“How did he explain that?”
“You were living with his brother. He and his brother had a falling out.”
“You know Adam is your uncle?”
Jason nodded. “Seems like a nice guy to me, but my dad hates him.”
“Did he explain that Adam is his twin?”
“No, that’s impossible. My dad is like 15 years older than him.”
Anna and Tim just looked at each other again. “Okay, so as interesting as this all is. We’ve told you what you asked. Now please let Anna’s parent’s leave.”
“No! My father is still not here. He disappeared months ago and hasn’t come back. I want answers.”
“We want answers too,” Tim responded, “Do you know why your father wrote to my mother? What did he want from her? Why did he hate my parents so much that he told the Rebels where to find them? That’s what got them killed, so it is his fault.”
Jason’s face paled, slightly, “I don’t know about all that. All I know is he just wanted your mom to help us get my mom back. She didn’t. She didn’t even have the decency respond to his letter!”
Anna was putting the pieces together. Aaron missed his wife and wanted to go back to a time before she had died. He had assumed Tim’s mom knew how to control the time inconsistencies between the worlds, because he read the books she’d written. Tim heard Anna’s thoughts as she made that conclusion.
“How did he know who my mom was? She didn’t write under her real name.”
Jason rolled her his eyes. “You. We went to school together. Don’t you remember when we used to sort of be friends? Well, you were friends with Evan. You told us all about your mom’s stories. I told my dad.”
Tim visibly paled. His fault. Don’t go there.
Tim tried to reign in his thoughts. He didn’t remember ever being friends with Jason, but it made sense. He had been to Evan’s house a few times, as a child. He knew they had all been in school together in elementary. He brought his attention back to Jason. “Let her parents go. We’ll take their place.”
Jason thought for a moment and finally agreed. “Fine. You two are who I wanted anyway. You just weren’t there when I got there. I tried at that storage place, but that stupid cop got in the way.”
Anna’s eyes widened. She had almost gone home with him to talk that night. Tim knew what she was thinking and now it was his turn to reassure her. He squeezed her hand. Jason saw the exchange and decided that they needed to learn just who was in charge of their current situation.
He turned towards Einna and Tre. “Go. Don’t come back,” he told them, as he reached behind his back and pulled a gun out of his waistband, “Don’t tell anyone where we are, either, if you want to see them again.”
“Oh no,” Anna whispered.
She turned towards her parents. “It’s okay. Go. We’ll be fine.”
Tim tossed Tre the keys to the car and told him where it was. He watched until they were safely out of sight.
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
Jason was pacing back and forth, gun in hand, but not pointing it towards them. I think I can make an energy shield, but I have no idea if it can deflect a bullet.
It’ll have to do, if it comes to that.
Tim squeezed her hand tightly, trying to reassure her. “I’m sorry, are you having a moment? Should I come back later?”
They both turned and looked at Jason. Anna couldn’t believe this was the same boy she’d spent so much time with over the last few years. “Jason, please calm down,” she tried reasoning with him, “We’ve given you the answers we can. We can’t do anything else.”
“Give me back my father.”
“I can’t do that. He’s gone. I’m sorry. He was going to kill me.”
“You’re a liar! You say things like that about my father. You say nothing is between you and Tim, yet you haven’t let go of him since you got here. You say you have powers-”
Jason stopped short and just started at Anna. She was holding up her hand, which was lit up with her light. It wasn’t the same energy that had ended Aaron, but Jason just needed proof there was more going on than he understood. “I have powers. Tim has powers. We are telling you the truth.”
Jason was visibly shaking. “No, it’s a trick. You’re trying to trick me!” he yelled, pointing the gun directly at Anna.
Tim focused his power as strongly as he could. He imagined a wall in front of her that would stop anything that tried to get through. If that gun went off, he hoped it was enough. Tim, can you make him fall asleep?
If I can get close enough to touch him, yes. I put a shield in front of you. Go invisible. It should distract him enough that I can get to him.
Okay. On the count of three. One… two… three!
Anna disappeared and Jason freaked out. He jumped over the couch, dropping the gun, his eyes searching everywhere to locate Anna. Tim changed his plan at the last moment. Instead of going towards Jason, he dove to get the gun. Jason saw him dive and realized he no longer had his weapon. They both landed on the floor, the gun underneath them. Anna knew this couldn’t end well. She tried to concentrate on the power that scared her most- the blue light that started their current mess. She focused and sent a tiny burst directly to the gun, which instantly heated the metal that it was too hot for either boy to touch. They both yelled in pain and dropped the gun. Before Tim could recover, Jason tackled him. They rolled around on the floor, neither one getting the upper hand. Make him sleep, Tim!
Tim pushed the calming thoughts with his power to make Jason sleep. It didn’t work. He’s too angry. It’s not going
