Memories from a Different Future: Jump When Ready, Book 2 (10 page)

“We still have time,” Nikki said, trying to make him feel
better. She didn’t have to add “not much” since it went without saying. “I was
wondering maybe if we tried—”

At that moment, Simon appeared standing next to them, for
once his expression grave with concern.

He took a quick look around. “What’s going on?”

Nikki stopped herself from asking where Naomi was. While
she was far from convinced either had the right kind of skill—or sufficient
control—to help in this situation. Still, she’d been hoping maybe Naomi could
at least cause enough of a distraction to snap Ian’s family out of their
self-induced tech coma.

Maybe Simon instinctively knew Nikki’s intention because
he said, “Naomi wasn’t around. Not sure where she’s gone off to.”

Nikki wondered if Naomi might have someplace other than
her kitchen these days to call her own. Most likely she did.

Jamie took a step closer to them. “Could be she’s talking
to Martha.”

“Maybe.” Nikki turned her attention back to Simon. Was it
possible? She’d never known him to cause anything other than annoyance and
occasional comic relief, at best. “Henry can’t get through to any of them. They
just can’t seem to hear him. At least not consciously.”

Simon thought for a moment. “Did Jamie try emerging?”

“That might not be the best way to go right now,” Jamie
said. “Traumatizing the hell out of them first probably won’t make them
particularly receptive to Henry.”

Simon nodded. “Good point. So, you’re thinking maybe
something to distract them from their distractions.”

“That’s kind of what I was hoping,” Nikki said, trying to
ignore the sinking feeling. Still, maybe it was worth a try.

Simon nodded and closed his eyes. A moment later, Nikki
got her hopes up when Ian’s father and mother both suddenly gasped and Ian
shook his head briskly. Sure enough, Simon’s face had appeared on all three
screens.

“What the hell?” Ian’s father stared at Simon’s fuzzy image
flickering in and out, which stared back at him, occasionally blinking.

Noticing the sudden shift in energy, Ian’s sister popped
out her earbuds and looked around. “What’s going on?”

“Say something,” Nikki said.

“It doesn’t work that way,” Simon said.

As he spoke, Nikki saw his mouth moving on the screens
although no sound accompanied.

“Oh,” she said. She’d forgotten but now couldn’t help
feel bad for him.

“Yeah, I know.” Simon’s face reddened a little. “Maybe
over time I can—”

Ian’s sister pointed at the screen in front of her
father. “That’s the kid from the news!”

“Oh, my God, you’re right,” Ian said.

Ian’s mother set her flexlet on the counter. “Right, that
kid who hacked in somehow. No one’s pulled off a hack like that in years.”

“Okay, no wonder it made the news,” Jamie said. “Not bad,
Simon.”

Simon shrugged but couldn’t stop the grin from spreading
across his face.

Nikki was about to say they didn’t have time for this but
clearly Henry understood. He was already standing right behind Ian’s family as
they clustered together now in front of the screen that, moments before, had
held the stilled basketball game.

“Dad, you knew about that, right?” Ian said. “This thing
got like three million hits on YouTube.”

Ian’s father didn’t take his eyes off Simon on the screen
in front of him, despite the fact that, at times, he became all but invisible
behind electronic snow before appearing again. “I can see why. There’s just
something eerie about it.”

“Kill it,” Nikki said.

Simon closed his eyes and exhaled loudly.

“Damn, he’s gone,” Margo said. “You know, you’re right,
Dad. There is something kind of creepy about it. It’s totally different when
it’s right in front of you. All I saw was some stuff online.”

“I don’t know if it’s
creepy
,” Ian said. “More
hypnotic. It almost feels like it’s coming from someplace else entirely. I
wonder how they got that effect. You have to admit, it’s—”

Ian’s mother reached over and pushed a button on the
counter. The screen blinked out. She stared at Ian. “Are you going shopping today?”

Ian turned to her and shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe. I
was thinking I might.”

Henry remained behind Ian’s mother, his hand on her
shoulder as he spoke into her ear.

“Do you mind not going?”

Ian shrugged and reached for his coffee mug.
“
Sure,
I guess. Right now, I was thinking about taking a ride on my bike. Then later
maybe hanging with Brent and Doug for a while if that’s—”

“What’s this about, honey?” Ian’s father regarded his
wife, head cocked at an angle.

