He glanced around at the inside of the machine he had helped build, at the smooth white walls and ceiling and floor. Of all the surprises life had dealt him, this was the biggest: to lose his life to his creation, which had made the world a safer place.
He swallowed, and on the second try, he was able to form that smile.
The last thing he saw was Adeline reaching an arm around her brother.
The machine vibrated. A hum rose all around him, and the world snapped out of existence.
When Sam Anderson opened his eyes, he was in the past.
PART II
A MYSTERY OF PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE
SEVENTEEN
In the days before his Absolom departure, Sam had imagined what arriving in the Late Triassic epoch would be like.
He had expected to see a vast desert. Perhaps dinosaurs. Or volcanoes erupting. Possibly earthquakes shaking the ground.
When he arrived, he saw none of those things.
Only darkness.
Rain splattered him and pounded in the night like a million horses galloping around him.
And he was falling, no ground under his feet.
He reached out, panicking, head spinning, looking for any sign—
He hit the water hard, his mouth open, and it filled with a salty mix that made him gag as he sank into the blackness.
He writhed, waving his arms, kicking his legs. When his face reached the surface, he coughed and hacked just before a wave crashed into him and rolled him over, forcing the burning water down his throat again.
Sam fought, and the waves fought back, slamming into him, relentless, never tiring. He felt like he was at war with the sea, and he knew the sea would win and that he would be buried here.
The rain fell in sheets, and the waves came like a battering ram until Sam simply stopped fighting. He was too tired. He rolled onto his back and left his mouth open to collect rainwater. His body flowed with the waves, not struggling against them.
He realized then that the thick departure outfit served as a life preserver as well. It was probably saving his life.
The moon was a sliver, but even in that small crescent, it was brighter than Sam had ever seen. It seemed a bit larger too. That made sense. The moon was closer to the Earth back then.
In the rocking of the waves and pitter-patter of the storm, Sam realized the big mistake he had made in thinking that he would arrive on land. In the Late Triassic, Pangea contained all of Earth’s landmass—and the supercontinent only covered a quarter of Earth’s surface. There were no ice caps, which meant the rest of the planet was covered in water. The odds of him arriving on solid land had always been one in four.
Had Daniele known? Surely she had. She would have realized it.
Why hadn’t she told him?
The obvious answer was that there was not much he could do about it. It was simply bad luck. For all Sam knew, he was a thousand miles from Pangea, from the coast and salvation.
In a way, it was a fitting end. This was what Absolom was—leaving a person adrift, in a sea of time, with no hope of spotting land and no future, only the endless expanse of time and open sea around them.
As he stared at the unfamiliar stars in the sky, blinking the rain out of his eyes, he wondered if dawn would bring the sight of land. He hoped so. If not, he was finished out here. Hunger, dehydration, or a predator would claim him soon, and he would belong to the sea forever.
EIGHTEEN
The day Adeline’s father was exiled via Absolom, she dressed in black and promised herself she wouldn’t cry. Not in front of the others in that viewing box. One of those people, sitting right beside her, was Nora’s killer. That person was responsible for ripping her father out of her life.
But she couldn’t. As she sat there watching her father wake up and struggle to stand, her world was shattered. After her mother’s death, her father had been her anchor in the world. Now he was being torn away, and she had never felt more adrift. Or angry.
She stood and ran to the glass and pounded on it and lost control.
*
After her father’s departure, Adeline went home to Daniele’s and locked herself in her room and buried her head in a pillow and thought the darkest thoughts of her life. The worst among them was that if she killed Constance, Hiro, Elliott, and Daniele, she would have revenge for her father. The real killer would be dead. But three innocent people would also die. Well, assuming one or more of them weren’t in it together.
She probably would have kept spiraling if there hadn’t been a knock at the door.
She barely lifted her head enough to shout, “Go away!”
The knocking stopped. Ryan’s soft voice cracked as he called through the door, “Addy. It’s me.”