Time's Edge

I give him an a

“And it was still the right thing to do,” he says. “I just hadn’t thought through the details. I mean, how do you react to a twenty-year-old great-grandfather?”

“Welcome to my world. At least you don’t have to worry about interrupting him while he’s making out with your great-grandmother in a parking lot.”

“I guess that’s some consolation,” he says.

Co

“What’s wrong, girl?”

When I turn around, Kiernan is standing a few steps away from the “Katherine’s Kitchen” stable point that I transferred to his key the last time I saw him. He’s wearing a plain white shirt and a pair of jeans. If you ignore the CHRONOS key around his neck, he could pass for a typical twenty-first-century guy.

He gives me a smile when my eyes work their way up to his. “Levi Strauss, best friend of time travelers since 1876. Or maybe earlier, I don’t know for sure. 1876 is when I got these.”

“Lucky you. But I’m pretty sure that Katherine would say it’s inappropriate for a female time traveler to wear jeans to any time before the 1960s.”

I slip down to the floor and reach under the table to give Daphne a hug. “It’s okay, Daph. I’m sorry. I forgot Kiernan would be coming in with the key. You want to go back outside? I’ll save you my pizza crusts.”

Her tail starts wagging, and she heads to the door, giving Kiernan a wide berth.

“Daphne usually loves visitors,” I say as I close the door behind her. “But she’s not a big fan of the medallions.”

“I’ve yet to meet a dog that is. Cats just stare at you when you use the key. Some of them will even come over to check it out. Dogs want nothing to do with the bloody things, which makes them the wiser of the two creatures, in my view.” He glances around, his nostrils flaring just a bit as he sniffs.

“Are you hungry?”

He sniffs again. “Pizza? Pepperoni, if I’m not mistaken.”

“Pepperoni and bacon, to be precise. Your great-grandson’s pizza of choice.”

“I’m glad to hear that the little tyke has good taste.”

We grab a few slices, and I convince him to try some of the salad, which he eyes with suspicion. “What’s all the white stuff?”

“The white stuff,” I say, grabbing two sodas out of the fridge, “is feta. Greek cheese. The black stuff is olives. Those are also Greek. And that green stuff—”

“You’re very fu

We both look up as Katherine, Co

I grab the back of his shirt and tug him back down to the bench. “Dad, Co

“He’s changed quite a bit in the past thirteen years, however,” she says. “And I suspect that I’ve changed even more in the past five decades.”

Kiernan returns her smile. “It’s good to see you again.”

Dad steps forward and shakes Kiernan’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“My privilege, Mr. Keller.”

“It’s Harry, please. You saved my daughter’s life, so I think we can dispense with the formalities.”

I’ve rarely seen Kiernan blush, but he does now, and then he nods. “Harry, then. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Co

There’s a slight twinkle in Co

“The hell I will, so

Co

I just shake my head at the two of them and take a few more bites of my pizza and salad while Katherine, Co

When the chomping dies down a bit, I pass the handouts around. “Take a couple of minutes to look things over while you finish eating, and then we’ll discuss, okay?”

The paper is basically a three-page summary of everything I’ve managed to glean from Other-Kate’s diary, Katherine’s recollections of the CHRONOS historians’ itineraries, and several additional, torturous hours of observing jump locations in the Log of Stable Points. At least with the diary entries, someone’s talking. The stable points are like silent movies—if silent movies also carried the risk that you’d jump into the middle of them if you accidentally blinked too hard. If I start getting any sensory input other than the visual when I’m watching those, I have to look away really fast. During training, there were several occasions where I was so close to there that Katherine said I seemed to fade, like I was half- in and half-out of the location.

Katherine looks up first. “You really think you’re ready for the Australia jump now?”

I nod. “I’d like a day to look back over everything and get ready, but Adrie

Her mouth twists. “I think I can come up with something.”

I wait a second to see if she’s going to fill us in on that, but apparently she’s not.

Dad says, “Don’t you have that”—his eyes shift for a split second over to Kiernan, like he’s not sure how much to say in front of him—“barbecue thing for school that day?”

“Yes, but it’s in the evening.” At least, I assume Trey and I are still on for that. Other than a brief text message two days ago, I haven’t spoken to him. I finally called him last night but had to leave a message—again. And, of course, I’m now imagining him on the beach with two girls rubbing suntan oil onto his back.

“And we have everything you need for Australia?” Co

“We have the 1940s’ swimsuit. I can’t think of anything else. Although I’d feel much better if I could disremember that crocodile.”

“Crocodile?” Kiernan’s eyes are wide. Everyone else was around to hear my views on the wicked-looking creature that strolls past the stable point around dawn on the morning I’ll be going.

Dad nods. “Big one. But that’s hours before she arrives. They usually stay away from the beach later in the day, at least from what we were reading.” He sounds like he’s trying to reassure himself as much as Kiernan and me.

“Yeah,” I say. “I’m just hoping Mr. Croc reads the same articles we do. Anyway, counting Timothy and Evelyn’s keys, and also the two that Kiernan has, we now have fourteen, correct?”

Co

I take a sip of my soda, partly to disguise how rattled I am at even having to contemplate killing anyone, but I also want to gauge their reactions. I doubt anyone at the table has qualms about killing Saul. Co