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Erasing Time

Page 28

by C. J. Hill


  Jeth’s expression crumpled and tears filled his eyes. His shoulders heaved. He reached out and gathered Joseph into his arms. “You didn’t need to carry the secret alone. I knew Echo had joined the Dakine. His rank suddenly went so high. He wouldn’t ever tell me where he was going. How could I not know? But I have you back, Joseph.” Jeth lifted his head, held Joseph away so he could look at him. “I have you back.”

  “But you’ve lost Echo now,” Joseph said softly. “We both have.”

  “If he died for you, then in part we got him back too. He defied the Dakine. He became himself again before he died.”

  Joseph nodded, letting this thought sit with him. “I’m sorry all of this forced you to leave Traventon.”

  “Forced?” Jeth straightened. “I went willingly—as soon as Elise told me you were going. My work in Traventon—what is that compared to my son?”

  The man from the clinic held a black box over Sheridan. “This will restore your nerve function.”

  She saw no light, no sign that it was doing anything. Still, the feeling rushed back into her body. She stretched out her fingers and toes, enjoying the sensation of movement. “Thanks.”

  The man then turned to Jeth and held out his hand. “You’ll need to submit your weapon.”

  Jeth reluctantly took the gun from his pocket and handed it over. The man stared at the gun, holding it between his thumb and forefinger like it was a poisonous snake. “It won’t fire if I put it in my pack, will it?”

  “No. It only had one bullet.”

  The man carefully slipped the gun into his pack. “We wouldn’t have let you bring it if we’d known it was a weapon. You said it was a relic; it looked so harmless.”

  “That’s the problem with people now,” Jeth said. “No one knows history. Those relics controlled the world for centuries.”

  The man closed his pack. “The other antiques you took from Traventon—are any of them dangerous?”

  “Dangerous how?” Jeth patted the man’s shoulder. “History is a dangerous thing if we don’t learn from it. At our first opportunity, I’ll give you lessons to explain the function of each of my antiques.”

  “When we reach the city, I’ll be happy to hear about them.” The man then turned to where Helix lay. A group had congregated around him, working to stop the flow of blood. Gauze and syringes lay scattered beside his body.

  Sheridan couldn’t feel anything about Helix’s state yet; she was still upbraiding herself for calling Joseph by name. “I’m sorry I told your secret,” she said.

  “It’s all right. It was time.” The relief in his expression was evident, tangible. A shadow had left him.

  Taylor broke into the conversation. “Why didn’t you just tell Helix that I was the one they were looking for, not you?”

  Sheridan had forgotten that Taylor was sitting on her other side, and now she turned to her sister. Taylor’s arms were wrapped around her knees. Her cheeks were wet from where tears had been. Taylor never cried. Not since they were little.

  “It was more important to keep you safe,” Sheridan said.

  “More important?” Taylor repeated. “How is that supposed to make me feel?”

  Sheridan shrugged. “It’s not such a bad thing to die in the place of someone you love.”

  “That’s exactly what I’m talking about.” Taylor’s breath caught in her throat. “It’s so easy for you to be noble, but what does that make me? I didn’t ask you to die in my place. So stop it. Don’t pretend to be me anymore.” Her gaze fell on Joseph and she let out a choked cry, realizing what she’d said. “I’m sorry,” she told him. “I’m so sorry.”

  Sheridan could see it, almost as though it were a physical thing, the bond forming between Joseph and Taylor. His brother had died in his place, and now Taylor understood how that felt.

  He nodded at her, an acknowledgment of her pain, but didn’t say anything.

  Mendez walked over to them, holding the QGP. “Do any of you know how this tracking device works? How did it find you without crystals?”

  Joseph stood, then helped Sheridan and Taylor to their feet. “It’s not a tracking device,” he said. “But apparently it can be used as one if you know someone’s energy signal.”

  Taylor wiped at her face and took the QGP from Mendez, examining it. “If Traventon gets it working right, it can also turn people into energy waves.” She squinted down at its interface while Joseph translated her words.

  Mendez took the QGP back from her. “We should destroy it then.”

  Joseph said, “We should study it first.”

