After Eden

Chapter 9

The wind shrieked around the corners of the house, shook the windowpanes and howled down the chimney in my bedroom. I saw the clock strike midnight and one in the morning. After a few minutes of tossing and turning, I gave up trying to sleep. I took The Journey to Eden out from under my pillow and turned again to the photos in the middle. I half expected them to have changed.

I grabbed a pad of paper and a pen from my desk and began to list what I knew.

Ryan, Cassie and their father are from the future.

They have brought with them an autobiography of my friend Connor Penrose.

Connor will one day discover a planet that he will name Eden.

My name’s Eden and I’m Connor’s best friend.

Connor will get a telescope for his birthday next week.

Connor will go on to study at Manchester University.

Connor will visit the planet Eden.

Connor will write an autobiography called The Journey to Eden.

Connor will live to be more than eighty years old.

It wasn’t a lot to go on. But one thing stood out brighter than the lightning that flashed across the night sky: the name Connor.

I might be overwhelmed, I might be confused, and I might not have all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle. But it was obvious that Ryan was here because of Connor. The question was: why?

In the clear light of day everything seemed absurd, the product of an overactive imagination.

‘You look terrible,’ said Miranda, pouring milk on to her cornflakes.

‘The storm kept me up.’

Miranda nodded. ‘I was awake half the night myself. You should go back to bed and catch up on your sleep. Those bags under your eyes are huge.’

Miranda left for work at eight thirty. I waited ten minutes and then shoved The Journey to Eden into my backpack and headed down the lane to Ryan’s house.

The wind bent the trees horizontal. Rain began to fall, stinging my skin. In my rush, I hadn’t thought to grab a coat. The rain began to fall harder. I thought about heading back to get a coat, but I was halfway there. My tight black jeans were stuck to my legs and my white top was rapidly becoming transparent.

Three cars were parked in front of the large, detached double garage. Ryan’s silver car, Cassie’s red one and a metallic-blue one. Presumably Ryan, Cassie and their dad were all at home.

I knocked hard on the heavy front door, suddenly nervous. Yet I wasn’t the one with a huge secret. I exhaled slowly, trying to keep my nerve as I listened to someone on the other side of the door fiddling with a bolt.

It was Cassie.

‘Oh. It’s you,’ she said, her eyes running over me from head to toe and back again.

A raindrop ran down my forehead and into my eye. I wiped it away, conscious how I must seem to her with my rain-soaked hair and clothes.

Sheet lightning lit up the dark, shadowy sky and was quickly followed by a growl of thunder. The storm was back.

‘You’d better come in,’ she sighed.

I stood in the hallway, while water puddled around my feet.

‘I need to see Ryan,’ I said.

‘Don’t you own a coat?’

‘It wasn’t raining when I left the house.’

‘Ryan’s in the shower. Follow me.’

My heart lurched at the thought of Ryan in the shower, and for a moment I thought she was going to take me to him, but she took me into a large room on the left, a kitchen and dining room all in one with a massive farmhouse table in the middle. A man of about forty was sat at the table with a pile of newspapers and magazines in front of him. He appeared to be cutting articles from the papers.

‘You must be Eden,’ the man said, standing up and striding over to me with his hand outstretched.

‘Pleased to meet you,’ I said.

He pumped my hand vigorously. ‘I’m Ben. I’ve heard a great deal about you.’

His hand was warm, his smile friendly. ‘Cassie, get Eden a towel.’

Cassie flounced from the room.

‘Take a seat. Ryan will be down in a few minutes. I’ll make you a hot drink.’

I sat at the table and glanced at the articles Ben had cut from the newspaper. The headline on the topmost article read Most Earth-like exoplanet gets major demotion. The article had yesterday’s date.

‘What’s an exoplanet?’ I asked.

Ben carried two mugs of coffee across to the table. ‘A planet outside our solar system.’

My body tensed. ‘I didn’t think there were any planets outside our solar system.’

‘Careful, it’s hot,’ he said, passing me one of the mugs. ‘There are probably millions of planets out there. New planets are being discovered almost every day.’

‘Really? So why isn’t it headline news?’

‘They’re usually gas giants like Jupiter. Uninhabitable. I don’t think there will be headline news until we discover an Earth-like planet populated by little green men.’

I laughed. ‘Is that your job then? Looking for planets.’

