by Jana Miller
I wanted to shrink into a corner, but I also wanted to give Jake a hug and tell Rob to get out of here. I watched Rob as he absorbed the accusations with a pained expression, not defending himself.
“You just—ran away? Told yourself it was better that way? Did you ever think that maybe if you just told my mom about it—” Jake broke off with a disgusted scoff. “No, I’m sure you didn’t. You just ran away. Probably never even looked back.”
Rob’s jaw worked for a moment. “I don’t know what you want me to say, bud. I don’t have a good excuse. I knew I’d be a horrible dad. I didn’t want to pass this on to you. And yeah, I hoped you wouldn’t turn out like me.”
Jake’s voice shook as he responded, each word like a punch. “Well, I guess you did a great job, Rob, because here I am, all grown up and almost dead from the curse you passed on.” He jabbed a finger at his dad. “A curse you were too cowardly to deal with.” He stood up abruptly, knocking his chair over, and stomped back into the apartment, slamming the door behind him.
We were silent for a few moments until Leah spoke up. “You didn’t tell anyone that she was pregnant, did you?”
Rob looked at her, his eyes red, and shook his head.
“That’s why my mom didn’t know about Jake,” she said quietly. “We always assumed that Allison just never told you, that she left you to protect him.”
“Well, she did,” Rob said, staring at the door. “And she was right to. I had nothing to give him. I had no right to be in his life. But I did know about him.” He ran an agitated hand through his hair—dark and messy like Jake’s, but with some gray streaks starting to show. “But I tried. I tried for years to get right so I could come find them. By the time I did, his mom didn’t want me around.”
“When was that?” I asked, torn between hating this man—who for years had caused my friend so much pain—and feeling sorry for him.
“Four years ago.” He spoke now in almost a monotone, still staring at the door where his son had disappeared. “I’d been sober for a year—hadn’t pulled time for two—and I had a good job. I thought it was time to try. I begged Allison’s parents to give me her number, and when they wouldn’t, I just asked them to pass on the message, to have her call me. She never did.”
Jake opened the door at that moment, the expression on his face unreadable. “Is that true?” he asked. Rob’s eyebrows raised and Jake jerked his head to the side. “The walls are really thin.”
Rob looked hopeful as he cleared his throat, and his voice caught a little as he said, “Yeah, it’s true.” His eyes pled for Jake to believe him.
Leah and I just watched Jake, waiting for his decision. I couldn’t even imagine what he was feeling. Was he glad his mom hadn’t let him meet his dad? Did he wish he’d been given the chance to choose for himself? I could clearly see anger still lingering in his face, but so much more.
Eventually I cleared my throat. “So where did you move to?” I asked Rob tentatively. “New York, did you say?”
Rob looked at me. “Yeah. When Allison never called, I finally gave up waiting and left.”
“Why New York?” Leah asked.
“Actually,” he said, seeming almost self-conscious, “Because that’s where the Stoneman line came from, before they settled in Show Low. I wanted to see if I could find anything about them, what they left behind.”
“Why?” Leah asked.
He held his hands up. “I’m—not sure exactly,” he confessed. “I guess I thought that if I knew more about our origins, knew where all this time manipulation started in the first place, I could…I don’t know, figure out what I was supposed to do with it. Make some sense of my ability.”
I noticed Jake nodding to himself, though just barely, like he didn’t even realize he was doing it. I wasn’t surprised; it was what Jake had always thought—there had to be a reason.
“Honestly, I think part of me hoped I could find a way to get rid of it,” he added.
“Did you find anything?” I asked.
Rob cleared his throat. “I did,” he said. “In a manner of speaking.”
He stood up and rummaged through his bag, which was still next to the door. “Probably not anything I couldn’t have eventually found online, but—” He pulled out a few folded pages. “The Stonemans—and the Wrights”—he nodded to me—“both lived in a small town in upstate New York, where they were known first for their brilliance, and then for their suspicious quirks.” I remembered that Melvin Wright had been born in New York, so that made sense.
