Dark Stars by Danielle Rollins (best affordable ebook reader txt) 📕

what year it is, pretend I don’t notice the deeply suspicious look they give me.

Hold on . . . I think I have an idea!

UPDATE—

DATE: OCTOBER 10, 2073

19:10 HOURS

Success! Rather than stopping a stranger to ask them to tell me the year, I stopped a stranger and asked to borrow his phone. Time and date were right there on the home screen. It’s October 10, 2073, right around seven p.m. Why did I come here, now?

Let’s see . . . what was I doing in October of 2073, at around seven o’clock at night? 2073 was before I started working at NASA, so I must’ve been . . .

Oh right—of course.

I know where I’m going now.

UPDATE: 20:45 HOURS

And I made it! I’m currently standing outside my old office at WCAAT, staring up at my window, watching my past self work.

In, oh, about two hours from now, I will officially discover time travel.

That’s why I came back here. Because this is it, the beginning of everything.

I should be attempting to get back now, but there’s a part of me that wants to stay here a while and watch my past self work. In just two short hours, I will be at the happiest point in my entire life (short of my wedding day and the birth of my daughter, of course). Is it really so bad to want to experience that moment again?

UPDATE: 23:13 HOURS

Oh dear . . . I had forgotten that, back in 2073, my ingenious solution for testing my theory of time travel was to travel back in time myself, come to this exact spot, and wave.

I only just remembered and managed to duck behind a tree before my past self strolled out onto the sidewalk right where I’d been standing and waved up at yet another past self of mine.

Three selves! All in one timeline. I’m fairly certain I’m breaking some law of physics here.

In any case, I think it’s time I head back home.

If I can get back home, that is.

13

NOVEMBER 6, 2077

The prememories slammed into Dorothy’s head, coming so fast and hard they left her dizzy—

There was the black sky of a ruined world, ashes and dust floating through the air around her. Roman was there. She heard a gunshot, and then a bullet slammed into his chest, jerking him back—

Then she was on a boat surrounded by black water. Ash was standing before her, his face lit up by the ever-changing lights of the anil.

“It doesn’t have to end like this,” he said.

Adrenaline surged within her as she curled her fingers around a dagger—

And now she was in the church on the day of her wedding, racing up the aisle, Avery standing before her—

No. She wasn’t in the church at all, she was running through an empty hallway, following a dark figure. Through the door, into a stairwell.

“Professor?” she shouted—

And then she was out of the anil, the Black Crow skidding wildly across the surface of the Puget Sound. She was going to crash.

She yanked back on the yoke, pulling the ship to a hard stop, waves and wind slamming up against the windows around her. The ship shook for a moment and then went still.

Breathless, Dorothy collapsed back against her seat, breathing hard. It took a long time for her mind to stop spinning. She tried to grasp hold of the images that had been flying through her head, to make sense of them, but they dissolved like sugar in coffee, leaving her feeling light-headed and sick to her stomach. Groaning, she opened her eyes.

The world on the other side of her windshield looked very much like the one she’d just left behind. Black waves lapping against the sides of half-submerged buildings, ghostly white trees growing straight out of the water, like weeds. In the distance, she could make out the dark shape of her city, a labyrinth of complicated bridges and docks weaving between open windows and rooftops. With effort, she pushed the last of the prememories from her mind and focused on getting the Black Crow airborne again. Wing flaps up, throttle back up to 2,000 RPMs. She hovered low over the waters, sending ripples over the surface, and squinted through the windshield.

This city was quiet tonight, she saw, with little light to illuminate the darkness. No boats on the water, no people on the docks. A prickle of excitement went through her as she remembered why.

Of course. Tonight, everyone in the city would be at the ball.

She steered her time machine toward downtown New Seattle, her heart thudding steadily in her throat. It had taken her and Roman months to plan this ball, but it had been so worth it, in the end. The night had turned out beautifully, one of the best of her life. A small smile twitched at her lips, as she thought of it now. There was a part of her that wanted to experience the night all over again. Was there time?

She glanced at the clock on the ship’s dashboard. At this exact moment, her past self would be putting the final touches on her outfit for the evening. The floaty blue dress, her hair in intricate braids. Soon, she would stand in front of the Fairmont ballroom, Roman beside her, and the two of them would reveal their great plan to save the city. She could still remember how it had felt to look out on all those excited faces, the whole of New Seattle staring up at her with rapt attention, trusting her.

And then she would see Ash in the crowd. And—

Heat rose in her face. Ash had followed her to the hotel bathroom that night. They’d argued, and then they’d kissed. . . .

She blinked, surprised to find tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. She would give anything to live that night all over again, but she couldn’t see how she could risk it just now. She hadn’t seen any sign of her future self wandering around the ball. In fact, it would probably be best if she avoided the Fairmont