A Quill Ladder by Jennifer Ellis Read Free Book Online

front door opening. She darted a look at her clock: 5:00 a.m. She rose from her bed silently and walked over to peer out the window through the small crack that lay between the blind and the window frame. Sure enough, just as Caleb had said, there was her mother, heading out into the bleak early morning.
    And right behind her mother, his freckled face white in the streetlight, was Caleb.
     
     

3. Stranger Lessons
     
     
    A ripple of shock crept down Abbey ’ s back. Caleb was using the stones with their mother. Was this the first time? Or had he been doing it all along? And why?
    And why hadn ’ t he told her?
    She turned and looked at her clothes draped over the back of her computer chair. She still had time to follow them. She could wake Simon. She sat heavily on her bed with a thump. But if they were caught, they would be in a world of trouble.
    She allowed herself to lie down briefly, studying the plastic glow-in-the dark stars she had carefully glued to her ceiling in the form of constellations many years ago. She let her eyes rest on Aquila, the eagle, the constellation she had used as a guide just a few short weeks ago to find her way back to the stones. It had given her some comfort then to know that the stones took them to a world that lay under the same set of stars that this world did. But now that it was November, Aquila would be too low on the horizon to be seen.
    Was it really possible that there were a multitude of different timelines populated by people going about their days and nights all under the same canvas of stars? How did those timelines intersect? Or did they? And if they worked as Everett ’ s Many Worlds Hypothesis suggested, wouldn ’ t the witches who were trying to get to the alternate timeline already exist in that timeline, and likely be unhappy about the sudden arrival of their doubles? The Temporal Merging Hypothesis of time travel suggested that when encountering one ’ s past self, a person would simply merge with him or her. Differing past events caused by the time traveler would likewise merge with the original events such that the outcome of the events would remain the same as they had been originally, thereby eliminating paradox. But this only worked with a single timeline.
    None of it made any sense.
    Abbey awoke with a start to the clatter of her father brewing coffee in the kitchen; she must have fallen back to sleep. Would her mother and Caleb emerge from their rooms, feigning the sleepy-eyed look of morning? Did her father know what they were doing?
    She rose from her bed and sat at her computer desk. Their phone calls, emails, and texts were being monitored. She flicked on her MacBook and entered her password.
    She knew Jake ’ s email by heart, even though she had never used it. Perhaps he had changed it. Perhaps the one he had used to make plans with Mantis had just been a temporary one. She should probably set up a new account for herself. But knowing her parents, they would be able to track that too.
     
    Envelope-to: [email protected]
    Date: Tues, 20 November 2012 06:57:03 -0700
    From: Abbey Sinclair [email protected]
    Subject: How are things
    To: [email protected]
     
    Hi Jake,
    I was wondering if you still needed tutoring on that physics assignment. Let me know.
     
    Abbey
     
    The email seemed ridiculous. It was too vague. But if she told Jake that Ian and the others were looking for him, her parents would know she had talked to Ian, which seemed like a sure route to trouble. She needed to talk to Jake in person. But he was Becca ’ s boyfriend, and even emailing him would lead to hysterics and a dramatic ex-BFFing. Maybe she could convince Becca to bring him to Coventry High for a game or event. The Snowflake Dance was in twenty days. Abbey never went to dances, but it might be her only chance to talk to Jake.
    At the prospect of donning a dress and milling around in the dark with all the other grade nine girls, Abbey hit send, and the email departed