“Hi Rachael. How are you?” Dr. McCall asked his hand still resting on her shoulder. “Mind if I sit?”

Rachael’s eyes were wide as she attempted to formulate a response. She realized she’d shook her head when Jared pulled out the chair next to her and sat down, only a few inches away from her, as if what he wanted to say was intimate. Her eyes went to Rex. His phone was lower now, and it was clear he was observing over top of it.

“Hi… Dr. McCall,” Rachael finally managed to stammer. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, everything is fine. I just wanted to chat with you for a minute, if you don’t mind. I’m meeting a few of the other professors here for dinner in a few, but it looks like I’m early.” He checked his watch, and Rachael had to wonder if his early arrival was on purpose. Not that he would’ve known she was there--would he?

“Rex, this is Dr. Jared McCall. He works in the history department.”

“I know,” Rex said, as if she was an idiot for thinking he wouldn’t recognize the professor. “Hi.”

“Hello, Rex,” Jared said, seeming confused about whether he should offer his hand across the table. He didn't. “Are you in Lower Summer as well?”

“Yeah. I live across the hall from Rachael. You know my dad. Richard Framer.”

“Oh, right!” Dr. McCall nodded his head. “We had some classes together. How’s he doing?”

“Good. Keeping Nebraska safe. For the most part.”

Chuckling, Dr. McCall politely said, “That’s great. Richard’s a good guy. I’m sure you’ll be just as skilled as he is in no time.”

“I think so.” Rex raised his phone, signaling the conversation was over. Rachael’s eyes widened as she debated whether or not to say anything to the kid. His behavior was so odd sometimes….

Her deliberations were interrupted when Jared touched her arm. “You’re Wessley Barnes’s granddaughter?”

“I am.” Her eyebrows arched as she tried to determine where this conversation was going. “Did you know him?”

“No, I didn’t. He was done at Silverwood before I started. I think he knew my grandfather, though. As a matter of fact, I think they may have done some research together. Did your grandpa ever mention him to you? Wadsworth McCall? His friends called him Worth.”

The name sounded familiar for reasons Rachael couldn’t understand. “Wadsworth McCall?” she repeated as Jared nodded his head, his green eyes boring into her as if he were trying to read the results of a lie detector test. “I feel like I’ve heard his name before, but I can’t remember ever talking to Grandpa about him. To be honest, Grandpa and I weren’t very close. After my parents separated, I didn’t see him for a long time.” She remembered the lie she’d told Graham the other day about reconnecting with Grandpa Wessley and tried to keep that in mind without making up too much now, but she truly hadn’t seen the man at all since she was in elementary school. He hadn’t said anything at all about the academy to her, and as far as Rachael knew, he probably died without knowing it existed--because it hadn’t existed back then, had it? So why did that name, Wadsworth McCall, sound familiar?

Green eyes stared at the table for a moment as the professor contemplated a response. “All right. I was just curious. My grandfather was a bit odd. He didn’t like too many people and spent most of his time holed up in his study, doing research and experiments. Your grandfather was one of the only people he confided in, and it’s my understanding that Wessley helped him with some of the experiments he used to write his most famous volume. But I don’t know the nature of those experiments as they aren’t outlined in any of Grandfather’s notes that we still have, and while his books refer to them, they aren’t specific.”

“Gosh, I wish I could be of more use, Dr. McCall, but Grandpa didn’t say anything to me about any of that. I suppose I could call my grandma and ask her to check through the notes Grandpa left behind. Maybe we missed something….” She hoped he would say no since she hadn’t spoken to her grandmother for years, certainly not about Silverwood, nor had she actually looked at any of her grandpa’s notes. Wouldn’t it seem strange to Grandma Esther that her granddaughter was calling her out of the blue to talk about a life Rachael wasn’t supposed to be aware of?

“That’s okay,” Jared said, offering her a small smile. “I was just hopeful you might be able to provide a few clues as to how Grandfather Wadsworth came to his conclusions regarding his breakthrough thesis. But don’t go to any trouble.”

A noise at the door drew his eyes, and Rachael turned, too, to see a few of the other instructors walking in. Most of them appeared to be in their early to mid forties, a few a little older than that. Jared was certainly the youngest, and she remembered having made him a genius who graduated early. One of the women, thin, with gray in her dark hair, waved at him, and Rachael thought that must be Dr. Carrie Ferrier, one of the other history professors.

Lifting his hand in response, Jared said, “Thanks anyway, Rachael.” Then, looking into her eyes in a way that made her uncomfortable for reasons she couldn’t put her finger on, he added, “I’m so glad you’re here. I know you’re going to be a valuable member of our team.”

“Th-thanks,” Rachael stammered, not sure what to make of it. Jared smiled again, an uneasy grin that seemed forced, and then got up to join the other instructors at a table reserved for staff members.

Rachael followed him across the room with her eyes, her stomach in knots. He didn’t seem hostile at all, and that was what scared her. It was like he was doing his best to be her friend so that he could swoop in later and brush her legs out from under her.

“That was weird.” Rex didn’t lower his phone to make the comment.

Across the way, Rachael saw Jazz batting her eyes at her, even though that cute boy was still chatting her up. Rachael shook her head. Jazz had it all wrong. Dr. McCall definitely wasn't flirting. To Rex, Rachael said, “It was weird. I wish I could help him.”

“Yeah, I’ve read that book, and it seems like the crazy scribbles of a genius gone mad to me.” Rex glanced at her but then re-glued his eyes to the screen.

She let that sink in, wondering what he was talking about. Since she was only vaguely familiar with Dr. McCall’s family, having only mentioned them a time or two in her novel, she was forced to ask, “What is the book even about, Rex?”

Finally setting his phone down, he shrugged. “It’s a bunch of weird theory, mostly having to do with time continuums and other ideas that all sound like a bunch of rambling some old dude wrote after years of LSD use, though I don’t think he was a user. I think he was just nuts. I don’t know that anyone thinks any of it is real, though it would be cool if it was. It’s no wonder Dr. McCall would want to see where the theories came from, though I’m sure your grandpa probably thought ol’ Worth was delusional, too.”

“Time continuums?” The hairs on the back of Rachael’s neck stood up as soon as Rex had said those words, and she didn’t hear much else. “What… what’s the name of the book?”

Rex answered, but he didn’t have to because a memory from earlier in the day flashed before her eyes as Rachael contemplated her own question. That book, in the library, the one she’d been pretending to read. That book had been written by Dr. Wadsworth J. McCall. “Collisions of Worlds,” she said at the same time as Rex.”

“So you have heard of it?” Now he was confused, and she didn’t blame him. So was she.

“No, but I saw it in the library today.” Rachael picked up her tray, suddenly realizing she needed to go get that book. Why hadn’t she thought of it before? That book--the one Jared’s grandfather had written, and her own grandpa had allegedly helped with--just might contain the key to figuring out how all of this had happened.

Tray in hand, she marched across the cafeteria as Rex asked her where she was going. She didn’t answer him. Ignoring Jazz’s shouts of her name as she passed by, she dumped her tray and headed for the door, only vaguely aware that a pair of green eyes was following her every move.