Earth & Sky (The Earth & Sky Trilogy) by Megan Crewe Read Free Book Online Page B

her. I came back to see if the Enforcers had registered the change, started to investigate. And I’d noticed your reaction, when the explosion was supposed to happen, and thought it might be a good idea to observe you a little. I did notice—Jaeda?—the other day too. She has a . . . distinctive look. It was just good to see she was well.”
    Of course. “So I was right in the first place,” I say. “You’re a stalker.”
    “It wasn’t like that ,” he protests. “I’d seen her for all of fifteen minutes. And I had a good reason to want to check on you.”
    I fold my arms over my chest, raising my chin. This is ridiculous. Nothing exploded, no one died, I’m fine. “I don’t know why I was considering buying any of this,” I say. “There are about a billion more plausible stories you could have told. Where’s the proof you said you have? Is it just that I felt something weird yesterday?”
    “No.” He stands up and sets his satchel on the table. “I’ll show you. You pick the time and place. If you could see anywhere, any time before now . . . where would you go?”
    Right. This is a joke. My thoughts slip back to last night’s reading. “Sure,” I say. “Why not? Let’s visit the Roman Coliseum. First century AD. When there are games on. Are you going to pull it out of that bag?”
    “You could say that,” he says as he opens the satchel. “We Travel in this.”
    He pulls out that bundle of shimmery not-quite fabric that fascinated me earlier and unfurls it. At a press of his fingers, there’s a mechanical click, and a line splits down the middle so he can open it like an immense cape.
    “Anywhere, any when,” he says, a reverential tenderness in his tone and his grip on the cloth. “You’re going to have to come inside, of course.”
    We’re going to travel through time in a shiny tablecloth? This is the craziest part yet. I shake my head, a laugh sputtering out.
    Win squares his shoulders. With a practiced snap of his wrists, he whirls the cloth around him. For an instant I’m watching his form disappear amid the folds of dark fabric.
    And then, suddenly, I can’t see him or the cloth at all.
    My head whips around. The rooftop is empty except for the vacant tables and me. The wind teases my hair. Streetlights gleam in the distance. Where the hell did he go?
    I’m heading over to check the fire escape when Win’s voice emerges from the air where he was standing before.
    “I’m right here.”
    The air parts, and the surface of the cloth shimmers back into sight. Only it doesn’t look like a cape now, more like a narrow, arch-topped tent, a couple feet taller than Win and maybe four wide. Win’s peering out at me between the flaps of its entrance, his mouth curved into a crooked grin as if daring me to try to explain this away.
    I . . . really don’t have any rational way of explaining that. I blink, and the scene before me doesn’t change. If this is crazy, then I’m crazy too.
    Win tilts his head. “Are you going to come get your proof or not?”
    My heart thuds. I could walk away and never stop wondering. Or I could take a leap. If his “proof” doesn’t hold up, well, I’ll know for sure none of this was true.
    I step toward Win. He eases back to make room for me. I hesitate, and then push myself onward. The flap flutters down after I duck inside the sort-of tent, but it doesn’t block the light. The pale outlines of the rooftop outside and the buildings beyond it swim on the inner walls.
    Beside me, Win taps the fabric. It hums, and a wavering display lights up, presenting a series of dancing characters.
    “So this thing is going to fly us through space and time?” Somehow it sounds even more absurd when I say it out loud.
    Win skims through the data with his fingers hovering an inch from the display, his face intent in the reflected glow. “It’s more bouncing,” he says. “That glass ball I said the time field is like? We hit the inner surface and come