“Thanks, Dad,” Mill said once they had come to a stop by the neon marquee of Skate pLace, one of the classic premier hangouts for Royal Valley teens. “It closes in ten minutes anyway, so we should be right out—no driving off jokes!”

           “Okay, kiddo. I won’t ask about your shady dealings. This time.”

           The passengers hopped out, but the adult Millie knew it was best to still not get involved, so she waved them on inside and waited by the door, saying, “Good luck with Charlie. I’ll be here, enjoying the solid ground. Never did get used to Dad’s driving…”

           The venue was just as empty as the parking lot. The snack bar employees were closing up shop, and the half dozen remaining patrons were either gaming at the arcade machines or mingling away from the empty rink. The pounding techno music was still going, so the only place to have a real conversation would be away from the speakers.

           “Is that our guy?” Laurie asked over the music as she eyed the entrance to the locker room in the corner—where a broody teen in blacks and reds was waiting.

           “Charlie…” Jace murmured. “Be careful what you say. We can’t let him know a time-traveling Millie is behind all this. I wish I knew what he’s thinking. Maybe we…”

           “We gotta convince him that we want to help him build a time machine, right?” Laurie replied. “I’ll probably just… keep quiet. I’m definitely out of my element here.”

           “Follow my lead, Jace,” Mill said. “I have an idea. I’ve been trying to keep him from doing just that, so if I have a good reason for a change of heart… Well, you get it.”

           Charlie, who had noticed them the moment they came in, emotionlessly did the “come over here” finger gesture, and the three anxiously obeyed, walking over to join him in the small locker area that smelled strongly of old shoes. Mr. Pippin, experienced past his appearance, may have been on the shorter side but remained intimidating.

           With the music’s impact diminished here, he didn’t have to speak loudly to greet them. “There he is. Jace Baker. Couldn’t stay out of the past, hm? Did your uncle drag you on another nostalgia trip, to the late 90s this time? And who’s this? Be honest.”

           “My friend, Laurie,” Jace answered. “She… Um, she’s just helping out.”

           Charlie’s gaze turned to Mill. “You here to make sure I ‘stay on track?’”

           “Things are… complicated,” she replied without any shred of nervousness.

           “Uh-huh. So, how’d you do it?” He took the encased thumb drive out of a jacket pocket and held it up. “I don’t get how or when you slipped this into my backpack.”

           “We were… sneaking around school today,” Jace said. “Very… very stealthily.”

           Mill suddenly took command of the conversation by explaining, “It’s from an older version of you. It took some doing, but he convinced me to go along with it.”

           For the first time Jace had seen it, Charlie showed genuine curiosity and raised an eyebrow, replying, “Go along with… what, exactly? I can’t access this thing for years.”

           “What you’re holding is full of blueprints for a working time machine, no chance it’ll cause an accident like what happened to Wes. Well, I mean… supposedly. Guess it depends on how much faith you have in… yourself. Why do the hard work all over again, when he already figured it out and wants you to have the info early. Think how much sooner you’ll get to build your machine with all that R&D out of the way.”

           Charlie squinted, studied the three, and pocketed the thumb drive in a swift motion before asking, “If that’s all true, then why did they give it to me?”

           “Oh, pfft—your old self didn’t want you to see him all wrinkly, and… old.”

           “Y-yeah, I wouldn’t. Good point. But that doesn’t explain why you seem to be cool with it all of a sudden. Weren’t you the one who wanted to check up on me once a year after high school, to make sure I wasn’t up to ‘no good?’ What are you playing at?”

           Feigning modesty, she shrugged and cheekily explained, “Charlie. I never really cared if you make a time machine as an adult. How would I stop you, anyway? What’s it matter to me if you find out you need to learn the same lessons Wes did, or goof off in your favorite years? I just want to make sure you don’t mess with his personal journey, or his friends. Basically, don’t screw up his story and risk paradoxing us all, and you’re good as far as I’m concerned.” She gazed at him intensely, and perhaps upon realizing that he still had doubts, added the sprinkles. “Also, he spent so much time and money on the project that he got decrepit and broke, too old and tired to go back and get rich again. He wants you to, ya know, cheat the system and make bank while you’re young.”

           “Wow,” Laurie whispered to Jace. “Pretty good. She could sell used cars.”

