But my God, if it is true? We’ll be going to the future. My mind races just thinking about the possibilities. Ten years is a long time. I’ll be twenty-seven years old. Maybe I’ll be married with a kid or two. Maybe I’ll be serving a life sentence in prison like Papá. Or maybe I’ll be a social worker, helping other foster kids like myself. With Aether Corp’s money, that dream doesn’t seem quite as impossible as it did a few days ago.
No matter what the risks are, I’m all in. I mean, who wouldn’t want to see the future?
Lunch is served in a cafeteria where employees probably spend their breaks, except today it’s cleared out. I grab a tray and load it up with food—lasagna, salad, some sort of fancy chicken dish, french fries. They even have a frozen yogurt machine. Throwing this much food in front of foster kids is almost cruel. I eat pretty well at the Robertsons’, but that wasn’t always the case.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spot Trent grabbing a roll out of the basket and slipping it into his pocket. Food hoarding. I’ve seen other foster kids do that. He must have gone hungry a lot when he was younger. Chris catches me watching Trent and sneers at me. I roll my eyes and grab a slice of cake.
They’ve set up a long table for us so we can all sit together. Guess we’re supposed to be bonding or something. No thanks. Chris and Trent take a different table and I sit at another one, by myself. If I’m lucky it’ll stay that way.
The blue-haired girl, whose badge I finally see—Zoe Chang—hovers between our tables with her tray. She’s tiny, probably not even five foot tall, and with her bright bob, she looks like a pixie or something. She studies Chris and Trent, who eat in silence, hostility rising off them in invisible waves. She must figure I’m a safer bet because she finally joins me. Of course.
“Thanks for your help earlier,” Adam says, as his tray hits the table. He sits across from us. There go my plans for a quiet lunch.
I give a curt nod and avoid making eye contact. Maybe if I don’t answer he’ll leave me alone.
“This is unbelievable, right? This time travel stuff?” He doesn’t touch his food, and instead folds and unfolds his napkin over and over. Must be a nervous tick.
I ignore him and shove food in my mouth. After living with many other kids for years, I’m in the habit of eating quickly, and I don’t want to talk to this guy anyway. I’ll be spending the next twenty-four hours with him, which is more than enough time already. I’m not here to make friends. I just need to make it through this day so I can get on with my life.
“Here.” Adam shoves something across the table toward me. His napkin, folded in the shape of a dog or something. No, a horse. With a horn.
An origami unicorn.
“You made this?” It’s a dumb question since I just saw him make it, but I’m so thrown off by his gift that I don’t know what to say.
“Yeah.” He shrugs and pokes at his food with his fork. “Sorry it’s not very good. It would be better with the right kind of paper, but all I had were these flimsy napkins.”
I slide the origami unicorn closer to me, rubbing my fingers over the precise folds of the napkin. People don’t make things for me. Not like this anyway.
“Thanks.” I meet Adam’s eyes for the first time. Bright blue and intelligent, shining out from behind his black-rimmed glasses. The kind of eyes that never miss a thing. He smiles and I quickly look down at my food.
“No, thank you for earlier,” he says, lowering his voice. “What was that all about anyway? Did I say something wrong back there?
He must be talking about the fight. I don’t want to answer him, but he should probably know. “Your question pissed them off. They’ve probably spent time in juvie.”
“Juvie? I had no idea.”
“You’re not a foster kid, are you?”
“No…” His voice trails off. “Are you?”
“Yeah. And my guess is the other three are too.” I look to Zoe for confirmation and she nods, her eyes locked on her plate.
“Oh. I didn’t realize…” Adam adjusts his glasses and studies me. “What did Trent mean by Bright Haven?”