Timepiece

by Myra Mcentire

  “That’s it?”

  “And I’d feel a lot safer. In general.”

  “Done. Let me get some clothes.” I didn’t feel right about leaving her alone, anyway, not with Jack popping in and out of every godforsaken place I went.

  “Okay. Oh, and hey.”

  “Yeah?” I paused at the door.

  “I still don’t like you.”

  “I know,” I said, smiling. “I still don’t like you, either.”

  She was already asleep when I returned.

  I left the door cracked.

  Chapter 31

  I’d achieved a miraculous feat.

  Eight strictly platonic hours in a bedroom with a girl.

  Em and Michael didn’t ask any questions the next morning. Some dismay came from Em’s direction, and I caught her giving Lily a look. Lily shook her head, and the dismay turned to curiosity.

  We checked out and carried our bags to Em’s SUV. I stepped in front of the trunk before she could pop it open.

  “Two things,” I said. “First of all, I saw Jack last night.”

  “What?” Em fumbled her suitcase.

  “Where?” Michael demanded.

  “At the police station.” I recounted the events of the evening, and everything I’d learned. I left out the comparisons Jack made between us. And that he left the pocket watch behind.

  “And secondly, I want to give Dune a chance with the Skroll before we tell Dad about it. If Dune can’t get anything after a few days, then we can get Dad involved. I don’t want to get his hopes up, and I don’t want to be cut out of any information it could provide. Agreed?”

  “Agreed,” Em waved me to the side and popped open the trunk.

  Michael swung the bags into the back.

  “Are you in?” I asked.

  He nodded, but he remained as quiet as the grave.

  So was the rest of the ride home.

  Em dropped Lily off first. No one said a word until Em pulled into my driveway. I was already reaching for the door handle.

  “Kaleb, wait,” Em blurted out.

  I sat back in the seat and met her eyes in the rearview mirror.

  “I know what you were trying to do for me last night, and I know how much taking emotion costs you. It was a gift that I didn’t accept. I’m sorry, and thank you so much.” Completely genuine.

  Michael ached beside her.

  “I’m sorry I yelled. At both of you,” I said.

  “Don’t apologize.” Michael turned around. Regret. “I called you selfish, when what you were offering to do for Em was completely selfless.”

  “There were extenuating circumstances,” I said, repeating Lily’s words. Meeting his eyes. “We were all jerks. But it’s okay.”

  “I hope so.” Michael’s ache disappeared. The sadness had been for me, not for Em.

  “It’s really okay.”

  I’d expected Dad to take a piece out of my hide. Instead, he’d stared at me as if he were memorizing me.

  “I’m fine. Everything is fine.”

  “What about Michael and the girls?”

  “They’re okay, too.” I was surprised he asked about Mike. I figured he’d already know. “Can we go in your office?”

  “Sure.”

  I followed him in, but instead of sitting down, I walked to the hourglass collection on his bookshelf. I traced my fingertips along the edges of the shelves, again noting the absence of dust. “Are you going to tell me about these?”

  “What do you mean?” A weak attempt at evasion.

  “What’s with the collections?” He wasn’t going to dodge me this time, and from the defeat on his face, he knew it.

  “You’re going to find it simple and silly.”

  “Try me.”

  “There’s a legend. About an object called the Infinityglass.”

  I tensed, working to control my reaction. “The Infinityglass?”

  “The Infinityglass is mythical, or most people think so.” He leaned back in his chair, folding his hands across his chest. “There was no evidence to suggest otherwise. Your mother used to tease me about it, her logical husband caught up in a race to find something that didn’t exist.”

  “You think it’s real.”

  “I became obsessed with it. It caused some issues between your mother and me. Part of the reason I never told you about the Infinityglass was because she forbade it.”

  My mom wasn’t the type to forbid anything. “Teague seemed to be pretty obsessed with it herself.”