‘Not exactly. I’m a science writer. I’m writing about the hunt for planets in our galaxy.’

Cassie flung the door open and threw me a white towel. I dabbed my face and squeezed the water out of my hair.

‘There’s fresh coffee in the pot,’ Ben told her.

It suddenly occurred to me that I had interrupted their breakfast.

‘I’m sorry to show up just like this,’ I said. ‘I just really need to speak to Ryan.’

‘There’s no need to apologise,’ said Ben. ‘It’s not a problem.’

I heard the sound of Ryan barrelling down the stairs and into the kitchen.

‘Hi,’ he said, a big smile spread across his face. ‘What happened? You missed me so much you couldn’t bear to wait until this afternoon?’

He was dressed in jeans and a white shirt, his hair wet from the shower. Despite everything, I could feel myself blushing. This wasn’t how I’d planned things at all. I’d run down the lane, hyped up and ready to confront him. Now, after all the waiting around, and Ben’s friendly chatter, I was beginning to lose my nerve.

‘I need to speak to you about something,’ I said. ‘It’s important.’

He nodded and poured himself a mug of coffee. ‘Let’s go up to my room.’

I had never seen a bedroom so sparsely furnished. There was no colour. No mess. Nothing out of place. No posters on the wall, no dirty clothes on the floor, no empty glasses or mugs. The room of someone who hadn’t been here long. And then I realised: the room of someone who didn’t plan to stay.

‘Take off your clothes,’ he said.

‘Excuse me?’ I said, certain that I must have misheard him.

‘Take off your clothes,’ Ryan said with a smile. ‘I’ll find something of Cassie’s for you to wear.’

‘I’ll be fine.’

Ryan insisted. ‘You’re drenched. Don’t be ridiculous.’

When he left the room, I stripped down to my underwear and quickly wrapped myself in the towel Cassie had given me. His room was cold. Looking round, I could see no heater. There was a soft knock at the door.

‘Is it OK to come in?’

‘It’s fine,’ I said.

Ryan gave me a pair of black trousers and a black jumper. He left the room while I dressed. Cassie’s trousers fitted OK, but her jumper clung very tightly to my body.

‘OK, I’m decent.’

He came back in and smiled. ‘What was so urgent you had to walk through a thunderstorm? I’m glad you did. I’m just wondering why.’

Watching him, I tried to sort out my feelings. Was he the same person? Did I still like him?

‘I’ve been up all night thinking,’ I began, sitting next to him on the bed.

‘About what?’

‘You,’ I said.

He raised an eyebrow. ‘I’m not sure whether to be flattered or alarmed.’

‘When are you from, Ryan?’ I asked, my voice shaking as the absurd question left my mouth.

‘Wolfeboro,’ he said looking at me with a bemused smile. ‘I’ve told you before.’

‘Not where,’ I said, trying to keep my voice steady. ‘When? What year?’

The smile faltered, just for a nanosecond, and then lit up even brighter than before. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘I know you’re from the future. I just wondered how far in the future.’

Ryan laughed a short, hollow laugh. His pale skin went a shade whiter. ‘You’re not making sense.’

‘Fine,’ I said. ‘We’ll just pretend then. You’re from the future and I know you’re from the future and you know I know you’re from the future. But we can just make out that I’m insane if that makes you more comfortable.’

Ryan swore. He stood up, opened the door and scanned the landing, before shutting the door again and sitting back on the bed. He leant forward, his elbows on his knees, head in his hands. I stayed where I was, awkwardly, wondering if I should speak or reach out to touch him or just stay as I was.

After what felt like for ever, he looked up at me. ‘How do you know?’ he whispered.

I felt a jolt through my whole body. Ryan had, effectively, just admitted that I was right.

‘Lots of little things.’

He looked at me, his eyes strangely fearful. ‘What sort of things?’

‘You were clueless about ordinary food.’

He groaned.

‘And you didn’t know things that everyone knows, like who Hitler was.’

Ryan rubbed the space between his eyes. ‘I looked him up after that history lesson.’

‘And then there was the way you asked me lots of things about myself but you were really evasive when I asked questions about you.’

He nodded, as though making a mental list of how to improve his undercover persona.

‘You told me that an environmental disaster wiped out all the trees in Wolfeboro, which isn’t true. I Googled it. At first I thought you were a member of a cult or a strange religious sect that kept you sheltered from the world.’

