Timepiece

rip.”

“A rip?” Em stood completely still, staring at the building. The Phone Company sign was gone, as were the usual impeccable landscaping and lighting, signatures of Thomas’s work. “What the hell?”

“A future rip.” Michael’s face paled as he considered the circumstances. “One we can all see.”

“Rips are tangible now,” I said, thinking out loud. A concentrated wave of intense panic pulsed through me. Coming from Em. “Does that mean we could change the outcome of an event, even though we aren’t really here?”

“It’s a possibility,” Michael said grimly. Defeat made his voice and eyes tight. He didn’t look at Emerson. “What we do now could flow backward or forward.”

Em broke free from Michael, shaking her head in denial. “If my brother and Dru are in there, I’m not leaving them. I’ve already broken rules. What’s the difference now?”

Lily reached out for Em. “Maybe there’s another way-”

“No.” Em cut her off and backed away. The flames were no more than fifteen feet away from the building on the left side, maybe twenty feet from the back, burning as if possessed, bent on total destruction. I felt a memory clawing at Em’s insides, tearing her open, so strong I had to bend over at the waist. “I know what burning feels like. It sears your skin, but it’s almost cold. Then there’s the smell.” Her nostrils flared. “You can’t escape it. There’s nowhere to go.”

In Emerson’s original time line, she’d been horribly burned in a fire, caused by the shuttle bus accident that killed her parents. Jack’s machinations, as horrible as they were, had saved her from that. He’d taken that time line away.

She shouldn’t be remembering it now.

“Em, please.” Michael moved slowly, keeping his eyes on her. “Don’t. They might not even be in there.”

“‘Might not be’ isn’t good enough.” She took another step back. Determined. “I won’t let them go. Them or their baby.”

The roof from the building beside the restaurant crashed to the ground. The vines climbing the iron fence on the dining patio burst into flame, and I shook my head in disbelief when the iron immediately glowed red. The glass in the French doors that led in popped, and the fire slid inside.

Too hot. Too fast.

“I can’t lose them, too.” Emerson took one more step back, and then rushed the heavy oak front doors, pushing them open and throwing herself inside.

“Emerson!” Michael followed.

“No!” Lily grabbed my arm, digging in her heels when I tried to take off after Michael. “You won’t help if you go in there now.”

Terror bled under the doors of the Phone Company. “I can’t…”

“If we make the rip go away, we can end this.” She yelled over the sound of the fire, which grew more ardent every second. Her desperation was barely under control. It matched mine. “Please. Think.”

I stepped back to gauge the path of the flames. Half the roof was already gone. Ending the rip would be the fastest way to get us all out of danger. “We have to find a person, and I haven’t seen one since we landed here. Unless…”

If Jack and Cat started this inferno, they’d stick around to watch it burn. Just like they had the night they killed my father.

I shouted instructions to Lily. “We have to find the origin of the fire. Let’s try the midpoint.”

Lily nodded instead of screaming back.

Everything in me fought to run toward Em and Michael instead of away from them, but I knew Lily was right and that we had to make the rip go away. The heat coming off the buildings made my eyes water, and the closer we got to the center of the fire, the thicker the smoke became.

But there was nothing was left to burn.

I wanted a second to shut everything out, to quiet my hectic mind. But I could sense Em and Michael, which meant they were still alive, and I didn’t want to lose the connection. My focus on maintaining it almost made me miss seeing him.

Jack. Ashes, falling like snow, covered his shoulders.

Reaching out for Lily, I tagged her shoulder and pointed at Jack. I held my finger up in front of my lips. We both stopped short, and I moved in front of her.

More terrifying than the sight of him was what I could feel.

I could read him.

I now knew for certain that he’d been blocking me for years, maybe as long as I’d known him. Peeling back layers of emotion was part of the necessary process to read someone deeply. Jack’s outer layer was black, the same kind of blackness I’d felt from Ava so many times. Peeling away his emotions like an onion, I half expected to find some kind of redeeming quality, but it never came.

He was rotten to the core.

It felt like the read had taken hours, falling through the darkness of Jack’s soul, but it had only been a few seconds. I’d never experienced that kind of decay. Utter corruption. Greed and deceit. Desolation and desperation. The teeming need for control and power. The need to destroy.

If I could get out of this rip, I’d kill him. I’d find him, and I’d kill him for all the things he’d done to me and to the people I loved.

My rage flowed out of me through my fingertips, uncontrollable. I wanted revenge, and I wanted it now.

I charged him. He turned around and his mouth formed an O of surprise. Then his fear came.

As I crouched to spring, Lily grabbed my wrist, and I pulled her with me as I tackled Jack.

He dissolved.

Lily and I both landed on our knees on the sidewalk in “our” Ivy Springs. The flames were gone.

So were Emerson and Michael.

Chapter 47

The town stood unscathed.

The air smelled like rain, spicy mums, and the decomposing jack-o’-lanterns that lined the street, their decaying faces sinister and secretive.

“Where are they?” Lily’s voice shook as she scanned the sidewalk. “I don’t see them.”

I got to my feet, dusting off, and pulled her up with me. “Are you okay?”

Her jeans had ripped, and the open flap of denim exposed a bloody knee. She didn’t seem to notice. “Did they make it out? Or are they still in the rip?”

“Lily? Are you okay?” I repeated, taking her shoulders and looking into her eyes.

“We have to check the Phone Company. That’s where they were, maybe that’s where they landed.”

We ran down the street to the restaurant, reaching it just as Thomas stepped outside the door and began counting the number of people waiting in line to get in. “Hey, you two,” he said when he saw us. “Why are you covered in ashes?”

“Long story,” I said, trying to catch my breath. “Can you get Em and Michael for us?”

He looked at me strangely. “They’re at your house. I’d asked Em to fill in as hostess tonight because Dru is having a hard time with morning sickness. Em said she couldn’t because something was up with your dad.”

“Are you sure you haven’t seen them?” Lily asked. “Could you just stick your head inside and check again?”

“Okay.” Thomas pulled open the door and leaned back, calling to someone inside. “Clint? Have you seen my sister anywhere?”

Lily took my hand. I felt her hope while we waited, and her desolation when Thomas turned back to us. “No, they aren’t here. Is everything okay?”

“It’s fine. Must be a misunderstanding. Looks busy,” I said, gesturing to the crowd. “We’ll catch you later.”

Lily’s tears started to fall the second we turned away.