Page 34 of Just in Time
I wondered if I should just call this time a wash and roll back. Start again.
And then I felt Brody’s body disappear beside me.
Panicked, I opened my eyes just in time to see him fade away.
“Shit,” I muttered, closing my eyes and reaching for the edges of the time plane. I turned it back, just mine. I’d explain to the guys when I got there.
* * *
My feet walkedbackwards out of the theater and I let go of the plane when they reached the front door. I blinked and glanced around, looking up at Brody with a look that must not have hidden my fear very well. I threw my arms around him and hugged tightly.
“What happened?” he asked, reaching out to grab Indy’s arm and drag him over to the side near the bathroom entrance.
“I found the rip, but I couldn’t close it. Someone was like… throwing something at me. Ice cubes, it felt like? From really high up, because they hurt…” I shook my head. “The balcony seating, maybe?”
Indy blinked a little, seemingly taken aback by my sudden change in demeanor. “You failed?”
“Ice throwers,” I reiterated. “Balcony. Can you guys go up there and take care of that?”
“Sure, baby.” Brody replied, patting my arm and kissing my forehead. “You okay?”
“I watched you disappear, so… no…” I replied, shaking my head. “Find those ice throwers and deal with them.”
“You got it, sugar.” He kissed me again, grabbing Indy’s arm and taking him towards the balcony stairs.
I heard Indy say as they walked away. “So is that something you get used to? Because that was freaky.”
“Yeah, yeah. Hazards of a time witch mate,” Brody replied, smiling as they walked up the stairs.
I made my way to the same exact seat I’d sat in before, careful not to bounce my legs and upset the dude in front of me this time now that I didn’t have Brody and Indy to defend my honor. The last thing I needed was some asshole breaking my focus this time around.
The lights went down, the audience whooped, the shifters howled.
The previews began and my spine started tingling once more.
I glanced upwards at the rip, spotting it sooner than I had the first time around.
I looked around, and closed my eyes.
I tugged at the rip edges again. Making a little more progress than before, I was further along than I was before when the person beside me leaned over and dumped their drink all over my lap.
“Fuck,” they exclaimed and I opened my eyes, the rip no more closed than it had been before, my lap completely sticky, ice cold and soaking wet.
Sighing, I decided to wait for Indy to come down here so I could find out where the ice thrower was. Looks like a third time was in order.
* * *
I turnedmyself back to when Brody had pulled me to the side the previous time.
“Ice thrower on front row, far side away from the stairs,” I informed Indy. “If you could go up there and toss their cup in the trash, that’d be awesome.”
He had that same blank, blinking face of confusion as he turned up towards the balcony stairs upon our entering the cinema. Brody started to go with him, but I dragged him back with me. “You come sit by me. Otherwise some idiot spills his drink in my lap,” I said softly.
“How many times have you…” he asked, trailing off.
“This is the third time,” I admitted, pressing my lips together. It had to work this time, but even if it didn’t, there was no limit to how many times I’d try.
I squeezed Brody’s hand and we took our seats.
