Yvonne hesitated, then laid her hand over Paul's. “Christians aren’t perfect, just
forgiven.”
“Do
you forgive non-Christians?”
“Depends
on what for.”
If
he turned, his lips would be centimeters from hers. “I don’t know, Yvonne. What
do I need your forgiveness for? I mean, it’s not like—”
Paul
stopped as he remembered the flowers he hadn’t gotten rid of, his mother in the
hospital bed, the coffin at the funeral.
“Not
like what?”
Yvonne
was lucky. She wasn’t responsible for her mom’s death. Her mom was still alive.
Wet
heat registered on Paul’s arm. He jerked away as steam came out of the kettle.
Yvonne
turned off the stove and pointed toward a couple of cups. But before he could
get them, she touched his shoulder.
“It’s
not your fault that your mom was killed.” She spoke as if she’d read his mind.
He
stared at the cups, a cheerful red and green. Wasn’t it too early for
Christmas? “It is too.”
“You
had no idea who you were or what your great-uncle planned to do.”
Paul
wished it was that easy. Maybe it was for her, but he didn’t share her faith.
Even her kind words couldn’t wash away the sludge in his soul whenever he
thought of Mom. Part of him wished he could just weep everything out onto
Yvonne’s shoulders, but then she’d think him weak.
“It
doesn’t matter.” He turned away and reached for the cocoa. “We were going to
figure out how to save Sean, remember?”
“We
haven’t finished talking about you yet.”
“Well,
I am.”
She
snatched the green cup away before he could add the cocoa powder for her. Even
in the dimly lit kitchen, her eyes burned fiercely.
He
cleared his throat. “‘Doubt that the stars are fire—’”
She
held up her hand. “‘I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he
loves me.’”
Damn. She had to be pissed to sting
him with his beloved Shakespeare.
“If
you really loved me, Paul Lyon Harrison, you wouldn’t use someone else’s words.
You’d share your feelings with me.”
“I
do—”
“I
thought you wanted to talk about Sean.” Yvonne’s voice stole the warmth from
his drink.
Fine.
Be that way.
Powder scattered on the counter as he stirred his cocoa too hard. The bulge in
his pants refused to settle down. “Sean doesn’t want to be told, and I don’t
think it’ll help matters if we do tell him. Baby knows, but she might not be
able to keep Sean from going to the concert. The real problem is Joseph. We
have to convince him to leave Sean alone, not just at the concert, but
afterward.”
“So
I have to find out if the travelers are brainwashing him,” Yvonne said. “If I
can get a blood sample from him, I can test it with Dr. Stern’s equipment. But
how do I find him in such a big city?”
“Easy.
He’s a guard at the Museum of Science and Industry. If we wander around there
long enough, you’ll find him. I know he likes talking to visitors, especially
beautiful girls. You shouldn’t have a problem.”
Her
cheeks darkened. “Dr. Stern told me the blood analysis takes several hours. I
can’t give him the antidote until I know for sure the travelers have been
drugging him. It could mess up his brain chemistry otherwise.”
It’s
got to be screwed up anyway.
Paul kept that to himself and said, “Is that going to be enough? I mean, if the
travelers have been feeding him ‘Sean is evil’ messages for a long time, will
one dose of antidote change his mind?”
“It’ll
help, but I don’t know for sure.” Yvonne shook her head. “I should have asked
Dr. Stern while I had the chance. It’s hard not being able to contact her.”
“Then
we have to go ahead on our own. It’s safest if we assume we have to teach
Joseph that Sean’s OK.”
“I
can talk to him—”
“Or
I could practice my Sean impersonation on him once I get the holos.” Paul
grinned. “It’s always good to do a dry run before you perform for your real
audience.”
Yvonne
grabbed his arm. “But—if he thinks you’re Sean—he might try to kill you
instead!”
“He
can’t do that in the museum!”
“Why
not? If he’s a guard, he’ll have a weapon.”
“It’s
in public!”
“So
was Sean’s final concert,” Yvonne shot back.
Scalding
cocoa splashed over Paul’s hand. “You really think Joseph would kill me instead
of Sean?”
She
nodded, eyes wide.
It
didn’t matter anymore if she was attracted to him or not. “Then I’m screwed.”
* * *
Paul Harrison always wanted to play Hamlet, but he never
expected he’d live the role first.
In the aftermath of a family tragedy on 21st
century Earth, Paul discovers he’s the clone of Sean Lyon, his
great-great-grandfather and a famous TwenCen musician. Suspecting his mother’s
death was no accident, Paul comes up with a plan to trick the answers out of
the great-uncle who had him cloned. But in order to make his plan work, Paul
needs help from Sean himself—and Sean’s time is running out in the TwenCen
universe next door. Although Paul’s family lives on the spaceship that travels
between the universes, he’s never been allowed on TwenCen Earth. Now, with the
help of his friends, his disguise-creating holoprojectors, and a quantum quirk,
Paul must make his way to Sean while evading other time travelers who fear
he’ll change the history of the TwenCen universe. If Paul is to achieve
justice, he must not only risk his own life, but the wormhole connecting the
universes. “To be or not to be” was a simple question in comparison....
Sandra
