Jasper made it halfway down the hall outside her classroom before bumping into someone. The woman adjusted her glasses with a blue webbed hand and looked Jasper over. “Oh, you’re that new sub, aren’t you?”
“Uh, yes,” Jasper replied.
“How old are you?”
“Late sixties.”
“No way! You look so young. What’s your secret?”
“God is punishing me,” Jasper muttered.
“What was that?”
“Goat cheese,” Jasper said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go find a place that sells coffee, energy drinks, and Nova Cora.”
“There’s a cafe at the Twin Sunrise books down the street. They have everything. And I mean everything.” The woman laughed. “I usually go between classes to get drinks. These kids can be hard to handle, you know?”
Yikes. “What was your name?” Jasper asked.
“Mrs. Metor,” the teacher answered.
“Okay, well, I’m meeting with a parent soon, so—”
“Whose parent?”
Mind your damn business, lady! “Aymes Bell.” Jasper attempted to step around Mrs. Metor.
“Oh, Aymes. He’s a bit of a problem, isn’t he?”
Jasper froze. “What do you mean?”
“I had him for a first period class last semester. He was always late, spouting excuses about taking his little sister to school because his mom had to work, or something. I don’t know how he expects to get into a good school. Kid’s gonna end up working at Bibi’s.”
“Uh, I don’t have time to unpack all of that, so I’m just gonna go.”
Jasper walked to the bookstore and into the cafe. A young woman stood behind the counter with her back to Jasper, organizing a shelf of flavored syrups. “I’ll be with you in a moment,” she said, barely loud enough for Jasper to hear.
Jasper frowned. The employee’s voice was familiar. Too familiar.
She turned around. All Jasper could do was stare blankly.
“What can I get you?” the employee asked.
“I—uh—” Was this a joke? Why did this girl have Grace’s face? Jasper leaned to the right, double checking that there were no wings sprouting from the girl’s back. “I was just going to have a coffee, but you know what, go ahead and make a mix of equal parts cosmiotto, Nova Cora, and lunberry soda.”
The girl gave her a weird look, but nodded and punched the order in. Her hair was similar to Grace’s, too, except that it was cut to her chin and straightened. Jasper squinted at her name tag. Kora. A common name this side of the star system.
“You live around here your whole life?” Jasper asked.
“Uh, kind of,” Kora answered. “Your total’s five janos.”
“Kind of?” Jasper handed her a few bills.
“I was adopted from some place off Kronos, but I’ve lived here as long as I can remember.”
“Okay.” Even if Jasper could keep asking questions without sounding like a complete weirdo, it sounded like there wasn’t much else this girl could tell her. “Thanks. Sorry, I know it’s a weird order.”
Kora shrugged. “I’ve seen weirder.” The gesture screamed Grace. What the hell?
Jasper really needed to see those lab records Ringmaster had been talking about.
She took her drink and walked back to the school, debating whether she should tell Grace. Maybe it would help trigger Grace’s memory. Or maybe it would just distress her even more.
Grace, Holly, and Dax were waiting in the classroom when Jasper returned. Holly and Dax were deep in conversation, and Grace was still laboring over the text portion of her project.
Jasper sat next to Grace. “You’ve had your wings as long as you can remember, right?”
Grace shot her a weird look, nearly identical to the one Kora had given earlier. “Yes?”
“And you don’t remember anything before wandering out of a secret lab and saving Starr?” Jasper asked.
“No.” Grace frowned. “Did something happen?”
“Not—no, don’t worry about it.”
Grace went back to typing. “You said I was probably an experiment in Starr’s secret labs specifically, right?”
“Yeah, I was just hoping you might remember…anything,” Jasper said lamely. “I’d like to know what he wants winged people for.”
“I’m sorry. I’ll let you know if I do.” Grace glanced at Holly and Dax. Lowering her voice, she said, “I’ve heard you guys mention it a few times, but what exactly happened with Holly and the others? How did they join you?”
Jasper sifted through the story, wondering what parts to tell Grace and what parts could be saved for another day. There were things even the others didn’t know, of course, because Jasper still didn’t understand them and couldn’t possibly begin to explain. “Holly’s real name is Hollixa Faye.”
“As in the Fayes that run the Prism District?”
Jasper nodded. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you hadn’t heard her name, though. She’s the youngest of a lot of cousins, and she ran away a long time ago. Almost fifty years.”
