"Time can behave differently inside the Echo. My brother threw me into that world, and I was trapped there for five years. How long was it for you, Gabriel?"
For a moment, I can't respond. My brain is struggling to reconcile what the British Hulk just said with what I'd always taken for an absolute truth of the universe. Time moves forward. Sure, I'd watched documentaries about how time travel might be technically possible. But I treated it as theory, not fact. The Echo changed everything, turning myths into truths and theories into reality.
"Three years," I say. "I lived in the Echo for three years."
Sarah rushes over to me and kneels beside my chair. Her soft, warm hand encloses mine. "I'm so sorry, Gabriel. That must have been awful. But it does explain how you managed to explore the entire Echo world."
"I had nothing else to do. No way out. No way home, if that even existed anymore. Might as well explore, that's what I decided."
She gives my hand a gentle squeeze. "I will go with you to the beach. I trust your instincts, and if you believe retracing my steps will help, I'm in."
"That's a good place to start," Grant says. "But I'm wondering if Gabriel's knowledge of the Echo could provide clues none of us ever found. You've seen all of the other world. That has to be useful."
"I want to go to the beach first," I say. "Just me and Sarah."
"You shouldn't go with him alone," Dax declares, and he almost growls like I did. "He is a stranger."
"Dax and I could go with you two," Grant says. "For safety. Yours and ours."
"Sarah and I need to go alone." Why? I have no clue. But I sense that we need to do this without her friends watching.
"Like hell," Dax snarls.
"I could always kidnap Sarah while you're all sleeping."
The British Hulk looks like he's about to rip my head off.
But Sarah steps in. "Relax, he's joking."
"Let them do this," Allison says. "We're all adults here and capable of making our own decisions."
The gang exchanges glances, as if they're seeking each other's permission. Then Grant says, "Okay. You and Sarah, alone. But you should take some kind of weapons. Erin and I can advise you on what to take."
I smirk at Dax, just to annoy him, though I speak to Grant. "That's a good idea."
This time, I will not have sex with Sarah. It's an informational mission only. I don't care if lightning erupts and makes us both so horny that we can't stand it. I will not repeat my mistake.
What if Sarah is pregnant?
I can't worry about that right now. We have bigger problems.
"Let's go," I say, as I push up out of my chair. "I don't want to waste any time. Who knows when the lightning might come back."
Sarah's cheeks dimple, and her eyes sparkle. "I knew you weren't as much of a jerk as you acted like you were when we first met."
"I'm no hero. But everybody does what they have to do to survive in this new world."
The rest of the gang follows us as we march through the camp. We stop along the way at the tent where they keep the weapons and grab a few things. Then we head for the woods. Atthe edge of the forest, the others halt and just watch us disappear into the gloom. Our trek over the mountain takes longer than I remember, but then, I've only hiked this trail twice before. The second time, we hadn't gone all the way to the beach. Sarah and I hadn't even made it to the hot spring.
Now, we hike up the mountain until we reach the summit. There, we pause to take a break and drink some water. We both have backpacks filled with supplies, which was something Grant and Erin had suggested. Since they've both trekked into the Echo, they know what we might need if we should "get sucked into hell through the sewer drain," as Erin phrased it. Now, we have weapons, food, and water stashed in our packs.
After our brief rest, we head down the other side of the mountain to the beach.
"What now?" Sarah asks.
"Let's put our stuff down and walk over to the shoreline. Do you know if it was high tide or low tide when you washed ashore?"
"Sorry, no idea. I was unconscious at the time."