Timepiece (Hourglass 2)

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.”