He handed one page to Leah and another to Jake, who took it without looking at his dad then finally picked up his chair and sat back down.
I scooted closer to Leah, who held her page so I could read it too. It was a printout of an extremely old newspaper article. The title read “Two Prominent Families Disappear Without a Trace,” and the article explained how the Jim Stoneman family and the Melvin Wright family, next-door neighbors and best friends, had abandoned their homes without warning and simply vanished. It went on to summarize the men’s career histories, how several years after discovering some rare artifacts in a cave in Turkey, Stoneman had teamed up with Wright, who was able to decipher the meaning and origins of the artifacts. It didn’t give much detail on the artifacts themselves, but it mentioned a “scandal” in which one of the artifacts had gone missing and Stoneman and Wright refused to share their research with their colleagues.
I peered at the date. 1867. Could this have been where it all started? Could the amulet have been one of these artifacts, found over a hundred fifty years ago in a cave in Turkey? It seemed impossible, but at the same time it made complete sense.
We traded Jake for the one he’d been reading, an article written in 1863—several years before the disappearance we’d just read about—from a scholarly journal called Archaeology Today. The title read “Virginia Archaeologist Discovers Artifacts Thought To Belong To Ancient Greek Philosopher.” As soon as I saw “Greek Philosopher” in the title, I glanced up at Jake, who watched me with some of his old spark in his eyes. “Read it,” he said, and I knew he was thinking of the Greek weirdo Apollonius, who he’d been so sure was linked to all of this. I shook my head, suppressing a smile, as I read about Jim Stoneman’s discovery in 1857. But my amusement faded into shock as the article described his discovery: several sheets of papyrus, an emerald-and-copper amulet, and five thin copper sheets filled with indecipherable designs and writing in ancient Greek, Sanskrit, and Arabic.
I looked up at Leah when I finished reading, who looked as shocked as I felt. Had we really stumbled upon the actual origins of the amulet in our own limited internet research? Was Apollonius the Greek philosopher mentioned in the article? I looked to Jake, who was looking very vindicated. “Alchemy of time, Chloe,” he said quietly, though by his tone it was obvious it meant I told you so. I quirked up one side of my mouth and continued reading.
The pair claimed that they were almost certain the writings were, at least in part, the work of an ancient Greek philosopher (or sorcerer or madman, depending on who you asked), and promised to reveal all of their findings in the near future.
“Melvin Wright,” I murmured. “Emerald amulet.” I looked up at Leah. “Did you know about this other stuff?” I asked. “The copper sheets or the papyrus?”
Leah just shook her head. “No, all I’ve ever heard of is the amulet,” she said. “And I had no idea the Wrights and the Stonemans went this far back. I’ll bet my family didn’t even teach yours to rewind in the first place.”
“It does sound like they were partners from the start.”
“If anything, this Wright guy is probably the one who figured it out and taught Stoneman,” Jake said.
I looked to Rob. “Do you know anything about these other artifacts?”
“Just what it says in these articles.”
Jake held out a hand and Rob handed him the third sheet of paper he’d pulled from his bag. “Symposium Postponed as Authorities Search for Lost Artifa
ct,” Jake read.
“The scientific world is up in arms about the disappearance of a rare artifact—an ancient talisman—being studied by Jim Stoneman and Melvin Wright, who were to be keynote speakers at the upcoming Archaeology Today Symposium in New York City. Blah, blah, blah,” he muttered, skimming the article before continuing. “Stoneman and Wright were the only two people known to have had access to the artifacts, yet they are at a loss to explain its disappearance. The Society has since taken possession of the remaining artifacts for safekeeping, and Stoneman and Wright refuse to share their findings until the artifact is found. ‘That artifact belongs with us,’ Stoneman stated, ‘and we will not allow the thief to take advantage of all our research by giving further details about it until it is recovered.’ The symposium has been tentatively rescheduled for next month.”
Jake looked up at Rob. “I’m guessing that never happened?”
