Timesurfers (26 page)

She rubbed her forehead. “What are the
GTs?”

“The Grommet Trials are a Timesurfer
initiation ritual. They’re brutal,” Rafe said.

Regardless of how brutal they were, Cate had
no choice. This was her only way to find Xavier. “I agree.”
Training with Rose and completing the GTs...Xavier was going to owe
her big time.

“Excellent. Rose, take Cate and start her
training. You have twenty-one days before the next full moon and
GTs.”

Cate’s shoulders slumped. “I can’t be away
for that long.”

Naitanui patted her shoulder. “You’ll be gone
for less than a minute in your time.”

Austin took Cate’s arm. “I’ll help.” Boyish
excitement poured off him.

“Absolutely not!” Rose said. “I don’t need
the distraction that is you in the same millennium while we
prepare.”

“Mum!” Austin drew out the word as only kids
can. It was such a normal thing to do, but so out of place between
Rose and Austin.

“Don’t ‘Mum’ me!” Rose shut him down with one
of her Medusa looks. “Take Cate to my quarters, and keep your hands
off one another.”

“This isn’t breaking any of your rules?” Cate
asked Naitanui before heading toward the entrance Rose
specified.

“I never break the rules. You’ll do well to
remember that.”

“Incoming wounded. Incoming wounded.
Stretcher bearers to the command room and healers to the healing
chamber.” A pleasant voice repeated over a speaker as the room
glowed red.

A group of men and women dressed in old
fashioned army and nurse uniforms appeared. Some were wailing with
pain. Cate gulped. Three of them were missing limbs and there was
blood everywhere.

“Make sure you have my arm!” One injured man
called.

“And both our legs.” Another injured man
shrieked. The third man was quiet and deathly white.

“I have them,” a nurse called. “Well...I’m
ninety percent sure I have the correct ones.”

The stretchers bearers raced into room and
heaved the injured onto the stretchers they carried.

“Go, Austin,” Naitanui commanded.

“They look like they’ve been in a war,” Cate
said as Austin guided her forward. He followed close behind,
touching her shoulder to indicate she should turn left.

“They have been. World War I. Some were at
the Western Front and the others at Gallipoli cove. More people
were killed or wounded at the Western Front than any other place
during that war. The Allies and the Germans each suffered close to
four million casualties. That’s about a million each for every year
the war raged.”

“Why were the Timesurfers sent to the
war?”

“They were on an education immersion
expedition. Three days tasting, smelling and living in a war makes
you understand the horrendous sacrifice it requires. Their wounds
will heal, many of the soldiers who fought in the war weren’t that
fortunate.”

Cate remained silent. After a few steps, she
faced a grey granite wall. Austin placed his hand on the rock, and
orange circles glowed around his fingertips. The stone wall rippled
and vanished. She stepped into a hallway wider than her entire
house. There were brightly coloured rugs scattered along the cream
and caramel slate floor. To her left was a two-story wall of glass
with mind blowing ocean views. On her right, a wrought iron
staircase curled up and down to other levels.

“Welcome to the Shack,” Austin announced with
a flourish. “This is where we live. Rose is the last door on the
left.”

She had to skip every few steps to keep up
with Austin’s long strides. The hallway walls had distressed cream
timber
panelling
on the
bottom half. The top half was painted pale blue streaked with
abstract veins of gold. Sun streamed through the evenly spaced
floor-to-ceiling windows along the left side. Austin opened the
last door on the left. “This is us. After you.”

“How many Timesurfers live here?”

“There’s between 100 and 200 at most times.
It’s preferred, not required we live here. Spending more time in
here reduces your aura outside. Rose and I moved in when Jonah
left. Before that we all lived together in Rose Cottage further up
the point. Naitanui has Shacks set up all around the world. You can
access any of them through the portal at the Break we came
through.”

Cate’s breath caught in her throat as she
stepped through the door to Rose’s quarters. “Holy cow!” A massive
wall of glass gave an uninterrupted view over the vibrant blue
ocean. “That’s amazing.”

Austin flopped on a retro white leather
couch. Everything in the kitchen and living area was so stylish,
but also looked comfortable and relaxed.

“Are these you?” She walked to rows of photos
that covered one wall.

