Timepiece

by Myra Mcentire

  The clock said 5:00. An hour before sunset. My left arm was wrapped in a half cast. I pulled the two IVs out of my hand and climbed out of bed. My legs were steady enough, and my headache had settled into a dull throb. My clothes were neatly folded inside a cabinet, and I put them on as quickly as possible, considering my injury. I couldn’t find my cell phone anywhere. Lily’s emotions were coming more steadily now, ripping me in half with anxiety.

  I stuck my head out my door and looked to the right and the left, and then I took off for the stairs.

  Once I made it to the street, I started running, holding my injured arm close to my chest. The hospital was only a few blocks from downtown proper. Barricades blocked all the through streets, and the sounds of music and laughter floated on the evening air.

  I’d forgotten it was Halloween.

  Deadline. The word took on a whole new meaning.

  The crowd was thick with costumed ghosts and witches in pointy hats. Superheroes, villains, mummies, vampires, and werewolves filled the sidewalks and streets. The rush of emotions ranged from giddiness to disappointment, and combined with the remnants of my pain-med buzz, it all blocked out the clarity I’d felt coming from Lily ten minutes ago.

  “Focus. Just focus.” I stopped to lean back against a tree and close my eyes. I recalled what it felt like when I kissed Lily, when I held her. It only made things worse. I’d be better served by remembering her fear, since that’s what she was feeling now. The night she saw her first rip, the one of the hanged man. And then the way she’d felt when we’d landed on the sidewalk after leaving Em and Mike behind.

  I opened my eyes.

  She was in the center of town.

  I pushed my way through the crowd, trying to avoid the little kids. A pissed-off parent could hold me up, and I didn’t have any time to waste. I almost tripped over a little boy with white-blond hair. I reached out to put my hand on his head for balance, and hit a tree shoulder-first when he dissolved.

  He’d saved me from entering into a full-blown rip.

  I ran faster.

  The main stage was set up right in front of the chamber of commerce, which meant the throng of people got even thicker as I got closer. I worked my way around to the far right side of the bandstand, finding an open stretch of ground in front of one huge speaker. Volunteers wearing bright orange pumpkin daze T-shirts walked in and out of the office building, carrying things like glow sticks and coolers of iced-down water bottles.

  Lily was here, in the clock tower.

  I felt her fear.

  I couldn’t feel who was causing it.

  Jack.

  Chapter 51

  I sneaked into the building behind a volunteer who was holding a tray of caramel apples, and immediately headed to the meeting area at the top of the clock tower, following Lily’s emotions. I flattened myself against the half wall that blocked the stairs and slid closer, listening. I could only see Jack.

  “I’ll keep looking as long as you want.” Lily’s voice was raw. Relief still flooded through me at the sound of it. “But I don’t know what I’m looking for. Is there a certain size, any specific details? Can you give me anything? There are so many maps. Maybe if you could just give me the place of origin?”

  Agony replaced my relief when the screams started. They became pleading sobs that faded into whimpers. Each one sent fury racing through my veins. If I wanted the chance to get her out of here, there was nothing I could do but ride it out.

  Through it all, Jack remained statue still. He didn’t even have to move to inflict pain.

  The most frightening enemy has weapons you can’t take away.

  “Any other complaints?”

  She didn’t speak. What memory had he shown her?

  “Get it together and keep searching. I thought the first five times we went through this made that clear. Understood?”

  “I understand,” she answered, her voice faint, broken. I was going to make him sorry he’d ever even looked at her. I scooted to the right just a bit, and Lily came into view.

  Blood poured from a split in her lip, and a fresh bruise bloomed on her cheek. He’d put his hands on her, too. I had to breathe through my rage to keep the grip of my fingers from splintering the wood of the top stair.

  Sitting with my back to the half wall, trembling, I tried to figure out a plan of attack. Killing Jack with one hand would be difficult. But not impossible.

  “This is just sad.” Jack. Right beside me.

  He was smiling.

