“I’ll get it for you,” Adam says, already moving toward the kitchen. “You should go back to bed.”
When he’s gone, there’s a second of awkward silence as I stand there with his mom. But she keeps smiling at me. “Adam’s a good son.”
“I know.” I rub a finger over my mother’s watch, missing her all over again. If I’d had a chance to save her, I would have taken it too. Even if it meant lying or stealing or betraying someone close to me.
Adam returns with some water and helps his mom back to her room, Max bouncing behind him. I hear Adam say something about giving her another shot soon, and then he tells her to rest.
He returns to the living room, his hands shoved in his pockets. “Elena—”
“Your mom,” I interrupt. “She has cancer.”
“Yeah.” He stares at the floor. “That’s why I took the cure. But I was never working for Aether, I swear.”
“Then who recruited you to steal the cure?”
“It was Lynne. Aether never knew about it.”
Lynne—so she was in on it the entire time. A memory floats to the surface, from in front of the lab when Lynne asked Adam, “Did you get it?” She wasn’t asking if we got evidence—she was asking if he got the cure.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask, the question that’s been eating me up ever since I saw him drop the case.
He sighs. “I hated lying to you, but I couldn’t tell anyone about my true mission. I knew you would all think I was working for Aether and was somehow behind all of your deaths. And I didn’t trust the others with the cure—especially once I found out what it did to people without cancer. But I’m not a killer. You must know that.”
“I do. That’s why I’m here.”
A sad smile crosses his face. “I wanted to call you, but I didn’t have your number, and I’ve been taking care of my mom all day. And…I didn’t think you wanted to hear from me.”
“No, I should have trusted you. I should have listened to you or come here sooner or…”
“Maybe. But I should have fought harder for you.”
We move together at the same time, our lips meeting in a desperate kiss. His hands slide down my arms, along my tattoos, and I dig my fingers in his hair, pulling him closer. I’m afraid to let go, afraid to let the kiss end, afraid to face what’s coming in the next few hours. Because for the first time since we returned to the present, I feel like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.
When the kiss ends, he rests his forehead against mine. “I’m really glad you came to see me.”
“Me too. I wasn’t going to, but…I changed my mind.”
“I didn’t think I’d ever see you again. I knew I wasn’t suffering from future shock, but I didn’t know about the rest of you.”
“Wait,” I say, pulling back. “If Lynne knew about future shock, wasn’t she worried you’d come back crazy?”
“Not really. Dr. Kapur was pretty confident that none of us would suffer from it. Plus, she was desperate. Her daughter is dying from leukemia, so she needed the cure right away.”
“Her daughter…” The photos I saw in the future, of Lynne’s daughter in a hospital bed.
“That’s how I met Lynne. Her daughter is in the children’s ward of the hospital where my mom gets her treatments. Lynne was always there, and we talked about my mom and my studies and this scholarship I got…”
“But how did Lynne know about the cure?”
“When she sent the third group of people to the future, the ones who remembered some things, one of them told her I’d just developed a cure. I didn’t believe her at first, but she convinced me that if I brought the cure back, we could save both my mom and her daughter. That’s why I signed up. Well, that and I was desperate for money. We were about to sell this house to pay off the medical bills before Aether came along with their offer.” He looks down at the floor, sucking in a long breath. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I wanted to, but I couldn’t risk not being able to bring back the cure.”