Infinityglass (3 page)

He gathered my fake blue hair to hold it away from my face. I ripped the wig off and threw it down on the ground. I cupped my hands over my ears to stop the ringing before moving them to my eyes. They wouldn’t stop tearing. I sat and put my head between my knees. A few minutes later, my hearing and vision returned to normal, and my stomach ceased the Tilt-a-Whirl. I was down to dry heaves now.

“What just happened?” I stood up slowly and faced Poe.

“I teleported you.”

“But you can’t teleport anyone. That’s why I take cabs. You could’ve broken the whole of science. Or, you know,
me
.”

“I didn’t have a choice,” he said, smoothing back my real hair. “Besides, we only moved a few miles, so I knew it would be fast.”

I jerked away from him. “Don’t ever, ever do that again.”

“So next time, you want me to leave you to the mercy of men with guns?”

“Please do.” I answered, and then promptly vomited again. Good thing our sexual attraction had played out, or I’d be embarrassed
and
pissed off. Once my stomach had calmed down, I straightened up. “Where are we? Is this Lafayette Cemetery?”

“Yes, but don’t worry. No one else is here.”

“Except for the dead people. And what if a cop shows up?” After-hours entry was punishable by law, and I didn’t think Dad would be too happy if I got busted puking in a graveyard after hours. Oh, no, Officer, I haven’t been drinking. It was
teleportation
.

The effects were wearing off, but I still felt weak enough to wonder if there had been some kind of permanent damage. I followed Poe down the broken sidewalk in the dark. As we approached the front gate of the cemetery, the late shift of waiters from Commander’s Palace crowded onto the sidewalk across the street, laughing and teasing, not worried at all about keeping quiet or staying hidden.

“Get us out of here before someone sees us,” I said. Poe held out his hand and I took a step back. “I will only accept a cab or piggyback ride. No more whirlwinds through the space time continuum.”

“It’s a couple of blocks to your house. If you want to walk the rest of the way, will you at least let me help you?”

“Help, please.” I took the proffered arm, and we turned around.

And stopped dead.

A long trail of black-clad mourners snaked around the edge of the cemetery path. A solid mix of brass and percussion filled the air with the “Dead Man Blues,” and church bells pealed. The casket passed by, followed by a second line of mourners with parasols and handkerchiefs, stepping in time to the music.

A jazz funeral, in the middle of the night, yet somehow in the middle of the day.

Completely out of place.

Completely out of time.

Chapter 2
Dune, November, Ivy Springs

“T
he Infinityglass is what?”

Liam Ballard, head of the Hourglass, and my boss, regarded me from across his desk with a cautious expression. “Human.”

I sat back and let the notion settle in as I felt my eyes glaze over.

“Dune? Are you okay?” Liam asked.

I shook my head.

The Infinityglass was the freaking holy grail of time and believed to contain ultimate power over the space time continuum, among other things.

I’d been obsessed with it since I was a kid, heard endless stories about it from my dad, and imagined the Indiana Jones–type quest I’d eventually go on to find it.

Except that wasn’t going to happen now, because
it
was
human
.

“Please tell me what you know.” I leaned forward and gripped the edge of Liam’s desk.

“I did some research.” He tapped his fingers on a yellow legal pad full of chicken scratch. “Made a few phone calls. Got a few back. Went to the hospital to see Poe Sharpe.”

“Poe. What does he have to do with it?”

Liam hesitated. Did some more finger tapping. Met my eyes. “Quite a bit.”

“You’re looking at me like you think my head’s going to fly off and spin around the room.” My forced laugh hung uncomfortably in the air. “Poe’s not the Infinityglass, is he?”

“No. But you losing your head is a distinct possibility.”

“Nothing can be crazier than the Infinityglass being … human.” The word didn’t even sit right on my tongue.

