By six that evening, Jules had prepared dinner, washed the dishes she'd used, and returned to her room with another plate of food.
Serina noticed as her daughter passed the dining room.
"Sweetheart, aren't you eating with us?"
"I already ate a little while I was cooking."
"You can still sit with everyone."
"I know. I just want to finish something upstairs."
Serina glanced at the plate in her hands. "Are you feeling all right?"
"I'm fine, Mom."
"You look tired."
"I've been busy."
"With the gardening?"
Jules smiled. "Something like that."
Her mother studied her for another moment before nodding. "All right. Don't stay up too late."
"I won't."
Jules carried her plate upstairs, intending to eat before returning to the dimension. She did plan to sleep eventually, but first she wanted to check the seeds.
Once inside, she settled beside the stream and ate her dinner, enjoying the quiet while she reviewed her gardening notes. When she finished, she returned to the plot and knelt beside the first row.
The soil was still damp, but nothing had sprouted.
Of course nothing had sprouted. Even with the accelerated passage of time, she'd only planted the seeds earlier that day.
She examined the ground anyway, searching for the smallest sign of growth before laughing softly at herself.
She had survived zombies, earthquakes, starvation, and betrayal across eight lives. Now she was impatiently waiting for lettuce.
After checking the remaining rows, she stood and walked toward the cottage.
Inside, the modern kitchen gleamed beneath the lights, its counters clean and cabinets mostly empty. Beyond it, the rooms were bare. The cottage was functional, but there was nothing comfortable about trying to live in an unfurnished building.
She imagined a bed near one of the windows, a table where she could spread out her notes, and a comfortable chair for resting after working outside. Shelves filled with gardening books would be useful, too, especially if she began experimenting with more complicated crops.
There was enough space. She simply needed to furnish it.
Jules opened her notebook and added another item beneath her gardening plan.
Cottage furniture — priority.
She also made a note to look into larger farming equipment. Preparing one small plot by hand had taken far more effort than expected, and she wasn't interested in repeating that process across several acres if a better option existed.
After reviewing her notes, she checked the time. She still had several hours before she needed to sleep, and outside the dimension, another working session would barely register.
She retrieved her garden fork and headed back toward the plot.
Downstairs, Kaelen was reviewing a message from his attorney when Adrian called.
"The developer has acknowledged receipt of our proposed backup terms," Adrian said.
"Any response?"
"Not yet. Cortell Holdings still has an opportunity to resolve the financing issue."
"And the other interested party?"
"No additional information."
Kaelen leaned back in his chair, considering the situation. The existing contract remained active, and he had no intention of committing funds until the developer could legally proceed with another buyer.
"Keep the documents ready," he instructed. "If the existing contract is released, I don't want delays on our side."
"Understood."
"Anything else?"
"The vehicle supplier confirmed the delivery schedule."
Kaelen opened a separate document on his tablet. "Go ahead."
"The first two recreational vehicles are expected Friday. The remaining vehicles will arrive in stages next week. The utility trucks are being handled by a different distributor."
"And the boats?"
"I'm waiting on availability and transport estimates from two marine suppliers. Neither has confirmed an order yet."
"Good. Don't commit until we've checked storage and delivery requirements."
Adrian paused before speaking again.
"Sir, may I ask something?"
"Of course."
"Are you planning to start a transportation company?"
Kaelen looked at the growing list of vehicles, generators, water tanks, and storage facilities.
"No."
"An equipment rental business?"
"No."
"A hotel?"
Kaelen closed his eyes. "Adrian."
"Just checking."
Despite himself, Kaelen laughed. He'd worked with Adrian long enough to recognize when his assistant was deliberately testing his patience.
"Good night, Adrian."
"Good night, sir."
After ending the call, Kaelen returned to the penthouse documents. He reviewed the conditions once more, making a note of the remaining legal questions before setting the folder aside.
Floor 22 remained under contract, and the current purchaser still had an opportunity to resolve the financing issue. There was nothing more Kaelen could accomplish that evening by staring at the paperwork.
He turned off his desk lamp and went to find his family.