“Yep. Wasn’t I a beautiful baby?”

She rolled her eyes. There were photos of
Rose and Jonah with Austin from before he could walk until quite
recently. The three of them at the Egyptian pyramids, in front of
the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, in a spectacular redwood forest, on
blindingly white beaches, and even at the hot air balloon place she
visited for her birthday. Rose and Jonah hadn’t changed over time.
Austin had indeed been a beautiful baby and a cheeky and happy
looking kid. His face was scar free in every photo. “Who are the
old sepia pictures of?”

Austin pointed to a different photo as he
spoke each name. “Jonah, Jonah, Rose, Rose, Rose, and Rose. That
old guy with the curled moustache is Rose’s dad. The blank frame
had a photo of my dad in it, but Rose removed it one night. I
presume there was heavy drinking involved.”

A large framed photo of Jonah, Austin, and
Naitanui together on the balcony that stretched across Rose’s room
rested against the wall. It was the only picture of Austin with his
scars. “When was that taken?”

Austin scratched his head and looked vague.
“A few months ago, I think. For her birthday, Rose insisted on one
photo with Jonah, Naitanui, and me together. Jonah and Rose are the
closest thing Naitanui has to family, so they get away with
slightly more than your average Timesurfer. Jonah snuck away from
Mortez especially. He and Rose are embroiled in an eternal love and
agony loop. It’s exhausting to watch.”

She gave Austin a sideways look. That was
further confirmation she and Jonah weren’t together in the
future.

“Although I’m sure his feelings for you are
genuine. If he has shown any feelings for you.”

Austin had misunderstood her silence. Jonah
was off the charts hot and she liked him. Being with him would be
easy. However, it was clear now his heart belonged to Rose, and
Cate got that, because her heart belonged to Austin. A huge weight
lifted from her shoulders, and she could breathe properly for the
first time in days. One smile from Austin and she had been hooked.
It was inexplicable and undeniable. To be with anyone else would be
cheating herself and them. She would never love anyone as
completely as she loved Austin.

“Has he shown any feelings for you?” Austin
asked.

“Jonah’s been a complete gentleman. What
would happen if Mortez discovered he snuck in to see Rose?”

Austin drew a finger across his neck and made
a horrible noise in the back of his throat. “She’d feed him to the
fire ants. Jonah’s secret is safe because he’s a ghost. Every
Timesurfer has a time tube when they surf. Not Jonah, no one can
track him surfing. Mortez has to take his word about his comings
and goings. She keeps him on a pretty tight leash though.”

“Doesn’t she have to anchor him on all his
trips back and forward? That’s why you guys call out to Naitanui
and Mortez when you surf. So you don’t fall into a parallel
dimension or...something?” she finished lamely.

Austin looked impressed. “Normally that’s the
case, however...”

“Austin.” Rose marched across the gleaming
wooden floorboards. “Naitanui needs you immediately. There are two
time tubes headed Bach’s way.”

“Bach the composer?” Cate asked.

“No, Bach the exotic dancer.” The two knives
holding up Rose’s hair glinted as she shook her head. “Of course
Bach the composer.”

“I was just
asking
.”

“Listen more. Ask less—that’s how you learn,”
Rose replied.

“Why do you care so much about a composer?
I’m sure his music is good and all, but history shaping?” Cate
looked between Austin and Rose.

“He had twenty-one children and was an
informal adviser to royalty at the time. Those things have a big
impact,” Rose said.

“Also, you can never have too much music.”
Austin strolled to the door and hesitated. “‘Music is a moral law.
It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the
imagination, a charm to sadness, gaiety and life to everything. It
is the essence of order and lends to all that is good and just and
beautiful.’”

“Don’t quote Plato to me.” Rose hurried to
the doorway, kissed Austin on both cheeks, and hugged him. “Take
care of yourself and don’t get killed. Love you.”

His arms tight around Rose’s waist, his eyes
fixed on Cate. “Love you too.”

Cate’s breath caught in her throat.

“Don’t kill each other before I see you
next!”

“Get!” Rose shuffled him out the metal door
and closed it with a thunk. She brushed at her cheek.

Was Rose crying?

Rose exhaled loudly. “Wait here while I
select the weapons.”

