Remember Yesterday

53

I don’t understand. He was just here. Where could he have gone? Why would he have left me now, of all times?

Unless…this was what he intended the entire time. His words in the air shaft come rushing back. If we get separated, meet me the cabin where the time machine is housed.

Why would we get separated? I asked.

He didn’t answer.

Why? What could he possibly want to do here in the past, without my knowing?

The answer comes to me, and it pitches me forward, slamming my knees hard against the tile. Other than saving Callie, there’s only one possible thing that could interest him about this past.

His younger self.

My heart thunders. My throat dries. My gut alternates between screaming and weeping. This isn’t right. He’s not finding his younger self to say “hello.” He wouldn’t have been so secretive. He’s looking for his younger self in order to do something to him. I have no idea what, but it can’t be good. I need to find him. Now.

I race into the corridor. I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know where I’m going. Tanner’s the one with the security clearance, not me. He’s the one who knows his way around the computer systems. He’s my only contact. So what do I do? Who can I get to help?

There’s only one possibility, really. Someone who will help me without asking too many questions. Someone whose approximate location I know.

The six-year-old Olivia.

Tucking my head, I skip down the stairs and walk toward the spot where Tanner crashed into Olivia and sent a plant flying. According to the blueprint I memorized, William’s office isn’t far from here. Hopefully, even though Logan came tearing after Callie, Olivia is still with the FuMA guard in his office, resting after receiving that horrific vision of the future.

I pass our point of interception, but I don’t see any ceramic pieces on the floor. No trail of spilled soil, either. Which means enough time has passed for someone to clean up the mess.

Please, Olivia. I break into a jog. Please still be with William.

I careen around the corner, making a beeline for the first block of glass-walled offices. Oh, thank the Fates. They’re here. I press a hand against my chest, breathing hard. Olivia is sitting in a lounge chair, and a man with russet hair tipped with gold holds out a cup to her, urging her to drink from it.

They both look up, startled, when I burst through the door.

“Callie.” The man I assume is William jerks to his feet, the cup slipping through his fingers. “Is everything okay? Logan was so worried. He seemed to think somebody might get hurt.”

He thinks I’m Callie. Good. I have on a FuMA uniform rather than the silver jumpsuit she was wearing. My wig’s also a slightly different color from hers. He doesn’t notice. Why would he? What’s more likely—that I’m a time traveler from the future or the girl he just saw a few minutes ago?

“I’m fine. Everything’s fine.” Are our voices similar enough? William doesn’t blink, so they must be. “I just need to talk to Olivia. Privately. Is that okay?”

He picks up the cup and sets it on a tray next to a white candle. “Of course. She may be in shock after receiving that vision of the future. It’ll be good for her to talk to you before we take her back to MK.”

Without another look, the guard ambles out of the room.

But Olivia is not so easily fooled. She tilts her head, her eyes flitting from the too-brown wig to the new set of clothes. “You’re not Callie. You can trick him, but you can’t trick me. You’re the one I see in my future. The one who helps me. I thought it was Callie at first. That’s why I showed her the vision. But it’s not. It’s you.”

I crouch in front of her, so that our eyes are closer to being level. “My name’s Jessa,” I say slowly. “Like your friend Jessa. Exactly like her, except ten years older. I’m from the future.”

She nods. The realization passes through her eyes. The knowledge settles in their depths. She doesn’t freak out. She doesn’t cry or scream. She is the most composed six-year-old I’ve ever met, but maybe that’s because she’s lived decades, maybe even centuries in the future. She bears the weight of human experience on her thin shoulders.

“I need your help,” I say. “I came here with a friend. You know him—or at least you know him as he was in this time. His name is Tanner Callahan, and he lives in these buildings. FuMA is training him to be a scientist.”

“Of course I know Tanner,” she says primly. “But I don’t play with him ’cause he’s a boy.”

“Can you…take me to him?”

“Sure. I know exactly where he is. He spends all his mornings in one place.”

I help her out of the lounge chair and, thank the Fates, she seems steady enough on her feet. We stop by the room next door, the other half of William’s office.

He’s picking helmet contraptions off the floor, from where they must’ve been knocked down. “Are you taking Olivia? I don’t want her going anywhere unless it’s back to MK. You and Logan better get out of here. Especially now that we know what the future holds.” He shakes his head, his face almost translucent next to his red hair. “That vision was damn scary. Jeesh. No wonder the chairwoman wants to keep it under wraps.”

“You have my word I’ll get Olivia back to MK.” I cross to him and take his hand. I don’t know him, but he helped my sister. For that, I’ll always be grateful. “Things are about to get…crazy. You’ve helped us enough. I don’t want to get you in more trouble by telling you anything else.”

He nods, and I know this is nothing new for him. As an Underground sympathizer and a FuMA employee, he’s used to operating on a need-to-know basis.

We leave. Olivia walks next to me sedately. No jumping. No skipping. A completely different girl than the one who ran down these halls earlier.

“Olivia, are you okay?” I ask softly. She might be the most powerful precognitive of our time, but she’s still a little girl. One who just saw a vision of her mother condemning her to death.

“My mother doesn’t love me.”

“I’m sure she does,” I say automatically and then wince. I know no such thing. I don’t know if Dresden is capable of loving anyone, even her own daughter. “I mean, in her own way, she must.” Fike. Am I making things better or worse?

“That vision…” Her voice is so young, but the knowledge in her tone is beyond her years. Fates, it’s beyond my years. “It doesn’t have to be the future, you know. It’s only one of many possible paths. We still have time to change it.”

“I know.” The words are heavy with all the tears I still have left to shed. “When Callie left you, she came to my room and injected the syringe into her own heart. She thought it would save our world from genocide.”

“No. I’ve seen the future. I saw the girl who changes everything. And it’s not Callie. At first, I thought it was, since you two look so much alike. But I was wrong. You’re the one who saves our world.”

My mouth goes dry. “You mean because I came back here to the past? Am I successful? Does Callie wake up ten years from now?”

“I don’t know. That wasn’t part of my memory. That’s not what I saw.”

I’m almost afraid to ask. “What did you see?”

She turns to me, her eyes as luminous as the stars, as the galaxy, as time itself. If I look closely enough, I’m certain I’ll be able to see my future. Everyone’s future.

“I can’t tell you much,” she says. “When you know too much, too early, the future has a way of not coming true. But I’ll say this much: I see you next to me. We are fighting.”

Every cell in my body goes still. This is what the future Olivia told me as well. “Who are we fighting? And why?”

She presses her lips together, and I know it’s useless to pry. She’s already told me everything she’s willing to say. We walk the next two corridors in silence, and then Olivia stops at a closed door.

“Here we are,” she says. “Tanner should be inside, playing with his mazes and mice. That’s all he ever does.”

“Thank you. Do you know how to get back to MK?”

She nods.

“Will you promise to go straight there?”

She nods again.

And that’s it. Any moment now, she’ll leave, and I won’t see her for the next ten years. But I don’t want to let her go like this. Knowing her mother doesn’t love her. Believing she’s alone in the world.

I take her arm. It’s so skinny, so frail. Once upon a time, I had arms like this. “Olivia, wait. I’m your friend. You know that, right? No matter what time or place I’m in, I’ll always be your friend.”

She nods a third time, her eyes wider than usual, and scurries down the hallway.

I take a deep breath and face the door. Whatever the older Tanner Callahan is doing, I’m about to find out.