Timesurfers (30 page)

She winced as fingers dug into her shoulders.
“Ouch.”

“Well, isn’t she a big, strong girl,” a harsh
voice said near her ear as more fingers dug painfully into her
collarbone.

“Get your hands off me.” She wrenched against
the Timesurfers’ hands as they tightened around her arms. A light
bulb went off in her head. She repeated her request for them to
remove their hands in her mind. The Timesurfers dropped their hands
from her shoulders.

“I’ll take her to the holding area.” Rose
grasped Cate’s elbow. “Austin, you should come too. She can’t
compel us.”

“Sure.” Austin peeled himself away from the
rock.

Cate fell into step with them both. Gravel
crunched under her boots, and the stars twinkled with malevolent
glee at her predicament.

“Halt.” Naitanui’s booming voice bounced off
the limestone cliffs. “You chose the GTs, Cate. Speak up if you’ve
changed you mind.”

“I haven’t changed my mind. I’ll do whatever
it takes to find my brother.” Xavier had been on her mind each time
she ended up on her butt or spitting out dirt these last three
weeks. So a freaking lot.

“Show extra caution, Rose. Now the grommets
have been announced, Mortez will know Cate is participating. I
can’t predict what she might do,” Naitanui said.

Rose nodded.

“I love that everyone thinks I’m so special
and important!” Cate murmured as the three of them walked away from
the campsite. “What’s a grommet? And am I one of them?”

Austin’s hand grazed hers and his little
finger wrapped around hers for the briefest of seconds. “A grommet
is a Timesurfer who’s participating in the GTs. So that’s you,
Beautiful.”

Now if she could just get someone to give her
a straight answer on what exactly the GTs involved.

As soon as they were out of earshot Cate dug
her heels into the gravel and stopped. “How do you know I can’t
compel you or Austin?”

“Umm...” The puzzled expression on Rose’s
face was priceless. Her mouth moved, but no sound came out. She
recovered quickly. “You’ve wanted me to go to hell, jump off a
cliff, or stand still so you could hit me. I didn’t do any of those
things, ergo, you can’t compel me.”

“And you.” Cate turned to Austin. “How do you
know you’re immune to my talents?”

“I
know because when
I took you surfing the first time, you pleaded for someone to ‘kill
you now’ and I didn’t. Also, Naitanui sent me on this mission
because you couldn’t compel me.”

“You knew that?” Rose asked.

“I learned to keep secrets from two of the
best, Mum. The big question is how
you
and
Naitanui knew I was immune to Cate’s charms before this mission if
I’ve never met her?”

Rose stumbled. She actually stumbled. In all
the hours they had spent training, Rose had never stumbled.

“I’ll figure it out,” Austin said.

Cate
realised
how Rose and Jonah had erased Austin’s
memory. Jonah had to touch people to access their powers. It
happened when Rose took the photo of Austin, Naitanui, and Jonah at
the Shack. That was why Austin had been vague about when it was
taken.

Rose took Cate’s arm. “Good luck with that,
Austin. Now grab hold of Cate somewhere.”

He slid his hand under Cate’s faded T-shirt
and across her back. His fingers slipped inside her jeans and
curved around her hip. “Are you ready for this?”

Chapter 23

Three Wise Men

T
hey arrived in a cavernous room. Its twenty foot high
ceiling was intricately painted. Veins of gold and rust streaked
the marble walls, covered with black etchings. There were about 200
people in the space. Cate spotted three familiar faces mixed in the
crowd over Austin’s shoulder.

“Cate!” Austin snapped his fingers in front
of her nose. “Cate!”

“Don’t snap your fingers at me.” She glanced
between Austin and the three faces. “Why are they here?”

Austin’s eyes fixed on the three boys. “My
guess is to help you.”

Gaspar was nearly a foot taller than she
remembered. He towered over Balthazar and Mel. They all looked
older. Then it twigged. They were older. They were from the
future.

Rose squared her shoulders and lifted her
chin ever so slightly.

“Mum, you need to go. If the three boys are
competing, Mortez will be close.”

“Austin.” There was an edge to Rose’s
voice.

“She won’t attempt anything with me in front
of this crowd. You I’m not so sure about. This is not the time for
you and Mortez to have at it.”