Ian’s mother shivered and hugged herself. “I don’t know.
I just got this weird feeling that maybe Ian shouldn’t go to the mall.”

Oh, shit
, Nikki thought, even as Henry and Jamie
exchanged knowing glances.

“At least not today,” Ian’s mother added.

“Okay, sure. I’ll go tomorrow,” Ian said.

I Know You’re
There

Ian put on his jacket and left through the back door off the
kitchen. He crossed their yard to a detached garage, where he took a bike down
from where it hung on hooks screwed into the ceiling. Ian checked the tires,
then got a bicycle pump from beneath the workbench and began to fill his tires.

Nikki understood why no one could think of a thing to
say. Was it possible that through their actions they’d caused the very event
they’d come here to prevent? She told herself it wasn’t that way—that what
Martha had first told them about had already been destined before they’d tried
to intervene. Still, she couldn’t shake off the feeling that she never could be
absolutely sure about anything anymore. Nikki didn’t doubt that the others were
experiencing similar questions and conflicting feelings.

“What now?” Jamie stood watching Ian ready his bike for a
ride and something in his eyes made Nikki wonder if maybe, just sometimes, he
missed being an actual teenager, the years fleeting rather than being a
perpetual teenager in the realm they shared. She wondered too, as Jamie watched
Ian screw the caps back onto his tires, if he might even be travelling back to
some distant point in time when his dark hair had fallen in boyish bangs across
his forehead, eyes sparkling, and he’d been loved each day in a house like the
one they stood behind, by a family not unlike Ian’s. Once upon a time, a little
boy had ridden a bike while his parents watched and clapped, beaming with
pride.

Nikki shook her head to dispel her thoughts and focus on
what was in front of her. “I guess we stay with him,” she said. “Look for
another opportunity.”

Jamie nodded but Henry kept his gaze averted as he looked
out into the yard, although Nikki suspected his eyes weren’t focused on anything
out there.

Someone had to say it so she did. “We didn’t make it
happen.”

Henry turned to her, his jaw set and eyes piercing. “You
can’t know that.”

Wasn’t it just like Henry to take things on, to carry the
burden. Nikki stepped toward him. She wanted to reach out, to touch him. But
that wasn’t her way with him. She also suspected it would just confuse things.
“Henry, listen. It was already happening. Martha told us.”

“Sure, she told us Ian was going to Transition. That much
is definitely true. Then we went and experienced it directly. Twice. That still
doesn’t mean we didn’t make it happen.”

Nikki shook her head. “Listen, I know what you’re feeling
but we don’t have time for this right now.”

Henry took a breath and stared at the ground for a
moment. That’s all it took for him to reach a point of resolve. That too was so
like Henry. His eyes met hers. “You’re right. What’s next?”

Ian rolled his bike outside and went back to close the
garage door.

“Like I said, for now, I think the best thing to do is
stay with him,” Nikki said. “That’s all we can do.” She turned to Simon who
also hadn’t said a word since that moment. So unlike Simon, come to think of
it, not to prattle on and try to fill the air with words whether they mattered
or not. She knew he felt bad about things. “You did great, Simon.”

He shrugged and couldn’t quite meet her eyes.

“No, you did. You got their attention, okay? Don’t feel
bad.” Nikki almost added that he’d allowed Henry to get through but she stopped
short. After all, that might have been a huge mistake.

Simon looked at her. “Thanks for that.”

You’re welcome. But I wonder if right now you should get
back for Naomi.”

“Are you sure?”

“I think Nikki’s right,” Henry said. “About both points.
You did get their attention and it proved that you could. We might need you to
do that again very soon. On the other hand, Naomi might be worried about what’s
going on if you’re not there. We’ll let you know as soon as we need you again.”

Nikki noticed that Henry didn’t say “
if
we need
you again,” which she could tell from Simon’s expression helped him feel better
about things.

Simon took a moment to make eye contact with the three of
them before nodding, offering a smile, then vanishing.

Within moments, Ian peddled out of his neighborhood. He
crested a ridge, waited at a light, then crossed the road and coasted downhill.
It wasn’t long before he rode into a park with a lake in its center, rimmed
with a paved path divided for walking and cycling. They floated next to him as
he joined the flow of cyclists circling the lake, picking up speed and pumping
his pedals as if right now what he needed most was this release of energy.

