Disrupted Read Free Page A

in time, with the right set of coordinates mapped out.”
    Chris was still glaring at Drustan.
    Drustan had shifted his frown off me and onto Chris.
    And I still didn’t understand. “Repeat in English?”
    “Time travel,” said Chris impatiently. “Going back to the past.”
    You have got to be kidding! “You actually believe he’s from the future?”
    “Of course not,” Chris snapped. “The concept of time travel isn’t unique. The reality is that no one has even found a way of breaking through to those hidden dimensions, let alone setting up a network of satellites in the lattice for GPS navigation.”
    So I was back to, “What exactly are you saying?”
    “Jack obviously read my article and saw his chance to turn it into this elaborate hoax. He’s probably got web cams aimed all over the place.” Chris started pacing, peering at the monitors that made up the walls. “He must have set the whole thing up, getting me there in the woods with this Drustan chap and—”
    He stopped pacing right in front of me. The look on his face was not pleasant. “And you. Of course, how did I not see your part in this? Well, it’s not funny”
    I started edging in Drustan’s direction. Right now, he seemed the saner of the two.
    Chris beat me to it, lurching to within an inch of Drustan’s nose. “Game’s up. Ha ha. Now show me the way out.”
    “You’ve got this all wrong, Christian. This isn’t some joke that’s got out of hand.”
    “Just flip open the trapdoor, or whatever it is you need to do, and get me out of here.”
    “Chris,” I shrilled.
    He looked down at me, his eyes a piercing silver. “What?”
    I wasn’t sure what. I just needed a moment to hear myself think.
    Drustan took the gap. “We don’t have time for this. You really are in the 22 nd century and with good reason.”
    “Fine. Whatever you say,” said Chris in a deeply patronising manner. “You Leaped me here, so now you can Leap me back.”
    “No, I can’t,” said Drustan.
    “Of course you can.”
    “You’re being very difficult.”
    “And you’re lying.”
    “I suppose technically I could Leap you back,” said Drustan, quite sharply, “but I’m not going to.”
    “Yes, you are.”
    “No, actually, I’m not.”
    As Chris’s voice rose in anger, Drustan’s grew quieter, more flustered, as if he couldn’t believe he was having this argument but didn’t quite know how to stop himself.
    “Because of Jack?” demanded Chris.
    “I can only return you to the exact moment you Leapt from, Christian. You might recall the nasty situation I pulled you out of? I cannot send you back until the danger has been negated.”
    An image of Jack and that glinting blade scratched the back of my eyes, and this time wouldn’t be suppressed. Had he used it on us? Oh my God, what if we really were—?
    No!
    I might not be able to get the picture out of my head, but I was really good at blotting wayward thoughts. Like why my dad hadn’t moved to Biggs Hill with us. The commute wasn’t that long. Instead he’d elected to remain in our Mayfair apartment and only popped down for the occasional visit.
    “Did Jack come up with that all on his own?” snorted Chris, his gaze shooting across the monitors again. “Let me go. I’ll show Jack just what he can do with his danger.”
    “You wouldn’t be able to show anyone anything, Christian. You’re dead.”
    I’m pretty sure Drustan never meant to deliver that shock. He closed his eyes as soon as the words were out and just stood there, taking a breath so deep and long I felt my own lungs begin to ache.
    “It isn’t true.” I reached for Chris’s arm. “We—we can’t be dead.”
    “You’re very much alive, Miss Ervant,” sighed Drustan, opening his eyes. “Both now and in your own time. The situation is slightly more complicated for Christian, however.”
    They were the most beautiful words I’d ever heard, not excluding, ‘Both now and in your own time.’ The tension