A ripple of noise rolled across room. Feet
shuffled on the hard packed dirt floor. People stretched their
necks and stood on tiptoe, all focused on the opening marked by two
stone pillars carved with roman numerals. There were lists of names
and poppies stained with red engraved under each number. The marble
walls were decorated with intricate drawings of people fighting
lions.

“Rose,” Austin growled through his teeth.

Jonah strode through the opening. A woman
with short, spiky blonde hair followed. Everyone made a path for
them to walk through. She was one confident, powerful woman. They
moved across the room with a regal grace and stopped near
Balthazar.

A sideways glance confirmed Rose had
vanished.

“Mortez?” Cate breathed.

“Mortez.” Austin’s body tensed and his hand
hooked the back of Cate’s jeans.

She moved ever so slightly toward Austin.
Mortez surveyed the crowd in an unhurried and deliberate manner.
Her eyes held Cate’s for a second before she unhurriedly examined
Cate from head to toe. When her grey eyes returned to Cate’s face,
she smiled and headed their way.

Cate didn’t know what she expected, but this
wasn’t it. “She looks so...normal.” Mortez was a few inches taller
than Cate with a muscled, athletic body.

“Never judge a book by its cover. Here she
comes.” Austin’s hand tightened, and he moved Cate closer. “Does
she look familiar?”

Cate shook her head. “Should she?”

Austin smiled. “I wondered if you remembered
seeing her at the grocery store or passing her in the street. You
never know.”

Jonah strolled ahead of Mortez. His face
relaxed as he smiled and nodded to people, but there was no doubt
he was her protection. If you messed with Mortez, Jonah would hurt
you. He paused a few feet from Cate and allowed Mortez to pass.

“That’s quite close enough.” Austin held his
an arm.

Jonah stepped between Austin and Mortez.

Mortez ignored the two boys. “Best of luck
for today, Catherine.”

“Thanks.” Cate fought a strange urge to
curtsey. Mortez knowing her name was a tad scary, though not
unexpected now she thought about it. This was the future Mortez,
and Catherine was on her team. Future, past—it was all so
confusing.

There was nothing friendly about the
snakelike smile Mortez gave Austin. “Tell your mother I look
forward to catching up.” She touched Jonah’s arm and started toward
the door.

Jonah stepped closer to Cate, who flinched
away. “What bit of
never
touch me again
did you misunderstand?”

He dropped his head and stepped back. “Kill
it today, Catherine.” He strode after Mortez.

Austin let go of her and scratched his head.
“What’s with the ‘never touch me’ thing? If he was inappropriate or
hurt you—”

“Calm down. It’s nothing like that.”

Mortez hugged Balthazar, Melchior, and Gaspar
and kissed them on both cheeks.

“They have a close working relationship.”

Austin looked puzzled. “They’re her
sons.”

“No!” Mortez’s sons had practically been
living at her house for the last five years. Her powers of
deduction sucked.

“This is your first and final warning.”

Cate jumped as a loud, nasal voice whined
from somewhere overhead.

“All nongrommets must leave the holding area.
Failure to comply will see the lions eating well tonight. No
exceptions.” People darted toward the exit.

Austin’s fingers curved around her shoulders,
and he rested his forehead against hers. “Those lions can be mean.
Be alert.” He rubbed his scar. “You don’t want to end up with a
permanent reminder of your GTs like me.”

She traced the scars down Austin’s face and
neck. “Oh my...” She was having trouble breathing. If the lions had
gotten that close to Austin, she was dead.

“Settle. I know you can do this. You’re fast
and strong, and Rose is a kick-ass teacher.”

“Ten seconds!” the same nasal voice as before
whined.

Panic flared in Cate’s chest. The room was
nearly empty now. She should tell Austin about Jonah erasing his
memory, but she wanted him to leave before she collapsed in a
puddle of fear. “Go, or they’ll feed you to the lions.”

Austin kissed her forehead and rested his
chin on her hair. “Don’t die. I’d miss you.” He slapped her on the
backside and jogged through the marble opening as an iron gate slid
across it.