           Charlie thought about it and rubbed his chin. “All right, yeah… I’m picking up what you’re putting down. And he, me, got you and Jace involved because you already know about time travel and all the Wes stuff. But what do you get out of it?”

           “Um… Some peace of mind?” Mill kept up the act. “Like… now that you know you can build a machine, maybe you’ll chill out a little until then? Not cause trouble?”

           “Making your job watching over me easier in the process.”

           “Yeah, that’s right. We both get what we want and the tension eases between us.”

           “But then why the secrecy? You could’a just hit me up after school or whatever.”

           Now Mill was having a little trouble coming up with something, so Jace took it upon himself to answer. “Time cops, Charlie. Had my fill of them last time.”

           “Riiight… You wanna play it safe around those assholes. Don’t want to attract their attention again when you don’t have your uncle and cousin around to protect you.”

           “Time cops are a thing?” Laurie said. “You didn’t mention them before, Jace…”

           “They got much bigger criminals to go after than some kids trading time machine plans, but I appreciate your… I guess I’d call it risk minimizing, Jace. I swear I’ll stay out of your business once I start flying around time again. Anyway, good talk with you, too, Millie. Nice to clear the air between us. Guessing I’ll see you around in any case.”

           “We should still chat once a year and catch up, yeah…” Mill said weakly.

           Charlie slid his hands into his pockets, gave his neck a crack, and started on his way out—but stopped at the door and shared without turning around, “Jace, time travel was just a hobby for me. I enjoy the freedom and was tired of getting older. But the past isn’t an obsession, like it was for Wes. You don’t need to worry about me, and Millie’s still on guard duty. So… if you’ve finally wrapped it up, then go home, have fun, and grow up. Adulting sucks sometimes, but at least it lets you find your place out there.”

           “See ya around, Charlie,” Jace murmured as Desert Tree’s ‘Cool Legend’ walked off into the night. He exhaled, let his shoulders drop, and huffed, “I think it worked.”

           “Jace, you have no idea,” Mill replied after letting out an even bigger sigh of relief. “You’re not around to keep an eye on him and feel intellectually inferior after every talk. My heart’s still pounding, I’m sweaty… and, ugh, now my glasses are messy and fogged up.” She took them off and wiped them with a hoodie sleeve as she continued, “He gets me seriously nervous—he’s my Moriarty. It’s all mind games and second-guessing when I’m around him, so I can’t believe we just pulled that off. There’s a mind of an adult that built a time machine and has been every-when in there. Worst of all, he’s really hard to read.”

           “I got mad respect for you right now,” Laurie said. “You’re in your prime.”

           “So I’m not when you know me as an adult, I assume?” She put her glasses back on, wincing. “Gah, these old things barely fit anymore. Okay. Let’s get out of here.”

           The main room was quiet, aside from a vacuuming employee. All of the other teenagers had headed out during the chat, and Jace caught sight of Charlie just as the front door shut behind him. A moment later and with a minute or so left until closing, Millie came in and met them by the entrance. She seemed even more paranoid than usual.

           “I saw him leave,” she remarked. “I think he was grinning. Is that a good sign?”

           “We convinced him that we were on his side, more or less,” Mill replied. “So, if that means he creates a faulty machine years from now… Is that it? Mission success?”

           “Whew. It should be. Good work, guys. I know I’ve been weird and super tense this whole time, but… Nah, forget it. We just need Dad to take us to a hotel.”

           She turned to walk them out, and everything seemed fine and over with… until Mill asked an innocuous question to break that tension in the air, “Hey, real quick before I forget. I was thinking about how Dad really needs to get me a new pair of glasses, and it got me wondering. You don’t wear them anymore, so… what happened, and when?”

           Millie faced the group again and answered casually and confidently, “Oh, a thing called laser eye surgery should be… just about available by now? Some people can have problems with it, but I took the chance and it worked great. No more annoying glasses.”

           Jace replied flatly and matter-of-factly, “But I thought you wore contacts…”

           And that… was what finally set Millie off. At first, she simply stared at him, but then her left eye twitched and she grimaced—which was just the build-up to a freak-out.

           “I knew it,” she snapped harshly. “I never had you convinced; you were playing games with me. I get it—I see it on your face. Ffff… Of course I mess up some inane detail. Story of my life! And if you knew… you probably told Charlie everything.”

           “Millie, what the hell are you talking about?” Jace asked in confusion aplenty.

