Infinityglass (23 page)

Emerson’s jaw dropped a little.

“I’d only known him for a week, so … anyway. No one’s ever been able to keep up with me. No one’s tried. Then there was
Dune, and all that—
presence
—and then he’s so sweet, especially his—”

“Eyes! I know.” Emerson grinned. “But don’t tell Michael I know.”

“Our secret.” I grinned back at her. I could get used to a girlfriend. “He doesn’t make any demands on me. He listens, pays attention to what I’m actually saying, and responds to that. He’s amazing.”

She had a smug look on her face. “I knew it. I even told Michael.”

“Told him what?”

“This is the real thing.”

I didn’t know what to say to that or whether to address it at all, so I changed the subject. “What did Michael want to talk to Dune about?”

Em’s smugness disappeared. “He found something on the Skroll. He wouldn’t tell me what.”

“That means it’s serious,” I said.

“Probably.”

“Then I say it’s time we crash the party.”

Dune

Hallie and Em had just come downstairs when Kaleb and Lily entered through the kitchen. They all found seats and looked at me.

“What’s going on?” Hallie asked as she looked around. “Must be pretty big if we’re about to have a group conversation.”

“It’s a group problem.” I didn’t waste any time. “It’s about the rip situation, and the fact that every time you’re possessed, you’re cycling through an enormous number of cells.”

“Supernatural exfoliation. It’s really great for the complexion,” Hallie deadpanned. She went pale when no one even cracked a smile. “Okay. Why does this nugget of information require a powwow?”

“All the energy from the cells you create is the same thing that allows you to close the rifts in time. That energy could transfer to the space time continuum. We think you can heal it.”

“I’m all in. What do I have to do?” Hallie asked.

I wished I could let the hope shining on her face last for more than thirty seconds. “It’s not that simple. So far, you’ve managed to close the rips while you were outside them.”

Anxiety clouded her expression again in the shape of a frown. “I have to go inside a rip to close it.”

“We don’t know anything for certain,” I explained. “We don’t even know if it will work.”

“But it could.” She sat on the edge of the coffee table. “If I had the power to undo all the damage that’s been done, the rip worlds would go away.”

Michael nodded. “That’s what we think.”

Footsteps thundered down the stairs. Poe swung into the living room holding a notebook, stopping in front of Hallie, his
face haggard. “It’s my fault. I’m the one who activated you.”

“What are you talking about?” She stood and reached for Poe’s arm. “Sit down. You look terrible.”

“I finally found the answer on the Skroll.” He shook her off and kept talking. “At first, I thought something we stole kicked you off. Something you’d touched on a job or even someplace we’d been. But it was me. I did it. The night I pulled you into the veil and teleported you.”

“You teleported Hallie?” I asked.

“No one is supposed to go in veils but time travelers and teleporters.” Kaleb was talking to Poe without meeting his eyes. No love lost between those two.

“It was a do-or-die situation.” Poe didn’t look at him either. He didn’t look at anyone but Hallie. “And my fault.”

“Stop,” Hallie said.

Kaleb wasn’t going to let it go. “You never told us what your exotic matter source is. You have to have it to open veils. How are you teleporting yourself or anyone else?”

“I create my own exotic matter.”

“Can other people use it, too?” Emerson asked. “Like, say, time travelers?”

Dead quiet descended on the room. Cat Rooks, Hourglass’s source of exotic matter, had betrayed us. No one with the time travel skill had been able to use it since she walked out.

“I think they can.” Poe’s attention shifted from Hallie to Emerson, and then to Michael.

Michael nodded, and Emerson took his hand.

From the way Kaleb looked at Poe, he’d discovered some affection for him. “The night you killed Emerson, I couldn’t get a pinky toe into the veil. It was as hard as a rock.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Hallie stared at Kaleb as if he’d claimed his life goal was to be a princess.

“Oh.” Em waved her hands at Hallie like it was no big deal. “There was this time that Poe killed me, but it totally didn’t stick, and we’ve worked it out. So. Don’t worry about it.”

Hallie’s eyes were wide. “I’m worried.”

“I wasn’t operating under my own volition.” Poe’s face went dark, shuttering any emotion.

