The Time Travel Chronicles Read Free

that service entrance.”
    “Boy, that must be embarrassing,” Zoe said, putting an elbow in Maddix’s rib for good measure. “Didn’t even make it thirty seconds.”
    “There’s absolutely no proof that’s how it actually happened,” Maddix protested. “All we have is Kaelyn’s word and we both know she likes you more.”
    “You sound paranoid,” I said.
    “All I know is that whenever you come back it’s because I got shot. Seems a little coincidental, is all.”
    “And why do you think that is?” Zoe asked.
    “It’s obvious. You two are trying to make me look bad.”
    “Or,” I said, fighting the urge to roll my eyes, “it’s because you do triple backflips onto small floating cities under enemy control.”
    Maddix’s blue eyes sparked and the fake frown he’d been trying to wear disappeared beneath an ear-to-ear grin. “So you’re saying I landed it, huh?”
    “Boys and girls, ” a voice crackled over the ship’s intercoms. “Are we still doing this today or what?”
    I thumbed the radio transceiver on my shoulder. “We’re waiting for the welcome wagon.”
    “Roger that. I don’t enjoy sitting around so close to that thing, is all. They could practically granny toss a couple missiles up t—”
    “Hold that thought, Colby,” I said as three soldiers clad in battle armor tromped onto Haven’s roof. I gestured to Maddix and Zoe, “Right ther—”
    My words were drowned out by the crack and boom of controlled rifle fire. With the benefit of high ground, Maddix and Zoe made quick work of the trio below.
    “They weren’t very good,” Maddix said, sounding disappointed. “You sure one of them shot me?”
    Zoe ignored him and said, “Let’s get down there before any more show up.”
    I nodded and grabbed my rifle off the rack. The rush of blood in my ears was nearly as deafening as the guns had been. With sweat-slicked palms I edged towards the open door.
    “Last one down there’s a time-locked bum,” Maddix said before hurling himself out of the jet, his body spinning like a gyroscope.
    “And he wonders why he always gets shot first,” Zoe said, grinning. She glanced over and must’ve noticed my apprehension. “Don’t think about the heights.”
    “It’s not the heights that bother me,” I said as the caterpillars in my gut hatched into full-fledged butterflies. “It’s the falling.”
    Zoe nodded as though she sympathized, but I doubted the pint-sized warrior had ever felt anything closely resembling the anxiety rooting me to the floor. “Just remember you’re doing it for Abi.”
    I nodded, steeling my resolve. I took deep calming breaths through my nose and counted down from ten in my head. I made it to six before Zoe gave me a hard shove. And then I was falling.
     
     
    Chapter Two
     
    THEN
     
    “Here’s the thing you need to know about time travel: none of this is permanent.” I gestured to the cavernous auditorium for the benefit of my audience of one. “Nothing is set in stone. Not yet, at least.”
    The wispy girl sitting in the third row stared at me through Medusa curls of brown hair, looking too excited to blink. Not a terribly impressive recruiting class, all things considered.
    “It takes roughly thirty-two seconds for reality to solidify. Until then, everything’s malleable, like paint drying on the wall. With enough training, Abigail, you can change it. Repaint reality, correcting for all the little mistakes you make along the way.” Feeling strangely exposed, I paced the stage in search of a good place to put my hands. “But that’s not always an easy thing to remember, especially when you’ve done something real stupid like getting shot or stabbed. Watching liters of blood leak out of your body certainly feels permanent.” I did a pretty good pantomime of blood spilling out of my stomach. “Well, actually, the psychic pain is real. You’ll carry that no matter how far back you blink.”
    Abigail’s mask of enthusiasm temporarily