They argue back and forth briefly, then Kiernan shakes his head in disgust and gets into the car. What puzzles me most is Simon’s expression when he turns back toward the stable point. He still looks a little annoyed, but he also looks relieved. It’s the one time I’ve seen his face when he wasn’t sneering or glaring, and it’s disconcerting, because that expression doesn’t click with my mental picture of him.
Then Simon reaches into his pocket and pulls out a roll of bills. He peels off a few and hands them to the gunmen, then draws back his arm like he’s throwing a baseball. Something goes flying toward the front of the house. At first I think it’s a grenade of some sort, because the hired guns start running. But they run in the direction Simon threw it, so that can’t be right.
It was the roll of money. Simon stands there for about a minute, watching, the usual sneer back on his face. Then he gets into the passenger seat, and the car drives off.
I switch to a stable point out front and watch as a fight breaks out between the man who reached the money roll first and the others, who’ve clearly decided he needs to share. I skip forward in thirty-second increments until they leave, making sure no one decides to burn down the house and that Martha and Joe are no longer in danger. I have a feeling I’m going to be doing that a lot, even after tonight is over, because I see no reason for Simon not to come back and finish the job. The yard finally clears out about five minutes later. Joe and his brother drive over to check the place out around 1:30 a.m. and talk to a Georgia state trooper, who I’m very relieved to see has located his car.
When I’m reasonably sure all is as it should be, I roll the time back and watch the stable point at the gate until the black car filled with bright blue light takes a left and zooms off into the night.
Then I tuck the CHRONOS key back into its pouch and stare at the carpet, trying to figure out how I’m going to explain to Connor and Katherine why I let Delia Morrell and Abel Waters, not to mention Kiernan, get into Simon’s car with their keys and drive away.
My phone buzzes again, and I pick it up, partly because I want to see if there’s news from Dad about Grandpa Keller, but also because I really want to delay the conversation with Katherine and Connor, if only for a few minutes. Dad’s message is confusing. Grandpa is out of the ICU, but Dad says he’s talked to Mom and wants to know what is going on. He says he’s worried and asks me to call as soon as possible. I sigh, realizing I didn’t call to tell him about my disastrous dinner with Trey. I must have been even more of a wreck than I thought for Mom to call Dad all the way from Italy.
The next two texts are from Trey. The first is a totally unnecessary apology for reserving the hotel. The second, sent about a half hour later, is another apology, along with a request to call him so that we can talk all of this through.
There are also two texts from Charlayne. I have to look away from the phone for a moment, because a bit of dizziness hits me, but it passes quickly. I click first on the text that came in while Trey and I were at dinner, which I’m pretty sure is another homework question. But there’s no mention of assignments, just a cryptic message:
Dinner is trap. You were set up. Eve is ROFL, but not really funny IMO.
It was nice of her to try and warn me, assuming this was sincere and not another plank in the ongoing campaign to instill Charlayne as my BFF.
The weird thing is that her second message has the same time stamp. I start to click “Delete,” thinking it’s a duplicate, but then I open it.
Welcome to the Fifth Column!!
I stare at the phone, trying to remember where I’ve heard those words recently. My brain is too tired to pull it up, so I move to the voice messages. There are three—two from Trey and one from Mom. But the one from Mom came in three days ago, and I don’t remember missing a call. I click to start the message, and after a moment her voice comes on. She’s giddy beyond anything I’ve ever heard, ten times as excited as she was about the research grant.
“Kate, sweetie, I have the most wonderful, incredible news. Call me the second you get this. Unless it’s after—argh! I can’t think clearly enough to figure out the time zones. Or just talk to your grandmother. Or your dad. I’m calling them right now. I love you! I’ll talk to you soon!”
For some reason her excitement has the opposite effect on me. I’m terrified, and Charlayne’s text—Welcome to the Fifth Column!!—flashes into my mind again. I toss the phone onto my bed and run to the door.
“Katherine! Connor!”
The lights are on in the library, and I start running in that direction. Then a motion from downstairs catches my eye, and I turn toward the staircase instead.
“Kate!” It’s Trey. He’s sitting on the couch, petting Daphne. I’m so surprised to see him that I miss a step and have to grab the rail to keep from stumbling.
“Why are you here? You can’t be here, Trey. Something is going on—something with Mom, I think.”
Katherine and Connor must have been in the library, because they’re hurrying down the other stairway. They look worried, and I feel a cold fist tighten around my insides.
“Mom called. Something happened. What happened?”
“Kate, it’s going to be okay,” Katherine says, but I’m pretty sure she’s been crying.
Trey puts his arm around my shoulders and starts leading me to the couch, but I stop him. “You didn’t answer me. Why are you here, Trey?”
The truth is that I’m happy beyond belief to see him. I want him to put his arms around me and make me forget the rest of the world exists, because I don’t think I want to hear what Katherine is about to tell me. But I’m also certain that no matter what has happened, Trey is in danger if he’s near me.
“Trey is here because he brought us some information,” Connor says. “He knows someone who may be able to help us with the antidote.”
“And I asked him to stay,” Katherine says, “because we’ve had some news.”
It hits me with absolute certainty, and my knees buckle. Trey gets me to the couch, and I lean into him, breathing him in. Without that, without the solid reality of him next to me, I don’t think I’d have found the strength to say it.
“She’s dead, isn’t she?”
“No!” Katherine says. “She’s not dead. It’s just that . . . she’s found Prudence. Or I guess I should say Prudence has found her. Deborah called me a few days ago, and she was ecstatic.”
I’m too stunned to speak. I don’t know what this means, but it can’t be good.
“Deborah believes it was a chance meeting. Prudence gave her some story about having amnesia for the past thirty years, totally unbelievable. Straight out of a soap opera, but Deborah bought it.”
Connor makes a wry face. “Because the time travel version would have been so much more believable.”
“You know what I mean, Connor.”
I finally find my voice. “How? I just talked to her tonight, before I left, and she didn’t . . . and I was here a few days ago . . . and . . .”
Of course, I know the answer before Katherine even starts. “Something changed, dear. A number of things, actually, although the call from Deborah is the only thing that triggered a direct duplicate memory for me. Are the keys still in your room?”
It takes a moment to realize what she’s asking. The thing I was so nervous about telling them seems almost insignificant now. “I didn’t get them. Any of them. Simon—”
Connor and Katherine exchange a glance, clearly confused.
“We just assumed,” Connor says, “given all of the changes that have popped up in the current timeline. And what Trey told us as well.”
I turn to look at Trey, and he shrugs. “It isn’t much really. It’s just—please don’t get angry, Kate—after you left, I just couldn’t . . . I couldn’t let you walk away like that. Dad means well. I know he’s trying to protect me, and I know you are, too, but I was wrong to promise him I’d stay out of this. If everything you’ve told me is true—and I know it is—then nobody with an ounce of decency can stay out of this.”