The Time Hopper

Through The River

We hurried through the caves, on edge and panicking. Now that we were a little way away from everyone else, and therefore out of earshot from the army, I was being peppered with questions that I really didn't want to answer. 

"Sadie, who's blood is that?" Alice demanded, eyeing me with a mix of disgust and concern. 

"I already said, not mine. Can we please just focus on one thing at once?" I asked her, squeezing Riley's hand as we struggled over a particularly rough area in the caves. Alice gave me a side eye. 

"Trust me, I can multitask, and you saying that does nothing to reassure me. Who's is it?" She demanded again, loud enough to make everyone else hear and look at me, expecting an answer. I sighed. 

"Don't freak out, but it's Mr Consequences's." I said, struggling to keep up with the others and talk at the same time. I was a relatively quick runner, but I wasn't used to having to do it for very long. By now, I would have usually grabbed Riley and traveled away. 

Even thinking about it made my stomach lurch. I didn't have my book, and unlike when I had been Obsivian's prisoner, I was running away without it. I didn't even know if I could find my book back. But I couldn't focus on that right now. Luckily, the reaction from the others was plenty to distract me from it. 

"You stabbed him?" Alice demanded, a glint in her eyes that I didn't much like. 

"Why on earth would you do that?" Lyla asked, looking crestfallen. 

"Did he die?" Eros questioned. 

"That wasn't part of the plan, why would you deviate from the plan, you could get us all killed!" Lucas scolded. I groaned as we began to climb back upwards. 

"Yes I stabbed him, because he grabbed me and he wasn't going to let me go, and no he didn't die and I only did it so I could get away! Trust me, I really didn't want to have to stab him and I wouldn't have had to but he'd figured out the plan and he was holding Riley hostage and then I needed to get away from him before you were all brought back. And yes, there might have been a better way to do it, but I didn't have time to think it through! So all you just get off my back, because it's really hard to run and defend myself!" I yelled at them, getting breathless. Alice sighed and shook her head. 

"Look, it was a bad situation and you did the best that you could, so I agree that we should all stop giving you a hard time over it. At the end of the day, it's not like we lost anything other than a head start, and that was Riley's fault, not yours." She pointed out. I bristled. 

"Hey!" I yelled, half ready to clobber her because that wasn't what I meant when I told them to lay off me. 

"And what do you suggest I do, Alice? Refuse his summons, and tell him for certain that we were doing something? It's very easy to throw stones when you didn't have to make any big decisions." He snapped at her. I felt a pang of pride, but I was still stressed, and I felt like I needed to tell them that I had lost my book. 

"Right, so, it won't have any effect on anyone other than me and Riley, but, uh, Mr Consequences still has my book." I blurted out, figuring it was best to just rip the bandage off. Riley looked at me sharply, catching my arm to try and stop me and make me look at him, but I didn't. I couldn't, because I was so guilty at losing my way of getting him home that I couldn't stand to see the accusation and fear in his eyes. So I pulled my arm free and kept going, even though everyone else had also skidded to a halt, Alice and Took aside. "We don't have time to freeze up right now!" I yelled, pushing myself harder, hoping they would all continue running faster so they would be too puffed to keep yelling at me. 

"Sadie, will you wait? We can't just leave your book behind!" Eros said, grabbing my arms and skidding to a halt, pulling me to stop and accidentally tripping me over in the process. As I hit the ground, the other two stopped and came back.