Ryan looked sideways at me and smiled thinly. ‘So what convinced you that wasn’t the explanation?’

‘The Journey To Eden.’

He swallowed hard. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘Connor’s autobiography.’

‘You’ve lost me,’ he said, but the usual confidence had gone.

I unzipped my backpack and removed the book. ‘I accidentally took this home last night. I must have mixed it up with my own books.’

Ryan reached out, almost snatching the book. ‘How much of this did you see?’

‘I’ve seen all the photographs and read the first chapter,’ I said. ‘But really, even without the book, I knew there was something not quite right about you.’

‘Is it really so obvious?’ he asked. ‘Do you think anyone else has figured me out?’

I shook my head. ‘No one else suspects a thing. Just me.’

Ryan rubbed his fingers through his hair, frowning at the floor.

‘So, now that I know your secret, are you going to have to kill me?’ It was meant to be a joke and I attempted a laugh, but the sound came out all wrong.

‘No. You’re safe. I’m the one who’s dead.’

‘Why? It’s hardly your fault I figured you out.’

‘Ben and Cassie will kill me. I’m not supposed to bring anyone home. And I shouldn’t have left the book out. I was reading it before you came yesterday and I just shoved it under a pile of school books. I panicked.’

‘They can’t blame you. You didn’t invite me. I just turned up.’

‘I shouldn’t have let you in. I’m supposed to make an excuse if anyone shows up at the door. We have to keep a distance.’

‘So why didn’t you?’

He looked across at me. ‘I couldn’t. You’d walked down the lane in that gale with no coat to bring me my jacket. You looked so cold and I just couldn’t . . .’ He trailed off.

‘I would have worked it out anyway,’ I said. ‘There were so many little things that didn’t add up.’

Ryan looked at me and smiled. ‘You know, for someone in your time, discovering that your friend is a time traveller from the future must be quite a big deal. How come you seem so unsurprised?’

I shrugged. ‘It has been said that I’m hard to impress.’

‘Along with beautiful, smart and completely unshockable.’

I felt my face begin to heat up. I wished to God that I could learn to take compliments. ‘So are you going to answer my question?’

‘You’ll have to remind me what it was.’

‘What year are you from?’

He hesitated, as though considering for one last time the possibility of not telling me. A flash lit up the room and was quickly followed by a rumble of thunder. The overhead lamp flickered and then died.

‘Hold on a sec.’ Ryan rummaged around in his desk drawer.

He found a pack of twelve candles and a lighter. He put one half of the candles on the desk, the other half on the windowsill. As he moved the flame over the wicks, each of the candles flickered to life, casting a soft pool of wavering light.

Ryan sat back on the bed. ‘I was born in February 2105. I travelled back in time from 2122.’

I tried to work it out in my head. I had been born in 1995. Ryan was a hundred and ten years younger than me.

‘You’re seventeen?’ was all I said.

Ryan nodded. ‘I just said I was sixteen so I could join your Year Eleven class.’

I glanced again at the pile of books on the floor beside his bed: Of Mice and Men, Romeo and Juliet, Great Expectations.

‘You’ve already left school. No wonder you keep getting top marks in all your English assignments.’

Ryan laughed. ‘Brilliant. I tell you I’m from the future and you’re annoyed that I’m better than you at English.’

‘You’re not better than me,’ I argued. ‘You studied the course before.’

‘I have studied Romeo and Juliet before. And Macbeth. But Dickens and Steinbeck weren’t on my syllabus. We studied mostly late twenty-first century writers.’

‘You studied writers who haven’t even been born.’

He shrugged one shoulder. ‘Yeah.’

‘But Shakespeare is still on the syllabus?’

‘We had to study pre-2050 literature.’

Outside, the wind changed direction and the rain started pelting against the window.

‘Nice weather you have down here,’ said Ryan. ‘It’s supposed to be summer.’

I shrugged. ‘Good try, changing the subject. What’s the weather like on Eden?’

Ryan smiled. ‘Nice try. But I can’t tell you about Eden. It’s forbidden by the Laws of Temporal Integrity.’

‘The laws of what?’

‘Temporal Integrity. Laws of time. One of the most important laws is that nothing of the future is ever to be revealed to inhabitants of the past.’

I gave a short laugh. ‘Bit late for that.’

Ryan sighed. ‘I’m already in more trouble than you can possibly imagine.’