Grace frowned. “Holly’s eighteen.”
“I know. She disappeared at age thirteen. Five years ago, she and the other two appeared as young teens on the shores of the Tide District, with no memory of how they got there.” All five years younger than when they went into the warp.
“The Fayes took them in and ran all sorts of tests, trying to figure out what happened,” Jasper continued. “Locked them up, really. And since no one had any idea what was going on, Starr kept it out of the news.” She tipped her head back, moving her eyes from Grace’s to the ceiling. “I broke into the Faye penthouse a few months later looking for information and found them being treated like prisoners. I told them I’d help them, if they came with me.”
“You rescued them and turned them into criminals?”
Jasper grimaced at Grace’s response. “I honestly just gave them a place to stay. But they all had powers, and they wanted answers, and I needed their help if we were going to get anywhere.” She let her gaze drop. “The last thing Thea and Dax remembered was living their lives on Earth. They have no idea what led to them being dumped on an alien planet.”
“Makes sense, I guess.” Grace folded her arms. “Have you figured any of it out?”
Jasper blew out a deep breath. “Nothing new. Yet. All I know is that it has to do with the spacetime warps.”
“How do you know that?” Grace asked.
“I mean, it makes sense,” Jasper quickly said. “They were warped through space, and time was involved too. Obviously.”
Grace raised an eyebrow. “But how did you know about the warps in the first place?”
“My search for information on Starr and his projects has yielded a lot of other stuff,” Jasper told her. “I met a scientist who was studying them years ago. She was pretty sure there was an ‘other side’ to the warps.”
Grace leaned forward, her voice low. “The others had never heard of spacetime warps before they came up during the Starchatter mission. Why didn’t you tell them?”
“Because I still know next to nothing about them, except that they exist.” Jasper didn’t mean to sound so defensive. She felt a twinge of guilt. It wasn’t fair that she knew the others had been through a warp. They were desperate for answers, and she had something, even if it wasn’t much.
The alarm Jasper had set earlier beeped. Good, a way out of this conversation. “You guys need to clear out. Aymes’s mom is going to be here soon,” she said. “Grab Thea. I’ll meet you all back at the hotel.”
Jasper sank into the chair at her desk as the other three left the room. What information did she want from Aymes’s mother? Whether or not she knew he was working for a supervillain? Did she even know he had powers?
Jasper muted her comm so the others wouldn’t have to listen to the meeting. There was a knock on the doorframe, and a woman entered the room. Human. Her blonde hair was piled in a messy bun, while her green eyes darted around anxiously.
Jasper stood up to shake her hand. “Mrs. Bell?”
“Yes,” she said. “You wanted to talk about Aymes? Is something wrong?”
“Not exactly. I just had a few questions. He’s an interesting kid, and I want to make sure I’m giving him what he needs while I’m here.” They sat down on opposite sides of the desk, and Jasper continued. “I know I’m only a sub and I won’t be here long, but I noticed Aymes has a very ambitious schedule.”
Mrs. Bell nodded. “He’s trying to get into the University of Kronos.” After a moment, she quickly added, “Of course, he’s not just doing the extracurriculars for his application. He’s genuinely passionate about them.”
“Good,” Jasper said. “I also noticed that he’s been absent for a couple weeks, though. Is he okay?”
“He’s just been off on his internship.” Despite the attempt at a cheery tone, Mrs. Bell’s gaze darkened.
Jasper furrowed her brow. “Is something wrong?”
A moment passed, then the facade cracked. Mrs. Bell sighed. “I—I just worry. When I ask about the internship, he’s very vague about it. He’s probably just being a teenager, but he’s been acting weird for a few months now.” She leaned forward. “I’ve been struggling since his father died, if I’m being honest. Aymes was just a baby when it happened, but he does his best to keep us going these days. I’m afraid he’s going to sacrifice too much trying to help me.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.” Poor kid. Poor mom.
“I tell Aymes he should do what he wants, but I think he’s determined to go to school for me.” Mrs. Bell gave Jasper a sad smile. “It means a lot, you wanting to meet with me. Most of his teachers don’t care. I really appreciate the ones that do.”
Oh boy. Jasper tried very hard to ignore the way her heart squeezed in her chest. “Of course. I think we need more kids like him.”