EverWorld (Book 3 of the Down World Series)

Chapter Twenty-Four

Amalia was already dressed when I entered her room, sitting primly on the end of the bed in another one of those flowing silk tunics. The room was bigger than mine, built into a corner of the house with a 180-degree view of a forest through floor-to-ceiling windows. There were no curtains, nothing to obscure their view of any deer or birds that might come to visit. The morning sun was bursting through those trees in long streaks that hit my face.

My aunt chuckled when she saw me staring at it, my jaw hanging open slightly. Then again, she'd been smiling and laughing quite a bit since last night, so happy here that she couldn't help herself. A stack of novels sat by her bed, and flowing green vines dripped out of macrame plant-holders in nearly every corner.

"Do you like it?" she asked.

"It's beautiful," I admitted. "You must be very happy here."

She nodded, but a hint of guilt overtook her face. "I'm sorry about this," she said, pointing to the sensor at my temple.

"Are you?"

"Yes. I can only imagine what you're thinking about me now."

"I'm not thinking about you at all," I said. And it was the truth—a thought which made me shake my head in frustration. Of course it was the truth. I had no choice now but to tell the truth. Was it the device making me say it? Or myself? Would I spend the rest of my life never knowing the difference?

I had to get this thing out of my head. Before it was too late.

Of course, I wouldn't say any of that to Amalia. Instead, I just wondered how Elaheh had paid for all this. I knew I could ask; Amalia would have to tell me. But I already suspected the answer. There were many ways to cheat the system with time travel. My mother's boyfriend John had done it, too, in the world beneath the lake. All it takes is a couple winning lottery numbers or...

Or knowing about an important invention before it goes public.

I shook away the thought, reminding myself to focus on the problem at hand. It was none of my concern how they'd done it. They would have to live with their own consciences. "You know," I said instead, "you didn't have to trick me. I would have come anyway if you'd told me Brady needed me."

"I didn't mean it as a trick," she said. "I just left clues vague enough that only you would know to follow them. We can't have anyone else coming through the door."

A pulsating sensation gripped the side of my head, and I swear my mouth opened of its own will. I had to clamp it shut. I almost told her about Adam. It took a concerted effort to train my thoughts onto something else.

"Was there something you wanted to say?" Amalia asked, standing now. She had a knowing smile on her face, like she had seen me flinch and realized I was hiding something. But I would never tell her what, even if I had to tape my mouth shut.

Adam was out there somewhere.

And I was going to find him.

"Knock knock," came Elaheh's voice from the doorway. She poked her head in. "It's almost seven, love."

"Right," Amalia said with a smile before turning back to me. "Come on, then, Marina. Let me show you what we've built."

*

In the light of day, the forest looked even more beautiful. As my aunt and I walked down the long pathway that had led me to their house the night before, I could see that all the other little houses, tucked away behind the trees, were springing to life. The chimneys emitted small plumes of white smoke, the smell of coffee and cooking butter intermingled with the sap from the trees, and the children were somewhere out there too—bursts of color and laughter that flashed momentarily in the distance.