‘I know you’re from the future,’ I said. ‘And I know you’re here because of Connor. Connor discovers a planet.’

‘Which he calls Eden after you.’

‘Eden is an obvious name for a planet. It probably has nothing to do with me.’

Ryan laughed. ‘Maybe I’m jumping to conclusions here, but Connor’s best friend is called Eden. And Connor names his planet Eden. Of course it could be a coincidence.’

I rolled my eyes. ‘It doesn’t matter why he called the planet Eden. What matters is that you’ve travelled back in time and I want to know why. It’s to do with Connor, isn’t it?’

Ryan sipped his coffee. ‘I can’t tell you why I’m here.’

‘Ryan, I don’t care about your “Temporal Laws” or whatever they’re called. Like I already said, it’s a bit late for that.’

‘Eden, this is serious. Backwards time travel is more or less prohibited. In the few instances it’s allowed, the rules are clear. Do not communicate anything about the future to the inhabitants of the past. Knowing the future can change the future.’

‘I already know the future.’

‘You do. But I can’t risk telling you anything else.’

‘You don’t trust me?’

‘It has nothing to do with trust. Even in my own time, nobody will know the real reason for my mission. There will be a cover story.’

I sipped my coffee. ‘How do I know you’re a good guy and not a bad guy if you won’t tell me why you’re here?’

Ryan frowned. ‘You think I might be a bad guy?’

‘I know that Connor isn’t.’

Ryan sighed deeply. ‘Connor isn’t a bad guy. But neither am I.’

‘You expect me to just accept that because you said so?’

He hesitated. ‘You’re right. You do know too much already.’ He looked into my eyes. ‘But you have to promise me that you will never, ever repeat what I tell you.’

‘I can keep a secret.’

‘OK. This summer Connor discovers the existence of a planet.’

I thought back to what Ben had just said about planets being discovered all the time.

‘Lots of planets are being discovered,’ said Ryan, as if reading my mind. ‘But they are almost all gas giants. Even those initially thought to be Earth-like, turn out not to be. But the one Connor discovers is a habitable, Earth-like planet. A planet with water and a breathable atmosphere.’

‘I saw a photo in that book. Connor surrounded by pink cliffs and a river and what looked like jungle.’

‘The planet he discovers has life,’ said Ryan. ‘Plants and animals. Even now, when I come from, Eden is the only planet we’ve discovered that has life.’

‘It looked beautiful.’

‘It is beautiful,’ said Ryan, nodding. ‘Very beautiful. And very deadly. It looks a lot like Earth; it has evolved like Earth in lots of ways.’

‘Does it have humans?’

‘No mammals. Just birds and insects and lots of plants.’

‘How is it deadly?’

‘A microscopic parasite lives on Eden. It’s harmless to life on Eden. But back on Earth it’s deadly. When trade ships moved between Eden and Earth, they inadvertently transported the parasite with them. It was so hard to identify that our quarantine procedures didn’t detect it. Within months of transporting resources from Eden to Earth, entire habitats on Earth started dying off. It took decades before the parasite was discovered. By then, it was too late. Most of the globe had been infected. Many parts of the Earth are uninhabitable.’

I shook my head. ‘That’s terrible.’

Ryan shrugged. ‘Earth is dying. Most of the trees have gone. So many plant species have died out.’

‘What about people?’

‘The parasite doesn’t hurt animals directly. But by destroying plants, it destroyed the habitats of many animals. Including humans. Do you know how many people there are on Earth now?’

‘About seven billion?’

‘When I’m from, the population is less than one billion. The rapid reduction is due to global famine. Many people think the human race will be finished in less than fifty years.’

I stared into my coffee cup. ‘Can’t you find a way to destroy the parasite?’

‘It’s too widespread.’

‘What about moving people to Eden? Can’t the inhabitants of Earth relocate?’

Ryan shook his head. ‘Eden only has a very small habitable region. Most of the planet is too hot or too cold. It’s not an alternative to living on Earth.’

Suddenly everything was clear. ‘So you’re here to prevent Eden from ever being discovered.’

‘That’s right. Eden is beautiful, but it’s lethal to life on Earth.’

My coffee was getting cold. I drained the mug and tried to take in the enormity of Ryan’s purpose here. ‘If Connor doesn’t discover the planet this summer, won’t someone else discover Eden? I mean, if it’s there, surely someone will discover it eventually. You can’t prevent that.’

