Jump Line (Book 1 - Jump Line Series)

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

"Esa, do you want to go on a tour of the house?" Audrina eyes twinkled with a glimmer of mischief. I wondered if she was trying to get my mind off everything she had just told me about the bodies. "I mean, I know you've seen some parts of it, but you probably haven't seen the entire place, and we've done a lot of work on it over the past three years."

"Okay," I responded, not exactly sure what Audrina was up to. I felt like I had already seen the house, but Audrina's facial expression told me there was more to see. Much more. I had walked the main floor. It was relatively small, with a sparsely decorated kitchen and living room. Everything seemed perfectly in place. The second and third floors were down the staircase, underground. I assumed that anyone passing by didn't see much of the house.

"Great! We've added some new things since you left," Audrina replied in a giddy voice. She looked over her shoulder and gave me a little wink as we headed down the hallway. Her long blonde ponytail cascaded down her back in soft waves. Her hair was almost as white as our suits.

She grabbed my hand and led me down the stairs to the second floor. "Come on. There's so much to show you. I have to admit that I do like the new Esa. I never thought I would be able to say that it's nice to just hang out with you." Audrina was talking a hundred miles a minute.

"Esa, our team used to be close, and then you vanished. Poof. You were gone. It was horrible. Of course, Samuel and Theo took it the hardest. They both searched and searched for you, and then one day we received your letter letting us know you didn't want to be found."

Audrina walked swiftly through another set of doors and stopped in front of what appeared to be a blank wall. She turned back to me. "Why did you send that letter? Didn't you realize how horrible it would be for your brother to hear you didn't want to be found, much less Theo? He was scary mad that first year. At one point, none of us could stand to be around him any longer. He was miserable without you. What made you decide to hurt him so much?"

I shook my head. "I don't know what you're talking about. I never sent a letter. How could I send a letter when I didn't even know I was missing? I didn't know you guys existed. Trust me, I would have returned if I had known you were here. Living in 2010 was tough. No one would talk to me. They all called me names."

Audrina's eyes narrowed. "Don't worry, Esa. We'll find out what happened to you. I've been going back through some of what I saw at the accident scene." She grasped my hands, and before I could move back, I felt the small jolt of electricity from her palms.

She giggled then turned to slide her hand over a small clear plate. The wall suddenly disappeared and we were standing in Samuel's lab. "It just never gets old."

"What never gets old?"

"The look on peoples' faces, even our own, when we touch them" She opened her hand to reveal a thin line of electricity. It danced for a second before disappearing.

"Do you have any other special capabilities?" I asked.

"We're all very similar. Theo is our leader just because he's a natural, and he was a higher rank than the rest of us in the real military. Dr. James was trying to create a soldier who could travel on the Jump Line; anything additional was just the cherry on top. I'm sure if Paul and Troy had their way, they would create an entire army of us. We're the future, which is why we have to protect ourselves. No one else is going to do it for us. We're too valuable. You must be careful, and don't trust anyone. Do you understand?" Her eyes bore into mine as she waited for my answer.

I nodded slowly, and Audrina continued.

"Esa, we have rules we have to follow, like Samuel said, so we don't alter the course of history. If we changed anything it might modify us and our existence."