AllFreeNovel
Share Us
With a dramatic lift of my eyebrows at Miles, I hit the last button.
I expect the ride down to be slow, rickety. Cinematic, maybe.
The reality is that it feels like just about every other elevator ride I’ve taken in this building.
Miles stands close to me, his hand on my back. Somehow, he still smells like the ocean. His mouth drops to the side of my neck for just a moment, the sensation a startling shot of warmth in this cold metal box. When he lifts his head, though, he doesn’t meet my eyes.
This is big for him, I realize. A scientist testing a theory, one with cosmic repercussions. Maybe, finally, arriving at a conclusion. It makes sense he’d be more than a little on edge.
At least, I hope that’s all it is.
Down, down, down. It feels like it takes an hour. In reality, it’s probably less than ten seconds.
Deep breaths. Whatever’s on the other side of these doors—red-hot lava, a swirling vortex of doom, absolutely nothing at all—I’m ready for it. We can handle it.
I’ve already done so much I never thought I’d be able to.
I squeeze my eyes shut. When I open them, my heart sinks.
It’s… a basement.
No fiery pit, no time machine. Only storage and pipes and pieces of machinery I can’t begin to guess the names of. It’s gray and dark and deathly quiet, with an unmistakable chill in the air, though it should be warm with all that machinery. A sudden disappointment claws up my throat.
Until Miles lets out a half laugh. “There’s a subbasement,” he says, pointing a few yards away, because of course there is. “We have to take another elevator.”
The door opens instantly, which somehow feels wrong. It feels like something we should have to wait for. This elevator is smaller. Older. Probably only used by maintenance workers and kids trying to get out of time loops.
Inside, there are only two buttons: B and SB.
“Part two,” I say, leaning forward and pushing SB. No hesitation this time.
As soon as the elevator starts its descent, Miles lets out a sharp breath. His face has gone ghostly pale; when I graze his wrist with my fingertips, his skin is cold. “Miles? Are you okay?”
“I—I don’t know.”
“Talk to me,” I say gently, not wanting him to feel this way. Miles, the uncertain scientist. The one who pulled me out of my routines while I pulled him out of his. “We’re in this together.”
He nods, as though summoning the courage for what he says next. “Barrett… I don’t want to leave.” Another hard swallow, his Adam’s apple leaping in his throat. “I think I want to stay.”
And with that, he reaches out and yanks the emergency brake.
Chapter 39
THE ELEVATOR LURCHES WITH A grating metallic sound, the floor quivering beneath my feet before we come to a stop. I have no idea where we are, only that we’re somewhere in the darkened depths of Olmsted Hall, the elevator’s sole light flickering above us.
I watch that light cut across Miles’s face, trying to process what just happened.
“I can’t do it.” He backs up against the wall, his shoulders drooping into the deepest slouch I’ve seen from him so far, as his breaths grow quicker. Then he runs a hand over his face, avoiding eye contact. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I don’t want to disappoint you, I just…”
The words ping off the metal walls, echoing in the tiny space between us. I can’t. I’m sorry… sorry… sorry. I’m hearing them, but nothing makes sense.
“You can’t be serious,” I say, biting down hard on the inside of my cheek to keep my voice from turning harsh. I want to understand him, want to be gentle with him, but fuck—I might be angry. “All this time, and you don’t want to get out? You don’t want to go home?”
Because that’s what it is. Even though we live here, even though we are Barrett Bloom and Miles Kasher-Okamoto, this isn’t our home. Our shard of the universe has wobbled and warped, and we have to get back on the right path. We don’t belong here anymore—maybe that’s what Olmsted has been trying to tell us.
“I—I don’t know what I want. But I sure as hell don’t want you to get hurt again.” He grazes the spot on my arm where I punched in the Washingtonian’s glass window. Where he bandaged me up and nearly made me cry. Miles sinks to the floor, but the elevator is so small that he can’t fully spread his legs. “I do want to go home. I’m just not sure how to explain any of this.”
“Can you try?” I get down on the floor with him, tugging up the socks that I somehow thought would make today easier. I drape a hand over his knee, waiting for his breathing to stabilize.
