Parallel (Travelers Series Book 1)

Parallel (Chapter 5)

Chapter Five
Changing the Timeline 

When Cooper was selected by the Council to retrieve Etta from her current reality, he had known it would be a bit of an undertaking on his part. Although he had access to certain details about her—like knowing Etta would eventually come around to trusting him—there was the slightest possibility that she could, at any moment, change the timeline by opting not to go with him. Any decision she made at this juncture in time could split into another reality and he would have no choice but to jump back and start over.

As he listened to himself explain the situation to her, he almost found it as outlandish as she had. He really couldn’t blame her for thinking he was some half crazed guy she’d just met—he actually felt like a fool for trying to convince her otherwise. In fact, if their places had been reversed, Cooper knew damn well he wouldn’t have believed anyone who tried to feed him the same line he’d just given her. But he didn’t have a choice. This was one mission he couldn’t afford to fail. And now that he had gotten Etta’s attention, he had to bring her back to her rightful world whether she wanted to or not. The decision was simply out of his hands.

It was true when he’d said he’d kept an eye out on her. He had always known where to find her and he could have approached her at any time. Etta had moved around a lot as a foster kid, but she always remained in the same city, so it never took him long to figure out her location. He simply bid his time until just the right moment to approach her. To Cooper, it was a matter of seizing the right opportunity—selecting a moment in time when she’d be the most receptive towards him.

And having followed Etta’s motions the last several years, this had been the opportunity he’d been waiting for. He knew everything about her—what she would or wouldn’t do, her weaknesses, strengths, and above all else, her stubbornness. And in all the time he’d spent watching over her, it had pained Cooper to witness firsthand the fortress she had constructed around herself. The hard exterior she had created, coupled with abilities she didn’t understand, made her all the more vulnerable. She’d grown up without a proper home and he knew that what she valued most of all was a family. And Cooper felt like a heel because he’d use that knowledge to his advantage.