  “Too afraid to deal with me so you knocked me unconscious?” I sneered.

  “Less about fear, more about convenience.” The smile got wider.

  “Go to hell.” I stood and jumped the two steps left on the staircase. In a split second, he was at Lily’s side. Holding Poe’s duronium knife.

  “How did you get that?” I asked. My stomach dropped. It was impossible to keep him from seeing the way her fear affected me. “It was you. You killed Dr. Turner.”

  He didn’t answer directly. “How about we come to an agreement? Let your flavor of the week find what I want, and then I’ll decide if I feel like killing anyone today.”

  “You’re forcing her to search for the Infinityglass?”

  “No. Waldo.”

  Lily flipped through the maps as quickly as she could, the holograms lighting up her bloody mouth and bruised cheek.

  “Why?” I asked. “It doesn’t exist.”

  “Then why were you looking for it? Your father believed it was real.”

  Lily’s fear escalated, and I caught myself before I said anything else. She hadn’t told Jack we couldn’t find the Infinityglass. That was probably the only thing keeping her alive.

  “Dad doesn’t know what he believes anymore. You took the last five years of his memory.”

  Jack’s focus kept returning outside, where the sunset flamed hot pink and lavender. “I should’ve wiped him clean.”

  “Like my mother?” My rage tried to push its way through again, but Lily’s fresh panic kept it in.

  He sighed and walked to the window, turning his back on us.

  I caught Lily’s attention, and mouthed a single word. Lie.

  It took her a second to grasp my meaning, but when she did, she regained control. I saw fierce determination in the set of her jaw and the straightness of her spine.

  “Hey, I think …” She cleared her throat. “I think I’ve found something.”

  Jack’s expression changed as he looked over at the map. She took it from the floating hologram to the touch screen, forcing him to move closer to her. “What?” he asked.

  Partygoers cheered as they threw pumpkins into the fire for Pumpkin Smash. I took one step toward Lily and Jack.

  “I think it could be in Memphis, not the Tennessee city. The Egypt one. It’s faint, but it was definitely there. It might still be there.” Her fingers moved furiously over the map.

  I stepped closer, tensing my muscles, ready to spring.

  “Egypt?” Jack said. “Why do you continue to lie?”

  He raised his hand.

  “No,” Lily argued, her eyes bright with fear. “Look, right there.”

  Closer.

  “Right where?” Jack asked impatiently.

  “Yes. Right where?” A female voice dragged the question out.

  All three of us looked toward the stairs.

  Teague.

  Chapter 52

  I’d have given anything to be inside the panic I saw in Jack’s expression. Fear like that made your skin too tight.

  “Teague.” He said her name with a reverence that should have been accompanied by a bow.

  What did Teague know, or what could she do that would make Jack act that way?

  Teague smiled serenely at me, absolute calm bleeding from her pores. “Liam’s son?”

  “Yes.”

  Footsteps echoed on the stairs behind Teague.

  Poe.

  Lily’s fear. Teague’s calm. Poe’s despair. And sti
ll, nothing at all from Jack, except a vein pulsing steadily in his forehead.

  Teague didn’t acknowledge Poe, just continued to focus on me. “Where is Emerson? I expected to find her here. She is the reason Jack wants the Infinityglass.”

  “Emerson’s gone.” It took effort to keep my voice from breaking. “So is Michael.”

  Jack whipped his head toward me. “Gone?”

  “We ran into a rip at the Phone Company. A fire. Em ran in, Michael ran after her.” I paused, hearing my weakness. When I’d regained control, I said, “Neither one of them came out.”

  Jack stared at me, searching for a lie. Hoping for one.

  Teague seemed unaffected by the news. She shook her head and made a tsking noise. “If Michael and Emerson are gone, what will you do, Jack? Continue to use Poe to try to get what you want? Make him do things, and then steal his memories?”

  “Poe offered,” Jack said coldly.

  “Is that true?” Teague kept her eyes on Jack but directed the question to Poe. “Did you offer Jack use of your ability?”

