The Syndicate (Timewaves Book 1) (5 page)

“Day after tomorrow” he finally said. “And Stassi? Use customs.”

I willed myself not to blush.

“Understood, Cyrus. No problem.”

“YOU’RE WELCOME,” GAIGE
prompted, as we stepped outside into the waning sunlight.

Stopping to give him my most menacing glare, I propped my hands on my hips defiantly.

“For what exactly?” I asked, daring him to say it.

“Saving your ass,” Gaige declared with a look of glee, not the least bit intimidated by me.

“You mean throwing me in the Arno? Are you freaking kidding me?” I asked, itching to smack the grin off his face. “Maybe once I’ve showered the sewage off of me, I
might
feel some degree of gratitude. Until then, I’ll be plotting my revenge.”

My partner laughed at my obviously empty threats.

“Come on, Stass, you have to admit that it was pretty brilliant. In fact, you might even say that my quick thinking saved the day.”

“I will most certainly
not
be saying that,” I snapped.

Sure, it was a pretty smart exit strategy. But until I no longer felt as though ants were crawling up my legs, I simply couldn’t give him the satisfaction.

“I’ll take that as a ‘thank you’. And also as an apology for doubting I’d come through for you,” Gaige said, smiling triumphantly.

As we began walking again, my partner grew uncharacteristically quiet. It wasn’t like him to not provide an endless stream of babble, so the silence was unnerving. After a full minute of nothing but the sounds of our footsteps and the chirping of the exotic birds, I couldn’t take it anymore.

“You okay?” I asked, throwing him a sidelong glance.

“Of course,” he said, offering me a reassuring smile. “I’m just thinking about the run.”

“I know it’s going to be hard,” I said, feeling a twinge of guilt. “I’m sorry, we can back out.”

“No way, I live for a challenge,” he replied without hesitation. “I just know you’ve been waiting a while for this, I don’t want to let you down.”

Startled by his serious tone, I thought carefully about my next words.

“I know that it’s a long shot,” I hedged. “But I also know that the
only
clue I have is that picture. So if there’s even a chance of finding answers in Paris, I want to go. I
have
to go.”

The photo I was referring to—a shot of an elegant woman wearing my necklace—was the only solid lead I had to my familial origins. I’d stumbled across the picture while in the time archives stored in the Paris home of the syndicate’s Godfather when I was there for training the year before. The caption indicated it had been taken in Paris in the year 1924. That was it. That was all I had to go on. Which was precisely why I needed to go to Paris—to learn her identity. If I could just ascertain her name, I might be able to trace the line of her descendants to one of my parents.

The odds of finding the woman were miniscule, like finding a needle in the largest haystack that ever existed. But I was determined to do just that.

“I know, Stass. I get it.”

When I didn’t answer, Gaige reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze.

“Well, okay, maybe I don’t entirely get how you feel. I can’t imagine not knowing who my parents are. But if our roles were reversed, I’d want to do the same thing.”

“Thanks,” I said quietly.

As much as I wanted to know the identity of my parents, I also wanted the opportunity to ask them why. Why they’d left me to grow up in a work camp. Why they’d left me at all. Why they never came back for me.

I was only four years old when the authorities found me wandering the streets of Knoxville, Tennessee. The local police searched for my family for two weeks without any luck, and I hadn’t been able to tell them anything useful to aid their efforts. A kind, young officer assigned to my case repeatedly assured me that someone would come to claim me, that my family would find me. But no one did. My family didn’t find me. Not then, and not in the years that followed.

Post-Epic War America was a sad, harsh world. People were out of work, poor, and hungry. Children were frequently abandoned when the government’s food rations couldn’t stretch far enough to feed everyone at the table. The police were bogged down with cases similar to mine. Spending two weeks on one child was considered a long time.

So, when it became clear that none of my relatives were going to come for me, I was taken to the closest work camp to be raised as a ward of the state. There, I was just one of the many orphans. But that fact didn’t make my abandonment any easier to cope with. I would never understand how any parent could send their child away to live in a place like that. Saying that life in the camp was harsh was like saying Robespierre was not a nice man—a gross understatement.

Lost in my thoughts, I was surprised to realize that we’d already reached the fork in the dirt path. When I veered right towards the canteen, Gaige stayed in step beside me. Though the Paris assignment had interrupted my list making during the meeting, I had a good idea of what I wanted to get Molly. Recovering from time sickness mostly required several days of rest and fluids, but there were a few things that could help alleviate some of the symptoms.

My bigger concern was getting my roommate to stay in bed long enough to recuperate. No matter how crappy she felt, she’d be itching for something to do by tomorrow, so providing her with distractions was crucial. Otherwise, she’d be up and gallivanting about the island. Which would just prolong her recovery.

“So, going back to Paris should be awesome,” Gaige said enthusiastically, breaking the silence that had fallen between us.

Cocking an eyebrow, I asked, “I know why I’m so excited about this run—what’s your reason?”

Gaige’s wide-eyed expression told me that he thought the answer was obvious. His next words confirmed as much.

“Seriously? We had a blast when we were there for training; I’m amped to go back. It is a fun-loving place, and the 1920s were an especially fun-loving time. The city might be on your list, but the parties are on mine.”

Even though I knew it was his way of distracting me, I played along and gave a dramatic eye roll in reply. Gaige was the brother I’d never had and wasn’t sure I wanted at times.

“I hear some of those expats were crazy,” Gaige was saying.

