phone?”
“When she slammed the phone down three times
before hanging it up? Yeah. Not good.”
“Not good at all.”
“I wish there was something we could do.”
Luke sighed. Their parents had been divorced
for eight years, but Sera still held out hope that they’d
reconcile. It just wasn’t going to happen. He knew. And he was
always right about these things. It was part of his gift. But
still, Sera hoped.
“Sera—”
“I know,” she said, and held up a hand. “I
know, Luke. I just...wish. You know?”
“Yeah,” he said.
And the thing was, he did know. He knew Sera
as well as he knew himself. Maybe even better. That came with the
territory, being twins. They were like each other’s missing half.
That’s how it was with them.
They walked in silence until they turned off
the mountain road and onto the Sunset Ridge trail. As he started
across the bridge just past the trail head, Luke looked back at
Sera, grinned, and took off at a run.
This was also how it was with them. Never an
opportunity to harass let slip by.
“Hey!” Sera yelled, running to catch up.
“Hey, yourself!” He laughed and glanced back
at her scurrying up the trail. “What’s wrong?” he called over his
shoulder. “Can’t keep up?” Luke dodged large rocks, leaped onto
wooden footbridges. He quickly left her scrambling behind.
Once he’d disappeared from sight, he kept
running until he found a good spot to stop—a couple of large rocks
to sit on and a small break in the trees to admire the view. He was
breathing hard, and man, that felt good. The cold of the rock
seeped through his jeans—a welcome chill to counter the sweat from
the run. He took off his fleece and stuffed it into the backpack,
and waited for Sera to come into sight. Several minutes later she
appeared, glanced up, and shot him a look.
Luke pulled a water bottle out of the
backpack, took a big drink. When she came up alongside him and
plunked down on a neighboring rock, he handed her the water with a
grin.
“You—” she breathed hard, “—officially—” took
a drink of water, “—suck.”
Luke laughed. “Hey, I thought you wanted to
hike. If it’s too much for you we could—”
Luke was suddenly up the mountain near the
top of the big, steep rock. He knew it immediately—it was on the
Sunset Ridge trail. A man in his late twenties was headed down the
trail toward the rock, wincing with every step he took. His right
foot started to slip on the flat face of the rock and his left foot
came down hard as he tried to regain his balance. He cried out in
pain, his knee gave way, and he frantically grabbed at bare rock
face to slow his fall. He couldn’t get a grip and slid off the
rock, his knee slamming into the ground below.
Luke gasped, looked up. He was still sitting
on the rock next to Sera. Was that it? Was that the vision he’d
been waiting for all morning? He looked around, sniffed at the air.
No. All his senses were still on overdrive.
Sera stared at him intently. “What did you
See?” she said quietly even though no one else was around.
“There’s a guy up the mountain. He’s going to
fall.” Luke stood up, zipped the water bottle back into the
backpack and slipped it over his shoulders. “Come on.”
Luke hurried up the trail, not quite running
because he didn’t want to leave Sera behind this time, but going
much faster than he normally would. He didn’t know how long it
would take to get to that rock. He knew the place well, but didn’t
have a sense for how far up the mountain it was.
He needed to get there. Now.
This was another chance to do the impossible.
There had to be a point to being able to predict the future. Right?
He had to be able to change it. Somehow. Stop the guy from falling.
He at least had to try.
“Luke?” Sera was breathing heavy, keeping up,
but barely. He glanced back at her and didn’t know what to do. This
was hard for her, but he had to move quickly. “Why are we going so
fast? Is he in
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