  “How did you … you found her.” He stood so quickly his black leather chair rolled away from him and bounced violently against the back wall. “I gave you permission to go to Memphis to look for paperwork. Not to go on a scavenger hunt through my past.”

  “We weren’t looking for your past, we were looking for Jack’s. Teague just happened to be the center point.”

  “Did you talk to her? Tell her who you were?”

  “No. Lily and I eavesdropped on her from inside a closet. Chronos has set up shop in Memphis. Inside the Pyramid. Gerald Turner came to see her while we were there.” I thought of his silly brown fedora, the turtle ashtray on his desk. All the people who were mourning him.

  “Gerald Turner?” Dad asked. Terror and relief.

  I nodded.

  “He was found dead in his office yesterday,” Dad said slowly, as if his lips were out of commission.

  “Guess who found him.”

  His anger didn’t shape itself the way mine did. It came fast and hot. “Do you realize what kind of situation you put yourself in? What could have happened to you, to any of you? None of this is a joke. Not to Teague, not to Jack, not to me. Not to whoever killed Dr. Turner.”

  “I didn’t know what I was walking into because you don’t trust me enough to tell me the truth. Don’t you think it’s time? I want to know exactly what the Infinityglass is, what it does, and why Teague is looking for it.”

  He turned his back to me, rubbing his temples. I waited him out. “The short version is that its intended purpose was to channel time-related abilities from person to person, but it didn’t work out that way. Instead, it was a one-way conductor. Whoever possesses the Infinityglass can use it to steal the ability of anyone he or she touches.”

  Magic, like something from Lily’s book of fairy tales.

  “Most of the rumors and stories about it are ancient, unchanging. But lately, there are plenty of new rumors.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “What type of rumors?”

  “Reports of its having surfaced again. People suggesting that they know where it is and telling someone. Then those people end up dead.” His expression was grim but resigned.

  “Then why do people keep looking for it?”

  “Power. Control. Endless resources. That’s why Teague wants it. And I believe she knows that Jack is looking for it, too. The Infinityglass could give him everything he’s ever wanted. It’s the perfect alternative to Emerson. That’s why he walked away when Emerson wouldn’t agree to help him. The promise of the Infinityglass is why he left her alive. Why he left your mother alive.”

  “Because if Jack finds it before we find him, he can use it to drain us all dry,” I said.

  “Not just dry. Dead.”

  Chapter 32

  Questions rode a merry-go-round in my mind. “All the time-related abilities, travel, speed … they exist because of a gene, one that’s backed up by research. The Infinityglass sounds like science fiction or fantasy.”

  “But it’s backed up by research, too. I wouldn’t believe the Infinityglass was real, either, if I hadn’t seen evidence, years’ worth. If I hadn’t searched for the truth myself.” Dad faced me. “It’s real.”

  “Real enough to kill for.”

  “You’ve always thought we left Memphis so I could take the department head position at Cameron. But there were other reasons, too. I’d begun to question the motives of Chronos.” Dad was quiet for a moment, lingering in the shadows of a secret. “Eve
n then, Teague was obsessed with the Infinityglass. She was so consumed by her need for power. She knew about the time gene, but she believed all my research was internal. She didn’t know I’d been gathering information on people who may or may not have the gene. I never told her about your mother’s ability, or yours. She definitely doesn’t know Cat and I were trying to develop a formula for exotic matter.”

  “What would she do with the knowledge if she had it?” I asked.

  “Use it. In the worst possible ways.”

  “What about people with abilities? Everyone else at the Hourglass?” My chest grew tight with unease. “Does she know about them?”

  “If she does, it will only give her a bigger incentive to find the Infinityglass.”

  I stared at him for a long time, sorting through his emotions, putting pieces together. “What Teague and Chronos don’t know is what’s keeping you—all of us here—safe. If we find Jack and turn him in, Jack could use his knowledge of us, of the exotic matter formula, as a bargaining chip.”

  “Didn’t take very long for you to put that together.” He grimaced and then reached up to stroke his beard. “Keep going.”