  “No. I didn’t.” Poe stared at the wall behind Teague, his hands shoved into the pockets of his leather jacket.

  What the hell was going on? Poe claimed not to be a traveler the night we met him. How had Jack used him?

  “It’s fine, Poe. I wouldn’t expect you to remember if you did,” Teague said.

  Poe turned to Jack and held out his hand. “I want my knife back.”

  Jack played with the blade for a moment, weighing his options, and then he looked at Teague. He aimed the blade toward himself and passed it over to Poe.

  “Are you done with me?” Poe asked Teague.

  “That will be all.” Teague waved her fingers toward the exit.

  Poe slid the knife into his boot and and disappeared down the staircase.

  “So many lies, Jack,” Teague observed. “Have you told Kaleb the truth yet?”

  I flinched when she said my name, and thought I saw pleading in Jack’s eyes.

  “About what?” I asked.

  “Jack’s full of secrets. Where he comes from, where he’s been. He’s taken so many risks to cover it all up. Ruined so many lives. Kaleb, I think it’s about time you met your uncle Jack.”

  “Uncle?” The word was a solid kick in the gut.

  “Jack’s a bastard,” Teague said. “Conceived by his mother in an extramarital affair, one your grandfather Ballard was loath to admit but for which he was honor bound to take responsibility. You spent every other weekend with your ‘extended family’ growing up, right, Jack?”

  Jack growled under his breath and his face became an ugly mask of bitterness and rage.

  “You had another uncle, too, Kaleb, but he died when he was just a toddler. Jack’s the only one who remembers exactly how.” Now Teague looked at me. “You have his name.”

  “My father never … told me.” I didn’t understand.

  “He couldn’t. His memories aren’t clear because they aren’t true. Jack manipulated them to serve himself. That’s why Jack wants Emerson. He wants to change the past and make himself a hero to his—”

  She broke off when she noticed Lily. Or rather, what Lily held in her hand. The Skroll.

  “Where did that come from?” Teague’s voice turned cold, with an edge like a razor blade. “How did you find it?”

  “Him.” Lily pointed toward Jack without a moment of hesitation, lying so smoothly I almost believed her. She was playing to the most likely ally.

  “You little bitch,” Jack spat at her. “I stole it from you.”

  Lily shrugged.

  Jack turned to Teague. “The girl knows how to find things. She has the gene. Her real name is Pillar Diaz and her information is in the files I sold you.”

  “Did you find it?” Teague asked Lily. “The Infinityglass?”

  “Say I did,” Lily mused, tapping one finger against her lips. “I wouldn’t be willing to tell Jack what I know, but I would be willing to tell you.”

  “Why?”

  “I want something in exchange.” Lily met Teague’s eyes and spoke clearly. “When I’m done giving you the information, Kaleb and I walk away. And while you and I are talking, Kaleb gets five minutes alone with Jack.”

  Teague looked from Lily to me and back again as a slow smile spread along her face.

  “Deal.”

  Chapter 53

  The second Teague and Lily turned away, I rushed Jack.

  He wrestled with me, digging his fingernails into my arms, kicking at my shins. I grabbed his face with my good hand, ready to let my ability open up wide. He anticipated my plans.

  And opened up a world of pain instead.

  Every ocean in the world roared in my ears as he pushed memories on me. Mom, when she heard about Dad, wrapped in grief, curled up on the floor. My face when she told me what happened. Dad, his fear the minute before Jack erased five years of his life.

  Showing me Dad’s memories was Jack’s first mistake.

  Those five years were so fresh I could see them perfectly. Taking back the emotion that went with them was like siphoning the foam off a cold beer. Pulling the love away brought memories, all of them. I held them inside me, and then I was riding a wave through Jack’s brain space.

