A World Without You(61)

“And trying to shut down this school,” Ryan growls.

“Well, maybe it should be shut down!”

The teachers by the door shoot Gwen a look. It’s Family Day. There are people watching. Gwen nods at them so they don’t try to separate us, and she continues in a lower voice, “Maybe if the Doctor had a better idea of what’s going on, maybe if he was more willing to drug us up or whatever, maybe Sofía wouldn’t have died.”

Gwen can’t help that she doesn’t understand. She’s too deep in the officials’ illusion.

“Don’t worry,” I tell her. “I know you don’t understand, but we’re going to make it all okay.”

“You’re not,” Gwen says bluntly. “And the school will shut down anyway.”

“I will not let that happen,” Ryan says in a fierce, low voice. Behind him, a painting of Berkshire Academy when it first opened trembles on the wall. He can’t control his telepathy when he’s emotional.

“Whatever.” Gwen glares at him, and when she turns to face me, the sympathy in her eyes from before is gone, replaced by anger and impatience. “I tried. There’s no getting through to you.”

She storms off, heading in the direction of her mom. And even though Gwen’s forgotten about her powers, I see sparks trickling from her balled-up fists.

“So the first thing we have to do,” Ryan says, “is confirm that all records are destroyed. If Gwen’s right and the school is definitely doomed, at least we can make sure that we’re not sent somewhere worse.”

I see movement at the top of the stairs. I jerk my head around, expecting to see Phoebe, but instead, at the top of the landing is a soaking wet boy staring at me through clumps of dripping hair. “Be right back,” I tell Ryan. Ignoring his protests, I creep up the stairs toward the drowned Carlos Estrada. I move slowly, as if I were approaching a deer in the wild.

“Hey,” I say in a low voice.

Carlos Estrada doesn’t move, but his red-rimmed eyes flick to me.

“Why . . . why are you here? Why am I seeing you?”

Carlos opens his mouth. Water pours from it, and he makes a gurgling sound.

“Do you know . . . can you speak to Sofía?” I ask.

And then he’s gone.

“Who are you talking to?” a small voice says from the top step.

I turn. Ryan, who followed me, is staring at me like I’m nuts, but Harold is with him, and he just looks curious.

I go to Harold immediately. Everyone always ignores Harold. But there’s no one that I want to talk to more right now.

“So you didn’t see . . . ?” I jerk my head toward the empty space in the hallway where Carlos Estrada had been dripping water all over the carpet.

Harold shakes his head. He hadn’t seen him.

That means I’m not seeing ghosts—although Carlos Estrada was certainly dead. No, I’m seeing people from the past. I’m seeing Carlos Estrada in the moment just before he died, pulling him from the pool as his lungs filled with water. If he had been saved, if someone had noticed in time and dragged him from the water and given him CPR and saved his life, would Carlos Estrada have sputtered out an impossible tale about swallowing water and then ending up in the lush hallway of a beautiful academy, with a boy talking to him, quizzing him about Sofía?

If I grab hold of Carlos next time I see him, will I be pulled into his present, at the quincea?era where Sofía was, underwater but in the same time as her? Would I bob up to the surface and surprise a fifteen-year-old version of my girlfriend? I’m going to try that. Next time I see him, I’m going to try that.

A giggle of relief escapes my lips. It hardly matters. What matters is that I’m not seeing ghosts, not like Harold does.

Sure, that means rather than going crazy or being haunted, I’m in a world where the timestream is cracking around me, and it’s possible that the entire space-time continuum is shattering at my feet like broken glass, but it also means that as I crash through time, I will see Sofía, and that’s enough for me.

“Thanks,” I say to Harold. I turn on my heel, heading toward the dorms. I want to try the timestream again. The Doctor always says that it’s our emotions that lead to a lack of control, and I am hoping that it’s been my doubts that have affected my ability to travel in time. The more I questioned whether I could save Sofía, the more erratic the timestream became. Intent matters. Maybe confidence does too.

Dr. Franklin’s office door swings open as I pass, and Phoebe practically collides into me. “Bo!” the Doctor says, surprised. “I didn’t know you were there!”

I glare at him, at Phoebe as she leaves, walking hurriedly to the stairs and back to our parents without meeting my eyes. What was that about? What did he tell her? What did she tell him?

“Come into my office,” Dr. Franklin says, holding the door open.





CHAPTER 40




He asks how I’m doing.

I lie and say everything is fine. I don’t mention the cracks in the timestream. I don’t mention seeing Carlos Estrada or any of the other people from the past.

I don’t even mention Sofía.

But I do bring up Phoebe. “What were you talking to her about?”

“Just how she’s doing. She thinks you’re happier here than at home. Is that true?”