“When Poe came to us in October and gave us the ultimatum from Teague to find Jack Landers, I believed the order came from Chronos.” Teague was the head of Chronos, otherwise known as the bad guys. Poe was her number-one henchman. Jack Landers was a world of trouble, who used to be second-in-command at the Hourglass. “I didn’t even question it.”

“Why would you?” I asked.

“Because I’m a scientist, and scientists are supposed to ask questions.” Liam rubbed his temples. “Instead, I assumed everything was as it had been when I left—that Teague was in charge—and that the Chronos operations were still based in Memphis.”

“But things have changed?”

“Ignoring something doesn’t make it go away, and things evolve, whether you pay attention or not.” Liam picked up a pen and started drawing on his legal pad, circling certain words over and over again. “Teague isn’t in charge, and Chronos is no longer based in Memphis. Not only that, Chronos isn’t our enemy.”

“After everything Poe and Teague did—”

“Teague was acting in her
own
interests. Poe was duped into carrying out orders issued by her, but he believed he was working for the real organization.”

“If Teague isn’t in charge of Chronos, who is?”

“Paul Girard. Teague’s estranged husband.”

“That doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. What am I missing?”

“It’s not one thing; it’s the combination of many. Lily’s the one who made me realize the Infinityglass is human.” Lily Garcia, the newest member of the Hourglass, had a supernatural ability to find anything or anyone. “She searched for an object and found nothing. Then she looked for a person and got an address.”

I actually put my hands on top of my head, wondering if its removal would be a relief at this point. “You know where the Infinityglass is.”

Liam nodded. “Who it is, too.”

“A him or a her?”

“A her.”

“Human … how?” I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. “Is she immortal?”

“She’s seventeen.”

“But the lore—not that it’s lore anymore—has been around forever. How can she be so young?”

“There’s an explanation, and I’m certain it’s as elusive as everything else about the Infinityglass.”

“She’s not safe.” It hit me that we were talking about a human. A life. More than a legend.

Liam rubbed his temples again. “She is for the moment, but probably not for long.”

The questions were coming too fast for me to keep up with my own brain. “Does she know what she is? Where is she?”

“I don’t know if she knows, and she’s in New Orleans, at the Girard’s home address.”

“The Girard’s home address.
Teague’s
home address?” My stomach pitched as I connected the dots. “Teague has the Infinityglass. She’s already beaten us to her.”

“By about seventeen years. I have reason to believe the Infinityglass is Teague Girard’s daughter.”

Holy hell.

“What I need to know now is”—Liam leaned forward and nailed me with a long stare—“are you going with me to find her?”

If I was going to get the Infinityglass, I was going to need to make some changes.

Nate’s mouth hung open so wide I could see his wisdom teeth. “You’re going to do what?”

“Cut them off.” I dropped the clippers and the scissors on the kitchen counter with a clatter.

“Why? Dreads are sexy,” Lily said, earning a side glance from Kaleb. After he growled, she reached across the kitchen table to run her hand through his hair. He was growing it out after a skull trim. “But I like short better.”

“Maybe you should just leave it long, Dune,” Kaleb said to me, before grabbing her arm and putting his lips to her wrist.

I didn’t bother responding. Kaleb was too busy focusing on Lily and whatever he was doing to make her breath catch. Since they’d gotten together, they never stopped touching, and they were always at our place. The way they connected made me miss something I’d never had.

“It’s time for a change. Don’t you think?” I turned to Nate now, although if I were going to ask for style advice, his would be the last I’d take. His perpetually neon streak of hair was somewhere between pink and orange this week. “Besides, it’s only hair.”

“It’s not just hair,” Nate argued. “It’s your trademark.”

“It’s your excuse to call me Chewbacca.”

“I’ll just call you Bald Chewbacca now.”

“You’re a good friend.”

“Fine.” Nate picked up the scissors and snapped them open and closed. A little too joyfully and a little too quickly. “If this is going to happen, do I get to do the honors?”

