Like the rest of the house, the bathroom was a peculiar mixture of old-fashioned floral wallpaper and simple functionality. As well as pink flowers blooming all over the walls, there was a neat pile of white towels stacked on a stool.
I filled the basin with water and dunked my face into it. The water was cold against my burning skin. Gasping for breath, I pulled my head out of the water. Cold droplets ran down my face and on to my neck. Blinking, I grabbed a clean white towel and gently dabbed my face dry. My skin felt raw. I opened the medicine cabinet to see if Cassie had some moisturiser and foundation I could use to soothe my skin and cover up the redness. But there was nothing more than a tube of toothpaste, a comb and a couple of bottles of cologne. Of course. Cassie was a natural beauty. No need for make-up or straighteners or hair serum or any of the other items I relied on. I dragged the comb through my tangled hair until it was smooth, rubbed some toothpaste across my teeth and headed back downstairs.
Ryan was at the bottom of the stairs, a mug of steaming black coffee in each hand. He nudged the door to the living room open with his shoulder.
‘You’re looking better,’ he said.
‘I feel better.’
We sat on the sofa, close, but with several centimetres separating us. I longed to close the gap, to feel the brush of his skin against mine.
‘That was a bad combination of too much alcohol and too much sun,’ he said, passing me one of the mugs.
I bit my lip. ‘Did I make a complete idiot out of myself?’
He smiled. ‘No. You danced around in the fountain, which was kind of cute. And you stumbled around a bit on the way to my car, which gave me an excuse to put my arm around you.’
I sipped my coffee. It was scalding hot and I felt it burn the roof of my mouth. ‘You don’t need an excuse to put your arm around me.’
Ryan leant closer to me and gently placed an arm around my shoulders. I lay my head on his chest.
‘I was thinking,’ said Ryan. ‘We’ve only got two days left. Connor will be at the ball on Saturday and we’ll be there to keep tabs on him. Why don’t we spend the day together tomorrow? Just you and me.’
I nodded, unable to trust myself to speak without choking up. We had just two days left before he returned to his time.
‘How would you like to spend the day?’ he asked.
‘I don’t mind.’
‘Come here to the farmhouse tomorrow morning. There’s something I want to give you.’
I lifted my head and raised both my eyebrows.
Ryan laughed. ‘Not the sort of going-away gift Chloe was talking about. I’m not that much of a creep.’
‘You’re not even remotely a creep,’ I said softly, the words falling out of my mouth with more courage than I felt. ‘You’re perfect.’
‘That’s the alcohol talking,’ he said, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear.
The door to the living room swung open, hitting the wall. Cassie stood in the doorway, her arms folded across her chest.
‘Sorry to interrupt you lovebirds,’ she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. ‘But Ben and I need to talk to you.’
‘Both of us?’ said Ryan, frowning.
‘Both of you,’ she repeated.
Chapter 13
Ben was standing in the middle of the kitchen.
‘Take a seat, Eden,’ he said, gesturing towards the kitchen table.
I had the uncomfortable feeling I was about to be lectured on under-age drinking.
Ryan pulled out two chairs. We each took one.
‘You’ve told her,’ Cassie said simply.
Ryan caught my eye. I tried to tell him with my eyes that I hadn’t confessed to anything, but all three of them were looking at me.
‘I don’t know what she’s talking about,’ I said. ‘I’m not sure what it is that I’m supposed to know.’
‘She told me that she’s been helping you with your mission.’
‘I didn’t say that.’
Cassie narrowed her eyes and looked at me appraisingly. ‘Not in so many words perhaps. But you told me.’
‘I have no idea what you mean,’ I said as I raced through my recent memory, trying to remember what I might have said.
There was a jug of water and a stack of glasses in the middle of the table. Ryan filled two glasses and pushed one across to me. My hand shook as I lifted it to my mouth. What would happen if Ben and Cassie found out that I knew why they were here? Ryan had said things about laws, and about how much trouble he would be in if anyone found out.
Ben turned to Ryan. ‘You may as well tell me the truth.’
Ryan swirled the water in his glass. He didn’t look up. ‘She worked it out herself.’
Ben was calm. ‘What exactly does she know?’
Ryan looked up. Up until now he’d always seemed mature, confident, in control, but now he looked like a boy who was in big trouble with his dad. ‘She knows why we’re here and where we’re from.’ His voice was barely more than a whisper.
Cassie swore and sat down. ‘We should never have agreed to let him come with us. I knew he’d be a liability.’
‘Be quiet,’ Ben told Cassie. He looked back at Ryan. ‘Explain how this happened.’
‘Eden worked most of it out for herself.’
Ben turned to look at me. ‘What did you work out, Eden?’
I shrugged. ‘Lots of little things didn’t seem right. There were strange gaps in Ryan’s knowledge. He hadn’t heard of some really famous people and he didn’t recognise pizza. I knew there was something not right about him the first time I met him.’
‘That doesn’t explain how you figured out where we’re from,’ said Ben. I noticed that he had made no mention yet of them being from a different time.
I looked at Ryan. He gave me a faint smile. ‘You can’t get me in any more trouble than I’m already in.’
‘I saw Connor’s autobiography. It was on the floor in the living room.’
Cassie laughed sarcastically. ‘Which is why we don’t bring people back to the house, Ry.’
‘So I screwed up!’ he said to her. ‘Just like you screwed up when you didn’t tell me about pizza. You’re supposed to be the researcher, but you forgot to mention one of the most popular dishes in twenty-first century Britain. And you weren’t so great on twenty-first century fashion either! I should’ve been wearing one of those sweater things with a hood!’
‘Quit squabbling,’ said Ben calmly. He looked at me. ‘Tell me everything you know.’
I glanced at Ryan.
‘Don’t look at him,’ said Ben. ‘Ryan doesn’t expect you to lie for him. He knows we have to know how much you know so we can figure out how to make this right.’
I swallowed hard, trying to calculate how much or how little I should say. I didn’t want to get Ryan into any more trouble than necessary. Nor did I want to put myself in harm’s way. ‘I know that you are from the future and that you are here to alter history,’ I said. ‘I know that you don’t want Connor to discover Eden.’
Ben nodded, his expression unreadable. ‘What else do you know?’
‘Nothing really. Ryan wouldn’t give me details. I do know that a parasite from Eden destroys Earth’s ecosystem. I know it’s important that your mission is a success.’
