Infinityglass (Hourglass 3)

“I don’t know. Immediately?” I exhaled. “All those years obsessing over the Infinityglass, all the things I’d read, so much of it has transferred to her. But, Mike, tonight … for a few minutes, I didn’t know which Hallie I was seeing. I didn’t know if she was there at all.”

He was silent for a minute, gathering his thoughts. “No one here has been possessed, and no one can send the rips back. So far, she’s the only one.”

“So it’s an Infinityglass thing.”

“I think so.”

“Time closed behind her. It healed itself. What if she could send all the rips back? Would it fix things?”

“At this point, the continuum is so compromised there are probably rips all over the world,” Michael said. “Definitely too many to keep them balanced by herself.”

“She changed. Her body language and her voice.” Her essence.

“I still believe she’s our answer, Dune, somehow. No idea how it’s going to play out, but she’s going to change everything.”

“If that’s true”—I steadied myself to ask the next question—“do you think she can survive it?”

“I don’t know.” Michael paused for a few seconds before he spoke again. “But I’ll help you figure it out. How would you feel about a visit from some friends?”

Chapter 13

Hallie

When I woke up, it was dark.

“Dune?” I was in the hotel bed, alone. And I needed him.

“Yes.” His answer was immediate. “Are you okay?”

A small lamp on the far side of the room switched on. He must have been sitting on the stairs. Even though his hair was short, it was messy, like he’d had his hands in it. Worry had threaded itself into the fiber of his being.

“Sit with me?” I asked.

He sat on the side of the bed, I reached out to take his hand.

“Actually …” I pulled all the walls down. “Would you hold me?”

He climbed in beside me and gathered me up like he’d been waiting to do it for a lifetime. I let go of everything—nerves, uncertainty, and a disturbing slice of shame—and let him see my fear.

“How long have I been asleep?”

“A couple of hours,” he said, smoothing my hair back. It hung loose, having worked itself out of the knot while I slept. “I kept checking on you. You were restless. I was worried. Tell me what to do to make it better.”

“We’ve had this conversation, Obi-Wan. I don’t need you to save me.” He tensed up, the muscles in his chest and arms going hard. “But I want you to help me.”

“Anything you want.”

“I need you to know something. I play around, I tease. It’s fun.” I met his gaze in the faint light. His eyes, usually so full of sweetness, were shielding his emotions. “This? Isn’t like that.”

“I’m glad.”

“When you look at me,” I asked, “do you see me, or do you see the Infinityglass? Object or human? I have to know if you see me.”

I needed him to see me.

“I spend half of every second making sure I’m separating you from it.” His hand brushed across my cheek, surprising us both. He didn’t pull it away. “After what happened in that ballroom, I realized I can’t take on Hallie the human and leave half of her behind. Because I’m not interested in the things the Infinityglass loves or hates, and I’m done with trying to figure out every single thing about it, when I really want to know about you. To think about you. About kissing you. All the places I want to touch you.”

I’d never been paralyzed like this, torn between throwing myself at him and running hard as hell.