“Alive or…?” She hands me a bottle from the cooler, taking one for herself.

“With Blake, I mean. And an ex–time traveler.”

She shrugs, sitting down next to me. “Soul mates,” she says simply.

“Sorry?”

Claire smooths her fingers over her sundress. “There’s really no other way to say it, and there’s no way to be sure, but I have a feeling my son would have fallen for you in any time period or any reality you two met in. He’s not easy to get along with, but at the same time, he is. And you two just fit together well. It’s hard to explain with any other word than soul mates.”

She takes a sip from her drink. “But, even if you can’t jump or if you didn’t want to jump or something in between, you’re something more important than your genes. You’re family. You taught me that.” She smiles, tapping my chest gently.

“Is that why you offered to pull some strings if I decide to go to Harvard?” I ask. “You know that I’m not going to go there just because Blake’s going, right?”

The first time Claire offered to help me get into one of the best schools in the nation through her connections, including those in the Time Traveler Association, which spans the world and is like a family, I was skeptical of it. Taking help and getting in based on anything other than my own merit felt a little…wrong.

But then I thought about how many other people, how many white people, do it. How many students get in because their parents give backdoor donations or because of legacy status or for any number of other reasons not based on merit?

“Like I just said, even if you can’t time travel, you’re still family to me.” She shrugs. “And, to me, helping you is about seeing the potential in you, Andre, not about what you can or cannot do for me. Although, you being one of us is a perk, I won’t deny that.”

“You don’t need to, Mrs. McIntyre. Like you said, I’m not stupid.” I smile.

“Oh, please. You’re family now, and we’ve been through so much together. This is the last time I’ll ask. Call me Claire. Please. I insist.”

Mrs. McIntyre—Claire—stands, gliding over to a locked area of the bookshelf. Pulling her key ring out with her back to me, she speaks. “If you’re so smart, then why do you think I called you in here?”

I try to peer around her body to see what she’s looking at. Curiosity almost makes me stand and walk over, but I stay seated. Something electric in the air tells me that I’ll want to be seated.