Timepiece

Chapter 52

I’d have given anything to be inside the panic I saw in Jack’s expression. Fear like that made your skin too tight.

“Teague.” He said her name with a reverence that should have been accompanied by a bow.

What did Teague know, or what could she do that would make Jack act that way?

Teague smiled serenely at me, absolute calm bleeding from her pores. “Liam’s son?”

“Yes.”

Footsteps echoed on the stairs behind Teague.

Poe.

Lily’s fear. Teague’s calm. Poe’s despair. And still, nothing at all from Jack, except a vein pulsing steadily in his forehead.

Teague didn’t acknowledge Poe, just continued to focus on me. “Where is Emerson? I expected to find her here. She is the reason Jack wants the Infinityglass.”

“Emerson’s gone.” It took effort to keep my voice from breaking. “So is Michael.”

Jack whipped his head toward me. “Gone?”

“We ran into a rip at the Phone Company. A fire. Em ran in, Michael ran after her.” I paused, hearing my weakness. When I’d regained control, I said, “Neither one of them came out.”

Jack stared at me, searching for a lie. Hoping for one.

Teague seemed unaffected by the news. She shook her head and made a tsking noise. “If Michael and Emerson are gone, what will you do, Jack? Continue to use Poe to try to get what you want? Make him do things, and then steal his memories?”

“Poe offered,” Jack said coldly.

“Is that true?” Teague kept her eyes on Jack but directed the question to Poe. “Did you offer Jack use of your ability?”

“No. I didn’t.” Poe stared at the wall behind Teague, his hands shoved into the pockets of his leather jacket.

What the hell was going on? Poe claimed not to be a traveler the night we met him. How had Jack used him?

“It’s fine, Poe. I wouldn’t expect you to remember if you did,” Teague said.

Poe turned to Jack and held out his hand. “I want my knife back.”

Jack played with the blade for a moment, weighing his options, and then he looked at Teague. He aimed the blade toward himself and passed it over to Poe.

“Are you done with me?” Poe asked Teague.

“That will be all.” Teague waved her fingers toward the exit.

Poe slid the knife into his boot and and disappeared down the staircase.

“So many lies, Jack,” Teague observed. “Have you told Kaleb the truth yet?”

I flinched when she said my name, and thought I saw pleading in Jack’s eyes.

“About what?” I asked.

“Jack’s full of secrets. Where he comes from, where he’s been. He’s taken so many risks to cover it all up. Ruined so many lives. Kaleb, I think it’s about time you met your uncle Jack.”

“Uncle?” The word was a solid kick in the gut.

“Jack’s a bastard,” Teague said. “Conceived by his mother in an extramarital affair, one your grandfather Ballard was loath to admit but for which he was honor bound to take responsibility. You spent every other weekend with your ‘extended family’ growing up, right, Jack?”

Jack growled under his breath and his face became an ugly mask of bitterness and rage.

“You had another uncle, too, Kaleb, but he died when he was just a toddler. Jack’s the only one who remembers exactly how.” Now Teague looked at me. “You have his name.”

“My father never… told me.” I didn’t understand.

“He couldn’t. His memories aren’t clear because they aren’t true. Jack manipulated them to serve himself. That’s why Jack wants Emerson. He wants to change the past and make himself a hero to his-”

She broke off when she noticed Lily. Or rather, what Lily held in her hand. The Skroll.

“Where did that come from?” Teague’s voice turned cold, with an edge like a razor blade. “How did you find it?”

“Him.” Lily pointed toward Jack without a moment of hesitation, lying so smoothly I almost believed her. She was playing to the most likely ally.

“You little bitch,” Jack spat at her. “I stole it from you.”

Lily shrugged.

Jack turned to Teague. “The girl knows how to find things. She has the gene. Her real name is Pillar Diaz and her information is in the files I sold you.”

“Did you find it?” Teague asked Lily. “The Infinityglass?”

“Say I did,” Lily mused, tapping one finger against her lips. “I wouldn’t be willing to tell Jack what I know, but I would be willing to tell you.”

“Why?”

“I want something in exchange.” Lily met Teague’s eyes and spoke clearly. “When I’m done giving you the information, Kaleb and I walk away. And while you and I are talking, Kaleb gets five minutes alone with Jack.”

Teague looked from Lily to me and back again as a slow smile spread along her face.

“Deal.”