“What’s going on with him?” Jamie said. “What’s he
thinking?”

The fact was, Ian wasn’t thinking much in that moment.
He’d entered a meditative state where thoughts weren’t being verbalized or even
latched onto as he kept breathing in and out while pedaling faster and faster.
Still, Nikki caught images as they drifted through his mind, images she felt
sure Ian wasn’t consciously aware of as he gazed out at people walking and
pushing strollers in the opposite direction while remaining aware of his
proximity to other cyclists on his side of the path. She nearly gasped as she
realized who were in some of those images. She saw her face, Henry’s and
Jamie’s. She saw Simon, Naomi and Martha. A collage of images swirling in a fog
of other images from his present life and what she could only guess was his
last or even others before that. How was it possible that his subconscious
seemed capable of mixing these worlds together without him somehow realizing?

“He’s thinking about us,” Nikki said. “Well, not
thinking
exactly. He’s just relaxing, blowing off steam. The feeling I’m getting is that
the thing back at his house rattled him a little. The part about his mother
asking him not to go shopping. But I just saw images of us go through his
mind.”

“Seriously?” Jamie said. “That’s really cool. I mean,
that he remembers us. It makes you wonder, doesn’t it?”

Nikki knew exactly what he meant but didn’t have time to
respond before Henry said, “You mean, that we remember somehow on this side
too.”

“Yeah, exactly,” Jamie said. “I never realized before.”

Ian slowed, letting other cyclists pass him as he coasted
now. Somehow, Nikki knew. “Hang on. Let me read him again.” She closed her eyes
and concentrated, this time hearing thoughts expressed as words, seeing images
she instinctively knew Ian was now aware of. At first Nikki didn’t recognize
the young woman Ian remembered sitting on a sofa across from him, or the
setting—an apartment with paintings and photographs lining its walls. Nikki
didn’t hear the woman’s words. Instead, she felt Ian’s confusion in that
moment, whenever it took place. She heard him replaying her words inside his
head while both trying to deny that they could have any meaning for him while
at the same time knowing they did.

I’m getting something else now… Someone you knew on
the other side. I’m getting H. His name begins with H… Also, N. Do you know
anyone whose name begins with N?