  “But if we don’t find Jack and turn him in, time will be rewound, and you’ll most likely be dead.”

  “The Infinityglass will only make it easier for Poe to follow through with his threat.” Dad focused on a spot just behind my head. “That’s why we absolutely must find Jack first, so we can let him lead us to the Infinityglass before Chronos or anyone else. Our lives depend on it.”

  Chapter 33

  I went to Lily’s the next morning, after calling to check the location of her grandmother. We met outside the door to her apartment above Murphy’s Law.

  “How long have you and Abi been in Ivy Springs?”

  “Hello. I’m fine. Thanks for asking. And you?”

  “Sorry.” I put on a cheesy smile. “Hi, how are you, I’m fine, too, and how long have you and your grandmother been in Ivy Springs?”

  Lily sighed and opened the door wider to let me in. “Almost since we came to America. I was eight.”

  I followed her into the living space. “How did you end up here?”

  “We were with family in Miami for a little while, but my grandmother wanted to come north.” She took my jacket and hung it neatly on a peg by the door. “Ivy Springs was small and still run-down back then. Thomas was just starting his renovations, and a realtor introduced my grandmother to him. The guy who owned the building wanted out, so Abi got it for a steal. It was still a stretch, financially, but we made it work.”

  “What’s it like, living above the shop?” Some walls were exposed brick, others a soft white. She sat down on a couch with bright blue cushions and lime green throw pillows. Everything was tidy, and the room smelled like vanilla and citrus. Like Lily.

  “Hard to get away from business. Abi can be a slave driver.”

  I sat down beside her. “I’d like to meet your grandmother.”

  “I don’t know. If you think I’m tough? She’s been known to make grown men piss their pants with one look.” She put a pillow behind her back and adjusted her position, flipping her legs over my lap. She rested her head against the padded arm of the couch. “Do you mind? My back is killing me.”

  “I don’t mind.” It felt intimate. I didn’t know what to do with my hands, so I left them sort of hanging midair. “Do you get to talk to your parents very often?”

  “Not really.” I felt a flash of the pain I’d seen on her face when she told me she and her grandmother had escaped. “Communication there isn’t like it is here. Everything is monitored. Mail, phone calls. Cuban citizens don’t have any access to Internet, so even e-mail is out.”

  “I had no idea it was that bad. I feel really stupid. And Americanized.”

  “Sometime I’ll help you understand. If you want.”

  “I want.”

  She noticed my arms were still up in the air and pushed them down on her legs. I went in the shin direction. As opposed to the thigh direction.

  “Okay, Kaleb. Spill it. Because I know you didn’t come here to talk to me about Cuba, or my grandmother. What’s going on?”

  “You always say what you think. Your emotions match your words. It’s amazing how infrequently that happens.”

  “Why?” She laughed. “Is everyone else acting?”

  “Maybe. I might know what emotions people are feeling, but I rarely know why.” I made a show of knocking on my forehead. “It’s crowded in here. The filter gets full. After Mom and Dad … everything hurt, all around me. Everyone was grieving. That’s when the tattoo and piercing thing started.” I pointed to my bicep and the end of the dragon tail peeking out from under the cuff of my sleeve. “Pain, meet source. It could be identified.”

  “That’s understandable.”

  “Dad wants Mom back. So do I. I just don’t know how to do it.” I stopped short. “I sound like I’m five.”

  “No. You sound like you love her,” she said softly.

  “That’s only one of the reasons we have to find Jack before he finds the Infinityglass.” I gave her a quick rundown of everything Dad had told me. “Dad thinks Jack will lead us straight to it. It’s like the Holy Grail of time or something. It could restore everything. Or destroy it.”

  “Magic,” Lily said, sitting up.

  “Magic. People have been searching for it for years, possibly centuries. Longer. Teague and Chronos don’t want Jack because they want him. They just want the Infinityglass, and they think Jack knows where it is.”