‘And you said you don’t believe in Fate.’

‘I don’t. All I’m saying is that if Connor discovered it, it can’t be that hard to find. No offence to Connor, but he’s not exactly a genius.’

‘Eden is actually very hard to detect from Earth. It’s possible to detect for a few hours this summer and then not again for more than seven hundred years. Connor discovered it by chance. But if Connor doesn’t discover it then, we’re safe for centuries.’

‘Why can you only see it once every seven hundred years? Surely it’s either there or it’s not.’

‘Eden orbits a tertiary star system. That means three stars. From our vantage point here on Earth, Eden passes in front of one of those stars for just a few days every seven hundred and three years. It’s hard to detect. The sky has to be clear, obviously. But it also has to be dark and it doesn’t get that dark at this time of year. If Connor misses this opportunity, we’re safe for a very long time.’

‘No one will ever know the planet exists,’ I said slowly. ‘But you know, and Cassie and Ben know. And now I know.’

‘And we must never tell.’

I let that sink in. ‘If you’re successful, only four people will know that there’s a planet out there that has life on it.’

Ryan grimaced. ‘Five, actually. There’s one more person. Our clean-up agent.’

‘What’s that?’

‘A clean-up agent, or cleaner, is an agent that accompanies a time trip to police the mission. They arrive before us and leave after us. It’s their responsibility to ensure that nothing goes wrong. So, for instance, if we had crashed on arrival, our cleaner would have removed the evidence. Or if Ben went AWOL, our cleaner would find him and bring him back to his time. They also ensure the cover story, if needed, is watertight.’

‘Who is your cleaner?’

‘We’re not allowed to know.’

I frowned. ‘There are five of us that know about Eden. And three of you were sent back to change history. You’re just a seventeen-year-old boy. How on earth did you end up on this mission?’

‘Ben’s not my real dad. My real dad is an admiral at the Space and Time Institute. He’s very powerful. His father invented four-dimensional travel. And my mum’s family are all environmental campaigners. My mother lobbied for this mission. They needed someone who could pass for a sixteen-year-old student, so I volunteered.’

‘Slow down,’ I said. ‘Let’s just back up to the part about four-dimensional travel.’

‘Eden . . .’

‘I don’t want to hear any crap about Temporal Laws,’ I interrupted.

‘How did you know I was going to say that?’

‘The look on your face.’

He laughed. ‘So I’m guessing you want to know how four-dimensional travel works.’

‘Exactly.’

‘Many years ago, probably around the time you start getting a few grey hairs and crow’s-feet around your eyes,’ he began.

I shoved him and he fell back against the bed, laughing. ‘I’m just trying to give you an idea of the timescale.’

‘Fine. Give me a date. No more comments about wrinkles and grey hair.’

‘OK, OK,’ he said, holding his hands up. ‘2044. My grandfather, Nathaniel Westland, discovered how to create short cuts through space so that we can travel to distant stars in minutes instead of light years. The same technology allows you to travel through time.’

‘Are there lots of people from the future living among us?’ I whispered, suddenly wondering if all the people who claimed they’d seen flying saucers might actually be right.

Ryan sat up again. ‘No. Just Ben, Cassie, me and our cleaner.’

‘How can you be sure?’

‘Like I said, time travel is owned exclusively by my father’s company. And it is strictly regulated.’

‘But why? It would be amazing to travel back in time and see Charles Dickens in Victorian London or Catherine Howard at her execution.’

‘Gruesome choice.’

‘Just an idea. I’d have thought people would be queuing up to take a journey into the past.’

‘Imagine the terrible things people could do,’ said Ryan. ‘The neo-Nazis travelling back in time to help Hitler win the war, for instance. Altering the timeline. Time travel is the ultimate weapon of mass destruction.’

A dull pain began to throb at the back of my eyes. I rubbed my forehead. ‘I have so many questions.’

‘I’ve told you a lot this morning. And you can never tell anyone what you know. The more I tell you, the more difficult that’s going to be for you. I’ve told you enough for you to understand why I’m here and what I have to do. Why our mission is so important.’

I nodded. ‘I could help you.’

He smiled. ‘I was hoping you’d say that.’

‘What can I do?’

‘You can help me get close to Connor. I’ve tried, but unfortunately he doesn’t like me too much.’

‘He does seem to have taken an irrational dislike to you. Almost as though part of him can tell that you’re here to mess up his future.’

