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Back Dark Stars Save as PDF
Chapters (51)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Part One
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. 12
  16. Part Two
  17. 13
  18. 14
  19. 15
  20. 16
  21. 17
  22. 18
  23. 19
  24. Part Three
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. 27
  33. 28
  34. 29
  35. 30
  36. Part Four
  37. 31
  38. 32
  39. 33
  40. 34
  41. 35
  42. 36
  43. 37
  44. 38
  45. Part Five
  46. 39
  47. Acknowledgments
  48. About the Author
  49. Books by Danielle Rollins
  50. Back Ad
  51. About the Publisher

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” she asked.

“Why indeed.” Roman lowered himself to the bed beside her, sighing deeply. “To be perfectly honest, I only accepted it myself a few hours ago. It was after you and I went to the future with Mac and saw what was going to happen to our city. I realized then that my hypothesis was correct. If humans keep traveling through time, we’re going to destroy everything. We have to stop.”

Dorothy closed her eyes. She felt a sort of nagging sensation as several ideas that had seemed so separate attempted to come together.

The Professor said it was possible to travel through time without a vessel.

Mac wanted to travel through time.

Time travel was going to bring about the end of the world.

And she had, apparently, killed Ash.

Were they connected, somehow? She just couldn’t tell, it was like looking at a jigsaw puzzle without half its pieces. She was still missing something.

Out loud, she said, “Ash knows how to travel through time without a vessel. We see him tomorrow, when we go back for the medical supplies.”

Roman frowned. “The only way that would be possible is if there was a very small piece of exotic matter lodged inside of his body.”

Dorothy cut her eyes at him. “You’ve read the Professor’s missing journal pages? His experiments with Tesla?” Of course he did. She found the pages in his room, after all.

“And, apparently, so have you,” Roman added, eyebrows raised. But he didn’t sound altogether surprised. “I considered attempting the experiment myself, but it seemed . . .”

“Utterly terrifying?” Dorothy filled in.

“Exactly.”

“I had the same experience,” Dorothy admitted. “I think I actually might’ve tried it, but Mac interrupted me before I could work up the nerve. He has the journal pages now.

Roman cut his eyes at her. “Mac knows it’s possible to travel through time without an anil?”

Dorothy nodded. “You said that the only way to stop the city from being destroyed is to stop traveling through time, but Mac won’t stop, not ever. Now that he knows it’s possible to time travel without a ship, he’ll be even more desperate to do it himself.”

Roman frowned, and there was a moment of quiet while he appeared to be turning this new information over in his head.

“Time travel without a ship might be possible, but he still needs exotic matter. So we’ll just have to destroy the exotic matter.” Roman paused, giving Dorothy a meaningful look. “All of it.”

Dorothy studied Roman’s face for a long moment, certain that she had misunderstood. “You mean that I need to destroy the exotic matter inside of Ash,” she said. “I need to kill him.”

Roman gazed back at her. “To save the world.”

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