me. Until you learn the ropes of ruling, of course,” he said.
“Of course,” Slater replied stiffly. He was going to enjoy destroying this small mortal man. He was going to enjoy breaking him into pieces and sprinkling his bones over the ashes of his House.
He turned and, with armed guards surrounding him, left the room.
6
It took Quinten years before he could look at me without sorrow. I understand. It was my fault he lost you.
—from the diary of E. N. D.
T he sound of footsteps climbing the wooden stairs woke me from strange and restless dreams filled with thunderstorms, church bells, and jail cells. I opened my eyes and watched a barefoot Quinten pause at the top of the stairs to get his bearings before heading toward one of the beds closer to the bathroom.
His shirt was unbuttoned and untucked from his pants and his hair was mussed. I guess he and Gloria had taken the time to settle their relationship questions in a most intimate manner.
Good for them.
I tried not to feel envious. The end of the world, or at least the end of my world, was ticking down to days and hours. I’d never stolen more than a single kiss in my life, much less done the sorts of things that would leave me staggering to bed half dressed and messy haired.
I wanted that.
I took a deep breath and let it out. When life settled down, if it settled down and I actually had a life left, I would make a list of things I intended to do and go out and do them. Sex was going to be right up at the top of the list.
Of course, if Quinten was right, we had to do something to stop the break in time mending so I could live.
The Wings of Mercury experiment our great-and-then-some-grandfather had set off was supposed to be an experiment for traveling in time that had instead killed all the people within a fifty-mile radius, except for thirteen unlucky souls.
Those survivors had gone on to become the galvanized, me—the most recently revived—included. Something about fiddling with time had given the galvanized immortality—or that was the theory I’d heard.
My brother was convinced that it wasn’t immortality that was given to the galvanized; it was a life extension.
An extension that was going to be up in the next couple days.
I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling, too many thoughts scuffing through my mind. I didn’t want to die, but if that was the only outcome of this crappy turn of events, then I wanted to make sure that my life had been worth something. That I had done some lasting good for the people I cared about.
House Brown had never been recognized as a voice in the world. I wanted that to change. I wanted my life and death to mean something, and I wanted that something to be House Brown’s freedom.
But I had no idea how I could make that happen in such a short time.
I rolled onto my side again, trying to get comfortable. My thoughts churned and scattered, stealing any possibility of sleep down restless paths. I gave up. There would be no more sleeping for me tonight.
I pushed away the blanket, picked up my boots and duffel, and made my way quietly down the stairs. I checked the clock in the kitchen. Only a couple hours until dawn. Too early to make breakfast; too late to go back to sleep.
So that narrowed my activities down to either pacing or planning for our survival.
To plan I’d need info and a network. I didn’t want to use any of Gloria’s equipment in case it triggered a search.
Great. Pacing it is.
I slung my duffel across my chest but left my boots on the floor. I didn’t think they would be able to hear me from upstairs, but just because I couldn’t sleep was no reason to keep the others awake.
Only three days left to live. That one truth, that one horror, twisted around inside me, tangling me up in hopelessness. I wanted to shout at the heavens until some great force listened to me. I wanted time. More time.
But all I had was anger. All I had was fear.
I paced over to where Abraham was lying. I
“Of course,” Slater replied stiffly. He was going to enjoy destroying this small mortal man. He was going to enjoy breaking him into pieces and sprinkling his bones over the ashes of his House.
He turned and, with armed guards surrounding him, left the room.
6
It took Quinten years before he could look at me without sorrow. I understand. It was my fault he lost you.
—from the diary of E. N. D.
T he sound of footsteps climbing the wooden stairs woke me from strange and restless dreams filled with thunderstorms, church bells, and jail cells. I opened my eyes and watched a barefoot Quinten pause at the top of the stairs to get his bearings before heading toward one of the beds closer to the bathroom.
His shirt was unbuttoned and untucked from his pants and his hair was mussed. I guess he and Gloria had taken the time to settle their relationship questions in a most intimate manner.
Good for them.
I tried not to feel envious. The end of the world, or at least the end of my world, was ticking down to days and hours. I’d never stolen more than a single kiss in my life, much less done the sorts of things that would leave me staggering to bed half dressed and messy haired.
I wanted that.
I took a deep breath and let it out. When life settled down, if it settled down and I actually had a life left, I would make a list of things I intended to do and go out and do them. Sex was going to be right up at the top of the list.
Of course, if Quinten was right, we had to do something to stop the break in time mending so I could live.
The Wings of Mercury experiment our great-and-then-some-grandfather had set off was supposed to be an experiment for traveling in time that had instead killed all the people within a fifty-mile radius, except for thirteen unlucky souls.
Those survivors had gone on to become the galvanized, me—the most recently revived—included. Something about fiddling with time had given the galvanized immortality—or that was the theory I’d heard.
My brother was convinced that it wasn’t immortality that was given to the galvanized; it was a life extension.
An extension that was going to be up in the next couple days.
I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling, too many thoughts scuffing through my mind. I didn’t want to die, but if that was the only outcome of this crappy turn of events, then I wanted to make sure that my life had been worth something. That I had done some lasting good for the people I cared about.
House Brown had never been recognized as a voice in the world. I wanted that to change. I wanted my life and death to mean something, and I wanted that something to be House Brown’s freedom.
But I had no idea how I could make that happen in such a short time.
I rolled onto my side again, trying to get comfortable. My thoughts churned and scattered, stealing any possibility of sleep down restless paths. I gave up. There would be no more sleeping for me tonight.
I pushed away the blanket, picked up my boots and duffel, and made my way quietly down the stairs. I checked the clock in the kitchen. Only a couple hours until dawn. Too early to make breakfast; too late to go back to sleep.
So that narrowed my activities down to either pacing or planning for our survival.
To plan I’d need info and a network. I didn’t want to use any of Gloria’s equipment in case it triggered a search.
Great. Pacing it is.
I slung my duffel across my chest but left my boots on the floor. I didn’t think they would be able to hear me from upstairs, but just because I couldn’t sleep was no reason to keep the others awake.
Only three days left to live. That one truth, that one horror, twisted around inside me, tangling me up in hopelessness. I wanted to shout at the heavens until some great force listened to me. I wanted time. More time.
But all I had was anger. All I had was fear.
I paced over to where Abraham was lying. I
Similar Books
