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Lily burst through the front door of Murphy’s Law. “Was that …?”
“Yes.” I shoved the napkin with the cryptic message into my pocket. I didn’t want her to see what Jack had written, or the threat it implied. That he was everywhere.
“I looked right at him. Served him coffee. I touched him.” She shuddered and rubbed her upper arms. “But I didn’t recognize him.”
“He’s playing a game. It’s what he does. Exposes weaknesses and dangles possibilities.” I leaned against the window. The coolness of the plate glass on my back was a welcome relief. But the second I started to relax, Lily’s tension jumped up and punched me in the gut. “Something else is bothering you. What is it?”
She leaned against the window beside me. “Did you just read me?”
“Like I could help it.” I gave her the side-eye. “You’re shooting off anxiety like fireworks shoot off sparks.”
“Your dad called earlier.” She sighed. “I wasn’t going to tell you.”
“Uh-oh.” I turned my head to look at her. “Which one of us is in trouble?”
“I tested positive for the time gene.” Her laugh was short and bitter, and she dropped her face into her hands. Her fingernails were short, perfect ovals. “This day. What’s next? Blood-filled water? A plague of locusts?”
“Apocalyptical references?” I crossed my arms and stared back out into the afternoon traffic. A red sports car kept driving around the town square, either on a joy ride or lost. “That bad, huh?”
“I think I’ll classify you in the boils category.”
“Ow.”
“Okay,” she said, relenting. “Maybe frogs.”
“You know what happens when you kiss a frog, don’t you?” I asked, appreciating the moment of levity in the middle of disaster.
“I think they pee.” She stepped forward into my line of vision, her hands on her hips. “Your dad’s phone call didn’t surprise you.”
I shook my head. “Nothing does anymore.”
“Why?”
“Something’s … off. In our world.” I didn’t want to say “wrong,” because that would be like saying “Welcome to hell, now with hotter fire.”
“Off? That’s all you have to say?” She threw her hands into the air in defeat. “That’s sad. I thought you and I’d come to an agreement.”
“What kind of agreement?” I couldn’t understand why she felt so let down.
“That you’ll tell me the truth.” She pursed her lips.
Even though we didn’t like each other, that bottom lip was still tantalizing. “I’m not exactly known for honesty.”
“This is different. We’re working together for a common goal. I’m not a conquest,” she said, “or even a possibility, so please be real with me.”
Uncommon request. “Okay.”
“I think my Ivy Springs as Freak Magnet theory is correct,” she said. Her hair was twisted up into a sloppy bun. “Three people from the same hometown with a time gene?”
“Technically, my hometown is Memphis.”
“Really, Kaleb?”
“Just keeping it specific.” I made a motion of surrender.
“It doesn’t matter if we were physically born here, we were attracted here. Magnet.” Lily drew the word out, speaking with precise enunciation as she touched her pointer fingers together.
I tried not to laugh. “What’s the other possibility?”
