Mathew followed her to the couch and stiffly sat. He didn't want to shake pig shit onto his couch, not that anyone would notice a difference either way, but he also didn't trust his body's movements.
Mathew noticed a red journal sitting on his coffee table with a pen next to it. He didn't know what to think of that. Oh, research notes? What kind of research was that?
Kiko returned to her spot on the recliner. "I pulled you back here, because you failed the mission."
"Mission?" Anger heated Mathew's skin. "What kind of dream study was that? I'm coated in mud."
"It's a special kind of mission reserved for special people. You were chosen. I knew the difficulty, but I misjudged the situation. There was something…" Kiko trailed off. She shook her head and flipped her hand back to front in a strange way, as if surprised it was attached to her wrists.
"Misjudged? I didn't get to finish the fight. How is that failure on my part?"
"The hammer was already descending when I pulled you. If I hadn't, you'd be Swiss cheese."
"It was a dream," Mathew insisted. "Or is it one of those die-in-your-dreams-and-die-in-real-life things?"
Kiko didn't respond. No matter how insane her project sounded, Mathew only thought of Jonathan's wife. "And that woman, what happened to her?"
"She was eventually killed."
"Was?" The confirmation of her murder struck him fresh.
Kiko nodded.
"Why not send her husband to save her? This school dream project mission sounds insane. Can't you reprogram the simulation?"
"Hmmm. Proprietary software?" Kiko answered with the slightest lilt in her voice as if uncertain of her own answer.
Every bone in his body tingled with hyperawareness around the enigmatic nameless woman. Was he so pathetic that a woman in his dream could scramble his brain? Why couldn't a real woman do that to him? His gray matter refused to let her go, so he needed to try again, even if only to see her for a while before fate caught up to her. "That woman was going to help me find Verity. Can I try again?"
Kiko smiled, and it crinkled the corners of her eyes. "Yes. I recommend a change of clothes first."
Mathew glanced down at his reeking outfit. "Right. How much time to do I have?"
"All the time in the world, truthfully."
"Right, because—simulation. But your report…" Mathew relaxed with a shrug and glanced at her red journal. If she turned in her assignment late, that was on her. Being in the simulation was like virtual reality—so real, yet not, but he didn't have an explanation for the mud on his clothes.
In the meantime, Mathew planned to tackle this correctly. He could alert the authorities ahead of time, so they could meet him there. Oh, and pack pepper spray. Sure, he pestered his sister to always carry some and gifted it to her annually, but it worked when needed. Besides, no one got arrested for fending off an attacker with spray, and he had no intention of going to jail.
"But only three tries."
Mathew's head whipped around. "What?"
"Each pair is to receive three trips there and back again. You've used one, but because I made a mistake, you still have three."
"What do you mean—mistake?"
"There was a glitch." Kiko pressed a hand against her temple and frowned. "It's never happened before. After all this time—never."
"Is something wrong with the simulation?"
Kiko's lips quirked into a barely perceptible smile. "No, no it's nothing. Your three trips will continue as planned."
"You keep calling them trips, but I'm only laying on the couch. How is this a simulation exactly?" Little flags were waving in Mathew's head, but he didn't know if they were red or white. Kiko was a strange woman.
"I'm going to level with you," she said carefully. "That wasn't a dream."
"What was it then?"
"I sent you back in time to prevent a woman's capture, because she is destined for greater things."
Mathew stood and backed away from Kiko. "Are you for real? How is it possible?" He glanced at the mud on his clothes and shoes. "I've heard the theories about parallel universes and grandfather paradoxes. I thought that was proven to be science fiction."
Kiko smiled. "I'm not at liberty to explain, but I can hint at quantum mechanics playing a role. My boss prefers a more mystical belief surrounding it, but like you, I'm more of a science girl myself."
"Time travel is real? Who else can travel?" Gears in Mathew's head began turning with the implications. Who else went back and changed the future already? Did he alter the future with his screw up? A headache slowed the mind-blowing possibilities.
"I cannot divulge too much information—only enough to fulfill the mission."
"Mission? Saving Verity?" If only he could find her.
"Yes. Also, this is important—do not interfere with your previous self."
His brows lifted. This sounded straight out of Doc Brown's mouth from Back to the Future. "Wait, I saw the movie. Are you sending me back to the same moment, and I have to avoid myself?"
"I'll send you back a short while after you arrived last time. You should have plenty of time to succeed during this attempt."
"Attempt?" Mathew's skin crawled. "Is this some sort of game to you? We're talking about a woman's life and you're so casual about it."
"I've been working missions for more years than you've been alive, Matt. I can't help if some of my thought process has become...less empathetic."
A sudden jolt burned through him. That was the intimidating weirdness around her. She was brilliant, but creepy weird, almost inhuman. "Are you human?" Mathew asked with a whisper. His body screamed at him to run away, but the fascination kept his muddy feet planted on the carpet.
She chuckled. "Yes. Jesus, Matt, you've known me for over a year. You crashed on my couch more than once. Think of it as a bizarre hobby."
Yeah, right. There was so much to process Mathew didn't know where to begin. A deep breath reminded him of the stench in his clothes. "I'll go change now."
Mathew switched into clean clothes—a different set of dress pants and shirt. He didn't plan on sitting in pig manure again. And he wiped his shoes clean. He groaned at needing to hire a carpet cleaner when this was all over—another bill he didn't need.
Satisfied, Mathew stood over the once familiar, but now terrifying, woman.
"Ready?"
He nodded, and she motioned for him to lay on the couch again. Mathew grabbed a sheet off his bed to cover the dirty cushions and then laid down. Kiko slipped the trinket back into his pocket and he didn't want to ask how she'd gotten it back from him.
"Now don't forget—you can't interfere with your previous self or you can induce a cataclysmic event. Everything has to happen the way it's meant to happen. Otherwise—real nasty stuff, and I don't want my boss screaming down my neck, okay? And that trinket is a direct tunnel between times. Be careful where you're standing when you press it. You don't want to end up inside a wall or something."