Un2talented (Book 3 of the Un2 Series)

Cadence moved to the end of the hall and stopped short of the doorway from which the voice had beckoned. The door was ajar, exposing a sliver of the room on the other side. She peered through the crack, shifting from side to side to see who might be calling her. As she reached for the door it swung open, causing her to jump.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you!”

A brunette woman in a t-shirt and jeans leaned through the doorway. There was something familiar about her, but Cadence couldn’t quite place what it was.

“I’m Reese. Come in,” she stepped back into the room. Cadence followed.

The room was set aside for overnight guests. It had a similar format to the rooms back at the motel but on a smaller scale. A bed flanked by nightstands sat on one side and a television with a seating area adjacent to a bathroom sat on the other.

“I believe you’ve met Joey,” she said, pointing to her companion that was leaning against one of the chairs. He gestured a hello.

“I’m not a rock star, by the way,” Joey admitted.

Why Reese seemed familiar clicked into place as soon as Cadence saw the metal breastplate strapped to Joey’s chest.

“You two were at our motel the other morning, weren’t you?” Cadence questioned.

“It’s very possible, “Joey replied. He turned to Reese. “I knew we could hit the timeframe! I knew it! We’ve gotten much better at this!”

Reese and Joey high-fived each other.

“What are you talking about?” Cadence was visibly confused.

“We are getting much better with our accuracy.”

“I still don’t know what you are talking about! What is happening here? Why is everything, for lack of a better term, frozen?” Cadence urged.

“I can explain the accuracy thing and the frozen thing. Those are two are separate, but connected,” Joey started. “Before I begin, have you ever dealt with something mystical? Tell me you have an open mind about mystical things.”

“You mean besides the magical healing waters thing?”

“Oh, yeah. Duh!” Joey bonked himself in the head with the heel of his hand. “Anything else?”

“Does driving around with a werewolf in my trunk count?”

“A werewolf?” Joey queried.

“Well, actually, he’s a dayhound.” Cadence corrected herself.

“Gary!” Reese exclaimed. “How is he?”

“He’s fine.”

“Why was Gary in your trunk?” Joey asked.

“It was his idea. It’s a long story.”

“You’ll have to tell us about it sometime. There are more pressing things we need to get to,” Joey redirected. “First, the frozen thingy we’re experiencing right now. Technically, everything around us is normal. We are the anomaly. We are out of sync with the surroundings. This whole conversation is happening in a fraction of a second as far as the rest of the world is concerned. Our ability to move outside of the normal life stream comes from this ancient piece of armor and those bracelets.”

Joey pointed to the scarab bracelet that Cadence was wearing, and the fish-themed one on Reese’s wrist. “As soon as you take that off you will slip back into the normal flow of time.”

“May I ask why you pulled me out of the, what did you call it, lifestream?”

“We needed some time with you. Joey tried to make contact earlier and you know how that worked out,” Reese explained.

Joey shrugged apologetically.

“This seemed to be the best way to do it without compromising the situation. You see, we need your help.”

“Help with what?” Cadence asked.

“You might want to have a seat. This may take a bit of explaining,” Joey guided Cadence to the edge of the bed and sat her down. He pulled a chair in front of her and continued his story. “Some not-so-great, actually pretty horrible stuff took place at this mansion over the past week or so. Lives have been altered. People have been lost. This armor has the power to manipulate things so that we can find a life stream that fixes all the bad stuff. We have been trying to set things right, but just when we think we have found a clear path we hit a roadblock that prevents us from restoring everything.”

“Restoring everything? You make it sound like you can change the past or something,” Cadence interjected.

Reese jumped in to explain. “We can’t change the past. We can, however, jump to an alternate past that had a different outcome. Unfortunately, it seems that every stream we jump into at some point goes bad. Something is corrupting the streams and it somehow involves you.”

“Me?”

“You, or someone close to you. When we retrace our steps and examine what influenced our failure there is always something linked to you.”

“I would never purposely . . . “Cadence apologized.

“Oh, honey, we aren’t blaming you!” Reese stroked Cadence’s hair. “We’re just hoping that you knowing about this might help. We’re simply asking that if you find an opportunity to help us you will. We’ll do the same for you.”

“Can you tell me what I should be looking for? Will it be something so obvious that I will know I am at that critical moment?”

“Unfortunately, we can’t tell you. We’re not being prohibited from telling you, we simply don’t know exactly what happens.” Reese apologized. “This is the first time that we have been able to find a life stream where we were capable of making contact with you. We’ll try to get back to this stream, but we’re still learning the ins and outs of the armor. One thing we do know is if we stay in this “frozen” state it will take its toll on the breastplate’s power. I hate to cut this short, but we need to go. We will leave you clues to help you if we can find anything. We’ll mark it with the koi yin yang.”

“I’ll do my best. I promise,” Cadence pledged.

“Thank you,” Reese replied. The ladies hugged and then waved Joey in to join them.

“We’ll walk you back to the break room. Once you are there, remove the bracelet and put it into this.” Joey produced a small leather pouch. The three walked out into the hallway. Joey continued to talk as they walked. “Keep the bracelet with you. Don’t let it touch any exposed flesh on you or anyone else. The bracelet will transport you to the same place in time that the armor is. That can be fatal if you aren’t in secure surroundings. Make sure you’re in an open area. You’re moving through time, not space. I’d hate for you to materialize inside of a brick wall or something!”

“Okay, that would not be good!” Cadence agreed.

Cadence felt a twinge of sadness as they arrived at the break room. She parted from the pair and returned to her seat in the wingback chair. She scooped the floating coffee back into its cup and returned it to the table. She gazed back at the couple standing in the doorway. They smiled a reassuring smile and gave her a thumbs-up.

“Whataya know, we’re kind of sharing a cup of coffee in the not-too-distant future. I’m a man of my word.”

Joey winked.

Cadence smiled.

“See ya!” she said as she plucked the bracelet from her wrist, dropped it into the pouch, and tucked it into her pocket.

The two vanished.

“Did you call me?” Ronny said as he poked his head inside the doorway.

“No, I didn’t,” Cadence replied. “I didn’t say a thing.”

“I must be hearing things, “Ronny shrugged.