Eternity's Wheel (InterWorld 3)

Avery stepped in front of me, hands held out in front of him. “You must stay here, Harker. There is nothing—”

“Nothing I can do? Screw that,” I said, stopping long enough to glare at him. “I can get my family to safety, at the very least.”

“And bring them where? Here? To live on InterWorld with you, the only Walker here to have their loved ones? What of the other Walkers? Some of them may have worlds in the Wave’s path, too. Will you give them the same warning?”

“It’s only right,” I began, but he cut me off.

“And you will all run off into the Multiverse to bring your loved ones into a war they cannot possibly fight. So they will languish on this ship and wait for you—the ones they love—to come back from your missions, which some of you inevitably won’t.”

I glared at him and he matched it, neither of us giving an inch. “Tell me I’m wrong,” he demanded.

“You’re not. You’re not wrong, but what am I supposed to do? Just let my world be destroyed?”

“Worlds die and begin anew every day, Harker, every hour. Yours is nothing special.”

I started to push past him, but Acacia (who had probably said this a few seconds ago, according to her) called out “Listen to him, Joe! TimeWatch can help!”

I stopped, looking at Avery. “How can TimeWatch help?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what she’s referring to, as it is not our right to interfere with the course of time.”

“This has nothing to do with time! It’s outside of it, outside of everything, you said so yourself—damn it, you don’t have any protocol for this!”

“You’re right,” he said. “We don’t. Which is likely the argument my sister intends to use.”

“I don’t know,” Acacia said, answering my question from a moment ago. “But I can try. And I have to go back anyway. Please, Joe, let me try before you go running off!”

“I will take her back to TimeWatch, get her the care she needs, and discuss this with the council,” Avery said. “It will be done as fast as we can possibly make it.”

“You’re a Time Agent,” I shouted, finally losing my temper. All I could think of was the necklace I always wore, the one my mother had made for me the night I’d left home, and how I’d told her I was leaving to protect them. “Time means nothing to you!”

For the first time, I saw him get truly angry. His hand snapped out to clutch my shirt, and I found myself shoved a few steps back.

“Time means everything to me,?

? he said, still pressing me backward. “Don’t you dare think that because I feel it differently I feel it less.”

“Is that how you fell in love with Josephine after only five minutes?”

It may have been a cheap shot, but I was pissed off and worried, and I’d been wondering what the hell was up with the two of them ever since he’d called her “Josie.”

For a second I thought I was going to get punched, but he let go of me. “Sit down, Acacia,” he said, though she hadn’t moved yet. Then, to me—“Time flows differently across the worlds, Harker. What was five minutes to you could have been five days to us, or five years. Besides,” he finished, a smirk tilting at the corner of his mouth, “where do you think she learned to use a grav-board like that? You certainly didn’t teach her.”

Acacia was getting to her feet anyway, trying to detach all the various wires and monitors she was hooked up to. Jianae was hovering around uncertainly, alternating between helping her unhook herself and telling her she should really stay put.

“Avery, stop,” Acacia protested. “Let’s just go. Please.”

I turned my back on him, going to Acacia. I was seething, furious at Avery and upset by the knowledge that my world was going to die. “Please come back soon, Cay,” I told her, and then I reached out to take her face in my hands. “I know this isn’t happening for you yet,” I said. “But I hope you don’t mind when it does.” I leaned down and kissed her forehead.

Avery put a hand on Acacia’s shoulder, looking disapprovingly at me. “No, I won’t tell him,” he said, and then they both began to glow green. Acacia smiled at me before they vanished, leaving me to wonder what it was she wanted said.

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

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“SIR?”