told us Sam Chase was his best projectionist.â
âAnd a projectionist is . . . ,â Dad prompted.
âSomeone who makes predictions for time travelers,â Katherine answered. âSo they can see how their trip might affect time. Usually you donât want to change anything about the past, because it could mess up everything.â
âBut Sam Chase got sick of things not changing.â Jonah took up the story. He crossed his arms in a way that made him look furious. âHe tricked JBâand, well, me and Katherine and our friend Andrea, tooâand he decided to rearrange history. He started calling himself Second Chance.â
âAnd he shifted and split time, just for the fun of it,â Katherine finished. âHe almost destroyed it completely.â
Jonah and Katherine were just talking. They were just kids . And there was nothing remotely dangerous anywherein sight. Even the face Jordan had seen back in the lab hadnât seemed that menacingâthe guy had mostly just looked like a computer nerd with messy hair.
But Jordan still found himself having to fight the urge to shiver in fear.
âJB thinks Second is the one who taught Gary and Hodge how to make their split dimensions,â Jonah said.
âReally?â Katherine said. Evidently this was news to her, too. âSo you and Jordan growing up in different dimensionsâthat all traces back to him too?â
âHow is he at re-aging people who already lived through their teen years once and would rather just be adults again?â Mom asked, and at least she managed to sound slightly humorous about the whole thing.
âI donât know,â Jonah said, shrugging helplessly. It was still strange how much looking at Jonah was like looking into a mirror. But Jordan had never seen his own face look so miserable. âI donât know if that was Second when he was still Sam Chase and still loyal to JB. I donât know if heâs told the whole time agency we were there, and now weâve gotten JB into serious, serious trouble. I donât know if we somehow managed to cross over into the new dimension Second created, and maybe heâd try to follow us if we went back home. I donât even know if this plastic thing I grabbed is an Elucidator or not!â
He held up the thin sliver of plastic heâd swiped from the table back at the lab.
âOkay. Okay,â Mom said. She took a deep breath, just like she always did when she was trying to talk Katherine down from some stupid sixth-grade drama with her friends. âLetâs just look at this logically. Something got us out of that lab and into this . . . what did you call it? A time hollow? And we know the other Elucidator Jordan took from JB wasnât working. . . .â
â Do we know that?â Jonah asked. âThat Elucidator took us from our kitchen into the lab in what must have been the future. I was thinking the Elucidator was broken the same way as the light switch in our bathroom last summer, where sometimes it worked and sometimes it didnât, and it was impossible to predict. Remember, Dad, you had me help you fix that?â
âUmmm . . . ,â Dad said.
âNo, I helped Dad fix the bathroom light switch!â Jordan said hotly. Itâd been, like, a five-minute job, and Jordan had complained the whole time. But he still didnât want Jonah taking credit.
Dad scrunched up his face.
âI . . . canât really remember which of you helped me,â he said. âIt might have even been Katherine. . . . Sorry, guys.â
Katherine was squinting too.
âI guess it was probably both of you, just in the different dimensions,â she said. â I donât remember doing it.â
âAnyhow,â Mom said, waving her hand as if trying to shove away any possible arguments. âLetâs get back to the Elucidator.
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