“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 pas
t, 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.
We had made it to the woods between east and west campus now. The bare trees were different than the fall foliage on the day Seth saved me, and it was too late to not fall for him. That day I had to admit the truth. Now, it was so different. All my new memories were different. I needed to get him back, but I couldn’t leave my mother there.
“The goddess took my mother back,” I finally told Ty.
“What?” Ty asked, grabbing my arms and turning me to face him. “She did what?”
“She took my mother back to the past,” I said a second time before the tears started.
Ty pulled me to his chest and hugged me as I cried. I didn’t mean to cry, and I thought I didn’t have any more tears left, but they still came pouring out. Of anyone I met at college, Ty would be the one to know how much my mother meant to me. We often talked about our parents. He missed his greatly as he had been parted from them since he was four. I only had a week to get used to my loss.
“I’m very sorry, Mari.” As my tears dried and I pulled back, Ty asked, “How could she just take your mother away?”
“It was part of their agreement. Once I could travel into the past on my own, my mother had to return,” I answered as we began to walk again. I sniffled a little. Ty kept his arm around my shoulder. “I need to go back and get her. She doesn’t belong to that time. She has spent most of her life here in the present. She belongs here.”
“Easy enough. We first bring her back, and then deal with Seth and Dee,” Ty said. He was certain saving my mom was the priority, I couldn’t doubt him. Ty was truly a best friend.
Ty led the way into the library and to the fourth floor study area. I fished my keys out from my bag and unlocked an empty room. There were some perks of being a tutor, beyond meeting my best guy friend and my new boyfriend who currently resided in ancient history somewhere. There was the free access to quiet study rooms, which were perfect to discreetly use and plan an unbelievable journey. I wasn’t giving up on Seth yet for being my boyfriend. Heck, he had even asked me in the past to marry him, so maybe he’ll be even more than a boyfriend where he comes from.
“We first need to figure out the time travel, and then we need to make a plan,” I said as we closed the door. “I can’t go back knowing nothing of the time. I know my mother was a princess, but where? What were her people called? Where did she live? Who was in charge? What were the rules? How do I go about finding her? I have so many more questions. I needed to know more this time. I’m not going blindly into the past again. The more we know, the easier it will be to get everyone home.”
“I know you couldn’t use computers before, but I wonder without Seth here, can you do it now? I’m not of his people. Maybe it will work now,” Ty suggested.
That was something I didn’t think about. I wasn’t technically messing with the past when Seth wasn’t here. Even if Ty was from the past, he was not Egyptian, I could learn more without affecting his future, hopefully. Only Seth and Dee were actually Egyptian. I could learn more about Seth and his time, and there was no reason not to.
I took my coat and bag and placed them on the table. Ty did the same. First, I had to try the time travel back to the moment earlier in the day when I told him to come to the study rooms with me. I sat down across from him.
“How did we do it?” I asked, getting right to it. Time travel was easy when I was going back to Seth. There was something about him that drew me. All I had to do was follow that string, and poof, I was right there with him. I had no clue how to do anything else with the time travel.
“I don’t know. It wasn’t like we talked much. I was studying on the couch when suddenly you were standing in front of me. You told me to hurry up and come back with you so that we could do this,” Ty explained. Great. He wasn’t going to be much help.
I stood and began to pace around the small boxed room. There was a window to peek into the room on the wall beside the solid door, but it only allowed the person to see the study table. I stopped behind the door and out of view.
I was nervous to even try time travel this time. During my previous time travel experience, I didn’t think about it. I just went with my gut. It felt right. But now I had to think. I had to do this correctly to end up in the right place at the right time. It was reassuring to know I already did it, but I still didn’t know how. I tried to think of Ty like I had to travel to Seth. If I thought of him hard enough, maybe I’d end up with him in the p
ast. I closed my eyes and waited a moment, but I didn’t go anywhere. There were no fuzzies, and I knew I was still in the present.
“I need something to go by,” I said to Ty. Ty paused for a moment and thought.
“I was sitting on the couch. The TV was on, but I wasn’t watching it. It was some basketball game for background noise. I had just finished my bio homework and was pulling out my math homework. It is due tomorrow. You know, one of those great profs that like to make you work over holidays. I got my book out.” Ty dug through his bag and grabbed the faded, navy blue book.
I pictured the Sangre house as he described it and could even picture Ty on the couch. It wasn’t like I hadn’t seen him sitting there over a dozen times in my multiple pasts. I felt the fuzzies as he placed his book on the table. I didn’t have time to speak as I was instantly in the Sangre living room.
“Ty,” I said, surprised to see Ty sitting on the couch and not in the study room.
His mouth dropped in shock, and he didn’t reply. I had to stifle my laugh. Yep, he looked just like I felt not even ten minutes ago.
“Mari?” he asked, like it wasn’t me that had just popped into his house. Maybe he thought I was an alien.
“Yes. Me, Mari. You, Ty,” I replied in my best robot voice. Ty didn’t even smile. “Yes, Ty it’s me,” I said more normally.
“Why? How?” he stuttered.
“Well, in ten minutes you’ll walk back with me to school and the library to one of the study rooms. We’ll try it then and you’ll help me do this,” I replied, pointing to myself and then the room.
“You will time travel?” Ty replied, slowly catching on.
“Yes, with your help, and as long as you get your butt out there to walk back with me. Otherwise, I was just going back to my room,” I answered.
Ty stood and hastily grabbed his books to throw into his bag while he was sliding on his shoes. As he was putting his coat on, I saw a figure through the glass window on the kitchen door, Logan. I rushed back to the living room.