“Like I have a choice.” Cate flopped on the
white couch, which was even more comfortable than it looked. She
picked up a magazine and pretended to flick through it. Her eyes
followed Rose as she walked to the far wall and twisted a safe
lock. Following the sound of an air lock releasing, the entire wall
opened to reveal a six feet by six feet space with wooden walls
lined with weapons and...
jewellery
. A string of emeralds the size of golf
balls nestled in a red velvet box caught her eye.

Shouts echoed down the hallway. Rose sighed.
“That was quick, even for him.” She used some very
colourful
curse words, and there
was a knock at the door. “You should get that. NOW!”

Chapter 20

Quantum Microchip

C
ate scooted over to open the door.

Jonah gave her a curt, businesslike nod.
“Cate.”

A dozen people lay strewn along the hallway.
Some moaned and others were quiet. Hopefully they were unconscious
and not dead. She gave Jonah a tentative smile. “What are you doing
here?”

“Checking in with you,” Jonah answered with a
tight smile.

She contemplated the weapons strapped to his
thigh, and the hilt of a sword protruding over his shoulder. He had
expected trouble this trip. “How did you know I’d be here?”

“Give me some credit. I know you pretty
darned well.”

“You might not know me as well as you
think.”

A look of satisfaction settled on his face.
“So you aren’t here doing a deal with Naitanui to help you find
Xavier?”

Two bags Rose had filled with weapons dropped
with a clatter on the floorboards. “Got it in one. Check his
QIs.”

She checked Jonah’s QIs and then looked down
the hallway, expecting a rush of Timesurfers at any moment. “Is it
safe for you to be here?”

He leaned against the doorframe with a
supreme nonchalance that belied the fact he was persona non grata
at the Break. There were only a few inches between his head and the
top of the doorframe. “There’s not a conscious Timesurfer left in
the Shack.”

“If Mortez is so interested in me, why isn’t
she here? Why not storm the Shack, take me, kill everyone, and end
it?”

“Well! Aren’t you a bloodthirsty little
thing? Naitanui has enchantments that prevent Mortez and her
minions entering the Shack and the Break. Jonah’s the exception.
The enchantments don’t
recognise
him because he’s a ghost.” Rose assumed
her warrior-goddess stance.

It was the hair, Cate decided. Rose’s
gleaming black hair hung past her waist. Violet glinted from the
smooth waves cascading down her back every time she moved.

“It’s also more complicated than killing a
few people. Lord knows if it was that easy Rose would have bumped
you
off at the bus stop herself.” Jonah
smiled and drummed his fingers against his bicep. “Of course, she
would have had to get through me first.”

Rose made an annoyed sound and shook her
head. “Not even a challenge. Take your overinflated ego and toddle
back to Mortez.”

“Happy to, after you tell me where you two
are going with those overflowing bags of weapons.”

“She’s training me,” Cate blurted.

“Training?” There was genuine surprise on
Jonah’s gorgeous face.

“Yep.” Rose patted Jonah’s chest. “She’s all
mine until the next new moon. I’m preparing her for the GTs.”

“You aren’t serious?”

Rose stabbed Jonah’s chest with her index
finger. “Never been more serious, Lover. I’m training her for the
GTs, and if she lives, she’s going to search for her missing
brother. Apparently the evil Elias has taken him.” Rose raised both
eyebrows and stared Jonah down. “He wouldn’t have been my first
choice.”

“Not your choice to make.” Jonah’s voice was
quiet and steely. “I’ll help train Cate, of course.”

“I wouldn’t want Mortez and the angst riddled
Catherine to miss you.” Bitterness tarnished Rose’s every word.

Jonah flinched and stepped back like Rose’s
words were a sharp slap in the face. “You
wanted
me to join Mortez.”

“No, I
wanted
you to
stop taking those drugs that were killing you, and joining Mortez
was the only way to ensure that happened.”

Whoa!
Cate never
picked Jonah for an ex–drug addict.

Jonah gave Rose a murderous look. “The drugs
were to deal with my migraines, and true to her promise, Mortez has
kept them under control for me. I haven’t touched any drugs since
the day I walked into Mortez’s Command. Just like I’ve told you
every other time you’ve asked me.”