In the Stars

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Behind Enemy Lines

It was different this time. He didn't come to her in an idyllic dream setting. Instead, it was a nightmare.

War raged around them; muddy trenches and barbed wire marred the countryside, while explosions went off like fireworks. Charlotte seemed impervious to it, her body like a ghost. Owen, wearing a uniform that suggested World War I France, was on the ground, bleeding out from a stomach wound.

"Did you find them?"

"Yes. They told me who you are."

Owen nodded his head, and then cringed in pain, gripping his torso in a vain attempt to hold himself in. His chest rose and fell with shallow breaths. He didn't have long.

This feels real. She felt her face wince, the muscles in her throat convulse. Still, she was immobile.

"They need to know where you are. Did someone take you?"

"Yes," Owen grunted through his bared teeth, "It was Orion."

"The Orion Foundation?"

This made his eyes widen. "Do you know them?"

"Yes. They're my employer."

Now he attempted to sit up, his every movement shaky. She felt her arms and legs energize as she witnessed his struggle.

"No! Stay down. You'll only make it worse," she pleaded, as she got down on the ground to help calm him.

"You can't work for them. They'll kill you." His sparkling eyes bore into hers as he gripped her hands. She was transfixed for a few seconds.

"What's important right now is finding you. Do you know where they're holding you? What year are you in?" The feeling of his hands on hers- even in a dream- was distracting.

Owen shook his head, and then grimaced again, finally releasing her to clutch at his stomach. "I thought I jumped to 2016, but I missed by a year. It happens a lot when you travel a short span of time. I left the message for you in 2015, hoping you'd get it in time. They nabbed me in the club."

"How did you know I would be in that club?" She had to know. It had eaten away at her since that fateful day she found his message.

His eyes searched hers. Charlotte didn't know what he expected to find.

"Violet is our oracle."

"Oracle?"

"She's a seer. In order for us to know where to go, she has to read the stars and see specific moments in time. She saw you in that club, but we were off in our calculations."

She didn't have time to wonder why Violet never said anything about her talent.

"Did they take you somewhere?"

"The last thing I remember was their warehouse. I had been tracking its location and they took me right to it. You need to tell James I've found the machine."

"What machine?"

He looked up at her through the hair that had fallen into his eyes. His pain was etched on his face in lines of torment.