Chapter 10

Quantum Indicators

If Cate had to hold this wall squat for much longer, she would disintegrate from the inside out. Her thighs were on fire. She blew at an irritating strand of damp hair stuck near her right eye.

“Cate, get a foot lower,” her mother called. “Your thighs should be parallel with the ground, not a random angle of your choice. Get down or everyone spends another three minutes doing this.”

The groans and murmurs about maiming forced Cate to suck it up and slide lower. Her heels dug into the grass, exposing the rich, black dirt underneath. She inhaled the clean, fresh, earthy smell. “Come on. Come on.” Pink, orange, and yellow streaked the sky, their boldness lost against the grey evening sky. She peeked at Jonah. He was killing this. Balthazar was a first-rate martial artist, but Jonah was in a whole other league.

“Two minutes to go!” her mother barked. “Suck in your abs, Cate. A wilted flower has more core strength.”

Cate ground her molars. Her mum had it in for her tonight.

“Drive through the pain. Your body registers pain because you brain tells it to. It’s all in your mind,” her mum called.

Someone needed to tell that to Cate’s thighs.

“Geu-man!” Her mum finally called for them to stop.

Eyes closed, she wilted to the spongy, damp ground. A shadow crept across her face as someone stood over her. Opening an eye, she spied Jonah. “How is it possible you look none the worse for wear?”

“Pair up! I want to see a bridge.” Her mother’s voice interrupted her exhaustion. “Jonah, lie under Cate and provide some incentive for her to hold herself up.”

“That would be my absolute pleasure.” He lay on the ground and rolled on his back. “Show me what you’ve got.”

Cate found having less than an inch between their bodies from head to toe disconcerting to say the least. She braced her elbows on the ground, trying to keep as much space between them as possible. And that wasn’t much in this position.

“So you wanted know about Timesurfers?” Jonah breathed, close to her ear.

“Now isn’t a great time to talk,” she hissed. If her arms or abs failed, she would land splat on top of him—an idea that evoked mixed reactions. “This is wrong on so many levels.” Her eyes looked everywhere but at Jonah.

“We’ve been closer.” His fiendish grin mocked her.

“Enough with the innuendo,” she hissed. “I get you know me in the future. I know you’re from the future.” If she was a Timesurfer she wouldn’t be with Mortez. She wouldn’t be with the evil one. “Are there other groups of Timesurfers besides the ones with Naitanui and Mortez?”

“Naitanui and Mortez are the super powers in this war. There are a few small breakaway groups. Then there’s Elias. That’s who Mortez overthrew to take command. He’s off licking his wounds. There are unconfirmed rumours he’s rebuilding his army.”

“Where does he sit on the scale of good to evil?”

“Where ever best serves his purpose on any given day.”

Her mind raced. Jonah might not actually know her, he might just know of her. She flopped to the ground a second before her mother yelled for everyone to change.

“You heard the lady.” Jonah rolled on his front. “Good and evil aren’t always easy to define.”

“Well of course you would say that.” She slid underneath him, and heat flooded her cheeks. “How are you Zach’s cousin?” She focused on a spot over his shoulder.

“We share family blood.”

She had tried to remember if Zach’s parents had brothers and sisters. It was fruitless. Parents were just someone to be polite to at the front door. “So Zach’s a Timesurfer too?” Now that was a scary thought.

“Technically he isn’t a Timesurfer yet, but he will be soon.”

How the hell did Zach hide that from me all this time?

“He’s just got his L plates. It’s a very new thing.”

She eyed Jonah warily. “Can you read minds?”

“No, I’m just perceptive.”

“All right, people, let’s finish up. Weapons can wait for another night,” her mum called. The three boys whooped with excitement.

“To be continued,” Jonah said as she wriggled out from under him.

Her mother addressed Jonah. “Join me in the kitchen while Cate showers.”

Jonah smiled. “I’d be happy to. Don’t hurry, Cate. I’m sure your mum will keep me busy.”

Cate showered in record time and padded over the floorboards to her closet. Through the bedroom window she glimpsed Jonah with Balthazar. This could prove interesting. Jonah was a head taller than Balthazar but not as heavily muscled. Balthazar downed ten protein shakes a day.

The light from the fountain in the front yard cast shadows across Jonah’s face, highlighting the spectacular angles of his jaw and cheeks. He had awesome bone structure. His hair remained perfectly tousled as usual. The two boys maintained eye contact while Jonah spoke. Then they were laughing and slapping one another’s back. What the...? There was only one reason she could think of that would explain why Balthazar knew Jonah. Tempus Falls was bloody teeming with Timesurfers. She pulled on some jeans, wrestled her way into a fleecy, black hoody, and rushed downstairs. Melchior and Gaspar were making an enormous racket in the family room.

“You want to play?” Gaspar called. “We’re one world away from saving Princess Peach from Bowser.”

“Tempting, but not right now. Do you know where Jonah is?”

“Don’t know...” Gaspar said.

“Don’t care.” Melchior high-fived Gaspar.

“No!” Gaspar shrieked. “Look what you did! Now we have to start again.”

She headed to the bay window in the lounge and scanned the front yard for Jonah and Balthazar, disappointed when she found neither. She threw herself on the new couch and traced the intricate silver pattern of the heavy brocade upholstery. It wasn’t as comfortable as their old floral one. She had to find out what her future self had been up to. That meant getting friendly with all the Timesurfers and understanding their magical world. Well, everyone but Rose and Zach. That went without saying. She sighed and closed her eyes. Austin’s handsome face appeared, smiling that infectious smile, just for her.

***

“Dinner’s ready.”

Cate peeled her eyelids open and struggled onto her elbow.

Jonah stood at the lounge door. “Dinner’s ready, Sleeping Beauty.”

She banged the side of her head a few times with the heel of her hand. “I fell asleep?”

“You were drooling.” He wiped the corner of his mouth with his finger.

She hurriedly did the same. Drooling. Gross. “Have you been watching long?”

“That’s for me to know and you to agonise over.”

He looked way too pleased with himself for her liking.

“Dinner, remember?”

“Oh, right. Are you staying for dinner?”

“Unfortunately I can’t tonight. I have plans. Let me help you up.” The blue inked numbers along his arm flashed as he held out his hand.

“What are those numbers tattooed on your arm? Austin and Rose have them too.”

“They’re my quantum indicators. One for each year I’ve been a Timesurfer. Every Timesurfer has them.”

Balthazar didn’t have those, so he couldn’t be a Timesurfer. “How do you know Balthazar?”

“We played poker last night. I like cards and Balthazar runs the best game in Tempus Falls.”

His reply was smooth. He and Austin were both excellent liars. Balthazar did run the best poker game in town though.

Jonah seemed so normal for someone who had planted a bomb on a bus. “I don’t understand why you would plant a bomb to kill people, and why you would work with someone evil? Nothing would make me do that.”

“I’m a soldier. In every war there are casualties, but ultimately they give people freedom. I have my reasons for being with Mortez and I’m at peace with my decisions and actions. All of them.”

“So why didn’t you let me become collateral damage?”

The intensity in his eyes made her catch her breath. “Mortez ordered me to disarm the bomb so I did.”

Light burst through the front window as the sensor lights flooded the yard. Jonah’s grey eyes narrowed for a second as he glanced over Cate’s shoulder. “You’re obviously tired and it’s late. We can work on your calculus another night.”

“No, you should stay. I’m all good after my power nap.”

“Another night.” He drifted out the door and disappeared behind the bare jacaranda tree.

What plans did he have tonight?