Page 55 of Intersect

He laughs at me quietly. “I give it anhour.”

In the end it takes less than that. By the time our meal is over, I’m leaning on him like a drunk just to walk to the Uber. I struggle to stay awake in the car but it’s futile. My head jerks up as I try to regainconsciousness.

His laugh is low and affectionate. “Go to sleep, baby,” he whispers. “I’ll make sure you get home safe.” His mouth presses to the top of my head as he settles me back against his shoulder. “Superheroes need their rest just like everyoneelse.”

It’s the last thing I remember of our entire magicalday.

* * *

Nickand I stand next to a pay phone, outside a convenience store/gas station that is the only landmark for miles. The dry spring has stripped the ground down to nothing but beige earth. Only the occasional weed is there to provide it a hint ofcolor.

“You want me to stay?” Nick asks, pulling my hands into his. I want to say yes. I swallow the desiredown.

An 18-wheeler lumbers into the parking lot, blowing dust into our faces, deafening us both with the squeal ofbrakes.

“Go ahead,” I say, nodding at the market. “Get the food. It’s just a matter of time before someone asks why we’re not in school, and I don’t want to lose our headstart.”

Nick laughs and runs his hand along my arm. “I don’t understand why you’re so worried. Our cell phones are off. She’s not going to stop us if she can’t findus.”

That’s where he’s wrong. She has a thousand ways to stop us, ways Nick can’t begin to imagine. I know I need to explain this, and now that we’re pregnant I finally can. But it also means admitting everything else: about my role in Ryan’s death. The ways I changed not just my timeline but his as well. This time tomorrow we’ll be married, if everything works out. If I wait until after it’s done, he might not forgive me. But he might not forgive me if I tell him beforehand either. I can hardly blame him either way, given that I’m unable to forgivemyself.

“Maybe I’m paranoid,” I say, forcing a smile. “Humorme.”

That dimple flashes and it makes my smile a real one. “Red Gatorade?” he asks. Since the moment the pregnancy symptoms hit, I’ve wanted nothing else. I nod and he holds my face in his hands, gently brushing my mouth with his own. “I’m buying you some carrots too. This kid must need something other than sportsdrinks.”

Despair hits again as I watch him walk away. I’m too young to be a mother. I need help, and the one person I want to turn to has been at war with me since Ryan’s death. I’m pretty sure she won’t even speak to me once she knowseverything.

I drop quarters into the pay phone and dial. My heart is beating faster than itshould.

“Where are you?” she shouts immediately. She sounds less angry than she does desperate. It makes me feel evenworse.

“I’m okay,” I soothe. “Really. You don’t need to worry. We’re just going away for the weekend. We’ll be back.” It’s partly a lie, but I can’t tell her everything. If she knew, she’d just check to see which states allow you to get married under the age of eighteen without parental consent. And there’s only one. She’ll findus.

“I know you’re pregnant,” she says, and my stomach drops to the dusty cement at my feet. I lay my head against the phone booth’s clear wall. How could she possibly know? I’ve been so careful. I didn’t even look up anything related to pregnancy on my phone. “I’ve met the twins you’ll have. They’ve visitedme.”

Twins. I sway against the phone booth like I’ve been hit. Twins who were able to visit her. I know what it means, if all of her Rule of Threes lore is actuallytrue.

“They’ve been coming back for years,” she continues. Her voice catches and she has to stop for a moment and pull herself together. “I didn’t want to tell you because I wanted your life to be normal. I didn’t want you to know what’s ahead, but we no longer have thatluxury.”

Nick and I are having twins who time travel. It’s impossible. Unheardof.

I struggle to find my voice. “No one knows for sure if the Rule of Threes is real. It’s alegend.”

“When the twins first visited, they didn’t know me. Which meant I’d died when they were born. And I was fine with that. But Quinn…” She heaves a deep sigh. “After Ryan, after you let your spark fade…they came back. And now they don’t knowyou.”

The air leaves my chest without ceremony. It’s just gone, and I stand here, holding the phone, unable to even form a response. Through the store window I see Nick in the checkout line. He smiles, holding up the redGatorade.

If she is right, in five months I’ll be dead. Will his smile ever light up the same way again? I’m leaving him to raise two daughters alone. I pull my hoodie up to cover my face and begin to weep. I’m going to ruin Nick’slife.

“All you have to do is jump again!” she cries. “If you just get stronger, everything will befine.”

“So you die instead? I can’t. You know Ican’t.”

“If you refuse to jump,” she says, “I will make the choice foryou.”

My stomach is bottoming out. I already know exactly what she’s going to do. “No.”

“I’m sorry,” she says. “But if you’d never met Nick, none of this would havehappened.”

---