Josephine zipped closer to me, banking a hard left on the grav-board and moving back the way she’d come. Hue was still hovering around her, alternating various colors of distress. Lady Indigo whipped out a wing, the bone striking Josephine directly in the torso. She doubled over, the grav-board flying out from under her as she started to fall back down toward us.
“Hue!” I yelled. “Get the disk!”
My little mudluff friend didn’t even hesitate. He sped toward the grav-disk, not slowing as she approached it, and completely enveloped it in his body. Then he vanished, reappearing next to me faster than I could even blink. Above us, Lady Indigo was wheeling around, folding her wings down as though to dive.
“Harker, stay!” a command rang out, the unfamiliar voice of the stranger who claimed the ability to save us. I ignored him.
I leaped off the web, knees bending as I landed on the grav-board. I kicked it into gear, my body suddenly feeling twice as heavy as I surged upward. I heard the unfamiliar voice again, calling out “Harker! I will leave you behind!” as the light around me changed, taking on a purplish hue.
Fine, I thought, but I’m not leaving her. I could see Josephine a few yards above me, spread-eagled to slow her fall. If I could get to her before Lady Indigo did—
Time seemed to slow like that; Josephine falling toward me, Lady Indigo right behind her, skeletal wings folded back to minimize resistance. Josephine tucked her arms and legs in close to her body in an attempt to fall faster. I reached for her.
She was backlit by a flash of light, bright red and soundless, like the explosion of a small star. The force propelled her forward, her head snapping back awkwardly at the sudden motion. Then my arms were around her, and I pushed off the grav-board, jumping backward, flying (falling?) back to our comrades. Lady Indigo was nowhere to be seen, and that familiar purple light was seeping in around the edges of my vision. As we fell closer and closer to it, I heard that voice again, screaming “Leave her!”
I held Josephine tighter, falling into the light. She was limp as a rag doll in my arms.
UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE
HarperCollins Publishers
..................................................................
I HIT THE GROUND hard, on my back, my arms still wrapped around Josephine, cradling her protectively against my chest. The air left my lungs, stars exploding in the corners of my vision—but I could still make out the tip of that circuitry-bladed sword as it was leveled at my face.
“I told you to leave her,” the boy who wasn’t Acacia snapped. All I could do was glare, half turned to protect Josephine with my body.
“We don’t leave our own behind,” Joeb said calmly, coming up to put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Please, explain yourself.”
The boy shrugged
Joeb’s hand off, which gave me the opportunity to scoot back from the tip of his blade. I leaned up against a wall, registering dimly that we were back at InterWorld Beta. There were more than a few of us in the room right now, but at the moment, I only cared about one.
“Josephine,” I murmured, propping her head against my shoulder and touching her cheek. She didn’t respond, though her eyes were open. I felt my breath catch, fear clutching at my stomach. This wasn’t happening.
“I’m Avery Jones, Agent of TimeWatch,” the boy answered, and I slowly looked up. “And if you don’t leave your own behind, explain why my people had to find and fix him.”
He gestured with the hand that wasn’t holding the sword, and at first I had no idea what he was indicating. There were several of my team members standing there, as they had been when we’d arrived. Jo’s white angel wings, some of them still wrapped firmly with bandages, stood out starkly against the gray-silver walls. Next to her was Josef, who also stood out due to his massive size. J’r’ohoho was on the floor before them, not moving, and kneeling next to him was a Walker who looked almost exactly like me, tears on his face as he gripped the centaur’s shoulder.
“J/O,” I breathed, a jolt going through me. The last time I’d seen J/O, he’d been trying to kill me. Now he was crying, head bowed over J’r’ohoho’s body.
“We found him wandering through the timestream,” Avery accused. “Who left him there, exactly?”
“I had no choice,” I snapped, recalling vividly the feeling of Acacia’s hand on my shoulder, the way all the strength left my body as she took me through time against my will. “Acacia—”
I got no further. He took two steps forward before I could react, the tip of his sword pressing against my lower lip. The blade was warm against my skin.
“Say her name again, and see what happens,” he said, his voice low and angry.
I should have stayed still. I should have pulled back slowly and answered calmly, and I knew it. Instead, I was on my feet almost before I knew what I intended to do, batting the sword away and closing the distance between us. My hand found the material of his vest, and I hauled him closer to me.
“Whatever she may be to you, Acacia,” I said deliberately, “is also a friend of mine.”
His eyes, which were violet like hers, flashed green for a second. Whatever that meant or whatever he’d been about to do, I never found out. Joeb pulled us apart, fixing me with a stern, hard look. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw J/O get to his feet, wiping the tears from his face.
“I’m sorry, Joey,” he said, one of the few times I’d ever heard him apologize to me. “I was completely reprogrammed. I didn’t . . . I wouldn’t have . . .”
“I know,” I said, still glaring at Avery. “I know you wouldn’t have. You okay now?”