Remember Yesterday

57

“Are the doors locked?” my father asks the next morning. “The shades drawn? Com units off?”

“Yes,” I say. We’re back in Preston’s apartment, and we’re as ready as we’ll ever be. More ready than even he suspects.

My head’s fuzzy. My limbs ache. I haven’t slept for twenty-four hours because I’ve been busy making arrangements for my secret plan. A plan no one knows about except Tanner. But sleep is overrated. Just ask Callie. She’s being doing nothing but sleep these last ten years.

“You’re sure Dresden doesn’t know?” My father wheels on Tanner. “You swear you didn’t let anything slip in a conversation, in a report?”

Tanner holds up his hands. “Not a word. I swear to the Fates.”

“She can’t know about Callie, you understand?” He paces the living area, leaving angry red footprints on the pressure-sensitive tile. “She thinks Callie’s dead, that her body’s disposed of. If she discovers I snuck her out, it will blow my cover—everyone’s cover. We’ll no longer be the docile Underground under her thumb but the secret rebellion plotting to overthrow her. It will ruin everything.”

My mom puts her hand on his arm, and he stills. “I’m sorry.” He drops his forehead onto her shoulder. “I’m just nervous.”

It’s amazing to see the connection between them already. It’s like they picked up where they left off twenty-three years ago. And that connection will only continue growing. Even if Callie wakes up today, even if his bond with my sister is no longer needed to connect her to the present time, Preston’s not going anywhere.

“I’ve already lost you once,” my mom said fiercely to him yesterday. “I’m not going to risk losing you again. The past has already happened. Jessa survived it, and so did I. So let’s just leave well enough alone. If you go back, there’s no telling what the world will look like.” She lowered her voice. “No telling how worse off Callie’s condition could be.”

Preston couldn’t argue. Even though I know it kills him to lose twenty-three years with us, he didn’t want to risk losing our family, either. Not when we’re about to be reunited once again.

I tear my eyes from my parents and look around the rest of the room. We’re all here, gathered outside the room where Callie’s body lies. Mikey and Angela, with little Remi in her arms. Logan. Ryder, my best friend, who comforts me just with his presence. Zed and his wife, Laurel. Brayden. Tanner. My mom, my dad, and me. We’re the people who mean the most to Callie. We also happen to be the leadership of the Underground and the first fugitives Dresden would chase if —and when—she learns the truth.

After all, nothing stays a secret from Dresden for long. Tanner told me they’re already looking for Callie’s body. It’s been four days since we snuck her out of that cavernous room, and it’s only a matter of time before they find her.

But Preston doesn’t know that. And now’s not the time to tell him.

We troop into the next room and arrange ourselves around Callie’s body. My sister lies on the stretcher, breathing evenly, gently. Lost in the sea of time. Her eyelids are closed and her limbs are loose and limp. She has no idea we’re about to yank her back to the present.

“Step away,” I say to the others. “Give me space.”

Sweat soaks my hair, and my heart drills a hole through my chest. We’ve got more than one shot at this, but the first time has the greatest chance of success. With every repetition, the jingle will become less strange. Less likely to jostle her mind. Callie will begin to absorb the jingle into her consciousness, and then it will feel like every other memory to her. Floating and aimless.

Everyone takes a big step back except Logan.

As we previously discussed, he stands across from me. I hold one of Callie’s hands, and he holds the other.

I square my shoulders, and the air around me seems to vibrate. Or maybe that’s just my trembling nerves. I send a quick prayer into the universe. And then I speak:

“How do you kill the beast?

You take away his food, he feeds off the air

You cut off his head

He grows another one with hair.

How do you stop the chairwoman?

You become her friend

And change the system from within.”

Her eyes twitch. As if she’s trying to open them. As if she’s struggling to remember how.

I suck in a breath. The only other time this happened was when I sent her the memory. That means she hears my words. That means she has a reaction.

“The jingle did its job,” my father says softly. “It triggered her mind. Her mind has stopped zooming, and it’s trying to figure out where to land. Now, it’s up to the two of you. Let her hear your voices. Bring her back to us.”

Logan brings her hand to his chest. As we planned, he’s going first. “Come back to me, Callie. Please. Wake up.”

I shoot him a look as if to say, Is that all you’ve got?

He shuffles his feet. I know he’s uncomfortable. He’s been shut down so often whenever he talked about Callie. He’s had to put so many priorities ahead of his grief. He’s not used to speaking so openly.

“Give her your heart, Logan,” I murmur. “That’s why you’re here.”

He nods, swallows. And begins again.

“Callie. Calla Lily. My heart, my red leaf. I’ve been in love with you since I was twelve. Since you leaned back in your chair, craning your neck to see the sun. I knew from that moment you were the girl for me. You’re good and kind and brave. More importantly, you love deeply and unconditionally. You don’t hold anything back.” His voice breaks, and he lowers his face over their hands. “You…you destroyed me, Callie. I understand why you did it. You wouldn’t be who you are if you hadn’t. But you’ve been lying there for ten years now. I continued living, but your absence is the constant in my life. It greets me every morning and accompanies me to bed every night. I can live without you. I know that now.”

His voice grows stronger in both volume and depth. It pierces all the way through me. “But I don’t want to. I gave you a leaf to remind you of the sun, Callie. But you are my sun. Without you, my world is dark, and it’s time for you to come back to me again.”

I stare as hard as I can at her face. Is that another twitch? Yes, it has to be. A definite flutter of her eyelashes. She’s trying. Father of Time, she’s doing her best to get her eyes open.

Come on, Callie. You can do it. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up.

And then, miracle of miracles, it happens. Her eyes creak open. They shut again immediately. But they open once more, squinting against the dim light. They dart around the room a few times, a hummingbird lost in flight, and then they settle on me.

My world tilts. Flips upside down, turns inside out. If I weren’t holding onto Callie’s hand, I might slide right off this plane into a different dimension. Is this moment really happening?

It is.

“Jessa?” her voice rasps. It’s little more than a whisper, and it isn’t any wonder. She hasn’t spoken for ten years.

My eyes are wet and blurry, and I don’t know if I’m crying, or if she is, or if it’s the very air that’s weeping. “It’s me, Callie. I’m here. And so are you. So are you.”

The others get in line, and one by one, they each have their moment with her. She recognizes all of them, even my dad. And then, it’s Logan’s turn. They don’t say much, but they don’t need to. Their love is apparent in the graze of his knuckles against her cheek, in the way their gazes latch onto each other’s and refuse to waver.

My heart is full to the point of bursting. I’m crying and laughing. I hug my mom and kiss Tanner and toss baby Remi into the air. I’ve experienced joy before, but nothing like this. Nothing even close to this.

I know, without a single, slightest doubt: I’ve never been so happy in my life.