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guilty abandoning her there. But she let out a snuffling roar of a snore, and I knew there was no point in staying. Besides, Charlotte wouldn’t leave her side.
    â€œIf we synch now, we should make the ten o’clock,” I said, looking at my Com. I wrapped my arms around Finn and gave in to the draw back to the twenty-third century.
    Then I opened my eyes and saw where we’d landed.
    Crapcakes .

 
    chapter 5
    â€œHUH-HO! YOU SNUCK US IN.” Finn’s whisper was practically a shout and earned him a few dirty looks from the moviegoers who streamed into the darkened theater around us.
    â€œNo. It was a snafu. There’s a difference.”
    â€œYou’re a little sneak thief.” He started to tickle me, but really, I wanted him to keep his voice down. It was true. I had just ripped off these poor movie theater owners. This was why there were Rules and entire classes on Temporal Ethics.
    â€œI’ll pay for the tickets on the way out. Let’s just grab our seats before all the good ones are taken,” I said. Several people around us had begun to stare. The last thing I needed was temporal theft on my record. I climbed into one of the sensory chambers and attached the bio-nodes to my scalp. Finn lurrrrrved movies in the twenty-third century. Personally, I found movies back in his day quaint, but yeah. I missed the explosion of all my senses being engaged at the same time.
    â€œYou want anything to eat?” said Finn. “Popcorn?”
    â€œThat sounds good. I’ll get some.” I pulled off the node and hopped out of the chamber as Finn crawled in. When I got out to the lobby, I swiped my hair—my sole form of ID—across a scanner to pay for both our tickets and the snacks.
    I joined the line for the popcorn (if one could call it that). Now that I’d had real popcorn—twenty-first-century popcorn with real butter that came from real cows—it was hard to go back to the purple stuff. I was just about to head back into the theater when I paused. Something was off. It felt like I was being watched. That’s when I saw him, tucked into a dark corner, like a snake under a stone.
    Leto Malone.
    I marched over to him.
    â€œWhat are you doing here?” I never bothered with pleasantries when it came to Leto—an unscrupulous chronosmuggler who had become a nagging yet necessary nuisance in my life. Technically, this was my own fault. I had agreed to work for him last year to pay my mom’s hospital bills. I ended up not needing his dirty money, but had in turn recruited him to keep an eye out for Finn. And by “recruit,” I mean bribe. I’d had Finn invest a good chunk of money back in his time, and it was worth a mint and a half by now. I’d then given Leto all but the last digit to access the bank account in which the fortune was held. In exchange, he’d agreed to keep his eyes and ears open for me.
    But Leto had strict orders to keep his distance. Especially from Finn, who didn’t approve of my association with the chronosmuggler. I’d never even disclosed Finn’s full name to Leto.
    â€œHey, Dollface.” Leto thrust his meaty hand into my popcorn bucket and pulled out a fistful. There went my appetite. He wore his usual tacky suit, and his hair was combed back so thick with grease, it looked like he had a helmet on. He crunched an unpopped kernel. “Heard a rumor you and Pretty Boy were having a little date night and thought it would be a good chance for us to catch up.”
    â€œHow did you know I was here?” I asked. I didn’t even know I’d be here.
    â€œI pay well for up-to-date information on the whereabouts of my Shifter friends. Especially ones who are sitting on my fortune. Plus you always come to the movies on Saturday nights.”
    â€œIt’s not your fortune yet, Leto.” I tapped my foot. “What do you want? Because if you came here to bug me for that last