Timepiece

Chapter 53

The second Teague and Lily turned away, I rushed Jack.

He wrestled with me, digging his fingernails into my arms, kicking at my shins. I grabbed his face with my good hand, ready to let my ability open up wide. He anticipated my plans.

And opened up a world of pain instead.

Every ocean in the world roared in my ears as he pushed memories on me. Mom, when she heard about Dad, wrapped in grief, curled up on the floor. My face when she told me what happened. Dad, his fear the minute before Jack erased five years of his life.

Showing me Dad’s memories was Jack’s first mistake.

Those five years were so fresh I could see them perfectly. Taking back the emotion that went with them was like siphoning the foam off a cold beer. Pulling the love away brought memories, all of them. I held them inside me, and then I was riding a wave through Jack’s brain space.

Now I knew what to look for, and finding my mom’s memories was easy. They flowed like water, slipping away from Jack and into me, making me stronger. My dad, movie sets, shared kisses in her trailer, their wedding on a beach in Bali. My birth, me as a toddler learning to walk. Laughing, with peas smeared all over my face. From a preschooler to a teenager in fast forward, with my dad aging the same way. More images: cooking together, watching me swim. Then ones I didn’t understand… a white house on a hill… swamps… an older couple… a much younger Teague?

I slowed down the flow to try to examine that image. It gave Jack enough equilibrium to push back.

His defense involved showing me things I didn’t want to see. Emerson broken and burned. Michael and my dad confiding in each other, Dad clamping his hand on Michael’s shoulder. The word son.

The pain was so quick and sharp that I almost faltered. Then somehow, I knew it was a lie.

I could hear Lily from across the room, her voice low and insistent, as she gave Teague the information she wanted.

I dug my thumb into Jack’s cheekbone, and pushed back harder. I saw memories he’d taken from Ava, Emerson, Michael, even Lily. Some things I was glad to see. Others not as much. Deciding what to share with Jack’s victims was going to be a long and painful process.

Even so, I took it all.

Once I was certain I had everything I needed, I let him go. I had my parent’s memories, and now I could have my revenge.

I stared at him, helpless on the floor, for what felt like an eternity. I wondered if taking other people’s memories away from him would leave him with the same kind of empty blackness he caused. I could only hope.

I used my cast arm to slam his head into the floor.

“Have we met our end of the bargain?” I asked, cautiously approaching Lily and Teague.

Teague watched Lily begin the process of shutting down the Skroll. “Yes.”

Lily’s face was carefully composed.

“I’d just started to figure this out earlier,” she began, after looking to Teague for permission. When she got it, she continued. “I touched every inch of every map in the Skroll, every corner of the whole world. I’d started to believe that the Infinityglass wasn’t real, and then something hit me. I stopped looking at maps and started looking through all the information.”

“Lily discovered the one thing that has eluded seekers for a century.” Teague took it from Lily and slipped it under her arm. “The Infinityglass isn’t a thing.”

Now Lily held my gaze. “The Infinityglass is a person. I told Teague how sorry I was that I couldn’t help her anymore. Since I can only find things.”

“Thank you for the information, Lily. Should I need you again, I know where I can find you. And don’t worry. I’ll take care of this, for all of us.” Teague looked down on an unconscious Jack with a wicked smile.

Lily and I walked out of the clock tower together.