Time After Time (Book 2)

Chapter 13

Josie finds herself walking along the woods and into the old Mill. She brushes Jade's hair out of her face before the older girl jumps awake. "Josie? God, you scared me." "I'm sorry, I just wanted to make sure that you were ok." Jade shakes her head. "Why?" "I don't know. I guess I've just been thinking about you." Jade looks at her confused. "You have?" "Actually I can't stop thinking about you." Jade smiles. "I've been thinking about you too. But we shouldn't be doing this, you have a wife. And kids. Future wife and kids that is, which means even we do get together, we won't end up together." Jade sighs. "I know." Josie looks at the ground. Jade gently grabs her chin and looks at her. She leans in for a kiss when someone walks up. "It's past curfew, and dad's gonna be so pissed." Dark Josie tells her as she stands at the doorway.

Josie jolts awake. She looks around to see that the sun hasn't even come out yet. She turns to see Lizzie staring at her. "You were having a sex dream." She tells her. Josie sits up. "What? No, I wasn't." "Please, I don't need to know what you and your wife do in the dead of night." "I wasn't having a sex dream. Go back to sleep." Lizzie rolls her eyes and turns over. Josie sits up and goes to get out of bed when she sees her feet are muddy. Was that all real? Did she really almost kiss someone who wasn't her wife? Crap, she's gotta find Hope. She gets up early, showers and grabs breakfast before heading over to Hope's room. She enters and sees Hope changing in front of the mirror. "Hey you." Hope smiles at her through the mirror. "Hey." Josie smiles as she walks up to her and hugs her from behind. "You look beautiful." She kisses her cheek. "Not as beautiful as you." Hope turns and kisses her back. "So, what are we doing today?" Josie lets go and sits on Hope's bed. "Well, classes first and then I guess Emma has some exercise she wants us all to do together." She shrugs. "Exercise? What kind of exercise?" Josie asks her. "Beats me." Hope sighs as she grabs her bag off the ground. "Come on, don't wanna be late for class. Especially since I have to walk you to your first and then to mine." Josie sighs as she stands up and grabs Hope's hand as they walk together. "Honestly, one of the twins can walk me to class." Hope shakes her head. "No, I wanna walk my wife to class, the twins can walk each other." Josie laughs as she shakes her head.

They go about their day until it's time to meet Emma in the gym. "As supernaturals, we all carry a burden. Our eyes are open to evil. And recently, you've had to face it. Some of us process these trauma's by suppressing what happened. For others, it's easier to bury it deep inside, and pretend like nothing's happened at all. Still, others may take a different route, such as-" "Pushing people away in an attempt to self-isolate?" Hope interrupts her. "Because everyone they love is in perpetual danger, which often results in them becoming perpetually dead." Hope snarks. "Oh." Josie mumbles. "There. That's it, that's my therapy." Marshall places his hand on her shoulder. "Mom." He whispered. "What? Can I go now? Because uh, Landon is outside trying to fly and could use a spotter." "I'm afraid not, Hope, because the point is we can all do better at processing the trauma's we've been through." Hope sighs and sits back down. Josie reaches over and holds her hand. "It's ok." She whispered. "Which is why Dr. Saltzman has asked me to conduct a special group lesson today." "Hmm? Mm-mm." MG shakes his head. "I, for one, could really use this, and I would appreciate everyone's support." Lizzie tells everyone. "Honestly, I don't know why I'm here. But I'm down to help." MG shrugs. "You will all have an important role to play in this simulation." Everyone stares at Emma. "Oh stop looking at me like that. It'll be fun." She uncovers a box sitting on the table. "This device was created by professor Rupert Vardumus." "Ew." "Ok." "Oh god, no." They all groan. "The real professor Vardumus. He's quite famous in mystical therapeutic circles. It's his variation on a Chambre de Chasse. All your psychological concerns will be transferred inside to form a shared narrative. Now, the world you create together can be anything, from pirates on the high seas to spies in the Cold War. But no matter what it ends up looking like, it will be designed specifically to help you. Out here, you're unconscious. You'll have no awareness that you're in a simulation." "So, it's like a game?" MG asks. Emma nods. "How do I win?" Lizzie asks her. "Simply reach the end of your story and you'll be given an escape word. Say it aloud and you'll become self-aware again, then wake up here, having discovered something valuable in the process. Any questions?" Emma looks at them. "Uh, yeah, I have a question. What the hell is she doing here?" Lizzie glares at Jade as she walks in.