“He’s apologized, numerous times.” Em smiled at him. “Then after that, he saved me and Michael.”

“It’s not like I’m a hero,” Poe said, but his expression lightened. “But I hope I’ve found another way to make it up to you both.”

“You’re a hero to us, Poe.” Hallie looked at Poe until he met her eyes. “Always will be.”

“I hate to ruin the moment, but can we bring the focus back around to Hallie?” I waited until I had everyone’s attention. “Poe managed to pull you in, and you survived.”

“Because of her regeneration ability,” Poe said. “Has to be.”

“I was so sick that night,” Hallie said, her gaze intensifying. “I came out on the other side, couldn’t hear or see, and I kept throwing up. That was the night I saw a rip for the first time, but Poe saw it, too, so I didn’t suspect anything or connect the
dots. The next day was when my regeneration went into overdrive.”

“I’m so sorry, Hallie.” Poe stared at her, and the darkness was back.

“Do
not
apologize to me, or blame yourself for this.”

“But—”

“But shut up.” She grabbed Poe’s shoulders and leaned in close. “You aren’t responsible. Did you do it on purpose?”

Poe shook his head.

Hallie squeezed him before letting go and facing the group, hands on hips, chin angled out. “It wasn’t Poe’s fault.”

“We agree with you, Hallie,” Michael said quietly.

“That’s it. That’s the answer.” My brain spun so fast my vision was blurry. I sat down to get my bearings and to take control of the hope in my chest. “If the veil was the stressor that set Hallie off, then Poe could pull Teague into a veil and set off her activation.”

“How do you feel about that?” Emerson asked Hallie, in a soft voice.

“If we did it on purpose?” Emotions raced across Hallie’s face. “It doesn’t make me any different from her. She created me as a tool, and now my ticket out is using her as one?”

Teague had never treated Hallie like a mother should treat a daughter. Even the bedtime stories she’d told Hallie had an ulterior motive.

“She could help you with the rips. Maybe it would confuse them, like it did in the park. Maybe it would slow them down.” I pushed up off the couch. “You can’t expect me to choose between
her comfort and yours. There’s no universe where this even comes close to a contest.”

“It’s not just about her comfort, or the rips. If she’s activated, she could heal the continuum. She could go in and not come out.”

“We don’t know if that’s even a valid answer to the problem,” I argued. “Are you just supposed to fight the rips by yourself when you could have help?”

“Help from her comes with a price. It always has, and that won’t change now.” Tears formed in her eyes.

When I reached out for her, she pulled away. “Hallie, think about this logically, please.”

“I can’t … I just … I have to think.” Hallie turned away from me and picked up her phone. “I have to make a call.”

And then she was gone.

Chapter 22
Hallie

T
he sliding glass door opened as soon as I hung up.

“Can I join you?” It was Kaleb.

“Sure.” I put down my phone and wiped my eyes before facing him. I figured the first place people would look was my studio, so I’d escaped to the pool.

“I wanted to talk to you about a couple of things,” he said.

“That’s worrisome. Have a seat.”

He sat down beside me on the concrete as I sized him up. The dimples, the baby blues, the body. If I’d seen him in the Quarter, cruising Bourbon three months ago, I’d have had him pressed up against the back corner of a bar in fifteen minutes or less. Now? Nothing.

He tried to stop a grin, but couldn’t manage it.

“Damn.” I turned eight shades of eggplant. “I forgot you could read minds.”

“Not minds. Emotions.” He reached out to swirl his hands in the water. “Water is actually one of the ways I tune them out. But I have to be submerged.”

“Well, go ahead and dive in, because I don’t want to know what you just got from me.”

“No need. I got the same thing you’d get from me. We could’ve done some serious damage together at some point and time. But we’re where we’re supposed to be.” He acknowledged it as a fact and moved on, with no hint of flirtation or inappropriateness, passing the douche test with flying colors. “You’re in love with Dune, or close at least. Have the two of you talked about it?”

There it was again, welling up like a spring. The fear of losing him. I shook my head.

“Don’t let this overwhelm you,” he admonished. “Nothing has happened. We can still beat it.”

