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explains. I peer at the screen, watching carefully. “So, you saw him three days ago, at seven p.m. So we just type in the date we want to go back, the time, and the amount of time that he’ll be gone for … say, ten minutes. I don’t want the little guy to get hurt or scared being gone too long.”
    “What happens when the time is up?” I’m not even sure if I’m humoring him anymore. Does this thing really work? Seriously?
    “The wormhole will shrink and suck him back to his previous time,” Adam says. He smiles at my horrified expression. “It won’t hurt him or anything.”
    I watch as Adam carefully lays little Albert down on the step. Albert looks mildly nervous as the clock around his neck ticks loudly. Adam points out the time on the clock is accurate: seven fifteen p.m. I inch backwards, suddenly a little worried. “Have you done this before?” I ask.
    “Yeah,” Adam says. “With, like, objects. This is my first live trial. But I already know it’s going to work.”
    “How do you know that?”
    Adam gives me a funny look. “Because you saw Albert outside the building three days ago.”
    That makes some sort of crazy sense. Although I still back up a few feet before Adam clicks on a button on the computer screen that says enter wormhole.
    The entire room gets very cold all of a sudden. Frigid, like every molecule of warmth has been sucked into the wormhole. There’s a flash of almost blinding light that comes from my step, and there’s a loud whooshing sound, almost like a giant toilet being flushed. I’m suddenly really scared for Albert, that he’s being flushed down some kind of cosmic toilet. I mean, I know he’s just a rabbit, but I’d still feel really bad about it.
    And then, when the light disappears and the room gets quiet again, Albert is gone.
    “Where is he?” I ask, hugging my arms to my chest. It’s still freezing in here and I’m covered in goose bumps.
    “You mean, when is he?” Adam corrects me.
    “Oh, my God, shut up!” I say. I know he thinks he’s being cute, but seriously, this is freaky. Either he just sent a rabbit into the past or he liquidated a rabbit. Either way, it’s very freaky. “When will he come back?”
    Adam glances at his watch. “Oh, around now.”
    I’m still seeing flashes of green dancing before my eyes from when Albert disappeared. I blink a few times and rub my eyes. I wish Adam had told me to look away. Not that I would have been able to.
    Just as the spots are fading a bit, another flash of light comes from the step. I quickly shield my eyes, shivering as the temperature of the room drops at least another twenty degrees. I finally drop my hand and, sitting on the steps like he never left, is Albert. I just stare at him in disbelief.
    “Check out the clock,” Adam says as he wheels over to the rabbit. He picks him up and I can’t help but notice that Albert leaves behind two muddy footprints and a blade of grass. “Look! It’s ten minutes fast!”
    I stare down at the timepiece around Albert’s neck. Sure enough, it says seven twenty-five p.m.
    Holy shit. My boyfriend just invented a freaking time machine.

CHAPTER FIVE
     
    Adam cracks open an expensive bottle of Chardonnay that he’s been saving for a special occasion. You don’t get much more special than this, I think. He’s invented something that will change the course of history. Adam is going to be famous, even more so than his rabbit’s namesake. Everyone in the world will know the name Adam Schaffer.
    Adam still has the rabbit on his lap as I pour the wine into glasses at his dining table. “I should really do some tests on him,” he says, sounding a little worried. “Make sure he’s okay.”
    “Come on, he’s fine,” I say, handing Adam a glass of wine. I guess it’s possible he has some horrible internal damage, but he looks pretty good. For a rabbit. I’m not sure what rabbits are supposed to be doing, but whatever it is, he’s doing it. I’m pretty