As the bright flash faded from his eyes, James realized they were back in the restaurant. “Like we never left!”
Nikki eyed the waiter refilling their water glasses. “But the accident still happened. The space-time continuum ripped. We changed the past. There’s gotta be consequences. Plus,” she whispered, “I’m pretty sure he wasn’t our waiter.”
“Looks like the same guy from before.”
Nikki craned her head. “Does the food look or smell different?”
James leaned back in his chair. “Look around, everything’s fine.”
That’s when he spotted the velociraptor in a bowler hat entering the restaurant. Something had changed.
¤ ¤ ¤
Carol Scheina is a deaf speculative fiction author whose short stories have appeared in Escape Pod, Daily Science Fiction, The Arcanist, and other publications. You can find more of her work at carolscheina.wordpress.com.
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