Traveler (Traveler #1)(13)

I must be making a face, because he smiles at me to reassure me. “Nothing’s going to hurt you here, Jessa. This is just an observational platform.”

“Right,” I say, trying to sound like this is all perfectly fine. “I’m right behind you.”

He opens the door, and I take a deep breath.

I step through, and I’m in a baseball stadium. Thousands of fans are cheering around us, and Mario is somehow now eighty years old and wearing one of those cabbie caps that old guys like to wear to cover their bald spots. I have no idea how I know it’s still him, but I do.

He takes the cap off and folds it in his hand. “Yankee Stadium,” he says, gesturing with the flopping hat.

“I saw a game here once with my dad,” I say. “It was a long time ago, though.”

“Huh?” He leans in, cupping a hand to his ear.

“I said, I’ve been here before,” I say loudly.

He nods. “It’s too loud here, don’t you think? Come on.”

He walks back toward the red door again—which is visible in the wall behind the last row of seats—and we walk back through.

Instead of the classroom, we’re standing next to a river, on the outskirts of a rain forest. Mario is now a woman, short and brown-skinned, with thick black hair.

“It’s a lot more peaceful here,” she says.

“You can go back and forth like this?” I ask, awestruck. “What are you—a shape-shifter or something?”

“It’s the dreamscape.” She shrugs. “I can look like anyone here. I can take you anywhere you want to go. Or show you anyone in any reality.”

“Won’t people notice us?”

“It’s not real. Think of it like … an interactive movie. It feels real while you’re here, but it’s just a projection.”

I glance around. “I don’t think I’ve ever been here before.”

“You haven’t. Not this you, anyway.” She motions me toward a nearby shack. There are fish hanging on a line, drying in the sun, and the red door stands out from its frame. She opens it and once again motions me through.

“How many realities are we going to visit?” I ask.

“Last one tonight,” she says. “I promise.”

We step through and we’re in the middle of the desert. Scrub brush dots the landscape, and it’s evening.

A fire has been built within a circle of red boulders, and Mario gestures for me to take a seat on one of the boulders. I do a double-take because he now looks like a young Native American boy, and he’s beautiful. His hair is long and silky, and his high cheekbones and flawless skin make him look almost too perfect in the firelight. He catches me staring and smiles as he finds a boulder of his own.

Sitting next to him is a man in his early forties, blond-haired and steely-eyed with an impeccable haircut and dressed in a business suit—which really looks odd, considering we’re sitting on rocks. And next to him …

“Hi,” Finn says. “Glad you made it.”

“Another face change?” the other man remarks to Mario in an amused tone.

“Variety,” Mario says with a shrug.

“I like this place,” Finn says, looking up at the sky. “I forget how beautiful the stars are out in the desert.”

“Where are we, anyway?” I take a seat, doing my best to get comfortable on the boulder next to Finn.

“Arizona,” Mario replies. “In this reality, your father got a job out here six years ago.” He points off away from the foothills. “If you walk that way for about two miles, you’ll be in your backyard.”

“Ahem.” Mario’s companion clears his throat slightly, and Mario gestures to him.

“Jessa, this is Rudy. He’s another Dreamer.”

“Rudy?” I raise my brows. “Why don’t you have old Greek names?”

“We’re not Greek,” Mario says. “I told you, that’s only one of the mythologies we appear in. We predate your civilizations by quite a bit. These names will do fine.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I say, giving Rudy a nod.

“Rudy is my Dreamer,” Finn says. “Mario invited us over so we could all have a discussion.”

“Is that normal?”

“It’s highly unusual,” Rudy says. “But in this case, we feel a need to break protocol.”

Mario threads his hands together, balancing his elbows on his knees, and looks over at me.

“Jessa, it’s time to level with you,” he says. “I haven’t told you everything.”

“I would imagine there’s an awful lot more to know.”

He shakes his head. “No, not the Traveler stuff. That’ll come,” he agrees. “You need to know why Finn is really here.”

I look over at Finn, and I’m suddenly feeling uneasy. “What haven’t you told me, Finn?”

He takes a deep breath. “I was sent by Rudy to find you. This you. Specifically.”

“Me?” I clarify. “Why?”

“Because you’re at risk,” Rudy interjects.

Finn leans forward, running his hands through his hair. “Jessa, now you know that you exist in multiple realities. But the truth is, there are fewer and fewer of you every day.’”