dated. He was the type of guy that all of the other guys loved to be around, and the girls loved him even more. I couldn’t imagine him doing something vindictive.

“But you know that wouldn’t matter with me,” I replied, pointing to my arm as the key to the problem. “I’d come right back.” Ty nodded and relaxed a little. “Unfortunately, even if I knew how to push him into some other time he would probably come back, too.”

Ty laughed. I was being serious, but Ty thought it was a joke. I smiled, but it wasn’t funny. I thought I had gotten rid of Logan when I dumped him, but now I was beginning to think it wasn’t that easy. He tried to get me back after we broke up, but I just stopped accepting his calls. It really was that easy, or so I thought. Now I had to wonder.

If he was like Mr. Sangre, he could travel through time. Did he really leave me alone when I thought I had been left alone? How many other secrets was he hiding? I thought I knew Logan, but now I wasn’t sure. Ty seemed a bit scared of him, and if what he said was true, with good reason. Maybe Logan wasn’t the same person I thought I knew. One thing I did know though was that I didn’t want him in my life romantically, and he needed to be told that. There had to be no question behind it. Logan wasn’t Seth, and never would be.

I went downstairs and out the side doorway onto the beach. The icy wind blew, and I pulled my scarf up over my face more. I was going to really have to get used to the early winter up in the North Country. By now Chicago would be cold, but not this cold. There was a light cover of snow on the sand, which was a stark contrast to the waves that still lapped the shoreline. The shoreline was still liquid, but I couldn’t wait until it wasn’t. I was a little excited to see the edges of the lake freeze like
Sim had told me about. At least there was a little bit of fun I could expect from the weather I was going to have to endure until April.

Up the shoreline was a silhouette. I walked briskly across the sand, but I had to slow as I neared. It was as if Seth was still there. The silhouette was his size and shape, looking off to the water just as I had found Seth many times. The sun was rising, and the person was only a black shadow. For a moment I could pretend it was Seth. A small part of me hoped everything was wrong and that he was somehow back with me. I wanted to shout and run to him. I wanted to throw my arms around his neck and tell him how much I loved him. I wanted him to be really there. It wasn’t true, but I couldn’t help what my heart wanted. As I
got closer, it became clear it wasn’t Seth when the person’s hair wasn’t the dark red I was hoping for. Instead, I found the dusty, blondish-brown hair I was still way too familiar with.

“You can’t just replace him,” I said, not waiting for Logan to turn toward me.

I had hoped the cold air would cool my temper a little, especially after Ty’s hesitation that Logan would send me off to another time, but it didn’t. Logan had just pushed his way into my life, and not even as the friend he claimed he wanted to start over as. He was trying to be my love interest, and I still wasn’t interested in him. I had moved on. He needed to be told that straight up.

Logan turned and stared at me with his serious violet eyes. There was a slight smile on his lips.

“I didn’t do a good enough job making everything the same?” Logan asked. “I thought we made a cute couple. In fact, I’m pretty sure your roommate thinks that, too.”

Unfortunately, he did a great job making it all the same, with him in place of Seth. That was the problem.

“We’re not a couple,” I snapped back. “I love Seth, not you.” I meant for the words to sting him, but didn’t actually expect to see it on his face. He looked hurt by my words. We had broken up two years ago. I had moved on. I thought he had, too.

“
Ahh, but we’re a couple here. Well, maybe not officially, but everyone thinks we will be soon.” Logan was back to smiling as he talked, but his smile seemed different. I looked closer at him. He even seemed different.

“Logan,” I protested. He smiled even brighter, like he enjoyed hearing me draw out his name. “Back at your house, you asked to be friends. I thought you meant like long-distance friends that saw each other once a year. I was fine with that. A friend is all I want. I can’t date you again. I really do like Seth,” I said with a little less anger.

“And Seth is in the past, thousands of years in the past,” Logan reminded me. “You don’t think you should move on here in the future?” He was still making a play for me.

“I can’t move on,” I admitted. Logan was the last person I wanted to confess that to, but it just came out. It was something I couldn’t explain, but I needed to be with Seth.

A hurt look crossed his face again, but Logan turned back into the sun to avoid my stare.

“Well, you better face up and move on. The goddess made it very clear that Seth won’t be back in this time. He has a role to play in the past, not here,” Logan replied.

I sucked in a breath. Seth wouldn’t be back. I thought I could just go into the past and bring him back, but maybe it wouldn’t be that easy.

“I’m not moving on, and I’m not leaving Seth behind,” I replied. It didn’t matter what Logan said. I couldn’t live the rest of my life wondering how it would have turned out with Seth. I needed the chance to find out.

Logan turned back to me. “Mari, the goddess is in charge. If she says he can’t come back, then he can’t come back. I wish I could say something else, but that’s the way it works. She has the power, and no matter who we think should or shouldn’t be in a particular time, we don’t get the choice.” His words were a bit bitter.

“We’ll see about that,” I replied and turned on my heels to walk away. Thankfully, he didn’t stop me. The goddess may have a say as to who she helps, but I had the power to travel now. And with Dee’s stone, I could choose who I helped. I just hoped the goddess wouldn’t send them back right after I got them here.

I passed the Sangre house on my walk back to school, and as I did, Ty popped out the doorway. He was fully dressed and had his bag with him.

“Heading back to the dorms?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No, we need to stop at the library and try something.”

“We?” I asked. He looked a little shaken, but happy. He followed behind me as I crossed the deserted road outside their house.

“Well that’s what you just told me to do. We can use one of those little private study rooms and give the time travel stuff a chance,” Ty replied. I stopped on the other side of the road, and he stopped beside me.

“What?” I asked. I could feel my mouth hanging open and there was nothing I could do about it.

“You just popped into my living room while I was sitting there studying. You said we should go to the library to study and give the time travel a try,” Ty replied as he started to walk. I tripped a little as I tried to catch up to him. I had to learn how to time travel, but it seemed a bit sudden of a start.

Ty laughed at my stumble. “Yeah, well you should have seen me. I guess you’ll see me in a few minutes, but yes, I didn’t think we’d be trying today. Heck, we haven’t even made a plan yet of what to do to get everyone back. Seth and Dee will come back, I’m sure, but how do we get them back without the goddess stones? You have one and I do, and it seems Seth’s no longer works.”

I guess I had forgotten a few details to tell him since I got back.

“Yeah, well I have two stones,” I answered. It was Ty’s turn to stare at me.

“I took my grandfather’s carnelian stone, which turned out to be Seth’s. The goddess kind of gave it to me forever.” I pulled up my coat sleeve to show Ty the red lines. They were getting darker each day.

“That’s the carnelian?” Ty asked, stopping to look closer at the lines. He could see the lines even if
Sim couldn’t.

“Yeah. Dee didn’t give me a chance to respond after he gave me his stone. Now I have two stones, but that still isn’t enough.” I rolled my sleeve back down to protect my arm from the cold. It was strange. I did it out of habit, but once the sleeve was back down I realized my arm wasn’t even cold. The stone kept me warm.

“If you have two stones, and I have one, then couldn’t you just go back to get them both and bring them back? I could wait here, or we could both just go back and bring one home at a time,” Ty suggested.

“They’re not the only ones I need to bring back,” I replied. Ty didn’t ask right away. He waited for me to explain.