A World Without You Read Online Free

in an orange-yellow glow and flickering shadows across the wood floor. There were herbs drying in one corner, an iron cauldron bubbling in another. The house smelled . . . warm. It wrapped around us, peaceful and beautiful.
    Sofía sighed. In that moment, I think, she was happy.
    Then the door behind me flung open, and I could hear a man’s deep, accented voice: “Oh my God.”
    I started to turn.
    Sofía’s hands slipped from mine.
    And suddenly, like a rubber band breaking, I was snapped back to the present. I gasped for air, my entire body in shock, having been thrown through more than three centuries. My arms and legs trembled, and I fell to the cold ground, my fingers clutching the sharp blades of the long sea grass.
    â€œWhat happened?” I said.
    But there was no answer. Just the ruins of an ancient chimney.
    Since then, I’ve spent every waking moment trying to find a way back to Sofía. But my powers have worked sporadically at best, and never in a way that would be helpful. Now, though . . . now that I’m here, back to the time before she was trapped . . .
    I have a chance.
    I could save Sofía. I could stop my past self from taking her back, from leaving her stuck in a world that wasn’t hers. I’ve tried so many times to reach this time and place again, and now that I’m here, I can fix it. I can make sure she never ends up in the past, abandoned, trapped where I can’t reach her.
    I hear voices down the path. It’s past-me and Sofía. This is my chance. I can save her.
    I stand up straighter, prepared to run to her.
    I take one step forward, my voice already rising in my throat, ready to shout a warning . . .
    â€¢Â â€¢Â â€¢
    I’m snapped back to the present.
    I feel a cool hand on the back of my neck. “Hey,” Gwen says softly. “You okay? You were gone there for a moment.”
    I nod, swallowing. I don’t know why I expected this time to be different.
    I can’t save Sofía. I took her to the past, and I left her there, and I can’t bring her back. I’ve tried and I’ve tried. Every time I get close to her, time snaps me away again.
    She’s trapped. And I put her there.

CHAPTER 4
    Phoebe
    â€œWhere has that boy gone off to?” Dad asks. He scowls at the dispersing crowd.
    Mom looks at me like I’m keeping Bo’s location a secret, but I just shrug. He stormed off before the memorial service was over. How am I supposed to know where he went?
    A tall black man with a thin mustache and old-fashioned waves in his hair approaches us. He holds out his hand for my dad to shake, and Mom greets him with a smile.
    â€œI’m Dr. Franklin,” he tells me. “I’m your brother’s psychiatrist.”
    A muscle twitches in my dad’s jaw at that last word, but he doesn’t say anything
.
    â€œDo you know where Bo went?” Mom asks the doctor.
    Dr. Franklin frowns. “He’s been greatly affected by Sofía’s death,” he says. He glances up; the paper lanterns are still visible, tiny specks of light in the fading sky. “They were close,” he adds, looking back down at my mom.
    â€œShe was so young,” my mother says. “It’s tragic.” Her voice drops a notch. “Depression?”
    Dr. Franklin’s lips press together as if he’s holding back a frown. “She was very sick. We’re still reeling from what happened. Sofía had seemed to adjust well to our program . . .” His voice trails off, and his eyes lose focus.
    When Dr. Franklin called the house to tell us that one of Bo’s fellow students passed away, he hadn’t mentioned that she’d committed suicide. A Google search and some newspaper articles covering the incident revealed that. But the details were limited: T ROUBLED T EEN , 17, F OUND D EAD ON C AM PUS IN P RESUMED S UIC IDE ; A UTOPSY R EVEALS I