Outlaws of Time 3 by N. D. Wilson

Author:N. D. Wilson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2018-02-16T00:00:00+00:00

8

Family Will Out

ALEXANDER MIRACLE COULDN’T STOP RUBBING HIS HANDS on the polished grips of the two revolvers in the heavy double holster that he had strapped on over his new trousers. The black leather of the holster matched his tall boots, and all of it had been polished to a high shine. His wine-colored vest had almost as much gleam, and it was strange how relieved he felt having pockets for all the watches. Six gold-and-pearl chains striped his torso like lights on a Christmas tree. Alex had left the one broken chain dangling under his shirt, tickling his bare ribs. The coolest thing of all was the buffalo coat. The weight of it, the warmth of it, the smell of it—he felt like he was wearing centuries. It made him feel dangerous, too, a true outlaw. Wide open, leaving his vest and guns bright and available, it was more like a buffalo cape with sleeves.

“You need a hat and a horse,” Rhonda said. She had scrounged for herself, but everything in the little bedroom had been crafted with someone of a different size, age, and gender in mind. Still, her puffy jacket was gone, and now she wore a black velvet coat embroidered with gold. It reached her knees, but she’d belted it tight around her middle and rolled the sleeves up to her elbows.

Rhonda hooked her thumbs in her belt and looked around. “I don’t see the witch anywhere, so what’s the plan. Pirates? Alexander the Great? Ancient Egypt? I’d love to see the Forbidden City in China back when there were, you know, emperors. And it was forbidden.”

Alex didn’t answer. He gripped both pistols, pulled them like a gunfighter, and then slid them back home.

To be honest, if he could be anywhere in the world at that moment, he would probably choose home. In bed. When his sisters had still lived at home. Before he’d become so very alone. Definitely before he’d had chains punched into his chest and a decade of growth added to his frame.

Rhonda stepped around in front of him, looking for eye contact that he didn’t want.

“Don’t get all depressed now,” she said. “You think this is awful? Sure. Maybe it is. And I’m pretty sure it’s real because I’m starving and I’ve never been hungry in a dream before. But even if you could, would you really want to wake up back on our stupid little street and just go right back to middle school? Because I wouldn’t. Were you really living the life you wanted?”

“I’m going back,” Alex said. “But earlier.”

“Earlier,” Rhonda said. “Because it was so much better when you were ten?”

“To find my real parents,” Alex said. “I want to know why they left me. They might be dead or they might still be out there somewhere. But they were definitely in the past. I could find them there.”

“But you were a baby, right?” Rhonda said. “When they left. You want to show up as a time traveler with a beard just to say hey to your parents? We could go anywhere .

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