Round Trip Fare by Barb Taub

Author:Barb Taub [Taub, Barb]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Urban Fantasy Romance
Publisher: Hartwood Publishing
Published: 2016-04-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

June 2011: Seattle Metro Station

“Seattle Metro Station,” said the bells-voice announcer. “Please make sure you have all your luggage and other belongings before leaving the train.”

She stared at Harry’s cellphone in her hand. Flipping it closed, she reached for her own phone. It was probably still spelled for Claire, who was back in Null City. Carey hit the Talk button anyway.

“Jeffers,” the phone barked.

“Sir,” she whispered around the lump in her throat.

“Carey, is that you? Are you hurt?” His growl was even louder.

“I just talked to Connor.” She cleared her throat.

“And?”

“He wants me to join him.”

“I see.” The silence stretched. “What are you going to do?”

“I need to talk to Harry. But we both know I’m going to meet Connor. I don’t know if I can convince him that he’s wrong. But I have to try.”

The bells-voice announced that the train was leaving. She climbed onto the steps of the nearest car as it started to move.

“Carey, we need to talk about this first.” If she didn’t know better, she would have said he sounded…scared. Maybe he was just worried about her.

“If you talk to Yosh, tell him I’m sorry, and he has to stay away. If Connor sees him, he might not contact me. Oh, and tell Claire she was right about the tangled yarn, but I’m working on it.” She tried a chuckle, but it sounded too close to a sob. “She loves being right.”

“Carey, wait—”

She disconnected the phone.

»»•««

Carey knew she had many strengths. Nobody ever suggested that patience was one of them. Waiting for Connor to contact her was one of the hardest things she’d ever done. Unfortunately, the Metro spent the next week making runs to other-whens, and Harry’s phone didn’t work on those trips.

The reality of the plunging, churning shudders of the Metro as it crossed the time-gap between whens was, if anything, even worse than her memories of that nightmare trip with Harry and Connor so long ago. At least back then she’d had her twin, while Harry’s arms around her promised safety and protection.

She didn’t even try to take out the food trolley on the time runs. Experience had shown her that the less her passengers consumed, the better for all concerned. Her SA predecessor—Zach No-Last-Name—was just too nice, she decided. Although she appreciated his hint about the clothespin, she saw no reason why she should be the one to do the cleanup. So at the beginning of each other-when run, she would inform all passengers that they were expected to use the Mind the Gap bags, and also that they were responsible for any ensuing…mess. With Bain next to her to provide encouragement, she rarely resorted to the clothespin.

“On the other hand,” she told Bain as she stacked yet another load of incomprehensible supplies waiting for her at Between Station, “I’d like to meet Zach someday, just to ask him to explain the candles.” She waved a hand at the third carton of tiny cinnamon-scented tea-light candles she was trying to shove onto an already crowded shelf.

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