Tempest: A Novel

by Julie Cross Narrated by Matthew Brown

Overview

In Julie Cross' Tempest, the year is 2009. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy... he's in college, has a girlfriend... and he can travel back through time. But it's not like the movies - nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there's no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors - it's just harmless fun.

That is... until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he's stuck in 2007 and can't get back to the future.

Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.

But it's not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these "Enemies of Time" will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler. Recruit... or kill him.

Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he's willing to go to save Holly... and possibly the entire world.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

2016 ILLINOIS READS’s list for grades 9-12

“I have seen the future and it is Jackson Meyer! I loved Julie Cross's engrossing and engaging TEMPEST. If I could time-jump, I'd read the sequel yesterday at the very latest.” —Nancy Holder, New York Times bestselling author of the CRUSADE series

“Julie Cross's thrilling debut is brimming with excitement, romance, and intrigue. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough!” —Beth Revis, New York Times-bestselling author of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE

“Jackson Meyer is a 19-year-old Upper East Sider with a loving and loyal girlfriend, a brilliant and funny best friend and an unexpected and exciting new talent. Jackson can suddenly "jump" back and forth in time. Cross takes readers on a thrilling ride as Jackson struggles to harness his abilities in a desperate attempt to learn the truth about who he is and, even more importantly, who he can trust. The characters are…complex and distinct, they will work their way into readers' hearts and stay with them long after the book is finished. Equal parts adventure, romance, science fiction…readers will turn the last page and find themselves wishing they could "jump" to the future and read the sequel.” —KIRKUS REVIEWS, starred review

“Debut author Cross launches a trilogy with an exciting and complex page-turner about difficult choices. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer can travel in time, but he's no Doctor Who—he can only make short jumps backward, and he can't change anything. It's all harmless experimentation until his girlfriend, Holly, is shot when two gunmen attempt to kidnap him. Panicked, Jackson jumps back two years and gets stuck there. The consequences of unprepared time travel and Jackson pretending to be his 17-year-old self are amusing, but as he explores his life and pursues Holly (now his girlfriend-to-be), the already gripping story escalates. Jackson discovers his father's secret life with a shadowy government agency called Tempest, and father and son become tangled with violent rival time travelers determined to alter the course of history. As Jackson explores his powers, he has no idea which side to trust or who is trying to kill him, and failure to make the right decisions threaten worldwide repercussions. It's a story packed with moments both tender and electric—Cross's zippy writing and fresh plot are an exhilarating combination.” —Publishers Weekly

“It's likely readers will want to time travel to early 2013 to read book No. 2 in this fast-paced and inventive series.” —The Los Angeles Times

“One of my favorite books of 2012.” —EW.com

“'Okay, so it's true. I can time travel. But it's not as exciting as it sounds.' Actually, it is every bit as exciting as it sounds. And the more Jackson learns about his powers and the nature of time travel, the more thrilling this novel gets. At first the teen treats his ability as a benign experiment and fodder for his geeky buddy's theorizing, but soon his talent becomes the key to saving his girlfriend and, quite possibly, the world. After watching Holly get shot, Jackson learns that most of what he knows about himself and his family is a lie and that powerful, opposing forces are willing to do just about anything to have him and his developing powers on their side. While the details of time travel are complex, they don't overpower the story, which remains focused on Jackson's relationships with Holly and his father. Teens looking for a romantic, high-adrenaline novel will have a hard time putting this one down. Jackson's sacrifice at the end will tug on heart strings and leave readers hungry for the next installment in a projected trilogy.” —Library Journal

“This fast-paced spy thriller/romance packs a surprising emotional punch that leaves you wanting to leap into the future to devour the upcoming sequel.” —Entertainment Weekly

“Once I started TEMPEST, I couldn't put it down. Once I finished TEMPEST, I was dying for the next installment. Julie Cross takes readers on an unforgettable trip through time in this inventive, suspenseful and romantic tale. A thrilling debut from a fantastic new voice.” —Courtney Summers, Award-Winning author of CRACKED UP TO BE and SOME GIRLS ARE

“A good thriller moves forward at high speed, but only a superlative thriller can take you on a breathtaking journey through the fourth dimension. Julie Cross's ingenious story is vividly imagined and splendidly rendered, hitting just the right notes with liberal doses of suspense, intrigue, and romance. Throw in a pitch-perfect cast of engaging characters, and you've got a blockbuster young adult debut that will keep readers glued to the pages.” —Sophie Littlefield, Award-Winning author of BANISHED

“For time traveler Jackson Meyer, the past is the key to his increasingly dangerous future. But who can he trust? The CIA? His mysterious father? Or his conspiracy-theory addicted best friend? A maze of ingenious twists and turns, TEMPEST takes you on a magic carpet ride that will have you flipping pages to the end.” —Jana Oliver, author of THE DEMON TRAPPER'S DAUGHTER

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169111545
Publisher:	Macmillan Audio
Publication date:	01/17/2012
Series:	Tempest , #1
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER ONE

 

TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2009, 12:15 P.M.

“How far back should I go?” I asked Adam.

We kept a good distance between us and the long line of kids gathering around the polar bears.

“Thirty minutes?” Adam suggested.

“Hey, let that go!” Holly snatched the bag of candy one of the campers had swiped from a toddler’s stroller and threw an exasperated look in my direction. “It’d be nice if you would actually watch your group of kids.”

“Sorry, Hol.” I scooped Hunter up before his kleptomaniac habits got any worse. “Hold up your hands,” I told him.

