I nudged Cove, asking, "Was there a sequel to What Lies Ahead?"
He shook his head. "No. Apparently, the author had been working on one but had to drop it because she didn't make enough money off the first volume. Why?"
I shrugged halfheartedly, moving the timeline back further and watching as the dots shifted on the screen. "I would have expected more issues for an app completed this quickly."
Jack scoffed. "You're thinking about it too much."
He was probably right. Still, I couldn't help a sense of foreboding and continued pursuing the nagging feeling as I looked for any sign of where the robots had been coming from. "Was it that quick in the original story?"
Cove's fingernails tapped lightly on the phone screen as he obliged. "I don't remember. Maybe? Even if not, the timeline is sped up," he pointed out, tossing my own words back out at me.
Something still didn't feel right, but for once, I hoped I was wrong. Ani rubbed his head against my leg in a comforting manner.
Jack gently pushed my phone down, forcing me to look him in the eye. "What are you implying?" he asked with a low voice and a challenging glint.
For a moment, I'd forgotten Jack and Nick were friends. As Mattie and Cove looked on, I thought quickly, not wanting to risk offending our only reliable source for food and showers. I forced myself not to rise to the obvious bait and think things through. It was easy to forget, but this was a fictional world. It was possible things worked differently here. And nothing Nick had done gave me the impression that he had nefarious purposes. "Nothing," I answered. And, because I'd brought it up, I added: "It just doesn't feel right."
Sometimes I hated using the word, 'just.' It felt like a cop-out.
"Right." It didn't sound like Jack believed me, and I had to keep from rolling my eyes.
Mattie caught the vaguest twitch of my eyes, crossed her arms, and asked, "You sure you aren't just jealous?"
"What?" My jaw dropped to the floor. I was dumbfounded.
"Didn't you say you programmed too?"
Disoriented by the question, I looked down at the ground, trying to collect my thoughts. Thinking it through, I could see how they'd arrive at that conclusion. In a normal situation, they might be right. If Nick had completed it in that time frame, I would be a little jealous. But something was still off about it–I could feel it.
I met their gazes once more, evaluating the best way to respond. Jack and Cove showed a little frustrating pity, and I couldn't stand it. No matter what I said, they wouldn't believe me if I told them I wasn't a bit jealous. Perhaps I'd grown too close for them to read me that well.
"That doesn't make me wrong." Vindictively, I started hoping I was right, even if it interfered with getting home.
Mattie did roll her eyes at that, and the others dismissed my valid concerns with the implied answer that I was jealous. "Right."
I gripped my phone tightly and buried myself in scanning for something unusual. The swirling bitterness made it challenging to focus, and I found myself rewatching the same period over and over and over.
It took a bit to cool down. When I did, my forehead wrinkled as I watched the tiny red dots on the screen move. The way they moved wasn't completely random, I noticed. In a way, they reminded me of the patterns of the automatic vacuum cleaners that had become popular recently. I moved the timeline back further, watching as one of the dots moved in as close to a straight line as possible in the city, close to where Cove and I had been looking in the sewers.
That had to be it.
To verify, I continued moving the timeline back as far as it could go, which, unfortunately, was only a few days. The robots had relatively minuscule memory saved for storing that information. It was enough to notice a couple of others follow that same path, heading back to that area near the sewers only to appear later.
"Near the old bookstore off of Maple St."
It caught their attention immediately, and everyone leaned over to take a look as I replayed that segment of the timeline.
"How are you doing that?" Jack asked, lifting his phone to squint at it skeptically.
I made a grabbing motion with my hands and placed his phone in my hands. Even though my new phone was a touch screen and he wasn't, it was easy to figure out the controls, and I showed him how to work the timeline.
He looked at his phone with the same reverence they might afford What Lies Ahead and began playing around with it while Mattie and Cove pulled my discovery up on theirs. Mattie lifted hers to her face. "How'd you get it to zoom in like that?"
Once I showed her, she pinched and pulled at her screen until satisfied. "I think I know how to get there. There's a sewer entrance right around there–it must be close."
I checked the time, then clicked the screen off and flung myself onto the couch. "Well, unless we want to start tonight," I took stock of our tired faces from our long day yesterday, "I suppose that's it."
Ani leaped onto my lap as Mattie followed my lead, letting her phone drop on the coffee table in front of her. "Don't we need a plan?"
I looked at her through my overgrown bangs. "Weren't we going to 'go by the book?' Quite literally. Find the cave, send the command to recall all robots, and have you talk to the villagers. It worked once already. Why fix what's not broken?"
Jack sat down next to Mattie, gently brushing her shoulder. "Works for me," he said, sinking bonelessly against the couch.
Mattie bit her lips. "Will you two come back to visit?" She was looking at Cove as she spoke.
He avoided her gaze. "We shouldn't."
"Well, I know this wasn't how things were supposed to go," Mattie said, referring to the original novel, "but I'm glad we met, even if I'm still not happy you lied."
How like her to get that final dig in. Next to her, Jack nodded in agreement. She elbowed him, and he jolted off the couch, moving like a puppet on strings. He cleared his throat.
"Since we're assuming you two are leaving as soon as you collect the fragment…." Jack said, turning his back to us as he gathered a few items. His ears were slightly pink as he finished and faced us, as Mattie tapped her foot impatiently against the carpeted floor.
Whatever this was must have been her idea.
Jack stood up, and I saw a Blu-ray box in his arms. He set the pile down in front of me, patting the top one. Ani straightened, trying to catch a look, as I bent over to see the title Heirs staring up at me.
Mattie leaned forward, smiling victoriously. "You mentioned they didn't have an anime for this where you came from.."
My eye caught on Jack's old flip phone, and I foud myself refusing. "I can't take this. We already have souvenirs from the carnival."
Mattie scowled, offended. "You knew them. You can't possibly be thinking of not having it." She jabbed her finger toward my face. "Just like you'd better purchase and read our book and any movies or whatnot you find of us when you get home."
Warmth bubbled up, and I couldn't stop the smile from appearing on my face. We hadn't known each other long, but it did feel like we'd become good friends. And in part, that was due to my time with Sky and the others in Heirs. I ran my fingers down the spine of the boxed set and looked at the two gratefully. "Thank you."
I didn't offer them something in return, but I was sure they understood.
Jack coughed and pulled something small out of his pocket. He handed it over to Cove, who eyed it with the awe someone who'd never gotten a thoughtful present did. I leaned to the side, taking a closer look.
It was a tiny carved wooden cat painted white with shining blue eyes. Ranch. Unable to refuse, and obviously unwilling to, Cove gently clasped his fingers around the figure, cradling it with the utmost respect. "Thank you," he said, his face bright.
His other hand dropped to pet Ranch where she was nestled against his side. She nosed him, curious, and he opened his hand to show her the figure. She gave it a few good sniffs before an approving bop with her nose.
Mattie bounced up, nearly running to stand by Jack as she scooped up her phone. "A photo!"
Cove placed the figurine next to my boxed set, giving it a pat on the head with his finger as he stood. We moved to stand awkwardly next to Jack and Mattie, keeping a few inches of space between us. Mattie had Jack hold out the phone for a selfie.
I'd had some experience with selfies as my sister regularly forced me into them, and I let the smile I'd been trying to hide peek out onto my face as Mattie snapped a picture. She had me send it to everyone, and I saved it, resolving to back it up when I got home before it was wiped or destroyed by something like an EMP. Again.