An instant later, Ian’s mind flipped to a different image
and Nikki made the connections. She saw the same woman stepping back from the
window while Ian sat in his car. Nikki knew what their next move had to be.

~~~

When they arrived at the
apartment, Julie had just opened the door for a woman who looked to be about
ten years older than herself— in her late thirties, dressed in jeans and a
leather jacket, face still red from the cold outside. Despite Julie’s welcoming
smile, the woman hesitated, glancing nervously past Julie to see inside the
apartment.

Julie opened the door wider. “You must be Wendy. Please,
come in. Is it cold outside?”

“Looks like it might rain.”

“Of course. That snow was nice the other night, though,
wasn’t it?”

“That really was pretty.” Wendy unzipped her jacket and
Julie held out her hand, offering to take it.

Julie hung the jacket on a peg by the door. “I’ve always
been a big fan of snow. Would you like some tea? I just made a pot.”

Wendy hesitated just a moment, then said, “That would be
nice. Thank you.”

Julie walked toward the kitchen. “Please, make yourself
at home. I’ll be right back.”

“Wendy’s not sure what to think,” Nikki said.
“Apparently, one of her friends told her about Julie but she has her doubts
about the whole psychic thing.”

“Yeah, understandable,” Jamie said. “Kind of a weird
deal.”

Nikki leveled him with a flat stare. “Says the ghost.”

Henry chuckled. “Do you think she’s for real? What did
you get off of Ian about her?”

“Well, whatever happened here, Ian’s continued to think about
it,” Nikki said. “That’s for sure.”

A moment later, Julie returned with two mugs and sat
across from Wendy on one of the sofas. “So, I’m guessing you might have a few
things on your mind.”

Wendy took a tentative sip of tea and nodded. “For a
while now.”

Julie smiled. “People usually wait a while before coming
to me. Believe me, I understand. It’s kind of a big step and often people
aren’t entirely comfortable with the idea. There was a time when I wouldn’t
have considered it either.”

Wendy straightened in her seat, regarding Julie with
raised eyebrows. “Really?”

“Absolutely. There was a time when I couldn’t have
imagined someone just getting feelings about things they shouldn’t be able to
know about. I mean, I’d heard about it, of course, but it didn’t seem likely to
be real.”

“What happened?”

“I started to get feelings about things I shouldn’t be
able to know about.”

Wendy laughed and started to relax. “Have you been doing
this long? I mean, seeing people professionally?”

Julie shook  her head. “Not too long. A few years and I’m
not sure I’m really all that professional. So, do you feel ready to get
started?”

Wendy set her mug down on the coffee table. “Um, I guess
so. What do I do?”

Julie closed her eyes and after a few moments she nodded.
She kept her eyes closed as she spoke. “There are some money problems. And
worry. I’m getting that there’s lots of worry.” A few seconds passed. “And
sadness. I feel that now too. Oh, I’m sorry. That’s going on too but it’s not
why you’re here. This is really about loss. It hasn’t been long at all.”

Wendy perched forward and opened her mouth to speak but
Julie continued. “Wow, yeah, this is really strong. It happened suddenly,
didn’t it? Yes, it did. I’m so sorry. She…she…okay, right…at first I thought it
was the accident but she didn’t pass right away. That wasn’t the direct cause.
There were complications while he was in the hospital. You both thought she was
going to be fine.”

Wendy’s eyes grew wide even as Julie’s remained closed.

“I see it now. She was your mother. Oh, I’m feeling her
worry too. She’s worried about you. She wants you to know she’s okay.”

Nikki, Henry and Jamie exchanged glances.

“Sorry to say this,” Jamie said, “but we already know the
psychic chick knows one of her friends. She could have easily—”

“You mother wants you to know she’s okay now,” Julie
said. “She’s between lives again. She says it’s really nice where she is.”

Nikki cut her eyes at Jamie and Henry did the same.

Jamie shrugged and looked at the floor. “Of course, there
is the possibility I might be wrong. That can happen too. Not often. Just
saying.”

“Oh, she thinks you’d really like this part,” Julie said,
her tone lightening to where it sounded as if she might laugh. “She’s younger
now. She didn’t have to be. It was up to her. But she chose to be in her
thirties and she lives in a cottage near other people all about her same age.
They can do whatever they like as they review their last life and prepare for
what’s next.”

A tear slid down Wendy’s cheek, although she appeared not
to notice as she continued to stare at Julie.

“She also wants you to know that you’ll see each other
again in the future. You’ll be able to share other lives.”

Jamie cleared his throat. “Okay, she might be for real.
Then again, she might be just winging it so she can make a few—”

“There’s one more thing,” Julie said. “Your mother said
her advisor warned her about crossing over too often because it will result in
her staying longer on the other side. It’s not a punishment, she says, it’s
just an effect. It’s like telling the universe you’re not ready to move on.”

“Okay, holy crap,” Jamie said. “I got freaking shivers on
that one. Is Wendy’s mom like hanging out with Martha or something?”

Henry laughed.

Nikki cracked a smile. “I’m thinking she must have her
own version of Martha.”

“Right, cool,” Jamie said. “What do you think the
thirty-year-old crowd does on our side of things? Like sit in cubicles or
something so they feel at home?”

“Nice,” Henry said. “Like they’re all worried about
getting promoted to manager or something.”

Jamie reached out for a fist-bump. “Exactly.”

Nikki shook her head impatiently. “Can you two
please
,
just for once—”

Julie gasped and raised her face to the ceiling, her eyes
still closed. “There’s someone else here.”

Wendy perched forward now too, wiping her eyes. “Who? Is
it someone my mother knows?”

“I’m not sure. There’s more than one. It’s almost like
there’s a few…” Julie waited, as if listening, then shook her head.

Nikki glanced at Henry and Jamie, pressing a finger to
her lips.

Jamie grinned and mouthed silent, exaggerated words.
No
freaking way!

Nikki narrowed her eyes to slits as she stared back at
him, then Henry. All the same, they fist-bumped again.
Really? Of course.
Nikki tried not to grin but couldn’t help herself. After all, wasn’t she
herself guilty of the Ouija board move? Yes, she had actually done that. She
felt sure she was blushing now just thinking about it.