Why is it so hard for Cord to tell me the truth? I stared at him, waiting for him to talk. I knew he wanted to kiss me. And I wanted to fall into his arms and experience his mouth against mine. But the moment our lips touched, I would be swept away by our connection—rendered unwilling and unable to let him go. I had to focus and stay sharp, so I rephrased the question.

“Why does your grandfather think I might be a descendant of the Sky People?”

Cord stared at me. I suspected he was uncomfortable, but I pressed on.

“He wanted to show me something,” I said. “Take me on one of those time travel things you do. What’s it called?”

“A conveyance,” he murmured.

“You don’t want me to go?” I asked.

He hesitated, then grasped my hands and flashed his lopsided grin at me, but I saw concern in his eyes that his smile didn’t mask.

“Here’s the thing,” he started. “When you and I went back in time, we visited someone else’s timeline. Those events weren’t part of our personal history. We were watching other people, not ourselves.”

“I know.”

“What my grandfather has in mind is different. It would be personal.”

“I don’t understand,” I replied, truly unable to comprehend what he was trying to say. “How could a trip to your grandfather’s birthplace affect me personally?”

Cord gently squeezed my hands and held my gaze. Then his voice, quiet and somber, floated into my mind. “My grandfather wants to travel back to a time where you could encounter a family member… your father. Seeing him could cause quite a shock.”

“Why would I be shocked by something about my family?” I asked. “They haven’t done anything horrible. They’re good people.”

“Of course, they are. But good people have secrets. You and I have a secret. Our connection, which is so strong, we can communicate telepathically and travel together to the past. Most people would find that hard to accept.”

“You think my parents have secrets.” I studied him as the revelation entered my mind.

His voice resonated within me once more. “It’s not that they have secrets as much as the truth you’ve known and accepted all these years may not be—”

Cord scooted his chair closer to mine and pulled me into his lap. I didn’t push him away as he enveloped me in his arms because I sensed he wanted to soften the impact of what he would tell me.

“Just say it, Cord,” I thought, trying not to lash out at him as unease crept over me.

“Sadie, what you believe may be vastly different from the truth. And if that’s the case, your view of the world could be upended.”

I shivered at his words. As ominous as they sounded, I didn’t believe I’d discover something about my parents that would disturb me. “No,” I said aloud to him. “That’s impossible.”

He drew me closer until my head rested against his chest. My cheek, which lay against the edge of the talisman he wore beneath his shirt, rose and fell with each breath he drew. As we sat in silence, the steady thump, thump, thump of his heart reverberated through my skull like a familiar drumbeat.

“My grandfather could be wrong, you know.” Cord’s voice wafted through my mind in synchrony with his heartbeat. “He thinks he knew your father when they were young men.”

“It’s possible, I suppose.”

“That’s where he wants to take you,” Cord’s voice continued. “To observe the man so you can tell us if he’s your dad.”

“So, if that man is really my father… I would see my dad again.”

“Yes.”

I leaned away from Cord’s embrace and gazed into his eyes. “It might be really hard for me to be near him again after all these years,” I said. “Especially if he couldn’t see me or talk to me.” I hesitated, wondering if I’d be able to endure that.

Nodding, Cord continued. “My conveyances have always been impersonal. I can’t imagine going back to a time when my mother was alive. Seeing her and knowing what’s coming without being able to help her—”

He looked away. I detected a muffled sob, so I reached up, folded my arms around his neck, and pulled his head closer to mine so I could kiss his cheek. We sat there for several minutes, taking comfort in each other’s touch. I hardly noticed our thoughts were still connected until his voice swirled through my mind.

“Sadie, there is another way for Grandpa Mac to know if his friend is your dad.”

Cord straightened, peered at me, and spoke. “We can show him a photo. Do you have one?”

“Oh my god.” I couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s so simple. Why didn’t we think of that sooner?”

Grinning, Cord shrugged and kissed my forehead. “That’s the main reason I came over… well, aside from the chance to hold you and kiss you. I wanted to ask you for a photo of your dad. I guess I got so caught up in Grandpa Mac’s conveyance request that I forgot about a picture.”

“I have a family photo. It’s in my room.”

Reluctantly, I untangled myself from Cord and headed up the stairs. He trailed behind me, his feet slapping against each wooden step as we neared my bedroom. Although I’d expected him to follow me, my breath caught when he stepped into my private space—my sanctuary—for the first time. My body tensed while he studied my collection of books and vinyl record albums, then moved toward my desk and browsed the photos tacked to my corkboard. As he digested the keepsakes that defined my life, my armor fell away bit by bit until I was naked and exposed.

He grasped my hand and squeezed it. Then his voice floated into my mind. “I love learning everything I can about you, Sadie. You’re an amazing person. And I promise to tell you whatever you want to know about me.”