‘I need to be close to him if I’m to stand any chance of controlling the events that lead to the discovery of the planet.’

‘I can’t make him like you, but I can make sure that you get to hang out with us after school and on weekends.’

‘That’s what I need. Especially around the date of the discovery.’

‘Which is?’

‘The twenty-third of June.’

‘That’s the day of the ball.’

‘Exactly. But that’s about all I have so far. He talks about a girl, the love of his life, breaking his heart. They have an argument and then, to blow off steam, he goes to look at the stars and discovers this planet.’

Ryan picked up Connor’s autobiography and flicked through the pages, then began reading aloud.

‘We were at a party. I was upset. This girl was the love of my life. After she publicly humiliated me, I left the party and did what I always did when I was upset. I went stargazing. There’s something about all those millions of stars out there in space that’s so humbling. It makes a broken heart seem a trivial thing.’

Ryan dropped the book back on the floor. ‘The girl is obviously you.’

‘How is that obvious?’

‘You’re his oldest friend and he names the planet Eden. I think that’s pretty good evidence.’

‘Circumstantial.’

Ryan shrugged. ‘He doesn’t say which party he was at, although I imagine it must be the leavers’ ball or a party afterwards. Do people go to parties after the ball?’

I nodded. ‘Most people go on to a party.’

‘So this argument – this broken heart – happens at the ball or right after. Then he goes to look at the stars. He would have to have used a telescope to detect Eden’s transit in front of its sun. But he doesn’t say which telescope or where he was. There are several amateur astronomy clubs in Cornwall, but Connor isn’t a member of any of them. And only one has a scheduled viewing night for the twenty-third June and that’s on the Lizard Peninsula.’

‘Can I see his autobiography again?’

‘No. You can’t know Connor’s future.’

‘You do.’

‘Yes, but I have to know. And once my mission is complete, I’ll be heading back to my own time. All this will be history.’

I froze. For a moment it was as though my heart stopped beating. Ryan leaving. For ever. My body was washed with an all too familiar feeling. There was no word to describe it. Loss. Abandonment. The end of hope.

‘Eden?’ Ryan’s forehead was creased with concern.

‘Headache,’ I said, shaking myself out of my miserable trance.

He pressed his thumb between my eyebrows. ‘You’ve had a lot to take in. Lie back, put your head on the pillow.’ I did as he said. ‘Now shut your eyes.’

He sat beside me, gently running the tips of his fingers over my forehead, in a circular motion. I sighed softly and tried to imagine the tension leaving my body, but it was the opposite of relaxing; his touch made me tighten up and all I could think about was breathing.

‘You’re very tense.’

‘I can’t help it.’

Ryan pulled the duvet on top of me so that I was covered from my neck to my toes. Then he resumed rubbing my forehead gently.

‘You’ll get cold,’ I said.

Ryan raised an eyebrow. ‘Are you suggesting I get under the covers with you?’

I laughed, embarrassed, and secretly hoped he would.

Then the door opened. I sat up with a start. It was Cassie, a look of complete horror on her face. Within seconds the horror had been replaced by a condescending smile.

‘Haven’t you heard of knocking?’ Ryan asked.

‘I’ve never had to before,’ she said, arching her eyebrows, her eyes running over the two of us.

From where she stood, it would be impossible for her to tell whether or not I was dressed beneath the duvet.

‘Eden and I are in the middle of something,’ Ryan said.

‘So I see.’ She stayed there, staring at us, clearly enjoying my discomfort.

‘What do you want?’

‘Dad needs your help with something. So, when you finish whatever it is you’re in the middle of, perhaps you would come downstairs and lend him a hand.’

‘Tell him I’ll be down in a couple of minutes.’

‘Really? Just a couple? You are quick.’ She let the door slam shut behind her.

‘Um, that was awkward,’ I said.

He laughed. ‘It could have been worse. We could have been naked.’

‘Is Cassie really your sister?’

‘No. We’re not related. Just part of the same mission.’

I swallowed. ‘Have you and Cassie ever . . .’

‘No!’ Ryan responded before I had the chance to finish the question. ‘She’s light years from the type of girl I like.’

‘So what sort of girls do you like?’ I asked.

‘Are you flirting with me?’ he grinned.

‘No, why would I do that?’ I asked, embarrassed. ‘Please! You’re young enough to be my great-grandson.’