“Nope,” Rob said, taking the article about the families’ disappearance and pointing to the date on it.
“Because they were the ones who took it,” I said slowly as I realized. “When they disappeared with their families a month later.”
“Yup.”
I stared at nothing. Our ancestors were lying thieves.
“But it wasn’t exactly stealing, was it?” Jake said. “I mean, he was the one who found it, so . . .”
Rob snorted a laugh. “I don’t think ‘finders keepers’ applies in a situation like this.”
“So now we know where it came from,” Leah said.
“Apollonius strikes again,” Jake said, satisfied.
“Apollonius?” Rob asked.
“Yeah, the Greek philosopher.”
Rob just looked at him, waiting for an explanation.
“The Greek philosopher,” Jake repeated. “The one it mentioned in the article. He was an alchemist, translated the Emerald Tablet, probably made the amulet.”
Rob shook his head, completely baffled. “Alchemist? You know it didn’t say his name, in there, right? Where did you find any of that?”
Jake shrugged like it was no big deal, but I could tell he was relishing knowing more than his dad. “Leah told me about the amulet, and we did some digging. It just makes sense. The guy was mysterious, travelled everywhere, supposedly performed miracles and magic, knew all these languages…what else, Leah?”
She bit her lip. “The Emerald Tablet he translated led to tons of developments in alchemy. And it was said that he left talismans in the cities he visited, for protection.”
Rob was now looking at her like she was crazy. “Did you get this from your mom?”
Leah pulled back a little, looking almost offended. “No. We figured it all out on our own. My mom doesn’t know anything about Apollonius. She just found Grandpa Gene’s journal and started messing with things, trying to enter the Ring of Time.”
“She what?”
So we told him about Lillian’s attempts to become a Master of Time, our theories about the amulet and Gene’s attempts decades ago, and why Leah had rewound ten days.
“Didn’t you wonder what both of those jolts were about?” I asked. “And why the Ring of Time is broken?”
“What? What do you mean broken?”
I looked at Jake, who was looking at his dad like he’d just asked what mashed potatoes were. “Broken,” he repeated. “The way the strands are. How it’s impossible to pull now.”
Rob’s eyebrows shot up. “I haven’t accessed the strands for years,” he said. “I feel the springbacks, but I don’t pull. I didn’t even know there was anything wrong with it.”
Jake watched him for a minute as if gauging his sincerity. “That’s not why you came?” he asked.
“Of course it’s not why I came. I told you, I came because of you.”
“Because of me and the Ring,” Jake said.
Rob sighed. “I guess, in a way,” he said. “I came because I thought you had done something with the Ring that landed you in the hospital, and I wanted to—help. To check on you.” He ran a hand through his hair in a distinctly Jake-like gesture. “Or to talk to you about it.”
“A little man-to-man chat?” Jake asked, though his sarcasm had lost its edge.
Rob shrugged. “Something like that—I guess?”
Jake finally nodded. “Okay. Well—that’ll have to wait, because we need you to tell us everything you know about the amulet. And maybe about those copper sheets and stuff?”
“I tried looking into all of that in New York. The archaeological society from the article doesn’t exist anymore—at least not under that name—and none of the New York museums could tell me anything about where any of Stoneman’s relics ended up. But the amulet…all I know is that Gene put it somewhere safe. But it doesn’t really matter, because nobody really knows how to use it. We don’t need it anymore.”
“Tell that to Lillian,” I muttered.
“Even if she could find it, she wouldn’t be able to use it,” he assured me.
“She already did,” Leah said.
“What?”
“She already used it. Twice. That’s what we’ve been telling you. She has the amulet. She used the amulet. She broke the Ring.”
Rob just sat there, stunned, until finally he shook his head. “Not possible,” he declared. “Gene would never have given Lillian the amulet.”
Leah shrugged. “Maybe he didn’t give it to her. Maybe she just found it and took it.”