  It hurt Sheridan to say the next words, but she knew if she didn’t, someone else would think of it soon enough. “We can’t go to Santa Fe. We’ll be tracked there. Traventon might attack the city if we’re there.”

  Joseph translated, but Mendez didn’t look concerned. “The other governments already know where our city is, and it’s been attacked many times. It will stand.”

  Sheridan glanced at Taylor to see her reaction, but she and Joseph were staring at each other.

  Taylor ran a weary hand through her hair. “We need to find a way to sabotage or destroy the QGPs’ data—all of it—before Reilly figures out a way to make them functional.”

  Joseph nodded, and it seemed to be a pact between the two of them. “We’ll work on it in Santa Fe.”

  Mendez didn’t comment, just turned to the group of men still huddled over Helix. “We need to leave. What’s his status?”

  One of the men looked up. “The bleeding is too deep and too heavy for the blanchers in the med kit to fix. He’s alive now, but that may pass by the time we reach the clinic.”

  “We’ll have to carry him anyway,” Mendez said. “We can’t leave him here for the vikers.”

  “What of the others?” another man asked. “Do we carry them to the clinic too?”

  “We’ll take them as close to Traventon as we can. When they regain consciousness, use their comlinks to signal someone in the city to reclaim them.”

  As soon as he spoke, several of the men retreated into the forest. Not long afterward they came back, leading nearly a dozen horses.

  Horses. Sheridan smiled despite everything. One of them was a palomino like Breeze. Even the saddles didn’t look very different—thinner, lighter, but the same concept. She turned to Joseph and saw him staring at them openmouthed. “I think you’ll like Santa Fe,” she said, taking hold of his hand. “I think we all will.”

  Together, they walked over to meet the animals. And despite everything that Sheridan had said about animals not talking, she spent several minutes stroking her horse’s mane and whispering to him.

  Acknowledgments

  A lot of people should be in my acknowledgments because they helped inspire this story, even if they didn’t know it.

  To all the Brits I met in England. I was fairly certain they were speaking English, but sometimes it was hard to tell.

  To MC Hammer for his song “U Can’t Touch This.” I still have no idea what it means, even though he is definitely speaking English.

  To whoever put the ichthys in the original Jack in the Box logo. I mean, how covertly cool is that?

  And of course to my family for all their love and support.

  Also a big thanks to my editor, Sarah Shumway; my agent, George Nicholson; and his assistants, Erica Silverman and Caitlin MacDonald. You guys helped me turn coal into diamonds … or at least into words with considerably more shine.

  About the Author

  C.J. HILL is the mother of twins. They aren’t identical, but this doesn’t mean she always calls them by the right name. In fact, she occasionally calls all her children by the wrong names (she has five) and has even been known to throw the dog’s name into the mix. Laugh now, but you’ll do the same thing when you have kids.

  If C. J. had a time machine and could visit another century, she would probably go to the Regency era instead of the future. According to all the novels she’s read, the past was filled
with a multitude of dashing lords and viscounts who were always on the lookout for damsels in distress, whereas the future is populated by scary dystopian societies.

  Visit C. J. Hill online at www.cjhillbooks.com.

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors and artists.

  Credits

  Cover photography © 2012 by Gustavo Marx/MergeLeft Reps, Inc.

  Cover design by Joel Tippie

  Copyright

  Katherine Tegen Books is an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers.

  Erasing Time

  Copyright © 2012 by C. J. Hill

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  www epicreads.com

  * * *

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Hill, C. J.

  Erasing time / C. J. Hill. — 1st ed.

  p. cm.

  Summary: Eighteen-year-old twins Taylor and Sheridan are pulled into the future and must find a way to stop the evil government from using the time machine again.

  ISBN 978-0-06-212392-3 (trade bdg.)

  EPub Edition © JULY 2012 ISBN: 9780062123947

  [1. Time travel—Fiction. 2. Government, Resistance to—Fiction. 3. Sisters—Fiction. 4. Twins—Fiction. 5. Science fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.H547687Er 2012

  [Fic]—dc23

  2011044624

  CIP

  AC

  * * *

  12 13 14 15 16 CG/RRDH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  FIRST EDITION

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