She wilted onto the floor. Her tears made
little wet splotches on the dirt. Other grommets were limbering up
and getting into their fighting zone. There was no one else crying,
that was for sure. The grommets on either side of her spoke French
and another
unrecognisable
language.

Mortez’s three boys stood clustered together.
They were dressed to fight in long sleeved, tight fitting black
T-shirts and black cargo pants covered in pockets. All the other
grommets looked like they’d been plucked from whatever they were
doing and plonked in the room. Thankfully, she had been sleeping in
jeans and not teddy bear
pyjamas
when Naitanui turned up. She resisted the
urge to poke her tongue out at the three boys, whose eyes were
fixed on her.
Should I go over to them? Will they
come to me?

“The weapons room is now open.” The nasal
voice whined over the PA. There was a jaw clenching grating sound,
and the ground vibrated. An enormous portal opened on the wall
behind her. “Grommets will be admitted alphabetically.”

“Perfect!” With a surname starting with
Z
she would be in the last group.

The nasal voice droned its way through the
alphabet. There was a commotion at
L
when
a slender boy with scraggly, shoulder-length hair shot fifty feet
into the air and exploded, showering the grommets near the weapons
entrance with sizzling chucks of flesh. “Cheating will not be
tolerated,” the nasal voice announced. “The portal is now open to
those with last names that actually start with
L
.”

A world that asked people to fight lions was
always going to be brutal. She stared into space until someone
prodded her thigh.

“Hey, ugly. You coming?” Balthazar offered
her a hand up. “They’re calling the
Z
s.”

“You’re a
Z
?” Cate
had never heard anyone call Balthazar by anything other than his
first name.

He smiled. “There’re four of us today.”
Gaspar and Melchior scooted through the portal.

“So you three are brothers?”

Balthazar rolled his eyes. “Didn’t the fact
we’re named after the three wise men give you a hint?”

“No normal person would ever make that
connection.” She turned Balthazar’s arm over, and ran her eye down
his quantum indicators. The last number was 2017. The lone number
2014 shone in blue ink on her arm.

“I
apologise
for the nondisclosure,” Balthazar said.
“It was by order of Mortez.”

“Who I now find out is your
mother
.” Cate jogged to keep up with him as he strode
toward the portal. She groaned at the near-bare walls. This was
like being a day late to the end of year sales. A coiled rope
sailed through the air toward her.

“Heads up!” Gaspar called.

The coarse plaited end flicked the side of
her face as she grabbed the rope. “Ouch.” She rubbed her stinging
face and scowled at him.

“Toughen up!” Gaspar tossed a wicked looking
silver dagger her way. She focused on the handle as it twirled
through the air, resisting the urge to close her eyes at the moment
her fingers grasped what she prayed wasn’t the blade. The absence
of pain made her smile. The glow in her chest fizzled as Balthazar
caught a knife in each hand.

“Do you guys have a plan? Should I have a
plan? Should we make a plan?” she asked.

Melchior strode over with a bronze sword in
each hand and a scary looking black, metal spiked ball wrapped
around his waist. “Our plan is don’t die.”

“You never were a detail man, Mel.” Cate
pressed her hands hard against the top of her head. “What’s with
your and Gaspar’s shaved heads?”

“A few weeks ago we got caught in a
disgusting lice outbreak in Germany back in 1705 on a mission
involving the composer Bach. We both had to shave our heads when we
came back,” Melchior said.

Austin had been off on a mission that had
something to do with Bach when Cate left the shack with Rose to
start training. That seemed like months ago. Not weeks.

“We got off lightly. The four most common
diseases in the seventeen hundreds were smallpox, typhoid, scarlet
fever, and dengue fever. They’re all fatal, so lice wasn’t so bad.”
Gaspar ran a hand over his nearly bald head.

Cate’s head itched at the mention of
lice.

“I had hoped Austin picked up smallpox. He
looked disgustingly healthy strutting out of here though.” Melchior
crinkled his nose with distaste. “Is your butt healed where the
bullet hit you, Gaspar? Cate could probably do something for
you.”

“Austin shot you in the butt?” Cate asked
Gaspar.

“No, Mel shot me—”

“Accidently—”

“Don’t get them started.” Balthazar’s eyes
lit up. He raced to the wall and grabbed what looked like an
enormous roll of duct tape.