Crossover Read Online Free PDF

without her hearing him. 'Didn't
see you there.'
    The boy said nothing.
His blue eyes were wide with horror, fixed on something behind
Ash.
    She looked over her
shoulder, and saw nothing but instrument cases.
    'Are you okay?' she
asked, turning back. 'I hope I didn't – oh my God!'
    The boy had no legs.
But he wasn't in a wheelchair. His upper body hovered in the centre
of the green room, as though he were simply invisible below the
waist.
    'Wha...' Ash began.
'What... how...'
    As she watched, the
boy's legs materialised beneath him. Slowly. Ash felt like she was
trapped in a photograph as it touched the developing fluid.
    The boy still hadn't
moved. Ash suddenly got the impression the he was frozen, a
hologram, part of some elaborate security system.
    'Ash!' The phone was
still on the floor, but she could still hear his panicked voice.
'What's going on?'
    'I have no idea,' she
whispered. 'There's a–'
    'Argh!' The boy's
scream was brief and anguished. Ash got the sense that she was
hearing only the second half of it. Suddenly mobile, he turned to
face her. 'Who are you?' he demanded. His voice was cold and
deep.
    Ash
boggled at him. 'Who am I? '
    'Where am I? What is
this place? What–' The boy's eyes fixed on hers. 'What year is
this?'
    Ash raised her hands,
as though he had pointed a gun at her. 'Listen,' she said. 'I don't
know if this is some kind of joke–'
    'It worked,' the boy
whispered. 'I don't believe it.'
    'How did you get here?'
Ash snatched up her phone. 'What's going on?'
    'I...' The boy
hesitated. He looked around the room, wild-eyed, before turning
back to Ash. 'I'm from the future. And I need your help.'
    There was a pause.
    'I
stand corrected,' Benjamin said, his voice tinny in the phone's
speakers. ' That is
the most ridiculous thing I've heard all day.'

 
     
     
     
     

Chapter
Four: Escape
     
     
     
    'You're from the
future,' Ash repeated.
    'I need to talk to
someone in charge,' the boy said. 'There's not much time. No!' He
hesitated. 'Wait. There's lots of time. There's decades. I'm in the
past.'
    'The past? Decades? In
charge of what?' Ash was aware that she sounded ridiculous, but she
was faced with a ridiculous situation. Surely the boy was insane –
but how had he gotten here? He had appeared right in front of her
eyes.
    'In charge of
radioactive materials,' the boy said. 'Rare ones. If you don't know
who that is, perhaps you can tell me–'
    'I can tell you you'll
get arrested by the TRA if you ask anyone in charge of anything
about radioactive materials,' Ash said. 'Who are you?'
    'What's the TRA?'
    Ash was a very, very
good liar, and she could usually tell when someone else was. The
boy looked completely honest. But if he hadn't heard of Terrorism
Risk Assessment, then where had he come from?
    The green room door
creaked open. Tognetti stepped in, holding a bow in one hand and
the $11 million violin in the other.
    He smiled at Ash.
'Hello again.'
    Ash's heart kicked in
her chest. 'Hi – how was the performance.'
    'Fine, fine.' He looked
at the boy. 'Who's this?'
    I wish I knew, Ash
thought.
    'Are you in charge
here?' the boy demanded.
    'Mr Tognetti, this is
Quentin James,' Ash said quickly. 'He's my driver. I'm afraid we
really must get going.'
    The boy frowned at her.
'Where are we going?'
    'Straight to the hotel
tonight, thank you,' Ash said, herding him out the door. 'Lovely to
meet you, Mr Tognetti.'
    'Wait.' The boy stepped
around her and walked over to the far side of the room. Ash was
horrified to see him stop right next to the fake violin case, and
pick up a small canister with a pointed nozzle mounted on one
end.
    Tognetti frowned.
'What's that?'
    'My cutting torch,' the
boy said.
    Tognetti's eyes went
back to the fake case.
    'Gotta go,' Ash said.
She grabbed the boy's arm – which felt like an iron bar wrapped in
thin silicone – and dragged him out the green room door. It fell
closed behind them.
    'Why do you have a
cutting torch?' she hissed.
    'I had it with me when
I was