The officer walked towards her hiding spot with fury in his face, just like he had before. But she didn't step forward this time. "Who in the hell are you?" he yelled when he found her behind the cargo box.
She was back at the beginning of the hour, the moment she first came on board. This strange fragment of time was somehow stuck on repeat, and Ava realized with sickening certainty that if she didn't fix it, she'd be stuck, too--caught in the loop of an impossible reality. "I have to get to the cockpit," she muttered.
The officer raised an eyebrow at her request. "Do you, now? And where'd your friend go? How did you two get on board?" Ava didn't have a response for that, so she stepped around him without offering one. "Hold your horses," he said in a low voice. She heard the distinctive sound of a pistol being cocked, and turned around to see the raised barrel nearly at her nose.
20. The Unchangeable.
She couldn't do it. She sat strapped to that extra seat for over forty-five minutes trying to convince herself to try. The men were already dead, she reminded herself. They had to be. This wasn't real.
But they looked real to her. They laughed and joked with each other, overjoyed to be going home. One caught her eye and winked. He was missing an arm, and the extra sleeve was folded neatly against his shoulder.
Maybe this wasn't really an unchangeable. Maybe she could just ride home, and find her grandad--he'd have the watch by now, and--
Ava felt a wave of nausea whip through her body and fade away suddenly. "Where'd that damn hitchhiker get to?!" When she looked up, she was back behind the cargo box, next to the window, and the officer was arguing angrily with his men.
19. The New Plan.
“Who in the hell are you?” the officer yelled as Ava stepped out of her hiding place. It was better to make the first move, she reasoned, than be caught cowering in a corner.
She spoke with authority, careful not to betray her inward fright. “Whatever that man did, I’m here to put it right.” She had to reverse whatever her grandad had done. That was the only way to fix the timepiece.
The officer grabbed her arm and pulled her forward. “Well then, you’re going to have to crash the whole damn plan,” he grumbled. “I don’t know how you got on board, but this is a felony.” He shoved her towards a seat on the far side of the hold.
Ava acquiesced numbly. “He saved you?” she asked in shock.
The officer didn’t look happy about it. “The SOB figured something out. Stay here.” He pushed her into the seat and turned back towards the cargo boxes to continue his search.
Ava felt like someone had just dropped an ice cold rock in her gut, and she was sure she'd never hated her grandfather more than in that moment.
18. The Calm Before.
He was supposed to wait the entire hour. He was supposed to be there when she got out--to make sure she did get out. But there was a storm over the forest just a few miles off, and it was headed this way fast. The gathering clouds whipped up the previously dead air into a frenzy and drew a heavy darkness over the field around him.
She'd been out of his sight for over twenty minutes now. "Ava?" He pulled his jacket tighter and hoped she was staying warm.
There was no answer. Lightning struck over the forest, and thunder rumbled loudly seconds later. He checked his watch. If he went to find shelter now, he could easily return in forty minutes or so, and with a much readier hand to help. Ava would never even know he'd left.
17. The Officer.
Another yell from the men drew her attention back, but they still hadn't seen her. Ava crouched behind the box to watch their argument. She couldn't hear much above the roar of the engines, but she was sure they must be talking about her grandfather, and she was doubly sure they were furious. Grandad never had bothered himself with dated, irrelevant things like diplomacy.
One of them gestured angrily and pointed towards her hiding place. She could have slapped herself -- obviously this would have been the last place they’d seen him! She glanced around for a possible escape, but unsurprisingly there were no clear options in the confined space.
The officer strode towards her looking venomous. Maybe it was better this way. She had exactly one hour, and in a cramped place like this secrecy would only slow her down.