He grinned a toothless smile and opened his chubby hands in front of my face. “See? Nothing.”

“Let’s keep it that way, all right? You don’t need to take other people’s stuff.” I set the kid back down and gave him a shove toward the others, who were heading for the large stretch of grass reserved for campers having lunch at the zoo.

“Holly Flynn,” I said, grabbing her hand and twining her fingers in mine.

She spun around to face me. “You have a soft spot for the klepto kid, don’t you?”

I smiled at her and shrugged. “Maybe.”

Her face relaxed and she tugged on the front of my shirt, pulling me closer before kissing my cheek. “So … what are you doing tonight?”

“Um … I’ve got plans with this really pretty blond chick.” Except I couldn’t remember what we had planned. “It’s a … surprise.”

“You’re so full of it.” She laughed and shook her head. “I can’t believe you forgot your promise to spend an entire evening with me reciting Shakespeare … in French … backwards. Then we were supposed to watch Titanic and Notting Hill.”

“I must have been drunk when I said that.” I glanced over Holly’s shoulder before kissing her quickly on the mouth. “But I’ll agree to Notting Hill.”

She rolled her eyes. “We’re supposed to go see that band with your friends, remember?”

A little girl from Holly’s group tugged on her arm and pointed toward the bathroom. I darted around her before we could discuss my inability to make plans two weeks in advance and actually remember them two weeks later.

“Yo, Jackson, over here,” Adam said, nodding toward a tree.

Time for precise and exact time-travel planning.

“Are you coming with us to see that band tonight?” I asked.

What I really wanted to know was if he remembered it.

“Um … let’s see. Spend an evening with your high school friends who, I’ve heard, are like a real-life version of Gossip Girl? Not to mention blowing an entire paycheck on an appetizer and a couple drinks?” He shook his head and smiled. “What do you think?”

“I see your point. How about we hang out in your and Holly’s neighborhood tomorrow?”

“Sounds good.”

“All right, on with it. I can’t eat while smelling camel ass, so we might as well experiment now.”

Adam tossed me my journal and threw a pen on top. “Write down your goal, because time travel without a goal is just—”

“Reckless,” I finished for him, trying not to groan.

“The gift shop is right behind us. I’ve been watching for the last hour and the same girl’s at the register.”

“You’ve been checking her out, haven’t you?”

Adam rolled his eyes and pushed his dark hair from his forehead. “Okay, so you set your stopwatch and then jump back thirty minutes. You go into the gift shop and do whatever it is you do so a girl remembers your name.”

“It’s called flirting,” I said quietly so no one else would hear. Then I focused on writing my notes before Holly got back from the bathroom.

Goal: Test theory on someone who has no knowledge of the experiment.

Theory: Events and occurrences, including human interaction, while traveling into the past will NOT affect the present.

Non-geek-speak translation: I jump back thirty minutes in time, flirt with the girl in the shop, jump back to present time, walk back into the store, and see if she knows me.

She won’t.

But Adam Silverman, winner of the 2009 National Science Fair and a soon-to-be MIT freshman, won’t confirm this conclusion until we’ve tried it from Every. Single. Angle. Honestly, I don’t really mind. Sometimes it’s fun, and until a few months ago, nobody except me knew what I could do. Now that the number has doubled, I feel a little bit less like a freak.

And a little less lonely.

But I’ve never been friends with a science geek before. Although Adam’s more of the bad-boy-hacking-into-government-websites kinda geek. Which is beyond cool, in my opinion.

“Do you know for sure you can jump back exactly thirty minutes?” Adam asked.

I shrugged. “Yeah, probably.”

“Just make sure you note the time. I’ll record the seconds you’re sitting here like a vegetable,” Adam said, placing a stopwatch in my hand.

“Is that really what I look like when I jump? How long do you think I’ll be like that?” I asked.

“I’m guessing that a twenty-minute excursion, thirty minutes into the past, will leave you catatonic in the present for about two seconds.”

“Where was I thirty minutes ago, just so I don’t run into myself?”

Adam clicked his stopwatch on and off about ten times before answering me. He’s so totally OCD. “You were inside, looking at the penguins.”

“Okay, I’ll try not to end up over there.”

“We both know you can choose your location if you really concentrate, so don’t give me that I-don’t-know-where-I’ll-end-up shit,” Adam joked.

Maybe he was right, but it’s hard not to think about anything but one place. Just one tiny half-second thought about any other location than the one I was aiming for, and I’d end up there instead.

“Yeah, yeah. You do it, then, if you think it’s so easy.”

“I wish.”

I get why someone like Adam is so fascinated by what I can do, but for me, I don’t exactly consider it a superpower. Just a freak-of-nature occurrence. And kind of a scary one, at that.

I glanced at my watch, 12:25 P.M., then closed my eyes and focused on thirty minutes in the past and on this exact spot, though I really, truly have no clue how I do this.

The first time I jumped was about eight months ago, during my first semester of college. I was sitting in the middle of a French poetry class. I nodded off for a few minutes and woke up to a cold breeze and a door slamming me in the face. I was standing in front of my dorm. Before I even had a chance to panic, I was right back in class again.

Then I panicked.

Now it’s fun, for the most part. Even though I still have no idea what day or time I traveled to that very first jump. As of today, my known record jump has climbed from six hours to forty-eight hours in the past. Jumping to the future has yet to work, but I’m not going to stop trying.

The familiar sensation of being pulled into two pieces took over. I held my breath and waited for it to stop. It’s never pleasant, but you get used to it.

 

Copyright © 2011 by Julie Cross

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