Threads from the Future: An Urban Science-Fantasy Adventure (This Waypointe Universe Book 1) by Jennifer San Filippo

Author:Jennifer San Filippo [San Filippo, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-08-21T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

Mei June

PRESENT DAY

Otto’s Tacos was not open on Sundays.

Not many things bothered to close on Sundays in the city. There was an Irish breakfast place uptown that sometimes did. Sometimes Jia Li closed the antique shop, but doing so on a Sunday was more from coincidence than any sense of tradition. But Otto’s Tacos was closed, and it wouldn’t open again until tomorrow at eleven.

It looked smaller than it had in the photo: a narrow glass front, clear enough to see that the restaurant was dark and laid out straight back, so that the front itself took only a few yards of the strip. A faded sign on the inside promised the hottest salsa around, a heat that can’t be beat!

When she had decided to come here (on her bike, since her car had been totaled), Mei June had thought she would order lunch while she waited for nothing to happen. Now though, she was too nervous to eat.

Which was ridiculous. Clearly nothing would happen.

She glanced around, feeling exposed. It wasn’t the seediest area, but it wasn’t great. Some construction down the street made it difficult for cars to find parking, so there were fewer people strolling on the sidewalk. She pulled out her phone.

Two minutes to go.

She felt stupid, even as her heart started to speed up. She had scoured the Internet last night about getting a cell signal off the wrong phone and had basically found nothing. It was possible to run into issues with a faulty SIM card, but the card in question was destroyed.

She glanced around at people. A couple farther down dragged their dog away from a trash can, walking away from her. One dirtier fellow bounced along on the other side of the street, hammering some drumsticks on a streetlight pole; Mei June thought of Dante with a pang.

Her heart was beating in her throat. She checked her phone again. One minute.

The man with the drumsticks was walking in her direction, though he was still on the other side of the street. The couple with the dog gave him a wide berth, but he didn’t even seem to see them.

Mei June narrowed her eyes. What if this was the man she was supposed to meet? He could be someone like Boid—not from this universe. Could they mess with cellphones like that? Why hadn’t she asked Dante more about them?

She watched the man as he ambled by. She tried to stare without getting caught, but he kept turning in circles, singing some melody to himself as he walked. He looked like any other mentally ill homeless person—this side of town wasn’t short on them—but Mei June felt herself tensing.

He spotted her, flashed her a smile, and kept singing.

She watched him dance away, feeling relieved and disappointed at the same time. Maybe this had been a waste of time. She pulled out her phone again.

It was 11:23am.

She glanced around, but nothing looked different. A man in a gray jacket was letting himself into a storefront farther down the street.

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