EverWorld (Book 3 of the Down World Series)

Chapter Forty-One

There was a moment, in the dark, before dawn, where I floated somewhere between sleep and awake, and Adam's arm was draped over my hip, and the world was still, and the birds had not yet woken, and I forgot—for just that one moment—to feel anything but peace. It was warm in the cabin, the musky smoke of last night's fire still drifting in the air around us like perfume.

I thought of Tina, the girl who had rescued me in the dead zone, and of her brother Christopher. I thought of that dilapidated house they would live in with their father, Jeffrey Garrison. It wouldn't be that long before the twins were born, somewhere in a world that still might look a bit like this one.

A world with trees and birds. A world with sweet pine air and a cool breeze floating off a lake nearby. As if in answer to my thought, the first mating call of the morning echoed off one of those nearby treetops, a strong and vibrant cuckooing from a male in a nest over the water. A moment later, a slightly different pitch answered him—the female he was calling to.

The sound made Adam stir a bit beside me, his palm landing fully on my stomach before his breathing steadied and faded back into sleep.

Tina and Christopher lived forty years in the future. What would this cabin look like by then? Would there be water in the lake? Birds in the trees? Would the creatures prowling in the woods at night still call this place home, or would they be the first victims of the dust?

In his sleep, Adam pulled me in closer, his mouth finding my shoulder.

I had told him before we fell asleep about Alexei—how he'd been right about him. And how we'd come to Portland to try to stop him from making the ICDs himself. His face in the moonlight had been tight and pensive while he listened. But we hadn't reached any conclusions about what to do next by the time he placed my head on his chest. We fell asleep like that.

Now shadows fell over his strong jaw from the last of the dying starlight above our heads. He stirred again, his lips on my shoulder tickling me so I couldn't help but smile.

"I have to go," I said softly.

"Mm," he protested, not removing his lips from my skin.

"I want to be there when they wake up."

I looked down to see his long eyelashes fluttering open. They closed again for only a moment before he pulled back and licked his lips, his gaze finally landing on mine beneath heavy lids. The first gray light of morning was now breaking through the stillness in the air around us. "Were you going to tell me the story first?"

"What story?" I asked, smiling at his sleepy face.

He reached for my cheek, and I closed my eyes to feel the silky slide of his fingers on my skin. But his hand kept reaching, and finally it landed on the hair at my temple, pulling it back to reveal my ICD.

I reached to cover it, flinching away from his touch. Feeling suddenly exposed, I clutched the sheets up to my neck.

"Did you think I wouldn't notice it?" he asked calmly.

"It's not what you're thinking," I protested as I reached for my shirt.

"What am I thinking?" he asked in a steady voice, his eyes turning cold and focused.

"That I'm not the real Marina. That I'm from the future."

"I know you're the real Marina."

"How's that?"

"Because only my Marina would be as angry at me as you were last night."

I slumped over into myself, pulling my knees up to my chest.