replicated.
“I’m scheduled to go back two years in the past. That would put you at twenty-two. Is there anything about that time you’d relate to the most, darlin’?” Cooper asked.
They key to bringing Etta back to the right reality was approaching her when she’d be the most receptive to the news that she was from another reality. The fact that she was here with them now in the future world was not lost on them. The shifts in the timeline altered various realities, and while she was here, they still needed to ensure she remained in this reality.
Moose chimed in next.“You know yourself best, Etta girl. What approach do you think will convince you that your life was basically a lie and that you’re needed here in this reality to help us stop Thornberry?” Moose, ever so blunt, had a point.
Etta suddenly had a idea. “Did any of you ever read Dickens?” she asked.
“Who?” Tyler, the quietest member of the group, responded first. “Never heard of Dickens, and I read a lot in the psych ward.”
Moose squirmed in his seat next to Taylor. He had a major crush on her and hated when she talked about her time in the Dominion Hospital. He knew she wasn’t the one responsible for setting fire to her family home, and it killed him to know she spent most of her life in involuntary commitment. “Nope, me either.”
Etta sighed. She knew her friends came from other realities that didn’t always share the same literature as she had growing-up. “Well, it was worth a shot. Charles Dickens was a legendary writer in my orphan reality. You couldn’t get through school without reading one of his classics.” As an orphan, or rather, when she lived in the reality in which she was lead to believe she was an orphan, she had developed a sort of kinship with the writer. His characters touched her in a way no author could. He would always remain one of her favorites. “I’m thinking a little
Christmas Carol
is in order,” she said, already scheming.
“But it’s May,” one of the Dyson twins pointed out. “What does any of this have to do with Christmas?”
“Yes, I know this, thank you, Chance. In the story by Dickens, Ebenezer Scrooge was visited by three ghosts,” Etta started.
“I think you’re thinking of the three wise men who visited Jesus in the manger,” Jenny chimed in. “Is that the Christmas story you’re thinking of?”
“No, Jenny.
A Christmas Carol
. I just said it was a story by Dickens.” She really did love Jenny, but sometimes she could be a bit spacey. “As I was saying, Ebenezer was visited by three ghosts: past, present, and future. If Cooper expects me to believe that he’s not only from the future, but a future in another reality in which I lead the rebellion against Thornberry, he’s going to need to bring in the big guns.” Etta looked around the room to make sure they were all listening. “And by that, I mean you guys.”
Chapter Three Sweet Home Alexandria
Present Reality
T he hangover I was afraid of getting is a massive understatement compared to what I actually feel like this morning. I know for a fact I didn’t have that much to drink last night, other than the tequila, but still—oh, my pounding head! Maybe it’s a combination of the tequila shot and my mind still buzzing over seeing Cooper again. After the incident at Battle Grounds all those years ago, I’d convinced myself that he’d never return, and now here he is. Why now, after all this time?
As I try to forget the lasting image of Cooper at the bar last night out of my mind, I drag myself out of bed and head straight to the kitchen. Thankfully, I remembered to set the timer on my most prized possession: a Cuisinart Extreme Brew 3000. It’s not in my nature to buy something so extravagant as a two-hundred-dollar appliance when a simple, yet inexpensive, Mr. Coffee would do, but Audrey gifted me the Cuisinart for Christmas last year. It took brewing coffee to a whole other level.
Mug in hand, I make
“I’m scheduled to go back two years in the past. That would put you at twenty-two. Is there anything about that time you’d relate to the most, darlin’?” Cooper asked.
They key to bringing Etta back to the right reality was approaching her when she’d be the most receptive to the news that she was from another reality. The fact that she was here with them now in the future world was not lost on them. The shifts in the timeline altered various realities, and while she was here, they still needed to ensure she remained in this reality.
Moose chimed in next.“You know yourself best, Etta girl. What approach do you think will convince you that your life was basically a lie and that you’re needed here in this reality to help us stop Thornberry?” Moose, ever so blunt, had a point.
Etta suddenly had a idea. “Did any of you ever read Dickens?” she asked.
“Who?” Tyler, the quietest member of the group, responded first. “Never heard of Dickens, and I read a lot in the psych ward.”
Moose squirmed in his seat next to Taylor. He had a major crush on her and hated when she talked about her time in the Dominion Hospital. He knew she wasn’t the one responsible for setting fire to her family home, and it killed him to know she spent most of her life in involuntary commitment. “Nope, me either.”
Etta sighed. She knew her friends came from other realities that didn’t always share the same literature as she had growing-up. “Well, it was worth a shot. Charles Dickens was a legendary writer in my orphan reality. You couldn’t get through school without reading one of his classics.” As an orphan, or rather, when she lived in the reality in which she was lead to believe she was an orphan, she had developed a sort of kinship with the writer. His characters touched her in a way no author could. He would always remain one of her favorites. “I’m thinking a little
Christmas Carol
is in order,” she said, already scheming.
“But it’s May,” one of the Dyson twins pointed out. “What does any of this have to do with Christmas?”
“Yes, I know this, thank you, Chance. In the story by Dickens, Ebenezer Scrooge was visited by three ghosts,” Etta started.
“I think you’re thinking of the three wise men who visited Jesus in the manger,” Jenny chimed in. “Is that the Christmas story you’re thinking of?”
“No, Jenny.
A Christmas Carol
. I just said it was a story by Dickens.” She really did love Jenny, but sometimes she could be a bit spacey. “As I was saying, Ebenezer was visited by three ghosts: past, present, and future. If Cooper expects me to believe that he’s not only from the future, but a future in another reality in which I lead the rebellion against Thornberry, he’s going to need to bring in the big guns.” Etta looked around the room to make sure they were all listening. “And by that, I mean you guys.”
Chapter Three Sweet Home Alexandria
Present Reality
T he hangover I was afraid of getting is a massive understatement compared to what I actually feel like this morning. I know for a fact I didn’t have that much to drink last night, other than the tequila, but still—oh, my pounding head! Maybe it’s a combination of the tequila shot and my mind still buzzing over seeing Cooper again. After the incident at Battle Grounds all those years ago, I’d convinced myself that he’d never return, and now here he is. Why now, after all this time?
As I try to forget the lasting image of Cooper at the bar last night out of my mind, I drag myself out of bed and head straight to the kitchen. Thankfully, I remembered to set the timer on my most prized possession: a Cuisinart Extreme Brew 3000. It’s not in my nature to buy something so extravagant as a two-hundred-dollar appliance when a simple, yet inexpensive, Mr. Coffee would do, but Audrey gifted me the Cuisinart for Christmas last year. It took brewing coffee to a whole other level.
Mug in hand, I make
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