Parallel (Travelers Series Book 1)

Parallel (Chapter 25)

Chapter Twenty-Five
Everybody Wants to Rule the World

My dad gives me instruction and with enough concentration, I’m able to return to my body. It’s a lot like having your mind sucked into a vacuum mixed in with a bad case of vertigo. Astral projection is something I’m definitely going to have to master. I certainly hope the feeling gets better with experience. I’m both happy to be back and sad at having to leave my father in the basement.

Raising my head, I do a quick survey of where I’m being held captive. The room isn’t very large, so it must be a small bedroom. Judging from the window, I’m still somewhere on the second floor of the Thornberry house. My arms and legs are bound to a chair.

There’s really no point in screaming or making a fuss. I know I’m trapped in here until Oliver comes back. Maybe then I’ll be able to get myself out of here. But my mind isn’t bound; I can use my powers now that the drugs have worn off.

I sit quietly, running over all the different outcomes that can occur once I get my chance to escape. But I don’t have enough time. Oliver enters the room and assesses my condition.

“I see you’re awake. You were out for awhile,” he informs me.

“Yeah, well, drugs will do that to a girl.”

“I’m sure you can appreciate circumstances that require necessary measures,” he says.

“Why are you doing this?” I ask, knowing full well he isn’t going to tell me anything.

He’s now standing a few inches away from me. “Your father did this country a disservice by sending you away.”

“A disservice? He’s only a scientist.”

“Yes, but a scientist with secrets that could have turned this nation into a supreme super power.” He keeps talking. His ego can’t help himself.

“I thought we already were a super power.” I struggle in my chair. Getting him to talk isn’t such a bad idea after all. It gives me an opportunity to distract him as I attempt to wiggle out of my bonds.

He takes a step back and paces the room, oblivious to my struggles. “We were well on our way. The path to transforming our military endeavors was well within our grasp.” He pauses to look at me. “All we were missing was a little foresight and power.”

“What are you talking about?” This conversation is nuttier than when Cooper tried to convince me that alternate realities existed. Taking over the world? This guy is totally crazy.

“Your father holds the research that could turn young soldiers into fighting machines. All he had to do was turn over his research and we’d be in a position to win any war. With his serum, normal teenage boys can be manipulated to control and destroy the enemy. And being able to predict the future, well, that would set us over the top.”

The visual invokes an inner fear within. He’s talking about building an army of psychic psychotic youth. He wants to reduce my dad’s life work into turning our country into a dystopian society with a lobotomized military. “You’re crazy.”

“But all is not lost. Now I have you. I’ve been waiting for you to come back. Oh, don’t look so surprised,” he says, noting my expression. “Not everyone was blind to the changes in this reality once you returned. I kept copious records and read them every day. A reminder of what to expect should you ever return. I know full well what it was like before you took your leave in this world, just as well as my understanding of the world that could have been.

Do you recall your little restroom incident at Senator Stewart’s? I had to be sure it was you, so I locked you in. I was pleased to see you had command of your powers. Thank you for obliging me.”

I knew I should have just called Alex to get me out of the bathroom. In the end, all I did was tip him off. “My dad isn’t going to help you now, so why don’t you just let us go.”

Oliver stops pacing and returns to where I’m seated. He strokes my cheek. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that. You see, I’ve been doing a little experimenting on my own.” His smugness is making me sick. “All I need is you.”

 Let me go.

Oliver takes a cautionary step back as I internally commanded him to release me.

Let me go.

He takes another step back, getting closer to the door.

“I know what you’re doing. I’ll be back.” With that, he exits the room.

I remain motionless in the chair and cry. Oliver Thornberry isn’t as easy to manipulate as the butterflies in my backyard. I’m just going to have to figure out another way to get me out of here.

That’s when it dawns on me. Cooper! If anyone can get us out of here, it’s him. I slowly repeat the ritual my father showed me before I left him. Breathe and think of the place or person I want to be with.

⚛

“Etta! What are you going here?” Cooper is momentarily stunned to see me standing in front of him. “More importantly, how did you get here?”

I find Cooper working in some kind of old dilapidated office building. It’s obvious I interrupted him while he was working. Who works in the middle of the night? Not to mention working in a place like this. He never mentioned what he did for a living, other than bringing back teenage girls from alternate dimensions, but this isn’t the appropriate time to ask.

“I’m not really sure.” I quickly explain my newfound ability to astral project and how I found my father. “You have to help us get out of there.”

“You can astral project? You never told me that,” he says, still in awe of my presence.

“Of course I haven’t. How could I? I just found out I could. So are you going to help us or not.”

“I’ll be right over,” he says, not wasting any time. “Do you know how to astral back?”

“Yeah, I think I can do it again. Just hurry!”

⚛

My eyes pop open as I take in a deep breath. The ride back into my corporal body isn’t as bad the second time around. As my body begins to adjust, I strain my ears in order to make sure I don’t miss Cooper’s arrival. I don’t even know how far away he is. When I astral projected to him, it never occurred to me to ask him where he was.

The minutes that tick by are endless. Where the hell is he? Surely he can’t be that far away. Worry begins to set in. My fear is that any second now, Oliver will return, and move me from my present location before Cooper has a chance to find me.

I hear the door knob jiggle. I’m prepared to shove Oliver out the door with my mind the second he sets foot over the threshold. Only it’s not him. Cooper bursts through the door with my father not far behind.

“Where’s Oliver?”

“There’s no one in the house,” Cooper says, untying the knots that bound me to the chair. “After I went to get your father, we did a thorough search of the house.”

As I’m released from the binds, I look over to my father. “Dad, are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” He turns to Cooper, “I know you have something to do with the Council. I’m not sure what you’re planning, or how you knew where to find us, but thank you for coming.”

Cooper’s scent tickles my senses as he unbinds me from the chair—licorice and cloves. Even after being rescued from a hostage situation, he still manages to give me goose bumps. I hope he didn’t notice them when he was untying me.

“What about Jaime? Is she safe? Where is she?” She’s my best friend and I don’t care if her dad went all psycho on me. All I care about is her safety.

“If she was here, she isn’t anymore. He must have taken the family with him,” Cooper says.

I’m positive Jaime had nothing to do with her dad abducting me, but there’s a little part of me that can’t help but wonder what role she played by asking me over in the first place. Could she have known that inviting me over would put me in danger? I momentarily push those thoughts from my mind, as I focus my attention on the two most important men in my life.