We’d just reached the canteen, and Gaige moved ahead to hold the door open. This was typical-Gaige-fashion; despite all of his ridiculousness, hidden beneath the layers of ego and self-absorption, my partner was actually a really good guy.

“That’s not exactly a desirable thing,” I replied, heading straight for the candy aisle.

The antioxidants in dark chocolate were a natural way to combat time sickness. Luckily, Molly had a sweet tooth and a particular penchant for all things salted caramel.

“Crazy people can be paranoid and unpredictable. That will just make our job that much harder,” I continued, purposefully ignoring the intended meaning of his words.

“Whatever,” Gaige shrugged off my concerns. “I, for one, welcome the challenge.”

“I knew you would,” I replied, grabbing three bars of a rare and painfully delicious Swiss chocolate.

“Here, let’s get these,” Gaige said, choosing a bag of salted caramel jellybeans from the shelf. “Molly will love them.”

As we continued around the store, my partner and I selected a random assortment of confections from around the world, a six-pack of grape-flavored sparkling water, two trashy romance novels, a book of crossword puzzles, and a wooden peg game that was meant to test the player’s IQ. While I knew the latter would frustrate the hell out of Molly, she would undoubtedly play until she won. Hopefully that would take some time.

“What about first-aid supplies?” Gaige asked as we loaded our goodies onto the conveyor belt at the checkout stand. “Do you think Molly needs like burn cream or something? Oh, maybe some aloe? It works for sunburns, so it should be the same idea, right? Does she like flowers? We could get some here. Or maybe pick some on the way back to your place.”

“You’ve never brought me flowers when I’m not feeling well. When was the last time you bought, or even stole, flowers for a girl?”

“When was the last time you were sick?” Gaige asked.

“True,” I conceded with a shrug.

Illnesses were rare for runners. We were vaccinated for most known pathogens and took a handful of supplements and vitamins every day to boost our immune systems. Time sickness was our Achilles’ heel.

“45 credits,” the cashier told me, after ringing up the mélange of items.

I swiped my forearm in the air over the electronic scanner. The light on the display changed from red to green, indicating that my microchip was approved and the cost of Molly’s get-well gifts would be deducted from my account.

Once again proving that chivalry was not dead, Gaige grabbed both of the bags without a word. Together, we set off for my bungalow.

I basked in the dying rays of sunlight on my face as we walked, their warmth chasing away the last remnants of the chill left over from my swim in the Arno. The ocean breeze blew my hair off of my face, the snarling strands drifting behind me like a veil. Though I’d always been a blonde, my hair had become even lighter since moving to the island.

Apparently Gaige had been serious about the flowers, because he stopped in front of my bungalow and plucked brightly colored hibiscuses from their stems.

The moment we entered the bungalow, I beelined for Molly’s bedroom. Giving Gaige a warning look and gesturing for him to stay put, I carefully opened her door. He hung back just long enough to fill a vase with water and the flowers he’d picked. Then he slid inside Molly’s bedroom behind me.

In the dim light, I could just make out a form in the large bed. The soft rhythm of her breathing told me she was already asleep. Though a thin blanket covered Molly’s body from the chest down, white gauze bandages were visible on her arms.

Seeing her like that made my heart hurt, and I felt a terrible sadness for all of the other supposed-witches who’d suffered the same way without any means of escape. How long had it taken for Molly to give up any hope of being rescued and make the jump? How much time had she spent bound to that wooden funeral pyre, suffering the horrific price of ignorance? And where had Tiger been during the ordeal? I’d have to speak to him about that.

Though I understood the need for discretion with so many witnesses, she obviously hadn’t been left with a choice. Historic tales of a witch simply vanishing in front of an audience of heartless spectators—doubtlessly assuring her tormentors that she was, indeed, a witch—were a small price to pay for Molly’s life.

“Want me to keep an eye on her while you shower?” Gaige asked quietly, drawing me from my painful and angry thoughts.

“Seriously?” I whispered back. “You want to watch her sleep? That’s not creepy at all.”

“I just—,” he started.

“Yeah, yeah,” I cut him off, pushing my partner towards the door. “Do I need to warn Molly that you’ll be trying to watch her sleep now?”

“When you put it like that, it sounds bad,” Gaige replied defensively. “It’s not like I was going to accost her while she’s in a drugged state. I just meant that I know you’re worried about her and I thought you might appreciate it if I—”

“Sat in the dark and stared at her like a weirdo?” I interjected.

“No,” he replied, drawing out the word emphatically. “I simply considered that it might be a good idea if I—”

“Hovered two inches from her face and creepy-breathed on her?”

“What?
No
, I just wanted to—”

“Hide in her closet and record the little noises she makes, so you can play them back when you’re lonely?”

“
Stassi!
” Gaige said my name with so much exasperation it was amazing smoke didn’t come out of his flared nostrils.

“Draw pictures of her to wear around, taped under your clothes?”

“
Stassi!
”

“Fine,” I declared. “I’ll stop.”

“You’re an ass, you know that?” Gaige asked, repeating what was probably the question I posed to him most frequently.

“In all seriousness, thank you for the sketchy-but-
maybe
-well-intentioned offer. Just trust me on this—she definitely wouldn’t appreciate waking up to find you lurking in the shadows. If the medics didn’t make her go to the infirmary and left her here alone, her injuries obviously aren’t life-threatening. Go home for now. I’ll call you after Molly wakes up and let you know how she’s doing.”