Trapped in Time Read online

  “Caroline? Hey—what are you doing?” she heard Liv say behind her but the other woman’s voice was thin and tinny—as though she was talking to Caroline from a long-way away and they had a bad connection.

  “I don’t know,” she started to say but a rushing wind ripped the words from her mouth and then she was falling…falling…

  Falling right out of her own world and into a whole other universe.

  Chapter Two

  “Oh my God, she’s gone!” Kat exclaimed in horror. “She disappeared—she got sucked right into that PORTAL thingy!”

  “I thought she said that was impossible? Isn’t there supposed to be some kind of barrier? Did she go to that other world?” Sophie leaned forward, as though trying to get a better look at the storm-tossed meadow to see if Caroline Lambert appeared there. Liv was leaning forward too, side-by-side with her twin as they studied the other universe.

  “Look what you’re doing—both of you get back here!” Kat exclaimed, grabbing her friends by the back of their blouses and giving a firm yank. She wasn’t prepared to see anyone else get sucked into the weird contraption—especially not her two best friends in the world.

  “But where did Caroline go? We have to find her,” Liv protested even as Kat reeled her and Sophie in.

  They all took a big step backward and Kat stumbled over something soft and yielding on the floor behind her. She looked down to see what had tripped her and nearly threw up.

  “Oh my God,” she whispered faintly. “Liv…I think I found her.”

  “Who, Caroline? Where?” Liv demanded.

  Kat pointed to the ground but didn’t look again. She already felt like puking—she didn’t want to push her luck.

  “Oh no!” Sophie exclaimed and she and Liv dropped to the ground on their knees beside the still form.

  Kat risked another glance and saw that Liv was already feeling for a pulse and looking for breathing signs. Not that she was going to find either. The girl on the floor had a blackened face and her tongue stuck out from her mouth like a swollen purple sausage. Even worse, her eyes had popped and oozed out all over her face, looking bizarrely like fried eggs. She was also completely naked although where her clothes had gone, Kat had no idea. She looked away from the gruesome sight again, feeling her stomach roll threateningly.

  “No pulse and she’s not breathing—I think she was struck by lightning. Get Sylvan, now!” Liv directed Sophie. “I’ve never treated someone whose been electrocuted before.”

  Sophie closed her eyes tightly for a moment and Kat knew she was using the bond she had with her mate to call the big Blood Kindred, who was also a doctor, to them. Liv was already doing chest compressions a few moments later when he rushed into the room.

  “What is it? What happened?” he demanded. Then he saw the girl on the floor and his eyes went wide. “Is that Doctor Lambert? What happened to her? And what happened to her clothes?”

  “Defibrillator…first, questions…after,” Liv huffed as she continued chest compressions. “She’s got no pulse and no breath sounds, Sylvan—we have to bring her back!”

  Sylvan dropped to the floor beside her and assessed the patient. After a moment, Kat saw a look of sorrow come into his pale blue eyes and he shook his head.

  “You might as well stop now, Olivia,” he said quietly. “She’s gone—just look at her face.” He pointed at the blackened face with the tongue protruding and the fried-egg eyes. “She’s not coming back from that.”

  “But…but she was just here! She was just alive!” Liv stopped compressions and grabbed Caroline’s left wrist again, as though feeling desperately for a pulse. “I don’t understand—how could this happen so quickly?”

  “I don’t think it did,” Sophie said, “At least not to our Caroline—the one who belongs here.” There was a note of excitement in her voice that made them all look at her.

  “What are you talking about, Sophie?” Kat asked. “That’s Caroline—it looks just like her. Or, well…it did.” She had to look away again, fearing she would be sick.

  “I know it looks just like her but it’s not her,” Sophie exclaimed. “Liv—look at her hand—at her wrist!”

  Liv looked down at the wrist she was holding and frowned. Then, slowly, a look of comprehension crossed her features.

  “The tattoo—her tattoo of the three little birds flying—it’s gone!”

  “Because this isn’t our Caroline!” Sophie nearly shouted. “It’s the other Caroline—the one we were watching on the PORTAL a minute ago!”

  Kat forced herself to look again and she had to admit that Sophie was right—the tattoo was gone. Which had to mean…

  “Where’s the real Caroline—our Caroline?” she demanded and rushed over to the PORTAL—though she made sure not to get too close to it.

  Liv and Sophie came with her, scrambling off the floor to peer into the shiny brass frame. But the space which had held the picture of the stormy meadow was blank now—the entire scene had disappeared to be replaced by nothing. You could see right through to the other side of the room, Kat thought, feeling dismayed. What had happened to make the other universe vanish?

  “It’s gone,” Liv said, frowning. “Where did it go?”

  “Where did what go?” Sylvan asked, coming to stand beside them and peer through the empty brass aperture as well.

  Rapidly, they explained about the other universe and the other Caroline who had looked just like Caroline Lambert except for her hair.

  “But that wasn’t the only difference between them,” Sophie remarked. “I know we just met her but our Caroline seemed really shy and quiet and sweet and this other Caroline—”

  “Seemed like kind of a snobby bitch,” Kat finished for her. “Not to mention the fact that our Caroline is genius-level smart while the other Caroline was literally not smart enough to come in out of the rain.”

  “Hush, Kat—it’s not right to speak ill of the dead,” Liv said, frowning.

  “Well, sorry, doll but it’s true. There’s all the proof you need right there.” Kat motioned to the dead body on the floor but didn’t look at it.

  “So the other Caroline—the one you were all observing—got struck by lightning and then our Caroline—Dr. Lambert, I mean—was sucked into her universe while the dead body of the other female was somehow transported here,” Sylvan said, frowning. “Is that right?”

  “I guess so—that’s what it seemed like, anyway,” Kat said and Sophie and Liv nodded.

  “But what are we going to do now?” Liv asked. “I mean, we can’t just leave her there! She’s stuck in a whole different universe—who knows what might happen to her?”

  “But her machine—the PORTAL—doesn’t seem to be working anymore.” Sophie looked up at Sylvan. “I know you read her research extensively before you decided to allow her to come do her testing aboard the Mother Ship. Can you make it work, Sylvan?”

  He frowned. “I don’t know.”

  “Well, try!” Liv urged. “Fire it up and let’s see if we can get her back.”

  “No—not yet.” Sylvan frowned. “It’s clear that the PORTAL has some serious flaws—or at least, it didn’t work in the way that Dr. Lambert intended or expected. I’ll need to go back and read over her notes that pertain to the construction and operation of the PORTAL before we can risk turning it on again.”

  “But…but by that time it might be too late.” There were tears in Sophie’s big green eyes as she looked up at her husband. “Please, Sylvan—can’t we just forget the formalities and try to rescue her? I know we just met her but I really liked Caroline—I’m worried about her.”

  “Try to understand, talana…” Sylvan stroked her hair and looked earnestly into her eyes. “I can’t just think of Dr. Lambert—I have the safety of the entire Mother Ship to consider. What if the three of you had been sucked into this other universe as well? For that matter, what if the entire Mother Ship had been sucked in? I like Dr. Lambert and care about her well-being too, but we must be cau