Free The Day Before Forever by Anna Caltabiano Page A

table. The other set of beads we had been given remained untouched.
    Henley was already walking around the room, taking a look at everything else. “It doesn’t look like anything’s been touched . . . Maybe I grabbed the beads in my sleep,” Henley said, but we both knew that wasn’t true.
    My hands shook, but I managed to repack the backpack and slip it under the bed again.
    â€œBut what’s the meaning of this?” Henley said.
    I bit my lip. I didn’t know. “Whoever this is—he linked your hands together. Was it supposed to invoke chains? Or be a signal to me somehow?” Was it supposed to mean something to me?
    â€œThe man on the street yesterday . . . ,” Henley started.
    â€œNo. He doesn’t have any reason to do this.”
    There was a chill in the room.
    â€œHe found us,” Henley said. “The killer.”
    I sank back into the bed in disbelief.
    He couldn’t have. Of all the time periods he could be in, he had managed to find ours.
    â€œHe tracked us down,” Henley said.
    This was a person on a mission. He wanted me—and maybe Henley too—dead. That was his goal, I was sure of it, but now I started to wonder . . .
    Henley rushed over and grabbed the backpack from under the bed again. I watched as he began throwing our clothes intoit.
    â€œWhat are you doing?” I asked slowly.
    â€œWhat do you think I’m doing?” he snapped. “Someone’s toying with us. I’m packing to get us out of here.”
    â€œOut of here and to where?”
    â€œSomewhere. Does it matter as long as it’s not here?”
    â€œHenley,” I said, not moving from my spot on the bed. “We have no place to go.”
    He still continued packing, even grabbing the clock to bundle it up.
    â€œHenley, are you listening?” I asked, but he didn’t stop. “We have no place to go and no immediate money. We can get money but that’ll take time, and we need to stay in one place for that.”
    Henley dropped the backpack in front of me. “My God, Rebecca, he’ll kill you. He’ll kill you, you know that?”
    I shook my head. “We were asleep last night, and he didn’t kill us then. He had the opportunity, but he didn’t take it.”
    Henley roughly pushed back his hair. “And what makes you so sure that he won’t take the next opportunity he gets?”
    â€œI can never be sure,” I said. “But I can guess. And my gut feeling—”
    â€œThis isn’t the damn time for gut feelings.” Henley’s cheeks were red. “This is someone who tried to smother you in your sleep. Who killed my mother!”
    â€œHe’s grown since then. I can’t explain it, but he’s different. He doesn’t just want me dead. He wants me . . . to understand.”
    â€œUnderstand what? There isn’t time for understanding .”
    â€œIt’s hard to explain,” I repeated. “I just know . He would have killed us last night. There was nothing stopping him. Buthe didn’t. There’s something more he wants.”
    â€œSo you expect me to just let you stay here?”
    â€œI want you to trust me,” I said.
    â€œWhat? Trust that you’re right, and when you’re not, simply watch you die?” Henley was breathing heavily, trying to keep his voice down. “You can’t ask that of me,” he said. He didn’t say it, but he had to have been worried for himself too.
    â€œThat’s the one thing I ask,” I said. “There’s no other way. We can’t go far without passports. Say we switch from here to a different hostel or hotel. Or say we traveled to a different time. What then? If he could track us down to this specific place and time, wouldn’t he do it again? What’s stopping him?”
    â€œAt least by traveling to a different time we could buy us some breathing space.” Henley was