Time Rebound by Cathy Peper

Author:Cathy Peper [Peper, Cathy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781946548030
Publisher: Gluesticks and Gemstones
Published: 2018-08-31T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

Ari lifted her head, stomach still churning and vision blurring. The bare trees still ringed them and despair filtered through her physical misery. Despite all their efforts, they had failed and now would have to face that persistent and annoying reporter and try to explain why they were gathered around the ATV like it was a campfire and they were singing Kumbaya. She sighed, pushing herself up with shaking arms. Bryce still lay across the wheel of their ATV and Hannah was curled into a ball, moaning. She stepped from the ATV, gathering her scattered thoughts so she could come up with an acceptable story for Di Merrell.

Except Di wasn’t there anymore. She and her ATV had disappeared completely. Ari blinked. It wasn’t like the reporter to give up on a story. She glanced up at the sky, which was still a dull gray, studded with clouds. But the trees were shorter and more numerous, the clearing not so much an open area as a few young trees struggling for sunlight in a thicket of underbrush. Except for one giant tree towering over it all like a benevolent grandfather. A tree that had not been there previously. She would have noticed its grandeur, the rough bark of its skin, scarred here and there from the travails of life. They were in the same place and yet they weren’t. Time alone would tell if they had reached their destination.

“Bryce!” She shook his shoulder. “I think it worked.”

He looked up, eyes unfocused, the color drained from his skin. “Ari,” he said, his voice tinged with wonder as if he hadn’t spent the last week living with her.

“Are you okay, Bryce,” Ari asked, belatedly recalling he was still suffering from a serious injury. He always seemed in control, above regular human weakness.

He shook his head and clarity returned to his eyes. “We did it!” He grinned, looking boyishly handsome and more like the man she had known four years ago. “My treasure stash should be no more than an hour away if we can use the ATV.”

They looked around the vast forest in dismay. Although it might be called an all-terrain vehicle, it wasn’t really. People rode them on trails, not across brush and stumps. They might end up on foot after all, so it was a good thing they had packed their gear in backpacks.

Ari turned her attention to Hannah, rousing the girl and offering her a water bottle from their stash. After a few moments, Hannah also appeared less dizzy and disoriented.

“Are we lost?” she asked. “Where’s the trail? Are we going to see Uncle Sebastien and Aunt Tori?”

“Sort of and yes,” Ari answered. “We aren’t lost, we just don’t know exactly where (and when?) we are. But we will find out and then we’ll look for Sebastien and Tori. I can’t wait to see your uncle’s face.”

“We dig up the treasure first,” Bryce reminded her.

“Why? I’ve told you all along we don’t need the money.”

“Money always makes things easier.

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