Parallel (Travelers Series Book 1)

Parallel (Chapter 18)

Chapter Eighteen
Painted Ladies

Sunday is the only day of the week that actually makes me believe there’s some sort of distortion in the space time continuum. You can always count on weekdays to follow a normal time pattern, Saturday seems to run on forever, but on Sunday, the hours are set on warp speed. One minute, you’re enjoying Sunday brunch, then bam, you’re suddenly cursing your alarm clock on Monday morning, ready to start the week all over again.

I’m in a sullen mood by the time I wake up—no surprises there. Cooper didn’t respond to my text until earlier this morning. Once again I was awakened by the beeping of my cell when his text came through. I have to figure out how to silence the damn thing before I go to bed at night. I had plans to veg out in front of the TV all day, but apparently Cooper has another idea in mind.

Cooper: I’ll be over later this morning. Wear something comfortable.

Etta: What are we doing?

Cooper: Going back to the basics. It’s training day.

Etta: Okay. What time?

Cooper: Let’s shoot for 11am.

So, after I inform Aunt Maggie that Cooper is coming over after breakfast, I wolf down a massive plate of pancakes—I’m so going to gain about twenty pounds by the end of the month if she keeps feeding me like this—and head outside to meet Cooper for what he’s dubbed ‘training day’. I have no idea what this means, but I liken it to something out of the Karate Kid. Not the new one with Will Smith’s son, but the Ralph Macchio version. Although I’m sure the analogy would probably be lost on anyone else. I don’t think that movie was made in this reality either.

Cooper shows up a couple minutes early and waits for me out back on the deck. “A beautiful day to train, don’t you think?”

“That depends. What kind of training are we doing? And why are we outside?” I can’t imagine my training has anything to do with exercise. I’m a total couch potato and if he thinks we’ll start the day by running ten miles, he’s sadly mistaken.

He straightens up. “Nature is still the cornerstone of our abilities. Our powers rest on the balance of all things living,” he explains. “That is why you are able to control a person’s actions with your thoughts. We have the power to control the body as well as natural elements.”

“You never told me how you ended up with telepathic powers. Hey—were you one of my dad’s test subjects?” It would be too coincidental if he wasn’t. The only logical explanation is that we both were subjected to the drug trials.

“Ah, another story for another day,” he says mysteriously. “So you found out about that huh.”

I don’t see any reason why I can’t, so I tell him about my conversation with Aunt Maggie. “Yeah, my aunt told me. She knows by the way.”

“I guess your aunt would know about your father’s research.”

“I’m kinda glad she knows, you know? Now I don’t have to keep secrets from her. It’s not like you’re always around to talk to anyway.”

“Touché.”

“So we’re out here for what exactly?” I ask.

“Well, you’ve already proven that you can make the human body do things by wishing them to happen—”