Timepiece (Hourglass 2)

When he shook his head, I launched myself at the veil.

And slammed against what felt like a rock wall.

I hit the ground, landing on my back, disoriented, my ribs screaming in protest. Something that looked like water shouldn’t be so solid. I tried again, putting my shoulder into the attempt this time. Still no give.

There was only one way for Poe to get into the veil. He was a traveler.

I pushed at the veil with my palms, hoping against hope that it would somehow give way. “You can’t travel with her. You don’t have what you need.”

“Who says I’m a traveler?” His voice sounded slightly muffled.

I pulled my head back. What the hell? “How did you get through the veil?”

He shrugged and smiled.

“Let her go,” I repeated through clenched teeth, punching the veil with each word. “And I’ll deliver whatever you want.”

Keeping his eyes on me, he lowered Em enough that her tiptoes touched the ground. He kept one arm around her neck, the knife pointed toward her chin. Her fury cooled as fear started to set in. “The Hourglass has made some very poor choices.”

“People make poor choices every day,” I said, throwing his words back.

“People like Emerson. Michael. Your father. Jack.”

“We aren’t responsible for what Jack did.”

“Your father is.” Still the monotone voice.

“My dad wasn’t alive when Jack betrayed us,” I argued, his lack of reaction sparking a bigger one from me. “Because Jack killed him.”

“But he was alive when Emerson went back to save Michael. Jack didn’t throw the continuum off by himself.”

“She was tricked.” I dug at the veil with my fingers, but it remained as unyielding as stone. “Cat purposely misled her. Em didn’t know what she was doing when she went back to rescue Michael. Dad didn’t know she was …”

The words died on my lips. All of Em’s anger was gone, and she was pulling frantically at Poe’s forearm.

He was cutting off her air supply.

“Time,” Poe said, “the natural order of things, is not something you can alter. I believe Emerson knew that there would be consequences.” The tip of the knife touched Em’s throat, just under her ear. An ominous prickle slid down my spine. “The pattern woven into the fabric of time is changing, and we know exactly where to place the blame.”

“It’s not her fault. We can fix it.” I kept talking, not fully aware of what I was saying, unsure of whose fear was the strongest, mine or Em’s. Hyperfocusing on the point of the knife and the fact that Em couldn’t breathe. “The Hourglass will fix it.”

“The Hourglass can’t fix it.”

My hands formed fists as I spoke through clenched teeth. “We can try.”

Em gasped for air, digging her fingernails into Poe’s flesh. Now there was no emotion coming from her. There was nothing coming from her at all.

“No,” Poe said, entirely too self-satisfied. “You can’t fix anything.”

He moved so slowly, so deliberately, that if he’d been outside the veil, I’d have had him pinned to the ground with my elbow in his throat in less than a second. But he was inside, with Em, and he knew he could take his time.

He met my eyes, smiling, and executed one swift slice with his blade.

Across Em’s throat.

Everything went quiet.

Chapter 4