  “Have faith. While Dune works on the Skroll, and Emerson and Michael help your dad with the exotic matter formula, we can work on my abilities. Maybe I was doing something wrong when Jack fell off the map. Maybe I just need to keep trying.” She scooted to the end of the couch, preparing to stand. “I’m going to get a map. I’ll look at maps of the whole damn world if I have to, until I find the pocket watch. We can get to Jack before it’s too late.”

  “Lily. Wait.” I sounded defeated, even to my own ears.

  “What is it?”

  “This.”

  I stuck my hand in my pocket and pulled out the pocket watch.

  “When?” she asked, barely keeping the disappointment out of her voice.

  “In Memphis, at the police station. Not when everyone was there, later. He left this behind.”

  “He knew. He knew he was being tracked. How?”

  “I don’t know. But Jack knows how to manipulate a lot of things.” I gauged her expression carefully. “I believe you have a theory that would confirm this.”

  “Ivy Springs as Freak Magnet. Abi and I really did end up here on purpose.” Lily made all the connections, and a line formed between her eyebrows. “If he … what if he messed with our time lines the way he messed with Em’s? How would I know?”

  I stared at the ground. “I don’t think you would.”

  She bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes. Her lashes were free of tears, but from the way she was spinning around inside, I didn’t think that would last very long. I instinctively reached out to comfort her, but instead, I froze.

  Somewhere in the middle of hell and high water, Lily had started to matter.

  I stared at the face, the curves, trying to will her back to being an object I needed to use, rather than a living, breathing girl who was beautiful inside and out.

  It did not work.

  She blew out a deep breath, and I jumped about three feet in the air. “This is a game changer.”

  “What is?” I asked, a little too loudly.

  “I don’t have a choice now. I have to ask Abi if I can look for him. The pocket watch isn’t an option anymore, and Jack has to be found.”

  “What are the chances she’ll agree?”

  “Low.” She stood up.

  “You’re going to do it now?” The thought made me a little frantic.

  “Why would I wait? The deadline isn’t getting further away, and who knows where we’
ll have to go to get to Jack. Not to mention that I don’t know how to actually find a person, because I’ve never been allowed to do it.”

  “Wait, Lily, you need to think about what you’re going to say,” I protested. “You’re about to drop time travel and screwed-up time lines and crazy rips and … possible death on an old lady.”

  She snorted. “Don’t ever let Abi catch you calling her an old lady. You could seriously end up losing boy parts.”

  I raised my eyebrows.

  “Abi can handle it, but I’m not sure I can. Not alone. Will you stay?”

  As long as you’ll let me.

  I swallowed, hard. “I’ll stay.”

  Chapter 34

  A tall woman with spiky silver hair and brown eyes walked into the apartment, and then paused. I stood. The way she was looking at me, I was shocked I hadn’t yet burst into flames.

  “Who are you?”

  Lily had warned me that her grandmother could make grown men piss their pants with one look.

  Pretty much.

  Lily spoke up. “This is Kaleb Ballard.”

  “Kaleb is a friend?” Abi’s emotions were a mixed bag. Distrust and anxiety. At least she wasn’t angry. Yet.

  Lily darted a glance at me. “Yes. A friend. Kaleb, this is my grandmother. Everyone calls her Abi.”

  “I’m pleased to meet you.” I held out my hand.

  She eyed my hand before she shook it, as if she were checking me for fleas. “I’ll put on some coffee. And then we’ll talk. Sit.”

  I sat down at the kitchen table and waited.

  An hour later, I didn’t know what they were saying, because they were doing it in Spanish, but their combined emotions rolling in my gut made me glad I hadn’t gotten around to lunch.

  “Es demasiado peligroso.” Abi stood and slammed her hands down on the table. “¡Dije que no … y eso es final!”

  “Obviously, it’s a no,” Lily said to me, tears of frustration welling up in her eyes.

  “She’s scared,” I replied without thinking.

  That earned a heated response in Spanish from Abi that I’m pretty sure disparaged my manhood and my intelligence.