“Fair enough,” I said, grinning, as I pointed to an eight-by-ten-inch photo of me with my mom and dad that hung on the wall near my desk.

“I was seven years old when we got this taken,” I explained as I lifted the frame off its hook and handed it to Cord. “We went to one of those portrait studios in the mall.”

Cord placed the photo on my bed and snapped a picture with his phone. Then he pulled me next to him and wrapped his arms around me.

“Thank you. It’s a great photo,” he murmured as he leaned in and brushed his lips against my forehead. He moved his mouth downward, slowly nuzzling the space between my brows, then along the bridge of my nose. When his lips reached mine, he paused. “You have a way of completely distracting me,” he whispered.

“You distract me, too.”

He responded with a deep kiss, which unleashed a jolt of energy. It surged through me—a current that electrified every one of my nerve endings. I closed my eyes and tasted a hint of cinnamon lingering on his lips. Without breaking our connection, I nestled against his chest. He gathered me into his arms and pulled me so close that his heartbeat echoed within me, wildly hammering a rhythm that complemented mine. Together, our pulses pounded like the staccato cadence of a heavy rainstorm: relentless and unyielding. My ears buzzed as blood raced through my veins, and I clung to Cord even tighter.

And then, the familiar shimmer of white light illuminated the darkness behind my eyelids. When it faded, Cord and I were standing alone on a high plateau as though we were the only two inhabitants of this barren, rocky landscape. Two suns hung just above each side of the horizon like a set of glowing bookends. It was almost light, with a hint of pink showing in the lowest part of the sky, but dark enough to reveal the stars—more than I’d ever seen. Was this a sunrise or a sunset? I couldn’t tell.

I’d been here before with Cord, in this vision triggered by his talisman and the electricity exchange between us. Where was this place? Did it exist only in my imagination? Or did Cord see it too?

“I see it, Sadie.” Cord’s voice floated over the whir of my rushing blood.

“The two suns?” I asked silently.

“Yeah. And tall, rocky plateaus with dark liquid flowing between them. Like a black river.” He squeezed my hand. “And nobody here except you and me.”

“Where are we?”

“We’re in your house.” Hesitance filled his voice as if he was unsure of his response. “All we have to do is let go of each other, and we’ll be back in your bedroom.”

“Don’t let go. Not yet.”

While keeping my eyes closed, I tightened my hold around him and surveyed the vast terrain in the vision. Mesas with rock spires rose from the planet’s surface like skyscrapers made of solid stone.

“What is this place we’re seeing now?” I asked, reaching out to Cord’s mind. “Do you know?”

His arms stiffened for a moment, a spasm that I almost didn’t notice. But the minute twitch of his forearm told me he was hiding the answer. Disappointment tugged at my heart and formed a crack that let doubt seep in. He wasn’t going to tell me what I wanted to know. I stepped away and opened my eyes when tears threatened to flood them. We were in my room again, standing near my bed. The connection was severed.

“You’re right,” Cord said, his gaze fixed on me as he responded to my unspoken qualms. “I knew where we were, and I wanted to tell you, but—”

“What are you keeping from me?”

“The Sky People and the stories,” he replied. “They’re based on the truth. I know because….”

Cord inhaled but didn’t speak. He grasped my hand. Then his voice drifted into my consciousness.

“My grandfather… Grandpa Mac… is one of them. That place we saw is his homeworld. Where he was born. He took me there this morning.”

“What?” I gasped aloud and yanked my hand away. “No. Those stories are myths. Legends passed down from one generation to another.”

“It’s hard to accept, I know. But the stories are interpretations of the truth.”

“So, you’re telling me that your grandfather is actually from another world? From that group of stars he mentioned?”

When Cord nodded and said “yes,” my face grew hot, then my entire body was on fire. The room turned gray, then morphed into a complete blur, and a wave of dizziness hit me. When it passed, I was perched on the edge of my mattress with Cord hovering in front of me. Lines of worry creased his forehead.

“Sadie, are you okay?”

“That’s where he wanted to take us, wasn’t it?”

“I’m sure it was,” Cord replied as he sat next to me and gently brushed several strands of hair out of my face. “But there’s more.”

“More?” Could I absorb anything else this morning? Without thinking, I scooted closer to Cord and rested my head against his chest. He enclosed me in an embrace, and I was safe in his arms, ready to brave the planet with the two suns and rock structures.

“It’s about Grandpa Mac’s friend.” Cord paused and kissed the top of my head. “The man he thinks might be your father.”

“What is it, Cord?” I asked, suddenly tired. “Just tell me.”

“That’s his homeworld, too.”

—To be continued.