Timepiece (Hourglass 2)

Chapter 12

After Lily and her questions, I couldn’t stop thinking about my mom.

I drove to the gym for some peace in the indoor pool.

I discovered the difference water makes when I was little. My mom had taken me swimming every day, rain or shine, hot or cold. When we’d moved to the house in Ivy Springs, she’d insisted we put a pool on the property.

Since Jack had put her in a coma, I couldn’t bear to swim there anymore.

Because of my ribs, I walked into the water instead of diving. Sinking to the bottom of the pool, bubbles rising as I slowly released my breath, I allowed myself to think about her. Nobody else’s emotions nudged in to confuse me, convolute the sorrow.

She gave up everything for me. A lucrative career, a place in the spotlight, any chance at normalcy. She didn’t even know she was a traveler until she was pregnant with me. When she started seeing ripples, my dad was there to guide her through it.

Then I was born, and she became the mother of a little boy who was constantly bombarded by every emotion around him.

Once she and dad figured me out, what my needs were, she walked away from her life to keep me safe. Protected. She did her job so well that, until it was time for me to start school, the only emotion I ever felt was love.

She surrounded me with it.

I let myself float to the surface. The cool air was a sharp contrast to the warmth of the water. I took another deep breath.

This time, I pushed off the side of the pool and swam freestyle. My arms and legs pumped, churning up water but smoothing out my emotions.

We still didn’t know exactly what Jack Landers had done to my mother. He told Emerson that he’d taken enough of her memories to render her suicidal. I didn’t know if he’d taken her memories of me.

My mom wouldn’t have lived her life for me the way she had only to throw it all away. I never once felt her desire to be anywhere but with us.

The fact that she was still breathing confirmed it, even though she’d been unconscious for almost eight months.

I’d been serious about taking Jack out with that sword when I’d rushed him.

How could killing him be a mistake?

Now my emotions and purpose were as linear as the blue line on the bottom of the pool. I pushed off to swim the length of it one last time, and then came up to the surface for air.

Sunday night football.

The converted pool house was all latte-colored paint, dark brown leather, and huge windows. Tonight, it smelled like nachos and chili. I didn’t want to think about what it would smell like later.

“Boom!” Nate cackled and threw the television remote down so hard it bounced off the couch pillows. “I told you he’d score three touchdowns. You’ve got to take my garbage duty for a week.”

“Oh yeah?” Dune looked down at least half a foot at Nate’s triumphant face and flexed. “Make me.”

Nate groaned.

Neither one of them noticed me.

I went straight back to Michael’s room, but stopped with my hand on the doorknob when the TV went dead and the lights flickered off and on in the hall.

My parents had the same abilities as Michael and Em, and the same electrical connection. For as long as I could remember, the electricity was settled, and the love between them was so constant that it became emotional background noise. I barely noticed it until they were both gone.

Michael and Em’s love created the kind of electricity people noticed.

I’d let go of the knob and was backing away when Em abruptly opened Michael’s door. “Kaleb! Hey. Were you looking for us?”

Michael was stretched out on his bed in jeans and a T-shirt, and he was smiling. The covers were wrinkled, and a small hooded sweat jacket lay on the ground, along with Em’s black Converse. My stomach twisted into a tiny ball of regret.

At least I hadn’t interrupted anything too serious. Michael still had on his socks.