           She suddenly took out her quartz and kept rambling, “All right, fine. I’ll just patch this tiny mistake and try again. I’ll try as many times as it takes to get it right. Damn it…”

           “Hey, what are you doing?” Laurie fretted as Millie banged on and squeezed the drained crystal to try and get it to work. “You… you can’t just leave us here! What—”

           “Sorry,” Millie said as she pressed on the quartz with both hands. “But I can’t—”

           She vanished in a flash before she could finish. The now stranded trio stood in awkward, befuddled silence for a few seconds, as the manager came over to lock up.

           “Millie…” Laurie murmured to the one that remained. “What did you just do?”

           “Eh? What happened to your strange adult friend?” Mill’s dad asked once the three had gotten back into his truck, each of them looking quite shaken.

           “She… uh…” Mill couldn’t bother to come up with a good story this time. “She lives in one of the rooms in the back of the skating rink. This is her… stop.”

           “Oh. I mean… Guess you have to live where you can. What about your friends?”

           Millie looked at them in the rearview and sighed. “Okay if they stay over?”

           This visibly surprised her dad, who turned in his seat to restudy the two young teens for a moment before replying, “Ah, well… Only since Jason seems like a good kid. I always wanted you to have more friends. About time you had a few spend the night.”

           “Ew, Dad! Are you implying we might do gross stuff? Geez. Can we just go?”

           Seeing that his daughter was clearly upset about something, he put the vehicle in drive and made the short trip to The Flamingo, the single-floor condo that catered to the older crowd, with a flickering pink neon bird lighting up the night.

           “Never thought I’d be back here…” Jace, sunken into his seat, whispered. “We spent the first months of our adventure at this place. Millie’s dad is the landlord.”

           “Mm-hm…” Laurie murmured. “Jace, why'd she go berserk? And what are we going to do about it? If she really left us stuck in the past, I…”

           “Don’t worry about it,” he said tiredly as they parked. “I’ve been in worse situations. I’ll come up with something. For now… Let’s just try to get some sleep.”

           Mill’s home was small and basic, but it did have a working air conditioning window unit, a couch for Jace, and a sleeping bag for Laurie, so it would definitely be good enough for the night. Only around five minutes after arriving, all three had already changed for bed, but Jace knew that they had to talk about what just happened before anyone would actually find slumber. He knocked on the door of Millie’s bedroom, and he entered to see its owner in silky black pajamas. Laurie had been given a duplicate set.

           “You’re practically twins,” Jace said, shutting the door and looking around.

           “She’s lucky I have a spare,” Millie replied from the beanbag chair next to Laurie, who was sprawled out on her rug. She then noticed what Jace was wearing and let out a snort. “I’m assuming that’s one of my dad’s college shirts.”

           Jace gazed down at the oversized and ratty faded orange shirt that simply had the text ‘I Drink Beer’ on it, mumbling, “He also offered me some old elastic boxers…”

           “Yeah, that would be a little too ick. She didn’t give you a chance to pack, huh?”

           “Nope. We just have whatever Laurie’s got in her backpack. But, whatever, my shorts are comfy enough. Millie, I don’t think I’ve seen your room before. You do have a lot of books on your shelves.” He went to her small computer desk and gave the beige tower resting atop it a pat. “How’s Wes’ old loaner PC been treating you?”

           “Great. Between all my notes and games, it’s running out of space, though.” She tossed him a mostly flat pillow and gestured to a spot on the rug. “We… should talk.”

           “If anyone can explain what happened back there, maybe it’s you.”

           “I doubt it… but I am working on an idea. It’ll be weird, but I’ll keep it brief.”

           Jace came over, dropped the pillow on a spot by the room’s bedside lamp and only light source, and plopped down. Exhaustion was now creeping into his bones.

           Laurie, barely squeezing a hacky sack, stretched out over a provided sleeping bag and asked, “So, Jace, I guess this makes one more home where you’ve had a sleepover.”

           He replied, “I’ve been to everyone’s. Well, except Celeste and Sadie’s. Obviously.”

           “And is this really your first, Millie? Not shaming or anything…”

           “… At my place, yes,” Mill admitted. “I haven’t been the friendliest person. Still aren’t. As in, I’m reluctant to make them. Lucky for me, Wes and his group have let me in—mostly. The only friend I ever went out and got all on my own moved away.”