I preferred a gentle touch, but Lily and Kaleb had disappeared. Again.

“I guess so. Do
not
shoot for speed, Nate.” Nate had the ability to speed up or slow down his movements. “Aim for accuracy.”

Nate tapped the back of a chair and grinned.

I sat down and shut my eyes.

The bathroom mirror was steamy, so I used my ability to turn the gas to liquid. Condensation rolled down the glass in rivulets.

I stared at the image that remained, trying to adjust. My sideburns kept me from feeling like a plucked chicken, but the lack of hair was going to take some getting used to. I pulled on a pair of worn jeans and went back to the kitchen. Nate had bundled up the remains of my dreads and tied them in a pink ribbon.

The smart-ass presented it to me like it was some kind of bouquet. “I didn’t know if you wanted to have a burial.”

I took a long look at six years’ worth of hair, and then threw it in the trash.

Nate leaned back against the wall, studying the change. “This is pretty serious.”

“It was time for a change.” Time to grow up.

“Why?” He pushed off the wall with one foot and started pacing. “We’ve known each other for how many years? Five, at least? The Dune I know is laidback, dependable. He makes logical, balanced decisions, applies all the facts, weighs the pros and cons. This feels impulsive, and you aren’t impulsive.”

“I’ve been thinking about cutting them off for a while.” That wasn’t a lie. I’d even been letting them grow out, which was the only reason I wasn’t totally bald.

“The hair isn’t the only issue. Something’s up. Is this about getting a girlfriend or some stupid crap like that?”

“No,” I protested, even though my luck with the ladies had been off. The way the Hourglass employees were pairing up reminded me of Noah’s ark. I didn’t want to cruise into the sunset with Nate.

“You started going to the gym a couple of months ago. You just bought new clothes.” He pointed to the bags on the counter.

“Some of my Samoan cousins lean toward the Rock. Others, not as much. I know which way I want to go.” The gym had been about fear of turning fat. “But you’re right. Buying the clothes was intentional.”

“Because?”

“I’m going on a job.”

Nate’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of job requires a dude makeover?”

“It’s not a makeover. It’s an upgrade. I can’t be a kid forever.” I didn’t want to be. “Professionals don’t wear T-shirts that say, ‘Bazinga.’ ”

The front door burst open. The gust of cold air had me covering my head with my hands. When I saw Emerson, I covered my nipples instead.

Because I was a dork.

“Whoa, Nelly!” Emerson stopped so fast Michael almost ran over her. She dropped the grocery bags she held on the kitchen table and stared at me with a frightening kind of glee on her face. “
Dune
. You’re scary. And hot. Scary hot. Who knew?”

Michael took a step back and fanned himself. “I have the vapors.”

“I like it.” Em approached me the way a cat might approach a still-wriggling puffer fish, from multiple angles and with a cautious eye. “But where’s your shirt?”

“He got some new ones. Because he’s a grown-up.” Nate’s annoying singsongy tone set my teeth on edge.

“Um. Dune?” Em bit her lower lip. “I know what nipples look like.”

I sighed, lowered my hands, and decided I really needed to get out more.

Nate threw me one of the button-ups I’d found on sale at the mall, along with a vest I’d snagged at the thrift shop. I caught them right before they hit me in the face.

The door opened again, allowing another blast of cold air. Ava. She stopped and stared at my head. “Where are your dreads?”

I pointed to the trash can.

“I think I like it.” She walked past me with raised eyebrows and tucked herself into a corner, taking on her usual observer role.

“Okay. Try the bowler on first,” Em urged, picking up a hat and shoving it at me. “This is going to be yummy.”

“We need to see the shirts, too,” Michael said, smiling. That
was only another example of why he and Emerson fit together the way they did. Even with all the trouble we’d seen lately, he’d never smiled like that before her.

“It must be nice to be so secure in your relationship,” I said to him, smoothing out the now-crumpled bowler hat.