Page 163 of The Scandal You Started
But how? Because if the Study is back in their rightful place, then history will automatically play out as it was always meant to, wouldn’t it? As if they’d never even left in the first place.
So then, can a significant Rupture ever really be overcome to the extent of allowing a Study to remain in the present? While ensuring that throughout the life of the Study, the Rupture always remains small and stable? Would this be possible if they never return to the past, or would they have to visit regularly?
I want to think that it isn’t entirely impossible, but I don’t know how it could be achieved.
And I think I’ve run out of time trying to find out.
That was the last entry in her notes.
Dated 1st April 863. A few days before the accident.
“I found it,” Rayna muttered hoarsely.
All the flickering of papers and muttering under breaths stopped as Kelly, Erin, and George looked at her wide-eyed.
The three of them rushed over to her, Kelly grabbing the laptop off her first. Rayna watched as their faces fell one by one as they passed it between them.
“Rayna,” Erin whispered.
“This isn’t—it’s not ideal, but it doesn’t mean our search is over,” Kelly quickly said.
“Kelly’s right,” George added, pressing the laptop closed. “Your mum didn’t say it was impossible. She just hadn’t found a way. We’ll be the ones to find it, though.”
But their reassurances weren’t helping.
It made her blood boil as pain and frustration took it in turns to claw at her heart and stomach. Her ears were stinging, the room was spinning, the walls closing in.
She needed space. She needed to think. She needed these feelings gone.
She wanted to tear them out of her and throw them as far away as possible.
It was the perfect reminder why she’d always kept things easy and surface-level. Why deep feelings were never a good thing, never worked, couldn’t last.
Rayna was standing before she knew she was. “Move,” she uttered.
But Kelly, Erin, and George kept her caged in against the armchair, all three of them giving her worried looks.
“Let’s just sit down and talk about this first,” George urged.
She shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“We know this isn’t what you wanted to find, but don’t run from it,” Erin said.
“I’m not running,” Rayna bit out, but her eyes frantically searched for a way out. “I just…I need space. I need to step outside.”
“Okay, okay,” Kelly said with her palms up. “That’s understandable. But let’s just wait until Victor gets back first, yeah?”
“Please move,” she croaked.
None of them did.
“You’re panicking,” Erin said, her voice liquid. “And we can’t let you go anywhere like this.”
As much as it irritated her, somewhere in her head, she appreciated her friends’ concern. It didn’t silence her desire to get away, though.
“I won’t go far,” she promised. “I just need a moment to myself.”
The three of them looked at each other, and when Rayna stepped forward, Kelly and Erin parted, letting her pass.
