Travelers

Sienna Crenshaw knows the rules: 1) no time traveling beyond your natural lifetime, 2) no screwing with death, and 3) no changing the past. Ever. Sienna doesn’t love being stuck in the present, but she’s not the type to to break the rules. That is, she wasn’t the type until her best friend broke every one of those rules to keep Henry, her twin brother and Sienna’s ex-boyfriend, alive. Suddenly, Sienna is caught in an unfamiliar reality. The upside? Henry is still alive. The downside? Sienna’s old life, including the people in it, has been erased. Now, Sienna and Henry must untangle the giant knot in time, or her parents and all the rest of the Travelers, will be lost forever. One problem: the only way to be successful is for Henry to die.

The room smelled like cheap lip gloss and urine, but I still took a deep breath. I hugged my arms across my chest, closed my eyes, and forced my mind to concentrate on my bedroom. At this hour, my parents would be at work, leaving the house empty. As always, a sharp pain tugged just below my heart, and a whooshing sound, like a wave of water forced into a small space, overtook my senses. A frightening cold seeped through my torso for a split second before I felt the tingly rush of my body materializing. I glanced around and laughed aloud. I stood in my room between my bed and the dormer window that overlooked the street, right where I planned to be. Grateful no one else could see me, I did a quick happy dance. Then I grabbed one of the textbooks I’d forgotten that morning and closed my eyes again. I ignored the familiar cold rush as I prepared myself to reappear in the bathroom stall. Since I’d left no more than fifteen seconds ago, I doubted anyone even noticed my absence. Solid ground formed under my feet a few seconds later, but before I opened my eyes, I knew something was wrong.

I've never been a big fan of talking about myself, but if you really want to know, here are some random tidbits about me: I have my doctorate in molecular anthropology. Translation: I sequence dead people's DNA and spend a whole lot of time in a lab, which I love. I've been writing since I was 11 years old. It's my hobby, my passion, and I'm so happy to get to share my work! My other passion is teaching. There's nothing more fun than getting a classroom of college kids fired up about anthropology! This is probably a good thing, since my day job requires me to teach at the local university. If I could have a super-power, it would totally be flying. Which is a little strange, because I'm terrified of heights.