  Now I knew what to look for, and finding my mom’s memories was easy. They flowed like water, slipping away from Jack and into me, making me stronger. My dad, movie sets, shared kisses in her trailer, their wedding on a beach in Bali. My birth, me as a toddler learning to walk. Laughing, with peas smeared all over my face. From a preschooler to a teenager in fast forward, with my dad aging the same way. More images: cooking together, watching me swim. Then ones I didn’t understand … a white house on a hill … swamps … an older couple … a much younger Teague?

  I slowed down the flow to try to examine that image. It gave Jack enough equilibrium to push back.

  His defense involved showing me things I didn’t want to see. Emerson broken and burned. Michael and my dad confiding in each other, Dad clamping his hand on Michael’s shoulder. The word son.

  The pain was so quick and sharp that I almost faltered. Then somehow, I knew it was a lie.

  I could hear Lily from across the room, her voice low and insistent, as she gave Teague the information she wanted.

  I dug my thumb into Jack’s cheekbone, and pushed back harder. I saw memories he’d taken from Ava, Emerson, Michael, even Lily. Some things I was glad to see. Others not as much. Deciding what to share with Jack’s victims was going to be a long and painful process.

  Even so, I took it all.

  Once I was certain I had everything I needed, I let him go. I had my parent’s memories, and now I could have my revenge.

  I stared at him, helpless on the floor, for what felt like an eternity. I wondered if taking other people’s memories away from him would leave him with the same kind of empty blackness he caused. I could only hope.

  I used my cast arm to slam his head into the floor.

  “Have we met our end of the bargain?” I asked, cautiously approaching Lily and Teague.

  Teague watched Lily begin the process of shutting down the Skroll. “Yes.”

  Lily’s face was carefully composed.

  “I’d just started to figure this out earlier,” she began, after looking to Teague for permission. When she got it, she continued. “I touched every inch of every map in the Skroll, every corner of the whole world. I’d started to believe that the Infinityglass wasn’t real, and then something hit me. I stopped looking at maps and started looking through all the information.”

  “Lily discovered the one thing that has eluded seekers for a century.” Teague took it from Lily and slipped it under her arm. “The Infinityglass isn’t a thing.”

  Now Lily held my gaze. “The Infinityglass is a person. I told Teague how sorry I was that I couldn’t help her anymore. Since I can only find things.”

  “Thank you for the information, Lily. Should I need you again, I know where
I can find you. And don’t worry. I’ll take care of this, for all of us.” Teague looked down on an unconscious Jack with a wicked smile.

  Lily and I walked out of the clock tower together.

  Chapter 54

  Lily held my right hand as I approached my mom’s room. Dad was on my left side. His simmering hope was encouraging and distracting.

  “What if it doesn’t work?” My greatest fear.

  “It will,” Dad said. “You restored me.”

  “He’s right.” Lily squeezed my hand. “You gave memories back to both of us. It will work.”

  The early morning sun shone through the octagonal window at the top of the stairs. I hadn’t slept all night. Dune, Nate, and Ava had regrouped, and were out searching for Michael and Emerson. No one was ready to give up hope.

  They couldn’t be dead.

  “Are you coming with me?” I asked Lily. Her grandmother had been caught in a freak snowstorm in North Carolina. Lily’s Abi always said that if she was supposed to drive in snow, she wouldn’t have been born on a tropical island. I hoped to escape the convo where Lily filled Abi in on the latest happenings.

  “This is between you and your parents. I’m going to be right here, though, saying prayers and thinking good thoughts, with everything I have crossed.” She squeezed my hand again.

  “Are you ready?” Dad asked.

  I nodded. Lily leaned against the wall, waiting.

  We went in. Mom had lost weight while she’d been in the coma. Her black hair was shot with silver now. I couldn’t wait to see her reaction to it when she woke up. If she woke up. She’d never been vain, even though she was beautiful, but I had the feeling the gray hair was going to be a shock, and not the only one.

  What was she going to think about her tatted-up and pierced son?

  Dad shut the door behind us. “Are you ready?”

  “As I’ll ever be.”

  “Even if you revive her, you realize that much of her memory could be fragmented.”

  “Some of her is better than none at all.”