Free The Day Before Forever by Anna Caltabiano Page B

pleading now.
    â€œNot enough. It would cost us additional time to get set up in the new period—money, a place to stay, a background story . . . And the toll on your body—your new body . . . ,” I said. “You almost died this last time.”
    That finally got Henley to at least sit down. “You need to time travel without me.”
    I sputtered. “You can’t be serious.”
    â€œI know you don’t want me to bring it up, but we both know you need to time travel soon,” Henley said. “It’s been on my mind . . . I mean, how could it not be? Every moment you’re here is a greater strain on you. You need to time travel—”
    â€œSo I don’t go insane,” I finished for him.
    â€œSo you don’t suffer the side effects of immortality,” he put more tactfully.
    â€œYou know I can’t leave you.”
    â€œYou can—” Henley started to say.
    â€œI can’t. I don’t want to. After all that’s happened . . . you think I could leave you just like that?”
    â€œYou need to. There’s a killer here, and you’re not safe.”
    I was about to argue with him when I thought of the letter from the 1500s in the parking lot again.
    â€œOkay . . . ,” I said slowly. “I will.”
    â€œYou’ll get out of this time?” Henley said.
    â€œI will.”
    I started telling Henley about the article I had read on Alanna’s phone.
    â€œSo you think Juana’s the killer?” Henley surmised.
    â€œI think that’s a safe bet. Our only bet, in fact.”
    â€œAnd you want to travel back in time to the same year in the Regency period as the chest they found just to see what this letter says?”
    â€œWell, wouldn’t it help me not go insane from staying in one time period for too long?” I said.
    â€œBut what if Juana’s there?”
    â€œJuana could be anywhere,” I said. “If she is the killer. He—I mean she was obviously here last night.”
    â€œI don’t like this . . . ,” Henley said.
    I didn’t tell him the fact that I thought the killer would follow me and therefore I could protect Henley by keeping away from him for a little bit.
    â€œWe’re doing the best we can,” I said.
    â€œWhat if that’s not good enough?”
    I couldn’t answer that.
    I moved to the edge of the bed where Henley was seated andplaced my hand on his shoulder. “I could go tomorrow. We can find the parking lot. It won’t take long.”

FIVE
    THE NEXT MORNING, we grabbed the clock and went straight to Aaron to ask for the quickest way to get to the address mentioned in the article.
    â€œOh, are you going to the shopping center there? It’s quite nice,” he said.
    Neither Henley nor I corrected him, as Aaron pointed out the location on our map. I guessed it was the parking lot to the shopping center.
    The walk there wasn’t as long as it looked to be on the map. Henley had put the clock in the bag he carried. On our way there I had enough time to wonder what the scene would look like once we arrived. It was an excavation of some sort, so was it just a hole in the ground? Would there be a crowd of onlookers since this was in the news? Would it be difficult to get in there with barriers and lots of yellow tape?
    But once we arrived, I was surprised to see that there werevery few onlookers. Occasionally someone would stop on their way to glance at the gaping hole in the ground, but that was pretty much it. There was only caution tape around the site of the dig.
    The dig itself was bigger than I had imagined. The hole in the ground looked to be the size of the foundation of a house.
    I spied a ladder on the side. This wasn’t going to be too difficult.
    Henley had already taken the clock out from the bag. I kissed him on the cheek and took it from him, before climbing under the caution tape and making my way toward the