Timepiece

“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. “Even 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?”