Timepiece (Hourglass 2)

He looked up at her sideways, and his expression rivaled that of a kid getting ready to blow out his birthday candles. “It was 9.5, but I had an add-on and I was able to manipulate—”

I cleared my throat and tapped my fingers on the tabletop.

Dune’s smile disappeared, and he pulled out a piece of paper. It was a black-and-white picture, and it was grainy. “Here’s what the search uncovered.”

A copy of a photograph. I peered down at the face. It wasn’t super clear, just a tiny scan from a yearbook, but there was no mistaking it. “That’s him. Jack. With a really bad haircut.”

“Someone put it up on a social networking site pretty recently. They’re trying to organize a high school reunion, and Jack was on the ‘cannot find’ list. He grew up in Germantown. The rough part.” Dune shuffled through the papers some more and removed a set of school records. “No brothers or sisters, no dad. Not even on his birth certificate.”

“You found his birth certificate?” Lily asked, sounding impressed.

“It’s easier than most people think,” Dune answered, sounding modest.

“Well,” I said, sounding pissy, “we obviously need to focus our search on West Tennessee.”

I handed the school records to Lily. At least Dune finding a location narrowed things down for her.

“The bad news is, this was all I could find,” Dune said, tapping on the folder. “So if we’re going to focus the search, we’re going to have to go to West Tennessee to do it.”

“So someone needs to go to Memphis,” Michael said when Dune finished explaining his results.

I’d been standing in the corner, watching Lily not look at Dune.

“Yes. Maybe more than one of us,” Dune said. “Someone there might still have a memory of him. I think it would be worth asking around, since at this point, any information would help.”

“I don’t think a lot of us popping up somewhere and asking a bunch of questions is a good idea,” Em said. I’d been pretending she hadn’t been looking at me while I watched Lily. “The last thing we need to do is draw attention to ourselves.”

“Then we’d better not waste any time.” Dune leaned back in his chair. “We could map out the city, take it by section. Do you have your laptop, Kaleb?”

“Battery’s fried,” I said. “Michael still owes me money for the last one he and Em shorted out.”

“If no one has a map handy, I can pull one up on my phone.” Dune started to reach into his pocket. “But a big one would be easier for everyone to see than all of you trying to scoot in close and lean over my shoulder.”

“No scooting in close necessary,” I said, pushing myself away from the wall. “There’s an atlas in Dad’s office. I’ll get it.”

When I got back, I handed the map to Dune, who had just said something to make Lily laugh. She took the atlas out of my hands without looking at me.

Dune crossed his arms over his chest as he watched Lily flip through the maps of the states. He’d always been solid, but not exactly shredded. His biceps were more defined than I remembered. So were his pecs. Probably from working out with Nate, who was on a perpetual quest to build bulk.

I needed to get back to the gym.

“Liam is never going to let us go to Memphis without a fight.” Em looked at Michael. “You’re going to have to do a lot of convincing.”

“We don’t all have to go.” Michael was doing the superior thing. Em called it protective, but I didn’t need protection. Neither did she.

Em punched him in the shoulder. “Don’t you even, Michael Weaver. You aren’t cutting me out of this.”

“Or me,” I said.

Everyone started talking at once, arguing about who would go where and when.

Just as we were on the brink of a full-scale blowup, Lily dropped the atlas and gasped.

Shock. Disbelief.

“What’s wrong?” Em abandoned her argument and went to Lily’s side.

Lily covered her mouth with her hands. They were shaking. “The map …” She slowly lowered them. “I touched Ivy Springs. I was going to trace the route from here to Memphis.”