Prepare for the Worst

CHAPTER 3 CHARLIE

CHAPTER 3CHARLIE

November 23, 2090

“You have your pendant now. You don’t need Rochelle.”

Griff and Molly stood in front of me, examining the pendant I had just handed over.

“You should be worried about yourself.” Griff clutched my shoulder and pulled his fist back.

“Let me go.” I struggled away from his iron grip. “Let me go.”

My eyes shot open and my head lifted off the workbench in Max’s garage. I looked around wildly.

“Geez.” Max stood next to me but was leaning away as if I’d taken a swipe at him. “Do you always wake up like that?”

“What?” Groggy and confused, I rubbed my hands over my face. When I left the hospital, I had walked to Max’s, considered talking to him, figured he was still mad at me after how I’d reacted to him calling me hermano, and made my way to the last shelter I could think of.

“Why are you sleeping in my workshop?” He pulled an apple out of his coat pocket and tossed it behind his back, catching it in his other hand.

“I needed to think, so I was working on your time machine.” While Max believed he would invent something life changing, I went along with his crazy ideas because keeping my hands busy kept my mind calm. “What’s the apple for?”

Max tossed it into the air again. “This is for the possum.”

I glanced around the cluttered garage. “You have a possum?”

“Last night when my tio took out the trash, he told me he heard some scuffling in here, so I figured I had a possum again.” He closed one eye and made a funny face. “Last year the possum almost mixed two jars of liquid that would’ve caused a minor explosion.”

Cold and stiff, I braced my arms against the workbench to sit up straight. “Yet you waited until now to come and check on it?”

“Not check on it.” He took a bite of the apple. “Trap it. Plus, it was too cold before now.”

“No kidding.” I slapped my numb hands against my legs.

Max cringed and held the apple out to me. “Sorry, do you want some?”

I shoved his arm away. “I don’t want your possum food.”

He shrugged. “Why didn’t you tell me you were here? I would’ve helped you with the time machine. You could’ve slept inside. My tia likes you. She would have found an extra pillow somewhere.”

Shoving my hands into my pockets, I looked down at my shoes. “I figured you were still mad about what I said on Saturday.”

“I think you have that backwards.” Max pulled up a rickety stool and sat down beside me. “You were the one who was mad about what I said. I’ve been trying to call you, but Alexander never answered his phone.”

Nodding, I studied my worn sneakers. I hated apologizing, but Max hadn’t known what calling me his brother meant to me. “What I said to you was pretty rotten, but Griff always said he and I were brothers. You know how that worked out.”

Holding the apple between his hands, he considered my explanation. “I’ve never met the guy, but I’m pretty sure my definition of brother is different from his. What did I ever do to make you think I’m anything like him?”

I shrugged. “Nothing, I just . . . freaked out in the moment.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll forgive you this time. You didn’t know any better, being raised by wolves and all.” He leaned back against the bench and grinned.

Despite my misery, I felt myself smile. “Hermanos then?” I held out my hand.

“You know it.” He gripped my hand and shook it. “So, did you solve time travel?”

“No.”

“That’s okay. Someday . . .”

“Delgado, I need to borrow money for a train ticket.” I stood, unable to sit still any longer. “Actually, borrow is the wrong word. I won’t be able to pay you back.”

“What do you need a ticket for?”

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the pendant, hand trembling. “Molly won’t stop until she has this. So I’m going to take it to Kansas City and hand it over to Griff in exchange for them leaving Rochelle alone.”

Max stared at me, one eyebrow raised. “That is the worst plan I’ve ever heard. And you said I wasn’t taking things seriously? We both know what’s going to happen if you show up in Kansas City.”

I kicked a stool and it toppled with a satisfying clang of metal against concrete floor. “I’ll get exactly what I deserve and save the people I wish could have been my family.”

“They are your family. Alexander has been searching for you all night and Kinley is panicking because you didn’t come home. How do you think they’ll feel if you just take off and they never see you again?”

I groaned. “Do you have a better plan?”

“Yeah. Go home.” He was so calm and unphased. “Get something to eat, get some sleep, and then let Rochelle and me help you come up with a real plan when we have all of the facts.”

It sounded so simple and so logical. “Last night at the hospital, Kat told me not to come home.”

Max shrugged. “Kat kicks me out every day. I just give her a little space and I’m back the next day in time for dinner.”

“This isn’t the same thing. She has every right to hate me. I left Rochelle out there with Molly.”

“You saved Todd’s life. I’ve been worried about Rochelle the past four days too, but now she’s home and everything is okay again.”

“Nothing is okay.” I paced on tingly feet. “Molly is part of The Defiance, Griff knows where I am—you didn’t see what she did to Rochelle—”

“Keppler.” Max put a hand on my shoulder, walked me back to the stool, and righted it. “Sit down. And please explain that last sentence. Kinley hasn’t let me see Rochelle yet.”

Everything had happened so fast, I had forgotten he wouldn’t know about what Rochelle had told me at the hospital. Sinking back onto my stool, I described the night I had exchanged Rochelle for Todd, the four sleepless days of dead ends trying to find her, and finally the chaos at the hospital.

Max nodded. “So, we have some things to figure out. The first thing we have to do is go see Rochelle. She’ll never forgive herself if you don’t come home, and I have to make sure she’s okay.”

“You just told me she was okay a few minutes ago.”

“Kinley said she was at home and resting. That sounded like okay until you told me she was all beat up. I’ll just tell my tia I’ll be a little late for Thanksgiving dinner. She loves Rochelle; she’ll understand.”

“I can’t go back to the house.” No turning of my neck or rolling of my shoulders could relieve the stiffness. “Remember what Kat said?”

“And remember what I said? We both know Kinley is in charge and Rochelle would never kick you out. That’s two against one.”

What Kat said mattered to me, and I didn’t want to give her any more reason to hate me, but I couldn’t explain that to Max. I couldn’t even explain it to myself. “Are you sure Kinley will let me in?”

“I’m sure.” He clapped my shoulder and nudged me toward the door. “And on the slight chance I’m wrong, I’ll help you convince her to reconsider.”