Chrysoprase (The Chalcedony Chronicles) by B. Kristin McMichael Page B

I’m not leaving Seth behind,” I replied. It didn’t matter what Logan said. I couldn’t live the rest of my life wondering how it would have turned out with Seth. I needed the chance to find out.
    Logan turned back to me. “Mari, the goddess is in charge. If she says he can’t come back, then he can’t come back. I wish I could say something else, but that’s the way it works. She has the power, and no matter who we think should or shouldn’t be in a particular time, we don’t get the choice.” His words were a bit bitter.
    “We’ll see about that,” I replied and turned on my heels to walk away. Thankfully, he didn’t stop me. The goddess may have a say as to who she helps, but I had the power to travel now. And with Dee’s stone, I could choose who I helped. I just hoped the goddess wouldn’t send them back right after I got them here.
    I passed the Sangre house on my walk back to school, and as I did, Ty popped out the doorway. He was fully dressed and had his bag with him.
    “Heading back to the dorms?” I asked.
    He shook his head. “No, we need to stop at the library and try something.”
    “We?” I asked. He looked a little shaken, but happy. He followed behind me as I crossed the deserted road outside their house.
    “Well that’s what you just told me to do. We can use one of those little private study rooms and give the time travel stuff a chance,” Ty replied. I stopped on the other side of the road, and he stopped beside me.
    “What?” I asked. I could feel my mouth hanging open and there was nothing I could do about it.
    “You just popped into my living room while I was sitting there studying. You said we should go to the library to study and give the time travel a try,” Ty replied as he started to walk. I tripped a little as I tried to catch up to him. I had to learn how to time travel, but it seemed a bit sudden of a start.
    Ty laughed at my stumble. “Yeah, well you should have seen me. I guess you’ll see me in a few minutes, but yes, I didn’t think we’d be trying today. Heck, we haven’t even made a plan yet of what to do to get everyone back. Seth and Dee will come back, I’m sure, but how do we get them back without the goddess stones? You have one and I do, and it seems Seth’s no longer works.”
    I guess I had forgotten a few details to tell him since I got back.
    “Yeah, well I have two stones,” I answered. It was Ty’s turn to stare at me.
    “I took my grandfather’s carnelian stone, which turned out to be Seth’s. The goddess kind of gave it to me forever.” I pulled up my coat sleeve to show Ty the red lines. They were getting darker each day.
    “That’s the carnelian?” Ty asked, stopping to look closer at the lines. He could see the lines even if Sim couldn’t.
    “Yeah. Dee didn’t give me a chance to respond after he gave me his stone. Now I have two stones, but that still isn’t enough.” I rolled my sleeve back down to protect my arm from the cold. It was strange. I did it out of habit, but once the sleeve was back down I realized my arm wasn’t even cold. The stone kept me warm.
    “If you have two stones, and I have one, then couldn’t you just go back to get them both and bring them back? I could wait here, or we could both just go back and bring one home at a time,” Ty suggested.
    “They’re not the only ones I need to bring back,” I replied. Ty didn’t ask right away. He waited for me to explain.
    We had made it to the woods between east and west campus now. The bare trees were different than the fall foliage on the day Seth saved me, and it was too late to not fall for him. That day I had to admit the truth. Now, it was so different. All my new memories were different. I needed to get him back, but I couldn’t leave my mother there.
    “The goddess took my mother back,” I finally told Ty.
    “What?” Ty asked, grabbing my arms and turning me to face him. “She did what?”
    “She took my mother back to the past,” I