Edge of Time (Langston Brothers Series) Read Free Page B

haven’t lost your sense of humor. Now, you eat and I will explain to you everything I know.” She sa t opposite Marissa and lifted a cup of tea. “My name is Imogene Harris, but you can call m e Genie. I was born July 8, 1968 in Atlanta, Georgia, as Imogene Garret.
    “That’s my birthday,” Marissa mumbled.
    “What was that dear?”
    “July 8 is my birthday.”
    “Well, it must be fate.” Genie grinned and then co ntinued with her story. “In 1988 I came to Charlest on to attend college and in 1992 , with one semester left to go I was driving along the road that will someday pass by this house and my car broke down. I waited a long time for another car to come past, but the road was almost always deserted at night and I finally decided to see if there was anyone in the farmhouse who might be able to help me. I cut across the field right out in front here.”
    Mrs. Harris gestured in the general direction of the field Marissa had also ventured through . “When I was mid-way across the whole sky lit up and — ” she chewed at her bottom lip as though struggling for the right words “well , I can’t rightly describe it, but the next thing I knew everything was just... different . An elderly widow took me in. The year was 1843, and it was exactly 20 years ago today.” She leaned forward, speaking earnestly. “The way I figure it we passed through some sort of wormhole to the past or an inter-dimensional doorway of some kind. I was never much for quantum physics, but that is the only explanation I can think of.”
    Marissa’s mind reeled wildly. She had never given much thought to quantum physics or time travel either, but was it possible she’d actually traveled into the past? Had she really passed through the fabric of time to Charleston, South Carolina and the year 1863?
    Leaning forward she set her tea cup on the table. It rattled in its saucer. “The same thing happened to me,” she said. “Exactly the same thing! I stopped along the side of the road to help a couple whose car had broken down. I called them an ambulance with my cell phone, and right after the ambulance pulled away my car broke down too. When my cell phone didn’t work I tried coming to this farmhouse for help, though I’d always thought it was deserted. I saw a flicker of light through a window. Or, I thought I did. It seemed to be the only light for miles around.”
    Genie’s face scrunched into a vise of puzzled amusement. “I have to ask. What is a cell phone?”
    “Oh. ” Marissa reached into her pants pocket. “I suppose cell phones didn’t exist in 1992 .” She pulled the phone into view and handed it to Genie, issuing a disgusted snort at the totally blank screen. “It’s a portable phone that uses special towers to send signals.”
    “My God, it has been so long since I’ve seen any sort of contraption like this. Is it like a satellite phone the military would use?”
    “Kind of.” Marissa watched Genie turn the phone over in her hand.
    “Well, we’ll have to destroy or hide everything you have brought back with you.” Mrs. Harris rose and walked over to a large oak bookcase lining the wall. Pulling out several books from the top shelf she opened what appeared to be a secret compartment in the wall and removed a box. Carrying the box to the sofa she sank onto the seat beside Marissa, pulled a key from around her neck, and opened the box.
    Slowly Genie handed Marissa a small rectangular object. It was a South Carolina driver’s license with Genie’s younger face smiling back at her. Marissa swallowed hard. This was it, the final nail being hammered into her coffin. Everything she had witnessed and heard, no matter how impossible, was real. The year was 1863 and she was tr apped in the past.
    No !
    Hot bile welled in Marissa’s throat and her entire being retched at the thought of being stuck in the past. Uncontrollable shaking took hold of her entire body as the denial gave way to shock. “What about getting