“She’s timesick,” Avery said quietly. “You can’t fix it. TimeWatch can.”
I spared him a single glance (Jianae was giving him a similar look as she strapped a pulse monitor to Acacia’s wrist), then sat down on the edge of Acacia’s bed.
“Hey,” I said, not sure where else to start.
She smiled vaguely at me, though her eyes didn’t quite focus. It was sort of like she was looking past me, or looking at where I’d been a moment ago. “Hey,” she responded, though she paused slightly longer than was normal.
There was another pause, during which I became acutely aware that the last time I’d seen her we’d been inches away from . . . well, I hoped it had been about to be a kiss, but there was honestly no way of knowing. I knew she intrigued me, I knew I liked her, and it seemed like she felt the same way. Beyond that . . . it was hard to devote much thought to wondering if I might have a shot with a girl I barely knew when I was supposed to be finding out if the world was about to end.
I sighed. Then I said, “What did you say about FrostNight and the stars dying?”
“I was worried about you,” she said.
“I was worried about you, too,” I admitted. “What happened to you?”
She looked briefly irritated. Then she bit her lip and her expression shifted, becoming sad and worried, and—I was surprised to see—scared. “We didn’t stop it, Joe.”
“I know.” I impulsively reached out to take her hand. She didn’t react.
“Lord Dogknife . . . threw me out of time,” she said, glancing in Avery’s direction. “He broke my navigation and shoved me through the dimensions. Through the Nowhere. There was this . . . spider creature. . . .”
I leaned forward, squeezing her hand. Only then did she react, glancing down and giving a faint smile. “Lady Indigo?” I asked. I assumed that was who she meant, but . . .
“You know?’
“I . . .” I started to answer, then paused. I knew what?
“Who?” she asked.
I stared at her. It was starting to sound like we weren’t having the same conversation, especially since she wasn’t quite making eye contact.
“What?” I asked.
“Did you get hit in the head or something?” she asked.
“No,” I said. “Well, I don’t think so. Why?”
“What, what?” she asked, beginning to look irritated.
I continued to stare at her, at a loss. “What?”
There was the sudden sound of laughter from behind me, though it was a laugh I didn’t recognize. I turned, surprised to
find that was Avery. He was laughing at both of us, his resemblance to Acacia even more obvious in his amusement.
“I really should just let you two talk,” he said, still laughing. “But I suppose it would be best if I translate. And, yes,” he said, looking at Acacia. “It is.”
“What do you mean, translate?”
“Shut up, Avery,” Acacia said. “It’s not funny.”
He grinned at me. I looked between him and Acacia, then blinked. “Did you just . . . ?”
“Respond to her before she spoke? Yes, though not from her point of view. She’s timesick,” he repeated, some of his good humor fading as he explained. “A side effect of which is time lag. The leader of HEX threw her out of time, as she said. She is not swimming in the same stream, as it were.”
“You mean, she’s . . . lagging?” I looked back to Acacia, who was glancing between us—but as Avery spoke, she was looking at me.
“Not exactly. She is responding in what she perceives as real time, but her present is not aligned with our present.”