“No.” He was still shaking his head. “He told me that he had put it somewhere to keep it safe for me. Somewhere she’d never be able to get it.”
Leah and I looked at each other, not sure what to say to that, but Jake said it for us. “You think he really still trusted you after all that?” he asked. “The amulet wasn’t going to be yours anymore. He wasn’t going to wait around for you. Lillian’s the one he decided to teach in the end, the one who was still here. Don’t you think you kind of blew your chance?”
It was exactly what I’d been thinking, but when Jake said it, he seemed to be talking about more than just Rob’s chance to inherit the amulet.
“I sure hope not,” Rob said quietly, as if to himself, though he was watching Jake. Jake’s face softened the tiniest bit, but he still turned his head away.
“When would he have moved it?” Rob asked after a pause. “He hasn’t been able to tie his own shoes for decades, let alone make a decision and remember it long enough to act on it.” He turned to Leah, who was blinking a little at his callous description of Gene. “You’re sure your mom has an amulet?”
She nodded.
“You actually saw it?”
She nodded again.
Rob rubbed his stubbled chin. “What are the chances that she…made a fake one?”
Chapter Nineteen
We stayed at Jake’s for another hour, mostly explaining to Rob what had happened with Lillian and the Ring. The more we talked about what had happened with the Ring, and how Leah had felt when her mom had taken out the amulet, the more it seemed like maybe he was right about it being a fake one.
And by the time we left, I felt like I trusted Rob. I knew it would take Jake a while to warm up to his dad, but I got the feeling that he at least wanted to. And even though we decided that the information Rob had shared didn’t really help us, I was glad we’d put together some more pieces of the puzzle. Maybe somehow knowing the amulet’s history would help us better understand its possibilities.
Unfortunately, the real key to unlocking the amulet’s secrets was Melvin’s journal, and we were still waiting to hear back from Susie about that. Leah said that in the original time path we’d gotten them on Monday or Tuesday, so we only had to wait a couple more days, but every day that passed made me more and more tempted to somehow just go take them fro Susie’s house while she was still out of town. I was becoming a delinquent.
I really wasn’t sure if it was Jake’s voice or mine in the back of my mind, telling me that Susie would let us do it if she knew how urgent it was, a
nd that in a way, we technically had permission to take them. It was definitely my voice that firmly answered that a huge house in a gated community was the last place I would want to try to break into.
Oh, and also it was illegal.
I woke up the next morning with my mind full of what I assumed were dreams mixed with memories from Leah’s rewind. I tried to hold on to them, chain them together, but they were just fragments: studying with Maya, driving to Scottsdale with Jake and Leah, a flash of Lillian telling me that Janie never would have gotten hurt permanently, since she could have rewound it. My stomach clenched as I relived the searing anger her audacity had triggered in me. I also remembered Maya being mad at me, but I couldn’t remember why—something about hanging out with Jake, maybe. It seemed like things had just gone from bad to worse in those ten days.
But as hard as I tried, I couldn’t remember anything about Melvin’s journal. Why couldn’t our ability be time travel instead of time manipulation? I knew we’d had the journal before the rewind; Leah even said we’d told her we’d found something important, but we never got to tell her what it was —because of Lillian. My whole body went tight with fury as I thought of how she’d insisted on interfering, trying to control all of us, like she was the queen of the universe. I tried not to focus on it, but her face kept popping into my mind—cool and collected, so assured of herself as she barreled ahead, knocking everybody out of her way. Trying to stop me from rewinding in the first place.
I sighed. It wasn’t that rewinding meant so much to me. I’d wished it away so many times in the last seven years. If Lillian was offering to erase my ability, I’d almost take her up on it. If being Master of Time meant she could stop Melvin Wright from ever working with Jim Stoneman, maybe it would be worth it . . .
For a moment I let myself imagine what it would be like to be a Master of Time. If I could go back to any moment in time. If I could stop myself from leaving Max behind. My eyes widened a little. It would be the perfect solution. Save Max and prevent myself from ever seeing the strands in the first place.