Upstairs, Selina lay on her stomach across the bed, reviewing the animation she'd made with Tavian earlier that afternoon. Her brother sat beside the bed, occasionally leaning closer whenever something on the screen caught his attention.
The cartoon character struggled to lift an enormous emergency backpack, her tiny arms trembling beneath its weight. Just as she managed to straighten her knees, the backpack tipped backward and sent her sprawling across the floor. A can of beans tumbled out, rolling past her head before disappearing offscreen.
Tavian burst out laughing. "Keep that. Actually, wait—make the can hit her."
"That's mean," Selina protested, although she was already smiling.
"It's funny."
She considered his suggestion for a moment before adding a sound effect. When they replayed the scene, the can bounced off the character's forehead with a ridiculous metallic clang, sending both twins into another fit of laughter.
"Okay," Selina admitted, wiping at her eyes. "That was better."
Tavian stretched his arms above his head. "How long until it's finished?"
"I don't know. I still need to animate the rest, record the narration properly, and add music. Then I have to make sure everything actually works together."
"So another day?"
"Probably more than that."
He nodded, watching her rearrange several frames on the timeline.
"Are we posting it on TutuBe?"
"That's the plan."
"And Zippit?"
"Short clips, maybe. I don't think anyone's going to sit through a long video from an account they've never heard of."
Tavian considered that. "We should make an account name."
"I've been thinking about it."
"Captain Disaster."
"No."
"Survival with Captain Disaster."
"Absolutely not."
"Captain Disaster and His Assistant."
Selina grabbed a pillow and threw it at him. Tavian caught it against his chest, laughing as she returned to the laptop.
"Fine," he said. "We'll workshop it."
She shook her head, smiling despite herself.
Neither twin had any idea whether anyone would watch their videos. Selina hoped at least a few people would find them entertaining, but she wasn't ready to think about an audience yet. She still had several minutes of animation to finish, and Tavian had already suggested enough ridiculous sound effects to keep her busy for another hour.
For the moment, they were enjoying themselves, and neither had any intention of telling the rest of the family what they were making.
Much later, Jules finally returned to her bedroom.
She'd planted another small section of vegetables, organized her tools, and measured the space she wanted to use for future animal pens. She'd also discovered that gardening while exhausted was an excellent way to make mistakes.
At one point, she'd nearly planted an entire packet of seeds in a single row before realizing she'd misread the instructions. Correcting it had taken longer than the original planting, and she'd spent several minutes sitting in the grass, wondering whether she should have stopped working hours earlier.
Now she was tired enough that even removing her shoes felt like an unpleasant chore.
Her phone showed 9:46 p.m.
Only a few hours had passed outside since she'd first entered the dimension that afternoon, but inside, she'd experienced considerably more. Her body felt as though she'd spent several long days doing physical labor, which wasn't far from the truth.
She looked toward the bathroom and decided that whatever else she wanted to accomplish could wait until morning.
A shower, then sleep.
Tomorrow, she would check the garden again and begin looking for furniture for the cottage. She also needed to research better equipment for preparing larger plots, since the idea of digging everything by hand had become significantly less appealing.
As she showered, her thoughts drifted toward tractors, irrigation systems, fencing, and livestock. She wanted chickens first, although she'd need to learn how to build a proper enclosure and care for them. Goats and pigs would require even more preparation, particularly if she intended to keep them healthy and breeding.
She couldn't simply purchase animals and expect them to take care of themselves.
By the time she finished showering, she'd mentally added several more subjects to her research list.
Jules set her phone on the nightstand and climbed into bed, pulling the blanket over herself. Her arms still ached, and she suspected she'd be sore in the morning, but the thought of checking her first seedlings made her smile.
She had more time to work with than she'd ever imagined. What she needed to learn now was how to use it without exhausting herself.
Downstairs, the house had grown quiet as the rest of the family settled in for the night. Her parents knew she'd spent the afternoon gardening, and neither had any reason to think she'd done anything more unusual than work a little too hard on a new project.
Jules closed her eyes, already planning what she'd plant next.