Today, Tomorrow and Yesterday

Chapter 12: Family Secrets

"Warren, I mean this in the best possible way, but you look a little green around the gills."

I turn and do my best to glare at Megan, attempting to fold my arms. But it's a bit hard when my backpack weighs this heavy on my shoulders. We're sitting on the roof of a stationary train, at three am, in the middle of a massive train-yard. In a few minutes we're going to jump from here onto a moving steam-powered mode of transportation. Which we will then have to find a way inside so that we can ride for a day or two in order to reach Round One of the Tournament of Power. I exhale.

"Just a bit nervous I guess."

"You? Nervous? Not possible." She laughs. It's hard to tell in the dark but her eyes are sparkling. "Protectiveness and nerves don't go together at all."

"If you're being sassy to calm me down, it's working."

"Glad I can help, but I'm always sassy." She uncrosses and re-crosses her legs, leaning back and putting some of her weight onto her arms. Moon-glow graces her cheeks and glints off her hair. Before I realize what I'm looking at, she turns ever so slightly and the light reflects from her red bangs. My head swims for a second, so I put a hand to the bridge of my nose, tapping my foot against the metal to ground myself in the moment.

"We should talk." Her arm goes around my shoulders. "They say talking things out is the best form of therapy."

"I don't want to zone out on you. Controlling telepathy glitches is unfortunately not one of my current skills."

"Only way you're going to conquer that is with more practice." She hesitates slightly before continuing. "And... you've never told me the complete story. Maybe laying it all out will help us both heal."

I exhale deeply, flipping my hair out of my eyes. We both turn our heads as we hear a low whistle of a train. Our ride's incoming.

"Guess that'll be one way to pass the time." I say, standing up on uneven feet. She pops up next to me, slightly crouched like a wound spring. One hand holding my backpack strap, I use the other to quickly pull out my radio.

"Justin, we have an incoming. That's ours?"

"Right-o! She's running a couple minutes early, but I've been keeping a side-eye on her, it's for sure your ride." Muffled barking makes the speaker crackle, letting us know that Felma has accompanied Justin to the computer room. "Hush Felma, you'll wake everyone."

With the back of my hand, I muffle my laugh, Megan quickly doing the same beside me.

"Get some sleep, we'll check in in a couple hours when we switch connections."

"Be safe, dude." He replies, voice sobered.

"Likewise." Below us, the train barrels past as I shove the radio back into my pocket. I startle when Megan grabs my hand. When I turn to her, she's smirking.

"Ready?"

"Can anyone ever be ready to jump onto a moving train?"

"As long as we jump together, we'll be fine."

"Why are you not fazed by this?"

"Stop asking so many questions." She laughs. "We'll miss our shot."

Our eyes turn back to our right, watching as the caboose of the train gets closer and closer. The plan is to jump towards the rear, but not too far because the caboose is manned. A sweet spot somewhere in-between the middle and the tail should spell an easier ride for us. But now that I'm standing here and looking at how incredibly fast the train is going, I don't know how we're going to know where we'll end up. By the time we land a dozen more cars might go by.