Erica O'Rourke - Dissonance

His eyes were a pale, watery blue. “We’re never going to get ahead of the inversions.”

“But you said . . .”

He tugged me down next to him. “Like calls to like. Every Echo he’s ever created carries the flaw. They’re being drawn here at the same time his flaw is weakening the Key World. It doesn’t matter how many we tune, they won’t stop coming. They’ll only get faster.”

“Then why did you want us to split up?”

“We need to take Simon away. Find another branch. Hide him from the Consort.” His voice dropped. “The minute they realize what he is, they’ll kill him.”

“You want me to run?” Simon sounded insulted. “Won’t I bring the inversions with me?”

“If we could find a world where we knew he never existed. A major branch, one without an Echo of him in it, would be more resistant to the inversions. It would buy us time.” Monty clutched at my arm. “Time’s the only thing we can’t choose. It runs like a river no matter how the world branches. But we can slow the damage if we draw him away. Let the Key World restore itself, repair the Echoes.”

It sounded crazy, but I couldn’t see another option. We needed time to fix the Key World, time to fix the flaw in Simon’s frequency. Time we didn’t have here, where reality was degrading.

“I don’t know any Echoes where he doesn’t exist, Grandpa.” I’d watched Simon for so long, I couldn’t even imagine a world without him.

“A place he’d never even been born,” Monty mused. “Your parents met at the train crash, didn’t they? Near the Depot.”

“If the crash never happened . . . ,” Simon said, understanding. He fished in his pocket for his keys. “I’ll drive.”

“Best we hurry,” Monty said, struggling to his feet. “The others will notice soon enough.”

I stopped cold. Addie would track us. “Someone has to stay behind and throw them off the trail.”

“Nonsense,” Monty replied. “We should all go. She won’t guess where we’ve gone.”

“If we vanish, she’ll turn us over to the Consort. We need you to stay here and talk her down. Stall her.”

“And we’ll go back for him later?” Monty frowned. “You know the risk, Del. It’s better if we stick together.”

“You said it yourself. There’s no time. Please, Grandpa.”

“Do you think you can handle Addie?” Simon asked.

Monty drew himself up, offended. “She’s just a girl. I’ve handled worse.”

“Then let’s go,” Simon said.

THE DEPOT WAS busy with the Saturday lunch crowd. Through the window I saw black-clad waitresses toting trays of lattes, oblivious to the disaster bearing down on us.

“Good date,” Simon said.

I smiled despite my nerves. “We’ll do it again soon.”

“I’m holding you to that.”

We climbed out of the Jeep. “Is the pivot at the memorial?”

“The Originals’ memorial marks where the train hit. The Walkers’ is where the engineer chose to maintain his speed instead of slowing down. If he’d applied the brakes a few minutes sooner, there would never have been a crash.”

We circled the building, crossed the grassy median between it and the tracks, and followed them a hundred yards, holding hands. I spotted the small cairn of white pebbles at the same time the pivot tugged at me.

“This is the spot,” I said, nudging a stray pebble with my toe.

“Your memorial is a pile of rocks?”

“It’s symbolic. We build it up each time we cross; the vibrations from the train knock it down. Entropy.”

I slid my arms around him, trying to fight off the panic crawling over me. “Ready?”

He nodded, jaw tight, eyes looking past me at a rent in the air he couldn’t see and was about to give himself over to.

“You shouldn’t get frequency poisoning. You’ll be safe.”

“How will you find me?” he asked.

“Wait at the school until I come back for you,” I said, taking his face in my hands, forcing him to meet my eyes. “I will come back.”

“I know.” He kissed me until I felt weightless. “The sooner we start, the sooner I see you again.”

I laced my fingers through his, memorizing the way we fit together, the feel of his skin against mine, the syncopation of our heartbeats. We’d crossed worlds together, but this time I would have to leave him behind. The thought of the Key World without him in it—for a day, an hour, a minute—felt as wrong as a world missing the color blue.

My phone trilled. “What?”

“Where are you?” Eliot hissed.

“About to cross a pivot,” I said, which was technically true. “Why are you whispering?”

“Addie’s on the phone with your mom. The Consort picked up on the inversions at the school. They’re sending a bunch of teams out to start cleaving. Your mom called to make sure we were staying home today like she asked.”

Cold gathered along my spine.

“We need to get out of here before they catch us,” Eliot said.

“Grab Monty and go,” I said. A train rocketed by, my hair whipping in the rush of air. When I could hear again, I added, “I’ll take care of Simon.”

Eliot was quiet for a long moment. “Del, for once in your life, think. This isn’t going to work. You can’t hide him forever.”

“I don’t need forever,” I said, and hung up.

Simon frowned. “Everything okay?”

“It will be,” I said, and reached for him.

Simon twitched when we came through, like Iggy shaking himself dry. The frequency here was flat but solid. A good sign.

We headed north, toward the school. The town had shifted toward the train station, storefronts jammed with high-end boutiques and gourmet restaurants. “What do I do while you’re gone?”

“Whatever you want,” I said. “People won’t notice you unless you touch them. You don’t have to worry about running into yourself.”

“Could I check on my mom? She might be healthy here.”

“Amelia Lane exists in this world,” I said. “But she’s not your mom. She never met your dad at the crash. She might not even live here anymore.”

She might not be alive at all.

“The Consort’s coming,” I said when we reached the front doors of the school. “I need to get home and come up with a cover story.”

“Is that why Eliot called? To warn you?”

I nodded, pressed my cheek against his chest. “I’ll come back tonight to give you an update. It’s good that your signal’s so strong—I’ll be able to track you without a problem. In the meantime—” I dug in my bag and found the package of origami papers. “Better start teaching yourself. Now that I know you can Walk, imagine the fun we’ll have.”

He smiled, but it twisted and disappeared before he could make it work. “You’ll take care of Iggy, right? And . . .”

“I won’t need to take care of Iggy,” I said, my throat aching. “Or anyone else. I won’t leave you here.”

“Del—just in case—”

I stopped his words with a final kiss, telling him everything I couldn’t bring myself to say, listening to everything I couldn’t bear to hear him speak.

“Tell me later,” I said.

“Tell her now,” Addie said, and I jerked away from Simon to see her standing at the edge of the parking lot, cold and white as marble. “You’re not coming back, Del. Ever.”

HOW DID YOU find us?”

I pushed Simon behind me as if I could shield him.

“You’re not hard to track, Del. He’s like a freaking siren.” She darted forward and wrenched me away. “Are you insane? Do you have any idea what you’re doing?”

“He was pulling the inversions into the Key World, so I moved him. How did you find us?”