I stared down at my bright pink toenails in the water. “I bet you’re a pain in the ass to be friends with.”

“One of the best things about my ability is my excellent BS meter.”

“I have one of those, too.” I grinned. “Probably not as good as yours.”

“There are people behind you who have your back.”

“That’s kind of new for me. My dad is overprotective, and my mom is just a sorry human altogether.”

“We can’t be responsible for the family life doles out to us. Jack Landers is my uncle.”

“Damn.”

“I heard you on the phone with your dad. Well”—he held up one finger—“that’s not true. I felt you on the phone with your dad. That’s why I came down.”

“Our relationship is … difficult.”

“My dad was dead.”

I jerked my head around. “Was?”

“He’s a time traveler. Explosions, continuum issues, search and rescue.”

“The Hourglass seems to have a special talent for … bouncing back from death.”

“True. But we’ve all had a rough year.” He pointed to the tiny scars from previous piercings in his nose and eyebrow. The studs in his ears remained. “There are even war wounds.”

I noticed the edges of a tattoo at his sleeve cuffs and collar. It made me think of Dune’s, and the feel of his skin. Kaleb caught me staring. “Dune and I went to the tattoo parlor at the same time.”

“I love his. I bet Lily likes yours.”

“Lily accepts me for who I am. It took a long time, but so do I, and so does my dad. We’re going to pull you through this. The Hourglass has a special talent for that, too.”

I bit down on my lower lip. I didn’t want any more waterworks.

As if Kaleb knew, he gave me a pat on the shoulder, stood, and left me to contemplate the steam rising off the water.

Dune

Kaleb told me I could find Hallie at the pool. When I’d stared at him for a few seconds, he’d told me I
should
find Hallie at the pool, and then he pushed me in the right direction.

I surprised her when I sat down.

“What are you doing?” She looked at the water like it was alive and ready to come out of the ground to swallow me whole.

My stomach crashed to my feet when I considered her motive for being where she was. “Did you come here because you hoped I wouldn’t follow you?”

“No. No!” She grabbed my knee when I started to stand up. “I came outside barefoot without thinking about it, and the water is heated.”

Logic, not purposeful avoidance.

We both leaned back, hands behind us. Hallie’s feet were in the pool, mine folded uncomfortably. She gave me a side glance, and I turned around, back to the water, legs stretched out in front of me. We were still shoulder to shoulder, but I liked this position better. I could look at her face.

“There’s a pool outside the Hourglass. I actually
live
in the pool house.” I grinned. “How’s that for irony?”

“I’m glad pools don’t bother you.” She gave me a shoulder bump. “I bet you play a mean game of chicken, and we need to incorporate pool time into our first vacation together.”

“First vacation?” I watched her expression closely. “Does that mean you’ve reached a decision about how to handle the rip situation?”

“I talked to my … dad.”

That explained why she’d grabbed her phone and run outside so quickly, and was probably the reason why Kaleb had followed shortly thereafter.

“What did he say?”

“He agrees with your plan, thinks she should share the load. He wanted to drop everything and come home.”

“Did you think he wouldn’t?” I asked.

“I have a lot to think about. I asked him to trust me.”

“I’m sorry that it’s come to this, but the choice is crystal clear to me.”

“There’s a part of me, a really stupid part, that still wishes things could be different. That she’d be the cookie-baking mom, the kind that was a hundred percent in my corner. But I know that’s not the case, and it never will be.” She took a deep breath. “And Dad used to love her. I asked him if he knew about the genetic engineering. He said he didn’t. He also said he didn’t love her anymore.”

“Is he your—”

“Yes.” Her conviction was accompanied by calm. “In every way that matters, and biologically. She didn’t pick my dad to be her husband by accident.”

“I’m sorry you had to find out this way.”

“I’m not. It’s one of the best things she did. Maybe the best.”

“It resulted in you.” I leaned in, and then stopped a millimeter away. She closed the distance.

It was a slow kiss. I savored her mouth, concentrating on it and nothing else. I wanted us to live our lives in seconds instead of hours, because no one knew how many we had left.

“There are too many people in this house,” she murmured against my lips.

“So let’s get a plan together and get rid of them.”

She pulled away. “Do you have ideas?”