When All is Null and Void

Chapter Sixteen

Three weeks in, Caleb and Alexander were still spending hours practicing spatial Hops in the backyard. Caleb finally completed a successful Hop of ten feet without losing so much as the tip of his fingernail. All previous attempts had been major disasters, but all lost body parts had been replaced through the ring's mystical powers. Caleb knew what the Codex said: The rings were a scientific marvel. He didn't believe it, no matter how much he read it. 

Caleb's celebration over the Hop was dimmed somewhat by an unexpected wave of homesickness. He played the piano for a while, but even that was filled with mournful tunes. Caleb missed Angelica, and it made him even more disconsolate that she would never remember Caleb. Perhaps she wasn't his mom, but she'd been kind enough.

Two days after Caleb's success Alexander announced they were ready to begin Time Hops.

This news elicited a warm glow in his gut, but today Caleb's sour, somewhat depressed mood hung in the rainy afternoon air like an even more oppressive storm cloud. Caleb wasn't sure he could hear Alexander's chipper voice encouraging him to just focusone more time.

Caleb was focusing. He was supposed to Hop five minutes into the past. How? Caleb didn't have the slightest clue; he didn't even have the tug in his gut from when he'd Hopped from one end of the yard to the other. Dead silence faced him. He was supposed to Hop backward and be shunted into his body. Somehow his current consciousness would live within the past consciousness until the point at which he'd Hopped.

It is imperative that a Timewalker neverHop further than a day within his or her own timelines, said the Manifesto. The Timewalker will become stuck, unable to escape until the ring deposits said Timewalker back to the point at which they'd originally Hopped. This is the ring's failsafe to keep a never-ending loop from occurring. It breaks the loop before has begun.

In one case, a man named Frederick Woessner sought to use his ring to win the lottery for his mother's failing health. Unfortunately he became stuck within his twelve-week old self, and was forced to relive the first fourteen years of his life before the Museum discovered the situation and rectified it. He was promptly discharged with a memory modification for his negligence and greed.

None of this made any sense. How could Caleb's current consciousness become stuck inside his past consciousness? At this rate he might never find out.

The rain finally broke Caleb. He cursed, and his voice echoed across the lawn. "I can't do it anymore. I need a break. I'm done." He threw up his hands and walked away. Alexander called him back but Caleb threw up a hand an continued walking. Alexander might genuinely care about Caleb's learning, but Caleb decided he didn't care at the moment. His blood was boiling and he had the sudden urge to punch a tree.

Caleb stalked into the trees where pine needles and half rotten leaves lay largely untouched by the rain. Musty air enveloped Caleb like a blanket, and though he shivered with cold and rage, he was set at ease in an instant. Through the sparse canopy above, the sky was an ominous sort of gray. The sun was already setting, even though it was barely after six. Caleb was starting to understand what Alexander had meant about Oregon creating serial killers.

Caleb covered his eyes with his hands, massaging away the anger until his blood pressure leveled out. He could think clearly now, and he chastised himself for the high expectations he held. Expecting to stroll through time with a snap of his fingers was ludicrous. The nagging voice in the back of his mind whispered his ineptitude even when he slept. Caleb stomped at the phantom voice until his foot tingled, and then he strolled back into the grass and cast Alexander a sheepish grin.

The next few moment passed in an awkward limbo until Alexander broke it by striding through the grass and casing Caleb a hug. Caleb stood stiff and uncomfortable against the sturdy, flannel covered arms before melting. "You looked like you needed a hug," Alexander's voice rumbled against the top of Caleb's head.

"Kinda." Caleb's words were muffled against Alexander's chest. He smelled like fresh laundry and a spicy cologne dampened by rain. A memory tingled in his mind, but Caleb couldn't place it.

Alexander released his tight squeeze and placed his palms on Caleb's shoulders. "It's going to be okay, but Caleb..."

Here it comes.

"You can't explode like that." Alexander's hand pressed harder, steadying. "You're better than that. Throwing curse words around like that—it doesn't help anything."

"I know," Caleb muttered.

"I'm serious." Alexander lifted Caleb's chin so they were eye to eye. "You're learning, and you can't be hard on yourself. Blowing up will cause you more heartache later. You haveto control that."

Caleb grimaced. "Okay."

Alexander ruffled Caleb's hair. "Let's go get some pizza."

+++

Engorged and silly on greasy slices of three cheese pizza, Alexander and Caleb drove back down the road to the house. The sun was gone, and the beginning vestiges of fog were beginning to creep in from the cloudy sky. Caleb was already exhausted from the early morning workouts and long hours of concentration that he wasn't sure if the person at the front door was really there or not.

"Who's that?" Caleb asked.

.

"Let's find out," Alexander said, sliding out of the truck and slamming the door. "Hey there," he said.

And Titus James turned around. What was he doing here? "I was just about to Hop forward and see if you guys were home," he said to Alexander.

"Titus!" Alexander said, and then the two were hugging. When they broke apart, Alexander unlocked the front door, and the three of them walked in.